Tikkabik

First of all, apologies for not blogging at all this week. I've been terrifically busy both with work and with the social end of the show.

For the most part, many people I talked with considered Apple's presentation here to be a failure -- the iPod mini seems overpriced for what you get compared to the "big" iPod. But you have to see it yourself to believe it, how small it is and how elegantly it works. Apple's done a nice job of making a tiny music player a hell of a lot more functional and easy to use than has been done up to now.

People were really disappointed that Apple didn't use Macworld Expo to show off new consumer or pro hardware -- this being the 20th anniversary of the Mac, many of us were hoping that Apple would kick it off with a bang by offering some jaw-dropping new product.

There's stuff in the pipeline, however, so just stay tuned. 2004 should be a great year.

Everyone thinks GarageBand, Apple's new music-making app that's bundled with the new iLife package, is phenomenal. You can certainly spend a lot more money and get a lot more utility, but by bundling GarageBand with other iLife apps and setting the price at $49, Apple's just blown a lot of other apps that cost hundreds of dollars out of the water, especially for beginning musicians. It's the four-track recorder of the new millennium.

In many ways, this was a very memorable show for me -- I got to see and meet some people that are really, really cool, and spend some quality time with them. I had an awesome time as the MC of the MacBowl on Thursday night, where we (Macworld magazine) and Aspyr hosted an event that pulled together $15,000 for the Treasure Island Elementary School's computer lab. In between my duties on the mic I was the biermaiden, running up and down the lanes giving each team table service and making sure they were topped off. A lot of people owe their Thursday night buzz to me -- maybe next year I'll rent a Duff-Man costume.

Third parties were showing off some cool stuff too. I have a chubby for the Squeezebox, a wireless device that connects to your stereo and your Mac's MP3 library, make it possible for you to stream your Mac's digital music to your stereo while displaying information about it (track name, number) on a built-in screen. Elgato's new EyeTV product and its EyeHome are remarkable. And there's a new company doing some Bluetooth phone driver work that promises to increase the utility of Macs whose users need digital connectivity beyond Wi-Fi.

All in all, I chalk this show up as another great success. I'm really happy I was here and am already sad the show is over and that I didn't get more done. Only six months to Macworld Boston, though. That ought to be...interesting.