Tikkabik

Just a quick note to say that I'm back safe and sound from my San Francisco trip; arrived in Boston early in the evening on Saturday. I'm happy to be home, though I'm a bit tired and managed to get sick as well (spent last night and this morning shivering and sweating in bed with a temperature of about 100.3).

Macworld Expo itself was fun and entertaining as always, and it was good to be among the Mac faithful once again. This is the one chance I get during the year to reaffirm relationships with vendors, too, so to that end it was very helpful and useful time spent.

Of course, the social aspect of the show -- meeting friends and acquaintances for dinners or parties -- is the big draw for me, and this year was no exception. Outside of a great dinner with my editorial colleagues from Macworld, I was really happy that Corey and I got some great face-time in this time around. It was also great seeing the Back Beat/Mac Observer crew on Friday night, after the show was over.

As far as the announcements at the show, I think the iPod shuffle is cute and that Apple will sell millions of 'em, but what I really want is the Mac mini. That's an awesome-looking little system that should appeal to a broader range of users than Macs have up until this point. Let's hope it's the system that finally 'moves the needle' on Mac marketshare.