Macworld CreativePro Conference & Expo New York 2003

Is this the last Macworld in New York? Last year's was, if you go strictly by title - this one is "Macworld CreativePro Conference & Expo".

The show title was changed three times between in the first half of this year. It started the year as a 'normal' Macworld Expo. In late March, the name was changed to 'CREATE', with a focus specifically on technology for the creative arts, (design, publishing, video, and music). In late April, the name was changed again to 'Macworld CreativePro Conference & Expo', keeping the same show emphasis, but putting the Macworld name back into the mix.

All the confusion about what the show title is and who the show is for does not help numbers - exhibitor count is way down (from a little over 200 to about 135) and the floor is much smaller. The show floor still feels crowded, perhaps because it is much smaller - attendance is also down (but not as much), from 58,000 to around 40,000.

Top Ten New Products

1. Apple Power Macintosh G5: Most folks at the expo have never seen one, and it's reassuring to know that the enclosure looks much more impressive in real life than it does in print (unusual for a modern Apple product). Responses feel 'wicked fast', with both Mac OS X versions 10.2.6 and 10.3 beta. Coming in late August/early September, starting at $1,800 educational.


2. ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition: A miracle has happened - ATI's hottest 128 MB video card is available for the Macintosh while it is still top-of-the-line for Windows. This represents a massive improvement in 3D performance from the previous best aftermarket card. Available now, $400.


3. QuarkXPress 6: The company may sometimes annoy, but the product is acutely relevant to many Mac OS users. Some new features (other than full OS X compatibility) include full resolution preview of EPS and bitmap files, better table tools, and 30 levels of undo. Available now, $900.


4. Mac OS X version 10.3 'Panther': The next major revision of the Mac OS doesn't look to be the huge upgrade that Mac OS X version 10.2 'Jaguar' was but still seems significant, with a lot of usability oriented features that add up to a significantly changed experience. Coming before the end of the calendar year, $70 educational.


5. Alsoft DiskWarrior 3.0 for Mac OS X: This long-awaited product (I said it was coming soon last year) is finally available. The single CD-ROM effectively boots into Mac OS 9 (in version 2.1) or Mac OS X (in version 3.0). Available now (really!), $80.


6. Kensington Expert Mouse Optical: The latest and greatest version of the cue-ball sized and weighted trackball that used to be called the Turbo Mouse now has an optical sensor. Available soon, around $100.


7. Harmony Remote Harmony SST 768: An internet-controlled, task-oriented (instead of component-oriented) remote which is updated via USB. Available now, $300.


8. Mark/Space The Missing Sync for Pocket PC 1.0: Integrates your Pocket PC handheld (including Dell's Axim X5) with iTunes and iPhoto, as well as synchronizes calendar items, to do items, and contacts with the iCal and Address Book applications. Available now, $40.


9. BookEndz Docking Station for PowerBook G4 12-inch: A slick new port replicator for the (slick) PowerBook G4 12-inch also adds a VGA output. Available now (a month earlier than promised), $180.


10. @Last SketchUp 3.0: A very cleverly designed application to ease the difficulty of using CAD programs by using a sketch-based model, with an eye toward architectural use. Some interesting features include 2D hidden-line vector output that lets you bring your 3D SketchUp drawings into 2D software and the ability to draw over scanned sketch drawings. Version 3.0 adds soft edges, glass transparency, animation export, and vector output. Available now, $500.

Keynote Feature Presentation

No 'Stevenote' this year - merely a feature presentation from Apple's Greg Joswiak, Vice President of Hardware Product Marketing - known inside the company as 'Joz'. It's very low key; Joz rehashes most of June's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) presentation with a couple of additions.

Some things are consistent; we still get Beach Boys songs playing over the sound system before the presentation and we still get good production values. What we don't get are the huge lines, the standing room only hall, and the respectful silence.

"It certainly was on the web that my name was a little bit funny."

- Greg Joswiak

There are two pieces of news that come out of Joz's presentation:

1. Responding to Adobe's release of Premiere for Windows XP only, Apple announced a Final Cut Express promotion which allows you to trade in your Adobe Premier installer disk (Mac OS or Windows) for a copy of Final Cut Express or a significant discount on Final Cut Pro 4.


2. Apple announced Soundtrack 1.0, an interesting music composition tool, now available separately from Final Cut Pro 4. Includes real-time pitch and tempo adjusted loop matching and over 30 professional audio effects plug-ins from Apple and Emagic. Available now, $150 educational.

On the Floor

There's no more Procreate; Painter, KPT, and KnockOut have been returned to the Corel fold. In other renaming news, Alias|Wavefront is now simply Alias, but Maya is still Maya.

DriveSavers display has a completely toasted first generation iMac.

Hardware

Maxtor is showing their OneTouch backup hard drive.

harmon multimedia is showing the encounter, a strange looking speaker system available in both 2.1 and 5.1 (left) configurations. I talked to a few harmon reps, and they feel confident that the unusual look is working for them. Coming in November/December, $300 (2.1) and $400 (2.1).

Digital cameras are still going strong: Canon is showing the 5-megapixel prosumer PowerShot G5, while Nikon is showing the consumer Coolpix 2100, Coolpix 3100, and Coolpix SQ.

Stylish hard drive enclosures are the rule rather than the exception, CompuCable has interesting cases.

'Serious' vendors making an appearance include:

• LANDesk, showing LANDesk Management Suite 7.


• Sybase, showing Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise 12.5 for Mac OS X, designed to run on the XServe and supporting a database size of up to 4 terabytes.

High-end office furniture is represented (as always) by Anthro. Not so serious furniture is represented by Rain Design's stylish iGo - two stands for the iMac/G4 whose legs match the iMac's monitor arm.

Interesting little vendors:

• SmileOnMyMac is showing their disclabel CD and DVD label maker, which imports track lists from iTunes, iPhoto, and iDVD, imports images directly from iPhoto albums, and automates label creation with AppleScript. Available now, for $40.

Awards

Biggest booth: Apple, of course, at 5,950 square feet - only 28% the size of last year's, but still huge compared to most booths. Second place is shared by Canon, Epson, and Hewlett-Packard, all with 2,000 square feet.

Most crowded booth: Apple (just try and get close to a G5!).

Other crowded booths: Canon, Epson, and Nikon.

Best booth & giveaway: Tekserve has a sideshow-based booth, which includes clowns, jugglers, and a two headed iMac/G4 (I kid you not). Their giveaway is their excellent Troubleshoooting Guide, now being published as the O'Reilly Macintosh Troubleshooting Pocket Guide.

Strangest costume: it's the MSN butterflies again, distributing copies of MSN for Mac OS X. Most folks look at them with a combination of contempt and pity, but informed scuttlebut is that that MSN for Mac OS X is actually kind of good...

Etc.

The next Macworld is scheduled for January 5-9, 2004 in San Francisco - it's expected to be a 'normal' Macworld. If there is an east coast Macworld next summer, it's currently scheduled for July 12-15 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center - but anything can (and will) happen.

Credits

Thanks to Mark Aseltine, Douglas Brooks, Daniel Cygielman, Darlene Dziomba, Doris Forde, Kate Greene, Andy Ihnatko, Paul Kent, Mike Lazenka, Ivelis Mulhern, Kevin O'Connor, David Pogue, Kathy Ritchie, Adam Wald, and Vern Yoneyama.

All trademarks are the copyright of their respective owners.