DAILY: The most interesting things I saw at Macworld 2009

January 6th, 2009 by mike downey Leave a reply »

I spent a few hours with Liana, Brian, and Kyle today wondering around the show floor of the Moscone Center at Macworld Expo 2009 (which will probably be the last Macworld). There weren’t a whole lot of interesting new things but I was able to compile a list of a few products that I thought were pretty cool.

  • Sling Media, makers of the SlingBox, was showing off an upcoming SlingPlayer Mobile client for the iPhone. The SlingBox allows users to stream video from their DVR/Cable/Satellite boxes at home. 
  • Apple announced the new 17″ MacBook Pro with an integrated (non-removable) super-battery that gets up to 8 hrs of run time!
  • Apple also announced iPhoto ’09 as part of the new iLife ’09 suite with support for face recognition, geo-tagging, Flickr and Facebook integration, enhanced editing and a few other cool new features.
  • Ambrosia Soft was demonstrating iToner, an application that allows you to easily make your own custom ringtones for you iPhone using regular audio files. 
  • Booq bags, one of my favorite bag/laptop case makers, was showing one of their recent releases, the Python Pack, which comes with an integrated carrying case for a full-size dSLR and lens as well as a bunch of extra space and room for a 13-15″ laptop. This would be a fantastic bag for the road warrior who has to carry a lot of equipment and enjoys lugging his bulky dSLR around the world.
  • Picked up an awesome, ultra, ultra-slim “feather” case for my iPhone 3G from INCIPIO. They also had the nicest iPhone/iPod accessories booth at the show with the most friendly, helpful staff (in my opinion). 
  • Topaz Labs was showing a very cool Photoshop plugin called Topaz Adjust that does a brilliant job of expanding the dynamic range of a photo without the need for multiple shots at different exposures. Basically, it’s like doing HDR imaging with a single exposure. The demo was freakin’ cool!
  • I can’t find their website, which is weird, but a company called Grandmax was showing off some really cool, tiny, portable speakers for your laptop, MP3 player, phone, or other audio device called Grandmax Tweakers Miniboom Speakers. I came very close to buying these but they had no show special price so I decided to wait. 
  • Shure audio had one of the most impressive booths at the show with very helpful booth staff who were letting people try out their product line of premium earbud headphones. I’ve been using their products for years and am convinced that they are the best. At the show they were promoting an upcoming release due in March called the SE 115 (which is their entry-level buds). They sounded great compared to other buds in the $99 range. I’m still very happy with my Shure E550 PTH phones.
  • Checked out a desktop utility called TuneUp which cleans up your iTunes library by fixing song titles that are misspelled or have weird characters in them, adds missing track details, etc. The one thing it doesn’t yet do, which is the one thing that I’m looking for, is remove duplicates from your library. According to the company spokesperson, this is very difficult because many people have multiple versions of the same tracks (live performances, remixes, special versions, etc) and their software will have to be smart enough to figure out the differences. He did say they plan to release the functionality some time this year though.
  • Finally, Joby, the makers of the Gorillapod camera tripod have ventured into a completely new neighborhood and released a Bluetooth headset called the Zivio Boom. I was skeptical of a company venturing into a completely new area like this but the spokesperson assured me that their founder is a brilliant mad scientist and he just builds stuff that he wants. So, we checked it out and it actually seemed like a really nicely made headset. 
Advertisement

10 comments

  1. Attiya says:

    Looks like you’ve had a good time at Macworld. Just wanted to thank you for dropping by the TuneUp booth and giving us a shout out on your blog. And yes, deduping is on its way. We’ll be sure to let you know when its ready.

  2. nhl jerseys says:

    To live is to function.That nhl jerseys is all there is in living.To feel that one has a place in boston bruins life solves half the problem of buffalo sabres content. High nhl jersey sales online expectations are the key to every chicago blackhawks thing. If you wait, all that happens is that edge jerseys you get older.

  3. nhl jerseys says:

    To live is to function.That nhl jerseys is all there is in living.To feel that one has a place in boston bruins life solves half the problem of buffalo sabres content. High nhl jersey sales online expectations are the key to every chicago blackhawks thing. If you wait, all that happens is that edge jerseys you get older.

  4. nhl jerseys says:

    To live is to function.That nhl jerseys is all there is in living.To feel that one has a place in boston bruins life solves half the problem of buffalo sabres content. High nhl jersey sales online expectations are the key to every chicago blackhawks thing. If you wait, all that happens is that edge jerseys you get older.

  5. nhl jerseys says:

    To live is to function.That nhl jerseys is all there is in living.To feel that one has a place in boston bruins life solves half the problem of buffalo sabres content. High nhl jersey sales online expectations are the key to every chicago blackhawks thing. If you wait, all that happens is that edge jerseys you get older.

  6. nhl jerseys says:

    To live is to function.That nhl jerseys is all there is in living.To feel that one has a place in boston bruins life solves half the problem of buffalo sabres content. High nhl jersey sales online expectations are the key to every chicago blackhawks thing. If you wait, all that happens is that edge jerseys you get older.

  7. really interesting, very funny.looks like look film.

  8. John Soulier says:

    I was there, it rocked! I don't recall seeing a TuneUp both. I wonder how dated this post is, because that was a while ago.

  9. John Soulier says:

    I was there, it rocked! I don't recall seeing a TuneUp both. I wonder how dated this post is, because that was a while ago.

  10. Tom says:

    Very well written article! I am looking forward to read more your posts!