Faster G4s, iTunes, and a Titanium PowerBook highlight the Expo
Apple has often been accused of lacking direction or being unable to explain how Macs are different from PCs - perhaps the most valuable thing Steve Jobs brought to Apple has been focus, particularly with the iMacs and iBooks
Despite Steve Jobs's talk of ripping CDs and burning DVDs, the real heat of his Macworld Expo keynote address came at the end when he unveiled the PowerBook G4 Titanium, a svelte portable that promises to blaze through your data, roast your lap, and burn a hole in your pocket.
The buzz before the Expo suggested Apple had a new laptop in the works, and the question before the keynote became: would it be a jaw-dropping reinvention or just a speed-bump upgrade with improved specs? Make room on the floor for your jaw.
Mercury Rising -- The PowerBook G4 is certainly faster and more powerful than its predecessors
The thrust of Steve Jobs's keynote at Macworld Expo last week in San Francisco may have been to position the Macintosh as the hub for today's digital lifestyle, but equally important in the speech were the details Jobs provided about Mac OS X 1.0.
Jobs first gave a brief demo of a few of the already-known features of Mac OS X, after which he showed the changes Apple has made since the public beta, based on feedback from the user community
Although the PowerBook G4 Titanium stole the show at this year's January Macworld Expo (see "PowerBook G4 Titanium Burns Bright" in TidBITS-563), Apple also tantalized the crowds with improvements to the professional Power Mac G4 line, adding faster processors and the capability to create custom CDs and DVDs.
The new machines feature PowerPC G4 chips running at speeds of 466, 533, 667, and 733 MHz, but include only single processor configurations by default
Traditionally, TidBITS publishes a "superlatives" article covering things at Macworld Expo that we find compelling or, at the very least, amusing
No utility made the kind of big splash that, for example, Connectix's RAM Doubler made when it was introduced back in 1994. However, there were a number of worthy entries that made this Macworld Expo a showcase for innovative utilities rather than high-end applications.
Aladdin Transporter -- Aladdin Systems was showing the $150 Aladdin Transporter, an interesting program that falls somewhere between a macro utility and a scripting language
The rise in permanent Internet connections via cable modems and DSL has raised fears of crackers breaking into individual computers and wreaking havoc
Back in 1999, Apple started the ball rolling on wireless networking by releasing the inexpensive AirPort Base Station and providing an AirPort option for all Macs
Missing from Apple's statement of support for the digital lifestyle was an emphasis on digital photographs. I could easily see an iPhoto or iPicture from Apple at the next Macworld Expo - something to categorize and organize digital photographs, print and export them in useful ways, and easily create Web pages with your photos for viewing by your friends and family
Computer sales may have dipped industry-wide, but the popularity of Palm handhelds is looking up - two stories up, to be precise. At Macworld Expo 2001 in San Francisco, Palm's booth featured not only a contingent of Palm OS developers and Palm's lineup of devices, but also a two-tiered presentation stage with balconies that inspired at least one attendee to exclaim, "But, soft! what backlight through yonder window breaks?"
Not to be outdone, Palm OS licensee Handspring dazzled attendees with a large main screen and video displays set behind huge mock Visor handhelds
We couldn't conclude our Macworld coverage without our biannual collection of Macworld Expo superlatives, the products that caught our eyes this year in San Francisco