MacWorld Attendance Booming

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Yesterday IDG announced it already has over 28,000 registered attendees. That is pretty amazing considering we are still four months away. I know it was popular to predict the end of Macworld with Apple pulling out but the re-engineering of the event (and moving it to February) may prove to make it bigger than ever. If you decide to go to Macworld this year, make sure to check out one of my sessions.

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MacRoundtable #71

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Yesterday I joined in the recording of Mac Roundtable #71 along with Chuck Joiner, Steve Stanger, and Victor Cajiao. I wasn’t actually planning on participating in this episode but when I saw that cast, I couldn’t resist. They are some of my very favorite podcasters. The episode is heavy on rumor and speculation but also lots of fun. Check it out. Also, thanks to Chuck for editing and turning the show around in about 12 hours. Amazing.

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Microsoft’s Courier Tablet

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Gizmodo published some interesting pieces this week about Microsoft’s new tablet, the Courier. This product appears very much rooted in Microsoft’s traditional tablet computer space with a pen but also incorporates some interesting touch features. Frankly, some of them are so close to the iPhone gestures that I wonder if there won’t be a patent fight. Regardless, I’m glad to see Microsoft getting in the space. It looks like an innovative device but I’m not sure how well hinging two screens together is going to work in the long run. I suspect Apple’s eventual entry will be quite different. Frankly, if someone brought a hinged iBook tablet thingy in Steve Jobs’ office, he would probably leave with it lodged in certain unmentionable places. The good news is there appears to be a lot of innovation around computing lately and that can only be a good thing.

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BusyCal 1.0 Released

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One of the most interesting applications I saw at Macworld in January was the beta for BusyCal, the beefed up iCal replacement created by the same team that did BusySync. I was so impressed, I gave it a Best in Show award. I’ve been using the beta for a few months and today the final 1.0 version released. I am not disappointed. This application cures most of iCal’s sins. You get recurring to-do’s, baked in (easy) google calendar syncing, compatibility with BusySync (and BusySync functionality built in). I also like the event editing window.

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There are plenty of interesting features for a 1.0 release including built in weather support and the calendar displays sunrise and sunset in the weekly views. It took BusyMac just 6 months to get this right. What has Apple been doing with iCal for the last 6 years? There is a free demo. A license is $40 per computer but there is a discount for multiple licenses. If you already purchased BusySync, the upgrade is just $10.

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