MacWorld 2011 is now in San Francisco

Today was the first day exhibits at Macworld 2011 in San Francisco.

Of course I was there...this year with Joanne and Linelle.

The crowds gathered outside the exhibit hall in Moscone West waiting for the 10 a.m. opening.

Some did a bit of shopping at the MacWorld boutique.



The show is quite small this year and what we saw most of was cases and other accessories for the iPhone and iPad.

The only really big company exhibiting was HP with some interesting wide format printers and some intriguing digital cameras. I'm going to further investigate the model with the touch screen.

There also were a lot of companies selling photo software and apps. Linelle purchased a suite of programs that simplify the tedious editing steps that Photoshop can do.

And there were some amusing products such as a truck that runs around a Vinyl record and plays its music! At almost $100, it was too expensive for Linelle to buy for her dad, a vinyl collector.



We were amused by works of art created with the backs of iPhones and iPads.




Software for the iPad to record you while you are sleeping, presumably to determine if you snore or not and to signal you or your partner to tell you to stop also intrigued us.

My favorite iPad case was by Lostdog from BlueTrek. When I get an iPad, it will be on my list for accessory purchases.

A highlight of the show for me was the iPhone Life Magazine booth. Last year, I took home a complimentary copy of the magazine and became a subscriber. They were at the show again this year and I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with one of my favorites of the magazine's writers, Todd Bernhard. If you haven't read iPhone Life, be sure to pick up a copy at the show.

All told, we spent a bit over three hours and did the entire show. I wouldn't have missed it, but there were few new discoveries. The show is smaller than it was last year. I still miss the days when Apple participated in MacWorld and when I could spend several days there and still not attend all the presentations that interested me.

For lunch, we left the exhibit hall and walked a few blocks to 'Wichcraft for some delicious made-to-order sandwiches.



'Wichcraft has other locations in New York City and Las Vegas. It was started by celebrity chef and head judge on Top Chef, Tom Colicchio. They also serve salads and soup; a good choice and a good value for an informal, high quality breakfast or lunch when attending an event at Moscone Center or when shopping in the San Francisco Centre.