Getting to Macworld

Matt won his Super Pass from The Mac Observer, while I grabbed a complementary show floor pass from an exhibitor friend of Matt’s a week before the convention. We flew up to San Francisco on the 12th. On Sunday, we snuck into South Hall, explored, and took pictures until a security guard kindly asked us to stop. We were stopped from entering West Hall by an Apple guard.

Registration

The line wrapped around the building, but we made it in within 30 minutes. Matt was given the badge of an Axiotron employee with his name. While that was not a Super Pass, IDG staff helpfully upgraded it (with no identification, mind you). Matt’s real ticket remains unclaimed.

The Keynote Line

I went off to the side of the building to start the line (10 A.M.) and after the AppleScript conference was joined by Matt. The line was split (a new practice this year) midday into Conference users (on Howard St.) and Media and Platinum/Super Pass users (on 4th St). We were alone on 4th until the next morning. (Lesson: don’t get a Super Pass in future years if you’re planning to arrive before 4 A.M. and want company.) We managed to get power run outside the building and set up a “power station” for everyone to charge their gadgets throughout the night. Internet came from theDigitalLifestyle.tv/Mogulus’s Nokia N95, so we were able to continue work on the Keynote live updater overnight. We were interviewed by a local TV station, several websites, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Keynote

Matt was the first non-V.I.P. into the Keynote! Liveblogging went off (nearly) without a hitch, save for threats to discontinue hosting for using way more server resources than we intended. SMS updates appeared to be sent out exactly as planned! If you had any problems, (as always) feel free to contact us.

The Show Floor

That day we explored South Hall, then promptly fell asleep at the hotel, totally missing the afterparty. We spent the next few days wandering the show floor, talking to the makers of all the Mac-related hardware and software we’ve all heard of.

Conclusion

The Macworld attendees weren’t as technical as we’d expected (leave that to WWDC), but we’ll have a hard time not going back next year and it was absolutely worth it. As always, feel free to contact us by email (Matt, Sidney), on Twitter, and on AIM.