It has been a fairly slow weekend but, regardless, we have been working on the site! We have fully integrated Twitter into the site, visible with the widget on your right hand side (our Twitter username is “theilife”). Also, we have setup an AIM account for anyone wanting to contact us (again, our screen name is “theilife). Lastly we are proud to announce that we have another writer for theiLife.com. Our third Matt on staff, Matt Hamilton will now be writing for us on a weekly basis- so start looking for his work coming soon! We hope you enjoy these enhancements and have a happy Sunday!

At Macworld, Apple introduced the MacBook Air with this commercial. It is the first commercial for the MacBook family line! It has been added to The Daily iLife podcast today, which you can subscribe to in iTunes or watch here.

The first MacBook Air commercial as the MacBook Air is revealed from a manila envelope.

Our AIM address really is theilife

A friend of mine recently suggested we reach out to our community a little more. So I have opened an AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) account for those who would like to discuss anything with the Admins at theiLife.com. Feel free to hit us up, anytime, with anything you would like to discuss- or just to leave us a comment or suggestion. As always, you can still leave a comment on the site or email us too! Instant Message away at “theilife” (no quotes, though).

This is a continuation of Macworld Keynote Part I and, Macworld Registration Part I and Part II.

Sidney woke me up at about 6 o’clock, explaining that they were preparing to let us in. The line was jumping with excitement. The once empty Super and Platinum pass line was now full of people, to the end of the Moscone Center, down 4th Street! The media were finally beginning to fill there designated spot and the “General Users” line wrapped around Howard to 5th Street. By 6:30AM, everyone was standing in line formation- preparing to enter the Moscone West.

At approximately 7AM our line leader let us inside, guided by two Apple employees, and we lined up around the second floor. Everyone sat down and used the bathrooms durring the hour we had to wait for the VIP’s to slowly move in. We were being told- as rumored- not many of the “General Users” were going to be admitted because there were almost 1,000 Super and Platinum Pass users ahead of them (plus VIP’s and media). I was laying on the floor, gathering up energy for the Keynote while bomb sniffing dogs were circling around us.

After the wait was over, we were escorted up the escalator in pairs, to the third floor. As we reached the top, the large Garage doors were open and our line broke up into a scramble for seats. Because I was the first one in, and walked ‘briskly’, I made it up to the second row behind the VIP section. This second section was already infiltrated with VIPs- but I was sitting amongst them!

Once I got my seat, I quickly booted up the Nokia N95, connected via Bluetooth Modem and began to liveblog and take pictures. About halfway through I noticed the page would occasionally 503 “Server Busy”- which was not because the server couldn’t handle the load- but because our hosting company decided to limit our usage of the server. They later threatened to terminate our account if we didn’t upgrade- but luckily we were pardoned. (Thanks SiteGround!)

Throughout the Keynote, Sidney was hanging out in Moscone South maintaining the feed. When the Keynote was over, he went downstairs and began to take pictures of the new Apple products. I hung around the keynote a little bit to watch Steve demo the MacBook Air to the Media. After about 5 minutes, I went and joined Sidney across the street.

We spent a good amount of time at the Apple booth, but also explored some of the other booths in the South Hall until about 4 o’clock- when we began to feel very tired (for some strange reason). We decided for our sanity and health, we should go back and take a nap.

This was, in its entirety, our Macworld experience up until Tuesday. Stick around for more stories of our journey to the world of Macs tomorrow!

Meanwhile check out some images after the jump. Read more…

This is a continuation of Macworld Registration Part I and Part II.

After Sidney and I registered we split up- I went to my AppleScript workshop and he went to start the Keynote line. Sidney waited, for the most part, by himself until about 12PM. I got my lunch from inside and took his place for about an hour from 12-1PM. Within this time, at approximately 12:30PM, the second and third people showed up for the Keynote line. Sidney came back with his lunch, and I continued on to my AppleScript workshop.

From what I hear, two guys from IDG came out at about 2:30PM and informed us that the line was going to be “different this year.” They told us that they were splitting the lines up outside (opposed to inside), lining the Media, Super Pass and Platinum Pass users down 4th Street, and the “General Users” down Howard Street. Contrary to years past, where the line consisted of a heterogeneous mix of badge types- all of my ‘linemates’ packed there stuff up for the “General” line and left us alone.

This came as a major disappointment to us- I was blessed with a Super Pass but Sidney only had a Floor Pass (with no Keynote access). Our hopes were to actually wait in line with everyone else! However, not deterred with the bad news, we moved our stuff down two poles to leave room for the media, and continued waiting in our new line. Throughout the night, Sidney and I journeyed back and forth to the “General” line to speak with our friends and stay sane. But unfortunately, we were not joined with anyone else on the Super Pass line until about 1:30AM.

Later that night, at 3AM, there were a total of about 8 people on line and the cold had begun to sink in. A friend from the “General” line (which had grown to almost 50) invited me to go to his hotel room and sneak out blankets and pillows for the other guys in line. At this point, San Francisco was shut down- all the bars and local shops we were using for Bathrooms had closed, and there were no places open except Dennys.

Sidney and I finished coding the AJAX app and SMS updater around this time, so we started charging all of our dying gadgets and computers at our power station (pictured below). We noticed some media presence beginning as Gizmodo and TUAW made rounds, of course ignoring us as the true first on line (but we did get an awesome TUAW T-Shirt!). I fell asleep at 4AM, so my memory is a bit faded, but at 6AM- I was awoken by the growing line.

Look out for Part II tomorrow!

Pictures after the jump.
Read more…

This is a continuation of Macworld Registration Part I.

So if you have read Part I, I discussed experiences from my first day at Macworld fairly briefly. However, this is a side story about my registration- or lack there of.

Basically, I won a Super Pass to Macworld through an online contest held by The Mac Observer. This is what allowed me to get to Macworld- I would otherwise never had the opportunity! I spoke with Dave Hamilton, President of The Mac Observer after winning the contest; he took some information and then passed me on to IDG to finish the registration. At this point, I was a bit skeptical- almost two weeks had passed with no contact.

Right around Christmas, almost one month since I won the contest, I received an email from Sarah Hindmarsh, Marketing Manager of IDG. She was quite helpful and responsive to my emails, and understood my concerns. I emailed her a PDF of my registration and that was the last I heard from her. I didn’t do anything after that, in fear of being annoying. I figured I had established myself with those two people and I should be fine, whatever the outcome.

When Sidney and I snuck into Moscone South on Sunday afternoon, I used one of the MacBooks to register myself. I entered my first and last name, along with my zip code (which was optional) and saw a list of three people pop up, one of them: Matthew Dodd. Delighted, I printed the badge- only to find I it was only a User Conference attendee, and my company was Axiotron. Strange, I am not an Engineer for Axiotron- although I’ll take a free Modbook!

Constantly assuring myself there wouldn’t be an issue, I let it go and waited until Monday to register with everyone else. Of course, when we got there, everyone already had confirmation bar codes printed- but I still continued waiting in line. When I got to the desk, they quickly took my name and printed my badge, again with Axiotron. While I was happy to have a registration, I was annoyed that it still said Axiotron. Either way, I went to my AppleScript workshop until I became hungry- I wanted my free lunch, which came with my SuperPass!

I went downstairs and spoke to someone from IDG, who was helpful and promptly got my registration changed to a SuperPass. However, they kept ignoring me, explaining that I didn’t work for Axiotron- in fact they didn’t change the company or any of my contact information. So, hungry, I proceeded to get my free lunch and forgot about it. I visited Axiotron on Tuesday, and was laughed at- apparently Matthew Dodd does work for them and was registered for Macworld.

On Wednesday I went back to IDG and asked them to change my information, after explaining my story again. After going through a few people, they got me to someone who angrily asked me for my contact information and printed my correct badge! What amazes me, however is the lack of security at Macworld! I accomplished this without any photo or text identification! I was also not happy about having to do all of this after being afraid of this happening a month earlier. I also apologize for Matthew Dodd at Axiotron for spamming him when I scanned my badge- I assumed it was me.

Either way, I got into the keynote first- which I will detail in tomorrows segment.

Early Monday morning, Sidney and I awoke with only a few hours of sleep from coding late into the night. We had to be reminded what was happening in this confused state- “today is Macworld!” We quickly got dressed, packed our bags and headed out the door.

We knew that we weren’t coming back that night- Tuesday morning was the keynote and we had every intention to be first on line. Once we got to Moscone West, we were met with a different line wrapping up and around both 4th street and Howard. We quickly found our place and began to wait- which was quick and relatively painless.

Once inside and with registration finally sorted out, Sidney and I split up- he went outside and started the line, while I went to my AppleScript workshop (PJ). I would leave every hour or two to go and check up on him, to let him take a break (and return his electronics that were charging).

Up until about 6 o’clock, with my workshop long over, I stayed inside and charged all our gadgets one last time. By about 6:30, I was getting kicked out so I left and began to wait with Sidney (and the slowly growing group).

Look out for Part II later today, I have to catch up on some sleep now!

After a very intensive week, with memories fresh, is time to reflect upon Macworld. This was my first Macworld, I actually won a Super Pass through the Mac Observer! The entire Macworld experience was amazing! It was the first time I was surrounded with people who are as obsessed with Apple as me not to mention, meet all the developers whose products I use everyday.

When we arrived to Moscone West Monday morning, we were met with a large, yet orginized line wrapping around the Moscone Center- very unlike other lines we’ve seen in New York City. The line was quick and painless and once inside I printed my badge from Axiotron, which is another story within itself.

Once inside and registered, we split up- Sidney went to start the keynote line, and I went to my AppleScript workshop. Durring my lunch break, I visited Sidney and let him use the facilites and eat food. You can read more about our line experiences here.

The workshop was interesting, and I also got a chance to peek around to the other workshops as well. After Monday, however, I didn’t get much time to go to my workshops and conferences because between waiting on line for the Keynote, the Keynote itself, and the show floor, there was no time to spare!

Now with some free time, I can sit and reflect upon the past week- so expect a number of articles about the many events. You should also start seeing all the interviews we conducted, coming up over the next week as well.

Joining the “Boom” Macworld video, “Expo”, is the recap of the actual Macworld Expo. It comes from hours of footage obtained while on the show floor over the past week. This will be the last recap type video from Macworld, we are working on uploading all of the interviews with exhibitors shortly. Again, apologies for the lack of High Quality, our Hotels internet connection doesn’t allow for fast uploads.

Last week, Apple posted the latest installment of the Get a Mac series, about Time Machine. We have later learned that it coincides with the release of Time Capsule. It has now been published to The Daily iLife podcast, which you can subscribe to in iTunes or watch here.

In the typical introduction of Mac and PC, instead of there being one Mac, there is a line of 10. PC is shocked, so the various Macs explain that it is simply “Time Machine,” a feature in Leopard which makes regular backups of the hard drive. PC is forced to admit that such a feature is “pretty awesome,” followed by thanks from the various Macs.