I love the MacBook Air

So I’ve only been using it for a couple days. To boot, it’s not even mine (thanks Su!).

Why do I like it?

  • I have been blogging with it. It’s very portable and effortless to take out and use. Very useful when you are waiting around waiting to get into WWDC but still have wifi access.
  • I have been doing iPhone development on it via the simulator. All I can say is that it kicks the mini’s ass in terms of performance and usability. The processor speed of the Air is negligibly faster so I’m not sure why; all I can say is that I’m a very happy user.
  • It looks cool. I was chatting with this other guy about how the latest MacBook Pro is a beast. Sure it has ‘power’ but Apple really needs to refresh that line and put their high-end laptops on a diet.

’nuff said?

WWDC 08 — D1 — More waiting

We got some basic snacks (eg water, coffee, bread stuffs). Apple really does like making people wait.

Looks like the rumor sites are in fine form. Could there be a new fusion, new iphone, upgraded hw? All will be revealed soon enough.

More photos of the masses snaking through the convention center, and up the escalator to my current location.

WWDC 08 — Day 1 — In the queue

I got here crazy early, but it seems worth it. The word from the staff is that “if you’re right here, you will be in the hall”. There is a lot of good energy here and everyone is very friendly.

It appears that we will be waiting inside the lab area for about an hour. Then we will make our way in for breakfast. Then I guess the auditorium to build up the hype for the event at 10am.

WWDC 08 — Day 1 — Crazy Early

So I finally got use of the hotel ‘internet’.  I think it’s a 20 year old modem and the wireless is at best flaky.

It’s roughly 5:37am SF time right now and I’m about to head on over to Moscone West and stand in line with the rest of the Apple faithful.  I hope it’s not too cold and that the 10am keynote will be worth it.

I’ll post more when I get to the better internet at the conference.

WWDC 08 — Day 0

I have made my way over to Moscone West, the site of the big event.  My enthusiasm is rivaled only by the size of the apple on the side of the convention center.

I went in and registered.

 

The guy said that we’ve been telling people to line up at 5am.  I said for what?  He said the Keynote.  I said what?  He’s like ‘people are already lining up now’.  Apparently, it’s first come, first seating and a lot of people don’t want to be in the overflow rooms or miss it at all.  Perhaps it’s a bonus of my crappy hotel and the eastern time zone that I will get up crazy early and join in the festivities.

Also got this cool T-shirt and a black computer bag.  Bag is nice, but it’s no Tumi.


 

I have arrived in San Francisco

Flight time took longer than normal.  My guess is that they were trying to save gas by flying slowly.  After all, if a flight is supposed to take 5 and 1/2 hours, what’s the big deal if it takes another hour, right?  Anyway, after waiting for my luggage, I took an overpriced cab ride to the hotel.

The Touchstone hotel.  Let’s just say that you get what you pay for.  In this case, you get a lot less.  I’m not sure where they got the pictures that I saw on the previous web page, but (to quote Michael Douglas from Falling Down), this place is nothing like the picture.  I’ve attached shots of the Bed, the Bathroom and The View.

Let’s just say that the view makes me think a crime is going to happen at any time.

I didn’t include a shot of the TV because other TVs would be embarrassed by association.  I’m hoping that the trip will work out better than my initial impression.

I took some shots around there and it seems like there is good shopping to be had.

WWDC coming soon

I’m heading out to San Francisco this Sunday(June 9) to attend Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference 2008. Basically, I’m pretty pumped as I haven’t been to a tech conference for a long time. Back to the days of Java One (when venture capital money was flowing like water).

I plan to post at least a daily summary of the activities.

What do I hope to accomplish?

  • learn more about general programming for mac and iPhone (I already know objc so not too much to learn there)
  • tune my new iPhone app WineTool (or WineKnows if you ask the girlfriend) — I’m hoping that Apple engineers and design specialists will offer some insights into giving the app a lot of ‘pop’.
  • meet other objc iPhone geeks

Pontifications About Everything