MacWorld should be retitled to “iPhoneWorld and Friends”. I had a chance to check out the Expo for two out of the three days. I live in San Francisco and I got tickets for $10.00 off of a Group On, so I really had no excuse for not going. There weren’t too many Mac computer related products. There were a handful of software vendors but the exhibition was dominated by iPhone accessories from iPhone stands that match your iMac to cute rubbery lanyards for your iPhone case. I still had a great time wandering from booth to booth. So here’s a list of my favorite MacWorld Products.

Tunebug:
This was probably my favorite product at the whole Expo. Tunebug makes two products the Vibe (wired) and the Shake (blue-tooth). Both of these devices use NXT SurfaceSound Technology which essentially turns any surface into a speaker. The devices work best when touching something hollow. It’s really simple, just plug in any portable audio device using the headphone jack, sit the Tunebug on your desk, hollow drawer, or even you head and it will turn that object into a speaker. The demo they had at the Expo was with helmets. If you snowboard, ski, ride a bike, or do anything that requires you to wear a helmet; it’s probably not a good idea for you be wearing headphones at the same time. I’m assuming you’ll want to be able to hear what is happening around you. So the friendly people at Tunebug feel the same way. Just attach your Shake or Vibe to your helmet with the anchors that come with your Tunebug and your helmet is now a surround sound speaker but you can still hear all the ambient noises around you. I wanted to buy one pretty much after I took the helmet off, but the blue-tooth version is not available yet. You can bet I’m going to go get one as soon as it is available. Look out for me I’ll be the guy on the MUNI wearing a helmet just so I don’t have to wear headphones and it will be awesome!

Pogo Stylus:
I never really had the need for a stylus, until I downloaded Zosh for my iPhone. So instead of running out to buy one I thought it would be more fun to make my own: DIY Stylus. However, with the announcement of the iPad I can see how styluses are going to get more popular. The Pogo stylus works extremely well and comes in two sizes: Stylus (large) and Sketch (small). So if you are of the artist type or like to sign documents I think you should pick one of these bad boys up. They are a nice compliment to the iPhone/iPod Touch and have a much more elegant look and feel than the one I made myself.

Scosche:
Scosche iPod and iPhone accessories are awesome. I own a set of Scosche headphones and I think they are fantastic. The sound quality is not what you would get out of a set of Shures but they are way better than Sony, Panasonic, or any middle of the road headphone out there. They also have a built in remote for the iPhone and iPod using TapLINE technology. It doesn’t stop there. All of their accessories I had a chance to look at were up to par. So instead of writing about all of them here are links to a handful of my favorite Scosche accessories:

• Headphones
• Solar Battery Pack
• Charging Wall Mount
• HD Video Cables

Uncommon iPhone Cases:
This a pretty interesting product. 100% customizable iPhone cases. Upload your photo or design to their website and they’ll print out your design for you on an plastic slider case and ship it out to you. That’s pretty much it. I encourage you to check out the site. If you are artistically challenged like myself and cannot come up with a cool design of your own you can check out their gallery which is built by several other artistically talented people. Also if you have an iPod Touch, plan on buying an iPad, or have a Blackberry Storm II they will make cases for you soon enough too. So check them out.

Beats by Dr. Dre:
I know these aren’t anything new, but they make me feel like a I am in a concert hall. I was surprised when I first tried these out a few months ago. I was expecting something gimmicky, but when put them on my ears I was, eating my words and contemplating dropping over $300.00 on a set of headphones. I know they are ridiculously priced but if I traveled and/or need something to pretty much isolate me from the world around me, I wouldn’t buy anything else. I’m so much of a dork that I would probably send mine into Colorware and get them colored with the Los Angeles Lakers Purple and Gold theme. I don’t have much else to say about them other than they are probably some of the best sounding headphones I have ever tried. The noise canceling Bose ones are nice too, but something about the Beats make them have a much richer sound and lets you clearly hear the highs, mids and lows of any type of music. I love them. I want them. My birthday is in April.

GelaSkins:
They make beautiful skins pretty much any of your gizmos and gadgets. They have skins for Blackberries, Palm Pres, Kindles, PC laptops, MacBooks, iPods, iPhones and a whole lot more. The artwork ranges from abstract art to comic books. The skins are printed on thick adhesive vinyl decals using 3M sticky stuff. You know the stuff that Romie and Michelle invented. Except this new 3M adhesive will not leave a residue and can be removed and reapplied a bunch of times. I don’t know the actual statistic, but the representative said he had demoed one decal over 100 times and it hasn’t lost it’s stickiness. Also they vinyl has these tiny grooves on the adhesive side making it really easy to press and smear out those annoying air bubbles. As an added bonus for you iPhone users out there, GelaSkins has a free iPhone App that allows you to save any of the artwork as wallpapers. This way you can have the matching wallpaper for the iPhone skin you just ordered from www.gelaskins.com. Well even if you don’t have a skin you can still take advantage of their services and decorate your iPhone with their wallpaper.

Those were the highlights of my trip to MacWorld Expo. I had a good time dorking out with fellow Apple fans. If you’d like more info or want to check out what other people thought, visit www.macworldexpo.com.

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