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Music Geeks, Tech Nerds Unite At Macworld In San Francisco

Macworld/iWorld 2012 
The Moscone Center – West Hall
800 Howard St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
(805) 290-1341
Dates: Thu, Jan 26 – Fri, Jan 27 2012
Prices and packages run in three categories, early-bird to December 5, regular to January 24, and on-site January 25 – 28, 2012
iFan pass: $100 or $125; Exhibits pass: $30 or $45; All-access pass: $800 or $850; Pre-conference workshops: $325 or $375; Mac IT: $750 or $795
Some activities in the evenings are for those twenty one and over with identification required.
Register on line or purchase on site
www.MacworldiWorld.com

Have you ever thought about making your own videos or recordings, or trying out the newest and most ingenious and creative gadgets side-by-side with the Technorati? Macworld/iWorld 2012 will be at Moscone Center Thursday, January 26 through Saturday, January 28, and provides face-to-face interactive demonstrations and performances with programmers and artists. Providing access to new products, the whole show is often aimed at the independent film and music worlds. Musicians and videographers will perform and instruct, plus electronic DJs will be competing against each other for $1,000.

Related: Latest news on Apple.

RapidFire
RapidFire, new for 2012, involves consecutive five-minute presentations designed to inform and entertain attendees. The hosts will have the clock running for the two-hour event and cut off each presenter promptly at five minutes as they compete against the clock to explain a concept or feature. Although no prizes are awarded, the status and admiration from the Technorati is a treasure in itself. RapidFire will be part of the main stage events at Macworld Live.

Macworld Live
Macworld Live will showcase live interviews hosted by the editors of Macworld magazine, as well as demos and commentary from the main stage. Macworld.com will also stream the event live its website. Jason Snell, the VP and editorial director at Macworld magazine, explained "On our stage it'll be various writers who cover Apple and related technologies, artists who use Apple products, and the like. Sort of the 'Today Show' of the show floor."

The Midway
The Midway refers to the second floor of Moscone Center, which will be transformed into a collection of visual and musical attractions. Among them will be a "South Park" inspired art exhibit and a music studio with Berklee College of Music.  Each day professional musicians will perform and instruct on how to rehearse, record, perform, edit and write songs.

macworld2
Macworld 2011 attendees check out products at the showroom. (Photo by Ryan Anson/AFP/Getty Images)

A few highlights include Thursday's Music Studio  with a seminar on the Mac DJ, plus full-blown performance with four musicians performing on guitar, saxophone, bass, keyboards, electronic drums and percussion with several iPads and a Macbook Pro. Friday, January 27 on the Midway, David Mash hosts Mac for the Guitarist. Guitarist Sal Saghoian will perform after, playing jazz and Broadway standards, on a guitar synced to Apple's Mainstage software. The Saturday, January 28th  music studio includes drums and instructions on how to set up your own studio.

iFanEvent Tech Talks 
iFan Event Tech Talks go from music and video to camping, photography and forensics, on a first-come, first-served basis.  iFan includes 65 forty-five minute Tech Talks plus music performances with featured musicians using Apple technology on how to do things like make a live concert DVD and more.

Thursday Tech Talks
iShotThat!, from 2 to 2:45 p.m. is a crowd-sourced film.  The talk includes film shooting techniques with John Turner using Final Cut Pro to make a promo in four days. Thursdays Tech Talks should appeal to visual artists as well, with more "South Park" in its Thursday showing of how "South Park" goes from an idea to a 22-minute episode in one week.

Friday Tech Talks
Would you like to take better pictures with your iPhone?  Would you like to get the most out of your camping experience with high tech?  Chuck La Tournous' "The Great Geek Outdoors" tech talk on Friday, January 27, covers iOS applications on everything from astronomy, knot-tying and first aid, to how to find and stay on a trail and even how to call for help when reception is poor.

Saturday Tech Talks

Another novel and educational tech talk will be with Sacramento Coroner Gregory Wyatt, a CSI presentation on Saturday morning at 10 a.m.  He's going to show how social media helps solve even very old crimes and John Doe cases, and how digital imaging and finger printing at death scenes plays a role in real-time identifications.  Wyatt will use real case studies and distinguish between what's real and what's Hollywood. Saturday's tech talks also bring more film making at 10:00 a.m. with iStopMotion and a young claymation film maker from Danville, California: Gordon Straub. Move over, Gumby, Mr. Bill and Wallace & Grommit.

Silent Frisco
Another iFan event will be Silent Frisco on Thursday and Friday, where attendees wear patented wireless headphones and switch back and forth between dueling dance parties, each with its own DJ.

RISE Electronic Music DJ Battle & Bash
The RISE Electronic Music DJ Battle & Bash will feature competitive shows by electronic DJs and a special performance by a Grammy-nominated techno-musician, BT.  If you are curious as to what techno-music is, BT has out a recent two-hour double-disk called "These Hopeful Machines."  The DJs in the RISE Battle compete for the $1,000 prize before a live audience who will vote on a winner.

Other Exhibits 
Another exhibit, The First Looks program, lets attendees indentify and try out new products. The Mobile Apps showcase will have the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch developers who will actually let attendees play with the mobile apps.  The OS X zone will have actual programmers letting attendees experience new programs for education, entertainment and creativity.

Related: Steve Jobs remembered as the "Wizard of Cupertino."

Cindy Warner is a San Francisco Bay Area native. Cindy has covered SF theater and opera for Examiner.com via her bicycle since January 2009. Check out her work on Examiner.com.


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