IDG World Expo has just announced the dates for Macworld Expo 2010, shifting the conference's historical January jaunt to February. The Macworld 2010 Conference and Expo will take place in San Francisco from February 9 - 13.

When I spoke to Paul Kent, the General Manager for Macworld Expo, earlier this afternoon, he stressed that IDG is answering a call from exhibitors and attendees to move the event to a less stressful time of year. Developers won't have to rush through the holidays to finish up software demos that might not be ready for a few months anyway, and exhibitors won't need to balance the holidays and booth-planning all at once.

The date change isn't the only new development: the Expo will run from Thursday February 11 - Saturday February 13 (the conference will run from the 9th - 13th). This means that attendees who are full-time professionals won't have to take off as much time from work. Can't make it on Thursday? Come on Saturday. Paul told me the real goal for Macworld 2010 is to make Macworld about the community.

After Apple announced that Macworld 2009 would be its last expo, the Mac community (and tech community at large) started speculating about the future of the event. Emerging from all this speculation is an interesting opportunity for Macworld to reinvent itself.

IDG announced during Macworld 2009 that Expo-only registration would be free. Already, more than 10,000 people have registered for the 2010 show.

Losing the largest show exhibitor does mean that the Expo floor will be scaled down. The Conference will be held in San Francisco's Moscone Center West, while the Expo will be in the North Hall (rather than the North and South as in years past). I think scaling the Expo down is a good idea. It's easier to interact with fellow show-goers in one space. In this economy, scaling down just makes sense.

Paul emphasized that there will be a real focus on independent software developers. I think this is a good thing and that Macworld has a real opportunity to define itself as not only a Mac community Woodstock, but also as a place for developers to talk, discuss, learn and show-off their wares. With iPhone development as hot as it is, a stronger focus on that audience has real potential.

There's a rumor at AppleInsider today which states that Apple may attend CES next year. In fact, they report that their sources close to Apple have called the move "...a done deal."

Why would Apple leave its own party to show up at one that is arguably Microsoft's? Here are a couple of guesses.

With the iPhone, iPod, AppleTV, Macs and OS X, Apple seems ready to reinforce its position as a consumer electronics company, and not "...that company that makes iMacs."

Also, consider the number of products that Microsoft has featured that never had a life off the stage. Here's Apple's chance to directly contrast such potential offerings with real products that are ready to ship.

Of course, this is all conjecture and one blogger's best guesses. We heard rumblings of this rumor last month and the consensus was a clear "No way." Honestly, I still believe that Apple will focus on smaller, Cupertino-based press events, and I'd be surprised if they showed up at CES. But what do I know? I still use a Newton.

As usual, Apple has released a Quicktime video of the keynote address from this year's Macworld Expo. This one's rather historic, as well all know. It's simultaneously Phil Schiller's first and Apple's last.

Right now it's available as a stream from Apple's website, but it typically shows up in the iTunes Store as a free download shortly thereafter. Be sure to grab a copy and "own a piece of history" as they say. Whoever "they" are.

So, what did you think of this year's presentation? We think Phil did a great job and was greeted warmly by the crowd. Sure, a little bit of fanfare would have been nice, but that was Tony Bennet's role, right?

Here's a shocker -- Apple shares slid 0.7 percent (as of this writing) after Phil Schiller concluded the company's last official keyonte address at Macworld Expo. Robert Francello, head of equity trading for Apex Capital hedge fund in San Francisco, blamed "...no true blockbusters" for the market's reaction.

With that, we have a large part of why Apple has abandoned the show. Ten or twelve years ago, Apple needed such a high-profile event to get its products noticed by as many people as possible. Additionally, they'd pack as much into those precious 90 minutes as they could, while they had everyone's attention.

Today, that's not the case. Phil Schiller noted that 3.4 million customers visit their retail stores per week, worldwide. The "lesser" press events, like the annual September iPod announcement, attract all the attention Apple needs. These are much less expensive to produce and allow Apple to release products when they're ready, not when the calendar reads "January." Therefore, there's no cache of goodies waiting for the Moscone Center, which always disappoints Wall Street and adversely affects Apple's stock price.

Sure, it's sad to see Apple go, but the "why" is clear.

[Via MacDailyNews]

With new software from Apple comes new guided tours hosted by clean cut, well-dressed Apple employees in the requisite uniform.

The iPhoto guided tour can be found here and features John, whom we've seen in other guided tours. It's a fun way to check out the new features that were demonstrated during the keynote, as well as others that didn't make the presentation.

The iMovie tour can be found here, and again features our friend John. We must admit that the animated map is pretty cool, even though we expect it to be heavily abused in the next few months.

Additionally, you'll find tutorials for the new versions of iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb and iDVD here. Check them out and decide if you're willing to pay the $79US upgrade fee.

During today's Macworld Keynote Phil Schiller announced the immediate release of iWork '09. We previously reported this was fairly likely given the slip-up over at Apple.com. The updated version of iWork is definitely more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Keynote
The first new feature of Keynote are the "Magic Move" transitions. Essentially, you set up your slides and Keynote automatically animates your objects and moves them from slide-to-slide. Additional text and object transitions have been added as well. For example, the text from one slide can morph into the text on the following slide.

The Theme Chooser has been updated as well. It now allows you to easily and quickly view and apply a theme as well. The Theme Chooser also makes it easy to quickly apply a particular slide size. The 3D charts and graphs have been updated as well to include additional textures and new animations.

The killer new feature in Keynote is the introduction of the Keynote Remote application for the iPhone or iPod touch. Using Wi-Fi you can view your slide as well as notes on the slide wirelessly from your iPhone or iPod touch. If you rotate your device into a landscape orientation you can view the current slide as well as the next slide. In true touchscreen form you can swipe your finger across the screen to advance to the next slide.

Click the read link for more information about iWork '09.

For full Macworld Expo coverage, bookmark the TUAW Macworld Expo 2009 landing page. If you missed our liveblog coverage, you can review it here.

The laptop is less than an inch thick, and weighs 6.6 pounds. It features a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo process, 6 MB of L2 cache, GeForce 9600M GT video card, and supports up to 8GB of memory. The default configuration with 4GB of memory and a 320GB hard disk ships for the same price as before: $2,799.

The 17-inch MacBook Pro now features a non-removable battery with an estimated eight-hour life. The battery will also last for 1,000 cycles, according to the presentation. The battery is 40 percent larger than its predecessor, which allows for a greater charge and better life. The trade off, of course, is the fact that it's not user-replaceable.

Apple is touting the new MacBook Pro as among its greenest line of laptops ever. The new battery for this model has three times the life of older MacBooks, lasting up to five years, which for many may be the life of the computer. It also earns an EPEAT Gold rating, and it contains no arsenic, BFR, mercury, and less PVC.

Earlier today at Macworld Expo, Phill Schiller announced that availability of iLife '09. Not a huge surprise, as a few of us guessed we'd see an iLife update today, but it does offer some cool new features.

iPhoto

iPhoto has been updated with two features called "Faces" and "Places." Faces, as you may have guessed, lets you tag photos by subjects' faces, similar to what Facebook and Picasa have done. iPhoto makes its best guess as to the identity of a subject based on previous tags and asks for confirmation. Of course, Phil called it "..the best technology we've found for face detection."

Places allows for geotagging of photos. Some cameras and the 3G iPhone will use GPS information to tag photos on longitude and latitude. iPhoto then organizes those photos by location, or "place." Also, Flickr and Facebook support are built-in. Those without GPS access can retro-tag photos by hand.

Other iPhoto features include enhanced slideshows and travel books.

Click below to read more about iLife '09

Update: Reader Lou purchased iLife '09 today, and says his receipt shows a ship date of Feb. 09.

For full Macworld Expo coverage, bookmark the TUAW Macworld Expo 2009 landing page. If you missed our liveblog coverage, you can review it here.

Good news for Skype users. Skype has announced the availability of Beta 2.8 for the Mac, which offers two huge new features: Screen sharing and WiFi access for a MacBook or MacBook Pro via "Skype Access."

Screen sharing works via the Skype video channel, of course, and allows for a complete view of a participant's screen. For now, only a Mac may act as a source, though a Linux or Windows machine can view its screen. File transfer is also possible, though a lot of detail wasn't available on this.

The other major feature, Skype Access, offers WiFi access for a MacBook or MacBook Pro via any Boingo access point. These include McDonald's, hotels like Marriott and Hilton and more than 500 international airports. Skype Access will run you $0.22US (€0.16) per minute using Skype Credits.

While we haven't had a chance to play with it yet (we're a bit distracted by a little trade show today), the pitch from Skype sounds interesting. Let us know if you give this a try.

Take a stroll on over to Apple's downloads page and peek at the 5th entry under Top Downloads. What you will find is an entry for iWork '09 -- which has yet to be announced.

We currently don't have any information available as to what changes would be present if iWork or iLife were updated. However, you can bet that if the Philnote features any dazzling effects not previously seen, they are likely a part of the updated suite.

Given that Apple is so secretive this seems like quite the slip up. While not featured in our rumor roundup, we would not be at all surprised for an update to both the iWork and iLife suites to be announced. If you have any hot features you'd love to see in an updated iWork or iLife suite throw them down in the comments.

Thanks Nick for sending this in!

As expected, the US online Apple Store has become unavailable as it's prepped to sell this afternoon's post-keynote goodies.

While you're waiting, why not take a last gander at the rumors, check out our photos from Macworld Expo or dust off your credit card in preparation for a new Mac mini?

To our readers outside the USA: is the online Apple Store down in your neck of the woods, too? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to TUAW for our live coverage of the Phil Schiller keynote later today.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Every other year for the last 7 years, Shawn King of the Your Mac Life podcast has given the Apple faithful a chance to go on a pilgrimage to 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino, the location of Apple headquarters.

As part of our continuing coverage of Macworld Expo 2009, Christina Warren and yours truly hopped on the bus along with about 30 other alpha geeks to visit the Mecca of Macdom and pick up some Apple swag at the Company Store. Former TUAW blogger and Realmac Software PR Ninja Nik Fletcher joined to take photos.

I dropped some spendolas on Apple gear, including a logo hat, long-sleeve black mock tee, polo shirt, and three big coffee mugs. C-mac, being the resident TUAW fashionista, bought an Apple notebook (the kind with paper sheets in it), a couple of pens, a navy hoodie, a knit cap, two caps (one knit, one military), and a short sleeve tee.

There were several prize drawings on the ride home, and I won an 8GB blue iPod nano courtesy of a "Secret Santa." Suh-weeet!

It's too late to join this year's Tour de Cupertino, but keep your eyes and ears open before future Macworld Expos to see if Shawn is planning another trip. Check out the gallery below.

As we draw ever nearer to Phil Schiller's Macworld keynote, we've been privy to more rumors than a high school cafeteria. What's the fun of a juicy tidbit that you can't share? Here's our roundup of the latest Macworld Expo rumors. Just don't tell anyone we told you.

AT&T Tethering A little birdie flew into TUAW headquarters earlier this morning and suggested that tethering between an iPhone and an Apple laptop was imminent. Specifics were sketchy, but MacBlogz suggested that a 5 GB data cap and $30/month supplementary cost is likely. For an additional $30/mo, I'll wait until I find a Wi-Fi hotspot. But I'm a cheapskate.

MegiPod Techcrunch suggested that a larger touch-based iPod is in the works. Supposedly all current apps will run on it, which suggests resolution independence or serious hocus-pocus. That's a technical term.

Unibody 17 inch MacBook Pro This one seems likely, as the 17 inch MBP is the only Apple laptop without a sleek, new body. The juicy part of this rumor is the addition of a slim, non-removable and long-lasting battery. That should get the community fired up.

New iMacs The iMac has been the star of many Macworld Expos, and we wouldn't be surprised if it happened again this year. It's a consumer show, the iMac is Apple's consumer desktop and it's certainly due for a makeover. Rumors suggest that the new iMac will feature a similar form factor and a new 65W, low-power, quad-core desktop chip from Intel. There are also questions about a new cooling system, but we couldn't learn any more about that (read: the Magic 8 Ball said, "Ask again later.").

New Mac mini Probably the most reliable rumor of the bunch is the new Mac mini. We're glad that rumors of its discontinuation have been greatly exaggerated, because the diminutive mini is a great little workhorse. This rumor is twofold. First, it seems that the internal optical drive will changing to a SATA optical drive, which can be replaced with a second SATA hard drive. Secondly, the new mini will sport an aluminum body topped with black plastic.

Update: SeeFile pretty much spilled the beans on the new mini.

We've also compiled a wish list of things not necessarily floating around as rumors. First, an update to the AppleTV would be nice, especially if it came with Hulu support (think of an Apple version of Boxee). iLife '09 seems likely as well, though we haven't heard any rumblings. The iPhone nano case leaks are interesting but we haven't seen anything definitive there.

I hope we get a full demo of Snow Leopard and a release date. Sure, it won't have a lot of demo-friendly, whiz-bang new features, but we feel certain the changes that make the cut will please just about everyone.

That's what we've got so far. If you want to pass us a note in study hall, we're all ears.

Ars is reporting that software company SeeFile may have exposed at least a part of Apple's plans for the new Mac mini. According to a poorly timed press release (it's actually dated January 6th, the same day as Phil's keynote), the "New Apple Mac Mini hardware [will] be supported by revolutionary SeeFile web sharing DAM software." The SeeFile software is used to build a no-fuss, digital asset manager accessible via a web browser and starts at $499US.

Here's where it gets interesting. Towards the end of the press release, we find this

"Complete bundled server systems including a Mac mini server with 1 terabyte of storage are available starting at $1,495. The hosted Web service will be available starting in February 2009 at several pricing tiers, starting at under $50 per month."

We can only assume that SeeFile will be selling minis bundled with their software and not Apple. Many people use minis as home servers, and with the rumor of 1TB of internal storage all but confirmed by this press release, building a similar, web-accessible setup should become very easy indeed.

Either way, the lesson here is the same: Don't hit your web editor's "Publish" button unless you really mean it.

Everyone in the Apple community is eager to see Phil Schiller deliver tomorrow's keynote address at Macworld Expo. While we're uncertain as to what he'll do, we know that he won't be leaping onto an inflatable mattress while holding a laptop. Because he's already done that.

At Macworld Expo '99 in New York City, Phil demonstrated a Tangerine iBook's wifi capabilities and accelerometer by falling from a significant height onto a small mattress below, thus ushering him into "The Demo Hall of Fame." It might not have been the Mother of All Demos, but still pretty cool. Way to take one for the team, Phil!

Click below to watch the video.

[Thanks to the folks at thinkingbricks for pointing this out]