TUAW buddy Adam Jackson has posted pictures he took of a WWDC poster that's currently hanging in the Moscone Center. Bearing the phrase "One year later. Light-years ahead" and several flying app icons, it puts the iPhone front-and-center, as one would expect. Some folks are using Flickr's Notes feature to ID apps they recognize. Feel free to fill in the gaps.

We expect Apple to demo and distribute a new, nearly-final build of Snow Leopard to developers, and at least announce a ship date for iPhone OS 3.0. It will be nice if we get a firm release date for Snow Leopard and a preview of new iPhone hardware, but we aren't holding our breath. Stay tuned to TUAW during the show for coverage and reaction to everything from WWDC.

Of course, I wouldn't be a nit-picky jerk if I didn't mention that a year is a measure of time while a light year is a measure of distance. I wonder if the new iPhone will make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

Thanks Adam!

Spring is in the air, although we're in the midst of a blizzard here in the Denver area. That means one thing -- the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is coming soon!

Eric over at coreiphone.com sent us a tip this morning that shows that the WWDC is scheduled for June 8 - 12 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, and that the WWDC website is up and running. Purchasing your registration by April 25, 2009 saves you a cool US$300 and you'll only shell out US$1,295. After April 25th, the price goes up to $1,595.

If you're planning on attending this year's premier Apple development event, be sure to register as soon as possible. Last year's WWDC sold out early, leaving many frustrated iPhone and Mac developers standing outside Moscone weeping uncontrollably.

Act now -- operators are standing by!

With apologies to Carole King: "Now it's too late, bayyybeee, now it's too late, though we really did try to make it..."

If you were waiting until the last minute to get your reservations in for Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, aka WWDC 2008, you're out of luck. All available spaces at Apple's annual developer love-fest have been taken, so you'll have to wait until next year's event to get your fix of sessions and labs.

That also means you're going to miss out on the Steve Jobs keynote address, which you'll hear about within minutes of it happening anyway. Don't procrastinate for WWDC 2009!

Thanks to Chris C. for the tip!

Every Macworld Expo brings us the Macworld Best of Show Awards, which is exactly what you'd expect it to be - the anointing of the Expo's best, most innovative new products, as chosen by the editors of Macworld magazine. Previously the award "ceremony" was closed to the public, but this year Macworld is shaking things up a bit by opening it up to all registered Macworld attendees.

If your company has something worth considering, time is running out to get your submissions in. The deadline for guaranteed consideration is December 15th, 2006, so get cracking!

By opening the awards to all, companies will get even greater exposure and attendees and contestants both will get to hear, first hand, why certain products were chosen.

The Best of Show ceremony will be held on January 10, 2007, at 2:45 p.m. at the Moscone Center. We'll be there. Will you?

Chalk this one up to the Mac's growing popularity. Typically the Macworld San Fransisco expo is held in the Moscone center's South wing, which is just large enough to fit all the exhibitors. Not anymore, says Chris Saribay, who discovered that for MWSF 2007, IDG will actually be utilizing both Moscone South and, for the first time in years, North. According to Chris: "Apparently the main exhibit hall is already nearly filled to capacity, making sense to bring another exhibit hall online."

Is this Good or Bad? Well, let's see:

Upside: More Mac users
Downside: More Mac users (you know what I mean)
Upside: More Mac products
Downside: More substandard Mac products
Upside: More press coverage for the platform
Downside: More work to do Macworld week
Upside: More free swag from the booths

Upsides win!

If the WWDC 06 tension is becoming too much to bear, TUAW reader Gernot Poetsch probably isn't helping anything, as he sent a link to his Flickr account with a pic of some more banners in Moscone hall. If you check out his larger copy at Flickr, you can (almost) clearly see the banner at the top of the image says, and I quote: "Introducing Vista 2.0"; an attitude that clearly reflects just a slight bit of confidence on Apple's part in light of what is now four years of Vista setbacks.

Another image in Gernot's photostream is titled Hasta la Vista. Vista, and while it isn't a clear shot of the banner, it doesn't sound far-fetched from all the other marketing previews we've been graced with so far.

Here's hoping Apple previews a Mac OS X 10.5 on Monday that lives up to all the Vista jabs they've been taking. We'll post more of these goodies as we come upon them, but for now, you can resume your anxious pacing.

Having never been to a Macworld before, let alone San Francisco, I thought I'd let those of you who have never been here in on some first impressions. First off, San Francisco is quite an amazing town. The people have been fantastic, the food, the architecture, and so on. But this isn't a travel blog, it's a Mac blog. So let me tell you about this Macworld thing, seen through the eyes of a total MWSF n00b. And I want to thank everyone for sending in those comments and suggestions on things to do in the City (see, I got it). At least I never called it "frisco."

My father, brother, and I travelled to San Francisco with one goal in mind: see the rock show that is the keynote. In fact, we are leaving today because my brother has to get back to his college classes before he gets in trouble. Since when did education mean not broadening your horizons? Oh well. Yes, we paid nearly $200 a person just to be at the real Macworld for a day. We're crazy like that. Luckily, since we got up at 4 a.m. and stood in line for a couple of hours, we did. But I'll talk about that in a moment.

Ahh, I'm on the ground at Macworld. I can smell the Apple goodness. Everywhere I look I see an iPod ad, or a Mac person using a Powerbook. Methinks this is heaven.

However, there is one thing that isn't right and it is the price of food at the convention center. I needed a good dose of Pepsi, so I sought some out. A 20 ouncer cost me $2.75. The woman in front of me paid over 8 bucks for a small sandwich. Luckily Macworld has compiled a list of cheap eats around Moscone for transport on your iPod, so I won't be making the same mistake twice.

Who wants to grab lunch with me at some point this week?