Author: Kathryn Vercillo

Macworld 2008

Make Your Own Mac Games

by Kathryn Vercillo

Macworld Senior Editor Peter Cohen gave a presentation at MacWorld Expo today providing resources for Mac users to learn how to make their own games. The sites that he suggested were mostly for the creation of simple games but provided some options for more advanced users as well.

Here are the five sites that Cohen suggested would be good for guys (or gals) interested in making their own Mac games:

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Macworld 2008

Tech Tips for Teachers

by Kathryn Vercillo

There have been two presentations at MacWorld’s Users Conference which have focused on using today’s technology to be a better teacher. The one I went to yesterday was about Web 2.0 and its impact on e-Learning. The one I just came out of was on Teaching the Cybernetic Teen. Both of these presentations provided some great tips about how teachers can make use of the way that kids communicate through technology today to improve the way they educate those kids.

Here are some tech tips for teachers to take advantage of:

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Macworld 2008

Wikis: Where Collaboration Is Happening Today

by Kathryn Vercillo

The first two presentations that I went to today both focused a bit on collaboration. First, I went to Web 2.0 and E-Learning which had a segment about how online collaboration can benefit the classroom environment. Then I went to Collaborative Editing Tools and Techniques which focused on collaboration options for the publishing world, be it web publishing or print publishing. Although each of these presentations focused on multiple types of collaborative environments, they shared one strong suggestion in common. Both said that wikis could be successfully used as collaborative tools for essentially any environment.

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Macworld 2008

Girl Gamers at MacWorld

by Kathryn Vercillo

The first presentation of the Users Conference that I attended was this morning’s Vision Track presentation on the relationship between Web 2.0 and e-Learning. One of the things that speaker Nick Floro talked about was that educators can use gaming, especially interactive gaming platforms such as Second Life, to engage students who are used to dividing their attention amongst multiple things at once. (He explained how you can create classrooms in Second Life and use them to present video materials in a sort of online virtual interactive classroom).

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Accessories

MacWorld Gear and Accessories

by Kathryn Vercillo

Walking around MacWorld this week, I’ve rapidly learned that the laptop bag I use to hold my computer and notebooks and all of the other junk that I tote around isn’t really very comfortable. As a result, I found myself drawn to the many booths in Moscone West that were selling laptop bags. Once I’d turned my attention to that, I found that I was also pulled towards all of the different cases and accessories for other gadgets.

Here were some of my favorite accessories finds:

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Macworld 2008

The Women of MacWorld

by Kathryn Vercillo

As I was walking around the MacWorld Expo yesterday and this morning, it struck me that there seems to be a fairly even balance between men and women attending the event. This is a notable change from many of the tech events that I’ve attended over the years where I frequently find myself to be the lone gal in a group of guys. That got me wondering whether women were also equally represented as speakers at MacWorld.

A quick perusal of the conference speakers’ schedule reveals that the speaking part of the event continues to be male-dominated. However, there are some women speaking throughout the week. Here is some more information about the women that I found on the schedule:

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Macworld 2008

6 Macworld Users Conference Presentations for the Average User

by Kathryn Vercillo

The MacWorld Expo has a number of different conferences going on within it. Some people started attending lectures today at the Power Tools Conference. Others are waiting until later in the week when the Mac IT Conference begins. For the average user, the best conference is probably the Users Conference. Happening on Wednesday and Thursday, this conference is absolutely jam-packed with things to satiate the curiosity of any kind of computer user.

On each day, there are three time slots during which presentations will take place. This means that a person attending a full presentation during each time slot can catch six different Users Conference information sessions during the conference. There are seven to choose from at each time (falling under the general categories of Click, Create, Inspire, Leopard, Magic, Work, and Vision). Many of these presentations are of specific interests to certain niche users (gamers or photographers, for example). But there is at least one during each time slot that appeals to a more general audience.

Here are the six general presentations that a basic user might check out this week at MacWorld’s User Conference:

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Mac Switcher

5 Reasons Macworld Appeals to a PC User

by Kathryn Vercillo

As I’m walking around the Moscone Center checking out all that Macworld is going to offer this week, I’m highly aware of the fact that I am the only person in the entire building who is using a PC Notebook. (See original post here as to why I’m doing that.) As I enviously walk past all of the shiny, small notebooks with the Apple on the front of them, I feel conspicuous. I’m convinced that everyone is thinking, “what is this PC woman even doing here?!”

To answer that question, here are five good reasons that a PC user might want to be at Macworld this week.

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