There are only a few days left until Macworld Expo, and we're mentally gearing up for the whole experience. The sights! The sounds! And, especially since the relocation to New York, the smells! (Last year, just walking the six blocks from our hotel to the Javits Center was an olfactory roller coaster ride of the highest caliber.) There's a ton to get excited about-- all the booths loaded with new products (many of which won't ship for another six months), the special show prices on all the latest goodies, being able to fill multiple bags with cheap plastic swag like promotional ball-point pens and logo keychains, etc. What we're looking forward to the most, though, is Steve Jobs' keynote address. We have a gut feeling that this keynote will be one of Steve's best ever, and that's really saying something. Somehow we think he's got a lot more than "just" the consumer portable up his big, baggy sleeves.

It would be a shame if the vast majority of the Mac faithful had to miss what may well turn out to be a momentous turning point in Apple's history just because they couldn't get away to New York, so Apple's doing their part to make sure that the event is as accessible as possible to the geographically remote. Those of you who aren't quite lucky enough to be Expo-bound but are lucky enough to have a satellite dish, Apple's posted the downlink information via a press release. And for those of you without dishes, was there ever any doubt that Jobs' keynote would also be webcast via the live streaming magic of QuickTime 4? Apple's got the web page all ready to go-- just point your browsers there on Wednesday at 9 AM EDT and be a witness to history. Or, at least, a witness to a small, pixelated, slightly smeared-out and fuzzy digital reproduction of history, at any rate. (Given the massive interest in this keynote, we think it'll be a great test of how well QuickTime Streaming performs under extreme stress.)

By the way, if you are going to be attending the show live and in person and you'd like to hook up with the AtAT staff to say howdy, drop us a line and we'll try to work something out. We're going to be absurdly busy, but we'd at least like to try to meet a few of you if our ridiculously jam-packed schedule permits. We'll try to reply to as many interested people as possible via email over the weekend; we hit the road on Tuesday. And yes, AtAT will continue to broadcast throughout the show, although we wouldn't be a bit surprised if episodes are sporadic and broadcast at distinctly bizarre times. Still, we'll do our level best.