Macworld wrap up

Ok, first a huge apology. I went to Macworld with every intention of taking great photos and commenting every day on the things I saw.

Note to self: Bring out _two_ digital cameras next year and don't schedule so many meetings!

Long story short, my camera got hosed, I got too busy, and my Macworld reporting experiment was a bust. Next year I PROMISE I will be better prepared.

I did post, however, some photos from Corey Johnson, our Director of Product Development, that have moderate entertainment value. If nothing else, you'll get to see some of the faces behind the emails/phone calls.

From our perspective, this was the busiest Macworld we have been to since starting to exhibit 4 years ago. With MacJournal 5 and StoryMill being released at the same time, I think it's safe to say we need to do a better job pacing ourselves next year! We did get to talk to many wonderful people (including Sinbad, who, as our QA gal Dawn says, "has looks and brains!") - thanks for all those that stopped, it was great to meet you.

See ya next year.

Mike

Macworld - Day 1

Interesting times. Yesterday started off with the keynote and as you probably have gathered, the Apple-faithful were jacked up to hear Steve introduce the "next big thing."

They weren't disappointed.

Steve introduced the MacBook Air (love the name) and, let me tell you, this thing is thin! And it weighs a lot less than you would expect too. I think the masses weren't all that jazzed about the price point but I suspect after the first month or three when they have sold to the biggest chunk of early adopters, they will come down to the $1,500ish range.

Steve, of course, hasn't shared that with me - I'm just guessing.

The Apple TV announcement was sort of cool. It was interesting to hear Steve admit that Version 1 of Apple TV was a bit of a failure.

The movie rental thing should be a hit. You can almost see that Apple is expanding its reach into media distribution. The days of being a computer company are long gone.

There were a few other announcements but I have a ton to do today so I'll blog more tonight. I had some technical difficulties with my camera today so I'll post more pics tomorrow.

From our side of things, I can't recall a Day One being any more busy. Tons of traffic. For those that stopped by to say hi, thanks for taking time out in your day to visit.

Mike

PS: We also attended the Microsoft-sponsored, Devo-jamming (yes, THE Devo with the hats and all) Macworld Blast Party last night. That was just bizarre. Devo and Microsoft...I'm not sure which one was less interested in being there.

Macworld

Well, we are off on our little adventure we call, Macworld Expo week. This is our fourth and, most definitely, largest appearance on the show floor and to say that I'm relieved the day is here is an understatement. I'll be posting some blogs from the show (with photos) so check back later here.

Here's a photo I snapped last night of our booth at 80% complete.

Mike

Beta Testers Wanted!

Folks-
For a short period of time we will be releasing MacJournal 5 to the public before its
official release this month. This isn't a public beta, per se, just an opportunity to
get a sneak peek. If interested and are willing to contribute feedback, download a
copy here...

http://www.marinersoftware.com/MacJournal.dmg

Here are some of the highlights...

•All new interface, built for Mac OS X Leopard.

•Add any kind of content, not just text. Drag PDFs, QuickTime movies, images,
and more into the Sidebar to create an entry with anything on your computer.

•Open more than one MacJournal document at a time and save them
wherever you want, or just use the default document and never worry about
saving.

•Create Smart Journals from searches you perform.

•Create aliases to entries that you can store in other journals.

•Assign each entry a rating, status, and priority, and sort any journal by those values.

•Record video from your iSight and attach it to any entry.

•Performance enhancements for working with large amounts of entries.

•And a ton more...

If you have feedback, please send it via email to bugs@marinersoftware.com.

thanks for your support!

Mike

StoryMill...our latest release!

We're pretty excited about our next offering, StoryMill, which has been in beta for awhile now. StoryMill is the latest release in Mariner Software's long (and growing) line of writing and creativity software. This time for novel writing.

So how do you describe StoryMill?

Part word processor, part database and built from the ground up for OS X (just how we like it!), StoryMill is the new, smart and
systematic way to write your best seller.

StoryMill has a ton of features but here are some...

-Track, tag and filter characters, scenes, locations, and research with StoryMill's unique dynamic outline.

-Visually and interactively display your story across time with StoryMill's timeline view.

- annotate any text in your project.

- revise your work with innovative tools like a word frequency tracker and cliche finder.

- set and achieve your daily writing goals with the progress meter.

- built-in support for tracking submissions to editors and agents.

-Manage the creative writing process with Smart Views.

-Write, distraction-free, in Full Screen Mode.

-View your novel in multiple views.

-Back up any and all activity in StoryMill

-Native Cocoa, Universal, and Leopard compatible.


This app makes writing fiction or short stories so easy that even a writer as talentless as me can crank out a masterpiece. :-)

We hope to release StoryMill at the Macworld Expo so we are getting close. Be sure to download a copy and try it for yourself.

Mike