Green Building Concepts sends representatives annually to the Apple Computer gathering in San Francisco. With all the possible announcements at Macworld, there were some surprises at the show. Apple, being a smaller player in the information technology (IT) realm, waits until large tradeshows or special press gatherings to get free advertising and media blitz to reduce marketing costs. When a product is announced, it's usually ready to go, be it software or hardware.

Apple gave us a few revelations, including two new PowerBook G4 designs: a 12 inch and 17 in screen models. With a novel print and broadcast campaign, these two notebook computers should bring new customers to the Apple fold. Next up, came very many software releases.

Available immediately in beta form, Apple delivered the free and best web browser for Macintosh OS X called Safari. Using an open source rendering engine called Kongueror, the Macintosh now is a full citizen on the web. OS X Jaguar already delivers the most robust OS in history, and fully internet enabled with every page view a PDF, and Apache web server installed in every box. If Safari was not enough, Apple also released the $99 Keynote presentation software, which will take a bite out of the Microsoft Office juggernaut. Final Cut Express (FCP Express) carves out a niche in-between the free iMovie 3 and $999 Final Cut Pro. FCP Express offers all the most useful features for the miniDV editor and prosumer, without the added luggage of broadcast or feature film functionality. At $299, Final Cut Pro will compete head to head with Adobe Premiere.

In an effort to bring all the iApps into a common workflow, Apple released iLife, which includes the latest versions of iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, and iDVD. Each application is aware of data stored in each other's file, so projects can be easily massaged and integrated into a whole presentation, DVD, or webcast. Other interesting releases include Extensis Portfolio for OS X and Nemetschek VectorWorks.

Links:
apple.com Safari
apple.com Keynote
apple.com Final Cut Pro Express
apple.com iLife
Konqueror Project
Extensis Portfolio
Nemetschek VectorWorks