I also spoke at the Conference, delivering a session called on keyboard shortcuts called “Look Ma, No Mouse!” If you attended the conference, you already know where to find the slides. IDG, the show’s organizer, will be sending out more information on that soon as well.

On the show floor, I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in MacJury Live – a session of Chuck Joiner’s excellent podcast done in front of a live audience. It was great fun talking about the show with Chuck and fellow jurors Jeff Gamet, Tanya Engst and Ted Landau — some of the smartest people in the Mac community. As soon as the show is posted (in video, no less!) I’ll put a link to it here.

Between the Mac Observer article and the MacJury podcast, I’ve said pretty much all I have to say on the topic, other than to reiterate that it was a great show, ironically made perhaps even better by Apple’s absence.

You can watch the interview below or on Chuck’s MacVoices website.

I was surprised then to hear about Twitbit, a new Twitter client for the iPhone that features — you guessed it — push notifications. I’m struggling to comprehend the benefit of this. Unless you’re following very few people (and if you are I’d argue you’re not a good candidate for a for-pay Twitter client for the iPhone) it seems like the near-constant notifications of new Tweets would quickly drive you crazy — not to mention kill your battery.

Twitbit’s developers say the app will be configurable in future versions, so you can turn notification off for regular Tweets, but on for Direct Messages. Since you can already set that to happen via email, I still don’t see a big benefit. It will be interesting to see how Twitbit does (or evolves).

Had I known my predictions carried such power, I surely would have gone with something other than a Twitter client with push notifications.

Twitbit is available in the iTunes store for $4.99. More information is available on the app’s website.

Another Your Mac Life development I meant to talk about but didn’t: YML is now available from iTunes as a free podcast. Previously, you could either listen to (or watch) the show live or stream the previous week’s show from the yourmaclifeshow.com website. If you wanted to listen to it on the go, you had to subscribe to the show via Audible.com. I’ve been pushing for the show to go the free podcast route for a while now, so I’m tremendously glad to see it happen. I think it will open the show up to a much bigger audience–one it richly deserves. Shawn has been broadcasting Your Mac Life (and its predecessor, The Mac Show) for years now–way before the word “podcasting” was even coined. He is, in my view, the Johnny Carson of tech broadcasting and a genuine pro in the medium.

So–what was my topic for tonight’s show? You’ll have to tune in to find out: the show runs from 8:30-11:00 p.m. and is available from the show’s website.

It’s a lively hour’s worth of talk about what’s in the update, what’s not and a little digging into what’s important and why. Panels this large can tend to get a little unwieldy, but thanks to Chuck Joiner’s expert choreography and the terrific panelists, the result is a spirited, friendly and fun discussion.

If you don’t already subscribe to the MacJury podcast, you should. It’s a consistently relevant, interesting and entertaining look at the issues surrounding Apple and the Macintosh.

Perhaps the biggest news — or at least the news with the most far-reaching consequences — is related to commerce. The iApp store will now have support for “in-App” purchases along with subscriptions. That means you can buy new furniture within The Sims, buy new books within an eReader app, or subscribe to a magazine or online financial service. The “one-and-done” method of purchasing iPhone apps could well be over. As I “semi-live-Tweeted” the event, I called iPhone 3.0 the “Monetization” update and noted that it would be interesting to see how the inevitable attempts by developers to “nickel and dime” the iApp buying process would fly in the face of the existing 99¢ per app mentality that seems to be dominating the market.

According to Apple’s numbers, both the iPhone and iApp store are performing very well. A good part of the event was devoted to citing statistics that back up that statement. As they say on the TV law programs, we’ll stipulate to that and waive reading.

In addition to the changes in App store commerce, Apple said it was also opening up 1,000 Application Programing Interfaces (APIs), including some that were previously there but unavailable, to allow for things like email within an application and turn-by-turn directions. (Map-using app developers will have to provide their own maps, however — Google’s are covered by a separate license and not available through the APIs.) These newly opened APIs will also allow accessory developers to explore new territories by creating devices that talk to the iPhone through its dock interface. Apple demonstrated a blood pressure application that used a cuff connected to the phone and another app that measured insulin levels for diabetics. Also new: peer-to-peer connectivity with other iPhones and a more robust Bluetooth, including support for stereo headphones.

For those keeping score with our iPhone 3.0 wishlist, we got the Cut and Paste we hoped for, in a seemingly well-thought-out implementation. We also got the long-promised push notification service that Apple hopes will serve as a suitable alternative to background processes. Apple explained the delay by saying that developer response to the iPhone was much bigger than they expected and that they needed the extra time to ensure they had a scalable solution.

We did not get the video recording we hoped for, although Apple has opened the door to more methods of video streaming. The company also says it’s been working hard on improving performance. And although application management doesn’t appear to have changed, the new iPhone OS will gain Spotlight, a system-wide search tool accessed by “swiping” the home page to the left. Another system-wide (or at least system wid-er) enhancements is landscape view in almost all Apple-bundled applications.

As for the continued absence of Flash, I’m becoming more and more convinced that it’s not so much a technical issue as it is Apple’s wariness of losing control over the platform. Flash would enable the iPhone to do a lot of things, whether Apple wanted them to or not. And some of those things could bypass Apple’s ability to charge for, or at least get a cut from them. Those capabilities, once in the wild, could be a very difficult genie to stuff back in the bottle.

You want more, you say? OK, there’s also support for MMS messages, Voice Memos, the ability to email multiple photos, “automatic” login at WiFi hotspots, and support for tethering — using your iPhone’s connectivity to allow your computer to connect to the Internet. Tethering still requires support from the phone carrier, which Apple says “it’s working on.”

Apple says the iPhone 3.0 beta will be available today for developers and “this summer” for the rest of us. Those familiar with Apple’s history of reading the calendar will note that summer lasts until September 19th (and a few hours into the 20th if needed.) Cost? Free for all iPhone users, which came as a surprise to me: I speculated that original iPhone owners would probably have to pay something for the update, due to Apple’s use of subscription-based accounting for the iPhone. The update will set iPod touch owners back $9.95. Also of note: older iPhone and iPod touch owners will miss out on some functionality, due to limitations in the hardware. For first-generation iPhone owners, that means no MMS or stereo Bluetooth; owners of older iPod touch devices will not get Bluetooth.

If you’re hungry for more of my take on the subject, I’ll be taking part in a MacJury podcast panel where I expect to say “monetize” a lot.

This article can also be read on The Mac/iPod Observer.

Here are a few of the things I’ll be looking for:

1. Copy and paste. (Duh.) Seriously, though, if this one doesn’t finally happen — or if it doesn’t happen without a good explanation of why it can’t — I’ll be dumbfounded. It’s a feature so integral to using a computing device it’s just astounding that it hasn’t happened yet. Don’t get me started.
2. Flash. Please? There are just too many Flash sites out there for this issue to continue to be left unaddressed. Other phones are starting to get it (do any already have it?), and it’s ubiquitous enough that you can’t really make the claim that you get the “whole Internet” without it. I do, however, wonder about the implications and whether or not it’s those implications, rather than technical limitations that are holding this up. Would Hulu work, for example? It seems that with Flash enabled, Apple would have much less control about what the iPhone could and could not do.
3. Video recording/streaming. In addition to the recording aspect, I’d still love to see video conferencing work, at least in iChat if not Skype. The Flash question again, though: with Flash enabled, could these video recording/conferencing solution work even without Apple’s sanction or support?
4. More robust iApps. Mail and Address Book come quickly to mind, but most of Apple’s built-in apps are in much need of updates. Even the Apple Remote app seems unnecessarily hobbled compared to the physical version.
5. Better application management. One of the best arguments for the case that Apple never really intended to allow third-party app development can be seen in the iPhone’s launcher. The number of apps is limited (to nine screens, I believe); it’s ridiculously hard to move apps and completely impossible to group, sort or otherwise organize them.
6. Performance. I know, I know, it’s a phone and I should be (and am) grateful for all the wonderful things it can do, but the iPhone is still dog-slow at lots of processing tasks, with interminable user interface delays and hangups with no feedback as to what if anything is happening.
7. Background process management. Apple had good arguments for not including this capability, but its seemingly terrific compromise (the “push server”) never materialized. Lots of apps need to do things in the background to be useful, and hopefully Apple has now figured out how to accomplish this without tradeoffs in battery life, performance or security.

I have one more hope, and it’s admittedly a big (and selfish) one. I want all these new features to work on my first generation iPhone. That happened with the 2.0 update and I’m hoping that Apple feels it has enough of those devices still in the field to make that a non-negotiable. The fact that, other than GPS and 3G networking, the second-generation iPhone still has the same specs makes me optimistic: it seems unlikely to me that Apple will announce new software that instantly renders every iPhone in the field obsolete.

I don’t expect to get away without having to pay for this update, though. The software will be announced tomorrow, but don’t expect it to ship then. My guess is late July or early August, just after the original iPhones slip past the two-year subscription period Apple uses for accounting purposes. I think the iPhone 3G users will get this one as a freebie, but I’m expecting to have to pay for it. I’d love to get off with a $20 hit, but my guess is it will be closer to $40 for those who bought early.

How far off am I with all these predictions? We only have to wait a day to find out.

We’ve been doing this for eight or nine years now, and I’m always impressed by how the documentation of the event evolves as technology progresses. From postage-sized, choppy video of our first gig at New York’s “Cooler,” to the High Definition clips of 2009, it’s been a pretty amazing progression. And, it’s always cool for those of us in the band to have a look and listen from the audience’s perspective.

So thanks to Chuck for taking, editing and posting these clips, and of course, a big thanks to the guys in the band who consistently make this night my favorite experience at Macworld: Paul Kent, Dave Hamilton, Chris Breen, Bob LeVitus, Duane Straub and Bryan Chaffin.

The episode — along with links to other videos taken that night — is available on the MacVoices TV website.