Big Mac 'eds get together on Apple

It's not often you get three ex Mac magazine editors together in one room, and that hasn't happened that I know of, but one cold morning this week Matthew JC. Powell managed to pull it off. Virtually.

We had Matthew (who is a former editor of Australian Macworld), me (former editor of NZ Macguide magazine) and Jim Dalrymple, who was one of the original members of MacCentral, then a writer at Macworld (the IDG US parent magazine of Australian Macworld). Dalrymple held several positions at Macworld over ten years; his final job was Editor at Large - he left in May 2009. We communicated on Skype, connecting New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

Matthew JC. Powell is the editor of the electronic MacTheMag, oversees MacTheForum and produces MacThePodcast and MacTheTwit from Sydney.

We talked about the CreativeTech conference in Auckland this coming September - Powell is a guest keynote speaker - and Jim said it sounds good, can I send him more info?

Sure, and I warned him we may be in touch for July 2011, too - Dalrymple would be a great speaker, and has a deep interest in music and electric guitar as well as Apple.

Matthew JC. Powell became Editor of Australian Macworld when Osmund Iversen left in August 1996, and stayed until IDG stopped publishing AMW in September 1997.

IDG and Ziff-­Davis, which at the time owned MacUser, merged their Mac publishing efforts into a joint venture called Mac Publishing LLC, and all of the international editions had to merge as well.

Australian Macworld survived as a brand, but Niche Media (which had been the licensee for Australian MacUser) became its publisher. Matthew stayed at IDG, but went to Niche to edit the magazine (which is still going) in 2001.

I interviewed Matthew for the MagBytes monthly newsletter of tips, tricks and info I send out by email every month. (If you want it, just email newsletter@mac-nz.com with 'MagBytes' in the subject line. The newsletter is free, and the email list is private and protected - hundreds of people already enjoy the service.)

Macworld the US magazine is owned by IDG; IDG's events department runs the confernce of the same name. Everyone thought this was doomed when Apple stopped attending last year, but it ran seemingly happily without Apple and it has announced by email that free registration for the 2011 conference is now open. For those who register before July 26, your ticket to the San Francisco convention will be free.

Of course, you have to cover all the other costs - flights, food, accommodation ... Matthew JC. Powell is famous for actually typing out and sending the entire Steve Jobs' keynote one year to his magazine - from a Palm!

After the two-week period, the Macworld conference cost becomes that of the standard ticket.

When I emailed Powell a couple of weeks ago, he said he was a little concerned that Apple's focus has shifted too much away from Macs.

As a fellow long-term Mac user, I find myself sharing this feeling. Powell said "All the big announcements seem to be about iPad and iPhone and iOS. Mac updates happen almost by stealth."

But "That's not really a bad thing. Companies change, and good businesses adapt to those changes ... Once the iPhone 4 rollout is complete, I hope we'll see some more emphasis on making the Mac more attractive to more people."

Ah, those iDevices ... since we were talking to Jim in Canada, we had to ask him, as an actual owner and reviewer of an iPhone 4, how his cell reception was.

Jim said that even in the worst area he knew of for cellphone reception near his home, he had never lost a call, even when the bars were low. He had also, in a lengthy review, tried out the 'grip of death' and he said it was well named, because it was hard to administer.

He admitted that it was possible, though - "but boy, do you have to squeeze it hard!" The reception bars duly dropped until there was no signal, but trying this during a call did not lose connection.

Jim said that maintaining this grip through even a short call would be extremely difficult, and that nobody he knew would ever hold a phone that way anyway - and no, he did not have his 4 in a case.

By the way, Dalrymple also said he got nearly two days' battery life out of it by turning off 3G; I'm now trying the same on my 3GS.

As TUAW writes, "What's going on with the iPhone? It certainly depends on who's talking. This morning Dan Frommer of Silicon Alley Insider says the iPhone reception problem is a non-issue and will blow over."

But Apple is definitely under threat. Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac writes "In the minds of mainstream consumers - the kind of people who don't read tech blogs - the iPhone 4 has a major hardware flaw and a leading consumer-advocacy publication is telling them to stay away. If this isn't a PR crisis for Apple, I don't know what is."

It's not really affecting sales yet, though this may change. The bottom line is, if you want an iPhone 4, consider a case for it.

As I've said before, I still want one. It's faster, slimmer, and has a better camera. I won't be doing wrist compressions on it anyway.

- Mark Webster mac-nz.com