Compared to CES earlier in the month, the company names at Macworld, with all due respect, just aren’t as impressive. Apple’s gone. Okay. But what about Adobe, Belkin, and Altec Lansing? What about some of my smaller favorites such as Nisus, Mariner, Aspyr and Speck? Even expo stalwarts Boinx took 2011 off. Why?

My first training session Macworld Conference and Expo 2011 was in the iPad usage track with Macworld’s featured artist, Kyle Lambert. A traditionally trained artist, he has easily adapted to using computers for his art. Kyle shared with us a video that highlighted some of his digital works, and then he began to explain and show us how these were created using his Mac, iPhone and iPad.

Macworld Expo is deeper than just the expo hall or even the keynote speakers. There is also a conference that includes training sessions that are hidden gems just waiting to be discovered. There are basically two types of training: all day workshops that start the day before the expo opens, and then shorter technical or skill-enhancement sessions that are spread out over the days of the expo. In past years, I have attended the workshops and conferences where I hope you will see in this series is a genuine value to those of us who use Apple products.

It’s been a while now since Macworld Expo ended, and we’ve since seen a MacBook update that probably should’ve been in the keynote, and heard more news on the health of Steve Jobs. Thinking past this back to the show, and having finally dug through all the product materials we collected, the Appletell writers who were at Moscone have finally been able to select their favorite products of the 2009 expo.

The last Macworld Expo I attended was in 2004. It was my first in San Francisco, as New York had previously been my beat. But even on the other side of the continent, it still felt familiar to me. It still felt like a Macworld Expo. The iPod was still fairly new, there was no iPhone, and people were there to hear about the Macintosh. Macworld Conference and Expo is now a different beast, and by beast, I mean that little duck from Wonder Pets with the annoying voice.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. The dental pick part is, but not the destruction of Macworld. Apple took care of that by its own self, thank you very much. Rather, while watching a demo of how DriveSavers rescues data from damaged hard drives, Jake was selected to be the one to cause the damage. Check out the video to see just how bad your drive actually looks when you hear that dreaded clicking sound and find yourself face to screen with a lonely question mark.

By now, it’s old news that Apple will no longer be participating in Macworld, one of the biggest Mac focused conference events around. The concrete reason from Apple for this unexpected dropout is nonexistent, making it hard for many of us loyal Mac users to know why they have decided to stop. However, when Apple leaves something open to interpretation from their customers, that is exactly what is going to happen. The following reasons are a couple potential causes for Apple’s “abandonment” of Macworld.

That’s one way to say “cancelled.” Okay, I’m done.

Wednesday at 5:00, IDG held a town hall meeting at Macworld Conference and Expo to discuss the future of the annual event. Paul Kent started the townhall meeting by talking about what Macworld is. You already know it’s not like a typical trade show. Macworld is about users coming together. IDG has been doing Macworld for 25 years now. When the Mac was born, they had a Macworld. Up until now, they’ve endured. But what about the future? What does 2010+ hold in store?

One of the most interesting things about being media at Macworld Expo is that people always want to know what you think. Or, more accurately, they ask what you think so they then have reason to tell you what they think. I’ve been to five Macworld Expos now in both New York (ah, those were the days) and San Francisco, and almost every meting I have with exhibitors on Tuesday starts with, “So what did you think of the keynote?” I answer, but I’m always more interested in what publishers and developers have to say. This year, by and large, it’s not looking too good.

Let me start off by saying that the “Creative Safari” has absolutely nothing to do with the Safari browser. I think someone somewhere could have come up with a better name that would not be so confusing to some people. What it does have to do with is digital photography and videography.