by Mike | Mar 25, 2019 | Macstock News
It’s been a few weeks since the last Macstock 2019 update announcing the Early Bird Sale, but I’ve been busy making my way through all the amazing talks submitted this year — the most I’ve received yet! And I wanted to start things off by saying to everyone who sent in a speaking proposal this year: Thank You! Without the support of folks like you, Macstock simply wouldn’t be possible.
With the final selections made, this year’s Macstock will host 10 Featured Speakers and 5 Special Presentation speakers who will be bringing you over 13+ hours of content during the course of Macstock 2019’s 2-Day weekend taking place July 27 & 28! In the next few posts, I’m going to introduce you to everyone presenting at Macstock and, after you’ve had a chance to meet them, I’ll go ahead and post the final schedule so you can see the day and time they’ll be on Macstock’s stage as well as information about their talks.
Once you’ve had your whistle whetted, don’t forget Chuck Joiner’s annual Road to Macstock series on MacVoices! Every year Chuck sits down with Macstock’s presenters and dives a little deeper into what makes them tick as well as a quick sneak peek at their talks. I’ll be posting those videos here, but If you don’t already subscribe to Chuck’s show, be sure to do so at: http://www.macvoices.com/
Macstock has a great mix of new and returning presenters to introduce you to this year. Here’s the first round of speakers you’ll meet around the halls July 27 & 28 at Macstock 2019:
Rick Cartwright
A first time presenter at Macstock, Rick is a self-described geek who has used Macs and iOS devices for many years. His background in software design has given him a passion for all things tech. After retiring at the end of 2017, he now spends his free time with his wife, Teresa, photographing nature. This past year he turned more of his attention to creating, editing and sharing videos as an additional means of sharing his love of nature.
Kirschen Seah
Presenting for her third time at Macstock, Kirschen brings with her a background in Software Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, and macOS / iOS development and over the course of her 30 year career, she has been awarded 22 US patents for her contributions to engineering. In her remaining spare time, she works on her blog and develops macOS and iOS apps. Kirschen says: “I’m really motivated to share my experience to help fellow software practitioners develop better skills – be that in good design, implementation, or computer science fundamentals. As much as I can, I try to share the delight in discovering how iOS and macOS applications for productivity and creativity have helped me do better in my personal life and professional career.”
Brett Terpstra
Always hitting the Macstock stage with informative, entertaining, talks, Brett is an independent developer, designer, writer, and podcaster hailing from Minnesota. Among other things, Brett develops Marked 2 for Mac and co-authored 60 Mac Tips Volumes 1 and 2 with David Sparks. He talks with amazing guests on Systematic, and has a blast with Christina Warren on Overtired, both on ESN.fm. You can find Brett at his website, brettterpstra.com, as well as “@ttscoff” on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, GitHub, and just about everywhere else. He’s very consistent.
Check back next time for another round of speaker announcements AND don’t forget Macstock 2019 Early Bird Tickets are now on sale for $70 OFF your 2-Day Weekend Pass! But our Early Bird sale only lasts so long, so if you’re planning to join us July 27 & 28, be sure to get your tickets and book your room today!
by Mike | Feb 11, 2019 | Macstock News
Hosted by Wally Cherwinski, this is your chance to share your own Creativity by participating in the premiere of the very first Macstock Short Film Festival!
Just by attending Macstock 2019 you’ll enjoy some first-run screenings of videos made by your friends in the Macstock community, but if you’d like to take it to the next level, you’ll be able to enter your own production for the festival too! Entry is open to all Macstock 2019 attendees, so grab your camera or iPhone, record some memorable moments, and unleash your inner Spielberg. What better venue than Macstock to showcase your creative efforts and share them with an eager audience? It may not be Cannes, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun!
To take part in this year’s Film Fest, just put together a short video from some new or old footage and send it in. Rules are simple: submitted videos should be 1-2 minutes long (2 1/2 minutes max), shot with any camera and edited on a Mac or iOS device within the past 3 years. We’ll screen as many videos as we can!
To learn how to submit your own video, visit: Macstock 2019 Film Fest!
by Mike | Feb 11, 2019 | Macstock News
It was just over a week ago that Woodstock’s famous groundhog, Woodstock Willie, predicted an early Spring, and while that’s fantastic news for those of us who’ve been frozen over and buried neck deep in snow the past month or so, it’s even better news for me, because that’s 6 weeks closer to Summer and Summer…means Macstock!
I can’t believe this will be our 5th year of Macstock! And with everything we’ve got planned this July, I can prognosticate a little myself (sorry Willie) and confidently predict that our tradition of getting better and better each year will come true once again!
You’ll just need to wait a little longer than 6 weeks.
But that’s okay! Because, even before we’ve announced our first round of speakers (look for that announcement soon), we’ve not only added the return of Tim & Guy’s MyMac Game Show, but also a very special LIVE broadcast of Mac Power Users episode 500(!!) hosted by David Sparks & Stephen Hackett, PLUS the first ever Macstock Short Film Fest with YOU as the star!
Toss in two great days of presentations and Barry’s Midwest Mac Mingle evening events, and you’ve got a weekend that can’t be missed!
AND, if that’s not enough, Early Bird Tickets are now on sale for a rock-bottom $70 OFF your 2-Day Weekend Pass! But our Early Bird sale only lasts so long, so if you’re planning to join us July 27 & 28, be sure to get your tickets and book your room today!
Did I mention?
Macstock 2019’s Theme is CREATE!
What does it mean to be “creative”? It’s much more than you think!
When you attend Macstock 2019, you’ll hear community-leading experts share innovative new ways to accomplish tasks, save time, and express yourself creatively while getting the most from your Apple devices and apps!
Join us at Macstock 2019 and learn how a little creativity might improve your daily life!
by Mike | Jul 19, 2018 | Macstock In The News, Macstock News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A film about a little green computer called “Newton” and the people who still love it.
Montreal, Canada – 22 July, 2018 – Love Notes to Newton, the film by director Noah Leon, is premiering at Macstock Conference and Expo in Woodstock IL. on July 22nd, 2018. and will be available for purchase shortly after. Love Notes began as a tiny crowdfunded fan-film that quickly snowballed into a trans-national feature-length documentary.
Contact Noah Leon at Moosefuel Media for more information: noah@moosefuel.media. Supporting photos can be downloaded here: https://bit.ly/2O1K7Y7
Created by some of the smartest people in Silicon Valley, Newton was a handheld device ahead of its time. Just as it was coming of age, it was cancelled by Apple. But the inspiration lives on. A dedicated community has kept it going for over twenty years after its demise. this is Love Notes. It’s about the people who created the Newton, and it’s about the fans who keep it going. It’s the story of a little device which may be the most personal computer ever.
With over 40 worldwide interviews, appearances include Steve Capps—responsible for much of the software design of the Apple Lisa, Macintosh and Newton—John Sculley, former CEO of Apple Computer, and many more, as well as the quirky and unique fans of the platform. There are touching moments, too, and the film hits all the emotional beats of the story.
“I’m addicted to your movie!”
-Mike, coordinator, Macstock conference and festival
“It is three in the morning, and I have to rise in 3 hours to go to work. I should have been sleeping for hours. But I couldn’t stop watching. This film is fantastic.”
-Frank Gruendel, Newton User
“When I think of the international scope of this documentary, and the people who are involved, it blows my mind that we did it on such a small budget.”
-Noah Leon, Director
The film will be available for purchase shortly after the premiere at newtfilm.com and Vimeo On Demand. All proceeds from the sale of the film go to bethematch.org.
•••
Love Notes to Newton was produced, written and directed by Noah Leon at Moosefuel Media with support from bright lights in the Newton and Mac community. The film is not produced or affiliated with Apple, Inc. Moosefuel Media is a new media production company specializing in corporate, event and documentary films.
We hope you become one of the people who love this little green machine that almost changed the world.
#
by Mike | Jul 15, 2018 | Macstock News
I have a couple important scheduling changes you may want to be aware of if you’re attending Macstock 2018 in person this year:
First up, we have a topic change for Sunday’s schedule from presenter, Allison Sheridan. But the new topic she’s bringing to the schedule is a great one: Mind Map Your Way to Productivity. In this pair of talks, Allison will walk you through the basic concepts of Mind Maps and share examples of some of her mind maps to help trigger ideas for how you can use them to help you be more productive. She’ll continue exploring Mind Maps by going hands-on with with her favorite mind mapping application in her afternoon Deeper Dive!
The other major scheduling change is extending Sunday’s schedule by 1/2 hour! Macstock 2018 will now officially end at 6:30p on Sunday the 22nd.
Try as we might, we just couldn’t contain the awesomeness of this year’s presentations and McHenry County College graciously allowed all of us to stay an extra 30 minutes Sunday night so we can wrap things up properly.
I do realize some of you may be counting on the conference ending at six for your travel plans, so please rest assured that I am doing as much as possible to shift things around so that you’ll miss very little of our program’s highlights if you absolutely must leave before we draw to a close this year. One change will be to shift the Newton documentary start time a bit and push the movie’s Q&A with director, Noah Leon, to the 6:10-6:30 time slot. If you can stay, you definitely won’t want to miss the Q&A, but if you have to leave, at least you can catch the flick!
View the full schedule here
by Mike | Jul 11, 2018 | Macstock News
From the fantastic talks, to discovering new tips and tricks while chatting around the lunch table, to meeting up with great friends old and new, there’s nothing like being at Macstock in person! And we still have plenty of tickets available if you’d like to join us for the biggest and best Macstock yet — including the Theatrical World Premiere of the new documentary, Love Notes to Newton!
But I’ve heard from a few of you that while you REALLY wish you could make it to Macstock in person, it’s just not going to work to attend this year for personal, professional, or other reasons. So, I put on my thinking cap and after a couple weeks of planning, came up with a brand new ticket — just for YOU!
This new ticket is called the “Macstock Digital Pass” and with it, you’ll gain access to video recordings of the keynote, all morning sessions, and all main stage Deeper Dive sessions just a few short weeks after Macstock ends! (plus maybe some exclusive bonuses we sprinkle in here and there) And you can watch it all from the comfort of your…well, wherever your Mac or iPad takes you!
Like I said, it’s not quite the same as being there (and being at Macstock is pretty awesome), but it’s the next best thing to seeing all of this year’s wonderful speakers in person! If you’d like to learn more about Macstock 2018’s Digital Pass, check it out here!
A first time presenter at Macstock, Rick is a self-described geek who has used Macs and iOS devices for many years. His background in software design has given him a passion for all things tech. After retiring at the end of 2017, he now spends his free time with his wife, Teresa, photographing nature. This past year he turned more of his attention to creating, editing and sharing videos as an additional means of sharing his love of nature.
Presenting for her third time at Macstock, Kirschen brings with her a background in Software Engineering, Human Computer Interaction, and macOS / iOS development and over the course of her 30 year career, she has been awarded 22 US patents for her contributions to engineering. In her remaining spare time, she works on her blog and develops macOS and iOS apps. Kirschen says: “I’m really motivated to share my experience to help fellow software practitioners develop better skills – be that in good design, implementation, or computer science fundamentals. As much as I can, I try to share the delight in discovering how iOS and macOS applications for productivity and creativity have helped me do better in my personal life and professional career.”
Always hitting the Macstock stage with informative, entertaining, talks, Brett is an independent developer, designer, writer, and podcaster hailing from Minnesota. Among other things, Brett develops Marked 2 for Mac and co-authored 60 Mac Tips Volumes 1 and 2 with David Sparks. He talks with amazing guests on Systematic, and has a blast with Christina Warren on Overtired, both on ESN.fm. You can find Brett at his website, brettterpstra.com, as well as “@ttscoff” on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, GitHub, and just about everywhere else. He’s very consistent.
Hosted by Wally Cherwinski, this is your chance to share your own Creativity by participating in the premiere of the very first Macstock Short Film Festival!
It was just over a week ago that Woodstock’s famous groundhog, 
First up, we have a topic change for Sunday’s schedule from presenter, Allison Sheridan. But the new topic she’s bringing to the schedule is a great one: Mind Map Your Way to Productivity. In this pair of talks, Allison will walk you through the basic concepts of Mind Maps and share examples of some of her mind maps to help trigger ideas for how you can use them to help you be more productive. She’ll continue exploring Mind Maps by going hands-on with with her favorite mind mapping application in her afternoon Deeper Dive!
But I’ve heard from a few of you that while you REALLY wish you could make it to Macstock in person, it’s just not going to work to attend this year for personal, professional, or other reasons. So, I put on my thinking cap and after a couple weeks of planning, came up with a brand new ticket — just for YOU!