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The keynote speaker was David Pogue, well known columnist for Macworld, and author of Macworld Mac & Power Mac Secrets, and Macs For Dummies. What I did not know until that night, was that Pogue is also a magician/illusionist, and a composer. He dazzled the audience with his anecdotes, amazing stories, tricks, and piano renditions of Christmas songs dressed up for the computer age. Spontaneously, at the conclusion of Pogue's presentation, the audience rose and gave a standing ovation.

David Pogue was followed by a surprise speaker. Doug Brooks could not break free of his display in the atrium, so Betsi Lynch, a national account manager, spoke for Apple. She shared with us what she could about Apple's plans for the future. She is a very informative and entertaining speaker -- just what the audience wanted that night. Ironically, as she was speaking, we later learned that Apple was announcing the purchase of NeXT. __ After a short break, we were treated to MacJeoparty, created and directed by Randy Zeitman. Four members of the audience were chosen to compete against one another as two teams of two.

__ Over forty questions were asked, and answered. Did you know that at one time Apple was turning out a Mac SE every 27 seconds? That's faster than the computer could boot. The audience was stunned when the question was asked, "Who wrote StuffIt Deluxe?" Bill and Randy knew what was happening, but no one else did. They argued over the person's name until finally, someone stood up in the front row and said, "Perhaps I can clear up the confusion; I wrote StuffIt Deluxe." Indeed, it was Leonard Rosenthal, who also wrote one of Aladdin's newest applications, CyberFinder.

L. Rosenthal

Brian Flaherty, President of Kernel Productions

__ The game took a momentary pause to let Leonard speak, and to draw winning numbers for copies of several Aladdin products. At the conclusion of MacJeoparty, the members of both teams received special prizes, and we had all learned more about our favorite computer. The evening concluded with one of the biggest giveaways that I have ever seen, and I mean, EVER!

How about those FREEBIES??? Next page...