It was my intention to spend the last full day shopping with some time set aside for a final look at the Moscone Center, concentrating on the north side having spent all my time yesterday in the Moscone Center, South. On the way I bought some socks. Not that you cannot buy socks in Bangkok, of course, it was that the Gold Toe socks I bought are certainly unavailable, and I remember these from my 2-year stay in Illinois in the 80s.

I bought these in Macy's and used the credit card. Instead of printing out a receipt that I signed, I was asked to use a stylus to sign on a touch screen. It was a bit awkward as I had not used something like this before and it seemed to be set up for right-handed folks, but the signature was good enough for the clerk.

I also tried to find a shop in the immediate area that was carrying hard disks, but there was nothing convenient, so I will stick with Plan A and go to the Apple store later. They do not have the specific disk I want, but the LaCie disk I have opted for is fine. I will also buy a spare power supply for the MacBookPro as the cable is beginning to show signs of wear.

That done, I refound Peat's Coffee and Tea shop -- I picked up a pound of French Roast later -- and walked the shor distance to Moscone Center, where I left my coat and the bag with the socks at a check-in for $2. Not cheap, but a normal price for the US, I guess, and it saves me carrying everything around and getting hot.

The hall on the south side, where I started, was busy when I arrived. I took a further look round later and the Apple theatre there was even busier than yesterday with almost no standing room now, while the Microsoft demo area was even emptier. Apple were demonstrating the new music lesson part of GarageBand and I saw how the presenter was showing how a user could work with an artist's input -- they were using John Fogarty, which I guess will be the standard presentation format worldwide as that was what Phil Schiller used. The artist packs will be coming soon for $4.99 and I checked last night with Apple personnel who are fairly certain that these will be downloadable from the online store.

I also mentioned buying iWork today and was stopped: we will send you a review copy. I want to get this up and running as soon as I can and it is good for Apple if I can get something in print early. To go with the new version, I have already downloaded the new Remote app for $0.99. It is unusable right now as it requires me to link to Keynote before it will operate and the current version I have does not have the correct settings, of course.

I used the tunnel under the road to go to the North hall rather than go back outside in the cold with no coat and it seems even more cavernous than the north, although this may be due to the situation that the south side is dominated by the Apple mega-booth that is higher than any others.

The north side, perhaps, is the justification for the continuation of MacWorld, although minus Apple this will be considerably changed. This hall had the majority of smaller developers and small businesses who link to Macs by way of software offerings and accessories and it is these who are surviving and growing because of the special nature of Apple and its products.

I had been told by Grace Chng of The Straits Times, a veteran of MacWorlds, that there was an interesting display on the south side with a man, who could not speak English and who had been brought over for the show who was handmaking iPhone cases to customer requirements. It took me a whle, but I finally found the Sena Cases booth where Ertan Gunay from Turkey was sitting at a sewing machine with samples of coloured leather behind and samples of cases in front.

The iPhone and the touch, and indeed the other iPods are providing work with a real trickle down effect for countless people like Ertan. The show had a lot of exhibitors with cases for computers and iPhones showing how big the accessories market is becoming. As I was at MacWorld, I was able to take advantage of an offer to provide me with a free iPod touch case and I selected a subtle brown leather type. Sena do ship internationally, but I would love to see these available in Thai shops.

There was something that stuck me as odd when I found a booth that was displaying Panasonic movie cameras. I was talking to a TV cameraman from the Philippines a couple of days ago and while he uses a Sony, as many in the industry do, he had a good opinion of what Panasonic have been trying to do. While Sony are off at CES in Las Vegas, I saw Canon with their cameras and everything else in the South hall, here was Panasonic with the others.

Although there were a number of software outfits with booths, and these were well attended, I did not get the feel that there were a large number of exhibitors with games, unlike last year. A lot of mainstream games are now coming online via companies like EA; while other companies are expanding their Mac software. This week we see that Google's Picasa is now Mac friendly, while Microsoft is working hard to provide Mac software, and IBM released a new Lotus Notes and Symphony beta for the Mac this week.

A couple of show favourites were there tucked away in corners. Thorsten Lemke, for example, who wrote Graphic Converter makes the trip every year to display his excellent software. The John Lennon Bus made its regular appearance and a series of presentations was scheduled. One of my favourites was also there: the Berklee College of Music and I watched fascinated as Mike Carrera explained a whole rainbow of high level sound recording software that is available for the Mac, showing first one then switching to the next and totally at home with all of them. In the short while I was there he must have run through half a dozen different applications with an almost non-stop explanation of each as it appeared, with some anecdotes to keep the amusement levels high.

With guys like this and Eran and all the other developers and accessory makers who have made long trips in some cases, I may not see it again, but Mac World ought to survive in one form or another.

I will be leaving here tomorrow with a scheduled noon flight and an arrival time in Bangkok of just before midnight Saturday: all ready to write my next article for the Bangkok Post Database with a more measured look at Apple's announcements and new products. If you do not have Facebook or Flickr as yet, now may be the time to join. The new features in iPhoto are going to make a difference.

• As before I have also put a selection of images from today online.
  
• See also Wednesday (plus images from the show)
  
• Tuesday's Keynote Presentation
  
• and The First Look Around