Steve Wozniak to Keynote at ITEXPO Las Vegas 2013

Convergence Corner

Steve Wozniak to Keynote at ITEXPO Las Vegas 2013

By Tony Rizzo, TMCnet Senior Editor  |  April 29, 2013

At ITEXPO (News - Alert) Miami earlier this year, we were graced with insightful words by John Sculley, former CEO at Apple Inc. Today, we look ahead with excitement to the presence of yet another tech and Apple (News - Alert) veteran – Steve Wozniak, at ITEXPO Las Vegas set for this August.Some of us go way back to the early days of personal computing. In fact, we can more or less go back to what is, relatively speaking, day one of the personal computing industry. To qualify, you would’ve had to actually program an MIT (News - Alert) 8-bit computer by actually entering binary numbers through a toggle switch (up for ones down for zeros), then entering the true machine instruction. Yeah, we did that.

Trust us, it sounds tedious but back then this was cutting edge. We did then move on to teletype machines for input and writing BASIC programs.

We weren't on board with the original Apple, but when the Apple 2 emerged, we were there! We owned one; we fine-tuned our BASIC on it; and then, eventually, inexplicably, we got rid of it. (We want to blame our better half, but we're not entirely sure we can.)

We should have known it would become historic, but the IBM (News - Alert) PC had emerged and well, we moved on. We were among the first to use the original Macintosh in a professional editorial environment back then, but somehow the Macintosh and original Apple 2 were different beasts.

The latter was transcendent and truly historic at the time. Why we let it go, we don't know. We also let the original IBM PC go. Fools that we are!

The Macintosh has always been Steve Jobs' baby to us, but the Apple 2 has always been Steve Wozniak's baby. So for us, Steve Wozniak is indeed both a transcendent and historic figure. But today, he’s just as active and just as passionate, and just as deeply involved in technology as he was then – though these days advanced robotics are more to his liking.

We're anticipating something historic and transcendent here as well.

We did actually meet Woz once – back in 1988. At the time, we were busy starting up Microsoft Systems Journal, and we crossed paths at a technology event. Looking to shake hands and say hello to a transcendent genius and hero, he looked at our name tag and literally demanded to know why we were wasting our time at Microsoft. Well, we sort of sidestepped the question and didn't mention that we'd gotten rid of our Apple 2.

Today, 25 years later, we’re beyond excited to note that Woz will be joining us at our upcoming 2013 ITEXPO event in Las Vegas in late August, where he will be delivering the key keynote of the event.

We’re just starting to get our heads around the enormous opportunity this represents, not only for ourselves, but for the entire ITEXPO community of attendees to connect with him directly.

Our just concluded 2013 ITEXPO Miami event was extremely successful – our biggest show to date – and attendees were thrilled to catch our keynote with John Sculley. Now we’re moving the goal posts yet again, so to speak, bringing Steve Wozniak to the stage to share his fantastic knowledge of all things computing – historical in some respects, futuristic in some respects, and at all times completely transcendent.

Twenty-five years after our first true encounter, we know what we want Steve to talk about. Everyone at TMC (News - Alert) has questions. But ITEXPO isn't about us – it is about you. When we gather in Las Vegas in August, Steve will be there to, first and foremost, speak among our attendees.

Along those lines, let us know what it is you would most like to hear about. What key questions do you have? Send them our way (to [email protected]), and we will let Steve know.

We look forward to seeing all of you in Las Vegas – and we look forward to connecting, or reconnecting as the case may be, with Woz in person. Be there!




Edited by Stefania Viscusi