Geek out for Macs

<p>David Hannigan found plenty to geek out about Saturday at a Macintosh computer conference in Petaluma.</p><p>Celebrated techie authors explained the latest applications and hardware. More than 25 vendors hawked gadgets and services for Apple products.</p><p>But the sight of a crushed IPhone in a computer repair exhibit gave him pause. He shook his head in amazement as he turned the device over in his hand, its plastic face shattered under the wheels of a truck.</p><p>“It makes me feel a bit better about how I treat mine,” said the marine engineer and Mac devotee from Petaluma. “That took a pretty good hit.”</p><p>Hannigan was one of about 1,000 people who turned out for the 16th annual Apple computers love fest, put on by the North Coast Mac Users Group.</p><p>Club President Lorene Romero said it was the first year staging the event at Petaluma's Lucchesi Center on North McDowell Boulevard and it looked to be a success.</p><p>The buzz this year was about Apple's new operating system, Snow Leopard. But people also talked about IPhones and rumors of a new IMac that might soon be released.</p><p>Speakers included Derrick Story, author of “IPhoto '09 Tips and Tricks,” and Jim Heid, who discussed film making with IMovie '09.</p><p>“People love Macs,” Romero said. “They're easy to use and they just work.”</p><p>Some in attendance swore they'd never used anything else.</p><p>Scott and Gayle Spencer, retired computer technicians from Menlo Park, said they bought their first Macs in 1984 and never strayed.</p><p>They traveled all the from the peninsula to hear Heid and others wax poetic about new applications.</p><p>Looking around the room, Scott Spencer, 74, remarked on the number of senior citizens at the conference.</p><p>“It's interesting how many old people like me are here,” Spencer said. “I guess young people tend to get their stuff off the Internet.”</p><p>At an exhibit by Concord-based Tech Restore, Hannigan talked about how indispensable his Macs have become. He said he used a GPS system in his laptop to navigate thick fog on San Francisco Bay. If he ever forgets his IPhone, he feels lost, he said.</p><p>People at the conference are all part of a large family who worship the same thing.</p><p>“It's definitely a cult following,” Hannigan said.</p>