With Apple’s recent unveiling of OS X Mountain Lion it’s no surprise that we had plenty to talk about. A whole hour’s worth of chatting, in fact. Allison is loads of fun to talk with, and without her self control to cut our conversation off after an hour we’d probably still be talking. Days later. Really.

Interested in hearing what I have to say about more iOS features showing up in OS X, Gatekeeper, iCloud, Notification Center, and some rabbit holes we couldn’t help but head down? Then point your browser over to Allison’s Podfeet.com website and take a listen.

Or go the the iTunes Store. Whatever. I’m easy.

Here’s the description of my session:

Dropbox, Evernote, MobileMe: The Internet is loaded with cloud-based services designed to make your life easier and keep your files within reach where ever you go. Finding the right services with just the features you need can be a daunting task, so Jeff took care of the headache for you by putting together a list of his favorite online services and apps for your Mac, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

I’m speaking from noon to 1PM and I promise to do my best to teach you something — or at least keep you entertained for an hour.

But wait! There’s more! I’ll be speaking on the opening panel event at 9AM where the amazing Adam Christianson from the Maccast will guide us through a discussion on the future of Apple and the impact the company’s products are having on out culture.

Talk about a power house lineup! The panel also includes The Mac Observer’s own Bryan Chaffin, Smile Software’s Jean MacDonald, Jason Snell from Macworld, and David Sparks from Mac Power Users.

Bryan and I will be manning TMO’s expo booth, too, so be sure to drop by and say “hi.” Maybe I’ll draw a picture for you.

If you need to get up to speed on what went down, Bryan Chaffin covered Steve’s retirement announcement at The Mac Observer, and followed up with Apple giving the CEO title to Tim Cook, the man that’s been running the company for the past few months.

Turns out a couple news outlets wanted to chat with me about Steve’s retirement. Here’s a list of the interviews and podcasts I did. For your viewing pleasure, of course:

• Forbes This is an Associated Press article, so you can find it other places, too.
• The Huffington Post Want to see how Trip Chowdry from Global Equities Research and I have very different views of Apple’s ability to perform without Steve? Here you go.
• MacJury Along with Chuck Joiner, Katie Floyd and Bryan Chaffin, we talk about what to expect now that Steve has dropped the CEO title and taken up his new role as Chairman of the Board.
• Reuters Insider Me, live, on Reuters TV. Guess who’s on with me? Yeah, Trip Chowdry. Just in case you don’t get how different our views on Apple post-Jobs are, you totally need to check this out.

There’s a good chance I missed something because the day of and day after Steve’s resignation were crazy busy. If there’s something I need to add to the list, just let me know and I’ll take care of it.

And my opinion in a nutshell: Don’t worry about Apple. It’s still business as usual, and we’ll still see awesome products for years to come. And thanks for all the hard work, Steve.

My User Conference session this year is “Working in the Cloud: Best Online Services for Storing and Sharing Your Data,” and I’ll have plenty to talk about. Here’s my session description from the Macworld Expo Web site:

Dropbox, Evernote, Google: The Internet is loaded with cloud-based services designed to make your life easier, keep you connected with information, and help you share files. Some are free, some require payment, and some are “freemium,” giving you a handful of features for free and even more when you pay. In this session we’ll take a look at the best freemium services for the Mac, iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and how to use them effectively so your important information is always just a mouse click or finger tap away.

My session runs from 3:30PM to 4:45PM on Friday, January 28, 2011. The conference runs from Wednesday, January 26 through Saturday, January 29 at the Moscone West center in San Francisco. Dress warm, kids.

If you’re looking to save a few bucks at Macworld Expo, you can get a 15% discount on a conference package just for having the patience to read this far. The Mac Observer has a sweet deal on hotel rooms at the Intercontinental — which just so happens to be right next to Moscone West.

I’ll be running around all week checking out the latest Mac, iPhone, iPod and iPad software and gear during the day, and hanging out at the after hours events, too. If you happen to see me, be sure to say “hi.” After all, Macworld Expo is like one big family reunion. But in a good way.

I’m all excited about presenting at this user group meeting, not only because they’re all cool and excited Apple fans, but also because this will be my first time speaking at this group. Also, I’ll finally get to try out Keynote for the iPad in a real-world environment. What could possibly go wrong?

The Denver Apple Pi user group meeting starts at 7PM at the Consolidated Mutual Water District building at 12700 W 27th Ave. in Lakewood, Colorado. Directions to the meeting along with additional information about the group are available at the Denver Apple Pi Web site.

See you there!

You can check out everything I mentioned during my presentation over at The Mac Observer, complete with prices and iTunes Store links. Just trying to make your life a little easier.

If you weren’t at the event, sorry I missed you. It was a kick in the pants and there were plenty of really cool people to hang out with. Also, I totally scored an Atomic Love Bombs CD. Life is good.

I’m going to show how to protect your personal information, share stuff with friends online, and show you which apps can help keep your life organized. There’s some fun apps for artists on my list, and I’ll show iPod touch owners how to turn their handheld into an Internet phone.

Interested in making your own music? Cool, because I have some tips on using your iPhone or iPod touch as a musical instrument, too.

As if that isn’t enough, The Mac Observer is exhibiting at the event, so I’ll be hanging on the expo floor with Bryan Chaffin, too. If you aren’t familiar with Bryan, you should be. He’s part of the foundation of TMO and writes some amazingly insightful industry analysis pieces. He’s also part of the uber-cool rock band, The Atomic Love Bombs.

Be sure to stop by our booth and say “Hi.” Of course, we’ll give you a little extra incentive to drop by in the form of some kick ass prizes we’ll be giving away throughout the day.

Clear your schedule for Saturday, October 3, because the expo runs from 10AM to 5PM pacific time. It’s at the Petaluma Community Center in Petaluma, California. You can find out more at the North Coast Mac User Group Web site.

Oh yeah… Here’s a shameless plug for The Atomic Love Bombs: They rock, and you should really support independent bands. You can buy their album at the iTunes Store, or at their Web site. Hop to it.

I’m lucky enough to work in an industry that’s loaded with talent, and I had the chance to talk about Apple’s announcements with a crazy-long list of pros that includes Chris Breen, Michael Johnston, Chuck Joiner, John F. Braun, Terry White, and Bryan Chaffin. We talked about the good and bad with the new iPhone, gave AT&T the smack-down for fumbling on MMS and tethering, and got all worked up in anticipation of Mac OS X 10.6.

It was a true uber geek-fest, and a great reminder that I really do have the best job in the world.

Behind the scenes true fact: I was completely hopped up on Codeine when I did the iPhone Alley podcast thanks to a nasty little gum infection. End result… I’m not that different when I’m drugged or sober. Go figure.

The ever-exciting Jay Nelson, CoMUG’s amazing leader, is out of town this week, so I’m going to be filling his shoes as host for the evening, too. That’s just in case you can’t get enough of me online.

The meeting is on June 11 at 7PM at the NCAR facility in Boulder. And don’t forget: The CoMUG crew also hangs out at Ihop in Boulder after the meetings. Pancakes, tech and free Wi-Fi. What more could you ask for?

The evening lineup along with directions is available at the CoMUG Web site.

If you missed last month, it’s still cool to come this month. There’s plenty more to see, and you’ll get up to speed pretty quickly. The meeting is on March 12 at 7PM at the NCAR facility in Boulder.

Oh yeah: The CoMUG crew also hangs out at Ihop in Boulder after the meetings. You know, in case you eat pancakes while you get your tech on.

The evening lineup along with directions is available at the CoMUG Web site.