We took our holiday break last week, but it's that time again: make an appointment on your iPhone or set a reminder in iCal, because this week the TUAW talkcast is an hour early (9 pm ET/6 pm PT), and doubly live. Of course, we're always live on Talkshoe, but in this case we'll also be live and in person from San Francisco. We've got half the team onsite at Macworld Expo, and we're taking a break from unpacking and sneaking peeks into the Moscone Center windows to gather round the microphone and share our excitement and anticipation. Best of all, you can chime in as well -- let us know what you're looking forward to and what you want us to cover from the show.

Will there be surprises at the Philnote? Is the skinny on the mini straight up? Who's going to win Keynote Bingo? All fair game during the talkcast. We'll also preview some of our coverage for the week, including the keynote liveblog, videos, giveaways, our moment-by-moment Twitter feed -- of course, every bit of it reachable from the master Macworld Expo page.

You can participate on TalkShoe by using the browser-only client, or you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, for maximum fun, you should call in. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VOIP lines (take advantange of your free cellphone weekend minutes if you like): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

Robert and Dave fought their way through a Talkshoe hardware failure to do a great talkcast last week, covering the concept of the 'kitchen Mac' and more. You can listen to the show from Talkshoe's site, or download the episode in iTunes / via RSS.

We're back again tonight (Sunday 12/21) at 10 pm ET with one item on the agenda: the Macworld Expo announcements from Apple, Schillerizing the keynote address and what it means for the future of the preeminent Mac tradeshow. Of course, we'll be taking your questions and comments on that story and more, including best guesses and rumors for products coming in the new year.

Next week (12/28) we'll be taking our holiday break, so this will be the last live show of 2008; don't forget to join us again on Sunday January 4 as we ramp up for our Macworld Expo-stravaganza of coverage, with multiple live call-ins during the week, reader meetups, videos, giveaways and more!

Recording support for the TUAW Talkcast provided by Ecamm Network's CallRecorder for Skype.

On last night's talkcast, the Iconfactory's Gedeon Maheux and Craig Hockenberry joined us to discuss their concerns with the App Store, and they noted that Friday's layout changes are a step in the right direction.

"It's another of many steps that Apple's making to make the iTunes infrastructure work better with applications for the iPhone," Hockenberry said. Even so, they explained there's still room for improvement.

Hockenberry would like to see a popularity algorithm that takes into account the price of an app along with the number of times its been downloaded. "If you sell ... ten apps at $100 or a hundred apps at $10 or a thousand apps at $1, you're all equal." He also wanted to see a kind of demo system implemented, but knew that would involve more work for Apple.

Maheux said he would prefer to see more data about where apps are being sold: on a category page versus a tile on the App Store home page, for example. He also pointed out that having an app displayed on the home page results in an astronomical increase in sales. "All those people who say that ... you can market your way to the top: I completely disagree with them. They don't know what they're talking about. ... Being on the [App Store] front page is all that matters."

He said the Iconfactory applauds Apple for responding to developer feedback and improving the App Store. "Anything that starts a dialogue about this stuff is a good thing."

The Iconfactory has released two iPhone apps: the popular twitter client Twitterrific, and strategy game Frenzic.

You can listen to the interview at our Talkshoe page, or via iTunes. The interview starts at about the 25 minute mark. Don't skip the the first part of the talkcast, though, where Dave, Mel and I discuss Apple's netbook possibilities and the ideal kitchen computer.

Last week we introduced several of our new bloggers on the Sunday night talkcast -- a baptism by Skype? Hazing by VoIP? Whatever you call it, we certainly enjoyed meeting them and so will you. You can listen to the show from Talkshoe's site, or download the episode in iTunes / via RSS.

We're back again tonight (Sunday 12/14) at 10 pm ET to tackle the eternal question of Macdom: "If you had a Mac in your kitchen -- or even a Mac-like household navigator, the iKitchen -- what would it do?" We'll also dive into the ongoing rumblings around App Store pricing and positioning challenges for developers.

Recording support for the TUAW Talkcast provided by Ecamm Network's CallRecorder for Skype.

Last week Mike Schramm & Dave Caolo set out to rock the talkcast and did, in fact, do just that -- a solid hour's worth of Black Friday review, news and tips, plus discussion of Boxee & Christina's interview with the developers. You can listen to the show from Talkshoe's site, or download the episode in iTunes / via RSS.

We're back again tonight at 10 pm to introduce the latest in Apple blogging technology: TUAW's newest bloggers, who will be joining us to answer your questions and talk about themselves as modestly and humbly as they can. We'll also dig into the week's news, including the antivirus commotion and the withdrawal of some big exhibitors from Macworld Expo next month.

Recording support for the TUAW Talkcast provided by Ecamm Network's CallRecorder for Skype.

Last week, with Christina at the helm, talkcastees and talkcasters reminisced with former staffer Nik Fletcher, now with the fine folks at Realmac Software. You can listen in via the Talkshoe page, or download the show in iTunes / via RSS.

Be so kind as to join us tonight, November 23 at 10 p.m. ET for an hour of witty repartée about the week's news, and plenty of speculation about Black Friday and the coming holiday shopping season. Mike, Dave, Christina and I will be there, so join us, won't you?

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

Recording support for the TUAW Talkcast provided by Ecamm Network's CallRecorder for Skype.

Last week on the talkcast we welcomed Geof Bowie, CEO of ThinkFixed, to talk about enterprise support for the Mac and how the platform has grown over the past few years. You can listen in via the Talkshoe page, or download the show in iTunes / via RSS.

Be so kind as to join us tonight 11/9 at 10 pm ET for an open phones show. Got questions about the Mac, the iPod or the iPhone? Technical challenges bedeviling you? Want to dissect the latest Apple financials? Call in and we'll give you the best answers we can.

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the"TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

Recording support for the TUAW Talkcast provided by Ecamm Network's CallRecorder for Skype.

Be so kind as to join us tonight 11/2 at 10 pm ET (did you set your clocks back?) for this week's live show, hosted by me and featuring guest Geof Bowie, president of ThinkFixed. Geof will fill us in on the Mac's increasing role in the enterprise and how companies are taking advantage of specialized Mac support to enable OS X users to reach their full potential.

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

Recording support for the TUAW Talkcast provided by Ecamm Network's CallRecorder for Skype.

Be so kind as to join us tomorrow 10/25 at 10 pm ET for this week's live show, hosted by me and featuring a special guest -- he's a mild-mannered industry analyst by day, a tech columnist by night... our friend Ross Rubin will be joining us, as we delve into the astonishing impact of the iPhone on Apple's bottom line and the wireless market at large. Has our favorite computer company truly gotten past the Mac?

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm Sunday. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *-8. Talk with you then!

After a week's break due to Talkshoe tech difficulties, we're back. Join us later tonight, Sunday October 5 at 10 pm ET for this week's show. Got dish, rumors or wishlists? Swing by and chime in.

Join us later tonight, Sunday September 21 at 10 pm ET for this week's show. We are going Open Phones for tonight, taking your Mac support questions as we play a game we like to call "stump the bloggers!" C'mon down and join in the fun.

You can join the conversation on TalkShoe by using the shiny browser-only client; you can also use the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client that we all know and love. For the web UI, just click the "TalkShoe Web" button on our profile page at 10 pm tonight. You can also listen in on the Talkshoe page or call in on regular phone or VOIP lines: dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077. For those calling in without Talkshoe IDs, you can "request to talk" by dialing *8.