Here at TUAW we try very hard, but we can't do everything ourselves. Sometimes, we need a bit of help from our friends. This time around, we teamed up with Stylit.tv to have a giveaway event at Macworld. But, in true TUAW fashion, it wasn't just any giveaway -- it was a big one.

Thanks to the generous participation by many great Macworld Expo exhibitors like Dr. Bott, G-Tech and Blue Microphones, TUAW and Stylit.tv were able to give away over two thousand dollars in prizes to two lucky winners. And of course, we have pictures. There's also going to be video as well so check back for that.

Until then, thanks to those of you who made it out for the giveaway. We do appreciate it. If you didn't win this time, don't worry, there's plenty more of these events to come -- so keep checking back at TUAW for all the details.

Today near the close of the day at the Expo, we're going to have a quick special event: a live giveaway. We're planning to give away a big bag of goodies collected on the floor in the South Hall at Moscone, but keep your Twitter clients tuned to our Macworld Twitter feed to see what we're giving away and what time we'll be handing them out.

Also, tomorrow night we're having a brief meetup at Thirsty Bear starting at 6pm (PT of course), and lasting until other commitments inevitably drag us to the four corners of San Francisco. Of course, there's a lot going on in the evenings at Macworld, but if you want to meet the TUAW crew (or a portion of us, anyway) this is your chance. We'll have a couple of prizes for the first people to arrive as well.

UPDATE: We'll be at the SOUTH Hall at 6pm where two lucky attendees will win bags of goodies. (Sorry about the change, we just found out the Macworld Town Hall will be in the South Hall, so we'll be in the main lobby).

Here's a sampling of what we're giving away:
JBL On Stage iPod dock, Pulse Smartpen, several hard drives, a bag from Dr. Bott, some Blue mics and lots more!

Of course, stay tuned to our Macworld 2009 page for featured stories and ongoing coverage.

To see our host click the Read More link below.

The Keynote might not have had everything we were expecting, but Macworld 2009 is still off to a super start.

We're still busy hitting booths and rendering video, you can take a look at some of the fun we've been having.

Highlights:

• The Delicious Monster booth looks just like Delicious Library 2
• The Iconfactory team
• Obviously, the new MacBook Pro unibody.

For those of you wanting shirts, hats, mugs or even a Flip Mino with TUAW on them, here's our CafePress store. Big thanks to Robert, who created the swirly logo version (shown above on the Mino), the "comment troll," "fan club" and "I already read about it" designs and the "command-escape" piece with Moses.

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!

Next week the TUAW crew will descend upon San Francisco for Macworld Conference and Expo 2009. Of course, we plan to cover the booths, the personalities and the keynote (live and in-person). Sunday night we'll have a very special TUAW Talkcast featuring seven bloggers and a room full of solid rumormongering. But we're curious: whether you are going or not, what would you like to see us report on from Macworld? If the option isn't in the poll below, leave it in the comments. Here's a look at what we covered last year. Let us know if you want more galleries or more video, more hardware hands-on reviews, or more software demos.

If you are making the pilgrimage, be sure to check our Twitter feed for any meetups (at least one of which will feature a giveaway); tag your Macworld Flickr photos with "tuaw" so they appear in the photo pool; and above all, have a safe trip.

UPDATE: A clarification -- I'm asking for what stuff you want TUAW bloggers to cover at Macworld, not what you wish would happen. Sadly, we have no control over Steve so cannot affect his presence at the event. If he's there, however, we'll certainly post about it.

From everyone at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, we wish you a Happy New Year! May the new year bring you happiness, and plenty of Mac and iPhone goodness.

What a month, what a year! This December we reached in our holiday bags and pulled out quite the haul for the giving, and below you can see what we've given away so far:

Congrats to Erik, who won the Pulse Smartpen
Congrats to Jon, who won the LaCie Rugged and iPod nano from PowerMax
Congrats to David and Jake, lucky winners of the ElementCase iPhone cases
Congrats to all 10 "It's About Time" winners (notices just left our email bays).
Congrats to Eric, winner of 3 games from Freeverse.

The rest of you have until just before midnight (Eastern Time in the US, so if you're seeing the ball drop in New York you're too late). Enter to win one of five days of giveaways, all prizes courtesy Dr. Bott.

If you're going to Macworld, we've got a few giveaway opportunities going on in San Francisco as well. And if you've still got a hankering for TUAW gear, there's always our shiny new CafePress store.

Thanks for reading TUAW, and have a Happy New Year!

If you're looking to start a podcast or blog (or both) in 2009, this will get you started. The Snowflake mic is an awesome and portable audio tool, and MacSpeech Dictate is the "gold standard" of Mac transcription apps. Win both in this giveaway courtesy our friends at Dr. Bott.

Don't forget the rest of our Holiday Giveaway-tacular posts and all the loot you can win there as well: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. Everything ends at the end of December 31, so get to clickin' and good luck!

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us what would be the subject of your podcast, if you had one.
• The comment must be left before December 31, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: Snowball Microphone ($69.95), MacSpeech Dictate ($199)
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Plenty of folks are probably getting iPhone gift cards this season, and for anyone who wants to make their iPhone the hit of the party (later, once you've actually purchased and activated the thing) here's a lineup for you: some speakers (which fit just about every iPod ever made plus the iPhone), a stylus to keep grubby fingers of your precious, and a case.

I tested the JBL speakers and the stylus. The JBL speakers provide an astonishing amount of sound in such a small package. We turned it up as far as felt safe, and the kids had their fingers in their ears. Plus, at either loud or soft volume the audio was always very clear, not muddled with bass or too tinny on the high end (this was from the iPhone with no EQ).

The Pogo stylus does what it says: provides a poking stick for the iPhone's surface that works. It's a stick, and it pokes -- that's about as good a recommendation as you'll get from a stylus. The thing was just a short piece of aluminum too, so there's no heft at all. If you're used to a Mont Blanc in your hand you may be disappointed, I guess.

Thanks to Dr. Bott for the JBL On Stage 200iD Speakers, iSkin Revo2 iPhone 3G case (in red and black) and a Pogo iPhone stylus.

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us what music you would play on some really loud speakers.
• The comment must be left before December 31, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: JBL On Stage 200iD Speakers ($149.95), iSkin Revo2 iPhone 3G case ($39.99), Pogo iPhone stylus ($19.95)
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Were you lucky enough to get one of Apple's new, greener portables? Today's prize bundle is geared for the mobile computer user and includes a Thermapak lap pad that helps to cool the machine, a lock to secure the machine in public and an iKlear polish kit for the screen.

I had a chance to use the lap cooling pad, and on my 1st-gen MacBook Pro running Flash and getting quite hot, the pad did a great job of cooling the machine down. There are crystals inside the pad, and as they get hot, they melt, which helps dissipate the heat. My lap no longer felt hot, and when I lifted up the computer the bottom didn't feel painful to the touch. The pad had gone from crunchy to gooey as well, which my kids thought was awesome.

Thanks to Dr. Bott for the prizes today, each of which are among their most popular items.

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment on this post.
• The comment must be left before December 31, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: Thermapak Laptop cooling pad ($30), MicroSaver notebook lock ($44.99), iKlear Apple Polish kit ($24.95),
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Budgets are tight, we get that. So this holiday season, if all you could afford for yourself or a loved one was a 3rd-gen nano, we've got a trio of cases for you: one for running, one for general protection and one with little built-in speakers, for sing-alongs.

Again, courtesy Dr. Bott: ifrogz Audiowrapz ($24.99), Griffin Streamline ($20.99), ifrogz Treadz ($14.95)

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us what your favorite color is, if you have one.
• The comment must be left before December 31, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: ifrogz Audiowrapz ($24.99), Griffin Streamline ($20.99), ifrogz Treadz ($14.95)
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

... a very merry Christmas, happy Hannukah, happy Kwanzaa, and happy New Year! (And a happy Festivus. Sorry! The airing of the grievances may now commence.)

For the next 5 days we're giving away a bunch of stuff from our friends at Dr. Bott. Check back each day for a new chance to win a bundle of goodies, each with a theme.

Today the theme is "the active iPodder," or all those folks you see running with their iPods strapped to their arms. So we're including the Marware Sportsuit for a long-distance runner (holds up to 160 GB of music) and an EcoRunner 4th-gen nano strap for shorter distances. Plus, you'll want to hear your music while you drive around (perhaps to wherever you're going to run), so we're throwing a Griffin iTrip Auto SE in the mix.

I have tried the latest versions of these iTrip devices, and I have to say they are much better than previous models. Provided you have a clear channel, the signal is strong enough to provide a decent FM sound. My wife, a conisseur of nano wrist straps, was duly impressed with the EcoRunner -- it fits on your arm as well and is supposed to be more green by not using neoprene as the primary material. We didn't give it a long test, as giving away sweaty merchandise isn't cool, but our 1st-gen nano fit (thanks to the way the sleeve is made), which was cool.

Win a Marware 4th-gen nano wrist/arm strap, a Griffin iTrip, a Marware Sportsuit Convertible for iPod classic (80 and 160 GB versions) and the very last of our now old-skool TUAW t-shirt (only available in small). To enter, just tell us whether you are a runner, a cyclist or none of the above.

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us whether you are a runner, a cyclist or none of the above.
  
• The comment must be left before December 31, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: TUAW t-shirt ($5), Marware Sportsuit Convertible for iPod classic ($34.99), Griffin iTrip Auto ($69.99), Marware Eco Runner ($34.99)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

If you wind up finding a shiny new iPhone, iPod touch or appropriate gift card in the holiday containment vessel of your particular cultural persuasion, Freeverse and TUAW want to hook you up with some games for said device. Freeverse is giving a promo code for Flick Fishing, Flick Bowling and Moto Chaser to one lucky entrant.

Just enter us a comment below telling us the game you wish was in the App Store -- who knows, it might just happen. But we're guessing it won't, because we have no control over wish fulfillment. This is a giveaway for those 3 Freeverse games. You could just as well type "noonan" into the entry form and be entered for the giveaway. But we prefer wishes. Rules below, and good luck!

• Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us what game you wish were available on the iTunes App Store.
• The comment must be left before December 29, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: Three promo codes for 3 iPhone games (Flick Fishing, Flick Bowling, Moto Chaser) not to exceed $15 in value.
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.