The MacTech Conference for IT Pros and Mac developers, Nov. 3-5, in Los Angeles, will have Mac-based planetary exploration rovers and a boat controlled by iPod touches on hand at the opening of the international conference. This is the first public display of these rovers outside a university or research setting.  

Keynote speaker Andy Ihnatko will open MacTech Conference: a three-day, information-packed event will have sessions and activities throughout the day and evening. This fully immersive conference is packed with sessions from renown speakers and evening activities, including an exclusive trip to the Griffith Observatory, and the MacTech Bowl party.

Professor Wolfgang Fink, who came to the University of Arizona from Caltech last year, will be demonstrating the rover units on the first day of the conference prior to the conference's keynote by Ihnatko. The rovers, which can carry a payload of 40 pounds, and the boat are based on Mac minis and controlled by iOS devices such as the iPod touch over the Internet. Fink and his colleague Mark Tarbell will be available to answer questions and discuss University of Arizona research using smart robots to explore planets. Fink is scheduled to speak about the rovers, and vision technology during a session on the final day of the conference.

"Whether you are technical or not, these rovers are just too cool for words.  They embody the imagination, and their reasoning behind using Apple technologies makes perfect sense," says Neil Ticktin, editor-in-chief/publisher, "MacTech Magazine."  "Our conference attendees are coming from the majority of states in the U.S. as well as countries as far away as Sweden, Egypt, Australia and Japan. Not only will they see enormous benefits from what they learn and who they meet, but the conference activities will spark their imagination, and show off the best there is."

The MacTech Conference will have two separate tracks: one focused on IT, and one focused on programming/development. Sessions will focus on both desktop and mobile, with appropriate levels of attention paid to the Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod. Check out the speaker and topic list (http://www.mactech.com/conference/sessions) for specific sessions and speakers.

MacTech Conference is priced economically and includes all meals, a "MacTech Magazine" subscription, a schedule packed full of sessions, exclusive entertainment, and more. "MacTech" has been working with Apple Training & Certification to offer two special options to choose from.

First, for those who want to take any currently available Apple Certification exam, they're offering a study session and exam on-site immediately following the conference -- all included in your US$899 conference registration (a $200 value).

Don't need to take an exam at this time? Get a $100 discount on the conference and register for just $799. You can see the link on http://training.apple.com or better yet, register directly at http://macte.ch/conf_options.  The bundle offer expires Oct 25, and space is limited, so act now.

The Sheraton has rooms that typically run $229 or more per night, plus tax, and with Internet for an additional fee. Available on a first-come, first-served basis, MacTech Conference attendees get a special rate of just $169 per night, which includes Internet access. Taxes and service charges are extra. Room quantity is limited, and some nights in the room block are approaching sell out.

Those interested in demonstrating their products at the conference and sponsoring the event have a variety of sponsorship possibilities (based on availability).  See the details at http://www.mactech.com/conference/sponsorship.

Established in 1984, "MacTech Magazine" (http://www.mactech.com) is the only monthly magazine focused on Apple at the technical level. Each month, "MacTech" and MacTech.com is read by 150,000 technical Macintosh users in over 175 countries ... from network administrators to programmers, from solution providers to Enterprise, and in general anyone that's interested in the Macintosh beyond the user level.