The MACWORLD Expo 2000 in San Francisco this week is a festival for that devoted part of the computer world that prefers not to deal with a PC, Bill Gates, or anything to do with that old copycat, Windows. But it is also a cornucopia for streamers, as the wonderful world of Macintosh has a lot of unique advantages for the video and audio world, something Apple has been making the most of lately. If you don't have the privilege of actually being there, you can stream your way to Frisco on a couple of venues.

Ariston, a provider of bi-platform video-conferencing solutions will be demonstrating its webcasting solutions through Ariston's Web site at www.ariston.com during show hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

"Our goal has been to unite the world live over the Internet. Throughout this year we have been developing cutting-edge products that allow users to have free, top-quality, live communications over the Internet. Our next step is the introduction of two new 'solutions-in-a-box' for live video-streaming over the Internet that are easy to use, fun and affordable. Both solutions are exclusive for the Mac platform and include the hardware, software and DSL service necessary for Mac users to do their own high-quality, live webcasts," said Lazaros Bountour, president of Ariston Technologies. Ariston's all-in-one webcasting solutions are retailing for $699 and $899 respectively and will be available in March. To preserve the integrity of the viewing experience the number of concurrent users has been limited to 100 per webcast.

Since you may not be able to get on to that one, you might try Sorenson Vision's wireless broadcasts from the exhibition halls, which offers much broader coverage of the show. Their "Rover" broadcasts will feature interviews with representatives from key exhibitors and industry leaders, as well as impromptu discussions with show attendees.

The Rover is a mobile wireless webcaster that uses a video camera connected via a video card to a Macintosh PowerBook G3 computer. Sorenson Broadcaster, a tool for streaming live QuickTime video, encodes the live feed and sends it to a streaming server via a Lucent WaveLAN wireless ethernet connection. The server then creates a live broadcast to be hosted by Apple Computer and Akamai Technologies.

"It's exciting to be able to broadcast live, while still maintaining the freedom and mobility that comes from wireless networking," said M. Ray Brooksby, Sorenson Vision's vice president of sales and marketing. "We think the Rover broadcasts will help Mac enthusiasts feel like they are a part of MACWORLD 2000 -- even if they can't be there in person."

The Rover streams will be accessible through Sorenson's home page, http://www.s-vision.com. The broadcasts will stream while the show floor is open: Wednesday, January 5, through Friday, January 7, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. PST, and Saturday, January 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. PST.