Macworld thriving without Apple - FT.com Macworld has lost much of its allure since Apple announced it was pulling out in 2008 and it no longer upstages the annual Consumer Electronics Show, as it did in 2007, when Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone there. But the show continues to demonstrate that innovation abounds in the Apple ecosystem. There's an app[lication] for that," as Apple says, for anything you care to do on its devices and Macworld tends to prove there is an acc[essory] for that as well, when it comes to boosting the features of an iPhone or iPad. FROM Personal Technology Cutting through the dense undergrowth of cases, headphones and battery boosters at the annual San Francisco show devoted to all things Apple this week, I uncovered several items that could amplify the abilities of my tablet and smartphone, particularly in the sound and vision department. One of the major improvements in the latest iPhone 4S has been its camera and Schneider Vision showed me add-on lenses that increase its abilities even more. New at the show was the 2X Tele a lens that narrows the field of view by half, making objects appear closer and improving portrait photographs. This joins the company's existing wide-angle and fisheye lenses, which come in a $199 set available online that includes a sturdy iPhone case. It has a bayonet mount for attaching the lens over the phone's existing lens. There is a handle that screws into the case and serves as a tripod mount, with its barrel also used as a container for the lenses when not in use. Schneider also told me they were working on a macro lens to complete the set. Blue Microphones makes stylish devices for audiophiles and showed off three new models at the show, available this spring, to improve sound recordings on an iPod, iPhone, iPad or Mac computer. Its $200 Spark Digital won a Best of Show award. It is a striking studio-quality condenser microphone that can connect to an iPad or USB port. I liked the built-in shock mount and desk stand that was included. Blue's Tiki is a small $60 USB mike that has noise-cancelling features. Plug it into the side of a MacBook and your voice will be heard loud and clear above any tapping on the keyboard during a Skype conversation. A new version of its classic Mikey plug-in microphone has also been produced for the iPhone 4. The $100 device includes an auxiliary-in port for plugging in a guitar, for example, and playing and recording it. Other hardware that stood out included Western Digital's forthcoming external hard drive, the My Book Thunderbolt Duo (price to be announced). The dual-drive unit can hold a couple of three-terabyte hard drives and copy data through Apple's new Thunderbolt ports at 10 gigabits per second, fast enough to move a full-length HD movie in 30 seconds. Doxie, whose scanner I reviewed last year, unveiled the Doxie Go+Wi-Fi. The $240 model, available worldwide, is battery powered and beams scanned documents to the iPhone, iPad or cloud services such as Evernote. For improved interactions with the glass screen of an iPad, I liked the Jot Touch stylus from Adonit, coming in March, which is pressure sensitive, uses Bluetooth and has a small disc on its tip that fools the screen into thinking a finger rather than this far more precise instrument is being used for drawing. And while I find the iPad's on-screen keyboard easy to use, the iKeyboard , a $35 removable overlay, gives it a cushioned feel that makes typing a much more comfortable experience.