iLife ‘06: Review
iLife ‘06
The iLife suite of “anti-productivity” tools has gotten better, and more integrated in this great release. iWeb, a website creation tool, is the new member of the iLife family. Below are some of the new features, broken-down by product.
iTunes- this is a free program, bundled with iLife, the only updated (6.0.2) is a new mini store feature, which offers music as you listen to your library.
iMovie- New to iMovie is the ability to create a title movie, open multiple projects, and a sound editor, and the ability to create more text effects.
iDVD- You can now create a “Magic iDVD” in a snap, new themes, and a new interface makes this program even better.
Garageband- new podcast studio, with added loops, and jingles, makes this program alone worth the cost of the entire suite.
iPhoto- new photocast lets you share your photos with people via a photo RSS feed. Additional books, cards, calendars, and the new editing in full-screen, makes this a good upgrade.
iWeb- this is the new addition to the iLife family, this is a really great, and handy tool for creating websites on the go. iWeb features many Apple designed templates (or you can start from scratch and make your own). Then you just enter in the information, add links, music, photos, and podcasts, click upload, and all the RSS, and encoding is done for you! Your site can be uploaded to .Mac, or you can save the files as .HTML, and upload them to your own server.
This was a really big (and much needed) upgrade to iLife. All of the upgrades really make this an amazing version of iLife.
iWork ‘06: Review
iWork ‘06
Wow, you just thought iWork ‘05 was really great, wait until you have a chance to see some of the new features in iWork ‘06! Some of the new features include: the ability to create even more stunning presentations, documents, tables (that will now auto-calculate!), and really stunning 3D graphs, which have wood-grain textures. iWork ‘06 includes, Pages 2, and Keynote 3, and great fun creating documents, and presentations! Some of the new features in Pages is that it includes so many more templates, and the ability to create your own custom shapes, and then drop an image onto it. Then, check out the new reflections tool, which puts a glass-looking reflection below your pictures; and look at the new graphs! Even greater is the fact that if you drop a picture into your document or presentation, you have the ability, with one click, to make adjustments to the image, without even leaving Pages, or Keynote! This is just one more amazing product, from the greatest company, Apple.
iMac (Core Duo): Review
iMac (Core Duo)
I took a look at the first of the new Intel Macs. The first thing that you notice about the iMac Core Duo, is it looks just like the iMac G5 (iSight). It does not have any new cosmetic features. The second thing that you notice, is that the thing is blazingly fast! It runs iLife ‘06, iWork ‘06, and the built-in apps (ex. Safari) really fast. It even runs Microsoft Office version 2004 really fast, even though this Power PC app. is running over the OS X integrated Rosetta, which allows you to run “most” of the PPC (Power PC) software on the new Macs. Overall, this is an amazing computer (but hey, It’s from Apple!).
More MacWorld Photos…
Google Earth…
Google Earth (http://earth.google.com) is now available for the Mac, it is in PPC form though!
Apple Booth (MW 2006)
New Apple Products!
Products Introduced by Apple @ MacWorld ‘06:
1: More Video To iTunes
Yes, it is here, the Saturdaynight Live (SNL) skits and commercial parodies. Now available right on your Mac!
2: iPod Remote + Remote
Finally an easy way to listen to radio stations on your iPod! This handy little remote control allows you easy access to an FM station in your area.
3: iLife ‘06
The handy set of “Anti-Production” tools. This new release includes some new features, and even a new Application!
- iTunes: Your favorite (and really only way) to listen to your music on your Mac.
- iPhoto: A great way to store, edit, show, share, and create with your pictures. This version got even better, Store - this version allows you to store over 250,000 pictures. Steve says that is would be like if you took 1,000 pictures every month for 20 years. Show - this version of iPhoto allows you to edit pictures in full screen mode, with photo comparison. Share - great new tools to share your pictures, are you getting tired of email pictures? Then… just create what Apple call’s a “PhotoCast”, this is really a great new way to share photos, if you are a member of .Mac (dot mac). Just tell iPhoto which album you want to create a photocast of, and it will send your pictures to .Mac, and when you allow someone to join, the pictures (all of them in that album that you created a photocast of) will automatically get downloaded on their computer. Create - new books, and added by request, Cards, and Calendars!
- iMovie: The new iMovie is really great, it now adds support so that you can open more than one movie at a time! Some of the new features includes an all new introduction tool, which you can use to create a title movie for your DVD’s. I really like this.
- iDVD: New templates and new Magic DVD allows you to create the best DVD’s ever!
- Garageband: All new in this release, “PodCast Studio”! Steve showed off this program by creating his own fake-podcast. The PodCast started out, “Hi, this is Steve, and welcome to my podcast, ‘Super Secret Apple Rumors’. I have a lot of friends inside Apple, and here is what I am hearing, the next iPod will be huge, an eight pounder with a ten inch screen.” I really like the Podcast feature, and will be starting my own podcast too!
- iWeb: This is the newest member of the life suite. What is it you might ask? It is a completely new way to create and publish your Photos, Videos, and Podcast on .Mac (dot mac). Simple one button publishing will make this easier for a whole new generation of bloggers, and people that want to make a website of their own pictures.
4: iWork ‘06
Apple also released their new version of the productivity suite, “iWork ‘06″, which is a set of two applications, Pages, and Keynote. While not demoing iWork, Steve announced that he used the new Keynote 3 to create the slides for the Apple event.
5: Intel Update
Steve also talked about Intel Macs, when right then, the CEO of Intel walked out suited up, with a silicon wafer in his hand, and said “Intel’s Ready!”. Steve looked at him, and said “Apple’s Ready Too!”
6: iMac
Yes! The first of the new Intel Macs have arrived, and yes, it is the iMac!
7: MacBook Pro
Steve got to talking about the PowerBook, and stated that it is done, they are “Taking the power out!”. The MacBook Pro will be taking the PowerBooks place. This is a really nice laptop, little pricey, but really Great! Apple will be shipping these notebooks with the built in iSight, and Front Row (with remote) In February.
Pictures
Eve of the Apple Keynote
Well, it is the Eve of the Apple keynote… Tomorrow is a huge day for Steve! There has been a whole-lotta speculation about what Apple may release tomorrow. However, there is one that really scares me… Someone has rumored Apple to be increasing iTunes prices. I really don’t like that idea. I hope they don’t increase prices, this would be a very bad thing. Well, I leave you with some of the pictures from MacWorld today:
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About
Hi, my name is Cory Bohon. I am a tech blogger, freelancer, lover of all things technology, and photographer. This is my personal blog, where you can find what I am currently ranting about. Images
