Apple Releases iLife '11

Apple released iLife ’11 at its Back to the Mac event in Cupertino, demoing three of the suite’s updated applications—iPhoto, iMovie, and Garageband.

Apple on Wednesday unveiled iLife ’11 at its Back to the Mac event in Cupertino, demoing three of the suite’s updated applications—iPhoto, iMovie, and Garageband. Features showcased included a new, iOS-like full-screen mode for iPhoto, redone audio editing and trailer templates in iMovie, in addition to revamped recording and teaching tools for GarageBand. The updated suite was released Wednesday and will cost $49 for users of iLife '09. It will also come preinstalled on all new Macs.

In a lengthy demo that consumed nearly half of Wednesday's press event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was joined by Senior Vice President Phil Schiller, Randy Ubillos, chief architect for the company's video applications, and Xander Soren, GarageBand's product marketing manager, who each took one of the suite's flagship programs to demonstrate.

iPhoto ’11

First up was Phil Schiller—describing iPhoto ’11 as “the best version yet”—who started his presentation by showcasing the program’s newly redesigned full-screen mode. Taking a few design cues from the iPad, iPhoto’s full-screen mode features a row of tabs along the bottom of the screen for Events, Faces, Places, Albums and Projects. Faces and Places look similar to their iPad counterparts, while Albums adds the ability to pull read-only photos from both Facebook and Flickr accounts. Projects now displays user-created items like books and cards on a wooden shelf.

New slideshow templates offer auto-generated transitions, labels, and background music; Schiller previewed several themes, including one called Places—similar to iMovie ’09’s Maps—as well as a Reflections and Holiday theme.

Photo sharing, too, has been simplified. “Share via Email” allows users to select a group of photos, click the option, and have iPhoto automatically create a postcard within the program. Choose from several different templates; drag, drop, and resize photos within; and choose whether to attach the full-resolution photos or just the postcard. A new sharing panel links Flickr and Facebook accounts and shows the user’s sharing history.

Book creation, meanwhile, has undergone a complete carousel-inspired redesign. Users can pick an album, click Create, select Book, and are brought into the new full-screen book creation view.

Choose a type of book, and iPhoto will auto-fill photos, using information about the album selected to create the pages—for instance, the album’s key photos is translated to the book’s cover, and higher-rated photographs are automatically assigned to larger spreads. If you want to customize your book, however, it’s easily doable: users can change the picture layout as well as individual pictures, drag and drop pages to reorganize them, and alter the page background.

With iPhoto ’11, users can also create and order letterpress cards in addition to the flat and folded options previously available in earlier versions of the program. The Cards creator features an introductory video on letterpress techniques for new and interested users.

iMovie ’11

Improved audio editing—which Apple CEO Steve Jobs called "the number one request we got after the last version of iMovie”—led the changes to Apple’s entry-level video editing program.

Randy Ubillos, chief architect for Apple's video applications, took the stage for a demo highlighting new audio editing capabilities, as well as “one step effects,” which provide instantly rendered visual compositions; easy-to-build movie trailers with fifteen template themes, original scores created by the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road; People Finder, which uses face detection to distinguish the number of people in your photo and the framing of the shot; and direct sharing with Facebook and Vimeo. “Isn’t that awesome?” Jobs joked after Ubillos had finished. “You know Randy along with his team has invented all of that stuff.”

GarageBand ’11

The final program to get an on-stage demo Wednesday was GarageBand, shown off by Xander Soren, product marketing manager. Soren focused on GarageBand’s new recording and instrument tools, including new Flex Time, Groove Matching, and “How did I play?" features, more guitar amps and effects, and new piano and guitar lessons.

iWeb and iDVD?

Although not mentioned directly in Wednesday's presentation, Jobs did note in his initial speech that iLife '11 would feature the same programs as its predecessor, and both iWeb and iDVD are listed on Apple's iLife Website—though it's not clear what, if anything, has changed for these programs since iLife '09. Macworld has put in a call to Apple for further comment on whether iWeb and iDVD contain new features in the updated suite.

MacBook Air vs. iPad Smackdown:

Which is Best for You?

Apple's 11-inch MacBook Air may create a conundrum for prospective Mac owners: should they buy a petite Apple laptop or an iPad? When Apple launched the Air, it said it was a hybrid device combining the best aspects of the MacBook with the iPad. Just like Apple's tablet device, the Air has flash storage and no optical or hard drive. But like previous versions of the Air, the new computer runs OS X and has a laptop form factor.

So, if you had to pick just one device, and you specifically wanted an Apple device, for traveling or using at home, which one would you choose? For a spec-to-spec comparison see our comparison chart. For feature comparisons here is some guidance:

iOS versus OS X

The first thing to consider is the software and what your needs might be. If you choose an iPad, you will have a range of applications to choose from including Apple's iWork productivity suite. But importing and exporting files between the iPad and your desktop is still a bit of hassle requiring you to use iTunes and each app's Document Manager.

Click to ZoomThe Air has the full OS X file management system, and you can switch files to your Air using a USB flash drive. You can also install the upcoming Office for Mac 2011 if you want, but you will have to use the Air's optical drive sharing feature with a nearby PC or Mac to access the install discs.

Beyond work, both devices will play your iTunes music, you can access online music services such as Pandora using the Air's Web browser or the Pandora app for iPad. But games are more accessible on the iPad since you have access to a wide range of popular mobile games such as Angry Birds, Bejeweled and Madden NFL.

Apple did not mention whether the new MacBook Airs are high-powered enough to run Mac OS X Lion, which is due out next summer.

The Airplane Test

Click to zoom.If you want something to use when you're 30,000 feet in the air, the choice between an iPad and an Air comes down to personal preference. The Air's 11.8-inch width and 7.56-inch depth should be small enough to fit comfortably on most airplane tray tables. When the Air is open, you probably will need about 8 inches of clearance between the base of the tray table and the seat in front of you to use the device comfortably.

The iPad has a width of 7.47 inches. So if you use an iPad with a case that props it up on your tray table in landscape mode, you'll probably need a similar amount of clearance for the iPad as with the Air. The advantage of the iPad, however, is that you can also set it on your lap or lay it flat on your tray table.

Keyboard, Portability and Other Considerations

The MacBook Air boasts a full-size physical keyboard with 78 keys, 12 function keys and four directional arrows. The iPad relies on a touchscreen keyboard, although it can be paired with a portable keyboard.

As for portability, both are relatively light. The iPad weighs in at 1.5 pounds for the Wi-Fi version and 1.6 pounds for 3G. The Air comes in a little heavier at 2.3 pounds. Both devices feature 802.11n Wi-Fi that is backward compatible with slower versions of Wi-Fi including 802.11a/b/g, and both have Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. One thing the 11-inch Air doesn't have is a built-in 3G data connection, which is an option with the iPad. However, you could pair the Air with a MiFi mobile hotspot if you needed to.

As for pricing, the Air starts at $999 and there's an $1,199 option as well. The iPad ranges in price from $499 to $829, depending on the storage and 3G options you choose.

Apple's addition of what is essentially a netbook with the 11-inch MacBook Air is an interesting new device for the Mac lineup. But it will be interesting to see if the smaller laptop bites into iPad sales, or whether users completely ignore the new laptop in favor of a tablet device.

The Future of Entertainment!

Gesture-Based Remote Control

We love our mice, really we do. Sometimes, however, such as when we're sitting on the couch watching a DVD on a laptop, or when we're working across the room from an MP3-playing PC, it just isn't convenient to drag a hockey puck and click on what we want. Attempts to replace the venerable mouse--whether with voice recognition or brain-wave scanners--have invariably failed. But an alternative is emerging.

What is it? Compared with the intricacies of voice recognition, gesture recognition is a fairly simple idea that is only now making its way into consumer electronics. The idea is to employ a camera (such as a laptop's Webcam) to watch the user and react to the person's hand signals. Holding your palm out flat would indicate "stop," for example, if you're playing a movie or a song. And waving a fist around in the air could double as a pointing system: You would just move your fist to the right to move the pointer right, and so on.

When is it coming? Gesture recognition systems are creeping onto the market now. Toshiba, a pioneer in this market, has at least one product out that supports an early version of the technology: the Qosmio G55 laptop, which can recognize gestures to control multimedia playback. The company is also experimenting with a TV version of the technology, which would watch for hand signals via a small camera atop the set. Based on my tests, though, the accuracy of these systems still needs a lot of work.

Gesture recognition is a neat way to pause the DVD on your laptop, but it probably remains a way off from being sophisticated enough for broad adoption. All the same, its successful development would excite tons of interest from the "can't find the remote" crowd. Expect to see gesture recognition technology make some great strides over the next few years, with inroads into mainstream markets by 2012.

Radical Simplification Hits the TV Business

The back of most audiovisual centers looks like a tangle of snakes that even Medusa would turn away from. Similarly, the bowl of remote controls on your coffee table appeals to no one. The Tru2way platform may simplify things once and for all.

What is it? Who can forget CableCard, a technology that was supposed to streamline home A/V installations but that ultimately went nowhere despite immense coverage and hype? CableCard just didn't do enough--and what it managed to do, it didn't do very well. Enter Tru2way.

Tru2way is a set of services and standards designed to pick up the pieces of CableCard's failure by upgrading what that earlier standard could do (including support for two-way communications features like programming guides and pay-per-view, which CableCard TVs couldn't handle), and by offering better compatibility, improved stability, and support for dual-tuner applications right out of the box. So if you have a Tru2way-capable TV, you should need only to plug in a wire to be up and running with a full suite of interactive cable services (including local search features, news feeds, online shopping, and games)--all sans additional boxes, extra remotes, or even a visit from cable-company technicians.

When is it coming? Tru2way sets have been demonstrated all year, and Chicago and Denver will be the first markets with the live technology. Does Tru2way have a real shot? Most of the major cable companies have signed up to implement it, as have numerous TV makers, including LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony. Panasonic began shipping two Tru2way TVs in late October, and Samsung may have sets that use the technology available in early to mid-2009.

Apple's iPad Mistakes! :(

The iPad has a lot going for it, but is also a big disappointment in many ways. Almost no product could have lived up to the insane hype leading up to Steve Jobs's announcement today, but the iPad certainly could have had more groundbreaking features. If Apple really wants to change the world with the iPad and popularize a whole new computing category, they may need to do better. If the iPad had the following features, it would have blown us away.

Multitasking

There's no multitasking in the OS at all, and not even multiple active web pages in Safari. You can't listen to Pandora while you surf the Web, or switch back and forth between Facebook at Twitter, or write a document in Pages while talking on a VOIP call.

Adobe Flash

For better or worse, it's just not the real Web without support for Adobe Flash. We want to watch Hulu on the iPad. It's sort-of okay on a small phone-sized device, but it's not okay on a 9.7 inch screen.

Camera / iChat

We don't expect people to hold up a big slate to take pictures with a back-facing camera, though some augmented reality apps might be neat on the larger screen. What the iPad is really lacking is a front-facing camera and video chat. A device like this would be perfect for such an application. With a front-facing camera, the iPad could be the perfect device for filming and editing personal YouTube videos (you could even see yourself in-frame as you record).

Better Video and HDMI

Video support is very similar to what you find on the iPhone and iPod Touch - limited to 720p H.264 Main Profile. There should be support for Advanced Profile video, and while we're at it, a mini HDMI port to push video to our HDTVs.

16:9 Aspect Ratio

The 4:3 aspect ratio is convenient for using iPhone apps in full screen mode, but it's less desirable for media. From YouTube videos to TV shows to movies, the world is rapidly shifting exclusively to widescreen formats, and those black bars are getting real old, real fast.

Wireless Sync

If your computer with my iTunes account associated with it is on my local network, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to sync your iPad over Wi-Fi. With the 802.11n networking, it would even be pretty fast. If Microsoft can do it with the Zune, why can't Apple?

Handwriting Recognition

A soft keyboard is one thing, but it's still not good enough to touch-type on. On a tablet sized device, people sometimes just want to jot down a note or two. Sometimes, writing by hand is simply more convenient.

A New Interface

The interface is basically a slightly modified, scaled-up version of the iPhone interface. That's nice and familiar, but it doesn't make the best use of the bigger screen. We wanted something more, perhaps with pertinent info from Twitter, Facebook, Feeds, Weather, Email, and more pushed to the home screen.

File Access

Clearly, Apple expects us to not just consume on the iPad, but create. iWork has been ported to the platform, and the art application Brushes was prominently featured in Jobs's presentation. There should be a folder where I can access my documents and images, drag them to and from my desktop, and save documents from the Web (or services like Dropbox).

Periodicals

The iBook store seems like a great start for books, but many were expecting the iPad to save the newspaper and magazine publishers, and there's just nothing there. Where are the newspaper and magazine publishers in the iBook store? The world's publishing companies aren't all going to release their own apps like The New York Times, and frankly, we don't want separate apps to read all our periodicals.

Openness

Nobody expects an Apple product to be truly "open" - that's like expecting the Pope to endorse Hinduism - but Apple missed some opportunities to make this device a little better at working together outside of the Apple ecosystem. Will ePub format books from stores other than iBook appear on your bookshelf? Will Google Voice get to publish a real app for the iPad? Why are all the cool Photo features related to location and tagging reliant on iPhoto (and thus, a Mac) instead of working with existing photo metadata? But hey, kudos to Apple for selling the devices with 3G unlocked and letting you use any carrier willing to give you a GSM micro SIM card.

Google's Desktop OS!

In case you haven't noticed, Google now has its well-funded mitts on just about every aspect of computing. From Web browsers to cell phones, soon you'll be able to spend all day in the Googleverse and never have to leave. Will Google make the jump to building its own PC operating system next?

What is it? It's everything, or so it seems. Google Checkout provides an alternative to PayPal. Street View is well on its way to taking a picture of every house on every street in the United States. And the fun is just starting: Google's early-beta Chrome browser earned a 1 percent market share in the first 24 hours of its existence. Android, Google's cell phone operating system, is hitting handsets as you read this, becoming the first credible challenger to the iPhone among sophisticated customers.

When is it coming? Though Google seems to have covered everything, many observers believe that logically it will next attempt to attack one very big part of the software market: the operating system.

The Chrome browser is the first toe Google has dipped into these waters. While a browser is how users interact with most of Google's products, making the underlying operating system somewhat irrelevant, Chrome nevertheless needs an OS to operate.

To make Microsoft irrelevant, though, Google would have to work its way through a minefield of device drivers, and even then the result wouldn't be a good solution for people who have specialized application needs, particularly most business users. But a simple Google OS--perhaps one that's basically a customized Linux distribution--combined with cheap hardware could be something that changes the PC landscape in ways that smaller players who have toyed with open-source OSs so far haven't been quite able to do.

Check back in 2011, and take a look at the not-affiliated-with-Google gOS, thinkgos in the meantime.

Windows 7: It's Inevitable!

Whether you love Vista or hate it, the current Windows will soon go to that great digital graveyard in the sky. After the tepid reception Vista received, Microsoft is putting a rush on Vista's follow-up, known currently as Windows 7.

What is it? At this point Windows 7 seems to be the OS that Microsoft wanted to release as Vista, but lacked the time or resources to complete. Besides continuing refinements to the security system of the OS and to its look and feel, Windows 7 may finally bring to fruition the long-rumored database-like WinFS file system. Performance and compatibility improvements over Vista are also expected.

But the main thrust of Windows 7 is likely to be enhanced online integration and more cloud computing features--look for Microsoft to tie its growing Windows Live services into the OS more strongly than ever. Before his retirement as Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates suggested that a so-called pervasive desktop would be a focus of Windows 7, giving users a way to take all their data, desktop settings, bookmarks, and the like from one computer to another--presumably as long as all those computers were running Windows 7.

When is it coming? Microsoft has set a target date of January 2010 for the release of Windows 7, and the official date hasn't slipped yet. However, rumor has the first official beta coming out before the end of this year.

iPad!♥

The iPad is a tablet computer designed and developed by Apple. It is particularly marketed as a platform for audio and visual media such as books, periodicals, movies, music, and games, as well as web content. At about 700 grams (25 ounces), its size and weight are between those of most contemporary smartphones and laptop computers. Apple released the iPad in April 2010, and sold 3 million of the devices in 80 days.

The iPad runs the same operating system as the earlier iPod Touch and iPhone, albeit a slightly older version. It can run its own applications as well as ones developed for the iPhone. Without modification, it will only run programs approved by Apple and distributed via its online store.

Like iPhone and iPod Touch, the iPad is controlled by a multitouch display — a break from most previous tablet computers, which used a pressure-triggered stylus. The iPad uses a Wi-Fi data connection to browse the Internet, load and stream media, and install software. Some models also have a 3G wireless data connection. The device is managed and synced by iTunes on a personal computer via USB cable.

Media reaction to the device has generally been neutral or positive, with more positive reaction after the device was launched.