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Tag: iLife

  • Apple Updates Its iLife Apps On Mac OS X And iOS

    Apple showed off MacBook Pro, Mac Pro and Mavericks today, but hardware is only as good as its software. To help along with that, Apple also updated its iLife apps for Mac OS X Mavericks and iOS.

    The big change to apps this year is that they all support the 64-bit architecture seen in the iPhone 5S. This allows Apple’s iOS apps to offer more of the features that have only since been seen in these apps for Mac OS X.

    To start off, iPhoto has been updated on both Mac OS X and iOS to be faster. The iPad version of the app also supports the Photo Books feature that was previously only available on Mac OS X. That means iPad users can now create a digital photo book to then have Apple print a physical copy for your coffee table.

    The next app shown was iMovie – Apple’s simple film editing software. With 64-bit iOS devices, users can now use “desktop class effects” on their mobile devices. You can also use picture-in-picture editing on mobile devices.

    Speaking of mobile devices, any footage captured in iMovie on an iPhone or iPad will now be automatically uploaded to iCloud. In short, you can access any video taken on your iOS devices on any other Apple device.

    Finally, Garage Band was updated with a new design for both iOS and Mac OS X Pro. It now supports up to 16 tracks on all devices, and 64-bit devices will support up to 32 tracks.

    All of these apps will be available today for free as part of the Mac OS X Mavericks update.

    [Image: Apple]

  • Apple Fans Get All Kinds of Good News Today

    Apple made a series of announcements today, including a new MacBook Air, a sneak peek of Mac OS X Lion, the Mac App Store, a public beta of FaceTime for Mac, and the introduction of iLife ’11 with upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand.

    The New MacBook Air

    The new MacBook Air gives up the physical hard disks in favor of Internet services and solid state flash storage. "We’ve taken what we have learned with the iPad—solid state storage, instant-on, amazing battery standby time, miniaturization and lightweight construction, to create the new MacBook Air. With its amazing responsiveness and mobility, it will change the way we think about notebooks," says CEO Steve Jobs. 

    This ought to compete directly with machines running Google’s Chrome OS. 

    The New MacBook Air - It's thinner, so it must be better.

    FaceTime Comes to the Mac

    FaceTime for Mac lets Mac users video call iPhone 4 and iPod touch users (with iOS 4) as well as other Macs. It requires Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and can be downloaded here. 

    "FaceTime makes video calling to or from mobile devices easy for the first time," says Jobs. "We’ve sold more than 19 million FaceTime-ready iPhone 4 and iPod touch devices in the past four months, and now those users can make FaceTime calls with tens of millions of Mac users."

    The addition of FaceTime to Macs will no doubt inspire plenty of iPhone users to switch to Mac if they are currently using PCs. The feature has been one of the most popuar of the latestr iPhone release. It’s certainly been the main selling point from the company’s marketing campaigns. 

    Apple says there are over 19 million iPhone 4 and iPod Touch users with access to FaceTime. 

    FaceTime Comes to Mac

    Mac OS X Lion

    The new operating system is Apple’s 8th major OS X release. The company says it’s inspired by many of the iPad’s software innovations. It comes with the Mac App Store for desktop apps, Launchpad, which serves as a home for the user’s apps, and Mission Control, which provides a new way of viewing everything that’s running on the machine, and to instantly navigate anywhere. 

    "Lion brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones like Mission Control that Mac users will really like," says Jobs. "Lion has a ton of new features, and we hope the few we had time to preview today will give users a good idea of where we are headed."

    Mac App Store

    The Mac App Store is like Apple’s existing App Store for Max OS X. You can still purchase apps with an iTunes account and they will download and install in one step. App updates will be delivered through the store. It will actually be available for Snow Leopard in the next ninety days, and will be included as part of Lion. 

    iLife 11

    The new iLife gives iPhoto a new look, makes it easier to edit videos in iMovie, and provides new features for GarageBand, which helps users improve playing and create songs with "Flex Time" and "Groove Matching".

    Apple Announces iLife 11

    "iLife is widely regarded as the best suite of ‘Digital Life’ applications in the world, and iLife ’11 makes them even better," says Jobs. "iLife now makes it easier than ever to create books and letterpress cards, make amazing movie trailers from your personal videos and post them online, and make your band sound far better or teach yourself piano or guitar."

    The suite is free with all new Macs, and costs $49 for an upgrade.