Advertisement

Apple introduces iLife '08


As expected, Apple's given its iLife software suite a refresh in the form of iLife '08, which Jobs calls the "biggest jump since we introduced it." A bold claim to be sure, but you'll soon be able to judge for yourself, as the whole lot's available today for $79 (and, of course, bundled with all new Macs). Here's the breakdown app by app:

iPhoto: New to iPhoto this around is "Events," which promises to let you more easily organize your photo albums, and the .Mac Web Gallery, which'll let you publish and share your photos on the web, with other folks also able to contribute to it. What's more, you'll also be able to send photos to the gallery directly from your iPhone, and sync up your iPhone with photos already in the gallery.

iMovie: Described as a "whole new app," iMovie looks to have taken on some increasingly iPhoto-like characteristics, with it now now being touted as "one library for all your video." It'll let you work in resolutions "higher res than DVD" and, as with iPhoto, you'll be able to share those videos on your .Mac Web Gallery. It'll also encode and upload directly to YouTube and, of course, tailor videos for your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV.

Click on through for details on the rest of the apps.



iWeb:
Getting a somewhat smaller upgrade is Apple's website builder, which now boasts including built-in support for GoogleMaps and Google's AdSense, along with something called "live web widgets," whichll let you copy any "web snippet" and paste it onto your site. You'll also get some new options for putting together photo pages, some new themes, and support for personal domains.

iDVD: Not a whole lot new here, it seems, but you will get "pro encoding" and some new themes, which promise "really high production values."

GarageBand: Among the updates to GarageBand this time 'round are multi-take recording, and what Apple's calling "Magic GarageBand," which will give you a fairly wide range of genres that "musicians and non-musicians alike" can play around with, including blues, rock, jazz, country, reggae, funk, latin, and others.