Macworld 2009 keynote liveblog

Welcome to the TUAW liveblog of the Macworld Expo 2009 keynote address. The keynote has ended; to read the full report click 'read more.' Quick summary: iLife 09, iWork 09, 17" MBP, and iTunes (Plus for all, tiered pricing, and buy songs over 3G). We're keeping on covering every bit of Macworld via our front page and show-specific page, so stay with TUAW.

10:39AM [stretching fingers and knuckles. Ow!]

10:38AM That's it! We're out. Stay with us for continuing Macworld coverage at http://tuaw.com/macworld09 or on Twitter at @tuaw_mwsf09.

10:37AM Phil thanking the crowd, we're wrapping up... thanking Apple employees.

10:37AM Well now we know something about the demographic here.

10:36AM Standing ovation for Tony Bennett.

10:36AM "And I come home to you... San Francisco... The golden sun will shine for me...." Delightful.

10:35AM "My love waits there... In San Francisco..." The room is hushed, except for the incessant clicking of keys.

10:34AM "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." OK, now everyone's getting a little verklempft.

10:34AM Biggest applause of the day: Video stabilization, and Tony Bennett.

10:33AM Tony sounds good, but consensus from the team here is "that was certainly going out with a whimper, not a 'boom.'"

10:31AM Tony and the band are sliding out on a platform, singing "The Best Is Yet To Come."

10:31AM "Why we create all these products around music..." Bringing out the musical guest -- Mr. Tony Bennett.

10:29AM Purchase now on WiFi or 3G starting today.

10:28AM 3rd new thing: the iPhone.

10:28AM By the end of Q1, all 10M songs will be DRM free. Much applause.

10:27AM 2nd thing: iTunes Plus. Starting today: 8M songs DRM free.

10:27AM $0.69, 99 and 1.29.

10:26AM Over last 6 years, one price for all songs. Music companies want flexibility -- so starting in April, 3 pricing tiers.

10:26AM What's new in '09? Price.

10:25AM iTunes is now the #1 music retailer in USA

10:25AM Over 10M songs, 75M accounts

10:24AM iTunes music store announcement of some kind...

10:24AM itunes

10:24AM One more thing!

10:24AM Ad claims "New MacBooks are world's greenest family of notebooks." Paging Greenpeace's lawyers!

10:23AM TV ad time

10:23AM Environmental report card: EPEAT Gold status, arsenic-free glass, BFR free, no mercury or PVC, smaller packaging.

10:22AM Same pricing -- $2799 for the base model, 2.66Ghz/4GB RAM

10:21AM 60% better battery life, 3 more hours. Gets you across the country or across the Atlantic.

10:21AM Well, if you had "nonremovable battery" on your rumor card, congratulations!

10:20AM 17" MBP runs on less than 1/2 the energy of a single lightbulb. Because the battery can recharge 1K times -- longer lifespan -- fewer batteries in the waste stream.

10:18AM Adaptive charging. Reduces wear-and-tear on the battery.

10:18AM Music is eerily like the soundtrack to "How It's Made" while they show factory clips.

10:18AM Custom-designed and shaped cells to fill the available volume. Lithium polymer technology.

10:17AM Battery is 40% larger by making it non-removable.

10:16AM More environmentally friendly. Dan Riccio :"The key to making a better battery is making it bigger."

10:16AM Up to 8 hours of work time, 1000 recharges.

10:16AM Bob Mansfield is explaining battery design advancements.

10:15AM Longest lasting battery life ever... keeping the notebook just as thin. Video!

10:15AM "Most innovative new feature... the battery."

10:15AM Same dual-GPU setup as the 15". 320GB drive, up to 256GB SSD as an option.

10:14AM Up to 8GB of RAM, new NVidia chips.

10:14AM Integrated battery display on the side. Includes new glass trackpad, 40% larger.

10:13AM Adding a $50 anti-glare option. Cheers.

10:12AM LED backlight, 1920x1200

10:12AM 0.98 inches thick, 6.6 lbs for 17"

10:11AM MacBook is #1 on list of US notebooks sold.

10:11AM Unibody enclosure for the 17". Sturdier, thinner, lighter.

10:10AM 17" MBP announce.

10:10AM "Beginning of a new service." In the end, it will be a fee-based service. Beta signup will launch today.

10:09AM Once the remote user comments, owner can download and see.

10:06AM Viewing interface looks quite a bit like MobileMe... built with SproutCore no doubt.

10:06AM Recipient gets an email with a "view document" button.

10:05AM Upload sends a bundle of document versions to the site.

10:05AM Demo of sharing iwork.com -- button at the top of the apps to invite others to view the document.

10:04AM Comments and notes on documents online; download copies directly. No editing in the cloud?

10:04AM Shame on us for not checking to see if Apple owned that domain.

10:03AM Sharing service online for iWork documents.

10:03AM iwork.com -- service beta coming soon

10:03AM Mac Box Set (Leopard, iWork, iLife) ships end of month.

10:02AM iLife requires Leopard. Bundle with all three "Mac Box Set" for $169.

10:02AM $79/99 family pack, or $49 with a new Mac. iWork 09 ships today.

10:01AM Numbers templates for finance, education, home inventory.

10:01AM We're an hour into this keynote and nothing on Snow Leopard, nothing on hardware.

10:01AM Charts now link from Numbers to Pages.

10:00AM New charting options... mixed chart types, multi-axis, scatter plots, trend lines and error bars.

9:59AM "Most requested feature was more powerful formulas, more functions." Over 250 functions now.

9:59AM Added table categories to Numbers. Similar to Excel's pivot tables.

9:58AM Numbers. 2nd version now. First one was "a fun, easy spreadsheet done the Apple way."

9:58AM Phil is showing the new Pages templates.

9:58AM Seriously, if Keynote Remote works as advertised it will sell a lot of iPod touches.

9:57AM MathType and EndNote integrated within Pages, great for academic publishing.

9:57AM Mail merge from Numbers to Pages

9:56AM Dynamic outlining in Pages. Graphics in-line, drag and drop sections.

9:56AM Similar to WriteRoom. Except, you know, not just text.

9:55AM Pages09 -- Full Screen view. One page, no distractions.

9:55AM Keynote remote uses Wifi. Very slick in theory, need to see it working for real.

9:55AM $0.99 in the App Store. "Already given it a 5-star review."

9:54AM Shows you your notes. Shows slide preview. Dang. Flick to advance. DANG.

9:54AM Keynote remote -- iPhone app to run your presentations!!! Yes.

9:53AM More themes for Keynote.

9:53AM [thanks again to engadget for pictures]

9:53AM New Chart animations; bring in your graphs with a transition, 3D textures.

9:52AM Text transitions. Just swung in "Obama" for big laughs.

9:51AM On GarageBand, Victor: "Norah Jones' haircut makes her look like a librarian."

9:51AM Object transitions -- zoom objects from one slide to the next, dissolve individual objects.

9:50AM Keynote has "Magic Move" transitions. You set up your slides, Keynote animates your objects for you. Demo shows playing cards.

9:49AM Keynote '09 -- "I'm using it right now, so you know it's rock-solid."

9:49AM iWork '09.

9:49AM Shipping late January.

9:49AM iLife, still free on new machines. Upgrade is $79, family pack is $99 to upgrade.

9:48AM For $5, you get John Fogerty on video. For $20 more he will come to your house. :)

9:47AM John Fogerty clip is very laid back and enjoyable.

9:47AM Yes, that's Sting.

9:47AM My prediction: This feature alone is going to sell hundreds of thousands of Macintoshes.

9:46AM Built-in garage band store lets you purchase artist lessons for $4.99. This is how money will be made in the music industry of the future. :)

9:45AM Mike S: ""I'm using the suzuki method, you?" "Garageband.""

9:45AM Sting and Sarah McLachlan. Because your Mac can't get any cooler.

9:45AM Sting!

9:44AM John Fogerty and Colbie Callat teach you to play!

9:44AM "Hold your applause because this is freaking cool"

9:44AM "9 basic lessons for guitar or piano... but once you want to learn to play a song, we've enlisted artists to teach you."

9:44AM I had a Miracle keyboard back in the day, but I never learned... maybe this will work. :-)

9:43AM Victor Agreda: "unfortunately it only shows you how to play Rock Band"

9:43AM The guy who appears in these videos is never going to have to buy his own beer ever again.

9:42AM Learn to play guitar, keyboards... you see the frets on the screen, video instruction.

9:42AM Just one feature he wants to talk about... create a piece of software that will teach you to play an instrument.

9:41AM "I'd like to show you one more... the new GarageBand '09."

9:41AM Phil: "I'm so impressed I edited that myself." :)

9:40AM Great demo. Big cheers.

9:40AM iMovie themeing is just like an iPhoto book -- applies title page, transitions, credit slides. Wow.

9:39AM I predict a surge in John Williams soundtrack sales to accompany these animated travel maps.

9:39AM The "Indy" animated maps are WICKED cool.

9:38AM This may actually be the PageMaker of video editing... finally.

9:37AM Instant slo-mo or speedup. Can apply video effects directly in the timeline, no rendering time.

9:37AM Y'know, it seems like iMovie and iPhoto are now designed to repair human failings.

9:36AM Looks very good. Worth coming back later to see the video version, the effect is pretty impressive.

9:36AM Demoing the video stabilization. Two-step process, first pass takes some time.

9:35AM Project library now includes filmstrips of the iMovie projects. Much easier to figure out what you have.

9:34AM A lot of the aggravation with iMovie '08 is going to go away with this version.

9:34AM Now doing a synthetic "multicamera" edit. New 'Action' popup to zoom in on the edit. Can see both clips simultaneously and adjust in/out points by sliding the clips.

9:32AM Steve S: "Automatic video stabilization in iMovie '09 + image stabilization in camcorders = still photos."

9:32AM Applause for audio only insert feature.

9:32AM Kid saying "Sure gonna miss this place." Very cute.

9:32AM Same skimming to grab clips. Can drag and drop clips onto other clips for contexual menu for all kinds of inserts, audio only... slick.

9:31AM Introduced chief architect of iMovie 09.

9:30AM Demo time!

9:30AM Automatic video stabilization.

9:30AM Animated travel maps. The "Indiana Jones" feature.

9:30AM Drag and drop insert editing. Dynamic theming -- instant movies.

9:29AM Adding back depth of features to the new version. New in iMovie 09: Precision editing.

9:29AM "Not every feature was there in iMovie '08 -- nothing was the same except the name from the earlier version."

9:28AM iMovie is new! (Again)

9:28AM [Thanks to Engadget for letting us use their photography.]

9:28AM Steve Sande: "Does somebody want to pick up a copy of iLife '09 for me? Need to rewrite a book... :-)"

9:27AM Column view in iPhoto looks like iTunes browser, can sort by country city or state.

9:27AM GPS tagging is quite precise if your camera is doing the tagging. Demo shows pins that locate multiple photos.

9:25AM Places will auto-complete based on a list of places, you don't need to know zip code or lat/lon. Very fast.

9:25AM [Phil didn't say that, I did. :-]

9:24AM Hmm, if you could do smart albums with "These three people but NOT Joey..." Handy for ex-spouses you want to leave out of the holiday card.

9:24AM Can group a batch of Faces to make a smart album of the whole family, colleagues, etc.

9:23AM Mike Schramm: "Say a quick prayer for the flickr export plugin. It served us well."

9:23AM Drag over a batch of photos to confirm.

9:23AM Adding the faces is very straightforward. iPhoto gives you "certain" and "likely" matches to identify whether the match is right. Single-click to confirm, double-click to deny.

9:21AM Very easy to see all the photos of a particular person in your library. This is going to be a very helpful feature for parents with hundreds of pictures of their kids!

9:20AM Demo time for iPhoto '09. Phil is giving us the runthrough.

9:20AM More themes for books from iPhoto. Travel theme includes maps with geocoded photos.

9:19AM Can export slideshows to iTunes and sync to iPhone or touch. Very handy.

9:18AM Oohs and Ahhs for "Shattered" theme.

9:18AM They use face detection to auto-position faces in the center of the slideshow.

9:18AM Sorry, not Things -- Themes. :)

9:18AM Slideshow feature: Things. Pick a theme for slideshows. Think a light version of Fotomagico or Animoto. Quite slick.

9:16AM Previous product that did face recognition I was trying to remember: Riya.com, visual search.

9:16AM Facebook face tagging is retroactive to iPhoto, synced back. That's quite awesome.

9:15AM Lots of depth and power added to iPhoto, including Facebook and Flickr!

9:14AM Licensing maps from Google Maps.

9:14AM You can retroactively tag events with a location so that you can geotag photos that don't have GPS info.

9:13AM Phil took a photo at the Eiffel Tower, very nice.

9:12AM "Cameras with GPS include Canon, Nikon, and the most advanced cellphone on the market..." :-)

9:12AM Map with pins of geocoded locations. Also very cute.

9:11AM 2nd method of organizing -- Places.

9:11AM You can train iPhoto 09 to learn who's who. "We think it works really well."

9:10AM There was another technology that did this, trying to remember the name... once you ID the person, it will find them in other photos. Sweet.

9:10AM [Sorry the liveblog wasn't on the front page, fixed now!]

9:10AM Face detection tech embedded in iPhoto. Applause.

9:09AM Corkboard with snapshots of favorite people. How does it work?

9:09AM "Wouldn't it be great if iPhoto could organize your photos by favorite people!"

9:09AM iPhoto 09 -- new ways to manage photos -- "Faces"

9:07AM (As we found out a couple of hours ago.)

9:07AM #1 is iLife 09!

9:07AM "If you want to hear some new things..." 3 new things to tell us.

9:07AM Last fiscal year was 9.7M Macs, biggest year ever, by growing 2x the rest of the PC industry.

9:06AM Today, going to talk about the Mac.

9:06AM 5th Ave store pic now on the screen. "They come to shop, but also to get hands on with iPhone, iPod... and the Mac."

9:06AM 100 Macworlds every week. Mild applause.

9:05AM 3.4M customers per week in the stores.

9:05AM "When I look at the Sydney store, and that big glowing logo... what other company's logo could be there?" It's an impressive shot, thousands of people in the store.

9:05AM Pictures of Munich, China stores, Sydney.

9:04AM Incredibly exciting time at Apple -- you can feel it, but nowhere more than the stores.

9:04AM "I am very excited to be the one bringing the keynote to you."

9:04AM Blue shirt and jeans... No black turtleneck!

9:03AM Phil is here. Cheers. So much for silent keynote.

9:03AM Lights going down!

9:01AM We'll be (hopefully) featuring some pictures from Engadget's coverage, if technical limitations permit.

9:00AM Just asked us to turn off our cell ringers.

8:59AM The room is a-buzzing...

8:56AM From my seat I can throw a spitball at Scott McNulty... should I? Nah. Our updates will be here and also on Twitter at @tuaw_mwsf098:53 We're seated and the crowd is filing in. Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson on the PA.