Macworld 2009 has come and gone, and it seems like the Apple goodies weren't quite so fresh and shiny this year. A lot of it had to do with Steve Jobs stepping down from the duties of presenting the Keynote to spend time with his family, despite rumors of his impending death. Phil Schiller, bless his heart, did the best he could, but a Philnote is simply not a Jobsnote.
I sat at my desk, glued to live feeds.. for a goddamn hour and a half, just so Phil Schiller could show off iCrap. But I promised Bil a wrap-up so please, click after the jump for what it was: the Final MacWorld Keynote. I promise, there is some shiny around the bend.
iPhoto '09 -
*Now with trick management! iPhoto has always been clunky, but '08 added a new feature called "Events" that group your photos by actual happenings, or events. This year, Apple goes overboard and adds face recognition. iPhoto scans your photographs for faces and groups photos with people it recognizes. This way, you can keep all those photos of Kevin separate from photos of Ricky. Now if only they had support for package recognition, we could really manage our amateur porn libraries. iPhoto also adds geotag support for photos, and lets you play around with Applefied Google maps.
iMovie '09
iMovie '08 added a ton of usability for the common user, but took away a lot from the prosumer. This is why all the videos on Xtube look the same. iMovie '09, however, adds image stabilization and precision controls back to the mix. It won't make you any hotter, but at least now you can slow down the money shot. iMovie also gets a bit of Maps love, letting you plot your travels Indiana Jones Style, embedding 2d and 3d maps into your movies.
Garage Band
Now you can wow your friends with all your mad music making skills, thanks to lessons provided by all star artists like Sting, Norah Jones, John Fogerty, Patrick Stump from Fallout Boy, and the ever sexy Ryan from One Republic on Piano.
iLife '09, the compilation of iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, and iDVD will ship in Late January for $79 to upgrade or a Family Pack for $99.
You can get iWork (also updated) and iLife as a box set with Leopard for $169 when it ships in late January.
New Macbook Pro 17-inchers
This was truly expected but being the only piece of hardware announced, I can't help but say meh. Integrated 9400M and 9600M graphics cards. 320GB HDD or upgrade to 256GB SSD. Supports up to 24inch cinema display, and 17-inch screen ships with a native resolution of 1920×1200. Also the lightest and thinnest 17 notebook ever. Whooopdeedoo. Battery can not be removed, but claims 8 hours, with 1000 cycles. $2799 and also ships in late January.
There was a bit more to be had, like iTunes going all DRM-free, iWork.com: a pay for service that lets you browse documents across multiple users, but really... this was the lamest macworld in a few years. Maybe it was a good thing Jobs didn't show up. I bet he did it on purpose.
You can catch the rest of the news and more info on Macworld 2009 at Macworld.com
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7 Comments
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Is iLife 09 worth the upgrade or is it Bloatware ala'Windows? What's new in iWork? Can I mail merge from bento yet?
null | January 6, 2009 2:57 PM
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I think it may be worth the upgrade. The face recognition and places management in iPhoto are nice. iWork has mail merge now, but I don't know if it works with Bento.
The iMovie features are MUCH appreciated.
I think the iwork.com PAY service is total FAIL. WTF are they thinking making it pay when Google Docs is free? Stupid.
The new MBP is all shiny and drooly, but the built in battery is a bummer. Total win on the anti-glare coating even if it's $50 extra.
Wadda you think, Nate?
Jerame Davis | January 6, 2009 3:35 PM
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I looked at iWork09 at Apple.com and was excited about it working with EndNote. The bummer is I have to upgrade to Endnote X2. The thought of taking MS Office off my Macs does bring a smile.
null | January 6, 2009 4:33 PM
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I think Apple's leaving the Macworld stage with a whimper and not a bang. iPhoto's direct integration with Flickr is pretty cool, but I'm ambivalent about the rest. I'm glad iTunes has dropped DRM but I still don't think I'll buy music there. It's probably just psychological, but something about AACs still feels locked down to me.
Scranto | January 6, 2009 5:25 PM
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I don't care what they claim about the batteries, Don't lock it in. All this does is to force a vertical system for repairs.. and Geniuses aren't always geniuses.
As with iPhoto, the flickr export is cool, but I've been doing that for ages with FFXporter, a free plugin. consider that. iPhoto IS bloatware, and Im still getting used to the iPhoto library being bundled into the app.
iWork is worth the upgrade if you use it. I don't use it and don't care. as with iWork.com, I'm not going to pay for collaboration when I do it for free with Google.
iMovie is the only thing that will make me upgrade iLife. I have needed the controls over time and audio for a while now, and its about time.
iTunes... i'm not gonna shell 30 cents extra for every song just to have it again DRM free. I don't like aac, but I respect iTunes for finally giving in.
The new MBP is totally expected but totally loverly. expensive as hell but that is the ultimate home computer. I really appreciate the matte option and if i could afford a 17 incher, i'd pay even 100 bucks for it.
Nathan Strang | January 6, 2009 5:48 PM
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Apple touted MobileMe as being "exchange" for the rest of us. iWork.com should have been a feature of MobileMe. I can collaborate on Live Office Workspace for free too.
null | January 7, 2009 11:32 AM
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The best part was seeing the live feed for one of the Mac sites get hacked with crap like "Steve Jobs is dead" and "I Has Been Hacked." THAT was the best joke of them all, Phil notwithstanding.
Bil Browning | January 7, 2009 3:07 AM
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