iMacs:

The new iMacs come in a 21 inch, and 27 inch configuration, with more storage, more memory, and faster processors.  The displays are now LED back-lit, with better than 1080p resolution. The quality of the displays is also better.  They are slimmer, and the screen is similar to the MacBook pro line in terms of style – the glass of the screen goes from edge to edge.

See the video here: http://www.apple.com/imac/the-new-imac/#large

A wireless keyboard and mouse are now standard, and the mouse has been significantly updated to include multi-touch functions accross the entire surface of the “Magic Mouse” – very smart!

See the Magic Mouse Video Here: http://www.apple.com/imac/design.html (bottom of the page)

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New MacBook

The new MacBook now sports the same great 13.3″ screen as the entry level MacBook Pro, and the same trackpad!  Fantastic.  The polycarbonate shell is now “unibody” as well, making it a very close contender to the Pro lineup.  The hard drive is now standard 250 GB (larger than the entry level MacBook Pro).  The keyboard is not back-lit, there is no SD card slot, the processor isn’t quite as fast, and the computer doesn’t sport the ultra-sexy thinness of the Pro line, but there are far fewer reasons not to buy the white MacBook..  Great update.

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http://www.usingmac.com/2008/6/8/90-more-apple-wallpapers

http://usingmac.com/2008/7/28/200-mind-blowing-nature-wallpapers

http://usingmac.com/2008/7/21/firefox-wallpapers

iPhoto
- New Face Recognition
- Organize by Place – GPS locatio automatically added (Converted to Plain English Name)
- Place can also be automatically added
- Use Google-based map to browse your photos
- Support for Flickr and Facebook Added
- Facebook names sent back to iPhoto
- New Slideshow Themes – Automatically zoom in to faces that are automatically detected
- Slideshows can Sync to iTouch/iPhone
- Auto Insert Maps of where photo was taken
- Manual Insert of location is assisted by name database
- Places can now show a map with all photos taken at that location

iMovie 09
- Video Stabilization
- Many features that were not added in iMovie 08
- Add Travel Maps
- New Themes

GarageBand 09
- Learn to Play – Brings up teacher video with live fretboard
- There are 9 basic guitar and piano lessons in GarageBand 09, and it also has “Artist Lessons.” John Fogerty will teach us Proud Mary, Patrick Stump from Fallout Boy, and some guy named Sting are featured guitar artists. Sarah McLachlan, Ryan Tucker of One Republic, and Norah Jones are the piano artists. More will be added later, Phil says.
- There’s a built-in store in the software, which lets you download artist lessons for $4.99. The artists will give you a bit of the backstory to the songs as part of the lesson. John Fogerty is talking about the history of Proud Mary; the opening sequence, believe it or not, is a rip-off of Beethoven’s Fifth. He’s talking about the chord choices he made, which is an interesting way to teach people about music theory in a real basic way. It zooms in on his fingering as he moves from chord to chord.

That’s all we’re going to talk about for iLife ‘09, although there are new features in iDVD and iWeb. The upgrade price is $79, or a family pack for $99. That will ship by the end of this month, and it’s free on all new Macs.

iWork 09
Keynote
- New Tools for slide presentations
- New Trasitions
- Zoom into Slides
- New Themes
- New Text Transitions
- Use iPhone or -Touch as Keynote Remote! ($.99 app)

Pages 09
- Full Screen View
- Outline view
- New Templates

Numbers 09
- Numbers ‘09 rounds out the new iWork suite. Numbers ‘08 was a brand-new version 1.0 spreadsheet product. You can sort your spreadsheets by different categories, and there are more powerful formulas added for those of you who need to do advanced budgeted and finance. New charts and a new way of linking those charts have also been added.

iWork ‘09, like iLife, is $79, or $99 for a family pack of five. It’s $49 with a new Mac, and it’s available today. You need to upgrade to Leopard for the new iLife. Apple is now selling a Mac Box Set with Leopard, iLife ‘09, and iWork ‘09 for $169, and that will be available in late January when iLife ‘09 is ready.

Apple also has a new Web service called iwork.com, which it is announcing in beta form, perhaps having learned something from the MobileMe disaster. This lets you share iWork documents online between different users, for adding comments or notes to documents across a group. 

17-inch MacBook Pro
It uses the unibody construction that Apple unveiled in October for the MacBook line. The MacBook has been the leading notebook sold in the U.S. each of the last few months, Phil says, although it’s not clear what data he’s using to make that claim. The new MacBook is 6.6 pounds, and very thin for a notebook of its size.

Phil says it has the best display they’ve ever shipped on a MacBook Pro. It’s available in both glossy and matte finish, which will satisfy some of those who hated the glossy-only options for the new MacBook displays. It has the new MiniDisplay port.

It also has the new glass trackpad used on new the Macbooks, with all the same gestures. New Intel processors, option for up to 8GBs of memory, and both the integrated Nvidia graphics and the discrete 9500GT graphics. 320GB of hard drive as standard, and a SSD option. It also works with the new Cinema Display.

It also has the new glass trackpad used on new the Macbooks, with all the same gestures. New Intel processors, option for up to 8GBs of memory, and both the integrated Nvidia graphics and the discrete 9500GT graphics. 320GB of hard drive as standard, and a SSD option. It also works with the new Cinema Display.

This system also has a new battery. Phil says they wanted to make the longest-lasting battery life they’ve ever accomplished within the weight and size restrictions they set for the device. They’re showing a video with hardware chief Bob Mansfield, who walks us through the new battery. It will last 8 hours and last for 1,000 charges, Mansfield says.

Dan Riccio, from product design, explains how the battery was designed into the system. removable batteries waste space, he says, revealing that Apple is using a non-user replaceable battery on this system.

Apple’s chief engineer for battery systems is showin on the screen, but they don’t identify him by name, which is odd. Apple created custom battery cell shapes which they claim increase capacity. They are using lithium polymer technology, says the unnamed engineer.

Mansfield’s back, talking about adaptive charging, which he says reduces wear and tear. 1,000 recharges is about three times the amount of the rest of the industry. Riccio says there is a chip within the battery that identifies individual cells and can adjust the current flow as needed, he says.

Mansfield says the MacBook Pro is environmentally friendly. It uses less power and made from aluminum and glass. Riccio says the battery should last for five years, which means people won’t be throwing out batteries. The video ends, the lights come up, and Phil’s back.

They are quoting 7 hours of battery life using the discrete graphics, and 8 using the integrated graphics. This will cost $2,799, the same price as the old 17-inch model. That’s with 4GBs of memory. It will start shipping by the end of January.

One Last Thing… iTunes
The first new thing in the new iTunes is price. There are three price levels, 69 cents, the traditional 99 cents, and $1.29. That will arrive in April.

The second thing is iTunes Plus. This is Apple’s DRM-free tracks, which also have a higher bit rate, Phil says. “Starting today,we’re going to offer 8 million of the songs DRM-free.”

By the end of this quarter, Phil says all 10 million songs on the iTunes store will be DRM-free. You can upgrade your existing music to be DRM-free.

The third new thing involves the iPhone. Apple has the Wi-Fi iTunes Store currently on the iPhone, and now you’ll be able to do that over the 3G cellular networks for the same prices as will be found in the regular iTunes store, with the same selection. You can preview and purchase music from the iTunes store, and of course, you can sync it to your computer. “This is a really big step for wireless music on cell phones,” Phil says, and that starts today.

Get yours here:
http://picasa.google.com/mac/