Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: iLife '08, iWork '08

Apple's new software announcements from yesterday. Also, a couple of other hardware announcements.

iLife '08. Apple's update to its "digital hub" suite includes an all new iMovie program. Jobs touted the new iMovie as a vastly improved way to manage video clips and put together movies; however, critics are already decrying the features from the previous version of iMovie that are now missing, like multiple audio tracks. I haven't looked closely at the program yet, but I'll say this: the appeal of iMovie has always been the ability to put together movies quickly. If people want professional-style features, they should look into Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro.

iPhoto and iWeb have also been updated with some minor new features, including the ability to group photos by "events" and publish "web galleries". Meh. Here's my beef with iPhoto's web publishing feature: it keeps changing. I have photo albums posted with dot.mac HomePage as well as iWeb, and they're totally separate from each other. Is the dot.mac Web Gallery going to be yet another system? I'll have to try it to see.

GarageBand and iDVD haven't been changed significantly, from what I can tell.

iWork '08. The long-awaited "Numbers" spreadsheet application makes its debut, and it looks solid. One thing I've always wanted in a spreadsheet program is the ability to get away from the 1970s-era flat two-dimensional spreadsheet, with cells labeled "F54" (until a column insertion changed the coordinates). Numbers finally accomplishes this, giving us multiple "intelligent tables" that float on a canvas.

Keynote picks up the ability to animate objects along a path; this is the one feature from PowerPoint that I've missed in previous versions. Apple's version looks more elegant and intuitive than PowerPoint's, though again, I'll have to try it to see.

Other hardware announcements. The new keyboards that were introduced with the iMac are also available separately. There's a wired version, and a Bluetooth wireless version. The wireless version is interesting in that it resembles a notebook keyboard, with miniature function and arrow keys. Both of the keyboards are impossibly thin, and works of art in their own right.

Finally, Apple introduced a RAID controller card for the Mac Pro, something that's sure to make graphics and video professionals happy.

Permalink