iLife '09 and iWork '09 Debut at MacWorld Expo

19th Jan 2009

Apple's iLife and iWork have received their 2009 iterations at MacWorld Expo. The iconic digital life and productivity suites have been updated significantly in certain areas, including:

iLife '09: iPhoto

Building GPS location and map referencing into the consumer photo application expands on the previous release's Events categorisation by adding Places. Photos can either be referenced manually or by using the built-in GPS feature of certain cameras or phones.

Automatic face recognition adds Faces to Places and Events, allowing photos to be organised by those in them.

iLife '09: iMovie

iMovie '09 adds more professional editing features to the video editing application, including precision editing, animated maps and reduced camera shake. Apple hope that iMovie '09 will satisfy those iMovie '06 users who were unhappy with the iMovie '08 release.

iLife '09: GarageBand

GarageBand '09 features instrumental lessons in guitar and keyboard. Basic lessons are included as standard, and Artist Lessons are available to purchase, featuring the likes of Ben Folds, Norah Jones and Sarah McLachlan. Reportedly, Sting also teaches how to play the entire back catalogue of John Dowland.

iWork '09: Keynote

Keynote, Apple's successful presentation software, now features Magic Move, allowing Keynote to automatically fill in the transitions between two defined endpoints.
Keynote Remote, a new iPhone application, has also been released, giving presenters slides, presenter notes and controls.

iWork '09: Pages

Pages, the word processing and page layout software, brings a new Full Screen mode which attempts to direct the focus on the document rather than multiple menus and palettes.

iWork '09: Numbers

Numbers '09 adds extra charting options and enhanced formula generation to the spreadsheet application.

iWork '09: iWork.com

iWork.com, initially launched as a free public beta, brings document sharing and annotation onto the web.

iLife '09 and iWork '09 will both be available this month.