On Tuesday, Apple brought out a slew of new products in its summer dog and pony show at company headquarters in Cupertino. Taking the stage, CEO Steve Jobs brought out the following:
iMac:
-The new iMac is thinner and now features aluminum and class:
-Revised iMac comes in 20 and 24 inch screen sizes. The unit features an audio input and output, three USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800 ports, Gigabit Ethernet and video out. Apple has retained the slot-loading drive along with the built-in iSight and internal microphone.
-The displays apparently have a glossy sheen to them with Jobs claiming the new design is better for displaying photos and movies.
-Apple has released a new keyboard to complement the iMac. The new device appears to have special dedicated keys such as brightness controls, Expost, Dashboard and media controls.
-The new iMac ad can be seen here.
-A new wireless keyboard and “Mighty Mouse” are also available. Both devices operate on the Bluetooth 2.0 protocol.
-The new iMacs are now based on upgraded Intel Core 2 Duo processors and are clocked from 2.4 to 2.8 GHz. Apple has also upgraded RAM support up to 4 gigabytes and included ATI Radeon HD 2400XT graphics systems. Users can now install internal hard disk drives up to 1 terabyte . The new iMacs feature built-in 802.11n wireless networking.
-The new iMacs are available in a US$1,199 configuration (20; display, 2.0 GHz processor, 250 GB hard drive), a US$1,499 configuration (20″ display, 2.4 GHZ, processor and 320 GB hard drive) and a US$1,799 configuration (24″ display, 2.8 GHz, unsure of the hard drive size).
-All models are immediately available.
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On Tuesday, Apple brought out a slew of new products in its summer dog and pony show at company headquarters in Cupertino. Taking the stage, CEO Steve Jobs brought out the following:
iMac:
-The new iMac is thinner and now features aluminum and class:
-Revised iMac comes in 20 and 24 inch screen sizes. The unit features an audio input and output, three USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800 ports, Gigabit Ethernet and video out. Apple has retained the slot-loading drive along with the built-in iSight and internal microphone.
-The displays apparently have a glossy sheen to them with Jobs claiming the new design is better for displaying photos and movies.
-Apple has released a new keyboard to complement the iMac. The new device appears to have special dedicated keys such as brightness controls, Expost, Dashboard and media controls.
-The new iMac ad can be seen here.
-A new wireless keyboard and “Mighty Mouse” are also available. Both devices operate on the Bluetooth 2.0 protocol.
-The new iMacs are now based on upgraded Intel Core 2 Duo processors and are clocked from 2.4 to 2.8 GHz. Apple has also upgraded RAM support up to 4 gigabytes and included ATI Radeon HD 2400XT graphics systems. Users can now install internal hard disk drives up to 1 terabyte . The new iMacs feature built-in 802.11n wireless networking.
-The new iMacs are available in a US$1,199 configuration (20″ display, 2.0 GHz processor, 250 GB hard drive), a US$1,499 configuration (20″ display, 2.4 GHZ, processor and 320 GB hard drive) and a US$1,799 configuration (24″ display, 2.8 GHz, unsure of the hard drive size).
-All models are immediately available.
Jobs then went on to his next marquee presentation, iLife 2008:
iPhoto ’08:
-The new iPhoto supports an Events feature in which pictures can be tagged to an event. For example, a birthday can incorporate a given set of photos and an image library can be split into events such as a wedding and a birthday. Users can also browse by event.
-Users now have the ability to Hide photos. This removes given images from view while keeping them out of the trash. The new iPhoto sports a Unified search as well as additional edit tools such as the ability to copy and paste edits from one photo to another. New features also include Theme-based home printing for making prints for framing as well as new Photobook options.
-iPhoto now offers a Skimming option in which the user can drag a mouse over an Event thumbnail and see all the images in the given Event in a thumbnail space.
-Double-clicking an Event’s thumbnail brings up an enlarged image without moving into an editing window. Events can also be split and merged together.
-.Mac now features one button photo sharing to the Web.
-Other users can now publish to a photo gallery through e-mail links that are sent to them. This action both adds their photos to your gallery, but syncs them to your local iPhoto library.
-Albums can now be set up in a .Mac Web Gallery. Users can also use the Skim feature to quickly glance through the album in thumbnail mode. The albums allow you to resize the thumbnails, get info on images, view the photos in a grid, mosaic, Coverflow “carousel” or slideshow.
iMovie ’08:
-A new version of iMovie is now available and is represented by a completely new application icon.
-Users can now select sections of a clip via the thumbnail as if they were highlighting text and drag it to the movie they’re assembling. The new version also features additional editing features and new sharing modes.
-iMovie ’08 sports a single library mode for browsing media and also supports HD media, including the AVCHD format. Users can also Skim through the entire video in thumbnail mode.
-.Mac subscribers can now publish video to their .Mac Web Gallery as well as publish directly to YouTube.
-Published movies in the .Mac Web Gallery can now be downloaded directly to a local hard drive.
iWeb ’08:
-iWeb now features live Web widgets such as Google Maps and YouTube. Users can drop in Google AdSense code directly from the web and use a drag and drop view to compose web sites. Personal domain support has now been built n and users can switch themes after they’ve published their web sites.
iDVD ’08:
-The new version features improved performance and additional themes.
GarageBand ’08:
-The new GarageBand features multitake recording support.
-A new Magic GarageBand feature lets users choose from several categories such as rock, latin, country and reggae, then allows them to pull in different instruments. Once created, a new GarageBand project file with these instruments will be created for the user.
-iLife ’08 remains priced at US$79 and is available today.
iWork:
-Jobs cited that 1.8 milion copies of iWork have already been sold.
-Keynote now offers new text effects, including animated text.
-An Instant Alpha feature allows users to instantly remove background imagery from an image while Smart Builds adds presentation generation abilities.
-Apple has added A to B animations to Keynote.
-The new version of Pages now offers new formatting options, modes, a contextual format bar, change tracking, revised templates and a Numbers program.
-Numbers features Intelligent Tables which help easily assemble formulas. Users can sort and filter columns and a Flexible Canvas system allows users to have multiple tables on a single page.
-An Interactive printing feature in Numbers acts as a highly interactive preview mode.
-Numbers’ templates are customizable and users can import and export to “almost all” Excel documents.
In an unexpected move, Apple brought out Tim Cook and Phil Schiller.
-Cook mentioned that Apple is seeing “some traction” in the business space with Macs, but didn’t offer specific details.
-Jobs confirmed that Apple is working closely with Google.
-Responding to a reporter’s question, Jobs confirmed that there is no Excel Macro support in Numbers.
-Jobs Confirmed that Apple isn’t supporting true HD for video uploads to the .Mac Web Gallery, but cited that HD camcorders don’t use a true HD format and Apple has gone with a “higher than DVD format.”
-Jobs commented that movies and pictures are becoming increasingly important and believes that Windows users will switch for these applications.
-When asked if Apple plans to overtake the PC in market share, Jobs replied that Apple wants to make the best computer possible as cheaply as possible.
.Mac:
-All new Macs will now include iLife 2008 and .Mac storage has been boosted to 10 gigabytes of online storage.
-.Mac remains available for US$99.95 per year and US$179.95 for a Family Pack in which there’s one master account and four sub-accounts. New Mac owners will receive a US$30 discount coupon with a new Mac and anyone can sign up for a free 60-day .Mac trial. Users can gain the full 10 gigabytes of online storage space for an additional US$49.95 per year.
-.Mac currently requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later for Mac OS X 10.3-based systems and Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later for Mac OS X 10.4-based systems and 256 MB of RAM.
Mac Mini:
Apple quietly upgraded its Mac Mini during the special event. The new specs are as follows:
-The new Mac Mini now features a 1.83 GHz or 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and supports up to 2 gigabytes of RAM.
– Integrated GMA 950 graphics.
– Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11g wireless + bluetooth 2.0 built in.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available and if you have ideas or feedback, let us know in the comments or forums