The hardware itself doesn't seem much changed; the Vado HD will still be available in a $200 8GB version and will be joined by a new 4GB version priced at $180. There'll also be two new colors, but the big news is really the software. The two new Vado HDs are available for pre-order today from Creative (though they don't seem to be up on the site quite yet), and the software should be released early this month. [Creative]

Let's face it, iMovie '08 was a step backwards for the iMovie software, so much so that Apple even made it a point to keep iMovie '06 available as a download well after the software had been updated. The biggest complaint with iMovie '08 was it lacked all the special features found in the previous version that made video editing so fun and easy.

iMovie '09 has regained most of the features that were lost in the '08 version and even has some new ones like video stabilization, green screen and animated maps. The UI still lacks a dedicated timeline that most video editors are accustomed to using, but to make up for it iMovie '09 has new tools like the precision editor and advanced drag-and-drop capabilities.

Here's a closer look at the new features of iMovie '09:

Precision Editor

Apple's response to all the complaints about iMovie '08 lacking a timeline is this new precision editor window. Once you're in a project, you select precision editor in a clips pop-up window, and the bottom half of iMovie becomes the editor. This tool is intended to help make more precise edits between two clips in your project, and does this by showing the two clips in an overlapping fashion. You simply click the spot in a clip you want to cut at and than iMovie automatically moves the clip to create the cut you want.

The window can also display audio tracks, effects and titles along side the video clips so it feels more like a timeline than a simple project window. There is also the option to move titles and change audio tracks of clips. The problem here is that the precision editor won't let you do precise manipulation of a music track. This is frustrating, especially when you're trying to line your video up with music. For the simple trimming of clips precision editor works pretty well—better that than nothing—but it's still no substitute for a timeline.

Advanced Drag-and-Drop

After checking Show Advanced Tools under iMovie Preferences, this drag-and-drop tool shows much more features. In iMovie '08 dropping a clip from the library on-top of a clip in the project window simply inserts the library clip into the project. Now in iMovie '09 the same action brings up a pop-up menu filled with choices. It has options to replace the clip four different ways into your project or just to insert it the same way it would have in iMovie '08. The best features though are the Audio Only, Cutaway, Picture-in-Picture and Green Screen—all of which are completely new to iMovie '09.

Video Stabilization

For the common shaky video clip using video stabilization will impressively make the annoying camera movement disappear. iMovie '09 does this stabilization in two steps. First it will analyze the video clip frame by frame and pixel by pixel, comparing one side of the frame to the other. Once it has analyzed the clip it applies a function that scales, rotates and moves the video based on the comparison. It zooms and trims the clip as much as it needs to apply the reverse movement of the camera shake and still not go outside the video frame. What's more interesting is this video stabilization is the same effect Apple uses in their professional visual effects program Shake.

Video Effects, Themes, Titles, and Transitions

Thank God or maybe Jobs, but video effects like speed, reverse play, and color adjustments are all back in iMovie '09. The clip inspector window now has options for all these effects. There might not be as many effects as there were in iMovie '06 but there are some new ones, like the cool Sci-Fi and Heat Wave color shifts.

Themes have also returned to iMovie. There are six different themes to choose from and each one puts a visual effect on the first and last clip in the project. The first will show an intro title like a scrap book with video playing on it and at the end it will insert a directed by title over your last clip. What's cool is it will also add theme-related transitions to the transitions selection. Same goes for the titles. You only get about four new transitions and titles, but it's nice to keep each element of the project in theme.

iMovie '08 only had 12 titles to choose from which was pretty pathetic, but now iMovie '09 has over 32. The titles aren't as customizable as they were in iMovie '06 but with new additions like Clouds and Organic Main it might make up for it. As for transitions, only a few new ones have been added but nothing spectacular.

Maps and Backgrounds

The maps visual affects are pretty cool but not something that can be used with every project. There's eight different moving maps to choose from—not just fake Indiana Jones maps but real ones that you can put your real locations on, as well as set your desired duration. When changing the destination points on a map, it conveniently pulls up a search window for city or airport, which makes finding a specific location very simple. After playing with these maps, I can say the best feature is the ability to add video effects. Since you can add the same effects to maps that you can to video clips, you can make Sci-Fi-looking worlds, like I did in the the video above.

It's very sad that a background selection was not available in iMovie '08. Something so simple like a background is really essential to giving users the freedom to create any type of project they want. With an assortment of solid colored and moving backgrounds, iMovie '09 now has the the option to a add a simple color frame to the project. I for one am glad backgrounds are finally back.

Edit to Music

This is another new feature in iMovie '09 that is intended to assist at editing to music or making a music video. What this option does is allow the user to drop beat markers on a music track and then using those beat markers iMovie '09 will adjust the video clip durations to match the markers. This option will take some getting used but it seems like a valiant effort on Apple's part to create something useful.

After playing around with the edit to music and green screen options I was able to create a fun little video. Before you start asking who the hell these kids are, all the sample video clips I used were provided by Apple so ask them.

Overall
Apple attempted to recreate iMovie for iLife '08, and in many people's views, this was a massive failure. With iMovie '09, the company is really trying to make up for it—or perhaps prove that it had to tear down the previous system to make a decent new system. Most of the points that experienced enthusiasts complained about, like lack of creative features, has been addressed. But are the additions of features like video stabilization and effects enough to make this iMovie '09 as useful as iMovie '06 was? At this point, I still think it's not. The new tools like precision editor and drag-and-drop are nice needed additions for the layout but a timeline is still better. Bottom line is this: If you didn't mind the new iMovie layout but wanted more creative tools, you got them. But if the lack of a timeline layout in iMovie '08 is what got your goat, you're probably not going to like iMovie '09 either. Sorry. [iMovie '09]

It's been the easiest thing for everybody in the universe to say that Apple's Macworld 2009 keynote lacked not just Jobs but luster. We did feel a distinct absence of a Jobsian ZOMG hover-board-that-shoots-lightning-bolts reality distortion, a surge that is always followed by inevitable grumbling anyway. But the speech by able stand-in Phil Schiller wasn't without genuine news...

• Those who enjoy their iPhoto couldn't help marvel at the new features, including real bonafide face identification and new useful geographical organizing tools.

• People who hated last year's iMovie overhaul are now starting to realize that it might have been a necessary step in a whole new approach.

• We finally got the 17" MacBook Pro that had been projected for so long, though with a truly Apple-flavored twist: a long-lasting but non-removable battery.

• iWork got some improvements, but more importantly made its first lunge toward the cloud—for better or for worse.

• iPhone owners got the chance to impulse-buy songs directly over AT&T's 3G network (and even the EDGE network, at their own peril).

• And DRM—the reason I started buying all music from Amazon—finally got the boot, though under the condition that the four major record distributors get to charge higher prices on their tastiest licks.

It was an eventful day in the Apple-verse, even though Steve sat it out. But Macworld has come to an end (perhaps for all time), and we're already up and running at CES! [Macworld 2009; CES 2009]

Maps:
• There are 4 versions of maps, each also in a flat mode (along with the original globe). One is a photorealistic map, one is a school map, one has beige continents and one has green continents.
• If you're adding map animations from scratch, they take a bit of time to render. You have to select a starting and end point (Madrid or Disneyland), and the program will map it.
• Putting two animations back to back, using the same destination and departure city, makes the animation a seamless multi city tour.
• You can update the type of map by dragging the style onto the existing thumbnail in the project line.

Shake Stabilizer:
• It analyzes the entire picture and steadies the motion very, very well.
• If a scene cannot be corrected, because of an overage of movement, iMovie marks the section with a squiggly red line.
• The rendering for this correction has to be done on a case by case or project basis; all the rendering must be done ahead of time and Apple says, "it takes awhile but is worth it".

Precision Editor:
• Basically, precision editor zooms into the transition between two clips.
• It's laid out as follows: the upper segment is the first clip, and the bottom segment is the second clip.
• The left side highlights the first and upper clip, because that's active, and the lower right hand quadrant is also active (as the second clip). Moving the slider inbetween them (the y axis) shifts the transition point. Very easy.

And at long last, slow motion is back.

iMovie 08 was criticized for having a brilliant UI but lacking power, and so many people still use 06 which accepts plug ins. Perhaps 09 is a step in the right direction.

The suite is getting a pretty strong set of new features— some fluffy, but many meaty and delicious. See the full list, updated as we get new info, below. But first, the cloud.

Pretty much the whole suite gets towed online here— Pages, Numbers and Keynote all now feature the same online storage and collaboration capabilities, including editing, notation and conversion services. There are two modes of access, too: An online interface, at iWork.com, and transparent integration into the actual apps.

The suite is clearly intended to take on Microsoft SharePoint and Google Docs, but approaches online document management somewhat differently. Rather than editing and organizing documents only through a web interface, Apple has integrated the online aspect into the familiar native iLife apps as well.

New Features:

Keynote:

Motion Move: This Keynote effect will create object transitions between slides, like when teenagers morph into werewolves on low-budget TV shows.

Interstitial slideshows: This interrupts your presentations to display standalone slideshows. Thanks?

Text transitions: There are some news ones! You can slide, twirl, shimmer, etc. All the things that made you hate PowerPoint can now help you hate Keynote, too.

Keynote iPhone Remote: This $0.99 app lets cue your Keynote presentation over Wi-Fi, from your iPhone. It's pretty basic, but also has the capability to display presenter's notes.

Integrated online file storage: Simultaneous group editing with revision control, a la Google Docs.

Pages:

Fullscreen: Pages should have always had a fullscreen-ish option. Now it does!

Advanced outlining, listing: A sensible alternative to a standalone outlining/planning application, it's meant help you plan out longer projects. It's also dynamic, so any embedded document links will automatically update on changes.

Mail merge: Mail merging with Numbers! Again, long overdue, but at least now you can easily do your Xmas cards on your Mac.

MathType: Are you a scientist, mathematician or student? No? Then this doesn't matter for you. The whole suite now has many more functions and full MathType capabilities, for writing formulas into your documents.

Numbers:

Boring! MathType is the biggest addition here, but users also get drag and drop formulas, new chart types, multiple axes, trend lines, and error bars, along with dynamic linked charts. And lest we forget, lots of templates.

iWork 2009 is available now from the Apple Store for $79, a $99 "family pack" for five licenses, or $49 with the purchase of any Mac. The subscription fee for iWork.com will be announced at a later date. Press release below.

[Macworld 2009 Coverage]

Apple Unveils iWork '09

Introduces iWork.com Public Beta for Online Document Sharing

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced iWork(R) '09, the latest version of Apple's popular office productivity suite, which adds powerful new features without sacrificing Apple's legendary ease of use. Keynote(R) '09 introduces advanced object transitions, which automatically animate objects with a choice of effects and Magic Move, an innovative way to create sophisticated animations just by applying a simple transition. Pages(R) '09 features a new Full Screen view that helps you focus on your writing and an outline mode to organize your thoughts. Numbers(R) '09 introduces a quick way to group and summarize data and a dramatically simplified way to create complex formulas. Apple also announced iWork.com public beta, a new service Apple is developing to share iWork '09 documents online.

"Millions of Mac users have fallen in love with iWork," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With iWork '09, Apple continues to demonstrate that innovation is possible in office productivity software, and that creating impressive presentations, documents and spreadsheets doesn't need to be complicated."

Keynote '09 introduces Magic Move, which allows you to apply a simple transition to automatically animate the position, scale, rotation and opacity of any image, graphic or text that is repeated on consecutive slides. New text transitions morph text from one slide to the next. New advanced object transitions animate objects off one slide while simultaneously animating objects onto the next slide with a choice of effects. 3D charts now include cylinder shapes, beveled-edge pie charts, new textures and four new 3D build effects. The Keynote Remote application, sold separately in the App Store, lets you view slides and presenter notes and control your presentation with your iPhone(TM) or iPod(R) touch.

Pages '09 Full Screen view lets you focus on your document without any distractions and reveals the menus, format bar and page navigator only when needed. Outline mode includes templates that help to quickly build the framework for your document and allow you to collapse, expand and rearrange elements, even inline graphics, with ease. MathType 6 support lets engineers, mathematicians and students easily add sophisticated equations to their documents and EndNote X2 integration lets users add and edit comprehensive bibliographic references. Pages '09 also includes 40 new Apple-designed templates, including newsletters, posters, certificates and coordinated stationery.

Numbers '09 provides a great way to quickly categorize data by column, which you can then collapse, expand and summarize to easily make sense of large sets of data. Numbers '09 makes formula writing dramatically easier with an enhanced function browser which includes built-in help for over 250 functions, and visual placeholders with tool tips that explain each variable in a formula. Use the new Formula List to view all formulas in your entire spreadsheet and jump directly to any formula cell with a single click. Expanded chart options include mixed chart types, two-axis charts, and the ability to apply trend lines and error bars. Numbers charts pasted into Pages or Keynote are linked, and can be updated with a single click.

Apple also introduced iWork.com public beta, a new service Apple is developing to share iWork '09 documents online. Using your Apple ID, just click the iWork.com icon in the Keynote, Pages or Numbers toolbar to upload your document and invite others to view it online. Viewers can provide comments and notes, and download a copy of your document in iWork, Microsoft Office or PDF formats. A consolidated online list of all your shared documents indicates when your viewers have posted comments.

Pricing & Availability

iWork '09 is now available through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $79 (US). iWork '09 is available for $49 (US) with the purchase of any Mac(R) through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

iWork '09 requires Mac OS(R) X version 10.4.11 or Mac OS X version 10.5.6 or later, a Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel processor, PowerPC G5, or 500 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended), 32MB of video RAM, QuickTime(R) 7.5.5 or later, a DVD drive for installation and 1.2GB of available disk space. iWork.com Public Beta is not included with the purchase of iWork '09. Account setup and activation are required. Fees may apply. Internet access and iWork '09 are required. Terms of service apply and are available at http://www.apple.com/legal/iworkcom/en/terms.html.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

(C) 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iWork, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iPhone, iPod, Apple Store and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090106/AQTU044)

SOURCE Apple

It's a good solid upgrade full of very nice features. One big catch, though: You need Leopard for it to run. Here's the rundown, app by app:

iPhoto stuff:


Faces: Goes through and identifies distinct faces, automatically tagging them so you don't have to slog through all your photos yourself.

Places: Geotagging, basically. iPhoto gives you a map with pins of where photos are taken. If your camera or iPhone encodes GPS info, iPhoto can figure out if the shot was taken at a particular landmark.

Facebook and Flickr support: Automatically upload your pics straight to your service of choice. (So glad to hear that one!) iPhoto will even grab Facebook image tags and use them in Faces. Flickr geo tags can be used in Places.

Themes: Page layouts for slideshows, with different fonts, caption boxes, etc., with crazy transitions. You can save slideshows to iPhone and iPod touch. It can detect faces in shots, so that they are centered during the slideshow. There's a geo-tag slideshow called Travel Books that looks and acts like a scrapbook.

iMovie stuff: Sounds like they're finally putting back some power functionality—let's hope so...


Precision editor: It's an expanded timeline for audio and video, for tighter cutting.

Advanced drag and drop: You can drag one video on top of another and get advanced context menus.

Themes: Select a theme and it automatically sets style for titles, transitions and credits.

Advanced travel maps: Put in starting and ending points, and it renders a 3D globe of where you traveled.

Video stabilization: Helps you fix shaky shooting when you're editing. Takes some processing time, but the results are amazing.

Other editing features: Skimming, seeing edits (before and after cuts), overlaying audio.

New project library: Organize videos in a more logical way with helpful thumbs.

Garageband stuff:
Yes, Garageband is still getting developed, even though I think it's been a while since even Walt Mossberg recorded a solo project. (Knowing Pogue's talents, he probably has a nice ProTools rig, or at least Logic.) Good thing this version is apparently looking for new musical recruits...

Learn to play: It has an instructional feature that helps teach you how to play instruments like guitar and piano.

Artist Lessons: Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, John Fogerty, Sting and other FOJ jam for your edification. Only $5 a lesson. Hmmm. (More on this.)

There are also updates to iWeb and iDVD, but Apple didn't feel the need to show them off, so they must not be terribly exciting. Here's the press release:

Apple Introduces iLife '09

Major Upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie & GarageBand

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced iLife(R) '09, which features major upgrades to iPhoto(R), iMovie(R) and GarageBand(R), and includes iDVD(R) and an updated version of iWeb(TM). iPhoto '09 builds on the ability to automatically organize photos into Events by adding Faces and Places as breakthrough new ways to easily organize and manage your photos. iMovie '09 expands on the revolutionary super fast movie creation introduced in iMovie '08 by adding the depth users want through powerful easy-to-use new features such as the incredible new Precision Editor, video stabilization, advanced drag and drop, and animated travel maps. GarageBand '09 introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar with 18 basic lessons and optional lessons from top artists such as Sara Bareilles, John Fogerty, Norah Jones and Sting. iLife '09 is included with every new Mac(R) purchase and available as a $79 upgrade for existing users.

"iLife continues to be one of the biggest reasons our customers choose to get a Mac," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With iLife '09, we've made working with photos, making movies and learning to play music a lot more fun, and iMovie users are especially going to love the advanced but easy-to-use new features."

iPhoto '09 makes it even easier to browse and search photos, not only by when they were shot (Events), but by who appears in them (Faces) and where they were taken (Places). iPhoto automatically scans photos to detect people's faces and when you assign a name to any face iPhoto will automatically find more pictures of that person. The library can be searched by name or browsed using the new Faces View. Places automatically imports photo location data from a GPS-enabled camera or any iPhone(TM) or you can manually assign a location to any photo, group of photos or event. Once iPhoto knows where photos were taken, you can easily explore them with a simple search or an interactive map. iPhoto '09 lets you easily publish photos to Facebook or Flickr. Photos published to Facebook include assigned names, and name tags added on Facebook sync back to iPhoto. You can also share photos by creating a themed slideshow to play on your Mac, iPhone or iPod(R), or create a beautiful travel book, complete with customized maps of your journey.

iMovie '09 adds powerful, yet easy-to-use new features to let you create a movie quickly, or add refinements and special effects to your project if you have more time. Drag and drop one clip on top of another to reveal new advanced editing options, including replace, insert, audio only, and even picture-in-picture or green screen. With the revolutionary Precision Editor, you can skim and click on a magnified filmstrip to view clips up close and fine tune any edit, like identifying precisely how much to keep, where to cut, use sound from one clip with video from another and more. iMovie '09 analyzes video and reduces camera shake in clips when added to your project. New titles, transitions, cinematic effects, speed changes and animated travel maps add professional polish to your movie.

GarageBand '09, the updated version of Apple's popular software used by millions to play and record music, now gives budding musicians a fun new way to learn to play piano and guitar. Basic Lessons let you learn the fundamentals at your own pace with Apple instructors in beautiful HD video synchronized to animated instruments and notation. Artist Lessons feature original artists showing how to play their hit songs with everything from finger positions and techniques to the story behind the song. Choose from lessons by popular artists including: Sara Bareilles, Colbie Caillat, John Fogerty, Ben Folds, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder and Sting. Artist Lessons are sold separately at the new GarageBand Lesson Store, available inside the GarageBand '09 application. GarageBand '09 also includes exciting new guitar amp and stomp-box effects, and Magic GarageBand Jam that lets you play along with a virtual band that you create.

iLife '09 includes iWeb '09 for authoring custom websites and iDVD '09 for creating DVDs. iWeb '09 adds new iWeb Widgets, such as iSight(R) video and photos, a countdown timer, YouTube video and RSS feeds. New integrated FTP publishing allows you to publish your website to virtually any hosting service and updates to your site can now be automatically added to your Facebook profile.

Pricing & Availability

iLife '09 will be available this month for a suggested retail price of $79 (US) through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The iLife Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after January 6, 2009 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Artist Lessons are available through the GarageBand Lesson Store for $4.99 (US) each.

iLife '09 requires Mac OS(R) X version 10.5.6 or later, a Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel processor, a PowerPC G5 or 867 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended), QuickTime(R) 7.5.5 or later (included), a DVD drive for installation and 4GB of available disk space. iPhoto print services and GarageBand Artist Lessons are available in select countries. Full system requirements and more information on iLife '09 can be found at http://www.apple.com/ilife.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

(C) 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iLife, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iDVD, iWeb, iPhone, iPod, iSight, Apple Store and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

[Macworld 2009 Full Coverage]

A version of Photoshop Elements will ship for Mac OS in "early 2008," says senior product manager Mark Dahm, who said that instead of an iPhoto-like album organizer similar to the one in the Windows version, a Mac PSE would have something like the Bridge application that comes with full-fledged Photoshop CS3.

More tantalizingly, a Premiere Elements for the Mac is not such a far-fetched idea, says Mike Iampetro, senior product manager for consumer video. Citing critical disappointment surrounding the latest, completely redesigned iMovie, Iampetro told me:

"With iMovie 08, there is a better opportunity for us on the Mac than ever before."

But let's not let the politicking get in the way of today's improvements:

• Photomerge, in Photoshop Elements, lets you take multiple shots and combine them seamlessly. Panoramas and collages look great, but a smart feature lets you combine the best parts from different group shots for one perfect image. (See the three kid shots in the gallery: the third is a "best of" version of the other two.)

• Automatically generate an SWF Flash gallery for your photos, like the one in the gallery below: a simple tool lets you select how many birthday candles and what number should be on the cake. There are plenty of other super interactive themes like that.

• In Premiere Elements, there are now quick and easy movie themes that automatically shake up your clips and apply transitions and effects. All of that is editable once it's in place. You can also upload a song and the software will analyze its rhythm, snapping photos or clips to the nearest beat.

• In today's YouTube obsessed world, it would be weird if the announcement didn't include an easier way to upload video, and also use mobile devices to capture content, not to mention view and share it. [Adobe Consumer]