Macworld 2009 Keynote live coverage: 5pm GMT today
Live Macworld 2009 Keynote coverage. All times are GMT. Reverse chronological:
With thanks to Engadget, Gizmodo, Macworld, Electric Pig.
6.30pm That’s it. Tony Bennett takes to the stage to play the keynote out…
6.25pm iTunes
Have sold over 6 billion songs, iTunes world’s largest media library, 75m accounts.
1. Price
More flexible pricing. A $0.69 price point and a $1.29 tier also. UK tbc.
2. iTunes Plus
Apple has worked with “all the major companies”. From today, 8 million songs will be DRM free right away, 10 million by end of first quarter 2009.
3. iTunes available on iPhone over 3G
Preview and purchase music anywhere using iPhone, sync on computer at home.
More over the jump: 17-inch MacBook Pro, iWork ’09, iLife ’09…
6.10pm New 17 inch MacBook Pro
* World’s lightest, thinnest 17-inch notebook
* Matte display
* 1,920 x 1,200 resolution
* 700:1 contrast ratio
* 60% greater colour gamut (than previous model, presumably)
* 140 degree H / 120 degree V viewing angle
* Ports: Mini DisplayPort, USB, FW800, MagSafe
* glass trackpad
* non removable battery (read on as to why)
* GeForce 9400M / 9600M GT graphics
* up to 8GB RAM
* 256GB SSD option
* New Core 2 Duo CPUs
* 320GB hard drive
* 2.66GHz CPU
Engadget: “We’ve designed a battery that will last 8 hours on a charge, and can be charged 1000 times…” “The key to building a longer battery is making it bigger… the challenge is where to find the space to put it… in a removable battery there’s a lot of wasted space.”
“We created a 40 percent larger battery, with the same weight…” “We can build custom batteries.” “Our competition uses cylindrical cells… we’ve created custom shapes for our cells.” “To make our batteries thin we use lithium polymer tech… it expends the life to 3x the industry standard.”
Battery is recyclable, lasts up to five years.
$2,799 (UK price tbc) – ships end of the month.
6.10pm iWork.com
“iWork.com is a service for you to share with other people. You can notify other people that you’ve shared documents, and collaborate on them. They can review and edit documents online.”
Google Docs by Apple.
Demoing the system.
Beta version is free to sign up to, eventually it will be a pay-for service.
6.05pm: Mac Box Set, Leopard, iLife, and iWork for $169.
6.05pm iWork ’09
$79 for one license, $99 for family pack, $49 on new Macs.
6.00pm iWork ’09: Numbers ’09
demoing Numbers ’09.
* new table categories
* 250 functions
* advanced charts
5.55pm iWork ’09: Pages ’09
demoing Pages ’09.
* new templates
* dynamic outlines
* mail merge from Numbers
* Support for MathType & EndNote
5.50pm iWork ’09: Keynote ’09
demoing Keynote ’09 – new slicker transitions.
* magic move
* object transitions
* text transitions
* chart animations
* new themes
5.45pm iLife ’09 available from late January $79 upgrade $99 family pack – preinstalled on all new Macs.
5.45pm iLife ’09: GarageBand
One new feature Phil will talk about: “Learn to play” which has a new user interface and teaches you how to play an instrument. 9 basic lessons on guitar and piano. Also, artist lessons from the likes of John Fogerty, Sting, Sarah McLachlan, Ryan Tedder…. wait for it – each lesson costs $4.99! Wow, Apple sure knows how to make extra cash from everything it sells.
Features include:
* get the story behind the song
* view lyrics and notation
* practice with the original track
* create own mix
* slow down any part
Demoing videos of a guitar and keyboard tutor, complete with images of the fretboard or keyboard.
5.30pm iLife ’09: iMovie
[This will be interesting, as many saw the last version of iMovie as a retrograde step.]
Engadget: “Last year it was all new, we had an amazing new way of editing. We did a whole new version of iMovie. Not every feature was there for every customer… some people missed the features.” “In this new version, we think every customer will be blown away.”
Key features:
* context sensitive menus for clips
* dynamic themes, titles, transitions, effects
* animated 2d and 3d travel maps
* auto-stabilisation for shaky videos
* precision editing
* easily dub audio from one clip over others
* new video effects
* location-aware animated maps
5.25pm iLife 09
As expected, a new version of iLife coming this year, with updates to iPhoto and iMovie.
iPhoto 09: Update to the “Events” system.
Now includes Face Detection which allows you to order/group photos by certain people.
Also tagging photos a la Facebook, plus geotagging of photos (“Places”) – of course the iPhone gets a mention but any camera capable of tagging photos with location will do.
iPhoto will also let you manually tag photos that weren’t taken with a GPS-ready camera.
Integrates with Google Maps. Built in support for Facebook and Flickr, including syncing between the two (someone tags something in a Facebook photo, for example, and it reflects back on your Mac)
Expanded slideshow capabilities.
Demoing the face detection – iPhoto will attempt to find the same person in other photos. Improves as you teach it.
Demoing places. You can see on a Google map where photos were taken – click on any place on a map and it shows all photos related to that area.
So, it’s Events, Faces, Places – none of them new concepts in themselves but if you love iPhoto (bit like Marmite it seems) then this could be a good update.
5.07pm Phil will announce three new things today.
5.05pm Showing off new Apple stores in Beijing, Germany, Australia.
5.01pm Phil Schiller on stage, thanking everyone.
Macworld: “For those wondering about wardrobe, he’s wearing a blue collared shirt and jeans.” Nice.
5pm Waiting for the keynote to begin. Online Apple stores have been down for well over an hour.
