MacOnMacs: Macworld San Francisco 2006

Hmmm, what shall I talk about today? :-)

I've been waiting for this year's Macworld in San Francisco anxiously. Being neck deep in news and the rumour mill through commandN (Amber is there right now), I've been exposed to many, many cool ideas and predictions for what would be announced by our favourite tech company. Although I would've liked to have seen some Intel-toting iBooks (I've been promising one to my wife :-) ), there was plenty of cool stuff to go around...

• Intel iMacs: Six months before schedule, the first of the Intel Macs (cue Darth Vader music) has arrived. Although there are no other substantial changes aside from a new Intel Core Duo processor (the new machines are two to three times as fast in benchmark tests), the prices for both the 17" and 20" screens have remained the same (I like that Apple is adopting this philosophy - similar to what they did with the iPod with video)


• MacBook Pro: The new Apple Intel laptop (peculiarly only released as a 15.4" widescreen) boasts a name change and a four to five times speed boost from the PowerBook G4 it will replace. A big part of the move to Intel, I think, was to get this sort of speed into the Mac laptop lines, which couldn't be done with the roasty G5 chip. Also showing up in the new MacBook is a built-in iSight video camera (like in the recent iMacs) and the Front Row media player application, complete with 6-button remote control.


• iLife '06 (including iWeb!): Some great improvements all around in the iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, GarageBand), but the addition of an iWeb application is the most exciting announcement for me. iWeb leverages Apple's intuitive interface skills to allow for very user-friendly creation of "websites, blogs, and podcasts, complete with photos, movies, and music" and getting them online in just a few clicks. GarageBand has some great additions, too: Podcast recording studio (complete with sound effects and auto-engineering feats like ducking); iChat interview recording (just the audio parts for now, but it automatically records each chat participant on their own track for individual editing); iMovie scoring (with the movie frames displayed above the music); and more.

There were many other announcements (10.4.4; new iLife and iWork running natively on Intel; etc.), and you can watch Steve Job's Macworld Keynote Address and find out more info on the Apple web site.