MacRumors.com

Update: Apple's site has been updated and shows the update and also the new price of $299. $149 for Educational price. Official press release here. Aperture 1.0 users who bought Aperture for the previous price of $499 are eligble for a $200 coupon good at the Apple online store.

Apple's Hot News Feed (RSS) reveals that Apple appears to be releasing Aperture 1.1 on April 13th. The news appeared on their RSS feed this evening with the following description:

Aperture 1.1, a significant update to the revolutionary all-in-one post production tool for photographers, runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. The update features dramatically improved RAW image rendering and a new set of advanced RAW adjustment controls. Likewise, it delivers impressive speed gains on any Mac. At a new lower price of $299, Aperture is within reach of anyone shooting with a digital SLR camera. [Apr 13, 2006]

- Apple Hot News 4/13/06 8:30 AM

The RSS description appears to have been posted prematurely as it simply links to Apple's old Aperture page but does include a detailed Aperture 1.1 description.

New features include:

- Improved RAW Image Quality
- RAW Fine Tuning
- Auto Noise Compensation
- New Color Meter
- Enhanced Export Controls
- Universal Binary support
- Other Improvements

The new $299 price represents a $200 drop from the previous retail price ($499).