At today's Back to the Mac media event, Apple announced an update to its iLife software suite. iLife '11 features new versions of iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, and Garageband and is available today.
The iLife suite last saw a major update in early 2009 at Macworld San Francisco.
iPhoto '11 includes new full screen modes to as well as Facebook enhancements that allows users can post directly to Facebook and see comments on photos made by others. Enhancements have been made to emailing photos, which can now be done right within iPhoto '11, and new slideshows effects have been added, including those that use location information included in geo-tagged photos.
New printed products include letterpress cards and new photo book creation features. A new project view in iPhoto '11 shows all current cards and photo books a user is working on.
iMovie '11 features new audio editing and effects, a People Finder feature, new news and sports themes as well as movie trailer templates that include music recorded by a full symphony. iPhoto's face detection technology is used in iMovie '11's People Finder feature to automatically find people in close-up or wide shots.
GarageBand '11 has new features called Flex Time and Groove Matching along with more guitar amps and effects and new guitar and piano lessons. The Groove Matching feature can automatically match the rhythm of different instruments within a song. The Flex Time feature allows users to adjust the timing of specific notes or tracks within a song. The new "How did I play?" feature in the music lessons lessons provide visual feedback during practice and keeps track of practice history and performance.
iLife '11 is included for free with every new Mac, while current iLife '09 owners can upgrade for $49. iLife '11 is available starting today.
