Apple Unveils iLife 11 with New iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand

Apple on Wednesday unveiled a new version of iLife that adds a full-screen mode, Facebook enhancements, and new slideshows, among other features.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said iLife is regarded as the "best suite of digital life applications in the world" and is often the reason that many people buy a Mac.

New features in iLife 11 include a full-screen mode, Facebook enhancements with responses, an easier way to e-mail photos, new slideshows, and a big leap in books. The product also adds letter press cards as well.

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, said the revamped iLife 11 is "really stunning." A full-screen "Places" view will serve as a "floating memory" – zoom in on a map of London and drop push pins to show where you took a photo, Schiller said. Hover your mouse over that pin or click it and view all photos from that region. New slideshow themes include Places; iPhoto will create a slideshow, including transitions and a music track.

In terms of e-mail, Apple promised an entirely new way to e-mail photos. Click "share" on a group of photos, and iLife 11 will create an e-mail and a template to send to friends and family. Type in titles and a message, add an e-mail address, and off it goes.

A new sharing panel, meanwhile, will show activity within iLife 11. Publish a photo to Facebook and track responses via iLife.

Apple's iPhoto 11 can also make books and group your pictures together based on the place. Highly rated photos, meanwhile, will be used for the bigger photos in your photo book. Users can purchase the book, though no prices were mentioned.

In terms of iMovie, Jobs said users had requested better audio and Apple's team has "gone above the call of duty" to deliver. The revamped iMovie 11 includes all-new audio editing, one-step effects, a people finder, news and sports themes, and an ability to construct movie trailers.

Audio waveforms are color-coded, so it's easy to see if they're at their peak, said Randy Ubillos, Apple's chief architect of video apps. If the audio's low, it moves the waveform. And people can do fade-ins and fade-outs. Audio effects include a metallic robot voice, chipmunk, and distorted voices.

"Some really complex editing with just a couple of clicks," Ubillos said.

Meanwhile, Apple said it has taken face detection out of iPhoto and added it to video. An "outline mode" also makes putting together movie trailers very easy.

Apple also unveiled GarageBand 11, which includes features to fix the timing and rhythm of music, more guitar amps, and new piano and guitar lessons. Another feature will sync up sloppy playing. Apple demoed a song where the drums were the only instrument on the beat. The Groove Matching feature will fix that with a single click. GarageBand analyzes the groove on the drums and applies that to every other instrument.

Apple's Xander Soren said Groove Matching is like an "automatic spell checker for bad rhythm."

Flex Time, meanwhile, will help with the ending. Let's say you end a song and people hit the same chord, but one person ends a bit short. Flex Time will allow users to click on the waveform and stretch out or shorten a sound.

Apple's iLife 11 is available today. It will be free with every new Mac or $49 for an upgrade.

Also on Wednesday, Apple unveiled FaceTime for the Mac, a revamped Mac OS X, know as Lion, and a Mac App Store, as well as a 11.6-inch MacBook Air and a new 13.3-inch version.

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