Chris Pirillo » iphoto

iMovie ’11 Review

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:42:20 +0000

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Just like I had done for iPhoto ’11, I’ve recorded a screencast of iMovie ’11. It’s difficult not to like something that’s continually improving and is relatively simple to use. The addition of the audio editing features makes iMovie ’11 worth the upgrade from earlier versions.

iMovie makes it easy to turn your home videos into your all-time favorite films. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll watch them over and over again. And you’ll share them with everyone.

New features include:

Movie Trailers
Audio Editing
One-Step Effects
People Finder
Sports and News Themes
World Premiere

Many people are griping about the Movie Trailers. It’s a kick-ass feature, though. Sure, we will likely see some crap-quality things being uploaded by people who don’t care to learn how to really use this function. However, we will also see some seriously awesome stuff pumped out on YouTube and other platforms.

Being able to edit audio is something we’ve long waited for! Thank god they finally listened, eh?

What are your thoughts on iMove ’11?

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iMovie ’11 Review

iPhoto 11 Review

Chris Pirillo — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:19:30 +0000

iPhoto 11 Review

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Out of the entire iLife suite, iPhoto is likely the app that’s most frequently used. I’d have to say, these improvements are most welcomed. Then again, when are software improvements admonished? There are several noticable changes, including the Facebook integration:

To share photos to Facebook in the new iPhoto ‘11, users simply highlight the photos, click “Share” at the bottom of the screen, and select Facebook from among other choices including email and Flickr. Users don’t have to create a new album, and can instead choose to post to their wall, the wall of a friend, or make the photo their profile picture.

Printing books and cards has been improved. Books now use better application logic to decide how to lay out pictures, using the key photo from the iPhoto album for the cover and grouping together pictures that were taken at the same time and in the same place.

Apple is also now letting users create letterpress cards. These cards are made using the letterpress printing process which is pretty cool. You can take advantage of several different awesome new themes to create them, or do any number of other things within iPhoto ’11.

What are your favorite new features?

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iPhoto 11 Review

What’s New in iLife ’09 (iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, GarageBand)?

Chris Pirillo — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:44:46 +0000

What’s New in iLife ’09 (iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, GarageBand)?

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I am taking a look at the new iLife ’09 for Mac OS X. As of the day I installed this, January 26th, it wasn’t available to the public yet. Due to a misprint in a BestBuy ad, Danny was able to purchase his copy early. Taking a look at it, I’m already liking what I see. The four components of iLife are:

iPhoto – Organize photos two new ways: Faces, based on who’s in your photos, and Places, based on where your photos were taken. Then share on Facebook or Flickr with a click.
iMovie – Make a great movie in the time you have. Choose a dynamic theme to enhance your movie in seconds. Or refine every shot with the Precision Editor.
GarageBand – Learn to play piano and guitar. Learn songs from the artists who made them famous. Rock like a legend with new guitar amps and stompbox effects.
iWeb – Design a website to share your photos, movies, and music just by dragging and dropping. Add new dynamic widgets and publish and share with a click.

Danny says that he’s noticed no speed improvements, but has definitely gotten excellent functionality improvements. He says that it is definitely well worth the amount of money it cost to buy the software.

I’m big into shooting live-to-tape, via Ustream. However, after watching Danny play around in iMovie, I’m willing to give it another try. He loves iPhoto just as much, especially the capability to publish immediately to Facebook or Twitter. iPhoto also lets you organize your photos in ways you may not have even thought of before.

The new version of GarageBand allows you to “take lessons” from beginning to expert level. There are new guitar features, and full-screen capability!! Assign instruments and styles to your guitarist, bassist, drummer, and keyboard player. Shuffle instruments randomly to instantly hear a new sound from your backing band. Create a custom mix using volume sliders or by muting and soloing any instrument.

And then we come to iWeb. iWeb makes it simple to design your own website… a task that is difficult for many people. Start by picking an Apple-designed theme. Each theme comes with coordinated fonts, backgrounds, and colors to give your site a consistent look throughout. Next, choose your template, and customize it using the tools integrated in iWeb.

I’m definitely getting my copy this week and getting it installed… are you?

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What’s New in iLife ’09 (iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, GarageBand)?