Do You Qualify for the iLife '11 Up-to-Date Program?

The Mac is about to get its own app store, just like the App Store for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad! Aptly enough this will be called “The Mac App Store”. (See how I did that?) On its website Apple says that the Mac App Store “revolutionizes the way applications are installed on a computer–it happens in one step.”

The Mac App store features one-click downloads, purchased via your existing iTunes account. There will be free and Paid apps, and developers will get the same 70/30 split currently used in the iOS App StoreOne great feature: Mac apps can be installed on every Mac you use and can even be download again. This is especially convenient when you buy a new Mac and want to load it with apps you already own.
Apps will be stored and organized in the new Launchpad feature in Lion.

You can browse Mac apps by category, such as games, productivity, music and more. Read developer descriptions and user reviews. Flip through screenshots. The Mac App Store keeps track of your apps and tells you when updates are available. Update one app at a time or all of them at once, and you’ll always have the latest versions.

“Click here to learn more.”:http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store/

Want to develop apps for the Mac App Store? “Click here!”:http://developer.apple.com/programs/mac/

Some people have expressed concern that the Mac App store means that Apple will exert undue influence on third-party Mac software. It’s an interesting question, though it’s important to note that most software will be available via optical media and downloads from third party sites years into the future. This is meant to supplement not supplant existing software distribution channels.

iPhoto ’11 was released today at Apple’s Back to the Mac press conference, as part of the new iLife ’11 multimedia productivity suite. Some standout new features include:

*New Full-Screen Modes* iOS-like full-screen mode for editing and viewing photos Use every inch of your display to browse and edit your photos. This is much more advanced than the full-screen editing available in previous versions of iPhoto. More screen real estate means a bigger workspace for perfecting each shot or creating nifty iPhoto projects.

*Facebook Enhancements* – Share your photos and view comments without ever leaving iPhoto. iPhoto and Facebook are now even better friends. iPhoto even shows you all of your Facebook photo albums, including the ones you published using another application. You’ll always know which photos you shared (or didn’t share) on Facebook, because iPhoto keeps track of that for you.

*Emailing Photos* – iPhoto now includes eight Apple-designed themes that you customize with your own images and words. Rearrange photos with a simple drag and drop, adjust the image mask, or change the size and style of your text. Plus, iPhoto optimizes your message so it’s never too big to send. iPhoto also works with popular email services like MobileMe, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, and AOL. And since iPhoto keeps track of all your email messages with photos, you’re free to open a sent message, make changes, and share it with someone new, anytime you want.

*New Slideshows* – New animated themes–like Holiday Mobile, Places, and Reflections–give your photos movement and help you avoid typical, photo-by-photo, fade-in, fade-out slideshows. Each shot is centered and framed perfectly, thanks to face detection. And the animated themes include their own soundtracks, so your photos and music play together flawlessly.

*Big Leap in Books* iPhoto ’11 makes it even easier to create professional-quality books using your own photos. Building your book starts with a new dynamic Theme browser. Pick a theme, and an even smarter Autoflow instantly goes to work, placing your images for you. Higher-rated images are featured more prominently. Photos taken on the same day appear together. And all the while, face detection ensures that photos of people are cropped and framed properly. Change the background color, font, layout, and more. Add eye-popping full-bleed, two-page spreads.

*Letterpress Cards* – For the first time, traditional printing techniques join modern digital photography on a large scale. With iPhoto ’11, you can create custom letterpress cards personalized with your photos and text. Each iPhoto letterpress card is made from premium paper and produced using a centuries-old printing method. Then it’s digitally processed with your photos and text. iPhoto letterpress cards are available in 15 beautifully crafted themes complete with matching envelope. There’s just something about the elegant look and feel of a letterpress card.

As John Gruber from “Daring Fireball”:http://daringfireball.net/ tweeted: “Can you imagine any other computer company offering letterpress as a mass-market printing technology?”

Following the announcement of iLife ’11 and Mac OS X Lion on Wednesday, Steve Jobs paused onstage to announce that there was “one more thing.” Delivering on the hopes of many, this new product turned out to be the next generation MacBook Air. With refinements to nearly every aspect of the machine, the latest MacBook Air advances both its line as well as Apple’s entire family of notebooks. Jobs touted the re-designed machine as the next generation of MacBook, highlighting many revolutionary features previously unseen in an Apple notebook.

Though the Air is already known for its light footprint and compact design, Wednesday’s announcement brought forth a second smaller model. For the first time since 2003, Apple has re-introduced a diagonal screen size of under 13 inches into their product lineup. Sporting an 11.6-inch display with an impressive 1366 x 768 resolution, this smaller Air will accompany its larger 13.3-inch brother as the most portable and lightweight entries in Apple’s notebook family.

Perhaps the biggest feature of the new Air models is what they lack. Neither model includes the option for a traditional SATA hard drive. Instead–for the first time in Apple’s history–the company has released an entirely solid state line of Macs. Featured in capacities ranging from 64GB to 256GB, all four stock configurations of Air include solid state flash storage by default. The lack of hard drive, combined with the continued omission of an optical drive, has allowed Apple’s engineers to slim down the Air even further. Shaving a 1/10th of a pound off the 13-inch machine, it now weighs in at only 2.9 pounds. The newly debuted 11-inch model weighs a nimble 2.3 pounds. At their thickest point, both models are only 0.68 inches. At their thinnest point, both models taper to 0.11 inches. Those first to go hands-on with the new product claim it is slimmer than an axe blade.

Featuring a wider array of ports, both models now include two USB 2.0 ports in addition to the MiniDisplay Port and headphone jack featured on the previous generation. The 13-inch model also includes an SD card slot. Apple has also boosted processor speeds as high as an optional 2.13GHz with options for 1.4GHz and 1.86GHz available as stock. The Air’s graphics have also been updated to the latest consumer standard with the inclusion of the NVIDIA GeForce 320M. This gives the line a much needed graphical speed boost. With a full-size keyboard and a Multi-Touch trackpad, the new Air will be able to handle 10.7 Lion’s Multi-Touch oriented interface with ease.

A final stand-out feature of the re-designed Air is its battery life. Managing an impressive five hours in the 11-inch model, its larger counterpart supports up to seven. Though not the longest lasting batteries in Apple’s lineup, this functionality is still impressive given the machines’ minuscule size. Apple is also advertising a standby time of 30 days for when the machine is not in use. This is a vast improvement over the 4-5 days a typical Apple notebook can retain battery life in standby.

Combining a series of enhancements and revolutionary new features, the re-designed MacBook Air has significant potential. Offering more functionality than its predecessor, it carries the potential to become much less of a niche product. Steve Jobs eloquently described the Air as what would happen if a MacBook and iPad hooked-up. Though it doesn’t sport the touch interface or 3G capabilities some of us had hoped for, the new MacBook Air stands to reinvigorate the MacBook line as it ushers in the next generation of Apple notebook. Starting a only $999, the new MacBook Air is available now. Click “*here*”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Apple|MacBook_Air/at_kb to view all available configurations.

_Dear Friends,_

It’s Edward Shepard writing this week for Don, who is is down in Austin, Texas hoping to score a position playing upright bass in a honkey tonk band. What follows is a very long issue of Kibbles and Bytes, as it was a big, big week in Apple news. On Monday, Apple reported blockbuster Q4 financial results. On Wednesday, Apple held an exciting “Back to the Mac” press conference (covered in detail below).

Apple press conferences are a major event here at Small Dog. We joke that they’re like the nerd Superbowl. The big news from the press conference was an updated system architecture for the MacBook Air, a groundbreaking new ultra-compact 11-inch MacBook Air, and iLife ’11, which is a substantial update to Apple’s very popular multimedia production suite.

In other news, I wanted to apologize about the contest platform we were using for our Office: 2011 drawing. After people entered the contest, they then had to unsubscribe from future offers from that company. *It is a longstanding, permanent policy that Small Dog Electronics will never sell email addresses provided by our customers or subscribers to our newsletters.* This contest platform blurred the lines of that policy and thus we will never use their services again.

Instead, we will be running a new drawing for Office: Mac 2011 next week. Everyone who entered will be automatically be entered into this drawing, and everyone else who didn’t enter or didn’t want to enter with the previous service will have a chance to enter to win as well. Again, I am sorry about the confusion with that.

Don’t want to wait for the drawing to get Office: 2011? Use coupon code *office2011* to save $10 on Office or any other “Business and Productivity”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Software|Business_and_Productivity/at_kb software title today! “Click here to browse this category.”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Software|Business_and_Productivity/at_kb

When the image popped up on the web for the Back to the Mac event, the cat behind the Apple was easily recognizable, prompting the accurate speculation that the next incarnation of OS X would be branded “Lion.” On Wednesday, Steve announced that 10.7 is indeed on its way, slated for release in Summer 2011.

Lion boasts dozens of new features, including the Mac App Store, Launchpad, Full-screen apps and Mission Control. Here’s how Apple describes it:

bq. “We took our best thinking from Mac OS X and brought it to the iPhone. Then we took our best thinking from the iPhone and brought it to iPad. And now we’re bringing it all back to the Mac with our eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system.”

*Mac App Store*
Inspired by the success of the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch and available in 90 days from today, the Mac App Store will allow you to purchase, download and install apps from the store itself–no packaging required! Developers will be able to submit apps for approval as soon as November. We’ll have more on this shortly, since this is a big change from how you’re used to getting apps on your Mac.

*Launchpad*
As Apple puts it, the Launchpad “gives you instant access to your apps–iPad style.” When you click the Launchpad icon in your Dock, your windows will “fade away,” leaving a full-screen view of all of the apps on your Mac. From there, you swipe your fingers to see multiple pages, bringing the functionality of Spaces. If you have just downloaded an app from the Mac App Store, it will automatically appear in the Dock, ready to launch.

*Full-screen apps*
This is a great way to tune out the distractions. Apps can now go full-screen natively, something people have been asking for for a long time (I used to get this question all the time from people who were switching from Windows). You will be able to bring an app to full-screen with one click, switch to another with a swipe, and then back to the desktop with another swipe.

*Mission Control*
Mission Control gives you a “bird’s-eye view of everything” all in one place. Apple describes it thusly: “With a simple swipe gesture, your desktop zooms out to Mission Control. There you can see your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full-screen apps, Dashboard, and even other Spaces, arranged in a unified view.” Anything in Mission Control is accessible with one click.

No word yet on the price tag of Lion, nor a firmer release date. We’ll be keeping you up-to-date on Lion news as we get it!