Well, if this is the last Apple keynote at Macworld, I certainly can’t skip my obligatory commentary.
iMovie
I’ll likely be buying the new version of iLife so I can get going on my project to archive my home video library. I will use it primarily for organizing my library since I do editing with Final Cut, but the new editing features should be great for people editing simple home videos.
iPhoto
Face recognition and geotagging are useful features. I’m using Picasa for now because it syncs with the web interface. I used to be a primarily iPhoto/Flickr user but things got out of sync quickly as I reorganized my photos. It looks like this new version is a little better: if you make a change on your published album it will be updated online, but it doesn’t look like a two-way street (I may be wrong), and I’d really not have everything centered on my single hard drive. I trust the cloud more. So I’ll probably use Picasa for my primary photo management, but I can see myself hopping into iPhoto for stuff like photo books or maybe some slideshows for the fam.
GarageBand
I wasn’t paying too much attention at this point, but I think the artist lessons is a cool feature that I won’t use, but many people will. It’s always been a fun app.
iTunes Plus
I haven’t clicked BUY as of this writing, but I’ll probably just go for it soon.
I’m glad they’re about to bring the entire catalog to iTunes Plus. Apple gets a lot of flak for DRM, but I remember the launch of the iTunes Music Store when I was in college and everyone else considered online music as something that must be stolen, so I understand why it may have been a necessary evil to get the major labels to participate in the first place. Now, however, I see absolutely no reason for it (if they labels don’t see the value in online music by now forget them), so I’m glad I’ll be able to play my music on any device of my choosing. Now that DRM (on music, anyway) is about to die and never be missed, can I start asking again for iTunes Pro?
iWork
I don’t currently use iWork, but the updates look nice for those who do. I won’t be buying it since Google Docs does what I need for free. If I did a lot of presentations, however, I would totally get a kick out of controlling them with my iPhone. Keynote is still rare enough in the business world that it can really make your presentations stand out.
MacBook Pro
The new battery life sounds awesome, although I do understand the concern about it not being removable. The unfortunate part about this is that those who really do need longer-lasting batteries probably need to be able to swap them out, since plane journeys can last longer than eight hours. I’m not in the market for a new laptop yet, but if I were, this one would be at the top of my list.