Boredom, iTunes and More Agonizing Boredom: Apple Keynote at Macworld 2009

Well, the moment we've been waiting for has come and gone, and the only way to describe my feelings is complete disappointment. Remember the lineup of What to Expect at Macworld 2009? Throw it out the window, none of it came true. In fact, of all the rumors and predictions we heard, only one came true. There was one blessed surprise at the end, though, that will make you happy. So read on for details.



First, let's address the big debate over whether Phil Schiller could do it as good as old Steve used to. While Schiller did an admirable job of filling Jobs' role (thought there was still something missing), the content of the Apple Keynote was so underwhelming that it's no wonder Jobs didn't want to present today regardless of his health.

So what got announced? We'll start with the incredibly boring stuff. I'm talking about things so mind-numbingly mundane that we couldn't believe they were taking so long to announce (and demo!) all this stuff. If you have severe insomnia, you will want to read about this, otherwise skip the next two paragraphs.

Okay, here it goes. iLife got a few new features. iPhoto got face detection and geotagging. Now you can sort pictures by person or place that it was taken. Syncs with Facebook and Flickr for additional face recognition and geotagging (respectively) features. iMovie got some helpful new features, like precision editor, advanced drag and drop, automatic image stabilization, and a boatload of new themes. Garageband now has 9 piano lessons and 9 guitar lessons from famous stars: Sarah McLachlan, Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic, Norah Jones, John Fogerty, Colbie Caillat, Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy and Sting. iWeb and iDVD have new versions. iLife is still free on all Macs, but you can pay $79 for upgrades, or $99 for a family pack that's usable on five computers. Ships late January.

iWork got some new features that makes it a better competitor for the Microsoft Office Suite (although Pages and Numbers are still not quite on par with Word and Excel, sorry Apple). Basically all stuff it should have already had. There are a bunch of new themes for all these programs. It's $79 for one license, $99 for a family pack for 5 people. If you purchase iWork with a new Mac, it's $49. One of the most interesting developments for iWork is iWork.com. It allows multiple people to download, edit and upload a document at the same time while seeing the changes and notes other people are making.

Okay, now on to level two: the mildly interesting stuff. There will be a 17-inch MacBook Pro with great battery life. Excellent battery life, in fact, if the claims are true. This MacBook battery will last for 8 hours on one charge and last for 1000 charges, but that means it's not removable (replaceable) without assistance from Apple. There are some other interesting specs, too. It's the thinnest and lightest 17-inch laptop (.98 inches thin, 6.6 pounds), LED backlit display, 1920