iLife and iWork '06? Front Row?

[MacRumors]

According to an unconfirmed report, Apple is set to release new versions of iLife and iWork in mid-January.

iLife '06 will include support for a $50 optional remote control accessory -- and presumably bundling the Front Row media application into the Apple suite. Front Row was originally released with the iMac which comes with the remote standard.

Meanwhile there are whispers that iWork may finally include a spreadsheet application as previously rumored.

[Lacero]

This has been predicted by many folks, especially Front Row being included as a stand-alone software package for older Macs. Yay!

Thanks to all the recent iMac G5 owners for beta testing FR for the rest of us.

$50 ($58 CDN) is a bit much for the remote.

Here's to the Crazy Ones

[generik]

Will it be in time for MWSF?

What happens if I buy a Mac then?

[Sky Blue]

Wow! ilife and iWork 06 in Jan?? That's some pretty good sources

[kretzy]

I think if Apple have continued to develop iWork, it could be shaping up into an excellent suite. The addition of some kind of spreadsheet program and upgrades to Pages and with Keynote being awesome as it is, I think it could become a viable (and cheaper) alternative for the common user as opposed to Office.

I also hope that iLife shows some surprising updates, just to keep things fresh and interesting.

[Bear]

Originally Posted by generik

Will it be in time for MWSF?

What happens if I buy a Mac then?

Usually if you buy a Mac after the new version of iLife is announced, it will either come with the Mac (either installed or included as an extra in the box) or you will have to send Apple an up-to-date form and usually $20. to get the updated iLife.

[Lacero]

Originally Posted by Sky Blue

Wow! ilife and iWork 06 in Jan?? That's some pretty good sources

According to anonymous sources, there are unconfirmed reports that Apple will be releasing new products in the coming months. Sources also indicate Apple is working feverishly to innovate on new and existing products slated to be released.

Unsubstantiated reports on Apple's hardware offerings include faster, more powerful hardware. New software applications are also in development, with dot upgrades to existing software acquiring new features.

Here's to the Crazy Ones

[Bear]

Originally Posted by max_altitude

I think if Apple have continued to develop iWork, it could be shaping up into an excellent suite. The addition of some kind of spreadsheet program and upgrades to Pages and with Keynote being awesome as it is, I think it could become a viable (and cheaper) alternative for the common user as opposed to Office.

I find that I can do pretty much everything I need (except for spreadsheet stuff of course) in iWork as it is.

Improvements to Pages will probably make some of the things I do easier. And of course a spreadsheet program would be nice.

[840quadra]

This is good news, but not a surprise in all honesty. Many of us apple followers expected Front Row to be available to the public for other Macintosh models, in a package format.

I am glad that it may actually be bundled into Ilife06. I plan on buying this, especially if they offer a remote option. I would assume that programmers for VLC and other open source programs will also make the remote compatible for their applications.

Or we can hope!

[Epicurus]

Remember iWork started off as just Keynote. '05 arrived with a much nicer version of Keynote and Pages as a bonus. '06 should certainly continue this trend by improving Keynote and Pages and adding a third app as a nice extra. I don't expect the spreadsheet app to be as finely tuned as Keynote 2 was, but hopefully it'll be a bit better than Pages 1.

The thing about iLife '06 I'm most interested in is iPhoto. I'm holding off on buying Aperture for a few reasons, one being I want to see how many of its new features get added to the next iteration of iPhoto. The RAW workflow is probably out, but some of the webpage and book templates might make it in, as should the light box.

Mid-January sounds like the expected ship date for any major product upgrades announced at the Macworld Expo. It would be kind of odd for Apple to announce new hardware shipping immediately and then come back two weeks later and add iLife. Better to announce early and ship everthing together. OS X 10.4.4 should be coming soon, probably to pave the way for an integrated Front Row app and to clean things up for the new software packages.

Hopefully both iPhoto '06 and iWork '06 will be shipping as Universal Binaries even if Intel hardware isn't announced in Janurary.

[ctachme]

$50 for the REMOTE? That's insane! You can get universal remotes from amazon that have 3x the functionality for less than $10.

Oh, and don't forget.... only the iMac has an IR port (unless this is for my Performa 6240CD?), so you'd have to buy some sort of wireless adaptor to take up a USB port. And if you have an iBook, it'll probably take up ALL of your USB ports, just to make you mad.

[dlastmango]

what about Bluetooth? is it possible? sure Id still need a dongle but it could be used for more than one item.

[DCBass]

Originally Posted by ctachme

$50 for the REMOTE? That's insane! You can get universal remotes from amazon that have 3x the functionality for less than $10.

Oh, and don't forget.... only the iMac has an IR port (unless this is for my Performa 6240CD?), so you'd have to buy some sort of wireless adaptor to take up a USB port. And if you have an iBook, it'll probably take up ALL of your USB ports, just to make you mad.

I'd have to assume that both the remote and the IR sensor will be included for the extra $50. Apple already sells the remote separately now for $29.

C'mon iTunes 7
.
.
.
j/k

[Stella]

iWorks, that has been a flop by all accounts, it needs a spreadsheet and connectivity to the miniSQL ( or whatever its called ). There is on point in having half an Office suite.

Sherlock:

Apple have released iLife for the past two years and there is no reason why 2006 should be any different.

The inclusion of FrontRow into iLife is a logical step.

[odedia]

iWork REALLY REALLY needs to have multiligual support. Sure, it can do lots of stuff for most users, but for us right-to-left language users (like myself, writing in hebrew), pages is worthless. The support for right-to-left text is terrble. It's also impossible to import hebrew-written word documents properly. Apple really needs to learn alot from Microsoft when it comes to universal languages support. They are such a great company. If you are writing in English or spanish, that is.

[cwedl]

Great will be getting both of these suites I think!

[liketom]

i'd be realy happy if this comes true - many people have been beggin for Front Row to be bundled with iLife and a optional remote

but i'd be more intrested in iMovie HD extras? exports are a pain for me - they should have (insted of Mail -homepage and Quicktime) export to H.264- with drop downs on size small medium large and custom and also the same for mail .

export to HD should also be an option aswell 480/720/1280

also some more effects would be nice - i'd say an nice Bluescreen/Greenscreen and a video size crop .

maybe the main window should be split into 2 like on FCP before and after

also more then 1 video track would be kinda nice aswell plus i would like more then 2 sound tracks ie like 5

[plastique45]

Originally Posted by liketom

i'd be realy happy if this comes true - many people have been beggin for Front Row to be bundled with iLife and a optional remote

but i'd be more intrested in iMovie HD extras? exports are a pain for me - they should have (insted of Mail -homepage and Quicktime) export to H.264- with drop downs on size small medium large and custom and also the same for mail .

export to HD should also be an option aswell 480/720/1280

also some more effects would be nice - i'd say an nice Bluescreen/Greenscreen and a video size crop .

maybe the main window should be split into 2 like on FCP before and after

also more then 1 video track would be kinda nice aswell plus i would like more then 2 sound tracks ie like 5

Not sure if I understand what you mean. It IS possible to export to H.264 in iMovie (using the Quicktime Option as well as any codec you might have (DVDCPRO HD, Uncompressed HD etc)

[liketom]

Originally Posted by plastique45

Not sure if I understand what you mean. It IS possible to export to H.264 in iMovie (using the Q

what i mean is when you goto export i always have to go into quicktime to chose my size and codec -

but how many times do people actually use export to Mail or Homepage ?
i say get rid of them buttons and pop in H.264 with drop down options

[earthsaver]

Originally Posted by dlastmango

what about Bluetooth? is it possible? sure Id still need a dongle but it could be used for more than one item.

I'm guessing a bluetooth remote is most likely since it's now standard technology in new Macs and I don't expect that Apple would really return to IR across the line.

[thequicksilver]

I voted positive, because I'd like to see iLife 06 get something truly new as opposed to just a refresh of the same four apps + iTunes. The addition of Front Row will be, I presume, the excuse Apple will use to jack the price up to US$99.

I'll add a proviso though that there should be a low upgrade price for users of iWork, because it's a very poor application. The lack of speed improvements Pages has had over the last year has made me remove it from my hard drive for good, never to be used again. It's pathetic.

(Keynote is another matter though, because it's brilliant.)

[efoto]

Overall this may be good news, but I am a little bit worried about Apple trying to compete with Excel.

Having Keynote be a raging success was easy because PowerPoint was horrible, but Excel is not, at least not for what it is intended for. I use Excel nearly daily, or at least reference a spreadsheet daily if I don't create one. Unless Apple's "Numbers" program has the same easy flow and understand as Excel, I don't see that catching on like Keynote did.

As far as the remote; $50 is a lot, but if it's the only one you can get buy that gets the job done then so be it....not much we can do about it. The price we pay for pretty hardware

[MacSlut]

Originally Posted by ctachme

$50 for the REMOTE? That's insane! You can get universal remotes from amazon that have 3x the functionality for less than $10.

Oh, and don't forget.... only the iMac has an IR port (unless this is for my Performa 6240CD?), so you'd have to buy some sort of wireless adaptor to take up a USB port. And if you have an iBook, it'll probably take up ALL of your USB ports, just to make you mad.

I think you answered your own post.

[andiwm2003]

Originally Posted by Lacero

According to anonymous sources, there are unconfirmed reports that Apple will be releasing new products in the coming months. Sources also indicate Apple is working feverishly to innovate on new and existing products slated to be released.

Unsubstantiated reports on Apple's hardware offerings include faster, more powerful hardware. New software applications are also in development, with dot upgrades to existing software acquiring new features.

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you forgot to mention yhat the sources are usually highly reliable. that's important since you made some quite detailed and bold predictions.

[BenRoethig]

Hopefully iWork '06 will include Spreadsheet, Database, and Drawing/Painting programs needed to finally put AppleWorks to rest. They don't have to be up to office standards, they just to need to be better than MS works.