appleJAC Macintosh Users

MacWorld SF 2008 keynote webcast available

Apple has made available the webcast of today's MacWorld 2008 opening keynote which took place at the Moscone Center, San Fransisco.

he webcast is in QuickTime format and is available through this page which states:

Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveil Apple's latest innovations at the Macworld 2008 Conference in San Francisco, California. See the video-on-demand event right here, exclusively in QuickTime and MPEG-4.

Released at MacWorld: Photoshop Elements 6

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 software combines power and simplicity so you can go beyond the basics. Make your photos look their best, share them in creative ways, and easily find and view them. Photoshop Elements also works great with iPhoto.

Photoshop Elements 6 offers a cleaner and more straightforward user interface than before, an improved conversion tool, and a range of features designed to boost image sharing, including built-in customizable layouts for scrapbook pages, photo books, greeting cards and CD/DVD burning.

New features based on proprietary Photomerge technology let users easily combine the best facial expressions and body language from a series of shots to create a single, perfect group shot.

The new Quick Selection Tool reduces the select-and-adjust process to a single click, while photographers can choose between one of three edit modes, each geared toward a different experience level. A new Guided Edit mode helps walk users through the steps of improving a photo.

The new version of the company's entry-level imaging suite (built using the same technology as used in Photoshop) is available now for preorder from the company's retail website.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac will run on Mac OS X 10.4.8 and above.

Macworld announced their Best of Show awards today for Macworld San Francisco 2008.

- Photoshop Elements 6 - Universal version of Adobe's consumer photo editor.
- MacBook Air - Apple's thin laptop
- Guitar Hero III - Aspyre's rhythm game for Mac.
- BusySync - share iCal calendars (MacRumors writeup)
- Eye Fi card - SD card with Wifi built in
- Flow - organize and track the relationships between files
- Dictate - $99 Dictation / voice command software from MacSpeech
- NEC Multisync LCD3090WQXi - 30 inch display
- Omnifocus - personal task management software (to do's)
- Parallels Server - virtualize Windows, Linux and Mac OS X Server
- Vector Designer - vector drawing tool

Other products we've covered:

- iLidz personal media viewer (aka hat + clips + lens + iPhone)
- sd200v Notebook Docking Station - Add a monitor to your Mac via USB
- Bobcat - Mac software for Garmin GPS intergration
- SubRosaSoft - Data protection and Data Recovery
- ProVideoPlayer/ProPresenter - grid-map video content across multiple displays attached to multiple computers
- GelaSkins - custom skins with original art for your iPod, iPhone, MacBook

For links to see all these products, check out this site.

Microsoft Releases Office for Mac

What's New in Office for Mac?

• Universal versions of the most popular productivity applications on the Macintosh platform (Universal applications run natively on Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs.)
• Microsoft Office for Mac natively supports the Open XML file formats for compatibility with Windows-based 2007 Microsoft Office products.
• A redesigned user interface and powerful new tools for simplifying work, creating great looking documents, and exchanging ideas and information with others.

Highlights of Office 2008 for Mac

• Office 2008 is a Universal Binary, was built by Mac users for Mac users, and includes many features which take advantage of underlying technologies of the Macintosh platform.
• Office 2008 uses Open XML file formats for compatibility with Windows-based 2007 Microsoft Office products. XML file formats help reduce the risk of lost information due to damaged or corrupted files and also result in smaller file sizes--up to 75 percent smaller than comparable binary documents. Office 2008 for Mac is backward-compatible with earlier file formats and users can continue to use the older .doc, .xls, and .ppt binary formats.
• Elements Gallery is the foundation of the new user interface, and gives easy access to the most commonly used tools and templates. With the new UI, you'll harness the capabilities of Office for Mac more easily than ever before.
• Office 2008 includes OfficeArt, the powerful graphics engine also used in the Windows-based Office 2007 products. You get great cross-platform file fidelity and easy access to stunning visual and graphic effects.
• Your words will make an impact with the modern styling of SmartArt graphics, which makes transforming text and bulleted lists into professional diagrams and graphics one-click easy.
• A new Themes capability simplifies the process of applying a consistent look and feel across documents. Easily apply a complete set of colors, fonts, and effects to your Office 2008 documents, and change them as easily as changing your mind.
• Automator Actions for Workflows in Microsoft Office enables you to automate Office 2008 with more than 70 pre-defined actions built to simplify your work and extend your productivity. (Available in Office 2008 for Mac and Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition.)

It's that Magic Time of Year!

Your appleJAC Reports!

Here we go!  Your excited reporters are ready to attend.  Join Tom Piper, Mark Snell, Sue Snell and myself, George Kopp, for all the sights and sounds of MacWorld 2007 beginning on January 7th.

For the week of MacWorld, all the reports will be going to this blog.  Check Back d aily to see all the events and news we can come up with.