iLife 11 will come with brand new versions of iPhone, iMovie, iWeb, and Garageband. iLife is available starting today and will be included for free with every new Mac, but, current iLife users can upgrade for $49. iPhoto ’11 will include the brand new full screen mode along with new slide show effects. It will also allow you to email photos without leaving iPhoto! iMovie ’11 will feature brand new audio editing along with effects, people finder mode, and new themes (sports and news). If that isn’t cool enough for you, they also added movie trailer templates which will allow you to easily create your own movie trailer within iMovie. GarageBand ’11 brings all new features to the table in FlexTime and Groove matching along with additions of new guitar amps and effects. It also adds in a “How did I play?” feature within music lessons, which keeps up with practice history and performance. You can think of it as almost a Guitar Hero for Mac.

Apple also announced today that Mac OS X Lion will be released sometime in the Summer ’11. Mac OS X Lion will have the power of Mac OS X with the magic of iPad. Apple said it, not me! Mac OS X Lion will bring certain things “back to the Mac” such as multi-touch gestures to switch between applications, applications will be able to be viewed in full screen mode, and a new feature called “Misson Control” will allow you to see all windows for all open applications. It also adds The Mac App Store to Mac which will be released within 90 Days while developers can submit applications starting in November.

So, how would you set a desired preference setting and apply it wherever you wish?

The best solution so far (without using any third party Add-on or Plugin) is to follow the following steps.

1. In Finder, bring up “View > Show View Options” or just press “Command + j”.
2. Set all the parameters that you would want your “Default” setting to be and click “Use as Defaults”.
3. Go anywhere in the Finder, press “Command + j” and before applying anything, keep your “Option” key pressed. You should now get “Restore to Defaults” instead of your “Use as Default”. Click it to get your desired “Default” settings to your current Finder view.

I’m sure that for most of us, we’re cautious enough to know what we downloaded and that we wanted to execute it without Leopard coming in between us and our prey. If you’re one of those, Hendrik have a solution on how you can Lift the Leopard download quarantine.

Here is how he does it;

1. Download Unquarantine.scpt and drop it in ~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts.
2. Go to ~/Downloads or wherever your downloads go
3. Right-click, More > Configure Folder Actions… Check “Enable Folder Actions”
4. Attach the “Unquarantine” action to the folder

Note: As the folder action only applies to that folder (Downloads in our case). If you download a file to a directory without this folder action attached, Leopard is free to nag again. Head over to Hendrik’s site to download the script and learn what the script does.

MacBook Air

I’ve already done details about MacBook Air in my previous article.

Time Capsule

Gone will be the days of the hassle of plugin in a USB/FireWire drive just to get your Time Machine working. At the MacWorld Expo, Apple unveiled Time Capsule, a hardware companion to Time Machine which will automatic backup of your whole drive wirelessly.

Time Capsule combines an 802.11n network access point and a hard disk drive. Time Capsule is a Full Airport Extreme Base Station plus a server-grade hard drive.

With Time Capsule, users will be able to go back through archived backups to find lost files, photos, digital media, and other data. Once the missing file is found, users can restore it wireless from Time Capsule; they can also restore an entire system from a Time Machine backup stored on the device.

The Time Capsule sports some amazing features –

• dual-band antennas for 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequencies
• one USB 2.0
• one Gigabit Ethernet
• three Gigabit LAN ports
• built-in power supply
• can connect to print wirelessly from a USB printer

In addition, Time Machine offers Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA-2), 128-bit WEP encryption, and a built-in NAAT firewall that support NAT-PMP for Leopard’s Back to My Mac feature. Apple will start shipping Time Capsule in February and will initially be available in two capacities — 500GB model for $299, and a 1TB version for $499.

iPhone – powerful maps, multi-person SMS

Apple CEO Steve Jobs also unveiled the latest iPhone features. Apple expanded the iPhone’s capabilities with a free software update that adds a location finder to the Maps feature, customized home screens, multi-person SMS chats, and the ability to add Web sites to the home screen. In addition, video playback on the phone has been enhanced, with support for chapters, subtitles and languages, and lyrics support has been added for music tracks.

Read more details of the new iPhone features at MacWorld.

iPod touch – add more apps for a price

Just as iPhone users were getting new capabilities via an iPhone software update announced during Steve Jobs’ Macworld Expo keynote, iPod touch users will get new features for their handheld device, too. But unlike the free iPhone update, iPod users will have to pay for their new capabilities, to the tune of a $19.99 fee.

So, what new features do you get for the upgrade fee?

You’ll get five new mobile apps that match those already on the iPhone. With the update, the iPhone touch adds Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, and Notes features—essentially giving the music player the same capabilities as the iPhone, with the notable exception of calling features.

More about iPod Touch features and updates at MacWorld.

Apple TV – price drop and untethers from the Mac

The new and improved Apple TV software will be available in about two weeks as a free update to existing Apple TV devices. The entry-level 40GB model had its price dropped to $229, while the 160GB version now costs $329, a $70 price reduction for both. The Apple TV will sport a completely changed and enhanced interface adding numerous new features — most notably the ability to rent movies and purchase music and TV shows directly via the device.

The upgraded Apple TV operates as a standalone device. While it will still synchronize content with your computer, no computer is required to operate it. Once it’s connected to your television and your computer network, you can rent movies directly on your widescreen TV, using Apple’s new iTunes Movie Rentals feature, navigating using the Apple TV’s remote. iTunes Movie Rentals cost $4.99 for new high-definition releases, $3.99 for older high-definition films and new standard-definition releases, and $2.99 for older standard-definition releases.

Apple TV will be able to play at HD – 720p resolution with many available Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Standard-definition films purchased on the Apple TV are of “DVD quality” and will not play back on Macs, PCs, or iPods. However, the Apple TV is also able to play back rentals purchased on a Mac or PC, albeit at reduced “near-DVD quality.”

The Apple TV can also now be used to directly purchase TV shows and music, which will also automatically sync back to a Mac or PC via iTunes. A new podcast browser allows users to browse Apple’s podcast directory and pick certain podcasts as “favorites” for quick access at a later time.

iTunes Movie Rentals

Apple also introduces iTunes Movie Rentals, a new feature of the iTunes Store that enables users to download movies and watch them for a short time rather than having to buy them.

The new feature is dependent on iTunes 7.6, a new release of Apple’s jukebox, music, TV and movie software that’s available for download from Apple’s Web site. It also requires an update to QuickTime.

Apple is supported by all the major movie studios — Fox, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony, along with Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, New Line and Lions Gate. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that the new service will launch shortly, and by the end of February will contain over 1,000 movies. Movies will become available for rental on iTunes 30 days after they are released on DVD.

Movie rentals will be priced at $3.99 for new releases and $2.99 for older films. High Definition (HD) movies will be downloadable only via Apple TV and will cost $4.99 for new releases and $3.99 for older films.