A new MacBook Air, iLife 11, a sneak preview of Mac OS X Lion, and FaceTime for the Mac. Those are the new products announced Tuesday by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the company’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters.
Jobs also said that the Mac, not to be outdone by its younger iPod and iPhone siblings, will soon have its own application store.
Flash Storage on Air
The new Air uses solid-state flash storage instead of a hard drive, which the company said lightens an already lightweight laptop since solid state is as much as 90 percent smaller and lighter than a hard drive. At its thinnest point, the Air is 0.11 inches, and only 0.68 inches at its thickest.
The newest Air is available in 11.6- and 13.3-inch display models, features instant-on bootup, and has a battery life of up to seven hours.
The latest iLife features a new look look for iPhoto, easier editing in iMovie, and new ways to improve music playing and creating in GarageBand. iLife 11 is included free in new Macs, or available as a $49 upgrade for existing users.
Sending photos to friends and family via iPhoto now includes a choice of eight themes, and the photos can be posted to Facebook with a single click. There’s a new way to create books and cards using a carousel interface, intelligent book layout, and a bookshelf to keep track of projects. With new letterpress cards, photos and text can be combined with designs to create wedding invitations, birth announcements, and other announcements.
iMovie features 15 different genres such as Adventure, Romantic Comedy, or Epic Drama, each of which has its own graphics and soundtracks. A feature called People Finder analyzes video and marks clips that have faces to quickly create a trailer.
FaceTime Beta
The company also announced a public beta of…