We all knew that Apple is planning to release iLife before October but what we didn't expect is for it to be  officially unveiled this early. In fact, the Cupertino-based company came up with a press release the other day, officially announcing the new build for suite of digital lifestyle applications to the world.

"Apple has taken iLife '08 to a new level that is years ahead of anything available for the PC. We think iLife '08 gives Mac users even more reasons to love their Macs, and PC users even more reasons to switch," commented Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The following are the general changes applied to the program:

• iPhoto 08 automatically groups all photos into Events, each containing a day's worth of photos represented by a single picture
• iMovie '08 can import video from the latest AVCHD, HDV and DV camcorders, as well as from digital cameras, and displays a user's entire video library whether itÂ?s stored on internal or external drives
• .Mac Web Gallery is fully integrated with iPhoto '08 and iMovie '08, letting users share their photos and movies on the web with just a few clicks.
• iWeb '08 offers new features to make websites more interactive by adding live web widgets such as Google Maps, targeted ads using Google AdSense and photos or movies from .Mac Web Galleries
• GarageBand '08 offers powerful new features for more advanced musicians, including multi-take recording to capture the best performance, arrangements to cut, copy and paste intros, verses and choruses, and support for 24-bit audio interfaces

iLife is currently on sale for suggested retail price of US$ 79 through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores, and Apple authorized resellers. If you want to know more about the latest version, click on our Read link below. It should take you to Apple's dedicated page for iLife 08.

Within a certain world bound by the iPod, the Mac, OS X, the Apple's-got-to-call-it-somethingPhone, Apple TV, and so forth, Steve Jobs sits right on top of the food chain. King of the hill. Visionary ideologue. The only thing missing is a Red Sea to part, it seems. But perhaps another aspect of Jobs' charm isn't just his bold vision for Apple (which has led to at least one outrageous claim, though), but his humanity.

You know, it's got flaws, it screws up every once in a while, and instead of running Bug Month, everyone has a good laugh. It happens to everyone, even to Jobs. Here's a collage of some of his keynote speech bloopers, caught on tape, and edited together in iMovie by --Machintologist--. Yes, it's nothing newsworthy, we know, for those who nitpick. But the true mark of being human, a wise man once said, is his ability to laugh once in a while and not give a whole flying manureload whether it's newsworthy or not. We bet even Steve enjoys a good laugh once in a while.

A lot of great things has been said about Mac products: they're innovative, great, and all that. But a great product is useless if the user doesn't live up to his end of the bargain (such as not installing a decent anti-virus or cluttering your RAM with useless apps). Anyhow, we're deviating from the topic here, someone over at MadMac did a little investigative report on the top 10 Mac memory hoggers. Here are the apps that made that list:

1. Safari - 487.79Mb
2. Photoshop - 258.71Mb
3. GarageBand - 201.59Mb
4. NeoOffice - 154.96Mb
5. Pages - 144.88Mb
6. iMovie HD - 132.48Mb
7. Keynote - 128.52Mb
8. iWeb - 110.89Mb
9. iDVD - 92.11Mb
10. iPhoto - 91.87Mb

These are averages, so others who might snoop about it might get a different result. If you noticed, most of these applications are Apple's own apps. All of them are very powerful and useful products, but then again, power does come with a price and in this case, the price you have to pay is the massive memory space it'll occupy. This doesn't make the Mac bad because if you think of it, Photoshop on Windows would probably use up a lot of memory too. Maybe Apple should give more RAM with their new line of computers.

Since its announcement, Apple fanatics - and video enthusiasts in general - have been entranced by what Apple is currently calling its iTV video extender. Speculations,  rumors, and various what-have-yous have surrounded this little doodad, mostly regarding its technical and hardware aspects. We've also done our part in bringing these speculations and rumors into the light (who hasn't, really?) and now, just for some balance, we'll be taking a look at an opinion/analysis piece that deals with Apple's business strategy for the home entertainment market.

On his PBS blog, Robert X. Cringely has written a piece that seeks to cast some light into Apple's strategy for the iTV. He touches on topics such as the lack of a Blu-Ray player bundled with Apple computers and that little USB port on the back of each iTV box ("It's not for a USB hard drive, that's for sure"). Wanna know what he reckons it's for? An Apple iSight camera. This is why Cringely dubs Apple's strategy, "iChat on steroids."

Says Cringely:

"This is the heart of Apple's emerging communication strategy. I was tempted to write "voice-over-IP strategy," except that wouldn't have been correct. For Jobs, this particular road less traveled is about video conferencing, not voice. VoIP is not grand enough, not experiential. If eBay can dominate it, Apple doesn't want to be a part of it, and won't be. Jobs will be much happier enabling a smaller audience to do multi-person chats on their HDTVs."

Cringely doesn't only talk about the iTV. He also throws in a little Leopard into the mix: "All of this comes together with Leopard, the next version of OS X, which will ship in January. iChat, which started back in 2003 as a simple real-time chat client to keep Macs from being frozen completely out of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), has grown a lot since then. iChat now has H.264 video support, and with Leopard it will integrate all the iLife (iPhoto, iCal, iMovie, etc.) functions into a system that can support remote users. So you'll not only be able to see and talk with Grandma, you'll be able to show her pictures and home movies. If Grandma's a corporate executive, you can show her a marketing presentation, too."

Check out the piece. The man has put quite a lot of thought into the topic and puts forth some very good ideas. If you're interested, click on the 'read' link below for the full article.

"It's Showtime." Those were the words on Apple's invitation to a press conference they'll be holding on the 12th. No one's really sure what'll be presented, but there's a good chance that it will have something to do with the fabled iTunes Movie Store and new tech developments.

Marco, from marco.org, thinks that it will have something to do with the music service getting a movie upgrade. In addition to its getting more news coverage and speculative information these last few weeks, the movie download business hasn't really taken off: a perfect place to capitalize if Apple can pull it off well.

He cites three problems for the quick deaths of movie download services:

1. High prices.
2. Lack of adequate portable device support.
3. TV support, because not everyone wants to spend the whole day staring at a small screen.

The one thing Apple has going for it now is the AirPort service, which allows users to play music from iTunes to their own stereos: wireless music streaming, you could say.

Now, AirPort is expensive stuff, and it has its limitations, but if the tech is there, it stands to reason that AirPort could also transmit video to televisions or video-enabled iPods as you please. That gives AirPort a whole new feature, and increases the the viability of both AirPort AND a downloadable music service. If this rumor has weight, it's looking like a smart plan (if you can afford it, that is). Keep checking QJ for info on the Apple press conference when it happens.

This isn't really ground breaking news. But it is still quite interesting. Last August 22, the European Office of Harmonization published Apple's latest trademark/service mark application number 005269221 for "IMOVIE." Now Apple has filed iMovie as a trademark before, but they filed it under International Class 9 covering computer hardware and software. The new Apple iMovie lists additional International Classes 38, 41 and 42.

What the heck is class 38, 41, and 42? Those classes cover the following: communications and telecommunications services, entertainment and education services; provision of electronic publications (not downloadable); providing on-line electronic publications and computer hardware and software consulting services; rental of computer hardware and software apparatus and equipment.

So, given that Apple's "showtime" media event is just around the corner, and that they're expected to launch their new iTMS iMovie services during the event, this trademark update is a very nice preview of the services they'll be providing.

Good news to iLife customers, Apple has released several software updates for iLife '06 applications like iDVD, iMovie, iWeb and iPhoto. iDVD 6.0.2 (5MB) update addresses issues with burning some 16:9 projects and improves overall stability. And now it allows you to use either a SuperDrive or compatible third-party DVD burner for your Hollywood-style DVDs.

Future filmmakers will love these updates for iMovie HD 6.0.2 (7MB). It addresses issues with Ken Burns rendering performance, scrubber bar editing performance theme image quality, PAL audio, and displaying iLife Sound Effects automatically in its iLife Media Browser. A 54.6MB installer is also available for those who want to upgrade their iMovie HD version 6.0 or 6.0.1 to a 6.0.2.

Better weblife equals iWeb 1.1 (88.8MB). Updates include comment support for blogs and podcasts (.Mac published sites only),blog search support (.Mac published sites only),usability improvements to themes and templates and image management fixes to improve site performance.

Updates to iPhoto 6.0.3 (13.9MB) addresses issues with the Photocasting of Smart Albums, sharing iPhoto libraries, and creating calendars and books. So whip out those photos you took on your honeymoon and share them with your loved ones in an instant.