During the recent Back to the Mac event, Steve Jobs announced many exciting products on the horizon for Apple. One of those was the release of iLife '11 for the Mac. The newest edition of this digital media suite brings upgrades to the table for its iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand elements. While its iDVD and iWeb features remain relatively unchanged, iLife brings plenty of improvements that should make it a hit with Mac users.

The iPhoto feature of iLife '11 has received plenty of attention. Perhaps its most welcome upgrade is that of new full-screen modes. Those who prefer to view their photos in all their full-screen glory can now do so in iPhoto '11. The full-screen mode uses every bit of the screen to display photos for browsing and editing purposes. The new filmstrip feature allows users to jump from photo to photo in full-screen mode as well. To keep up with the social networking craze, Apple has integrated iPhoto '11 with Facebook so you can view all of your Facebook albums, upload new photos, and more using the application.

Email has also been integrated into the new iPhoto. Apple has made it so iPhoto works with a variety of email services such as AOL, Gmail, Yahoo, and more so that you can email photos within the application. This saves you the hassle of bouncing back between your photos folders and your email client. The slideshow feature in iPhoto has been improved to now include new animated themes that come with background music as well. 

Not to be outdone is in the upgrades department is iMovie '11. It comes packed with new features, with the highlight coming in the form of movie trailers. You can create your own trailers easily using 15 different templates that center around genres such as drama, adventure, and more. A soundtrack, special effects, titles, names, and much more can be added to make a trailer that mimics the ones that come out of Hollywood. 

Another way that iMovie '11 mimics Hollywood is with its one-step effects feature, which can be used to add effects to movies such as jump cuts, or a dream haze, to name a couple. Newer audio editing controls have been added to give you more control over the sound in your movies too. Other new additions to iMovie include a People Finder tool that identifies those who participate in your clips, sports and news themes to give videos a professional look, as well as the ability to share videos with others with direct uploads to Facebook and YouTube.

GarageBand, the music editing tool that turns the Mac into a mini recording studio, also has some new toys to tinker with. Its Flex Time and Groove Matching tools can be used to make tracks smoother in terms of timing and rhythm. Those looking to fine tune their skills on the piano or guitar can do so with 22 new lessons that offer animations and video demonstrations to help along the way. The “How Did I Play?” feature offers feedback on your recordings and allows you to track progress. Last, but not least, guitar lovers have seven new guitar amps and five new stompbox effects to add to their songs.  

The new features across the board in iLife '11 are quite impressive. Best of all, Apple has decided to make iLife '11 affordable for those who wish to enjoy it. The software suite costs $49, which is after a $20 price cut. Those who just purchased a Mac in the past few weeks can get the software upgrade for $6.99.

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