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BREAKING NEWS: (1.6.09)-- You are viewing Power | 'Book Central's LIVE real-time coverage of the Keynote address--given this year by Phil Schiller, Apple Inc.'s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing--from Macworld 2009 at Moscone Center West, here in San Francisco, California.

(This page will automatically refresh itself every 90 seconds during the LIVE coverage, but the feature deactivated at Keynote's end. NEW information will be displayed on top, in reverse chronoligical order).

AD: After the Keynote, don't forget to visit the main front page as well as Mac Prices, for the latest and lowest prices (and availability) on any new Apple hardware announced at today's Keynote address from Macworld 2009.

10:38a PST-- Final Word by Schiller; End of an Era (Keynote LIVE Coverage Ends)
Schiller bids farewell to the audience, tells everyone to enjoy the rest of the show. End of an era for Apple, as far as the Macworld Expo and Conference is concerned. And end of the LIVE coverage from this columnist, reporting from San Francisco, CA. (Now you can go back to work! Look, your boss is behind you!).
We'll be heading to the Expo floor (or "show" floor) to get our hands on the new 17-inch MacBook Pro (unibody 2009 model) and snap some shots of the new notebook, as well as everything else Mac-centric at the show. Thanks for staying with us this morning, or afternoon, depending on what time zone you're on.

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10:30a PST-- End of Keynote: Performance by Tony Bennett
"The Best is Yet to Come" and "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" are performed by singer Tony Bennett. Schiller ends Keynote by saying that as they always do at each Macworld, end with a song (he said "Music") and that Bennett was the best person (not exact words) for this purpose. The song sung seems fitting. The Best is Yet to Come!

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10:29a PST-- iTunes Store Now Standard Model
"iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store" no longer on iPhone. Access same music at the same price, today, on Wi-Fi and 3G networks. No others do it this way. Model begins today.

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10:25a PST-- 'One Last Thing...' (Sorry, not Jobs)-- iTunes
Sold 6 Billion songs so far. New pricing structure as of April 1, 2009: $0.69, $0.99, and $1.29, to respond to artists' requests for freedom in pricing. (Lost Schiller's words on that, our apologies). Also, today, 8 million songs are DRM free, by the end of this quarter, 2 million more. This year, 10 million total songs will be DRM free.

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10:23a PST-- 17-inch MacBook Pro Available in Late January
Same price of $2799 but of course, more bang for the buck. Schiller shows new advertisement showcasing the new 17-inch MacBook Pro and its brethren as the "greenest family of notebooks.

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10:18a PST-- Key Feature Only in 17": Longest Battery Life EVER
Schiller says that the new unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro will have the longest battery life ever in a Mac notebook. Proceeds to show a video--akin to the video shown by Jobs back in October of last year, showcasing the new unibody manufacturing process--that illustrates how Apple makes the battery 3x the lifespan of industry standards.
Battery is said to last for at least five years, thus the battery also being integrated into the 17-inch MacBook Pro. Not removable. (Replaceable later on? Not detailed in video). 8 hours on a single charge. "60% increase" according to Schiller. Apple showcases its green properties (earth-friendly), the new battery that is.

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10:13a PST-- Heaven has Boiled Under: Matte Option is Back!
Schiller gets a few cheers from audience, in response to customer demands, the 17-inch MacBook Pro unibody (2009) has an "Anti-Glare Option" for $50. How? They REMOVE the glass panel and instead of the black bezel behind the glass, it's simply the old PowerBook G4 design. A metal frame over a standard matte display. (No word if it will become available for the 15-inch MacBook Pro).

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10:10a PST-- New Thing #3: 17" unibody MacBook Pro
Schiller said the words... "one more thing." The last item on the list of things today is the new 17-inch MacBook Pro. 0.98 inches thin and is "World's Thinnest 17-inch Notebook." 1920x1200 resolution. 700:1 contrast ratio.

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10:05a PST-- iWork.com: Beta Service (Launches Today)
"Easily upload and notify, view documents online, add comments and notes, download a copy..." Collaboration among Mac users on their iWork documents. Schiller now demoes. iWork.com runs on both Mac and PC. (Note: this does not mean that iWork '09, the software, will work on a Windows PC).

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10:03a PST-- 'Mac Box Set' for $169
New bundled product. iLife '09, iWork '09, and Mac OS X Leopard, all together in a box for only $169. Schiller notes that you must have Leopard to run the new application suites.

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10:02a PST-- iWork '09 Available Today
iWork '09 is available immediately. (Our apologies, we lost the price configurations due to back-to-back announcements from Schiller).

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9:59a PST-- Numbers '09: Updated Third Component of iWork '09
Numbers debuted last year as a way to do spreadsheets "the Apple way" as Schiller says. The new features in Numbers '09 come from suggestions by users on how to best improve the app. Features such as "Table categories," "Easy formula writing," and "Linked charts."

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9:56a PST-- Pages '09: Updated Second Component of iWork '09
New features of Pages '09... "Full screen view," "Dynamic outlines." "Mail merge with Numbers." just to name a few. (Numbers is another component to iWork '09.

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9:54a PST-- Keynote Remote: App for iPhone & iPod touch
New remote control for Keynote '09... not a new device. It's? Your iPhone or iPod touch and you download the application from the App Store for only $0.99 and it lets you control your Keynote presentations.

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9:51a PST-- New Thing #2: iWork '09
Second new item on the list, of the three new things to be discussed today is iWork '09. First component being discussed by Schiller is Keynote '09.

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9:49a PST-- iLife '09 Ships Late January
iLife '09 will be available at the end of the month for $99. Upgrade is $79. Comes FREE with all new Macs (darn... just got one too-- that MacBook Pro unibody). Family pack is $99. (Any discrepancies will be corrected later... check MacPrices for details).

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9:47a PST-- Garageband '09: Artist Lessons
Who better than to teach you how to play songs, than famous artists themselves? Sting, Colbie Caillat (spelling?), John Fogerty, and Fall Out Boy are examples of artists that will teach you how to play songs on your guitar. You purchase these "Artist Lessons" on iTunes (?) for $4.99 and download to your computer. Intertwines with Garageband (the artist lessons) so you can create your own mixes of the songs.

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9:44a PST-- Next Application? Garageband '09
"Learn to Play"... teaches person how to play an instrument. Key feature of the new Garageband '09. (Apple wants you to learn). Apple rep that resembles a young Jay Leno, dressed in standard Apple black uniform--black jeans and black mock turtleneck--speaks to the user and teaches person to play guitar. First demo is guitar and now demoing with keyboard (piano).

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9:39a PST-- iMovie '09: Animated Maps Timeline
New feature in iMovie '09 lets you show a timeline of your travels be it from point A to point B, or point A to point B to point C and back to point A. (Did we lose you there?). In tandem with that feature is a sort of stopover where, as demoed, if you start in San Francisco as point A, and Africa is point B, the new set of themes built in will make transitions and switch the trip over to Africa.

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9:34a PST-- (Random Thoughts)
Phil Schiller was wearing jeans and a blue denim-like long sleeve shirt. Ubillos is wearing jeans and a black dress shirt (no tie). Reminds one of Steve Jobs. Just random thoughts. Ubillos is now demoing the image stabilization feature--remember, automatic?--of iMovie '09. Audienced wowed by example done live.

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9:30a PST-- Next Application from iLife '09? iMovie '09
Coming as no surprise, the next item up for bid (sorry) is iMovie '09. New feature, one of many, is automatic video stabilization of all clips imported in. Randy Ubillos, Chief Architect of ______ is invited up to stage and relieves Schiller for the time being. Ubillos demos the new iMovie '09 for the audience.

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9:27a PST-- Schiller (Still) Demos iPhoto '09 for Audience
Schiller is still demoing the application to the audience with the "Places" feature. Lot of time spent on just this one app.

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9:21a PST-- Schiller Demos iPhoto '09 for Audience
With "Faces" feature, you can tag photos by person's face. That way, your photos are now organized by person and you know which pictures in your albums are of, say, your mom, dad, wife, brother, etc. You can also create "smart albums" which contains groups of people and those photos with those people you selected go there. (Please excuse the grammar).

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9:17a PST-- iPhoto '09... Works Well with Facebook & Flickr
Support (native/built-in?) for Facebook and Flickr integration a new feature in iPhoto '09. New themes for making easy slideshows without much work by the user. Example of "Faces" in action? iPhoto '09 will automatically place the photos with a focus on people's faces. Save slideshows to iTunes and sync to iPod touch or iPhone to share with family and friends.

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9:12a PST-- iPhoto '09 Continued
"Events" was the new feature in iPhoto '08. In addition to "Faces" there's now "Places" which, you can guess, puts GPS geo-tagging to your shots. Among other things. Schiller pokes fun and says that it's perfect for the best cell phone ever made, the iPhone which he hopes many people in the audience have. (Laughter ensues).

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9:08a PST-- New Thing #1: iLife '09
Schiller begins with iPhoto '09 and its new technology called "Faces" which automatically detects faces and tracks your photos, well, organizes them, by people's faces. (Sorry for that bad sentence).

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9:07a PST-- We're Talking Only About the Mac Today
Not exactly Schiller's words verbatim, but close enough. Mentions three things to be announced today. Three NEW things.

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9:05a PST-- Phil Schiller Starts Off with Talk About Apple Stores
3.4 Million visitors per week. Compares it to "x" amount of Macworlds per week (number of visitors to stores in comparison to expo attendance... lost the figure comparison... apologies).

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9:00a PST-- False Start... Please Stay Tuned
As we mentioned, the past two Macworld Keynotes we've been to, they don't start quite on the dot and let all the people come in first. As we're typing this, three minutes have passed. We just got photographed by a photographer from the San Francisco Chronicle. What irony!
The music is quieting down and cheers, lights now out, and Phil Schiller is now on stage. (We miss you already Steve!)

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8:55a PST-- T-5 Minutes to 9:00a Start of Keynote
Did we mention we're LIVE from San Francisco? Forgot about that. Too late to edit the last entry without causing a big commotion in the formatting department. We're so close to the front that we can't tell if the room is filled up yet. And if we get up to look, we'll lose our comfort zone.
Please stand by as we get ready to "text" LIVE from Moscone Center West in the City by the Bay. Oops. The music is quieting down. The welcome announcement is starting.

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8:50a PST-- VIPs and Media Now Seated
Wow. You'd think it was Black Friday at a Wal-Mart or Best Buy store the morning before Thanksgiving. Once the metal doors opened, temporary chaos ensued. This columnist almost tripped over his own feet, almost taking an Apple employee down with him!
The VIPs were let in first, of course, then the broadcast and photo journalists (so they could get a spot on the podium), and afterwards, every other media person needing to report on today's event. Thankfully this columnist chose to switch lines at the last minute-- from photographer to reporter. (We can take photos later).
We're seated pretty close this year. Last year we didn't get in and went into an overflow room. The year before that, we got a seat in the very last row way in back. Special thanks to IDG/Macworld and Charlotte McCormack especially, for granting us full media access!

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9:00a PST-- Scheduled Start of Keynote Coverage (PRESET Entry)
The Keynote is scheduled to start at 9:00a PST, but experience for the past two years has Apple sometimes waiting until the main "arena" is filled and all guests seated before they actually start. (If you don't see this page updating, it probably hasn't officially begun... please bear with us!).
In case you're wondering, that's 10:00a MST, 11:00a CST, and 12:00p EST for the rest of you on the other time zones in the United States.

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