Hot on the heels of the announcement of iLife ’11, Apple has posted an update to Aperture, bumping it up to version 3.1. This version contains a number of bug fixes and performance enhancements, along with compatibility for iLife ’11. But don’t write it off a a simple update; Apple has quite a long update list in the Release Notes.

One of iPhoto ’09′s key features is Faces, which uses face detection and recognition to organize photo albums by face. This may not be the highest on people’s “want” lists for iPhoto ’09, but it certainly is a cool idea. You want to look at photos of John? Just click on his snapshot on the corkboard. Personally, though, I’m having trouble finding it useful in most practical situations.