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.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a major update concerning iLife, which makes it that much easier to believe this new rumor that it’s coming in August. Not just that, but it’s also said to have a brand new application. The rumor also declares the death of the iDVD, improvements to iPhoto Faces and Places, a totally renewed iWeb, and more. Jump past the break for details (and our thoughts, of course).

Can you guess what technology such enthusiasts tend to use for their paranormal work? Yes, it’s the good ol’ Macintosh. Over at Paranormal Daily News, there’s an article on why the Mac is the superior platform when it comes to working with a high quantity of footage looking for those few ghostly seconds to share with the world. According to the article, it’s really nothing more than a MacBook and the iLife suite. Well, let’s face it; it’s all in there, really.

Oh my. The Mac community is abuzz with yet another rumor of a forthcoming Apple Tablet—which is odd. Steve Jobs has publicly spoken about netbooks, declaring, “We don’t know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk and our DNA will not allow us to ship that.” The iPhone and iPod Touch are already good handheld computers…it is tough to see where a larger tablet-format screen would add any value.

Apple today released an update to iMovie, their video editing program that’s part of the iLife suite of applications. The new version fixes a problem where attempting to open projects with a file size of 0KB would cause iMovie to quit unexpectedly at launch. Version 8.0.2 also addresses a problem where full-screen mode could not be accessed on some systems.

For those of you who missed it (indeed, I did until just now), Apple has released updates to their core iLife/iWork apps. iWeb, iMovie and iPhoto have all been updated, along with iLife Support, as have Keynote, Pages and Numbers. The updates were posted to Apple’s website on March 26th, and should be showing up in your Software Update.

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, so why not get creative with your Valentine’s gift? With iLife there are so many possibilities for you, but we’ve got one other idea, too. Skip the sappy card and over-priced chocolate, and create something your Valentine will never forget.

Apple has been touting the universal “logo” for years, and promised to support both Intel and PowerPC during the (quite long) transition to Intel. However, the end of this transition may be near, as evidence of Apple moving to Intel-only software is clearly appearing. Within iLife ’09, and more specifically GarageBand ’09, the Artist Lessons/Learn to Play feature seems to require an “Intel-based Mac with a dual-core processor or better.”

iPhoto ’09 doesn’t really seem that different from ’08, but that’s because ’08 was already a great program. This version brings some pretty interesting features, namely Faces and Places. I think it’s highly likely that these two features alone are what is driving sales on iLife ’09. Do you need either of these features? The practical answer, probably not. The real answer? Of course you do.

We reported yesterday that iLife ’09 orders have been prepared for shipment. Apple has now officially announced that the program suite will be shipping January 27. Those who have purchased a new mac since January 6th qualify for the iLife ’09 Hardware Up-to-Date Program, allowing them the opportunity to upgrade to iLife ’09 for $9.95 + tax.