Today, Apple announced the launch of the 3.0 software upgrade for its Apple TV, which offers a redesigned user interface and compatibility with Apple’s recently released iTunes LP and iTunes Extras, along with Genius Mixes and Internet radio. Shortly thereafter, Apple also released iTunes 9.0.2, which adds support for Apple TV’s 3.0 software, a new “dark” viewing option for Grid View, and additional accessibility support.

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.

When Phil Schiller unveiled the new Faces features in iLife ’09 at the Macworld Expo 2009 keynote, my first thought was of my wife. “It’s going to confuse her with the wrong person,” I thought, “and I’ll have to hear about it for the next three weeks.” Well, that wasn’t the case. iPhoto ’09 seemed to understand the problems it could cause and decided to err on the side of caution when seeking her face in my iPhoto library. But is it easier to identify door knobs than my wife’s face?

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.

I finally got my copy of iLife ’09 (thanks to the weather), and the first thing I’m going to do is play around with iPhoto. Why don’t you join me? The very first thing you’ll stumble upon after you install and launch iPhoto ’09 is a welcome screen. iPhoto ’09 will recommend that you go to a special web page to watch some tutorial videos. You’ll find out all about Faces, Places and other great features of iPhoto ’09. Check it out, it’s a great overview for anyone who’s unsure of whether they need the upgrade.

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.

Just a quick heads up to anyone who ordered iLife ’09. Depending upon when you placed your order, it may already be on it’s way to you. Apple promised late January, and it couldn’t get a whole lot later. Let’s just be thankful it’s on time.

Face recognition. Wow. We have the same—if not better—technology as the local police station. How freakin’ cool is that? iPhoto is groundbreaking in the fact that you can train it to recognize someone’s face and know where you took the picture. Let me introduce you to Faces and Places.

iWeb, iMovie, Garageband and iPhoto have all been upgraded. These are the applications that comprise the iLife suite. If you own a Mac, chances are you use one or more of these applications just about every day. Apple seems to be updating the software with new features about once a year, and this year everything gets a major improvement or two. Some of these new features are very powerful tools that are actually used by law enforcement (Faces). Kinda cool that we can use face recognition at home now. So, lets get to it.

Ask almost anyone who attended the Macworld keynote this year what they thought of it and you probably won’t get a very great response. With no Steve Jobs, the keynote was almost bound to not be as great as the past few years. However, not only did Phil take the place of Steve, but there more »