Apple – Back to the Mac Event

Apple had their “back to the Mac” event today where they announced a number of new things:

Mac OSX 10.7 – Lion

Apple® today gave a sneak peek of Mac OS® X Lion, the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Shipping next summer, Lion is inspired by many of iPad’s software innovations. Today’s sneak peek highlighted just a few of Lion’s features, including the Mac® App Store℠, a new way to discover, install and automatically update desktop apps; Launchpad, a new home for all of your Mac apps; system-wide support for full screen apps; and Mission Control, which unifies Exposé®, Dashboard, Spaces® and full screen apps into an innovative new view of everything running on your Mac, and allows you to instantly navigate anywhere.

New MacBook Airs

Announced today was the availability of 2 new MacBook Airs, an 11-inch and 13-inch model – weighing as little as 2.3 pounds, this is the lightest and most portable notebook ever. MacBook Air uses the same solid state storage technology as iPad™ to deliver instant-on responsiveness, up to seven hours of battery life and up to 30 days of standby time.* Starting at $999, the affordable MacBook Air defines the next generation of MacBooks.

Facetime comes to the Mac

Available today is a public beta of FaceTime® for Mac®, an entirely new application that allows Mac users to video call iPhone® 4 and iPod touch®* users as well as other Macs. Featuring an easy to use interface, FaceTime for Mac automatically uses your Address Book contacts so there’s no need to create special buddy lists, and it works seamlessly with the built-in camera and mic on Mac notebooks, iMac® and Apple LED Cinema Displays.

iLife suite 11

iMovie, iPhoto, and Garage Band have all been updated to the iLife 11 suite. Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO said “iLife now makes it easier than ever to create books and letterpress cards, make amazing movie trailers from your personal videos and post them online, and make your band sound far better or teach yourself piano or guitar.” More details here.