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I finally picked up iLife ‘08 and iWork ‘08 this weekend after Apple’s announcement last week. I’ve been waiting for iLife ‘08 since Macworld as I use iPhoto on a daily basis and Garageband when I record my podcast. iDVD and iWeb are pretty useless to me but iMovie was something I always wanted to get into but never did. Mostly due to not having a video camera. iWork on the other hand i rarely use and really have no idea why I picked it up but I did anyways.

First thing I did was try out iPhoto for obvious reasons. Now mind you, I never really “got” iPhoto but in the past 8 months I’ve gotten use to it. The first thing you notice is that Events now replace rolls. I think this will actually work out for me in the long run. My favorite upgrade so far is the keyword, no more drag and dropping. It has a more traditional tagging interface now which i love. I’ve only really played with the new iPhoto for a little bit so far and its mostly due to the fact it now runs like shit on my Macbook. As I write this I am rebuilding all the thumbnails, database and permissions hoping it will help. When scrolling and editing pictures, the CPU jumps to 100% and everything crawls. Anyone else having the same issues?

The other iLife apps I haven’t played with too much yet. iWork I’ll probably almost never use due to Google Apps but I have it if i need it.

My favorite remote control software, LogMeIn, has released a preview of their upcoming client for Mac. LogMeIn is similar to GoToMyPC in it provides 24/7 access to your computer from any web browser. I’ve used LogMeIn for years when I was doing computer consulting to remotely access clients PC and its nice to finally see it come to Macs. The client only supports LogMeIn Free accounts right now which allows access to one computer. But since its free, there is no reason not to signup for an account and have access to your home Mac anytime, anywhere.

Over at the Parallels blog, the guys touch on some post-WWDC news, notable on VMWare entering the market while Microsoft bows out. A few interesting bits come up for whats planned in upcoming versions of Parallels this year:

• A groundbreaking new user interface that will make running Windows on a Mac easier and more productive than ever before
• Never before seen security and management tools
• Capability to burn CDs and DVDs inside virtual machines
• Fast 3D graphics support via support for OpenGL and DirectX. You’ll be able to run games at full speed without leaving your OS X desktop!
• An ACPI BIOS that provides the ability to run Microsoft Windows Vista

Wow. Parallels isn’t pulling any punches here. New “groundbreaking” interface? Burn CDs inside a VM? FULL SPEED GAMING?! This stuff is HUGE for the Mac community. I know I said I would probably switch to VMWare in an earlier post, but I think the guys at Parallels now have a devoted customer in me.