Steve Jobs' Showtime Presentation: We got more than a sneak peak of iTV, Keynote lovers got to see Keynote 4 in action (with pictures)

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Steve Jobs' Showtime Presentation: We got more than a sneak peak of iTV, Keynote lovers got to see Keynote 4 in action (with pictures)

Date Created: 19 Sep, 2006, 09:55 PM

We've had former Vice-President Al Gore here in Australia recently, to speak about his environmentally-focussed film, An Inconvenient Truth.

Most Macophiles will know that the film is a mix of interviews and scenes of the V-P, combined with his onstage slide show, conducted using Powerbooks and Apple's display software, Keynote, part of the iWork package.

Like many, I've grimaced when his slideshow has been referred to as a powerpoint, not even Powerpoint, so ubiquitous is Microsoft's presentation tool. Hopefully, when audiences left the theatre, their minds anxious about the effects of global warming, they stuck around long enough to view the credits and see Gore's Keynote team acknowledged.

The same time Gore was here, Steve Jobs strode the stage in Northern California to show off the latest iTunes 7, its movie store and new iPods and "iTV" set top box.

Now, audiences for a Jobs' keynote are often Wall Street types, tech writers, and various other invitees. The rest of us get to see the Keynote webcast via Apple's servers several hours later.

But for some of us, it's not just the new products that are of interest. No, for a small group of Mac users, we're interested in a subtheme: how does Jobs' demo his new products.

Huh?

Well, in the past few years, ever since Keynote the application was released in 2003, each Jobs' special Keynote address prior to a January MacWorld has sneak-peeked the new features of the next version of the application.

The iTunes-focussed Keynote of last week was no exception, and some exciting new developments in Keynote suggest that a version 4 is likely to be released next January as part of a new iWork package

Let's go through some of the new features Jobs showed, in order of appearance during the Keynote. There may be others I missed, so use the Comments section to fill in the gaps and I'll update this blog entry

One of the most requested features in Keynote from experienced presenters was the ability to move objects around a slide. In current and previous versions, a user had to display great skill and patience to bring objects onto a slide, then move them off, but there was always the missing element of moving the object around the slide.

Keynote 4 would appear to solve that problem and we get to see it in action here, as Steve shows us the old range of iPods, (below).

Steve wants to focus on the full-size iPod so he both fades out the nano and Shuffle, and moves the iPod from left to centre screen, (below)

The two lesser iPods fade from view, and the iPod now takes centre stage. Note that it doesn't just fade out and fade in, the method by which one had to emulate object movement in Keynote 3, but we see the iPod actually move.

Now this will not be news for Powerpoint users who have had the facility for quite a few years, but for we Keynote users, this is a significant addition to Keynote's abilities.

Jobs shows more builds like this later, and I'll show you the variations as we proceed through the Keynote address in chronological order of events

This on-the-slide movement appears not restricted to objects, but can be applied to text also.

Informing us of the iPod's new click wheel functionality, Jobs shows the words "Designed for the wheel" describe a circle as metaphor for the function he's discussing:

We start with the words centred, and we see them move around in a wheel motion:

...and here, it continues the movement...

More of the same slide movement, shown to great effect using multiple objects moving simultaneously comes next when Steve brings a display of several iPods to hide behind the middle one in this sequence used to show of new games in the 5.5 iPod:

...and the "slide" show continues...

...and continues here...

... almost done...

...and all hidden behind the middle iPod for Steve to tell us more of the new iPod story.

Next Steve focusses on the old nano, which starts off alone, centre stage:

It then recedes and grows smaller while the other iPods fade. The size reduction of the nano isn't a fade, but appears to be a new build designed to reduce the image in full view. There are number of image features I detected including angling of images to offer a 3-D "invite" view, something I've used to show book covers on angle, where I had to use Photoshop's "distort" filter to achieve the effect.

This is all part of Steve setting up the introduction of the new nano, which also introduces us to a new text animation, which we might called Sparkler or the Mission:Impossible effect:

What's the magic word that distinguish the old from the new Nano?

Something metallic, and like the old iPod mini perhaps?

The Sparkle build goes beyond plain text, into boxed text, as Steve tells us the iTunes Store is now the Number 5 music seller, with Walmart Number 1. Here's how he builds it:

... and Steve builds a number of boxes telling us who sells the most music...

Now we get to see iTunes coloured blue in its Number 5 sales position:

But there is one more thing....

Steve give the iTunes' rectangle a little "jiggle":

...in a metaphorical effort to say iTunes is champing at the bit to shove Amazon out the way and take on the mantle of Number 4 music seller.

Let's move on. What's next?

Well, Steve uses the new object movement build to inform us of iTunes 7's new synchronization features.

We start with two iTunes windows representing two machines, and the one iPod:

Steve drags a music file down the iTunes window down towards the iPod to begin the transfer process...

... and on it drops, before Steve starts moving the iPod to the right-hand iTunes window...

... and the iPod moves to the right...

over it goes... below,

...and the music file transfers to the second Mac's iTunes.

... and we see the music file uplifted to the second Mac's iTunes window, a new feature of iTunes which has been much requested. Steve could have told us this feature,m but he told us a little story we could see so as to more easily grasp what he was on about...

As the Keynote draws to a close, Steve's famous One More Thing is highlighted with the Sparkle animation:

talk about drawing attention to a new Keynote feature!

Ah yes, the thing we hoped to hear... one more thing... and we also heard a new one... "there is one last thing".

...and indeed there is one more thing for Keynote lovers. Some line drawing objects similar in design to John Dreidger's The Plan add-on which I use frequently to add some pizzazz to my presentations. You can see John's superb Keynote add-on at his Keynotethemepark.com website.

Did Steve actually use John's add-ins, or is this an addition to Keynote 4?

With Keynote 4 truly on its way, and Steve continuing to show us all how to present and beta test his own products, those of us who were forlorn about the possibilty of Keynote's demise in the long drought between previous upgrades, need no longer worry.

I'm seeing more and more people presenting using Keynote, and I continue to use it to wow audiences with its clarity, simplicity and image-based style which accentuates what I'm saying, rather than interfering with it.

And that's how it should be with a technology we use to help is inform, persuade and entertain, all at the same time. In an age of information deluge, we need all the help we can get to keep our message simple yet impactful.

UPDATE (Sep 24): As others have noted, I missed the really important transition which came at the end of the keynote when Jobs introduced musician John Legend.

Let's look at theis spectacular transition. Firs, let's set it up:

Now notice as its splits into three planes, Red Green Blue, below.

Let's continue as the split becomes more overt, below:

... and starts to flip, below:

... and continues, below:

and the flip begins, below:

... and the flip side starts to assemble itself, below:

... almost done, below:

... one small step after this:

Done... the whole thing took just a couple of seconds

So, with all these transitions, it's clear some of Core Video is finding its way into Keynote 4. If these are just a hint of what's to come, this will be one mighty upgrade.