iWork '09: Keynote - Puts the 'Show' Back in Slideshows

Keynote was initially launched back in January 7, 2003. When iWork '09 was announced on January 6, 2009, the app has evolved to it's current version of 5.0. Already feature-rich in iWork '08, its current iteration brings additional features that makes it even more enticing to use.

• new Magic Move transition
• more text / object transitions and chart animations
• Keynote Remote app for the iPhone and iPod Touch
• enhanced theme chooser
• easier sharing options

The new Magic Move animation is both an amazingly impressive feature and an astonishingly easy feature to use. This is a new transition available only in iWork '09's Keynote that can be applied between slides. Magic Move automatically animates any object - like an image - from one position to the next as you move between slides where the transition is applied. A photo located on the upper left hand corner in one slide can be animated as it moves to the lower right hand corner on the next when Magic Move is applied.

Apple showcases this great new feature with a video demonstration in its own web site. What makes this a great feature is it can be achieved very easily. Just make a copy of one slide, relocate the objects you want to animate with Magic Move on the slide copy, and apply the transition to both slides. Keynote handles the animation seamlessly, resulting in polished, sophisticated, and smooth slide presentations.

More text transitions are available now. Currently, there's Shimmer, where the text is brought to life by a set of glitter, Swing where the text sways before settling on its designated location, Sparkle where the text is drawn from left to right with twinkling lights, and Anagram - the new text animation - where one word is morphed into the next. The Anagram text transition behavior retains common letters of both words then zooming in the missing letters of the next word in place. Available text effects is showcased in Apple's Keynote web site and can be sampled here.

Charts can now be made even more impressive with added 3D textures and animations with depth, so pie charts and the like are more palatable for the eyes.

Keynote can now be controlled with your iPhone / iPod Touch with an app developed by Apple. The app displays your slide and your notes on your screen and you can view the slides on either landscape or portrait mode. To advance, simply swipe the touch screen and your presentation will move on to the next slide.

The Keynote Remote is available for $0.99 in the App Store and works via WiFi.