ing GarageBand! Apple Computer today announced the availability of Bleeper, a free innovative Audio Units plug-in for use with Apple's entry-level digital music program, GarageBand

"Take Control of Your Island Nation" Released -- Needless to say, few of us actually have our own island nations, but with this latest installment in our Take Control series of electronic books, we're branching out into the rough-and-tumble world of business self-help books like "First, Break All The Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently." Written by legendary business consultant Michael Milkem, the hidden force behind NeXT's acquisition of Apple Computer and the AOL/Time Warner merger, "Take Control of Your Island Nation" draws comparisons between orchestrating an overthrow of a corrupt banana republic government and regaining authority in an out-of-control business

Canned Spam Can Can Spam with CAN-SPAM -- Hormel is expected to announce today their campaign to can spam using their canned Spam with the aid of the CAN-SPAM legislation

This week we have a special one-day DealBITS drawing! In conjunction with Hormel's anti-spam campaign, we're giving away one can of Spam, the real stuff, a $2.95 value

Apple today released a public beta of iChat AV 2.2, the company's popular instant-messaging and audio/video conferencing application. In addition to providing a handful of bug fixes, the update incorporates support for Microsoft's MSN text messaging network. Previously, the MSN network was unavailable to iChat users because iChat uses the AIM (AOL Instant Messaging) network, and the two protocols are incompatible

Cast your mind back to September of 1999, when we reported on a highly publicized move by the U.S. Army to transition its primary Web server from Windows NT to Power Macintosh G3s running WebSTAR (then from StarNine Technologies, now owned by 4D)

The French start-up software company Freedom Technologies today announced the immediate availability of CountDown G5, a controversial firmware update which enables users to start up Apple's Power Mac G5 systems using either Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X. As shipped by Apple, Power Mac G5 systems can start up using only Mac OS X (although they can run older software in the Classic environment)

Almost 10 years ago, I wrote an article for TidBITS called "The Experiment Is Over" about the end of the governmentally funded, usage-restricted Internet backbone

If you've ever been a part of a decentralized working group, you're undoubtedly aware of the utility of shared conference calls; I've spent many an hour on conference calls for a variety of projects

Building on the success of short-range induction charging, such as is used in the MobileWise wire-free electric power technology, Posicharge, Inc. has introduced the latest advance to wireless networking technology: the Tes-La passive energy charging system

Apple Reschedules WWDC Yet Again -- In a move that will no doubt cause even more consternation, Apple today announced that it has again rescheduled the upcoming Worldwide Developer Conference, this time to coincide with the new Create conference that replaced Macworld Expo from 14-Jul-03 through 18-Jul-03

New Handeze Gloves for Aluminum PowerBook G4s -- I've long recommended Handeze gloves for reducing repetitive stress injuries in the hands and wrists (see "Handeze Gloves" in TidBITS-199)

iPodPowerMate Unveiled -- Extending its successful line of well-designed computing accessories, Griffin Technologies today announced the iPodPowerMate, a hardware multimedia controller specially created for the iPod (see "Unleashing the Power of the PowerMate" in TidBITS-653)

"Chili Pepper" iChat Plug-in Released -- Shareware developer Susan Valencia has released a plug-in for iChat that emulates Eudora's popular MoodWatch feature to iChat users who have Eudora installed (whether or not it's the default email client)

Canon PowerShot Keynote S250 -- Be careful what you suggest! After I wrote about how I transferred Keynote slides to my Canon PowerShot S100 camera for display on a standard television in "The PowerShot Presentation" in TidBITS-669, I was amused to learn that Canon plans to release a new member of the diminutive PowerShot camera family that boasts direct integration with a forthcoming release of Apple's Keynote presentation program