Maxum Development Sponsoring TidBITS -- We're pleased to welcome our latest long-term sponsor, Maxum Development. I've known John O'Fallon of Maxum for many years, ever since Maxum got its start in the heady days of the mid-1990s Internet by creating the essential add-ons NetForms and NetCloak for Macs running the WebSTAR Web server

iKey 2.1 Moves to iApp-like Interface -- Script Software has updated their Macintosh automation utility iKey to version 2.1, adding a few features but mostly streamlining the interface to make it easier to create and edit shortcuts, menus, and palettes that automate repetitive actions

Default Folder X 2.0.2 Now Available -- St. Clair Software has released version 2.0.2 of their essential Mac OS X utility, Default Folder X. The new version improves compatibility with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, fixing potentially crashing problems with Safari, System Preferences, and other Cocoa applications

Now Up-to-Date & Contact Updated to 5.0.4 -- Now Software last week released version 5.0.3 and then 5.0.4 of their powerful calendaring and contact management suite, fixing a number of bugs and cosmetic problems, improving performance, and adding a few small capabilities, such as Snooze All/Dismiss All buttons in the event reminder dialog, several new toolbar buttons, support for Word 2004 in QuickMerge, and more

Tiger Still Resists Showing Preferred Networks -- Last week, I explained how to force a Mac OS X system upgraded from Panther to Tiger to display a list of preferred AirPort networks in the Network preferences pane that you could edit, remove, add to, or rearrange by preferred order of connections (see "Adding Tiger's AirPort Preferred Network List" in TidBITS-794)

DealBITS Drawing: MathMagic Personal Edition Winners -- Congratulations to Harvey Jeffries of mac.com, Orion Protonentis of noiro.org, Robert Rennie of anscom.af.mil, Robert Wildblood of erols.com, and Scott Ellsworth of alodar.com, whose entries were chosen randomly in last week's DealBITS drawing and who each received a copy of MathMagic Personal Edition, worth $119.95

Watching the news coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the devastation it unleashed upon Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama has been exceedingly difficult this past week

The latest release of long-developed Timbuktu Pro remote control software appeared last week. Version 8.5 adds several options designed to improve security and provides support for viewing multiple monitors remotely. Several new modes are available in this release, including: Lock-down or "Help Desk": A computer can't initiate remote sessions, but is available for remote viewing by, for instance, in-house technical support. SSH-only: Timbuktu Pro can be prevented from connecting using the old, less secure protocol, after which it will allow only SSH (Secure Shell) connections. Remote screen blanking: The remote computer's screen goes blank when being controlled from afar by Timbuktu Pro

Do you like menus? Menus tend to be overlooked in the desire to show every possible option at once in a toolbar or palette, but the nice thing about a menu is that its there when you need it and out of the way - but not gone entirely - when you don't

Widely distributed groups often need to meet via telephone rather than attempting to travel to a single centralized location, so for some people, regularly scheduled conference calls have become a way of life

New Ebook Helps Readers Customize Microsoft Office -- I've been working with author Kirk McElhearn for nearly a year on this title, and neither of us can believe how long it's taken to explain clearly how to customize the toolbars, menus, and keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Office

The second URL below each thread description points to the discussion on our Web Crossing server, which will be faster. iTunes Vs. The Titans -- Rumor has it that the major music labels want to charge more than $0.99 per song, even though Apple's pricing has proven enormously successful