Having recently published my ninth Take Control ebook in two and a half years, I finally had to admit that my productivity is slipping. While that level of output may seem prolific to some, my own standards are higher; in the 2004-2005 season of my Interesting Thing of the Day site, for example, I published an article of up to 1500 words every single day (while also writing ebooks and magazine articles, of course); I also wrote an entire novel during the month of November

While preparing for this past Macworld Expo in San Francisco, a number of us journalists found our requests for media passes denied by IDG World Expo, whose representative claimed that the new policy was to allow only a single representative from each media outlet access to the keynote

The Plasticsmith has done it again. The company that brought the newly minted Mac mini its own "mini skirt," a plastic riser with an optional glow, have added a new stand to their line-up: the mini hover skirt. As fans of science fiction and unusual watercraft know, a hover skirt is set of air jets ringing the bottom of a craft; the downward-pointing jets provide air pressure to raise the craft enough off the ground to avoid friction, allowing less-expensive propulsion over both liquid and solid surfaces. The mini hover skirt is a combination of goof and practical: the unit which snaps onto the bottom includes a quiet but high-powered air blower which cools the often toasty Mac mini while producing a space-age sound effect. For those who invested in the Bluetooth and AirPort Extreme options for their Mac minis, the mini hover skirt can be equipp

Seattle's City Council has passed an emergency measure to ban free Wi-Fi access within city limits, following testimony from experts and fire officials regarding their investigation of last week's explosion at the popular "Beans, Beans, The Magical Fruit" coffeehouse

In a rare break from form, Apple Computer today held a press conference to announce its forthcoming product plans. Some industry watchers attribute the move to prodding from partner Motorola, which was forced to delay the expected announcement of its iTunes phone due to a disagreement with Apple

Following the quick coverage of the new iPod double-shuffle, Steve Jobs moved into current news, announcing that at long last the new version of its Mac OS X operating system is ready, and will be coming soon to a retail outlet near you

Apple's huge success with the Mac mini's small form factor and low price has caused the company to look more closely at making computers in a variety of small sizes

If you thought Apple's Power Macintosh G5 models were growing a little old in the tooth and wondering when Steve Jobs would make good on his 3 GHz promise from the June 2003 Worldwide Developer Conference, you have longer to wait, but it should be worth it

While fur is typically associated with staying warm, the stylish new material covering Apple's planned Power Mac GX will improve on the cooling technology used in the current generation of the Power Mac G5

Matias Adds Sudden Motion Sensor Tech to Laptop Bags -- Laptop bag designer Edgar Matias announced today that his company has licensed Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor technology for use in a new line of bags for PowerBook and iBook portable computers

This story comes from Littleton, MA, where TidBITS reader Nancy Kotary writes: "Recently the weather here turned very cold (again!), and right about the same time, I noticed my 15-inch PowerBook G4 was acting up

"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