iLife '04: The Missing Manual gives you everything you need to unleash your creative genius with iLife '04, Apple's suite of five programs--iTunes 4.6, iPhoto 4, iMovie 4, iDVD 4, and GarageBand--that is revolutionizing the way we work and play. Celebrated author David Pogue makes sure there's nothing standing between you and professional-caliber music, photos, movies, and more. He highlights the newest features and improvements, covers the capabilities and limitations of each program, and delivers countless goodies you won't find anywhere else: undocumented tips, tricks, and secrets for getting the very best performance out of every one of these applications.

More Inside News on the Mac OS X Conference -- The show begins the last week of October, and the lineup is coming together beautifully. We've added top-level, Apple-employed speakers to the program at O'Reilly's third annual Mac OS X Conference. And yes, some have been approved to talk about Tiger. Here's the latest inside scoop on the upcoming event, from Derrick Story, managing editor of the Mac DevCenter.

Mac OS X for the Traveler, Part 3 -- In the third part of this series on how to travel safely with your Mac OS X laptop, François Joseph de Kermadec covers some software security basics, how to work with untrusted networks, why and how to encrypt network connections, the importance and difficulty of using a firewall when traveling, and how to encrypt your backups. For everything else you'll need, get the book that should have been in the box: Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Panther Edition.

The Inside Scoop on the Mac OS X Conference -- Sometimes, looking at a conference program grid is like looking at Edinburgh Castle: It's impressive, but you really don't know where all the bodies are buried unless you have a tour guide. Program chair Derrick Story takes you inside O'Reilly's upcoming Mac OS X Conference.

Mac OS X for the Traveler -- When you're on the road with your iBook or PowerBook, you may find yourself asking, Should I carry my installation CDs with me? How can I back up data if I don't have an external hard drive? What power adapter am I supposed to take to the other side of the globe? This Mac DevCenter article tells you how to prepare for your trip. And be sure to carry a copy of your guide-on-the-go, Mac OS X Unwired.

Apple Logo in iDVD -- If you make your own movies with iDVD, you may be troubled by the Apple logo that imposes itself upon your finished images. You and your viewers need not suffer through the persistent advertisement. David Pogue tells you how to get rid of the Apple watermark so your movies can be Blockbuster hits. Get a complete course in Macintosh filmmaking with iMovie 3 & iDVD: The Missing Manual.

SafariU: Create, Customize, and Share Teaching Material -- Looking for a way to truly customize your course textbook and offer students exactly the material you choose to teach, while saving them a good bit of money? Become a SafariU beta tester and check out the new web-based publishing platform from O'Reilly that allows you to create custom textbooks and online syllabi.

How to Fall in Love with Your iSight, Again -- Consider Snaggy and Nitrozac your personal tech-therapists, offering advice in this article on apps and add-ons that will enhance your iSight relationship. And if you like the way they weave humor and tech talk, check out their book, The Best of The Joy of Tech.

Announcing the 2004 Mac OS X Innovators Contest -- The second Mac OS X Innovators contest is open and ready for your entry. If you want to shine a light on your great idea, check out the rules, the entry form, and the prizes you could win in this year's event. The winner's will be announced the last week of October at O'Reilly's Mac OS X Conference.

Hacking Mac OS X Panther -- Here are three sample hacks--the first on finding anyone in your Address Book who has an Amazon Wish List; the second on building a GUI to your Unix scripts with a bit of Perl or Python code; and the third on just having some fun--excerpted from O'Reilly's recently released Mac OS X Panther Hacks.

The Fight Against Spam, Part 2 -- François Joseph de Kermadec continues his discussion of how to establish an anti-spam strategy by taking a close look at Mail.app's Junk Mail filter. Learn the math behind how it works, and then learn how to fine-tune and automate Mail's Junk Mail feature. Unleash the full potential of your Mac with Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Panther Edition.

Mac Fan, Yech -- A Mac owner and Missing Manual reader wrote to David Pogue to object to the use of "Mac fan" in David's books. "I don't like to be called a Mac fan any more than I like being called a Dummy." David explains that this choice of words is quite deliberate, but he's also open to other suggestions. Read about it in the latest From David's Desk.

RAW, iPhoto, and Mac OS X -- iPhoto breaks the digital photography chain of pain--as long as you're working with JPEGs and TIFFs. What if you want to use RAW files, which aren't directly supported by iPhoto? Learn how to have your iPhoto and shoot RAWs, too, in this article by Derrick Story, coauthor of the new iPhoto 4: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition.

GarageBand for the Musical Newbie -- If you don't play an instrument but you have a good ear, a G4 laptop, and GarageBand, can you create an interesting song? Giles Turnbull explores. Whether you're a maestro or a newbie, you'll be able to turn inspiration into demos with the help of O'Reilly's upcoming GarageBand: The Missing Manual.

Building Applications with AppleScript and FaceSpan -- How can you take advantage of AppleScript to write stand-alone Cocoa applications? Matt Neuburg introduces you to FaceSpan, a self-contained, program-building environment that leverages the power of AppleScript. Matt is the author of AppleScript: The Definitive Guide.