“If your mom or dad has a Mac, help them safeguard their digital heirlooms with Apple’s Time Capsule,” implores Eric M. Strauss (abcnews.com). “Time Capsule combines simple setup and a speedy wireless network with automatic backup in a tidy box. Plus, recovering Aunt Chippie’s first black-jack victory photo after your mom’s hard drive crashes will certainly make it all worth the cost.”

If you’ve developed a great application using the iPhone SDK, a new web application for iPhone, or new software for Mac OS X Leopard, you could be honored with an Apple Design Award. This year, Apple offers awards in seven categories. But, hurry, the application deadline ends next Monday — on May 12.

If you’re browsing the web on a public computer, the last thing you want to do is leave personal information about yourself behind for others to discover. Of course, if you use Safari, you have a number of ways to safeguard your privacy while browsing publicly. Read about them in this week’s Pro Tip of the Week.

“A slate of under-the-hood improvements have facilitated a performance spike in the standard models that makes them an especially good value for people looking to upgrade,” reports Roman Loyola (macworld.com) in his recent review of the new iMac. “The 2.8GHz iMac, in all its 24-inch glory, is a stunning machine and is bound to make an impression in your home or office,” Loyola concludes.

Nik Software today announced that its eagerly awaited Viveza plug-in for Aperture 2.1 is available for immediate download. Powered by U Point technology, the Viveza plug-in lets photographers make localized enhancements to brightness, contrast, or color without ever having to leave Aperture. “With the power and popularity of Aperture, we want our customers to decide how and where they edit their digital photos,” said Michael J. Slater president and CEO of Nik Software.

A great way to text, set up video conferences with multiple parties, or host remote Keynote presentations, iChat also offers a fast and simple way to exchange large files with clients or colleagues. Find out how by watching the latest Quick Tip of the Week.

In his glowing review of the new 8-core Xserve, Tom Yager (infoworld.com) asserts that it “breaks the PC server mold with big iron-class reliability, availability, and serviceability features, but with neither the big iron price tag nor management complexity.” A great option for small business, “Xserve is built and supported to run not for one or two years, but three years, five years, and beyond.”

At Intezyne Technologies, viruses, spyware, and endless restarts kept researchers at the biotechnology startup from job one: finding better treatments for catastrophic illnesses. But the company put their computer ills behind them once they switched to the Mac. “Working on a Mac allows me to spend more time calculating and analyzing my data, and less time trying to figure out what’s wrong with my computer,” says co-founder Kurt Breitenkamp.

To celebrate the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, such talented artists as Tony Gilroy, Amy Poehler, Clive Owen. Errol Morris, Jeremiah Zagar, and Wong Kar Wai came to the Apple Retail Store, SoHo, to speak about their latest projects. Now you can enjoy their talks, too, by downloading the latest podcasts.

If your Mom’s not comfortable with computers, consider computer training as a Mother’s Day gift this year, suggests Troy Wolverton (mercurynews.com). Apple offers “a program it calls One to One. For $99, the service provides a year’s worth of once-a-week, hourlong training sessions for Mac users.” Or you could consider one of these other options for Mother’s Day.