Working with iCal, iSync, and iChat

Mac OS X includes a number of other "i" applications that you will likely find useful. Here's a quick summary of these "other" i applications:

• iCal Enables you to do the tasks you would expect from a calendar application, including creating events, managing a to-do list, and so on. However, where iCal separates itself from other calendar applications is the ease with which you can make your calendar available to others over the Web and access calendars that others make available to you.

• iSync Serves a single purpose, which is to keep two things in sync. What is amazing about this application is how diverse those two things can be. Along with keeping computers on the same page, you can also synchronize other devices, such as a Bluetooth Palm PDA with your iCal calendar and Address Book.

• iChat When you need to communicate with someone else in real time, there's no easier or more powerful way to do it than with iChat. Of course, you can also use it to do text instant messages. Although somewhat useful, that isn't anything to write home about. However, with iChat, a broadband Internet connection, and a FireWire camera, you can use iChat to conduct videoconferencing and audio conferencing. And that is something to write home about, or actually, that is something to have a videoconference with home about.