[Update 2: The invite window is now closed! Thanks for participating everyone, invites should be sent out soon!

[Update: The plasq folks have informed us that the response to this invite offer has been absolutely amazing; well over 1000 requests. The good news? They have agreed to send invites out to every genuine request they have received so far. Cut off point is 12pm PST today. Your invite should be on its way later today or early tomorrow!]

We've been talking up Skitch - a fantastic and powerful screenshot snapping and sharing app from plasq - for quite some time here on TUAW (if you want to take a peek, watch this video tour of Skitch in action). The only problem is: since its introduction at Macworld '07, it's either been in a private beta or, more recently, a tight invite-only public beta, making it hard to get your hands on a copy. Fortunately, all that finally changes today for 1000 of you - because we have a big ol' batch of invites to give away! Amidst all the time they're spending on polishing Skitch, their MySkitch picture sharing service (for the record: Skitch works with Flickr and even .Mac as well), and a new m.myskitch.com site they launched just in time for the iPhone, the kind crew at plasq were awesome enough to give us 1000 invites to give to you, our dear TUAW readers! As icing on the cake, they made the process about as easy as it can get by putting together an automated invite system: simply email [sorry, invites are now closed] from the address you want tied to your Skitch account, and you're done! Wait a little while for your sweet, sweet Skitch beta invite to arrive, and soon you can be Skitchin' and sharin' with the rest of us.

Please help us make this a great experience for everyone. Companies run beta invites like this not only to help generate buzz for the product, but to ensure that they can sustain their services and provide a solid software experience for everyone. Don't send multiple emails from different addresses or re-send your request. We've never done a beta invite this way before, but the plasq crew know what they're doing and you'll receive your invite soon enough. With that said - go get Skitchin'!

We started out with 25 MacHeist invites for you TUAW readers, but we were quickly blown away by the sheer landslide of interest (over 800 requests and still counting) in this latest Mac software event from the minds behind My Dream App. Since things simply became too difficult for us to manage, Phillip Ryu and crew cut us some slack and opened their registration doors for TUAW readers - but only for 24 hours. Coincidentally, the first MacHeist mission ends in 24 hours (11:59 PM EST Monday, November 13th), so you'd better start clicking.

Just follow this link to a super-secret MacHeist registration page for your TUAW-reading eyes only (ok fine: I blogged it, so it might not be secret anymore, but it still sure is super). We're sorry we couldn't hook everyone up who originally requested an invite, but we hope this open registration makes us even.

Now, go forth and complete your missions. That safe isn't going to loot itself!

By now, the overwhelming numbers of you who signed up for a MacHeist invite have noticed you haven't received them yet. To be entirely honest, we weren't expecting over 800 replies, as our original bounty from the good folk behind MacHeist (and MyDreamApp) was 25 invites, which was promptly raised to 250 and then even 400. Due to the landslide of interest from you in joining the fun, it's taking us more time to figure out how to harvest everything we need to get an invite out to you all. Rest assured, we're working on a solution now, and we'll post it ASAP. Stay tuned.

MacHeist, the next software marketing brainchild of Phill Ryu (you might know him from such events as My Dream App), has begun. As you'll remember, it's an invite-only event (though you can try signing up to snag your own), and I have just received the first mission. Due to its top secret nature, my life - or at least my membership - would be in danger if I disclosed any details, but I can tell you that it looks to be an interesting ride so far, filled with unique adventure and great deals on software.

What I can offer you instead of details, however, is an invite to join in on the fun. TUAW has managed to snag 50 250 invites so far, and we'll give them to the first commenters on this post who clearly state that they want one. All we need is a name and a legitimate email address, but DO NOT post your address in the comment itself; simply use your intended address in the comment's email field, and we'll get you the invite accordingly (this way you still snag an invite, while the email spam bots don't buddy up with your inbox). Only one invite per commenter, please, and we should be able to send all your invites out by tomorrow morning. Let the MacHeist begin!

[Update: Comments are pouring in, and while I haven't had time to go through them all just yet, I noticed others who have invites to give away had a good idea that I wanted to highlight: if you'd like to give away your own invites, or if you're interested in someone else's invites, please state that clearly in your comments. In other words: to those posting their own invite giveaways - please give readers some alternate form of contact for you, so we don't end up double bouncing invites to the same person. Also, to readers - if you're going after someone else's invites (after all, we only have 50 for now), please contact them outside of our comment thread so we can keep everything nice and clean. Thanks everyone!]

[Update 2: We now have a total of 250 invites to give away! Keep those invite requests coming, and please be patient for them as it's going to take us a little longer to get everything sent out to everyone. We originally said all invites will be sent out by tomorrow morning, but give us until tomorrow afternoon or so to handle the extra leg work.]

Apparently someone doesn't know how to enter our Create a Feb. 22 Apple Invite contest, as yet another Apple special event hoax launched this morning and was promptly debunked. This time around, the event involved Steve and Bono at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco, March 1st, and the invitation included the slogan "Together we can fight it." Speculation immediately predicted a red iPod to coincide with Bono's fight against AIDS and other diseases in Africa.

iLounge was the first site I saw reporting that Apple had confirmed the event a hoax. However, a lot of Apple-related sites had already reported on the news and speculation of the event. Once confirmation broke that the event was a hoax, some sites, like MacNN, promptly removed their original reports in favor of a new article covering the situation as a known fake.

TUAW wants to take this opportunity to let readers know that when we're wrong - we're wrong. We'll update the original post with new information and thank whoever helped us keep our facts straight.

So sit tight, re-freeze the credit cards and move along. There's no Apple Special Event to see here (yet). In the meantime though, why not take a shot at our fake Apple Invite contest? While we don't have a red iPod for the winner, we do have an Apple logo stainless travel mug with your name on it.