This week in Cupertino, CA, Apple announced the launch of a new charitable initiative--and a brand-new iPod. Given the overwhelming success of pink gadgets in support of breast-cancer awareness and red ones that support (Product)Red Bono's "Red" initiative to fight Aids in Africa, Apple has decided to take up another cause. 50 percent of the sales of the new limited-edition brown iPod nano will go toward the fight against irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS.

The Society for Women's Heath Research estimates as many as 1 in 5 Americans has IBS, and about 70 per-cent of those who suffer from it are women. "Think about your lifestyle and having to know where a bath-room is at all times," said actress Lynda Carter, ( of Wonder Woman), who has been a longtime spokes-woman in the fight against the disease.

Since IBS sufferers often find themselves in the bathroom, today Apple has given them something else to do while they are in there. New Yorker Tommy Nolan was one of the first people online at the Apple store to pick one a brown nano this Monday, and so far, he's very happy with his purchase: " I feel good that I gave some money to a good cause when I bought this. It also helps me get a seat on the subway. People see the brown iPod, and they tend to move away."