Akash Wadhwani has put together something really cool — a full history of WWDC invites.
Category: Apple History
Designed in California ⇢
My pals Myke and Jason are launching a new project:
The two of us, Myke Hurley and Jason Snell, have been discussing Apple in depth every week for more than a decade on the Upgrade podcast. We want to go further, creating a podcast series that’s dedicated to telling stories from across all five decades of Apple history. This is a big reach for us, requiring a significant outlay of our time and the time of our audio editor. We have the knowledge and skills—but we need your help to make it happen.
The BOOK II ⇢
The folks behind the Pocket 8086 are back with a new machine:
The BOOK II is a portable Apple II (Plus) compatible computer, redesigned using standard TTL chips and equipped with ROMs from early Apple II compatibles or clones. Beyond its core Apple II functionality, it integrates several built-in enhancements: an 80-column video card, a 16KB Language Card, a Z80 Softcard, a printer controller, and a Disk II compatible controller.
As a portable computer, the BOOK II features a built-in lithium battery, an RGB LCD, and a low-profile mechanical keyboard. It supports original Apple Disk II floppy drives as well as floppy drive emulators.
Clarus Can Walk
With today’s update to its Developer app, Apple released a new sticker of Clarus the Dogcow. I am all for that, but seeing her walk is weird.
As far as I know, this is the first time the Dogcow has even been shown with more than two legs. This feels wrong.
Bruce the Yak was Final Cut Pro’s Dogcow
I like to think I’m pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the weirdest corners of Apple history, but Cody Bromley’s recent blog post on a Final Cut Pro taught me I still have plenty to learn:
On the Macintosh episode of Version History, David Pierce and Nilay Patel had a lot of fun riffing about Mr. Macintosh, Steve Jobs’s obscure concept for a digital cryptid who lives in your computer.
About 15 years later, Apple actually shipped something very similar, except instead of a mysterious little man it was a yak named Bruce.
Fifty
Anniversaries and birthdays serve as an opportunity to both reflect on where you’ve been and think about where you are going… whether you’re turning 16, planning your 20-year high school reunion, or celebrating 35 years of marriage.
In the tech world, a milestone anniversary is a chance to revisit a product’s launch or a particularly meaningful update, inviting us to remember how far things have come.
Just like in relationships, as the numbers get bigger, those reflections can get harder to make. Memories fade, and as the decades pass, there are fewer miles on the road ahead.
Apple at 50: Ron Wayne’s Other 90 Years ⇢
Recently, I had the chance to talk with a guy whose life, which is past the nine-decade mark, has been defined by just two weeks of it. You have likely heard the capsule version of his story repeatedly. He’s the man who gave up on one of the largest golden tickets in history. He created the first logo for a company who has been shaped more than any other by its second logo. And as he leaned into other pursuits, the other two people who founded that company with him, each named Steve, became legends in the world of technology. I would like to inform you that Ronald G. Wayne is not just the guy who gave up his 10% stake in Apple after just two weeks. He is so much more than that, a polymath, a creative, a writer, a talented artist, and the guy who meticulously got Atari’s stockroom in order. Today’s Tedium talks about the other 90+ years of Ronald G. Wayne’s 91 years on this planet where he didn’t work for Apple.
Apple at 50: The Importance of the MacBook Air ⇢
Joanna Stern, writing at The Verge:
It was January 2008, and Steve Jobs had just pulled the MacBook Air out of a manila envelope onstage at Macworld.
Within minutes, Windows PC executives everywhere lost their minds. They grabbed the nearest office envelope, tried to shove in their plastic laptops, and tore straight through the paper. Engineers were summoned. Assistants were dispatched for larger envelopes.
Okay, I have no proof that happened. But we all know what did happen next: imitation. Years of it.
Apple at 50: How Apple Became Apple ⇢
As Apple turns 50, its presence in our lives is so pervasive—2.5 billion of the company’s devices are in active use—that its unlikely origin story is more resonant than ever. To tell it, I turned to the people who lived it:
- Apple’s two living cofounders, Wozniak and Wayne
- Mike Markkula, the early retiree from Intel whose guidance and money turned the garage startup into a company
- Some of Apple’s earliest staffers, including Bill Fernandez, its first full-time employee, and Chris Espinosa, who’s still there today
- Regis McKenna, the Silicon Valley marketing guru who established Apple as a brand
- Liza Loop, the educator who became Apple’s first user
- Ron Rosenbaum, the Esquire writer whose article inspired Wozniak and Jobs’s first business venture
- Nolan Bushnell, whose Atari provided Jobs with most of his pre-Apple work experience
- Lee Felsenstein, moderator of the Homebrew Computer Club, the user group that prompted Wozniak to build Apple’s first machine
- Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston, the creators of VisiCalc, the spreadsheet that gave the Apple II its killer app
- And many others
This oral history is incredible.
Apple at 50: Apple II Forever ⇢
Jason Snell, for The Verge:
When you think of Apple, you probably think of the iPhone, or maybe the Mac, or perhaps you’ve got fond memories of the iPod. But Apple’s 50-year run of creating tech products that people fall in love with — sometimes a lot of people, sometimes just a hardy few — would never have happened if it weren’t for a product and platform that’s been gone for decades.
How Apple Could Have (Maybe) Saved the Mac Pro ⇢
D. Griffin Jones, writing about yesterday’s news:
Apple decided to start caring about the Mac Pro again at the worst possible time. The Intel Mac Pro, while excellent, arrived just six months before the announcement that the Mac would transition to Apple silicon. After which, the Mac Pro didn’t offer any better performance than the Mac Studio. Just the card slots — which you couldn’t put a GPU in.
Due to Apple silicon’s all-in-one architecture, the Ultra-tier chip pushes the limits of what Apple can fabricate at a reasonable price. The bigger the chip is on the die, the lower the yield of good chips will be made, raising the cost further.
‘Can’t Innovate Anymore, My Ass’ ⇢
Joe Rossignol has put together a lovely history of the Mac Pro.