Category: Apple History

Several years ago, I ran a series of Kickstarter campaigns highlighting important dates in Apple’s history with three different wall calendars.

There were also digital versions of the calendars that folks could subscribe to in Apple Calendar, Fantastical, etc.

Today, I have some news about that part of the project:

1. Backers of the three Kickstarters are getting access to updated digital versions of the particular calendar they backed. If you’re in that crowd, be on the lookout for a Kickstarter message with details. These calendars haven’t been updated since publication, so there’s a lot of new stuff in there. This is a one-time update as a thank-you to everyone who backed the campaigns.
2. I have combined dates from all three calendars into a new Apple History Calendar that is for sale now as a one-time $10 purchase. I will be updating the calendar each month with new dates, so setting it up as a subscription in your calendar application means new dates will flow in automatically.

I am so excited to have found a way to keep the Apple History Calendar project going after all this time, and I would love for you to check it out.

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Anyone who dabbles in Apple history probably has EveryMac.com bookmarked, and today it celebrates a milestone:

On July 2, 1996, EveryMac.com launched.

Thirty years is a long time – and a great deal has changed since then – but what has not changed is that EveryMac.com has been there to provide you with detailed info on every Mac from the original 128k to the current line. Thank you very much for your support through the years.

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Hartley Charlton at MacRumors:

macOS 27 Golden Gate removes AFP support, ending Time Machine compatibility with Time Capsule after nearly two decades, but a community project from a Microsoft engineer offers a potential workaround for owners not yet ready to move on.

The original Time Capsule was announced way back in 2008, in the same Macworld keynote as the first MacBook Air. From Apple at the time:

Time Capsule combines an 802.11n base station with a server grade hard disk in one small package. Simply plug it in, then easily set up automatic wireless backup for every Mac® in your house to a single Time Capsule with just a few clicks. Time Capsule offers the benefits of a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station, and comes in two models: a 500 gigabyte model for just $299 and a 1 terabyte model for just $499.

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Marcin Wichary at Unsung:

I’ve been emulating the Apple Lisa recently, and I was struck by how many of its UI strings were slightly or wholly different than what we’re used to.

It makes sense. Lisa came out in 1983 as Mac’s predecessor and really the first GUI that is directly linked to what we’re using today. Even though it borrowed things from work done at Xerox, tons of conventions were not established yet.

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Akash Wadhwani has put together something really cool — a full history of WWDC invites.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Ernie Smith at Tedium:

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.

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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.

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