The intro video for today’s event really spoke to me:
Category: Apple History
Celebrating Steve⇢
Apple has a nice tribute to Steve Jobs on its homepage, complete with a video highlighting his career and a letter from his family. Hard to believe it’s already been ten years since he died.
Jony Ive, on the 10th Anniversary of Steve Jobs’ Death⇢
Steve’s last words to me were that he would miss talking together. I was sitting on the floor next to his bed, my back against the wall.
After he died, I walked out into the garden. I remember the sound of the latch on the wooden door as I gently pulled it closed.
In the garden, I sat and thought how talking often gets in the way of listening and thinking. Perhaps that is why so much of our time together was spent quietly.
Apple Updates Its ‘Vintage and Obsolete’ List⇢
This time around, additions include the first Apple Watch, the last Cheese Grater Mac Pro, the 27-inch LED Cinema Display and the Thunderbolt Display.
Follow-up Concerning the First Email Sent From Space
Last week, I wrote about the first email sent from space, and how there was a discrepancy in what date has been reported for the event:
So where’s the mystery in all of this? Well, according to NASA, Apple, and Guinness Book of World Records this message was sent on August 9, 1991. STS-43 took place from August 2 to 11 that year, so I feel confident the date the message was sent is indeed August 9.
The Mystery of the First Email Sent from Space (via a Mac Portable)
Thirty years ago, a Macintosh Portable was used to send an email from aboard the space shuttle Atlantis as part of the STS-43 mission.
The email in question was sent to Marsha Ivins at Johnson Space Center and said:
Hello Earth! Greetings from the STS-43 Crew. This is the first AppleLink from space. Having a GREAT time, wish you were here,…send cryo and RCS! Hasta la vista, baby,…we’ll be back!
The message was sent via AppleLink, an online service created for use between Apple, its customers, and its various dealers and partners. (It was replaced by eWorld in 1994.)
‘Apple Clarifies Mac OS Position’
I recently came across a stash of old Apple press releases, and this one jumped out at me:
At a financial conference in Monterey, Calif., on October 30, 1996, Dr. Gilbert F. Amelio, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Apple Computer, Inc., spoke about the general future of operating systems. Contrary to the claims made in several media reports, he did not announce a new operating system strategy for Apple, nor make any new statements about microprocessor or product line direction.
On the History of Tabs and the Rise of Electron⇢
Francisco Tolmasky has written a fascinating Twitter thread 1 about Apple’s UI frameworks and the rise of Electron all through the lens of tabbed interfaces.
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That’s what the young people call “blog posts.” ↩︎
Computer Clan Shows off iMac G3 Prototype⇢
I’ve never seen this prototype before, but it is pretty cool:
How the Apple I Works⇢
The 8-Bit Guy has a new video out about the Apple I. I learned a ton about the computer from it:
The Meaning of ‘Performa’
These are the two most interesting tweets about the Macintosh Performa … maybe ever.
Think it’s possible that the Macintosh Performa name was a portmanteau of performance and the Latin “pro forma?” I never made this connection before. pic.twitter.com/QJlC9q2owa
— Michael Steeber (@MichaelSteeber) July 18, 2021
The Performa debuted three years after Andy spun out with General Magic, and he wouldn’t have been involved in hardware product line naming anyway. “Performa” was intended to evoke performance, both computational and artistic. The Latin phrase had nothing to do with it.
2001 Revisited: Macworld New York
In my series 2001 Revisited, I’m covering Apple’s major announcements from 20 years ago. On July 18, 2001, Steve Jobs presented the keynote at Macworld New York, less than two months after WWDC 2001.
Retail Update
This event took place a couple of months after the first two Apple Stores opened, and Jobs seemed eager to show photos of them off before announcing four new stores:
- Willow Bend in Dallas, TX, which closed in 2019
- Mall of America in Minneapolis, MN
- Woodfield in Chicago, IL
- Northshore in Boston, MA, which moved locations in 2016
This would bring the total number of Apple Stores to six, with a goal of 25 being set for the end of 2001. To share his excitement about this, Jobs ran a video showing off the concept.