The Computer History Museum has posted a two-hour interview with Avie Tevanian, the principle designer of the Mach kernel, and Apple’s former Chief Software Technology Officer.
Category: Apple History
The Tragedy of FireWire⇢
Richard Moss, writing at Ars Technica, has published a lovely article about FireWire. I learned a bunch of stuff reading it.
Apple’s Previous Home Stereo Attempt⇢
In my MacStories column this month, I dusted off my iPod Hi-Fi:
While I don’t use mine day-to-day, I do break it out sometimes, and the thing still sounds great, 11 years after it was introduced.
The HomePod is set to take the Hi-Fi’s legacy and extend it in our age of voice assistants and cloud-connected devices. It trades an iPod dock for Apple Music, and an IR remote for Siri.
Replicating Old Computers
Two different stories caught my attention as I spent some time today catching up from a week at WWDC:
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Jeff Rule built a replica of a long-lost Apple prototype from the early 1990s. The work done in this prototype led to the 20th Anniversary Mac, and Rule’s work really brings the concept back to life in an amazing way.
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Chris Larkin has put a project together to build a tiny Apple II, complete with emulation. Tested published a video of the model and what goes into making one. It’s pretty incredible the Apple II can be emulate on such cheap hardware these days.
A Trip to Infinite Loop ... Two Decades Later
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by James Thomson, the indie iOS and Mac developer behind apps like PCalc and DragThing. He has a long history with Apple, and was recently sharing some old photos on Twitter. I badgered him into sharing some more with me here.
I visited Infinite Loop for the first time around twenty years ago, and decided to properly document my visit. All these photos were all taken on my trusty film camera, and the negatives scanned some years later. They were promptly forgotten about until now.
The view from outside of Infinite Loop building 1. It looks pretty much the same today, with the exception of the six colour Apple logo. Steve’s office was at the top right. At this point Infinite Loop had only been open for four years.
The Icon Garden, featuring Clarus the Dogcow who was the mascot of the Developer Technical Support group, and appeared in the print dialog. One day, Steve got rid of the icon garden in the middle of the night and everybody was very sad.
High Sierra Format⇢
I knew that name was familiar.
WWDC 1997⇢
Brendan Shanks has put together a wonderful look back at WWDC 1997.
An Interview with Noah Leon, the Creator Behind the ‘Love Notes to Newton’ Film Project
Recently, I linked to (and backed) an Indiegogo project named Love Notes to Newton.
It’s by a filmmaker named Noah Leon. Here’s his pitch:
Newton was the first mass-produced touchscreen handheld computer made by Apple. It only lasted a few years on the market (1993 to 1998), but that wasn’t because it sucked! A large community of people still love Newton, and this film is an homage to the little device(s) by the people who still remember and even still use one.
I spent some time with Noah to talk about his work and this project. Our interview is below.
Twenty Years Ago, Apple Announced Newton Subsidiary⇢
Twenty years ago, Apple announced the creation of a subsidiary to run the Newton program:
The new company, to be named at a later date, will provide customers with market-driven products and technologies, based on the award-winning Newton operating system, in conjunction with its licensees, value-added resellers, and systems integrators.
The press release is complete with a quote from Dr. Gilbert F. Amelio, Apple’s Chairman and CEO:
Over the past year, we have seen the Newton Systems Group launch compelling products based on the Newton operating system. We believe that the time is right to establish the group as a focused entity. This decision allows the new subsidiary to pursue its business and create the marketing and operating strategies it needs to succeed.
Simple Beep #59: Apple Museums⇢
This week on Simple Beep, the guys talk about several Apple museums around the world. Really great stuff if you’re into old Apple gear like I am.
The MacMuzeum Collection⇢
MacMuzeum is an incredible collection of Apple hardware that may be up for sale soon. I really hope it goes to a good home.
The NYT’s Take on the Original iMac⇢
This article got sent to me by several people, and I can’t pass up linking to it. In it, Peter Lewis responds to the then-new Bondi Blue iMac G3:
Apple was certainly “thinking different” when it created the iMac. The new personal computer, which goes on sale on Aug. 15, has already won popular acclaim for its creative design and its refreshing departure from the computer industry standard of boring beige boxes.