If you are sad about adaptors and dongles, this is not going to cheer you up.
Category: Apple History
Video: ‘Designed by Apple in California’ Book With Actual Products⇢
Apple’s new coffee table book “Designed by Apple in California” features many products the company has produced over the last 20 years. Turns out, most of what it is in the book is a part of my collection. Here are the actual products alongside the book:
I’ve zipped up all the photos used in the video and have uploaded them here for your wallpaper-setting pleasure:
On Apple’s Nostalgia
In the wake of this morning’s news, I thought it would be worthwhile to talk a little bit about how Apple treats its past.
There’s no doubt that Steve Jobs didn’t like to look back. He donated Apple’s historical library to Stanford:
“The Apple collections, gathered by Apple’s impressive library and archival staff, reflect what amounts to the Apple crusade, as led by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula and John Sculley,” said Michael A. Keller, Stanford university librarian, director of Academic Information Resources and publisher of HighWire Press. “Stanford is proud to have received this well-organized and complete record of the Apple story to date.”
The Lazarus Mac: Power Macintosh G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors 2003)
This guest post is written by Thomas Brand. You know he can be trusted because his blog looks like a Newton.
In an era where Apple continues to sell last year’s MacBook Pro, and the Mac Pro has not been updated in over one thousand days, I am reminded of a Mac that Apple brought back from the grave to meet the needs of desktop publishing professionals reluctant to upgrade.
The Forgotten iPod Sock
A couple of weeks ago, I posed a video looking at iPod socks.
I have the complete box set:
- Green
- Purple
- Gray
- Orange
- Pink
- Blue
I thought that was it. No, there is another:
This is a very unusual little knit piece of Apple history. This red iPod sock was a giveaway to members of the public who attended the opening of the Boylston Street Apple Store back in 2008.
On Apple Celebrating the Past⇢
When Steve Jobs came back to Apple in 1997 he shut down the internal Apple museum and moved everything to Stanford. So Schiller’s comments are in line with this stance. Yet we can find several recent examples of Apple taking the time and effort to resurrect and create new imagery of several of their older machines to support the narrative of the product or service being introduced.
Zufi’s post is full of example’s changing stance on its past. It probably comes as no surprise, but I’m a fan of this change.
An Ode to the Apple Studio Display (17-inch ADC)
This is a guest post by Thomas Brand, my friend who blogs over at the Newton-themed Egg Freckles. This is my favorite Apple display ever, so I was thrilled when he sent me this article.
If anything on Twitter is to be believed, Apple is out of the standalone display business. Turning the page of history on a product line almost as old as Apple itself. From the Monitor // with its internal vertical-swiveling frame, to the AudioVision Display that combined video, audio, and ADB under one cable, Apple has often used the latest advancements in ergonomics and connectivity to differentiate their standalone displays.
With the new MacBook Pro, the Startup Chime is Dead
As noted by Dan at Pingie, the new MacBook Pros do not chime after having their NVRAM reset.
Apple outlines this in a new kbase article. This has been in the directions forever:
Hold these keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for a second time.
There’s now a new section just for Late-2016 MacBook Pros with this subtle change:
Hold these keys down for at least 20 seconds to ensure that your Mac completes the process correctly.
iPod Socks⇢
In 2004, Apple introduced a very curious accessory for its music player: iPod Socks.
Coverage of the Original iPod
The iPod turns 15 years old today. I thought it would be fun to revisit early coverage of the music player to see how people responded to it at the time.
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
Jonathan Seff at Macworld didn’t seem to think the Nomad comparison was a big deal, and praised the speed FireWire 400 brought to transfers:
The iPod has a smaller hard drive than the 20GB, USB-based Nomad Jukebox, but its FireWire interface makes the USB connections on other MP3 players seem slower than molasses. It takes hours to transfer 5GB of music files to a music player that connects via USB; the iPod can transfer that amount in as little as 12 minutes.
Fifteen Years Ago, Steve Jobs Announced the iPod
Fifteen years ago today, Steve Jobs announced the original iPod.
His pitch was simple: 1,000 songs in your pocket.
The iPod was designed to easily sync all of your digital music. You could take it with you, wherever you went.
In a world where portable music meant often carring a battery-powered CD player and a huge wallet of discs, this was a revolution.
‘hello again’
Apple today announced an event that will take place on October 27. Here’s what the invite looks like:
Wait, damn it. That’s not right. Hang on.
Crap. This is confusing. Let me see what Jason posted.
There we go:
I guess we’re getting Macs. I highly doubt that new MacBook Pros will have the same historical impact as the Macintosh and iMac, but it’s fun that Apple revisited the tagline.