Category: Apple History

The 20th Anniversary Mac is one of the most unique and unusual computers Apple has ever released.

When it went for sale in 1997 with a $7,500 price tag, it didn’t do amazingly well in the market. While only 11,600 were sold, each one was built to be special. The TAM doesn’t share the same startup chime or paint color as other Macs of its age, and the one-off ADB keyboard featured a leather palm rest and removable trackpad. The mouse was too common for users of this machine. Apple could even send someone to set up the entire system for you. Rumor has it that they would do so in a tuxedo.

Continue reading ⇢

The 20th Anniversary Mac is a unique computer, and the newest in my collection. It came with a bunch of discs, including an interactive Welcome Tour that is … weird.

Really weird.

Even for 1997.

Continue reading ⇢

Nick Heer, following up on my article about the Harry Potter iPod:

Coincidentally, I remembered just recently that this particular special edition iPod existed. It carries model number MA215LL/A and only occasionally seems to crop up on eBay. I could find very few photos of it, one of which is on a fantastic Polish “iPod museum” site, and another in a MacRumors thread.

In trying to find photos of that, I came across some more collector edition iPods which are arguably even harder to find, each engraved with the signatures of Beck, Madonna, or Tony Hawk. There was even one more engraved with the No Doubt logo.

Continue reading ⇢

This month in my column at iMore, I wrote all about iTools, iCloud’s great-grandfather:

In the beginning — 1994, to be exact — there was eWorld. It was weird, expensive, and poorly marketed. To no one’s surprise, it went away.

Six years later, there was iTools. iTools begat .Mac; .Mac begat MobileMe — and a lot of yelling; MobileMe begat iCloud.

Maybe the best article intro I’ve ever written.

Continue reading ⇢

Sure, the U2 and even the HP iPods are well-known to us nerds, but until yesterday, I had totally forgotten about this gem:

The Harry Potter Collector’s iPod was originally released in 2005, as a 4th-generation iPod with color display to mark the release of the debut of Harry Potter audiobooks on iTunes:

“We are honored that J.K. Rowling has picked iTunes for the debut of the Harry Potter audiobook series,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re delighted to be able to bring these wonderful and wildly popular stories to iTunes Music Store customers.”

Continue reading ⇢

Since its introduction there have been seven generations of iPod nano. When Steve Jobs showed off the first model back in 2005, the world was impressed.

The first-generation model was much smaller than the iPod mini it replaced, thanks to its flash storage. Available in 1, 2 and 4GB models, and in both black and white cases, it made music portable in an all-new way. It weighed just 1.5 ounces!

Continue reading ⇢

I would have missed this anniversary if it hadn’t been for this week’s episode of Simple Beep: at Macworld 2006, Steve Jobs unveiled the Intel-based iMac and the very first MacBook Pro.

I’ve written a little bit about the first Intel iMac in the past, while discussing the iMac G5 (iSight). That machine was very short lived, and the original Intel iMac ate its lunch in terms of speed and power.

The MacBook Pro was a little more interesting. Apple took the opportunity to slightly redesign the PowerBook G4’s case, making it thinner and adding things like MagSafe and an IR port for use with the Apple remote. With Apple never being able to squeeze the hot and power-hungry G5 into a notebook, the new machine was a really nice upgrade for customers who wanted both power and portability.

Continue reading ⇢

This is a guest post written by my friend and Newton aficionado Thomas Brand.

---

The PowerBook G3 Series was Apple’s most upgradable portable computer ever! It weighed 7.8 pounds, and cost anywhere between $2,299 to $7,000 fully loaded. Codenamed “Wallstreet” the PowerBook G3 Series was the second line of Macintosh portable computers to include a PowerPC G3 processor, and the oldest portable Macintosh capable of running Mac OS X ¹.

image via Shrine of Apple

Continue reading ⇢

Thank goodness:

Computer systems that cannot correctly process dates beyond 2000 are at risk of failure one second after midnight on December 31, 1999.

The good news is that since their introduction in 1984, Macintosh computers have had the ability to make the transition to the year 2000. In fact, the Mac OS and most Mac applications can handle internally generated dates correctly all the way to the year 29,940.

Continue reading ⇢

An almost definitive guide to Newton-related terms and definitions by Grant Hutchinson.

Continue reading ⇢

I hope to take some nicer photos of my growing iPod collection soon, but I had them all out on my desk this evening and couldn’t help myself, snapping a quick picture with my iPhone.

Pictured:

• iPod, 1st generation (5 GB)
• iPod, 2nd generation (10 GB)
• iPod, 3rd generation (15 GB)
• iPod, 4th generation (20 GB)
• iPod, 5th generation (black; 30 GB)
• iPod classic (black; 160 GB)

Continue reading ⇢

Juli Clover at MacRumors:

A newly opened Apple Museum in Prague is showing off the largest private collection of Apple products, housing Macs, iOS devices, and other Apple paraphernalia from 1976 to 2012. The museum opened its doors last Thursday, and an inside look has been shared on Imgur.

Continue reading ⇢