Relay for St. Jude 2024 →

Since 2019, the Relay community has raised $2.98 million in support of St. Jude’s life-saving work.

TWO POINT NINE EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS, YALL!

That number staggers me.

With $3 million in sight,1 today we are launching Relay’s sixth annual fundraising campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Relay for St. Jude

In May 2009, my wife Merri and I received news that would change the trajectory of our family’s life forever. Our oldest son Josiah was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Just two years later, I wrote this:

It was one of those typical hospital sofas.

The rubbery, terrible green, squeak-when-you-move jobs. It was long enough for a couple of people to sit on, but too short for any normal sized person to lay down on. The cushions were made of some type of foam that probably should be reserved for things like dampening vibrations in car doors.

On that hospital sofa, on a Saturday morning, my family changed forever.

The doctors were all incredibly nice. The head of the pediatric neurosurgery team was a middle-aged, balding, soft-spoken man who often had to push his glasses up a bit. His team was with him. His head nurse sat down next to my wife Merri, and was playing with our son Josiah as the doctors settled in, exchanging glances. None of them opened the folders of paperwork they brought with them. No jokes were cracked; no small talk was required.

It looked like an episode of House, minus the jerk. And the cane.

I don’t remember all the words the doctor used. I’ve heard people describe “out of body experiences,” but I never really believed such things ever happened. But there I was, having one. Only the highlights were processed enough to become memories. Words like surgery, tumor and blindness floated by like fog over water. I couldn’t quite grasp onto any of them, and it all seemed … hazy.

A lot has changed since I published that in 2011. Today, Josiah is 15, and has been off treatment for over 13 years. His progress hasn’t always been easy or linear, and the echos of his chemotherapy and surgical history are still present in his life. But he’s here.

That is thanks to St. Jude. They stepped between our family and disaster, not only treating Josiah’s cancer, but caring for all of us. In our trauma, we found a community. In our sorrow, we found hope.

And what’s true for my family is true for thousands of others, from around the world. In their darkest moments, St. Jude shines with the light of a city on a hill.

That’s why Relay is so proud to partner with St. Jude. We want to take that light and help it shine brighter and further than ever before.

Over the last few years, we have been blown away by the community’s work toward that end. Thank you for your on-going support of St. Jude’s work.

Donate Today

As in previous years, you can donate directly or start your own fundraiser. All of the information needed for that — and a lot more — is all live now on the campaign home page.


  1. We have something very cool happening when hit that magic number. Stay tuned. 

Performa Month: Reflections on a Messy Macintosh Era

Performa Month

When I started this project, my goal was to untangle the messiest of all Mac product lines. In my initial blog post I wrote:

At its heart, the Performa line is the fruit of badge engineering. This is often found in the car market, perhaps most famously in the Chrysler K-car platform that debuted in 1981. Over 14 years, Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth shipped a dizzying array of front-wheel drive cars, all based on the same platform. Features, options, and prices ranged between them, but under the covers, these were all the same car, more or less.

Apple did something similar with the Performa, taking Macs from other lines, tweaking their features, and selling them under the Performa lineup.

In the car world, companies do this sort of work to reach different market segments without needing to create a new product for each type of consumer. In the case of the Performa, Apple wanted to sell computers to reach new users.

Before I decided to embark on this noble work, I outlined what I thought the series should entail and was quickly overwhelmed by just how many computers I would need to write about. While not every single SKU got its time in the sun this month, I think the series met my goal of trying to explain just what the heck happened from 1992 when the first Performas rolled out to 1997, when the final machines were taken off the market.

One fundamental way that the 90s Mac line differs from today’s is in naming. Today, we all know that an iMac is an all-in-one desktop, while a MacBook Air is a thin-and-light notebook. Sure, they evolve over time, but each Mac’s product name has to do with its form factor. That was not the case with the Performa and its sibling lines. The LC, Centris, Quadra, and Power Mac lines all came in a range of enclosures over the years, and those designs were often reused as Performas.

After all, the Performa was basically a collection of remixed machines from those other lines. Apple would take a Mac off the shelf, sometimes tweak its specs, toss a pile of software in the box, and ship it off to a retailer to hopefully sell it to a parent, teacher, or other user.

In that light, it’s easy to see why Apple nerds remember the Performa line with such disdain.

I did not expect the absolute mountain of feedback that I’ve gotten this month. People have come out of the woodwork to tell me about their experiences with a Performa. From using one in a classroom, to having their parents purchase one as their first family computer, most people who actually used a Performa seem to have fond memories of their beige machines. From 30,000 feet, this line of computers may have been a mess, but down on the ground, a lot of folks’ first Mac had a Performa badge on the front.

I think Apple nerds — then and now — view the Performa as confusing and overly-complicated. Untangling the product line over the last month has felt at times like trying to unknot shoelaces that probably should just be cut and thrown away. But that said, Apple did do some things right here. Not all of that bundled software was great, but those titles made the entire package more attractive to parents and teachers. I’m sure a bunch of the software was mediocre at best, but at least a bunch of it was educational and mediocre.

That leaves me conflicted about the Performa.

On one hand, it was somewhat successful in terms of getting Macs into the homes of first-time Mac buyers. On the other hand, I think the Performa cost Apple a lot in terms of reputation and brand clarity, even at the time. There’s a reason that You Know Who killed them all off.

The next year, Apple unveiled the iMac, a single computer to go after the home and education markets. The iMac was a palate-cleanser, washing away the mountain of beige Macs Apple had been selling.

A Conversation with Jason Snell

Jason and I recently sat down to talk about all of this, and his experiences covering Apple during this timeframe. As a result, we’ve released a new episode of 20 Macs over on Relay. Jason was starting his career covering Apple in this era, and I enjoyed our conversation immensely.

Thank You

When I started out on this project, I had no idea how people would take it, but it has been a lot of fun to dive into this weird chapter of Apple history.

Thanks for joining me on this journey.

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Starliner to Return Home Empty →

Eric Berger, writing at Ars:

Following weeks of speculation, NASA finally made it official on Saturday: Two astronauts who flew to the International Space Station on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in June will not return home on that vehicle. Instead, the agency has asked SpaceX to use its Crew Dragon spacecraft to fly astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth.

“NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson at the outset of a news conference on Saturday afternoon at Johnson Space Center.

In a sign of the gravity surrounding the agency’s decision, both Nelson and NASA’s deputy administrator, Pam Melroy, attended a Flight Readiness Review meeting held Saturday in Houston. During that gathering of the agency’s senior officials, an informal “go/no go” poll was taken. Those present voted unanimously for Wilmore and Williams to return to Earth on Crew Dragon. The official recommendation of the Commercial Crew Program was the same, and Nelson accepted it.

Therefore, Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft will undock from the station early next month—the tentative date, according to a source, is September 6—and attempt to make an autonomous return to Earth and land in a desert in the southwestern United States.

As wild as this story is, it highlights why competition in space is so important. Had Boeing been the only partner in the Commercial Crew program, a lot of what has happened in the last decade would not have happened at all. Say what you will about Elon Musk, SpaceX has served this program well.

Polaris Dawn to Attempt First-Ever Commercial Spacewalk →

Aria Alamalhodaei, writing at TechCrunch:

After a nearly three-year interlude, Jared Isaacman is returning to space. The billionaire entrepreneur first went to orbit as part of the Inspiration4 mission, which made history for having a crew comprised entirely of private citizens, not professional astronauts. But with this next mission, Polaris Dawn, he and mission partner SpaceX have set their sights even higher.

Literally: Polaris Dawn will fly farther than any mission using SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to date, while also soaring through portions of the Van Allen radiation belt for the first time since the days of the Apollo missions.

Even more daringly, when the four-person crew reaches around 700 kilometers (435 miles) above Earth, they’ll attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk — testing Dragon’s ability to support extravehicular activities (EVAs) and giving SpaceX’s EVA suits a spin for the very first time.

I got to speak to the Polaris Dawn crew during last year’s Podcastathon, and really enjoyed the conversation. I cannot wait to see them succeed on their flight.

Performa Month: The Final Models

We’ve done it; we have come to the final three Performas. It’s taken 11,000 words to get here, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Performa 6400

In a world of weird 1990s Macs, the 6400 may take the prize for the most awkward. Here it is, in Power Macintosh form, in an official Apple photo:

Launched in August 1996, this is the first (and only) Performa to use the traditional vertical tower case, and as you can see, it was quite the case.

6400

Some people referred to this machine as the “Forehead,” but internally, it was known as “InstaTower.”

There were four machines in this series:

Model: CPU: Memory: HDD Size: Price:
6400/180 180 MHz PowerPC 603e 16 MB 1.6 GB $2,400
6410/180 180 MHz PowerPC 603e 16 MB 1.6 GB Unknown
6400/200 (VEE) 200 MHz PowerPC 603e 32 MB 2.4 GB $2,800
6400/200 200 MHz PowerPC 603e 16 MB 2.4 GB Unknown

That “VEE” label stood for “Video Editing Edition.” This SKU shipped with 32 MB of memory, video in/out cards, and some bundled software for capturing and slinging video around via those cards. Both 200 MHz models came with a standard 256 kB level 2 cache. It was a $100 add-on for the slower machines.

All four models came with a built-in subwoofer in the bottom of that weird case. Bass levels were controlled with an adjustment knob on the back of the case. A BASS KNOB ON A MACINTOSH!

Unlike the 5200 and 6200 machines, the 6400’s logic board supported a 64-bit data path to main memory, providing more bandwidth for RAM-intense applications. An 8X CD-ROM drive was present in all systems, and for those who spent the money for a Power Macintosh version, a ZIP drive could be added right smack in the middle of the forehead.

I scooped all of that out and filled one with bouncy balls for the 2020 Relay for St. Jude Podcastathon:

Performa 6400 with bouncy balls

Years before I turned one of these things into actual art, Apple had a press release announcing the machine:

The Performa 6400 is designed to deliver what consumers want, including a long, useful computing life, multimedia and Internet capabilities, and high-quality, bundled software.

In the face of rapidly advancing technology, customers want a computer that’s powerful enough to run the most demanding applications–both today and in the future. The Performa 6400 series is designed with more than enough built-in power for today’s applications–and with industry-standard expansion options that make it easy for the user to add peripherals and additional functionality as needed, the Performa 6400 models will continue to deliver well into the future.

The release goes on:

Adding functionality or performance to the Performa 6400, in the future, is easy by design. The Performa 6400 series includes two industry-standard PCI slots (7-inch) that make it easy to add special capabilities, such as: Avid Cinema, a digital video editing system from Apple (see separate release); the Apple PC Compatibility Card, for customers who need to run DOS or Windows applications; or a video card, for adding a second monitor (see list of available PCI cards and vendors).

By including a SCSI expansion bay, the Performa 6400 models make adding storage devices easy. Fully cabled and powered, this bay lets the customer add an affordable, internal SCSI storage device just by sliding it into the bay. As with all Macintosh computers, the Performa 6400 units include an external SCSI port for the addition of up to six peripheral devices, such as scanners or additional storage devices, making it easy for customers to add to their computers as their needs change–and to do so without ever opening the computer’s case.

Inside the tower, the 6400 offered a wide range of hardware, including an optional TV tuner card, optional video import card, two PCI slots, and one COMM II slot, pre-populated with a modem.

Here’s an overly moody press image of the 6400:

6400

The 6400 would be the only Performa to use this case, but on the Power Macintosh side of things, a 6500 materialized in February 1997.

It’s easy to poke fun of this machine, but the reality is that it was a shift in direction toward the high-end for Performa, even if it never shipped with the faster PowerPC 603ev or later 604.

Of course, that wouldn’t matter in the long run, but it’s interesting to think about what Apple may have done had the Performa line lasted longer than it did.

Performa 6360

The 6360 came in the same desktop case as many previous machines did. Released in October 1996, it was powered by a 160 MHz PowerPC 603e processor and came standard with 16 MB of RAM, a 1.2 GB hard drive, and an 8X CD-ROM. All of this could be had for $1,500.

As this was a 1996 Mac, it came with a PCI slot, replacing the older LC/PDS style slot that previous desktop Performas had used. It was also sold as the Power Macintosh 6300/160.

In April 1997, the 6360 popped up in a joint Apple/Sears back-to-school program:

At Sears Brand Central, from April 1 to May 15 (or while supplies last), when families purchase an Apple Macintosh Performa 6360 computer, 15-inch MultiScan Display, and Color StyleWriter 1500 printer, schools can earn points towards computer hardware and Internet products from Apple.

This program from Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Apple Computer, Inc. is designed to help both parents and educators provide students greater access to computer and Internet technology at home and at school.

While both parents and educators would like to enhance children’s learning through greater access to computer and Internet technology, obviously, household and school budgets are limited,” said Chuck Cebuhar, Sears vice president of Home Electronics. “This program helps make much-wanted computer and Internet related equipment affordable for both families and schools, and allows us to give something back to the community.”

When friends and families of students in any of the 50 states purchase the Macintosh Performa 6360 computer, 15-inch MultiScan Display, and Color StyleWriter 1500 printer bundle (at Sears stores in the continental U.S. for $1,499), they will also receive a “School Rewards” coupon worth 2,000 points which can be assigned to any public or private non-profit school of their choice. (Limit two bundles per customer. Price may vary in Alaska and Hawaii.) The points are redeemable by the school, to Apple, for specially selected computer and Internet products ranging from one year of Internet access to Apple Internet servers.

Performa 5280

The last new Performa put on sale was the Performa 5280, launched in November 1996. It used the all-in-one case introduced with the 5200, housing a 120 MHz PowerPC 603e, 8 or 16 MB of memory, a 1.2 GB hard drive, and an 8X CD-ROM. It sold for $2,000.

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Sponsor: Lex.Games — Daily Word Games for Everyone →

Lex.Games is a website and iOS app for playing daily word games. If you like Wordle or Connections or crossword puzzles, there’s a good chance you’ll like Lex.Games.

Lex.Games offers:

  • Conlextions, directly inspired by the NYT game
  • Lexicogs, where you solve crossword-style clues by assembling letter “cogs”
  • By a Vowel, a word jumble game where each word is missing one of the five vowels
  • Letter Opener, where you form as many words from the starting letters as you can
  • Six Appeal, which is like Wordle but with six-letter words

It also includes a Mini crossword; a full-size crossword; and Mind Control, which is a whole lot like Mastermind and not actually a word game at all, but who’s counting?

Lex.Games App

The Lex of Lex.Games is Lex Friedman. He’s the good one, not the Elon-worshipping other guy. And so a lot of puzzles share Lex’s sense of humor or sensibilities — meaning you might spot the odd mention of Apple, occasional references to “Weird Al” Yankovic, or dad jokes.

Lex.Games is free. And yes, Lex spent money on this ad, so of course he hopes you’ll consider subscribing to unlock extra features, but you don’t have to. There are no ads in the app or on the website. Just puzzles. Made with love. To brighten your day. We deserve fun word games, you know?

Performa Month: 1996 Arrives

In the spring of 1996, Apple updated its all-in-one Performa across two collections of models: the 5200 and 5400.

Thankfully, not all of them were beige…

Performa 5200 Series

In 1996, the Performa 5200 line was updated with three new models:

Model: CPU: Memory: HDD Size: Price:
5260CD 100 MHz PowerPC 603e 8 or 16 MB 800 MB $1,699
5260/120 120 MHz PowerPC 603e 8 or 16 MB 1.2 GB $1,499
5270CD 100 MHz PowerPC 603e 8 MB 1.2 GB Unknown

The 5260/100 came out in the fall of 1996, following the 5260CD and 5270CD, which both shipped in April of that year. All three of these systems shipped with a 14-inch CRT, running at 640 x 480 resolution, despite earlier Performas in the same enclosure using a 15-inch CRT capable of running at 832 x 624.

Performa 5400 Series

The Mac Performa 5400 Series was also released in April 1996. It shipped with the previous 15-inch display and PowerPC 603e CPUs ranging from 120-180 MHz.

This line up included the Performa 5400/180 Director’s Edition, which came in a black case. I mean, just look at this detail:

Directors Edition Logo

The Power Macintosh version seems to have omitted that logo:

Power Macintosh DE

(I want one of these very badly.)

Inside that sick black enclosure was a 180 MHz PowerPC 603e-powered system with 16 MB of RAM, a 1.6 GB hard drive, an 8X CD-ROM drive, and a TV tuner card. The Performa was only sold in Australia; the closest thing we got was the ill-fated Macintosh TV. It seems that black Power Macintosh popped up in Europe and Asia, however.

The rest of the 5400 series is boring. Next time, we’ll break down the final three Performa models!

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Performa Month: Fall 1995 Updates

By the fall of 1995, the final pre-PowerPC Performas were still available for purchase by those looking to potentially procure a personal computer. Despite 68K-based Performas being on the market until 1996, Apple was already moving on, and now so must we.

Macintosh Performa 5300CD & 5320CD

These machines were an update to the 5200 all-in-one that debuted in the summer of 1995. The 5200 Series would remain on sale even after the 5300 models were announced, in true 90s Apple fashion.

Let’s take a look at the specs for these updated machines:

Model: CPU: Memory: HDD Size:
5300CD 100 MHz PowerPC 603e 8 or 16 MB 1.2 GB
5320CD 120 MHz PowerPC 603e 8 or 16 MB 1.2 GB

Those 603e CPUs were held back by the motherboard they were installed in, not unlike many, many previous Performas.

Despite this similarity, according to Apple’s own service manual, there are internal changes that are not backward-compatible between the 53xx and 52xx machines. That manual also explains the relationship between the 5300CD and 5320CD:

The Performa 5320CD supersedes the 5300CD. It has a PowerPC 603e processor running at 120 MHz and 16 MB of RAM on the logic board. All other hardware features are the same as the Performa 5300CD. This is an international product not sold in the U.S.

Macintosh Performa 6300CD, 6310CD, & 6320CD

On the desktop front, Apple released three 6300 models:

The first two ran at 100 MHz, with the 6320CD clocked at 120 MHz, all thanks to a PowerPC 603e.

James Staten covered the machines at MacWEEK:

Apple’s latest Performa, unveiled Oct. 14, improves the company’s price/performance equation in the consumer channel, analysts said. The unit also should turn some heads with its performance numbers, which, according to MacWEEK preliminary tests, rival the newest like-priced Power Macs.

[…]

According to MacBench 2.0 tests performed on a pre-release 6300 logic board, the new model is the fastest Performa yet and the first to offer raw speeds comparable to the newest Power Macs.

The prototype 6300 performed comparably to the $2,699 Power Macintosh 7500/100 running native applications and in floating-point tests.

Although other 603e-based machines lag in 680×0 emulation, the 6300 was helped by its inclusion of a 256-Kbyte Level 2 cache. The cache advantage shows up more clearly when comparing the 6300 to the PowerBook 5300c/100, which shares the same 603e processor. Use of Connectix Corp.’s Speed Doubler also greatly improved the 6300’s emulation performance, delivering about a 250 percent improvement in processor performance and 50 percent improvement in floating-point.

A beefy configuration accompanies the faster CPU in the 6300/100. It features 16 Mbytes of RAM, expandable to 64 Mbytes; a 1.2-Gbyte hard drive; a quadruple-speed CD-ROM drive; a 15-inch multiple resolution display; a Global Village Communication Inc. internal 28.8-Kbps fax modem; a keyboard; and a mouse.

Like the Performa 6200, the 6300 has a single ADB port, SCSI port, serial port, communications slot for the modem or an Ethernet card, video slot for the Apple Video System, internal TV tuner slot, and an LC processor direct slot. The new Performa also provides built-in 16-bit stereo audio and 1 Mbyte of video RAM.

As these machines were released, Apple cut prices on a bunch of older Performas that were still for sale at the time:

Model: Old Price: New Price: Discount:
Performa 631CD1 $1,499 $1,399 7%
Performa 640CD/DOS $2,299 $1,999 13%
Performa 5200CD $1,999 $1,899 5%
Performa 5215CD $2,299 $2,199 8%
Performa 6116CD1 $1,899 $1,699 11%
Performa 6200CD $2,299 $1,999 13%
Performa 6205CD2 $2,399 $2,099 13%
Performa 6218CD $2,699 $2,399 11%
Performa 6220CD $2,499 $1,999 20%
Performa 6230CD $2,999 $2,699 10%

If you think Apple selling older devices at lower prices is an invention of Tim Cook, you’d be wrong.

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