Apple’s wireless AirPods can now be ordered from the company’s online store.
First announced with the iPhone 7, the AirPods were delayed for some time, supposedly due to manufacturing issues.
The pair I ordered are set to be delivered on Wednesday, December 21. I’m excited to check them out.
I think I’m partial to the black heart the most. The clown just freaks me out, honestly.
Designed by Apple in California is far from the only book Apple has published in the last 40 years.
Today, I wanted to share some select pages from A Personal Guide to Personal Computers, a sales book put out by the company in 1982.
The book works to make the personal computer more approachable, while building a case for purchasing an Apple system. I’ve scanned the first chapter as a PDF you can download here. 
There’a a video on YouTube looking at what went into the book:
This is the best kbase article of all time:
I would like more information about the Macintosh Portable used in the space shuttle by the NASA some years ago.
We believe you are referring to shuttle launch STS-43. The primary mission of STS-43 was to deploy a fourth TDRS satellite (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite). The shuttle was launched at 11:02 AM EST on Friday August 2, 1991, and landed at about 8:30 AM EST on Sunday August 11, 1991.
The shuttle carried a Macintosh Portable (nonbacklite) system on board. It was used for four primary purposes.
The Macintosh Portable was used to test using cursor control devices in low-gravity situations, send the first email from space, record medical information and help track the shuttle’s position in orbit.
There’s even a video of the machine ejecting a disk, sending it flying across a room aboard the shuttle.
Here’s a little more about the “WristMac” that is mentioned in the article.
Amazing stuff.
The Power Mac G3 All-in-One was not an important computer, but it’s important to me.
If you work in design at all, this book looks like something you need to check out.
John Wilford at The New York Times:
John Glenn, a freckle-faced son of Ohio who was hailed as a national hero and a symbol of the space age as the first American to orbit Earth, then became a national political figure for 24 years in the Senate, died on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio. He was 95.
Glenn had one hell of a resume:
America lost a hero today.
This incredible two-part series on the “Get a Mac” ads featuring John Hodgman and Justin Long is gold.
I was recently digging around a bunch of old Mac OS X installers, and thought it would be fun to share Apple’s installation documentation for a bunch of releases.
All of these links are to PDFs. Right-click to download. The entire group can be downloaded as a .zip here.
OS X Lion was the first version of Mac OS X purchased and downloaded via the Mac App Store. It and all later versions do not include this type of documentation.
Some claim the United States Navy was experimenting with electromagnetism in 1943. Stories say it rendered a ship invisible and teleported it over 200 miles.
This is a weird one.
My thanks to our sponsor:
Up until Snow Leopard, new versions of Mac OS X would play a welcome video during installation. These helped set the stage for the new operating system.
Cheetah, Puma and Jaguar shared a video that highlighted the new Aqua interface. Panther’s featured the bright blue background with nice, crisp, white text. Tiger brought Spotlight, and as such, the welcome message was highlighted by a moving light. Leopard and Snow Leopard shared a darker clip that is reminiscent of the initial Time Machine interface.
I spent a little time digging through disk images to pull them all together into one quick video:
This week on Liftoff, Jason Snell and I talk about Saturn:
The sixth planet out from the sun is a fascinating world of extreme atmospheric conditions, strange moons and breathtaking views.
My thanks to our sponsor: