Posts from the Apple History Category at The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Found footage: Remembering Lisa

Posted Sep 4th 2008 3:00PM by Dave Caolo
Filed under: Hardware, Apple History

Alfred DiBlasi is at it again. A few months ago, he impressed us with the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh he found on ebay. What's impressive about that? It was still factory sealed. Never opened, never booted, never used. That's the kind of find that makes my beige, vintage heart flutter.

This time around, he's playing with a vintage Lisa in an exhaustive demonstration video. Before booting it up, he takes it apart and discusses the innards, piece by piece.

Next is the money shot as the computer boots up, and Alfred moves through the UI. It's a pretty cool demonstration of a nice piece of Apple history.

Thanks for sharing, Alfred. What's next?

Flickr Find: Mac OS 10.0 UI

Posted Sep 4th 2008 2:00PM by Dave Caolo
Filed under: OS, Apple History

Reader and Flickr user ismh has posted a series of screenshots of Mac OS 10.0 to our Flickr pool. It was just seven years ago -- March of 2001 -- that Mac OS 10.0 was released to the waiting masses. I distinctly remember driving to my local authorized retailer to buy a copy, and then quickly rushing home to install it on my 333mhz G3 iMac.

What I apparently fogot was how different the UI was. Remember the pinstripes? How about Sherlock? And don't miss the list of supported hardware, including the iBook, the PowerBook G3, The Power Macintosh G3 and the good 'ol Power Mac G4.

I also remember slower-than-molasses performance and aqua lozenge buttons everywhere. Oh, Mac OS X. How you've changed.

Happy Birthday, iMac

Posted Aug 15th 2008 8:00AM by Cory Bohon
Filed under: iMac, Apple, Apple History

Yes, it's time once again to say "Happy Birthday" to our old friend, iMac. Hard to believe the iMac has been around for 10 years today. Apple transitioned the "consumer device," as Steve called it at its introduction, into something more of an icon of computer design. Above is a commercial for the iMac G3 which shipped in Lime, Grape, Blueberry, Tangerine, and Strawberry and featured the song "She's a Rainbow" by the Rolling Stones.

The specs for the original iMac were nothing to laugh about then, but it's certainly laughable now. The G3 iMac sported a 15" CRT monitor (resolution of 1024x768), 4 GB hard drive, 233 MHz PPC G3 (750), 32 MB of RAM (expandable up to 128, whoa!), 56 Kbps modem, 24x tray-loading CD-ROM drive, Mac OS 8.1 (or 8.5 on later models). This monster weighed in at 40 pounds!

The original design followed the iMac until 2003, when Apple retired the design for the "goose-neck" iMac G4 (although as Evan reminds us in the comments, the 'gumdrop' form factor lived on in the education-market model eMac). In 2004, Apple created the iconic design of the iMac G5, which is the same major design style they use for the iMac today.

On an iPhone/iPod touch? Click here to see the video.

Fire at Cupertino campus

Posted Aug 13th 2008 10:30AM by Dave Caolo
Filed under: Apple, Apple History

A three-alarm blaze drew 60 firefighters to Apple's Cupertino campus on Tuesday night. Specifically, it was in building Valley Green Six at 20705 Valley Green Drive. San Francisco's ABC 7 television news has some video.

Investigators suggested that an air conditioning unit could have been the culprit. Fortunately, all employees escaped unharmed. No word on how much damage was done to the building, although some reports say the smoke damage was substantial.

We're very glad that no one was hurt, and hope the damage isn't too bad.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Happy Birthday and Best Wedding Wishes, Woz!

Posted Aug 9th 2008 6:00PM by Steven Sande
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Odds and ends, Apple, The Woz, Apple History

A very happy birthday to Stephen Gary "Woz" Wozniak, the co-founder of the company we all know and love. No comments about "third founder" Ron Wayne, please. Woz will be 58 on Monday, the 11th, but we wanted to give you the scoop on some other things going on in his life right now, so we're running his birthday greetings early.

Woz's Segway Polo team, the Silicon Valley Aftershocks, is playing in the annual Woz Cup at SegwayFesT 2008 in Indianapolis this weekend. They're currently at 2nd place in the standings.

Woz also took the time on Friday, August 8, 2008, to get married to WozWife 4.0 at SegwayFesT 2008. You will be happy / uninterested / dismayed to know that he did not marry former gal pal Kathy Griffin - the name of the new Mrs. Wozniak is not being released at this time.

Resurrecting Apple I BASIC

Posted Jul 15th 2008 12:00PM by Mat Lu
Filed under: Cult of Mac, Apple History

This is a fascinating tidbit for the Apple history fans out there. Michael Steil has the story of how the original Apple I BASIC was recovered from an audio cassette which had been digitized into a MP3. Apple I BASIC was the first piece of commercial software sold for the first Apple computer. Only about 200 Apple I's were produced and not even all of them came with the BASIC cassette.

Apparently this is the first time a "confirmed perfect dump of the 4096 bytes" of Apple 1 BASIC has been produced. So now you can see the original 6502 assembly that is the "spiritual" ancestor, as it were, of all of Apple's software.

[via Mac OS X Internals: The Blog]

Mystery Apple box

Posted Jul 14th 2008 6:30PM by Steven Sande
Filed under: Odds and ends, Apple History

TUAW reader Gabriel Moore runs an Apple Certified Sales and Service store called Computer Evolution in Davenport, IA. He sent us a short note and link to a MobileMe Web Gallery with several pictures of a strange, Apple-labeled wooden box (picture above).

Gabriel writes "One of our customers noticed that we have a small collection of Old Macs in my service department and thought That he would give me something to add to the collection... Problem is I have no idea what it is or why it has the Apple name. Is this an after market fan boy box or a real product from Apple Computer? Any help from the readers or you would be awesome."

It looks like the 1980's Apple logotype, but I don't remember seeing a box like this anywhere. It's small enough that it could only contain something like an Apple IIc. Do any of you wonderful TUAW readers know what this box was used for? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Thanks to Gabriel for today's stumper!

Saying "goodbye" to .Mac

Posted Jul 9th 2008 7:00PM by Cory Bohon
Filed under: Internet, .Mac, Apple History, MobileMe

Tonight, we will all say "goodbye" to .Mac, a service that has been a small part of Apple for almost 8 years. iTools, .Mac's predecessor, was launched on January 5, 2000 at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco and was a free service that included a HomePage, iCards and the much coveted @mac.com e-mail address that is commonplace today (as well as the forgotten 'KidSafe,' which was a database of kid friendly websites Apple compiled so you could make sure your children weren't up to no good on your Mac). As more users came to the service and the cost of bandwidth went up, Apple began charging for the service and called it .Mac.

The name ".Mac" was born at the Macworld Expo in New York on July 17, 2002 and provided several new services including: a beefed up iDisk (with a dizzying 100 megs of space), Backup, and a free copy of Virex. On September 17, 2002, Apple announced that it would discontinue the free iTools service in favor for .Mac.

That brings us to, well, tonight. Apple is scheduled to take down .Mac and replace it with a newer, rebranded service named "MobileMe." While some scoff at the name, TUAW can't help but see the other side of the picture: look how far iTools has evolved over the past 8 years. So, join us in saying, "So long old friend, we hardly knew ye."

Do you have a favorite story to tell about iTools or .Mac? Be sure to mention it in the comments below! Apple is scheduled to take down the .Mac service between 6 p.m. and 12 a.m. pacific time.

Happy Birthday, iPhone

Posted Jun 29th 2008 5:15PM by Cory Bohon
Filed under: Apple, iPhone, Apple History

Yes, it is hard to believe, but our pal the iPhone will be 1 year old at 6 pm EST today. The iPhone has undergone many changes over the past year: from generating all the hype and buzz to being the best way to do everything on-the-go. The original iPhone sold at 6 p.m. (in each time zone across the US) at Apple and AT&T corporate stores for a retail price of $599 for the 8GB model and $499 for the now-discontinued 4GB model.

With Apple set to release the next generation iPhone on July 11th, we can only stop and look back at all the accomplishments Apple has achieved over the past year. The iPhone has definitely changed the way we look at smartphones.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Snow Leopard might not be the best code name

Posted Jun 11th 2008 3:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor, OS, Apple, Leopard, Apple History

The great Mental Floss blog actually did the research on something that occurred to me as soon as Steve said "Snow Leopard" during the keynote -- naming an OS after a cat "sometimes known as the ounce" might not be the best idea.

File this stuff in the "didja know" column: snow leopards aren't actually leopards -- they're actually closer in family to cheetahs, which means that the new OS might be a little closer to Aqua than we're all comfortable with. Also, they're pretty timid -- not only can they not roar (so new audio features in the OS are out), they're known to hide behind their fuzzy tails. We'll put it this way: you wouldn't exactly want to call your football team The Snow Leopards, so we're not quite sure why Steve decided to use the moniker.

Finally, the weirdest tie here is that the snow leopard as a symbol is already taken -- by the Girl Scouts of Kyrgyzstan. Of course, Steve's naming capabilities haven't really been up to snuff lately, and maybe he just didn't want to go with Cougar -- even though Apple owns it, they may not have been ready to take on all the connotations associated with that particular nomenclature. Then again, maybe this will be good for the snow leopard's image -- after seeing all these pictures of cool cats, if you feel you'd like to help them out, we're sure the Snow Leopard Trust would be happy to hear from you.

One more thing: A history

Posted Jun 7th 2008 7:00AM by Dave Caolo
Filed under: Other Events, WWDC, Apple History

"But there is ... one more thing."

Those are the words that make Mac nerds' hearts flutter. Afterall, the original iMac, Mac OS X and the switch to Intel have all followed that simple phrase.

The Cult of Mac has produced a cool time line graphic depicting a history of products that have been featured as Steve's "one more thing." From the iMac on May 6, 1998 to the MacBook Air this past January, the graph features a decade of announcements. For added fun, you can click any one to watch a video clip.

Well done, Cult of Mac! Here's to hoping for an addition in the very near future.

Found footage: 20th Anniversary Mac intro video

Posted May 28th 2008 1:00PM by Dave Caolo
Filed under: Retro Mac, Apple History

Earlier this week, we pointed out an unboxing video of a pristine 20th Anniversary Mac. Of course, they're underpowered by today's standards, but many Apple collectors love them. To find one still sealed in its original factory box is a rare indeed.

During the video, we got a look at the obnoxious introductory QuickTime that shipped with these things, which begins, "There are some things in life which capture one's soul." Capture my soul? You mean the TAM is a ghost trap?

Check out the fancy CG graphics, self-important narration and the glinting TAM itself. Many thanks to propstoyou22 for sending us the video.

The Apple /// Resource

Posted May 27th 2008 3:30PM by Dave Caolo
Filed under: Hardware, Apple History

Are you a vintage Apple hardware nerd? I am. If so, you've probably got a basement full of beige boxes in various states of repair. I call mine "The Mac Museum." My wife calls it "Bring one more ancient computer into this house and you'll be living in the tool shed." Ah, marriage.

While my collection is limited to Macs, several of you have got some Apples lying around. Apple /// buffs will want to check out The Apple /// Resource. There you'll find just about everything you'll want for the ///, including software, manuals, even emulators (including Apple /// rom).

It's like Christmas morning for geeks like us! Dig around, see what you find and have some fun with your vintage Apple.

Found Footage: Unboxing a Twentieth Anniversary Mac

Posted May 26th 2008 10:30PM by Michael Rose
Filed under: Retro Mac, Found Footage, Apple History

It's not every day that you can buy a brand new computer that's over 10 years old, but Alfred DiBlasi managed it: an eBay find of an original Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, fresh in the box. In the 22-minute unboxing video (more than ample even by our standards) Al and his buddies remove the artifact from another era from its packaging and boot it for the first time. Zoom ahead to the 20:00 mark to watch the delightfully pretentious "Design Is Art" QuickTime intro movie (worth YouTubing on its own, if possible) and enjoy the Michael Hedges-esqe (possibly actually Michael Hedges) soundtrack.

While the TAM may have been a poor bargain when it was introduced in 1997 (2 GB hard drive and 32 MB of RAM in a machine costing $7,500?) it still wears a striking titanium gray silhouette, and we know that sleek, forward-looking design can command a premium price today. I hope Al gets all the enjoyment out of it that a decade-old computer can possibly provide.

Thanks Eric & Blake!

Boston's Tech Superpowers buries a treasure for Apple

Posted May 14th 2008 3:00PM by Dave Caolo
Filed under: Humor, Retail, Apple History

This is my favorite story of the week. Major League Baseball fans probably remember the New York construction worker who buried a David Oritz jersey underneath the New York Yankees stadium in an attempt to jinx the team. It seems he unwittingly started a trend.

On Thursday, Apple's newest retail store will open in Boston with a small gift from neighboring store Tech Superpowers buried underneath the sidewalk.

Back in April, Michael Oh (Tech Superpowers founder and president) crossed the street to the Apple Store's construction site with a shovel and one of his company's T-Shirts. A short time later, the shirt was buried underneath the concrete, where it remains today. Since the story of the Ortiz jersey was breaking at the time, the members of the construction crew thought the idea was funny, and let him do his thing.

Oh points out that he isn't trying to jinx the store, but create a connection between the two retailers.

"We're doing it with a wink ... We are in business because of the great things Apple has done ... This T-shirt in the sidewalk is a symbol that there's a connection between the two sides of the alley." It was Oh who set up the Boston Apple Store Webcam at ifoAppleStore to share the construction process with Apple fans everywhere.

We can only imagine what's next

Burger King buries a cardboard crown under each new McDonald's
Dunkin Donuts leaves a bag of French Vanilla under each new Starbucks

So when you visit the store this weekend, tread lightly. You might be standing on a buried treasure.

[Via Andy Ihnatko's Twitter stream]

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Found footage: Remembering Lisa

Flickr Find: Mac OS 10.0 UI

Happy Birthday, iMac

Fire at Cupertino campus

Happy Birthday and Best Wedding Wishes, Woz!

Resurrecting Apple I BASIC

Mystery Apple box

Saying "goodbye" to .Mac

Happy Birthday, iPhone

Snow Leopard might not be the best code name

One more thing: A history

Found footage: 20th Anniversary Mac intro video

The Apple /// Resource

Found Footage: Unboxing a Twentieth Anniversary Mac

Boston's Tech Superpowers buries a treasure for Apple

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#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Cory Bohon	52	1
2	Robert Palmer	51	38
3	Steven Sande	50	13
4	Dave Caolo	33	0
5	Mike Schramm	28	0
6	Erica Sadun	27	1
7	Michael Rose	19	21
8	Giles Turnbull	17	0
9	Mat Lu	14	8
10	Christina Warren	13	26
11	Brett Terpstra	11	0
12	Victor Agreda, Jr.	7	13
13	TUAW Blogger	7	0
14	Lisa Hoover	3	2
15	Joshua Ellis	2	0
16	Jason Clarke	1	0