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The After Math: Love is in the air
Scientists just confirmed the existence of gravitational waves -- actual ripples in the fabric of spacetime -- but who cares about unravelling the secrets of the universe, Valentine's Day is coming up. To pay respects to the most high holy of made-up bullshit holidays, here are seven of the most heart-string-tugging posts from the last week.
'Happy Birthday' settlement puts the song in the public domain
Since 1988, Warner/Chappell has had an iron grip on the copyright for "Happy Birthday to You." Artists couldn't sing it on a recording without paying up, even though it's virtually ubiquitous in real life -- it's widely considered the most popular English-language song in history. At last, though, logic appears to be taking hold. In the wake of a lengthy class action lawsuit, Warner has agreed to a $14 million settlement that will put "Happy Birthday" in the US public domain well ahead of 2030, when the label expected the copyright to run out. So long as the ruling holds, you can expect to hear those very familiar strains all over music, movies and TV shows in the near future.
Daily Update for April 1, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Happy 35th birthday to Apple, Inc.
It's no joke: Apple, Inc. turns 35 today. On April 1, 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne (who 12 days later sold his share of the startup for a meager US$2,300) founded Apple Computer. As a newborn, Apple intended to sell low-cost, hand-manufactured microcomputer components to fellow members of the local Homebrew Computer Club. [Ron Wayne will be appearing on Fox Business News this afternoon at 3:30 PM to talk about his early Apple experiences. –Ed.] Not satisfied with selling a few parts to a handful of enthusiasts, a persistent Steve Jobs pitched Apple's products to Paul Terrell, owner of a newly founded computer store in Mountain View, CA, called "Byte Shop." After a few exposures to Jobs' reality distortion field, Terrell agreed to an order of 50 fully assembled Apple I personal computers from the infant company. The two Steves, with a bit of help from their friends (and funded by the sale of a few prized possessions and a favorable loan from a parts supplier) assembled the company's first 50 machines. Together with Byte Shop, Apple put the original machines up for sale at $666.66 each, lighting the match that would later ignite the personal computer revolution.
Happy birthday! Mac OS X turns 9
It was nine years ago today that Mac OS X 10.0 was born -- or became available to the general public anyway. On September 13, 2000 Apple released a public beta called "Kodiak" (think of this as OS X's conception). On March 24, 2001 Apple effectively ditched OS 9 for the current generation OS that would allow ultimate scalability for the coming decades. Since then, Mac OS X has had seven or eight major versions depending on who you ask. Jobs considered Mac OS X 10.4.4 major version since it was totally rewritten to run on Intel chips. Here's a list of the names and subsequent release dates for all the versions thus far. 10.0 Cheetah -- March 24, 2001 10.1 Puma -- September 25, 2001 10.2 Jaguar -- August 24, 2002 10.3 Panther -- October 24, 2003 10.4 Tiger -- April 29, 2005 10.4 Intel Tiger -- January 10, 2006 10.5 Leopard -- October 26, 2007 10.6 Snow Leopard -- August 28, 2009 Check out the gallery below for screen shots of each versions and also don't forget to send in your suggestions to help us tell Apple what you want to see in the next version of Mac OS X! %Gallery-88902%
Engadget Mobile turns 3!
It seems like only yesterday that we were wrapping Engadget Mobile in swaddling clothes and showing it off to the grandparents. Now look at it: a gargantuan force of pure cellphone-news terror, stomping across the internet and taking no prisoners. How adorable. And to think, it all started three years ago today! Take a moment and head over to our favorite mobile phone site in the world and wish them a happy birthday -- they deserve it. Oh, you might be interested to know they're giving away an HTC S740 to celebrate, so it's not just cake and ice cream that's being slung over there.Here's to the next three... hundred!
Happy Birthday, iPhone
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!
Happy birthday to the Macintosh
Apple Matters reminds us that today in 1984 Steve Jobs showed us why 1984 wouldn't be like 1984. That's right friends and neighbors, today the Macintosh were introduced to large theater of people in a rather dramatic fashion (some things don't change).Low End Mac, the place to find information about older Macs, lists the original Macintosh's stats so you don't have to. $2495 got you System 1.0 running on a blazing 8 MHz CPU.The computer that got us to where we are today, I say you hoist a beverage of your choice and toast the Macintosh.Thanks, Patch.Update: I got my Mac release dates all wrong (well I got one of the two right). The Lisa was released January of 1983, not 1984 as I mistakenly said. I'm right that it was ill fated though, of that I am certain. Thanks to everyone who pointed this out.
