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Behold the beauty of the Macintosh Programmer's Workshop "About" animation
Macintosh Programmer's Workshop, or MPW to most people who remember it, was a software development tool for the classic Mac OS. It was invaluable for developers looking to build applications for System 1-7.6 and Mac OS 8 and 9, but it had charms beyond being the forefather of everything from Project Builder to Xcode. It also had featured a beautiful animation hidden within its "About" screen. The animation shows the imaginary building blocks of a 3 1/2" floppy disc flying together one-by-one from out of a box. When the pieces have finishing compiling an airbrush machine comes and paints the surface of the disc. It's a wonderful piece of animation, lovingly put together and hidden in a menu most users would never see. If you weren't around for the original Mac OS, or just weren't programing during those days, here's your chance to see it. Enjoy.
Mr. Particle-Man is a refreshing, retro blast
I don't consider myself a gamer in the sense that I avidly play games on a regular basis. I just play them for sheer enjoyment or to pass time, especially when something is trendy and addictive. Every so often a game comes along that reminds you why you play them in the first place. One of those games is Mr. Particle-Man, a basic retro-style game for iPhone and iPad in which you must maneuver Mr. Particle-Man to the round's "exit" while avoiding potential danger and collecting up those particles. It's utterly charming for a host of reasons and for US$1.99, you too are able to get in on the charm. Right off the bat, I'll tell you what makes Mr. Particle-Man so intriguing: it's never the same. Every level is uniquely designed and no two feel too similar to one another. Additionally, there's constantly new obstacles being thrown at you. Just when you think you've figured out all there is to know about the game, something new comes along. For a small little dot, Mr. Particle-Man keeps you on your feet. A clearly designated "Exit" offers relief for Mr. Particle-Man. You drag your finger around the screen and Mr. Particle-Man follows, almost as if at his own will. The motion is so fluid and flexible that it might take you a few rounds to really get the hang of it. Each level has four particles you should try to nab on the way to the exit since they boost your score a bit. As you progress in the game, you have to continue strategizing. At first it might seem like flashing walls and platforms are your only enemy, but soon you find yourself trying to outrun a flashing demon particle (my own nickname for it,) sliding across conveyor belts or blasting through barriers. What's brilliant about Mr. Particle-Man is that the game manages to keep adding on layers without overcomplicating it or overwhelming the user with visual cues to remember. While the game includes over 100 levels, a few boss rounds are thrown in as well. In these, a boss replaces the exit. You have to find a way to deplete the boss's power and ultimately destroy it to move forward in the game. It's an entertaining twist from the standard levels, which are already distinctive on their own. If I had to put a single piece of paper in the request box for Mr. Particle-Man, it would be for individual access to levels. I want to be able to jump to any level at will after I've already "unlocked" it along the way, rather than just having to either continue where I left off or start over. The game already offers iCloud integration so your progress stays in sync across all devices, which I appreciate. Mr. Particle-Man is like an instant classic. It's engaging, memorable and for two bucks it brings plenty to the table. In fact, it's actually somewhat of a sequel to Ms. Particle-Man by the same developer with the same price tag. If you're looking for a creative arcade-style title to try out, look no further than Mr. Particle-Man for iOS.
Ben Heck builds an Apple 1 from scratch, and you can too
If you don't have the near-US$1 million to spare to buy a genuine Apple 1 computer, why not build your own working replica? Master model Ben Heckendorn (AKA Ben Heck) does just that in a new three-part episode of element14's The Ben Heck Show. In this first episode, Ben talks about the origins of the Apple 1, solders up a breadboard with sockets for RAM, ROM and the Apple 1's 6502 CPU, loads up an EEPROM with code for BASIC and the Woz Monitor, then takes the electronics for a run with the help of an oscilloscope. Heck says that he'll try to come up with a case (with that 1970's design sensibility) in a future episode, and it looks like he's going to outfit the Apple 1 with an LCD display and keyboard. It's a bit on the technical side, but if you like the smell of solder and happen to have an oscilloscope sitting at your side, go for it.
The DuMont: A 50's retro TV enclosure for iPad mini and Jambox
There's nothing Apple fans love more than dressing up their devices with some sort of accessory, especially when that accessory mimics something retro. In this case, Jeffrey Stephenson -- a computer modder and designer who has a list of awards a mile long for his ingenuity -- decided to turn an iPad mini and Jawbone Jambox Bluetooth speaker into a tiny version of a 1950's-era DuMont console television. Regretfully, you can't buy one this unique enclosure, but if you're into woodworking or furniture-making, this should be a piece of cake for you to whip one up! Stephenson provided a gallery of images showing just how the DuMont was built. And now for something completely different -- a video of the DuMont in action:
Rare photos show NeXT-era Jobs doing his best to change the world
Yesterday we brought you news of a Wired photo gallery with a few great early Steve Jobs photos from Doug Menuez's book Fearless Genius. Today, we bring you some more glimpses into Silicon Valley's golden age that Menuez has decided to share with us, along with his own insights and recollections from the moments the photos were taken. It's a fantastic look back in time and a ride well worth taking. You can pick up Fearless Genius via Amazon, and keep an eye on his Storehouse page this week as he'll be sharing additional photos from the book online for the very first time. Steve Jobs Explaining Ten Year Technology Development Cycles. Sonoma, California, 1986. Steve giving a history lesson about how technology evolves in ten year wave cycles to his new NeXT team at an off-site meeting. Every few months, Steve and the fledgling company's employees would travel to a retreat in the country with their families to grapple with myriad technical issues. There he would regularly hold talks to explain his vision for the company and to encourage his brilliant cofounders and employees to participate fully in its realization. Steve planned to ride the next wave by putting the power of a refrigerator-size mainframe computer into a one foot cube at a price affordable to universities, thus "transforming education." When I asked him what he meant by this, he said he wanted "some kid at Stanford to be able to cure cancer in his dorm room." Because he absolutely believed this was possible, his whole team did. Behind this noble goal, Steve was also on a quest for redemption and revenge after being forced out at Apple in a humiliating boardroom coup after alienating key board members and his handpicked CEO, John Sculley. Most industry pundits believed NeXT would be a huge and rapid success, as did Steve. Instead, it was the start of a decade of difficult, often bitter struggle. The Day Ross Perot Gave Steve Jobs $20 Million. Fremont, California, 1986. Steve was a consummate showman who understood the power of a compelling setting. This was never more apparent than at this incongruously formal lunch he hosted for Ross Perot and the NeXT board of directors in the middle of the abandoned warehouse he planned to turn into the NeXT factory. He told Perot that they were building the most advanced robotic assembly line in the world and that "no human hands" would be assembling hardware. He predicted that NeXT would be the last billion dollar a year company in Silicon Valley and that they would ship ten thousand computers a month. Perot, who was then championing a movement to reform education in the United States, was blown away by the presentation and invested $20 million, becoming a key board member and giving NeXT a crucial lifeline. Steve Jobs Returning from a Visit to the New Factory. Fremont, California, 1987. Although Steve could be extremely rude, critical, and occasionally even vindictive, he also was incredibly joyful, with an infectious grin and energy that was irresistible. In the early days at NeXT he would often come bounding in, hungry to get to work. Still, there were not too many unrestrained moments of hilarity such as this one, when Steve was riding back from a visit to the newly chosen factory site with the company employees in an old, rented yellow school bus. Geek Sex. Mountain View, California, 1991. Real-life boyfriend and girlfriend act out a rudimentary electrical metaphor at an Adobe Halloween party. Technology workers were notoriously socially inept and often shy, especially male engineers. Fantasy games and role playing were popular, and any opportunity to dress in costumes was welcomed. This couple repeated the ritual all over the company to the delight of fellow workers. The Painter David Hockney Rests during the First Photoshop Invitational. Mountain View, California, 1990. As digital technology grew more powerful, Silicon Valley became an unexpected crossroads of culture. Artists arrived from all over the world, eager to experiment and hang out at happenings such as the TED conference, creating a freeway and office park version of what Paris in the twenties must have felt like. Producer Quincy Jones and musicians Peter Gabriel and Herbie Hancock were early adopters. Graham Nash was so taken he started his own fine art digital printing business. Tom Wolfe had been out to write about Bob Noyce, the coinventor of the integrated circuit, and lots of writers followed, including Steve Jobs's half sister Mona Simpson. George Lucas was a pioneer in digital film, as was Francis Ford Coppola. The cultural ground was shifting, with the avantgarde gathering to push new digital ideas into the zeitgeist. Here, painter David Hockney, holding one of his beloved dachshunds, attends Russell Brown's first Adobe Photoshop Invitational, where he learned how to use the first release version of Photoshop, happily smoking in the computer room and playing with his dogs on breaks. Excerpted from the book Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley 1985-2000 by Doug Menuez, Atria Books. Foreword by Elliott Erwitt, Introduction by Kurt Andersen. All photographs ©Doug Menuez
Photos from Silicon Valley's early years show Jobs in his natural habitat
If you want an unfiltered glimpse into the early days of Silicon Valley, look no further than the recently released Doug Menuez book Fearless Genius. A photojournalist in the thick of the early tech revolution, Menuez spent much of his time from 1985 to 2000 documenting the companies and faces that would eventually become household names. It was an age where CRT monitors were still high tech and Steve Jobs was a NeXT employee, and his work is quite impressive. You can pick up his book right now on Amazon, but you'd rather take a free glimpse at some of his fantastic photos you can do so in a cool little gallery Wired has put together. It's worth checking out solely for the chance to see Jobs "pretending to be a human" and Steve Ballmer looking like he's about to knock out a Microsoft programmer. Ah, the good old days. Photo via Fearless Genius / Doug Menuez
'Windows 93' is like your childhood computer on acid
Flat design. Pfffft. You know what's really cool? ASCII renditions of Star Wars: A New Hope in what appears to be its entirety. This bonafide internet gem (and who even knows how many others) are hidden in Windows 93, a web app spotted by The Verge that mimics a bygone time of cathode-ray tube monitors and dial-up internet connections. The Redmond-inspired desktop has all manner of callbacks in addition to that ultra-low-fi version of Episode IV. Easter eggs include a game of solitaire with a twist, a pop-up "virus" and too many other goodies that we don't want to spoil. What were you able to find, dear readers? Let us know in the comments.
How to make Yosemite look like System 7
Yes, OS X Yosemite is sexy, modern, and a far cry from what Apple desktops ran 20+ years ago, but that doesn't mean there's no value in nostalgia. Way back when Macs ran on CPUs with speeds of 33MHz (or even less), OS 7 -- also called System 7 -- was the best looking operating system most users had ever seen. Today, not so much, but if you long for the look of yesteryear anyway, here's how to tweak Yosemite and make it look it was released over two decades ago. Note: These tweaks were inspired by a guide published on WonderHowTo, so a tip of the hat for the idea. We'll be taking the concept a couple steps further to make this the ultimate retro tweak. For starters, there are a few system changes you need to make to lay the groundwork for the conversion, so take care of the following under your System Preferences menu first: Under General, change the Appearance selection to "Graphite" and the Highlight color to "Graphite" as well. Under Accessibility, toggle both "Reduce Transparency" and "Increase Contrast" on. Under Desktop & Screensaver, select Solid Colors and then choose Solid Gray Medium (or Solid Gray Dark, depending on your taste, both are pretty close). Now that your desktop is looking as bare and basic as it did when Nirvana was at the top of the charts, it's time to give your icons some much needed love. Depending on which versions of retro Mac you hold dear, you may want to find an icon pack from OS 8 or OS 9, but for the purposes of really throwing Yosemite back in time we'll go with System 7's low-res icon art. Download a System 7 icon collection from wherever you can find it. (I found the icons I'm using on a MacWorld forum thread where a kind user has provided four folders worth of ripped retro icons - Thanks Macosnoob!) Now you have the choice as to just how deep you want your retro conversion to go. If you feel like just replacing individual icons with the old school versions -- like the ones on your desktop specifically, while leave the rest of the system's icons alone -- you can do so by doing the following: Select any item you want to change, like your main HD icon or a folder, and click "Get Info." Here you'll see the icon of your object in the top left corner of the new window. Now find the icon file you want to use as its replacement, and drag and drop it on top of the object's existing icon in the Get Info window. A green plus mark will pop up to let you know you're about to replace it, and dropping it there will automatically swap it in. You can do this for as many items as you want, and doing so will only alter the specific items you choose. If you want to go all out with your retro devotion you can completely replace the icons your computer uses by default. Note: There is always a chance that when altering system resources you could mess something up, so be sure to do a system backup before doing this. Your system's icons are tucked away within a resource file, so go ahead and copy and paste this path into the "Go To Folder" field under the "Go" menu: /System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources/ Here you'll see the icon files OS X uses for virtually every file on your computer. In order to permanently replace the files with the retro versions you can rename the System 7 icon files so they match the ones you wish to replace, then swap them out. Once you do this you should be able to restart your computer and see your new (old) icons in action. If any of them look odd or distorted you may need to tweak the a bit in an image resizing program like Skitch so they render correctly, but for the most part they should be plug-and-play. To wrap up the entire conversion and give your Mac the old school feel it deserves, be sure to auto-hide the Dock, and hide the toolbar in folder windows by right clicking and selecting "Hide Toolbar" on the title bar your folders. Ta-da! Now you can compute like it's 1993!
Taste the Apple rainbow
The Apple logo is a fairly common subject of custom pastry artists -- the Apple pie jokes write themselves -- but rarely do any intrepid chefs attempt to recreate the colorful retro look. Flickr user Pingiwingi knocked it out of the park with this cake, which looks almost too good to eat. Bravo! [Photo credit: Pingiwingi]
Dotti is a cute LED block that does notifications using pixel art
Let's face it: There's always a part of us that can't resist a good bit of pixel art -- be it on bank notes, in games or even in the form of sculptures. For those who are seeking something more interactive, you may want to check out the Dotti by Hong Kong startup Witti. What we have here is a little eight-by-eight LED block with Bluetooth radio and a battery -- up to 720 hours on standby or 5 hours of continuous display. When paired with its iOS or Android app, Dotti serves as a pixel art canvas (you'll be able to upload your own work), a clock, an icon-based notification display (for calls, e-mails, text, calendar, popular social networks and more), a music visualizer and even a virtual dice. Simply swipe along the top side of Dotti to toggle between these modes, as shown in our video after the break. Want one? It'll arrive just before the holidays for $99.
[Updated] iOS 8.1 kills exploit that allowed installation of game emulators
[Update]: Riley Testut has published a new post on his personal blog adding some additional detail to this saga. It's definitely worth a read. Everyone loves retro game emulators on iOS -- well, almost everyone -- but the ability to easily install them looks like it's about to meet an end thanks to Apple's upcoming iOS 8.1 update. According to those who have tested the soon-to-be-released software, the update blocks an often-used exploit that many emulators use to allow installation on non-jailbroken devices. The trick involves changing the date within the iOS settings prior to installing the emulator apps in question. Riley Testut, a longtime iOS emulator aficionado and one of the creators of the beloved GBA4iOS app, offers a succinct summary of how the exploit works. "If the device's date was off by a certain amount (approximately 75 minutes in our testing), iOS would fail to perform a security check on the launched app," Testut explains. "Rather than defaulting to preventing the app from opening (as we would assume), it instead defaulted to allowing the app to open, possibly as a fallback to prevent a normal user's officially obtained apps from not opening under certain conditions." In short, it was Apple's own failsafe that allowed the unofficial apps to be used in the first place. Now that the hole has been plugged, and the apps will no longer open simply by default, it could spell an early end for the iOS emulator scene on non-jailbroken devices. There is, of course, always the possibility that Apple will reverse the change, though as Testut himself admitted to me, the chances of that happening are quite slim. So where do we go from here? Emulators will of course continue to thrive on jailbroken iPhones and iPads, and anyone who doesn't update to iOS 8.1 will still be able to utilize the date exploit to install apps like GBA4iOS. Unfortunately, with Apple adding hotly anticipated features like Apple Pay in impending updates, refusing to install new iOS versions is tough stand to make. As for GBA4iOS specifically, development will push on. Testut promises that version 2.1 is still on its way and notes that the open source nature of the app and others like it will allow anyone dedicated enough to compile it themselves will still be able to install it manually on their own devices. So for now, don't call the iOS emulation scene dead, but it might be on life support.
CRT-themed Super Win the Game recalls the good old days
Modern, retro-tinted platformers have got the whole "classic graphical style" thing down at this point, but emulating the warm glow of CRT TVs is a rarer feat. Minor Key Games has coated Super Win the Game in the softer presentation, pairing with open-ended, exploration-focused platforming to appear as a comprehensive throwback on PC, Mac and Linux. In case you're only willing to endure a particular amount of old-timey blur and pixelation, Super Win the Game lets players tweak the CRT-themed effects to better suit their preference. If you go for Minor Key's adventure before October 8, you can scrounge for gems and keys for $11.69 (regularly $12.99) or snatch a copy bundled with the game's soundtrack for $13.49 (normally $14.99). Super Win the Game is a sequel to Minor Key's You Have to Win the Game, a free download on PC, Mac and Linux that also emulates the screens that have hosted the countless deaths of plumbers, bandicoots and hedgehogs for decades. [Thanks, Kyle!] [Image: Minor Key Games]
Sir, I don't think we service that device any longer
In the age of Retina displays and App Stores, Apple's MessagePad -- lovingly referred to as the "Newton," after its OS -- isn't a terribly capable device. It was axed from the company's lineup shortly after Steve Jobs returned to the company, but Apple would return to the personal-gadget-with-a-touchscreen market less than a decade later with the iPhone. Taking one of these now ancient gadgets into an Apple Store would likely elicit a few giggles and blank stares, especially if you were looking for some repairs or troubleshooting. Still, I'm sure there are a few remaining Newton devotees out there, which begs the question: What is the oldest Apple device you've spent the time and money to repair rather than outright replace? Let us know down below! [Photo credit: mac_ivan]
Relive the BBS dream (nightmare?) with Level 29
Do you hate the current Internet and wish you could go back to the days of boring text on a blank background? Of course you don't, but if you want to be reminded of just how great things are these days you can take a temporary trip down memory lane with Level 29, an electronic bulletin board being run on an Apple IIGS. The best part? You can access it via your web browser. The BBS itself offers a variety of utilities and services, including the ability to register your own profile and set up a mail account. Of course, you'll be forgiven if you abandon ship before accomplishing either of those tasks, given that the board is running on a painfully slow 300 bps modem -- which, by the way, you can actually dial into if you feel the urge. Personally, I'd recommend using the site's built-in web browser client. [via The Mac Observer]
The poor $10,000 Apple Lisa
A tragic end for one particular Apple Lisa. Not a very fitting end for a computer that once cost US$10,000. [Photo credit: Daniel Rehn]
Uncover Castle in the Darkness' secrets soon on Steam
1001 Spikes developer Nicalis announced a new damning action-platformer today, Castle in the Darkness. The game "recalls a golden, bygone era" thanks to its retro-inspired art and steep difficulty curve. In it, players explore the kingdom of Alexandria, hunting down an evil force that took out every knight in the land save for the leaping hero they control. Castle in the Darkness has been in development for the last two years by Matt Kap, who is credited with work on The Binding of Isaac and 1001 Spikes. The game features over 100 weapons, armor and magic to equip as well as RPG-style elements similar to games in the Metroid and Castlevania series. It also includes over 50 bosses to hunt, plus "so many secrets that they all might never be found." Castle in the Darkness will launch on Steam later this summer. [Image: Nicalis]
Be the hippest hipster at your local Starbucks with a NeXT sticker for your MacBook
Want to show all the other MacBook-toting latte drinkers at your local coffee shop that you liked Apple before it was cool? There's no better way than boldly displaying your affection for the company that, by being acquired, brought co-founder Steve Jobs back into the Apple fold. For US$24.50, you can do just that. Say goodbye to that flashy, iconic glowing Apple on the lid of your MacBook and bury it under the goofy 3D cube and gaudy pastel colors of the NeXT logo. Only the coolest of the cool will get the reference, and the rest will just have to look it up on Wikipedia like the plebes they are. Ok, in all seriousness, I know that slapping one of these on my MacBook Air would be the most obnoxious thing in the world... but I can't shake the itch to do it. Maybe I'll just get a NeXT coffee mug instead. That's probably the less cringe-worthy option, right?
This stackable media hub plays your old 16-bit game cartridges
The set-top box market is currently flooded with many cheap Android boxes, but they tend to offer limited remote access plus expansion capability, so it's about time that something more exciting popped up. One such candidate is the EzeeCube, which aims to be an idiot-proof media hub with three main selling points: Auto-sync content across multiple platforms (Android, iOS, Windows and OS X); simple initial setup for accessing hub content from anywhere; and cable-free expansion that lets you stack up to four modules. We're talking about slapping on an extra hard drive, a Blu-ray drive, a TV tuner and even a retro gaming module that will bring your dusty SNES and Sega Mega Drive / Genesis cartridges back to life. No messy cables here.
The iPhone turns 7 on Sunday, here's a look back at a classic
The iPhone was released on June 29, 2007, and changed cell phones forever. Dropping the keypad we'd all come to love for a full touch screen and putting a powerful 2.0 MP camera in every user's pocket, the iPhone kickstarted a mobile revolution. To celebrate the iPhone's 7th Birthday the folks at YouTube channel PhoneDog have put together a nice seven-minute look back at the phone that launched a touch screen mobile revolution. June 29, 2007 sowed the seeds for the iPad, Kindle Fire, Android, and most modern touchscreen devices. Let's take a minute to reminisce about the now antiquated device that started it. Enjoy.
YouTube find: Hilariously bad Apple IIe ad promises "six tutorial diskettes" with purchase
Old tech commercials often toe the line between hilarious and cringeworthy. This old Apple II ad from 1985 fits that description to a tee. The best line comes at the end when our noble host exclaims, "Buy now and receive a free training seminar and six tutorial diskettes!" And he actually concludes with "Apple, Apple, Apple."
