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Pixar Image Computer: Yours on eBay for a cool $25K
So, you purchased a mint condition Apple I at an auction, have every model of Mac Quadra and Performa ever made, use your NeXT cube every day, love your working Newton MessagePad and QuickTake 100, and you're looking for something Apple-related that will finish off the collection. How about an ultra-rare Pixar Image Computer? There's one selling on eBay with a starting bid price of US$15,000 and a BuyItNow price of $25,000, and at the time of publication there were still no bids. This is a very unique piece of equipment tied to Steve Jobs and Apple. The Pixar Image Computer was originally developed by the Computer Division of Lucasfilm. When Steve Jobs purchased that division in 1986, the Pixar Image Computer was made commercially available. At the time, you would have paid $135,000 for the privilege of owning this piece of gear. It was aimed the medical, geophysical, and meteorological visualization markets, and was never meant to be a consumer device. The seller says that he's unsure if it's in working condition as he doesn't have a power cord with which to power it up, but he was able to turn on the monitor. Get your bid in now, as the auction ends on July 26 at 4:42 PM PDT. [via Cult Of Mac] #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Apple buying land for expansion in Austin, Texas
In May of this year, Apple worked with local and state officials in Texas to secure an economic development package with the promise of expanding its presence in the city of Austin. Now the company is following up on its promise, buying up land in Austin to begin the expansion. The Austin Business Journal reported that Apple purchased three tracts of land adjacent to the current campus at 12545 Riata Vista Circle. While the acreage and purchase price are unknown, Apple plans to build facilities on the site for sales, customer support, and accounting employees. Almost 3,700 new jobs are expected to be created by 2025. It's expected that Apple will soon begin construction on a 800,000-square-foot office complex to house the new employees at a cost of about US$226 million.
How Apple's North Carolina data center got built
This week GigaOM took an extensive look at North Carolina and its many data centers. The fourth and final installment in this series focuses on Apple's new data center in Maiden, North Carolina and covers some of the early negotiations between Catawba county officials and the Cupertino company. Interestingly enough, Apple almost walked away from Maiden when the Catawba County Economic Development group tried to get the company to build its data center in a small mill building. You can read more about this background discussion on GigaOM's website and catch all four articles in the series here.
California fast-tracks Apple's new headquarters
Apple is building a new campus in Cupertino and the process should proceed smoothly now that the project has been given fast track status by California Governor Jerry Brown. "Apple's state-of-the art campus brings at least $100 million dollars in investment to California and generates no additional greenhouse gas emissions," said Brown in a statement sent to The Mercury News and reported on SiliconValley.com. Fast-tracking the project won't speed up construction, but it will make it easier for Apple to navigate the complicated approval process. This new fast track procedure was signed into law last fall as a way to improve the job market in California. Approved companies will be able to move quickly through the judicial review process and any challenges to the company's environmental impact report will be pushed rapidly through the court system. Apple is expected to break ground on the project in early 2013 and complete construction by 2015. [Via Mac Observer]
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview ready for rent from iTunes
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview hit Landmark theaters last year and made a second run again in May of this year. Now, the documentary is available on iTunes. The 1:12 film captured a 1995 interview of Jobs conducted by tech journalist Robert X. Cringely. During this time, Jobs was in between his positions at Apple and serving as the CEO of NeXT. Apple fans can rent the original and unedited interview for US$3.99.
iPhone 5th Anniversary: A video retrospective
Talk about a trip down memory lane! After blogger Mike Grothaus mentioned the low quality of his personal photos of the 2007 launch, I dug around on my iMac and found a video I had created on June 29, 2007 for a new blog I was running at the time. The video ends rather abruptly -- I had to set down the camera to sign for my new iPhone -- but you'll get an idea of what it was like to be in line at the Aspen Grove Apple Store on the day of the iPhone launch. I was quite amazed at how much the Apple Store has changed in five years; no more bookshelves full of boxed software and many more iPhone accessories. The one thing that hasn't changed is the rampant enthusiasm of Apple fans and the hard-working employees at the stores. I think a lot of people saw this as the beginning of something huge, and it's great to see that the iPhone didn't let us down.
Apple II torn down, restored to glory
Todd Harrison got his hands on an old Apple II and meticulously restored the computer to working condition. He details the process in a lengthy blog post that covers everything from cleaning the external case to inspecting the layout of the logic board. It's more than just a simple tear-down, Harrison's description is filled with historical information about both the components and programming language that make up the Apple II. There's also gorgeous high-res photos of the disassembly process, so you can marvel at the intricate design of one of Apple's early model desktop computers. You can check out the narrative of the restoration on Harrison's website and watch a video walk through on his YouTube channel. [Via Make]
A hands-on reconsideration of the Newton
Harry McCracken over at TIME Techland has written a beautiful piece about a 20-year-old piece of technology that was ahead of its time -- Apple's Newton MessagePad. As he notes, it was twenty years ago this week that Apple CEO John Sculley introduced the Newton to the public at a CES show in Chicago. The device wouldn't actually ship until August of 1993 and would fly for only five years before being axed by Steve Jobs upon his triumphant return to Apple, but it made its mark on the world and on Harry McCracken. He never had an opportunity to write a review of the Newton, so he purchased a "new in box" first-generation Newton MessagePad H1000 off of eBay and set to work giving this piece of nostalgic technology a fair review. McCracken found a number of things interesting about his time with the Newton. First, most people ignored the device when he pulled it out in a meeting or on an airplane, dismissing it as just another tablet. Next, he points out that the screen on the original Newton MessagePad was "terrible". Apple did improve it somewhat with a backlight later, but it remained pretty crappy by today's standards. When it came to battery life, McCracken was impressed. As he notes, "Back in the 1990s, people squawked that the MessagePad H1000 drained its four AAA batteries too quickly. I found, however, that I could go for a couple of weeks on a set. In an age of smartphones that conk out after less than one day, that was more than enough to keep me happy." I won't spoil the day for you by reiterating all of McCracken's post, but instead invite you to read his well-written words on the subject. The post was enough to make me dig out my still-working MessagePad 2100, plug it in (the battery pack no longer holds a charge), and take the title shot above comparing my vastly more powerful iPhone 4S to the last of the Newtons. If you have a little bit of time and want a nice trip down memory lane, I also suggest watching the video below, which is from a video that shipped (on a VHS tape) with the original device.
Pixar president Dr. Ed Catmull, Oracle's Larry Ellison discuss Steve Jobs
Over the years, Steve Jobs was a big part of the annual D:All Things Digital conference and his presence at the recent D10 was sorely missed. In one long sit-down session, both Pixar President Dr. Ed Catmull and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison talk candidly about their interactions with Jobs and his influence on technology. In one part of the interview, Ellison focuses on Jobs's cutting personality and how that led to his removal from Apple in the early days of the company. Ellison called this removal "an incredible mistake" and said it influences how young CEOs do business today. In another clip from the interview, Catmull, who worked with Jobs at Pixar, and Ellison reflect on their 25+ years of friendship with the Apple founder. This clip is filled with insight into Job's personality and leadership skills.
Ars looks at 25 years of HyperCard
Ars Technica has a wonderful writeup today about Apple's HyperCard, which would soon be celebrating its 25th birthday if it was still around. HyperCard was a wonderful tool; it provided a way for non-programmers to link "cards" of information with simple scripts and a variety of common Mac user interface elements. A button could play a sound, link to another card, or even perform calculations, so it was everyman's way of creating "stacks" of cards that could do amazing things. How important was HyperCard to the world? Although we don't hear much about it today, it was the first implementation of what Ted Nelson proposed as early as 1960 as "hypertext." Many of the early Web browsers borrowed heavily from the design and functionality of HyperCard, with Mosaic and Netscape being the progenitors of today's modern browsers. HyperCard was developed by original Mac team member Bill Atkinson and made it to market in 1987. Reading blogger Matthew Lasar's writeup on HyperCard brought back many memories for me. I can recall attending a seminar at an Apple office in Denver about HyperCard and its core scripting language, HyperTalk, shortly after its release. Author Danny Goodman ran the seminar and copies of his "Complete HyperCard Handbook" were handed out to everyone in attendance. That quickly became my favorite reference, and I began to create HyperCard stacks by the dozen. I actually made money selling HyperCard stacks through Heizer Software's "Stack Exchange," where I sold a variety of reference stacks I had created. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, I gave a number of talks at the Institute of Gas Technology's annual Chicago IT conference talking about the use of hypertext and HyperCard in business. While HyperCard hasn't been included with Macs for quite a long time (it used to come on a set of three floppies with every new machine), its descendants live on. The World Wide Web, SuperCard, and RunRev all owe a lot to Bill Atkinson's brainchild.
AllThingsD posts video highlights of Tim Cook's conversation
Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher interviewed Tim Cook during the opening event for its D10 Conference which is in full swing this week. Besides archiving the live blog, AllThingsD also posted several video highlights from the talk. There's one 16-minute clip and several short clips that present the best of what Tim said during the event. Though the live blog was informative, the video of Cook is much more engrossing and entertaining to watch. It's definitely well worth your time.
AllThingsD releases all its D Conference interviews with Steve Jobs
Some of Steve Jobs most memorable clips come from the times he has appeared on stage with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher as part of their annual D: All Things Digital Conference. To honor Jobs's memory, AllThingsD has released all its recorded interviews with Steve Jobs. The six clips span the years between 2003 and 2010 and include one short, but especially candid interview with Bill Gates. There's also a highlight video that shows the best of his appearances. It's a wonderful walk down memory lane that's worth checking out, especially knowing what we know today about Apple and its climb from a struggling company with a hot music player to one of the top companies in the world. The compilation is available on iTunes for free.
AllThingsD, Macworld recap Tim Cook at D10
If you missed the D10 interview with Tim Cook on Tuesday night, then you should check out the roundup from AllThingsD. The lengthy post, which is an archive of the live blog, is filled with quotes and high-quality pictures from the event. You can also head over to Macworld which has an informative summary of the interview that's organized by topic.
Sotheby's to auction off working Apple-1
Earlier today, we mentioned that Sotheby's is selling a memo that Steve Jobs sent to Atari. While that hand-written note will be interesting to history buffs, another Sotheby's item will garner the attention of Apple hardware enthusiasts. According to Macworld, Sotheby's is also auctioning off a working Apple-1 computer. The Apple-1 is one of 50 remaining units and one of only six working units in existence. It includes a cassette interface and several manuals. The Apple-1 was sold as a logic board and originally retailed for $666. Buyers had to supply their own cases, power supply, keyboard and monitor. The working unit is expected to fetch between US$120,000 and $180,000 when it's auctioned off next month. [Via Macworld]
Sotheby's selling original Steve Jobs note to Atari
Sotheby's is selling another a piece of Apple history that'll appeal to collectors. The auction house is offering a memo Steve Jobs sent to Atari in 1974. The memo contains changes Atari could make to its World Cup Soccer arcade game that'll add variety to the game. The memo has pencil-drawn circuit diagrams and paddle information for the engineers. It's written on Atari letterhead and signed by Jobs under All-One Farm Design, a company name inspired by an Oregon apple orchard/hippy commune frequented by Jobs. The auction begins at US$15,000, but it could fetch a lot more than that. Last year, Sotheby's sold the original Apple contract signed by Steve Jobs for $1.6 million. [Via TechCrunch]
Jony Ive's knighting ceremony
Apple designer Jony Ive was knighted today in a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace, according to a BBC News UK report. It's an honor he said was "absolutely thrilling." Ive's knighthood was announced late last year and the ceremony took place on Wednesday. The famed Apple designer shared some small talk with Princess Anne, who was doing the knighting. You can watch the short ceremony on the BBC's website.
Jony Ive says Apple's current work is "most important"
Earlier today, Jonathan Ive was officially knighted at Buckingham Palace. To mark this occasion, Shane Richmond of The Telegraph published an excellent interview with the Apple design chief. In the long and personal conversation, Ive talks about his early design influences, which are decidedly British. He also talks extensively about his 20+ years at Apple, including a quick reference to his current work which he calls "the most important and the best work we've done." You can read more about Ive and his philosophy of design on The Telegraph's website.
Apple's "1944" filmmaker describes the production
Last week, footage of an internal Apple sales video, titled 1944, landed on YouTube. The most notable part of the production was a cameo by Steve Jobs, who was impersonating FDR in the mock war film. One of the creative talents behind the video, Michael Markman, tells the back story about how the film came to be. It's an interesting tale about a moment of brilliance that started off as a routine meeting with Apple's Marketing Director, Mike Murray, and quickly turned into a face-to-face with Steve Jobs. You can read all the details on Markman's blog and watch the video on YouTube.
Steve Jobs plays FDR in this old Mac sales video
It's not often you see Steve Jobs impersonating a former president, but leave it to the creatives who made Apple sales videos to make it happen. Yes, in this never-before-seen footage (well, never seen outside the sales meetings at Apple back in the 1980s), Steve Jobs plays a certain commander-in-chief, and gives his generals (sales guys) a rousing speech. It's a great watch for Jobs, but check out the full video as well, over at Network World. Sales videos are a source of endless entertainment, from Apple or elsewhere, but it's kinda cool to see Jobs have fun with a role like this.
Traveling exhibit to display Steve Jobs patents
Steve Jobs fans in the Washington, DC area will want to check out an exhibit of his patents. Jobs had more than three hundred patents to his name, and 312 of them will be on display at the S. Dillon Ripley Center, which is part of the Smithsonian Institute. The exhibit contains physical examples of the patented items, like an Apple II, a Lisa, a NeXT computer and an iPod, as well as a facsimile of the accompanying patent. The exhibit was created by the nonprofit Invent Now, Inc, which works to highlight creativity and invention. It will run from May 11 to July 8. Tickets will be made available through the Smithsonain Associates website.
