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A nostalgic look at the Macintosh Portable, Apple's first laptop
The Macintosh Portable, Apple's first laptop and the first consumer laptop to travel into space, was released in 1989. Groundbreaking in its day, the laptop was still a bulky travel companion, roughly the size of the phone book at four inches at its thickest point. Still, it came packed to its vents with ports, modular design, a floppy disc drive, and a trackball that could be removed and replaced with a numeric keypad. Users could expect six to twelve hours of battery life, but the computer had an odd glitch once the battery was dead. YouTube user Canoopsy explores the quirks of the Macintosh Portable, and compares it to Apple's modern laptops, in this recently posted video. It's a fascinating look back at just how far we've come since the early days of laptops. Enjoy.
Facebook lets users rewrite the past by editing their 'Look Back' videos
Let's be real here: the nostalgic "Look Back" videos Facebook rolled out for its tenth birthday are... let's say, hit or miss. Sure, some of them are tremendously meaningful. Most of them are much less so. But fear not! In the event that your Look Back video doesn't really tell your personal story (or at least not the version you want people to see), Facebook is giving you the chance to edit it. Clicking the shiny new 'edit' button on the Look Back page lets you choose which images and status updates you want to highlight. There are, sadly, some pesky limits. As TechCrunch points out, you're stuck choosing from only a slightly wider pool of content, not the entirety of your lives on Facebook. Then again, even a bit of selective surgery could go a long way in making these videos more tolerable, so tweak away.
Time Warner Cable rolling out Look Back service to the masses
Time Warner has been running trials of its Look Back service for a year or so in various markets, but it's finally ready to bring it to the Real America. The feature lets good, honest folk go back and watch shows they've missed for up to three days after they've aired, with no need to set a DVR -- it's basically on demand content with a better name and no charge. Shows will be available to watch immediately after they've aired. Look for it to hit a coax cable near you very soon.
Poll: When did you join the HDTV ownership club?
Since you're reading this, we'll guess that you have an HDTV (or three) in your possession but not everyone got on board the movement at the same time. So let it be known, did you suffer through the early days, with only a few channels, watching the Olympics a day behind and no HD movies on disc? Or are you a latecomer who jumped into a world full of cheap Blu-ray discs, downloadable HD and more HDTV channels than service providers think we can count? %Poll-48318%
AT&T goes live with U-verse TV in Raleigh, NC area
Be still our hearts! The rumors were indeed true, and U-verse TV has at long last arrived in the Triangle to combat the monopoly that is Time Warner Cable. A breaking report from WRAL has it that the carrier is "offering its U-verse TV service as well as high-speed internet service in the Triangle," but fails to elaborate on specific service areas. We've heard from locals that Cary, NC will be one of the first locations with access, but until AT&T issues its own confirmation, it's hard to say for certain. Obviously, those who sign up will have access to Total Home DVR from day one, and we're told that packages will start at $44 per month. Reportedly, locals can ping local retail stores or head to the carrier's website to apply for access. In related news, TWC is said to be readying more HD channels as well as Start Over functionality and a feature that "allows you to watch shows you missed, up to 48 hours after the program originally aired." Funny -- we suspected that real competition was on the way when 20 some-odd high-def stations showed up on the cable company's lineup in late October. Guess that wasn't too far from the truth.[Via The Wolf Web, thanks Dave]
TWC looks to bring Start Over / Look Back, more HD to Orange County
For those parked in beautiful Orange County, California and wondering if Time Warner Cable is thinking of you, trust us, we feel your pain. Thankfully, competition has pressured the carrier into opening its eyes a bit, as a recent interview with the president of OC's Time Warner Cable operations has given folks in the area something to look forward to. For starters, subscribers can soon expect faster internet speeds all around, with "Power Boost" taking underutilized capacity and giving it to those who need an extra burst to suck down a large file. Additionally, users will finally see Caller ID on their TV, and best of all, Fred Stefany admitted that HD was a priority and that most areas should have upwards of 50 high-def channels before 2009. Finally, we're told that SDV, Start Over and Look Back are all coming within the next several months. Check the read link for the full writeup, and hang tight (if you can).
Time Warner readying modified fast-forward functionality for DVRs
While Time Warner Cable (partly owned by Time Warner, parent company of AOL, which owns Engadget) won't go down as the first cable company to modify the oh-so-lovable fast-forward feature, at least the latest hamstringing won't affect those willing to pay up. Dubbed "Look Back," the newfangled DVR feature will reportedly come "without a monthly fee," and will only allow customers to skip ahead and back in predetermined chunks of time; moreover, it will be limited to programs that are watched back before midnight of the day they air. The firm plans to test it out this October in South Carolina before "gradually introducing it around the country," and it was also noted that this -- along with the "Start Over" feature that functions exactly as it sounds -- would not require viewers to "remember to record programs," but alas, it also eliminates the ability to keep a library of stored content onboard. Ah well, so long as we diehard DVR users can keep on coughing up the dough required for a fully-functional FF button, we've no real qualms with this option joining the fray.
