Behold the first Apple Store: Apple’s Software Dispatch!
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, History, video
Yeah, we’re feeling mighty nostalgic these days. In response to our retrospective on Apple.com, faithful Macenstein reader noahrobd turned us on to a little piece of Apple corporate goodness in the form of this video Apple made to promote their cutting edge (for 1993, anyway) software distribution system, Software Dispatch.
(iPhone users click here to watch the video)
We can’t tell if the guy in the video is Sam Raimi, Ethan from LOST, or their unholy offspring from Conan O’Brien’s “If They Mated” segment, but the guy is so smooth he could sell ice to Eskimos. In fact, we actually found the number for Software Dispatch and called it, hoping to place an order. Unfortunately the number (which brings you to a company called TeleTech Corporation), has only a message saying the number is no longer in service. Read more
Apple looking for an iPhone Visual Designer
One of the best things about the iPhone is its interface. It’s got those jolly, candy-like buttons, smooth animations, and we could play with the timer feature’s scroll wheels for hours. But even something as perfect as the iPhone will eventually gain some enhancements. So why not be the one who decides what they are? Apple is now looking for an iPhone Visual Designer.
Apple’s Mac OS X User Interface Group is seeking a senior visual designer with dynamic interfaces or animation experience who possesses a passion for great design and shows an exceptional eye for detail. The designer will conceive, design and develop future enhancements to Aqua, the dynamic user interface for Mac OS X. We’re looking for a visually articulate designer capable of communicating their ideas through compelling high-fidelity illustrations and prototypes.
Job Description: Responsibilities include conceiving, developing and prototyping new interactions for various components of Mac OS X, working with engineering and marketing to finalize designs, documenting solutions and monitoring their implementation. Experience in shipping commercial software and understanding the constraints of the software development environment is a plus. Must be a team player with excellent communication, negotiation and presentation skills.
Required Experience:
• B.S./M.S. in Interactive Media Design, Graphic Design, Animation or related field. *2+ years of experience in software visual design
• Demonstrable understanding of user interface design principles.
• Must have demonstrated fluency with Photoshop, Illustrator or other design tools.
• Must have demonstrated experience with prototyping tools and environments such as Director and Lingo.
• Experience with other tools such as 3D Modeling applications are preferred
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Chris for the tip!
If you can sit, you can get fit… The Hawaii Chair!
Filed under: Awesomeness, Not Mac - But Cool, Slow News Day, That's Weird..., video
OK, this is not Mac related, and I know you guys frown on videos, but if you don’t at least crack a smile watching this, you have no soul.
(iPhone users click here to watch the video)
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Kelly (who begged us not to post it) for the link!
Show OS X you hate it with “Teh Icons”
Adobe’s icon set for its CS3 suite is arguably the worst ever. (Well, really, there is no argument, but some people apparently blindly defend Adobe the way most of us blindly defend Apple). If you happen to be one of those Adobe lovers that thinks the simplicity of their faux periodic table of elements icons set (which in reality wasn’t meant to mimic the periodic table) is somehow conducive to a productive workflow, then take a look at “Teh Icons“. This icon set has an Adobe-esque blocky icon for virtually every application available, from Address Book on down, and the source files are included is you find an app is missing (or want to change the font when Slimbach comes out). At the very least, this confusing icon set will help keep other people from easily screwing with your computer…
Thanks to faithful Macesntein reader TheWarpedOne (who apparently remembers my hatred of the CS3 icons) for the link.
Wake up call: Apple is NOT “losing” $500 million to unlocked iPhones
The TimesOnline’s Jonathan Richards has published a rather sensationalist report entitled “Apple loses out as one iPhone in four is unlocked: More than a million iPhones were unlocked last year, costing Apple as much as $500 million in lost revenue, according to research” . Now, we love sensationalist journalism as much as the next person (in fact, we just recently ran a sensationalist article claiming Steve Jobs “lost” $1 billion), but usually we can see the logic behind the point they were trying to make. That’s not the case here, however.
The crux of Richard’s argument seems to be that despite Apple claiming to have sold 4 million iPhones, AT&T (and Apple’s European iPhone carriers) have only activated just under 3 million of them. By his logic, this means that Apple is losing out on the 27% of iPhones which are presumably being sold unlocked worldwide and used on carriers Apple doesn’t have a revenue sharing agreement with, which would total about $500 million if they were being used on Apple’s carriers.
While the 1 million unlocked iPhones figure is likely correct, the idea that Apple is losing anything is not. First of all, Read more
Apple delays Apple TV “Take 2″ software
Filed under: Apple TV, News, Not Cool, Software, Updates
Apple’s “MacBook Air Now Shipping” announcement had a bit of bad news hidden insde.
“CUPERTINO, California—January 30, 2008—Apple® today announced that MacBook Airâ„¢, the world’s thinnest notebook, is now shipping. MacBook Air measures an unprecedented 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76-inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks. Apple also announced that the new Apple TV® software update, which allows users to rent high definition movies directly from their widescreen TVs, is not quite finished. Apple now plans to make the free software download available to existing Apple TV customers in another week or two.“
Hmmm… what are the chances the 2 week delay is so they can develop a way to download and install a Blu-ray player? Because that would be awesome.
I actually just bought the 40 GB Apple TV last week with the help of a gift certificate I won from 50leaves.com. In general, I think it has potential, although none of the problems I have with it are being addressed in this update. But I’ll wait 2 weeks for it to arrive before I go on an Apple TV diatribe. Maybe they are working on things like sharing specific video playlists as we speak.
The Prime Directive: “Use no Windows”
Above: (left) JJ Abrams & exec. producer Bryan Burk, (right) Abrams
We all love celebrity Mac sightings, and while he’s not quite as easy on the eyes as Megan Fox and Alyssa Milano, Star Trek director JJ Abrams was recently caught on the set chatting with fans on his Macbook Pro.
In theory we’re fans of the Star Trek franchise, even though only 2 of the last 10 movies have been watchable (I am of course speaking of numbers 2 and 4). So hopefully Abram’s Star Trek 11 will have both whales and things going in people’s ears.
[via Trekmovie.com]
All hail the mighty MagSafe connector
YouSendIt Express for Mac debuts
YouSendIt has released a new desktop Mac client for its popular file transfer service for businesses and individuals. YouSendIt Express allows you to send files as large as 2 GB each from your desktop without having to open the YouSendIt web interface.
These days many of us either have .Mac accounts or personal web servers we can use to send large files across the web. The problem is, sending a client to a .Mac account often looks less than professional, and most webservers don’t provide you the range of extras that YouSendIt does. For instance, you can set download limits on the number of times a file can be downloaded when the link should expire, and whether it is password protected. (I personally love the expiration date feature, as weeding though my ftp site deleting old files is never fun.) But the most useful feature I’ve found is the delivery confirmation option which lets you know when your client has successfully downloaded a file. This means you don’t have to bug clients via phone or e-mail to ask them if they have downloaded a file yet, and if it’s OK to delete it. It also means they can’t claim they never got it. Additionally, for a slightly more professional feel, you can also customize the web portal your client will see when downloading files with your company’s logo. Read more
Apple.com: A life remembered
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, History, video
Inspired by our last post about the history of Apple.com (and more importantly, the first comment on it) we decided to take a more thorough trip down memory lane. Behold Apple.com “A life in Pictures”.
(iPhone users click here to watch the video)
Yeah, it’s a bit light on the ancient stuff, but don’t blame us, blame flickr user Kernel Panic, from whom we stole all the images. Maybe if he wasn’t so lazy, we’d have a true time capsule. Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Xavier for the idea.
