Apple History: Interview with Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne
You know Woz, and Jobs, and Prancer and Vixen, but do your recall Ronald Wayne? Well, Dutch news show One More Thing did, and they managed to track down the elusive 3rd co-founder of Apple, and conducted a pretty interesting interview (well, interesting if you are obsessed with Apple minutia, like me). If you’ve ever wondered “Heeft u ooit spijt gehad van uw vertrek?” or “Heeft Steve Jobs uw adviezen overgenomen?”, you’ll finally get your answers. (Don’t worry, Wayne’s answers are in English, and he’s exceedingly candid). [Edit: These clips appear to be unaired portions of an interview conducted for the “Welcome to the Macintosh†DVD. Thanks Matthew and iShervin]. [Edit2: Nope, looks like it's an original OMT interview, shot during a promotion for the "Welcome to Macintosh DVD". Thanks Jan!]
Among the things we learn: Wayne created the horrible “Newton” themed Apple logo, once owned 10% of Apple, Woz needed everything explained to him 60,000 times using small words, and Steve Jobs was such a maniac when it came to making risky financial backroom deals, that he eventually scared Wayne into leaving the company.
One More Thing podcast #152: Ronald Wayne, medeoprichter Apple from One More Thing on Vimeo.
Thanks to faithful Dutch Macenstein reader Bor de Kock for the link!
When Steve Jobs says “Jump”, Phil Schiller asks “How High?”
When I heard Phil Schiller was going to deliver this year’s Macworld keynote speech, I admit I wasn’t all that excited. But all that’s changed after seeing this clip of Phil Schiller at Macworld 1999. Watch in amazement as Phil leaps from a 20 foot platform to demonstrate how tough the Tangerine iBook is (or, at least how tough the air mattress he lands on is). I love the way his pudgy legs flail.
So, what’s Steve got in store for Phil THIS year? Will he force Phil to stick his head in a lion’s mouth to test the new iPhone earbuds, or ride a tiny unicycle across a high-wire to test…um… well just to make him look foolish? Suddenly I am really looking forward to Macworld!
[via thinkingbricks.com]
Wow Steve, FireWire sounds really cool! When’s it coming to the MacBook Pro?
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, History, Steve Jobs, video
So far the only regret I have about my new MacBook Pro is the lack of a FireWire 400 port. It’s not a huge deal, but its absence became immediately apparent when I began attempting to transfer the files from my old white MacBook (which has FireWire 400) to the new MBP which does not. Luckily I was able to find a spare piece of Ethernet cable at work and use the migration assistant that way, but during the MUCH SLOWER 6.5 hour migration, I had plenty of time to count up just how many old FireWire drives, card readers, video cameras, and peripherals I owned that I would no longer be able to directly access via my new top-of-the-line machine.
The sad death of FireWire 400 on the Mac reminded me of its joyous birth. The video below is from the infamous 1999 MacWorld Stevenote where Jobs introduces FireWire to the crowd, explaining the lameness of SCSI, and how magical FireWire is (I still remember the red VST drives that we drooled over then – and I think I still have one somewhere  (not that I can hook it to my new MBP…)). While I certainly understand that progress is progress, I’m not Read more
OMFG “Adventure” comes to the iPhone! And it’s FREE!
Filed under: Awesomeness, Games, History, iPhone, iPod Touch
Yes kids, there was a time when video games looked this bad, and they were played on a little thing called the Atari 2600. I remember when my brothers and I got our 2600 for Christmas, and Adventure was included in the box.
Above: Behold the awesomeness that IS the golden castle!
Above: I can’t believe I still remember the route of the maze after 25 years… and yes, that arrow is your sword.
The description of the game painted a vision of a magical world full of sorcery, dragons, sword fights, and danger. The reality was decidedly different, leaving pretty much EVERYTHING up to the player’s imagination.
“An evil magician has stolen the Enchanted Chalice and has hidden it somewhere in the Kingdom. The object of the game is to rescue the Enchanted Chalice and place it inside the Golden Castle where it belongs.
This is no easy task, as the Evil Magician has created three Dragons to hinder you in your quest for the Golden Chalice. There is Yorgie, the Yellow Dragon, who is just plain mean; there is Grundle, the Green Dragon, who is mean and ferocious; and there is Rhindle, the Red Dragon, who is the most ferocious of all. Rhindle is also the fastest Dragon and is the most difficult to outmaneuver”
Above: Oh no! Yorgie the Yellow Dragon is terrifying! Or is that a duck?
Above: Oh no! Yorgie the Yellow Dragon is totally going to eat me!
Above: Hmm… I guess when I was five I missed just how much it looks like Yorgie had an erection after eating me
Peter Hirschberg, creator of the vector game emulator Vector Dream has successfully ported Adventure to the iPhone, and all the crappy graphics and gameplay are there. I remember there was a magic “dot” you could find that if you brought it to a certain screen would allow you to travel through a wall and see the game’s creators (one of the first console game cheats I can remember). While 25 years later I am impressed that I still remember how to navigate the maze, I can’t remember where the dot is, so I don’t know if Peter threw that in, and honestly, I got bored after 5 minutes, so I don’t think I will bother Googleing the dot and finding out, but kudos to Peter for what appears to be a very faithful port of the game that got me addicted to games.
“Computers are the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds” – Another Great Steve Quote
In the full context of what is being discussed here, Steve’s “Computers are the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds” actually makes a decent amount of sense. However, who the heck cares about context these days?!?! Somebody needs to take this piece of footage and slap it onto a compilation reel along with Steve’s “Scrolls like butter” comment, NOW!
[via Scholarspot]
Fergie is a Mac Chick
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Celebrity Mac Chick, History
If you remember this 2004 video introducing the iMac G5 you may recall seeing Fergie gush over the machine. “The iMac is amazing” she says, shaking her head in disbelief (approx 2:30 in). “I’m jealous of the kids today because they have this knowledge ahead of where I was when I was younger, and I only wish that I could have had this.”
Well, whether or not Apple paid her to say that, it seems Fergie really IS into Apple gear (at least diamond encrusted Apple gear). Check out this pic that faithful Macenstein reader Kensei sent us of Fergie holding up her iPhone, decked out in a Gilty Couture case.
Somehow I have a feeling quite a few kids today with iMacs who are more jealous of Fergie than she is of them.
The only thing nerdier than comic books is…
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, History, Humor, Steve Jobs, That's Weird..., WTF
…Comic books about computer inventors!
Being a nerd who is into both comic books and computer inventors, I don’t know how I missed out on this 1984 Japanese comic book about how Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed Apple Computers. My only excuse is that I was about 4-years-old when it came out and roughly 8,900 miles away.
Apparently, Jobs and Wozniak met when a fateful lab explosion threw them together.
I don’t read Japanese, but from what I can tell, Manga comic artist Mitsuru Sugaya took a couple liberties in telling the tale, as I don’t remember either Steve mentioning they met during a huge explosion on campus, or that they invented a computer that could fly into space.
Above: Steve Jobs uses Thundershock to stun Wozniak into working with him.
If you’d like to read it for yourself, or at least look at the pictures and make up your own story like I did, you can view the whole thing on Mitsuru Sugaya’s blog.
Apple invents the first computer capable of breaking the bonds of the Earth’s gravity, and the rest is history.
[via Boing Boing]
Giant Pink Lady gets out-smarted by Mac Dude
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, History, Humor, Opinion, iPhone, video
I had read this story over a year ago during the original iPhone launch – a rich “would-be” eBay tycon pulls up to the line of people who had been waiting outside an AT&T store for hours, flashes $100,000 in cash, and buys the first-in-line spot from a kid for $800 in hopes of buying out the entire store’s iPhone supply, only to be told there is a 1-iPhone-per-customer rule – but somehow seeing the video makes it soooo much better.
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Jon for the tip!
Let’s hope FOX NEWS doesn’t release a 3G microphone this July
Filed under: History, Humor, That's Weird..., Theft, iPhone
On the 1 year birthday of the iPhone, we thought a trip down memory lane was in order.
Remember all the craziness surrounding the iPhone’s initial launch? Big crowds, professional line-sitters, street magicians pretending their iPhone had X-Ray abilities? Well, for me what sticks out as the craziest moment of the launch was when FOX NEWS anchor Laura Ingles was mugged while interviewing Newsweek’s Steven Levy (who was showing off one of only four iPhones known to be in the wild at the time). You can see that despite a healthy lineup of easy-to-mug geeks waiting to go in and plunk down $600 on the iPhone, it is inf act Ingles’ microphone that seems to be in high demand.
Man, and that was just for the EDGE version of the microphone! Imagine the security needed if that thing was 3G! Good thing FOX NEWS reporter/WWF wannabe “Hollywood” was there to set things straight.
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Charles
Oh the humanity! NeXTCube set on fire.
Behold the terrible beauty of what happens when a NeXTCube’s magnesium case is set afire.
Back in the Spring of ‘93, Simson L. Garfinkel, then Senior Editor at NeXTWORLD Magazine, had the bright idea to test whether the NeXTCube’s legendary magnesium casing would burn with a white hot flame – leaving nothing but a pile of white powder, the way he remembered magnesium doing in his chemistry classes at school. The tale of his years-long attempts at burning the Cube makes for an interesting read (assuming you are a geek (like me) or just plain into burning stuff (like me)) but obviously these pictures give you the gist.
More pics Read more
