Steve Wozniak introduces the Apple II
posted by Artw on May 18, 2012 - 30 comments

The idea that the form of a product should correspond to its essence does not simply mean that products should be designed with their intended use in mind. That a knife needs to be sharp so as to cut things is a non-controversial point accepted by most designers. The notion of essence as invoked by Jobs and Ive is more interesting and significant—more intellectually ambitious—because it is linked to the ideal of purity. No matter how trivial the object, there is nothing trivial about the pursuit of perfection. On closer analysis, the testimonies of both Jobs and Ive suggest that they did see essences existing independently of the designer—a position that is hard for a modern secular mind to accept, because it is, if not religious, then, as I say, startlingly Platonic.

— Form and Fortune is an essay about Steve Jobs and Apple's design philosophy by Evgeny Morozov.
posted by Kattullus on Mar 5, 2012 - 23 comments

In 1985, Apple started the "Apple University Consortium Europe" collaboration program, and one of the first universities to enroll was that of Lund, Sweden. To celebrate the collaboration, Apple CEO Steve Jobs came to Lund - and a 16 minute film of his visit has now been found and been made available by the University of Lund. You can see the clip here (.mov).
posted by mr.marx on Dec 16, 2011 - 5 comments

OS X is X today! Meanwhile, Bertrand Serlet, father of OS X, is leaving apple.
posted by Artw on Mar 24, 2011 - 123 comments

This is a short history and background of the Macintosh research project on the eve of its becoming a product.
posted by Joe Beese on Feb 14, 2011 - 12 comments

Apple’s Tablet Computer History - A collection of beautiful prototype designs for some of Apple's early tablet computers from the 1980s and 90s, including the famed Newton [ related | via ]
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Nov 11, 2010 - 25 comments

Afraid that Jobs' wild spending and Woz's recurrent "flights of fancy" would cause Apple to flop, Wayne decided to abdicate his role as adult-in-chief and bailed out after 12 days. Terrified to be the only one of the three founders with assets that creditors could seize, he sold back his shares for $800. An interview with Apple Computer co-founder Ron Wayne (he also designed Apple's first logo). Had he held out, his shares today would be worth $22 billion.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot on Jun 4, 2010 - 49 comments

Twenty years of Macintosh - a well done retrospect about the Apple Macintosh presented in a series of posters, annotated with excellent topical links for further reading.
posted by loquacious on Nov 6, 2006 - 32 comments

Apple Computer 1984 Newsweek Advertising Insert :: a complete scan of Apple's 16-page advertising insert in Newsweek magazine, introducing the new and revolutionary Macintosh computer.
posted by anastasiav on Apr 26, 2006 - 55 comments

Jeff Raskin, widely considered the father of the Macintosh computer, has died. Visit folklore.org for stories chronicling the birth of the computer Jef named after his favorite varietal (but misspelled in order to avoid confusion). Jef's contributions to the development of simple, intelligible, "humane" computing environments didn't end with the Mac; learn more here and here.
posted by killdevil on Feb 27, 2005 - 20 comments

Apple-1 CPU, VG-Mint.
"This computer, as is documented, was bought from Steve Job's parents garage. The checks for the purchase and the original manual are included." More photos here.
[via coudal]
posted by me3dia on Sep 27, 2004 - 16 comments

Folklore.org "is a web site devoted to collective historical storytelling. It captures and presents sets of related stories that describe interesting events from multiple perspectives, allowing groups of people to recount their shared history in the form of interlinked anecdotes." [via Daring Fireball]
posted by kirkaracha on Jan 26, 2004 - 2 comments