A Brief and Warped History of the Mac, part 1(in which the Mac doesn’t appear).

Welcome to the first column in my series. I would at this point like to tell you what the column is going to be about but sadly I can’t really at the moment. I did ask Adam for some guidance on topic, but he said he’d leave it up to me – which was probably a big mistake.

All I can tell you is that this column is not going to be useful. However it may be interesting, informative and occasionally controversial – though if it is please don’t send too much abuse my way.

One thing I have always found incredibly interesting about the Mac is not just how it is now, but also how we got here. Apple have revolutionised the world of computers time and time again in terms of software and hardware. Not ambitious enough for them, they’ve now revolutionised the whole music industry.

The History of the Apple company is probably well documented in scraps around the internet and several other ‘brief history’ guides out there – most of which are better written. But here is my take on the whole sordid affair – serialised over 6 parts.
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Listen to today’s show here!
MC20050601.mp3 [12.7mb 27:48 64kbps]

A podcast about Macs done by a Mac geek for Mac geeks. Show 64. Apple releases QuickTime 7.0.1, Mac OS 10.4.2 released to developers, new iPod Photo update coming soon, AOpen’s “Pandora’s” box Mac Mini clone, Apple launching “The Studio” in more retail store and Microsoft plays follow the leader, again. Migrating from Adobe Photo Album/Elements to iPhoto, recommendation for a USB KVM Switch. Get an iPed Discount from Thought-out.biz. My decision on advertising in the show and how to support the show without advertising. New music, The Longer Goodbye by Six of One. For whom the bell tolls. Shownotes: HTML or OPML

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So remember, Luxpro? Yes, they are the company from Taiwan who ripped off the design of the iPod Shuffle and showed it off at CeBit along with matching iPod advertising, also stolen. Apple’s lawyers were hot on the case and within a day all offending materials and images were removed. Well seems Luxpro has a deathwish, becasue they are back with a slightly (and I mean VERY slightly) modified design. Units are now available and showing up on eBay for about $100 USD. They changed the name to the SuperTangent and it adds some additional features not found on the iPod Shuffle. The SuperTangent has support for MP3, WMA and protected WMA formats. It also has an FM tuner and can do high quality recording. If you are interested, Phillip Torrone over at Make Magazine has posted his review along with a Podcast recorded with the device. I personally hope Apple goes after them with all guns blazing and doesn’t stop until the the SuperTangent is nothing more than a SuperMemory.

Thanks to listener Jakob we may now know how “Beggin’ Strips” dog snacks keep showing up on the grocery list you created in AppleWorks.

I was looking at the AppleWorks software page on Apple’s website, and saw something peculiar, along the lines of not eating the iPod Shuffle. It mentions in the first paragraph you dog using AppleWorks to remind you to feed her and has a “disclaimer” on the bottom.

See [ Screenshot 1] and [Screenshot 2]. from the AppleWorks web site.