If you haven't registered yet, you'd better get moving since WWNC 2009 starts on July 31st!

What? You don't know what WWNC 2009 is? It's the WorldWide Newton Conference, and it's planned for July 31st through August 2nd in Vancouver, B.C. Lest you think that the Newton platform is a Dead Parrot, you should be aware that there is still a vital community of Newton enthusiasts.

Some of the expected topics at the conference are:

• Uses for Newton in today's world: for personal and business use (e.g. connecting to company database)
• Improving Newtsync: discussion on improving OS X's Newton sync application
• Ebooks and Newton: development of PDF viewer applications for Newton
• Discussion around Einstein and new hardware platforms
• Newton programming 101 for beginners
• How to GPS with the Newton, from A-Z
• How to Network the Newton: NPDS, wifi, etc.

Compared to WWDC, the WorldWide Newton Conference is a bargain at just $55 (accommodations, meals, and transportation not included) for the three days. If you still feel the love for your MessagePad, you should plan on attending this conference (I'd go, but I don't think Weblogs, Inc. will pay my airfare...). Sign up now!

I hope this post gets filed in the "I knew I wasn't the only one!" mental filing cabinets of many. Because if it doesn't, then it makes me the only one who really looks forward to the music Apple uses in its keynotes. Whether it's a song that leads up to Steve Jobs' entrance on stage, or one used in software or hardware demos, there's no denying that music is very much a part of Apple's DNA. Heck, the company's namesake reflects Steve's love for the Beatles. Apple occasionally invites some of music's biggest names to perform at its events because, as Steve says, "it's all about the music."

And this post is all about the music. It's all about the music that Apple has used in one way, shape, or form at its keynote events. Although by no means a definitive list, it's certainly a fair sample.

We made it through Y2K and we appear to be surviving Twitpocalypse, but will Apple Newton MessagePad fans make through the Newtapocalypse?

Apple's ill-fated and technologically advanced personal digital assistant was hot stuff in the 1990s until it was axed in February of 1998. There are still a good number of Newton MessagePad fans who not only use their devices every day, but are also working together on hardware and software updates to their units to bring them into the 21st Century.

The Newtapocalypse occurs next year at 6:48:31 PM on January 5th, 2010. While a majority of the functions of the MessagePad are not affected by the impending doom, calendar functions are. Here's a description of the problem from 40hz.org:

The overflow happens in all NewtonScript functions which use seconds as the resolution. In contrast to the 32 bit unsigned integer used by the C++ functions, NewtonScript integers are only 30 bits wide. While the C++ functions can handle times from 1904 until 2040 without an overflow, the NewtonScript functions had to be designed with a smaller range of applicable times due to the limited precision.

The seconds-based functions are implemented by taking the value of the real-time clock, subtracting the offset to January 1st 1993, and converting the results to a NewtonScript integer. This limited range causes an overflow on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 at 6:48:31 PM.

This is the list of affected functions:

• SetSysAlarm
• TimeInSeconds
• TimeToTimeInSeconds
• TimeInSecondsToTime

Got that? John Sculley and company were probably hoping that by now you'd be using your Knowledge Navigator instead of a Newton MessagePad, and 2010 seemed far, far away. For anyone who wants to use calendar alarm functions on a Newton OS 2.1 devices after January 5th of next year, there's a fix that is being tested.

Now you'll be able to sleep better at night, won't you?

Update: I should change the title of this post to "Don't fear the reaper", since several commenters have pointed out that the update was released three weeks ago. The 40hz.org web page originally cited still says that "A solution is under testing". Frankly, considering the caveats listed on the update page, I think it would be a much better idea just to get an iPhone, guys!

On October 17, 1998 Apple released Mac OS 8.5, the first operating system that ran solely on Macintoshes with PowerPC processors. As far as system software upgrades go, this was the end of the line for any Mac built before the Power Macintosh 6100, introduced in March 1994. Earlier Macs ran on some variation of 680x0 processors and were supported mostly via emulation in a PowerPC environment. Emulation works, but it also slows things down. By 1998, Apple decided it just couldn't support 680X0 emulation for a number of reasons, but chiefly among them was speed.

What happened was just what you would expect. In user groups, USENET and the Internet (which was only starting to explode), apoplectic non-PowerPC Mac owners threatened class action lawsuits and the rending of garments. Of course, most Power Mac users loved the newfound speed introduced in Mac OS 8.5, thanks to code optimized for PowerPC processors and jettisoned emulation support.

It took Apple only four years to introduce the PowerPC chip and make any Mac without it obsolete. Technology moved on.

In September Apple will release Snow Leopard, which will only run on Intel based Macs, thus cutting off PowerPC support. This time it took eleven years from inception to extinction (well, three for the Intel transition), but even so I can hear the hue and cry machine cranking up. Once again, the major reason for dropping legacy support is speed. Technology has moved on.

Whenever something like this happens there is a potential for a marketing meltdown, but this time Apple is doing something brilliant. It is going to sell Snow Leopard for $29. When I saw this on the video stream of the WWDC keynote address my jaw dropped, my eyes glazed and only later did it start making sense to me. Apple first introduced Mac OS X in 2001, and excluding the free update to Mac OS X 10.1 from Mac OS X 10.0, a new version of the OS has been released roughly every 18 months, always at a price of $129. The sales pitch is always the same: with each new version, OS X gets new features and an "enhanced computing experience" which largely depended upon how much you like the new features.

Mac OS X 10.6 will be the fifth major release in eight years, and some users are complaining about feature overload. There will always be users who want four ways to do the same thing, but for others, feature-laden releases are overwhelming and the glimmer and excitement of a new OS X release has faded. What a perfect time to work under the hood, set up the core of the operating system for the future and stabilize what's already there! But of course you can't make everyone happy. I would expect a large group of users to not be mollified by a nicer QuickTime and an improvement to Stacks. In effect, where's the beef? The beef is under the hood this time.

If things had turned out just a bit differently in the late 1990's, we might not be visiting Apple Stores. Instead, we'd be talking about the food we ate and the movies we watched at the Apple Cafe.

TUAW reader and Guifx Director of Operations Morgan Strauss told us about his post on the Guifx blog recalling a retail concept that Apple announced on November 12, 1996. No, they weren't planning on selling Macs, iPhones, iPods, and the occasional Apple TV -- instead, Apple announced that they were going to open a chain of Apple Cafes throughout the world.

The Apple Cafe was to be a high-tech cybercafe where you could order healthy food while videoconferencing with people at nearby tables, surfing the Web, and pulling up movies or TV shows on a small kiosk screen at your table.

Strauss owns two architectural paintings (below) that were produced by artists for Landmark Entertainment Group, which was partnering with Apple and a company called Mega Bytes International in the proposed venture. The paintings show the proposed 15,000 square foot Los Angeles location, which was to be the flagship of the chain.
The concept was quietly scrapped before it ever got off the ground, which is probably fortunate considering the dwindling popularity of other theme restaurants. Be sure to visit the Guifx Blog to see the paintings in detail.

The guys over at the RetroMacCast sent us a link to their latest episode, featuring an interview with none other than Rob Janoff, the designer of Apple's old rainbow Mac logo. The interview starts a little less than halfway into the show, and it's cool to hear a voice right out of Apple's past.

They talk about the inception of the logo -- how Apple came to Janoff's firm and what they originally asked for in terms of a design. He actually had very little guidance when first creating the logo, and in fact hadn't seen any of Apple's branding or even heard of the company before he created the now-iconic image. He also talks about how lucky he was in choosing the image -- he saw it as a pretty obvious choice to use a picture of fruit for a company named after said fruit, but like any great logo, there ended up being layers of meaning behind that apple bite (or byte, as he points out).

Nothing really earthshaking in the interview (he hasn't had contact with Apple since, and even he says that the mythology behind the company has much more to do than just the familiar logo), but hey, if you're hanging out today during Memorial Day and need something interesting to listen to while barbecuing, you can tune in and learn a little bit about Apple's corporate history.

I'm proud to count myself among InfoWorld's Tech cult No. 7: The Tao of Newton. I'll confess that my 2100 has seen less action since I bought my iPhone, but it'll never be relegated to my basement wasteland where various Palms, Visors and even a 3Com Audrey dream of more useful days.

Newton ownership is definitely not for everyone. it's big and takes some doing to get it to cooperate with contemporary hardware and software. But for the faithful it's a terrific piece of hardware. For more Newton information, check out The NewtonTalk mailing list.

People either have the love or they don't. You can have mine when you pull it from my cold, dead hands.

I love art. I love Apple products. When the two intersect, I get very interested. For example, I have an original Nitrozac oil painting hanging on my office wall depicting Steve Jobs announcing the iPhone at Macworld Expo 2007.

TUAW reader Ramy sent us a tip about an Andy Warhol serigraph that is currently up for auction at O'Gallerie in Portland, Oregon. The silkscreen color print (photo at right) was commissioned by Del Yocam, who was Apple's first COO and head of the Apple II division during the 1980s. Yocam is now on the Board of Directors of Adobe Systems.

While we'll never know why this iconic Warhol is up for grabs, if you have $20-30K just burning a hole in your pocket, now you have something to spend it on.

Peter O'Grady of O'Gallerie was kind enough to give us permission to reproduce the image of the Warhol serigraph, and noted that Portland readers can attend the auction on May 6th at 7 PM PDT.

(Don't worry. I won't be bidding against you.)

In the spirit of today's April Fool's/Apple birthday blasts from the past, we've got a giveaway prize pack that will remind us all of days gone by. [Yes, this is an actual giveaway, not a joke. -Ed.]

Long before there was the iPhone, there was the little PDA that could: the Newton. While it may have sparked mockery and marketplace neglect in its original release, there are still thousands of loyal Newt users (our own Steve Sande among them) who crave the green glow of the touchscreen and the cold, firm feeling of the stylus in their hands.

If you want to join the chorus of Newton owners, here's a unique opportunity: win a mostly-functional (delivered as-is) MessagePad 130 that has been sitting in a box in Mike Rose's office for years now. The left side of the screen is wonky, but other than that it seems to be in working condition. Along with the MP130, you'll get a leather Newton case, a Fodor's 1994 Travel Guide card, a copy of the MessagePad 2000 manual, and a bonus: a copy of the 1996 World Wide Web Yellow Pages. This, friends, is what winning feels like.

See abbreviated rules below, and leave us a comment telling us your favorite Newton memory to enter!

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us your favorite Newton memory.
• The comment must be left before April 5, 11:59PM Eastern Time.
• You may enter only once.
• One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prize: One copy of the MessagePad 2000 Manual, one copy of the 1996 World Wide Web Yellow Pages, one Newton MessagePad 130 with leather case & custom stylus (note: screen is not fully functional, prize delivered as-is), one Fodor's 1994 Travel Guide card for Newton (total value estimated at $100 -- no warranty included).
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

Luxo Jr. gets Academy Award nomination
Even though Steve Jobs is no longer with Apple, we're still interested in what he's doing. You'll remember that he bought a computer graphics company from director George Lucas last year (for a rumored $10 million), which he named "Pixar."

We don't know how many units of the $135,000 Pixar Image Computer they've sold, but Pixar animator John Lasseter has put it to good use. The short film he produced, "Luxo, Jr." has been nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Animated Short Film category. Good luck, Pixar!

Lisa gets the axe
After several revisions and price cuts, the Lisa has been officially discontinued by Apple Computer. When it was released three years ago with an astounding price tag of $9,995 (Heck, the Tandy 600 is only $1599!) we were blown away. Not only by the cost, but by the machine itself. The mouse, the icons on the screen, that awesome trash can!

Sales have declined over the past 12 months, and even a re-branding as the Macintosh XL last January didn't help. The Macintosh has been selling like hotcakes since its introduction two years ago, even though it lacks many of the Lisa's features, like protected memory, expansion slots and support for an impressive 2 megabytes of RAM.

Goodbye, Lisa! We'll remember you.

The AppleColor RGB Monitor is totally awesome at $499
There are now several monitors available from Apple, and the granddaddy of them all is the AppleColor RGB Monitor at $499. This 12" analog monitor was designed for the Apple IIgs, and supports a resolution of 640x480 (Nice!). Those of you with a Macintosh II can also use this monitor, provided that you have the Apple High Resolution Display Video Card.

The Apple Monochrome Monitor was introduced earlier this year for $129.

The Macintosh Plus rocks
Finally, we've got to talk about the Macintosh Plus. With a 8MHz Motorola 68000 processor and 1 megabyte of RAM (expandable to 4 megabytes), we're excited about this machine. Of course, the big news is the SCSI (or "Small Computer System Interface") peripheral bus and the new 3.5 inch double-sided 800 KB floppy drive.

The SCSI port will allow for a nice collection of new ad-ons, like hard disks and tape drives. Of course, the double-sided floppies have twice the storage capacity as their predecessors while the drive itself is backwards compatible with older disks.

Customers will find the software programs MacPaint and MacWrite bundled with their Macintosh Plus, which is great! You can pick up your very own for $2,599.


ZLOK has re-posted an article (originally meant for the defunct Sync Magazine) about Rob Janoff, a designer who's credited with coming up with the iconic-as-they-come Apple logo. It's actually a really short piece, but he does talk pretty candidly about where he got the idea: by buying a bag of apples and slicing them up in different ways.

And the original design was just a single color Apple (which, of course, Apple has used versions of since), but Jobs thought the design should be more colorful, so the logo got its familiar colored bands. Janoff says he just threw the colors in where he thought they might fit, which makes sense -- they don't match up with the physical spectrum at all, they're just sort of in there.

Cool to see that something now so well known started off so simply. Janoff did the work for a design firm, and says that nowadays, he gets "not even a holiday card" for his invention. Apple does take their time recognizing inventors, though -- maybe the card's in the mail.

[via Cult of Mac]

You think a pulled hamstring, judges' scorn, and general lack of grace or terpsichorial skill are drawbacks? Fuggedabout it. You cannot stop the Woz, you can only hope to contain him: the second-week results from Dancing With The Stars were a surprise for Steve Wozniak and his partner Karina Smirnoff, as they avoided the bottom two slots and another dance-off.

For a while there it looked like Woz' injury might knock him out of the competition, but he stuck it out and delivered a performance that the panel hated but the Internet and phone voters cherished.

If the power of Apple fandom can keep Woz twirling and dipping long enough to, you know, actually learn to dance without hurting himself or others, perhaps we will see the King of All Geeks on the winner's podium by season's end. Perhaps.

[via CNN]

I'll admit it: I loathe Bluetooth headsets. It's impossible to walk around with one of those things protruding from your head without looking like a total tool. No one's impressed, Lieutenant Uhura.

I'd like to think it was that reason that prompted Apple to stop selling the iPhone Bluetooth headsets, but it was probably poor sales. We don't have sales figures, of course, but I've never seen one in the wild.*

It's also possible that Apple is up to something else. You'll remember that iPhone OS 3.0 touts support for A2DP Stereo Bluetooth connectivity among its features. The headset which shipped with the 1st generation iPhone had a built-in switch, similar to the one included with the current iPod shuffle. Perhaps a future model will control the iPod and answer calls over Bluetooth? If so, it had better be pretty cool.

*Out of fairness, I'll state that I live in a town of 4,000. Not exactly a hive of early adopters.

Our friend Hadley Stern at Apple Matters reminds us that that on this day in 1997 the Twentieth Anniversary Mac (or TAM) was offered for sale to a mystified public. Originally slated to sell for about U.S. $9,000 it was reduced at introduction to U.S. $7499.00. It was delivered and set up by a concierge, and at the time it was pretty radical, at least in looks. It was a thin, upright design, with an 800x600 LCD screen, a TV Tuner, and a Bose Audio system with a sub-woofer and power supply that sat under your desk.

Only 12,000 were made, but many remained unsold. The price soon dropped to $3500.00 and in March of 1998 it was closed out at $1999.00. That outraged original owners, and Apple responded by giving them a new Apple laptop.

I was able to grab one of the TAMs at $1600.00 and at that price I thought at least it would make a nice music system and second computer. Unfortunately, the system developed a nasty audio buzz. I wasn't alone, and many of the units had to be returned for a fix.

Performance specs weren't too great. It was limited to 128 MB of RAM. Most of the internals were similar to the components of the then current PowerMac 5500 and 6500, although the TAM had a custom motherboard.

I added a processor upgrade sold by Newer Technology, which kicked the speed from 250 to 400 MHz. That helped, but the upgrade required a new back for the TAM that didn't enhance the slim profile.

Of course the TAM was a statement computer, not a howling fast desktop. Here is a link to the specs. Although Steve Jobs was said to have hated the TAM (he was in exile from Apple at the time) you can see some of the early evolution of the iMac in the design.

There are still quite a few of the TAMs out in the world, and there are some web sites dedicated to keeping the flame alive. You can't run OS X on them, so you had to max out at OS 8 or 9.

Jerry Seinfeld had one, and it could be seen on the set of his TV show in the final season.

I parted with mine long ago, but it was always a good conversation piece when people dropped by, and the 90's ultra-modern design doesn't look out of place at all today.

Thanks to Apple Matters for reminding us about the TAM.