RetroMac Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Retro rarity: spring cleaning unearths a Colby Walkmac

by Steven Sande (May 30th, 2013)

For those of us who have been around the mobile computing space for a while, the name Ken Landau is quite familiar. Landau's currently the CEO of iOS development firm mobileAge, but he's been producing software for handheld computing devices since the true birth of the industry in 1993 with the ...

1985 TV show discusses the Apple Macintosh

by Steven Sande (Mar 29th, 2013)

Ahhh, the early 1980s. Those heady days when the Mac was new, computer user groups were the way that you learned about your Mac (and made copies of software), and the Computer Chronicles was on TV. Today, courtesy of Wired, we get to take a look at a 1985 episode of the classic computer geek ...

Apple museum to appear at Atlanta computer festival

by Steven Sande (Feb 5th, 2013)

Anyone who has been part of the Apple world for more than a couple of years has a collection of favorite devices, some of which are beginning to turn into true museum pieces. Atlanta-area Apple geeks will get a chance to see a huge collection of Apple devices April 20 and 21, 2013 in Roswell, ...

A history of Apple print ads

by Steven Sande (Oct 18th, 2012)

During a lot of the early history of Apple, printed ads in magazines and newspapers were about the only way that the company could get the word out about whatever new technological advance they had just developed and wanted you to buy. Retronaut has a wonderful page full of many of those print ...

ThinkGeek offers retro Padintosh Case for iPad

by Steven Sande (Aug 13th, 2012)

Have an iPad 2 or third-generation iPad? Do you love retro Macs? If so, then you need to order the cool Padintosh Case for iPad (US$24.99). While it's the front of an original 1984 Mac pictured on the case, the Padintosh actually protects the back of your iPad. You can use a standard Apple ...

TUAW TV Live: Attack of the emulators on Retro Mac day

by Steven Sande (Jun 27th, 2012)

It's time to sit back with a glass or mug of your favorite beverage and enjoy an hour of time travel, back to the days of the early 1990s when dinosaurs roamed the Earth in the guise of Macs running System 7. Regretfully, I have to let you know that I will not be sitting behind the console of a ...

TUAW TV Live at 5 PM EDT: Retro Apple day

by Steven Sande (Jun 27th, 2012)

If you took a look at my post Monday about turning a Kindle Fire into a System 7 Mac and a Newton MessagePad, you know that I've been playing with emulators for about the last week. It's been fun, and today I'll take you on a journey to the early 1990s of Mac computing. While last weekend was ...

Kindle Fire transforms into a Mac Plus and Newton MessagePad

by Steven Sande (Jun 25th, 2012)

Last year when the Amazon Kindle Fire first hit the market, I bought one for US$199 to do research for a book. Since the book was published, I haven't touched the Fire at all -- until now. Based on a story I posted the other day about running an old version of the Mac OS on a Nook Simple Touch, ...

Mac classic OS emulator on Nook Simple Touch

by Steven Sande (Jun 18th, 2012)

So, your clueless Uncle Rob sent you a Nook Simple Touch for Christmas last year, and it's been sitting around collecting dust. Well, here's something you can do with it -- turn it into a Mac running OS 7.5.3. Last November, blogger Mike Cane had the dream of running the classic Mac OS on a ...

TUAW TV Live: The 1980's episode

by Steven Sande (May 23rd, 2012)

Note to viewers: By "The 1980's episode" I mean that I'll be doing a retrospective look at some ancient Mac magazines with you looking over my virtual shoulder. I will not be wearing my corduroy suit and disco platform shoes. Yep, it's time to pop into the time machine and take a trip back to ...

Get your rare Twentieth Anniversary Mac on eBay

by Steven Sande (Mar 28th, 2011)

Want a piece of Apple history? Bring your wallet and your cut-throat bidding skills and head on over to eBay, where there's an untouched, unopened Twentieth Anniversary Mac up for grabs. This wasn't celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Mac; rather, the TAM was created as an homage to the ...

Blast from the Past: What the new iPods ain't got

by Erica Sadun (May 7th, 2007)

Newer isn't always better. Ask any wine connoisseur or violin player. I recently googled across this article over at the Apple Blog on why new iPods aren't quite as good as old iPods. Sure there are a lot of great reasons to buy new. It was iPod video support that finally convinced me to buy. Eddie ...

Blast from the Past: 1986 Apple Ad

by Erica Sadun (Apr 9th, 2007)

If your business is out of control, suggests this ad, perhaps a Macintosh could solve all your problems, with its shiny, shiny spreadsheets, word processing, and other business features that allow you to concentrate on your business rather than learning how to become a computer expert. More to ...

Blast From the Past: RetroRumors

by Erica Sadun (Mar 19th, 2007)

May 11, 1988. The dawn of a new Apple ][gs+. Someone claiming early access to the development posted details to an online board, which was copied and forwarded and eventually posted to Usenet: "please don't spread this special information around, as apple would not be happy if this got out to the ...

Blast from the Past: Apple acquires NeXT

by Erica Sadun (Mar 12th, 2007)

It's December 20, 1996. Apple has just acquired NeXT in a $400 million deal that brings Steve Jobs back to Apple. Jobs will act as an "advisor" to CEO Gil Amelio, bringing his charisma to the team led by Amelio and Ellen Hancock. The deal offers $350 million in cash and stock as well as covering ...