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Filed under: Apple History, This Old Apple

Found on eBay: An original Apple-1 with wonderful documentation

A few months ago, we provided details of an auction that featured a Mac that had been given to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry by Apple. If you missed your chance to pick up that prime item, now you have an opportunity to own an Apple that is even more rare: an Apple-1 (also known as the Apple I) that's currently on auction on eBay.

The starting bid for the Apple-1 is US$50,000. What do you get with your winning bid? A non-working Apple 1 motherboard, the original shipping box (with the return address being the home of Steve Jobs' parents), and the original manual, complete with schematics on how to take the motherboard and build a workable computer out of it.

There's also a tape interface card, used to load or save software from cassette tapes. The card comes with a manual and a cassette with a typed label that says "BASIC" on it.

If you're a fan of Steve Jobs, you'll want two of the items that are included. The first is a letter signed by Steve Jobs that explains how to connect a keyboard and monitor to the computer, and telling the buyer (someone who wanted to be a dealer) when dealer applications would be available. The second is a hand-typed invoice for the computer, showing "Steven" as the salesman for the machine.

The original full-page advertisement for Apple was included with each Apple-1. This features the original Apple "Isaac Newton" logo that was designed by the third founder of Apple, Ronald Wayne. Wayne also wrote the Apple-1 manual. Finally, you'll get a photograph of every other owner of this computer. The existing owner has a picture of himself, the computer, and Steve Wozniak that he's including.

If you're the successful bidder, you are asked to travel to Roseville, California to pick it up due to the irreplaceable nature of the Apple-1. A gallery of the photos included in the auction can be viewed below. And remember, this could be the perfect holiday gift for that special someone...

Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Developer, Deals, iPhone

For sale on eBay: One iPhone development business, batteries not included

Want an iPhone app business without all the boring hassle of actually programming and releasing iPhone apps? Boy, does Brice Milliorn have a deal for you! He's auctioning off his iPhone app business, which he says has 87 different apps for sale, over on eBay.

Milliorn says he started out developing apps on his own, but the business is just too big for him to keep up so he's selling all of the apps and their rights, all of the source code, and technical support for two months to transition everything over to the new owner. He doesn't specifically say that he'll transfer the developer account on Apple's App Store to your name (he says he'll send over a DVD with the source code and transfer "the whole kit and caboodle" to you), but we presume that's what will happen -- of course if you go for it, you're doing this at your own risk.

What will a burgeoning App Store business, complete with apps like iSexyRef and Swine Flu cost you? Just a cool $100 grand. That's the starting bid in the eBay auction, which has just over a week left and no bids as of this writing. There are certainly less expensive ways to get started selling apps on the store. It only costs $100 to register in Apple's Developer Program for a year, and then you just need to find a developer you can pay -- or even do it yourself with a helper service).

If you'd rather start off with a bunch of marginal to silly 99-cent apps and happen to have an extra $100,000 lying around to spend (maybe for a nice holiday gift?), here's your opportunity.

Filed under: Desktops, Hardware, Odds and ends, Retro Mac, Apple History

Here's your chance to own Gene Roddenberry's Mac

Update: OK, we have to hand it to all of you -- you have successfully pointed out that this Mac's model number isn't consistent with a Mac Plus, but instead with a 128K original Mac. We took that key fact back to the auction house that is listing this machine, and they did their own due diligence to come up with the following explanation:
We've gotten several inquires about this by the fantastically loyal and knowledgeable Mac community. After further investigating the item, here's the information:
Firstly, this Macintosh was, indeed, presented to Gene Roddenberry by Apple. There is no doubt about this.
The conflict between the photo and the serial number is as follows. This computer, given by Apple to Mr. Roddenberry, is an early production Macintosh 128 (#776), which was then upgraded by Apple for Gene to a Macintosh Plus-thus the model number / serial number / panel that "belongs to" a Macintosh Plus. The 0001 led us to mistakenly believe that it was the first one off the line.
Again, the provenance of the item is perfect and it did belong to Mr. Roddenberry. I apologize for any confusion.

So, that's the story as we understand it. The headline has been adjusted to match the new information, and in turn we apologize for the error.

----

How would you like to own the first Macintosh Plus computer? By first, I mean the one with serial number F4200NUM0001, the Mac that was given by Apple to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. As you'll remember, a Mac Plus (presumably not this one) was used by Scotty in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Profiles in History
, an auction house with a storied history of selling amazing Hollywood memorabilia, will be auctioning off the Mac Plus at their October 8-9 auction. While most of the attention will probably be focused on the Michael Jackson glove from the 1984 Victory Tour, Apple aficionados are invited to put in bids on this piece of Apple history.

Here's the description of the Mac Plus from Profiles in History:
This is the very first Macintosh Plus 1Mb personal computer to come off the assembly line at Apple Computer in Fresno, California. It was presented to Gene Roddenberry as a gift by Apple Computer, Inc. and bears the serial number F4200NUM0001. The Macintosh Plus was a revelation among personal computers when it came on the market in 1986. With 1 Mb RAM (upgradeable to 4Mb), it supported the double-sided floppy disk format and was the first Mac with a SCSI port for fast data transfer to and from an external hard drive.

The Macintosh was the first mass produced computer to utilize the mouse and the Macintosh Plus was the longest-lived Macintosh with production until 1990. It features the beige-colored case with 9 in. display, 3.5 in. floppy drive and includes the short keyboard, external floppy drive, mouse and Apple logo deluxe padded carrying case. An incredible artifact with a wonderful association between the visionary computer designer/manufacturer and legendary Star Trek creator. Accompanied by a signed letter of provenance from Gene Roddenberry's son, Rod.
The Mac Plus is expected to sell for $1000 - $1200, less than half of its original purchase price. A closeup photo of the computer showed definite signs of use, including the lovely sludge that tends to build up on keyboards and mice after years of handling. For a view of the Mac Plus in all of its beige (Pantone 453) glory, read on.

Continue readingHere's your chance to own Gene Roddenberry's Mac

Filed under: Odds and ends, Apple, Apple History

Bid on this Andy Warhol Apple logo serigraph

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.)

Filed under: Software, Productivity, Internet Tools

iSale 4 brings major eBay auction upgrades


iSale from equinux is a killer app for anyone serious about selling on eBay, and a recent update to version 4 brings some major new features to the table. A completely revamped template chooser functions much like GarageBand's sample chooser, utilizing multiple keywords to help you filter through over 130+ templates to find the perfect look and feel for your auctions. iSale 4 can now also pull item descriptions from Amazon, eBay and even your very own Delicious Library database, taking the chore out of collecting the nitty gritty details of whatever items you're posting. There is also much broader support for 'boilerplates,' snippets of information that remains the same across all your auctions such as shipping, introductions, item descriptions and even a general footer. In addition to already supporting FTP and .Mac for alternative image hosting for your auctions (eBay charges per picture), iSale 4 now also supports uploading and hosting from Flickr. Last but certainly not least on iSale 4's new features list is robust support for multiple eBay accounts, making it much easier for über-sellers or families to manage multiple accounts all in one app, without purchasing separate licenses or going through the effort of switching users in Mac OS X.

As a happy iSale customer in the past, I can tell you I've already upgraded and am darn satisfied with the new features. A three auction demo is available, while a full single license costs $40. Upgrades from 3.x are on sale for $14.95 (down from $19.95), though anyone who purchased after December 1st, 2006 gets grandfathered in at no charge. Multi-license packs are also available, starting at $49.95 for up to three Macs.

Filed under: Software, Productivity, Internet Tools

iSale 3.1 adds eBay interactivity, prepares for upcoming site changes


iSale, the application our own Scott McNulty dubbed 'the Delicious Library for eBay auctions', has been bumped to version 3.1 with some very useful site interactivity and significant changes under the hood. iSale 3.1 can now relist unsold auctions and allow you to watch how many people have looked at and are watching your auction - right from within iSale. An improved widget can also display the watch count, hit count, highest bid and feedback from the highest bidder. Last in this new version is a localized and active links preview for English, German and French languages. Under the hood, iSale has been tuned for an upcoming change to eBay's communication standards which goes live on July 1st.

For a refresher, here's a list of the other features iSale already offers: beautiful auction templates, a 'funky pinboard' with photos of auction items, one-click locating of buyers with Google Maps, 'Smart Date' simplified auction scheduling, description importing from Amazon and eBay, Address Book/Mail integration, .Mac syncing, iCal scheduling and much more.

iSale 3.1 is a Universal Binary, offers a three-auction demo and sells for $39.95 USD. Upgrades from iSale 2.x are $14.90 USD.

Filed under: Hardware, Portables, Odds and ends, Internet

Newton Museum going-out-of-business sale


If this large vintage collection of Macs made its way into Dave's basement, I'm sure all the Newton-related items being offered up in this eBay auction will also end up there.

The complete collection of The Newton Museum's stock is up for grabs and it's nothing if not a thorough collection. I mean, they even have an eMate. Anyway, everyone else is digging this, so I thought we should too. If you win it, let us know.

Tip of the Day

Use Spotlight as a reference tool. Type any word in the Spotlight box and one of the top entries will be a definition. Click on it, and it will bring up the dictionary application to check the word in either the dictionary, thesaurus, Apple database, or Wikipedia.


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