It's always nice to own the latest and greatest Apple hardware, but some of us still use vintage machines. I've got a G3 All-In-One on my workbench that displays iFixIt PDFs while I work. I'll admit that I've wanted to tweet from that machine from a dedicated app, and now I can.

Grackle68k is a Twitter application for OS 9 through System 6. Yes, System 6! It's quite bare bones and low on bells and whistles, but it works. You'll have to enter your credentials every time you launch Grackle68k unless you're comfortable using ResEdit (if you're using this app, you likely are).

I played with this briefly on ny G3 and had fun. If you've also got a basement full of legacy Macs, give this a try. If only I still had that Powerbook 150...

Out with the old, in with the new. This week's hardware releases were met with new additions to Apple's vintage and obsolete hardware lists. The following have been added, and I'm sad to say that I'm still using the Dual Ethernet Airport Base Station:

• iBook G4 (Early 2004)
• iBook G4 (14" Early 2004)
• eMac (USB 2.0)
• Apple Cinema Display ADC
• Apple Studio Display 15" ADC
• Apple Studio Display 17" LCD
• Apple Studio Display 17" ADC
• Power Mac G4 (QuickSilver 2002)
• Macintosh Server G4 (QuickSilver 2002)
• PowerBook G4 (DVI)
• iBook (14.1 LCD 16 VRAM)
• iBook (16 VRAM)
• AirPort Base Station (Dual Ethernet)

I've also got a 20" G4 iMac and my wife uses at 14" iBook, both of which were previously added to the list. Supported or not, they're still useful -- check out this Macintosh Classic being used as a window display.

Back in 1994 my employer had several SE/30's connected via LocalTalk, and we thought that was the baddest thing on the planet. Not to mention late-night games of Maelstrom and Glider Pro. Oh, memories.

[Via HardMac]

According to the Washington Post, the incoming U.S. presidential administration has inherited quite the challenging IT environment: The White House.

President Obama's staff -- accustomed to Macs, social media, and having the latest equipment -- found Windows PCs with Microsoft Office 2003 in their new offices. Laptops were "scarce," apparently, and the team had trouble finding ways to update the redesigned White House website and add subtitles to web videos. Perhaps they were misled by the prominence of Mac hardware in the fictional-but-familiar West Wing version of the executive mansion.

Valleywag's Owen Thomas suggests that Obama's staff are "whiners." "Outside the Manhattan media bubble and Silicon Valley's startup cube farms, this is how most Americans work. Want a Macintosh? Sorry, IT hasn't approved it. Oh, you need to use Facebook to interact with customers? Sorry, that site's blocked -- and management suspects that 'social media' is a buzzword which means 'getting paid to waste time chatting with friends.'"

Part of the reason for the White House's legacy systems is related to the need to retain all computer records for the National Archives, and protect all kinds of communication (from emails to IMs to tweets) on the network for national security reasons. This task isn't impossible with a Mac -- some might say it's easier to accomplish with a Mac than with a PC -- but there will be a lot of sleepless nights for the White House's new IT staff while the new system is set up. Meanwhile, the tech-friendly new Commander in Chief appears to have won his first geek battle; he is going to get to keep his Blackberry [or something like it; Engadget clarifies that we don't know the details yet, but press secretary Robert Gibbs said it was indeed a BlackBerry during today's press briefing (his first) -Ed.] subject to a security overhaul by an unnamed federal agency (assumed to be the NSA).

With the new administration's focus on change, it seems as though a new tech infrastructure and business rules for the executive office of the President are in the cards. It remains to be seen if our favorite platform, though, makes the cut.

Thanks to Michael and Joe for sending this in.

The first Mac I bought (though I'd been using them since the LC days) was a PowerMac 7100/66 in 1994, and it was my dream. I even paid extra for the GeoPort modem (remember those gnarly beasties). It shipped with a special version of System 7 (v7.1.2) that was optimized for the new PPC chips to which Apple had just transitioned. And wow, was I happy with the speed and stability of System 7 on my new 7100. Believe it or not, it was actually possible to have a stable System 7 working environment--I did for years. Myst on this baby was one of the first truly surreal experiences I'd ever had with a computer.

I haven't actively used System 7 since I got rid of my PowerBook 100 back in 1998 but was pleased to find that some people are still championing this breakthrough OS. Dan Palka is a student at Bradley University and has set up a hobbyist site called System 7 Today, and maintains a fairly complete list of tips, tools, and tricks you can use to tweak out your System 7-equipped Mac.

And, who knew you can still order a boxed copy of System 7.6 from Apple? Go figure!