Originally appearing in the October, 1984 issue of Creative Computing, this is an evaluation by Owen Linzmeyer of the Apple IIc, unearthed at Atarimagazines.com. It begins:
"The Apple IIc is like no other Apple computer ever introduced, and yet it is virtually an Apple IIe work-alike. The design of the IIc represents a change of philosphy for Apple. Gone are the expansion slots that hardware hackers loved. In fact, you can't even open the IIc easily. Apple has built a computer that is to be used as an applicance--like a telephone or a tape recorder.
The IIC is 'aimed primarily at the consumer market,' asserts John Sculley, President and CEO of Apple Computer. Will the IIc find a place in every home? There is no doubt in Apple's mind that the IIc will be their highest volume product ever. Will you be their next customer? Come, let's take a closer look so you can decide."

Read more:
Apple IIc Revealed

Another YouTube.com find, this time a 1983 Apple commercial featuring actor Kevin Costner acting as though he really knows how to use that Lisa! He's good.



Apple Lisa Commercial Featuring Kevin Costner

Another great new article by Tom Hormby at Low End Mac. It begins:
"John Sculley, who had once been hailed as Apple's savior for huge sales increases and good PR (like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs in one) had presided over the splintering of the product line and a sharp decline in market share. The same trends continued after Sculley was forced out, and the former leader of the international Apple subsidiaries and COO, Michael Spindler, took control of the executive suite at Apple. Under Spindler's leadership, Apple was in a state of decline."

Read More:
Power Computing: Fighting Back for the Mac or Stealing Apple's Customers?

Today we return to the magical Wayback Machine at Archive.org to retrieve another lost nugget. This 1994 article by Chris Oakes, reviewing the PowerBook 180c, is originally from Creative Mac.
It begins:
"Imagine not just color, but brilliant, wet-to-the-touch color, in a portable Macintosh. Plenty of PowerBook customers imagined (and demanded) just that and could hardly wait for a product that would finally deliver it. Mobile multimedia users were especially in need of an all-out color portable machine. But last summer, when Apple finally shipped such a Mac -- the 8-bit color PowerBook 180c -- the machine received only a lukewarm reception. Users and reviewers had been clamoring for a color PowerBook with a crisp, active-matrix display that would leave the drab, passive-matrix 165c in the silicon dust, both in terms of image quality and performance. But while we finally received active-matrix color in the 180c, its limitations -- not the least of which was a list price that started over $4,000 -- still left that great color PowerBook we'd been waiting for over the horizon."

Read more:
A Less Expensive Color Portable

Today we return to the informative "This Week in Apple History" series at The Mac Observer. The February 22-29 entry in the series by Owen Linzmayer & Bryan Chaffin is entitled, "Happy Birthday Steve, Goodbye Newton & Don Crabb".

February 22-29: Happy Birthday Steve, Goodbye Newton & Don Crabb

Another gem found at YouTube.com featuring a very youthful Steve! From the intro:
"Here we see Steve Jobs at a keynote in 1983 showing for the first time ever the famous '1984' ad by Ridley Scott to an exclusive audience. The ad was shown on tv shortly after that only once during the 1984 Superbowl & never aired again & is considered to be one of the greatest ads of all time."



1983 Apple Keynote-The "1984" Ad Introduction

This 1999 article at Wired.com by Heidi Kriz details the famous Apple "Hal" commercial. And who can forget all of that "chaos" caused by the Y2K bug? Ok...not so much.
It begins:
"Apple has resurrected the most famous computer in film history to assure consumers that the Macintosh won't let consumers down come the millennium. The voice of HAL 9000, the ultimate symbol of technology gone wrong, stars in the company's Super Bowl advertisement this year.
The advertisement features a near-flawless impression of the sinister star of the Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey."

Read More:
Apple Recruits HAL 9000



HAL 9000 Apple Ad

Today we return to the informative "This Week in Apple History" series at The Mac Observer. The February 15-21 entry in the series by Owen Linzmayer & Bryan Chaffin is entitled, "Flower Power, Dalmations, & The Supreme Court".

February 15-21: Flower Power, Dalmations, & The Supreme Court

The fantastic 8-bit Apple II emulator for Mac OS X, Virtual ][ has been updated to version 5.7.

New in this release:
* Added a "search all disk images" feature to the program that presents all disk images found on the system, and allows fast searching for an Apple II file.
* The emulated diskette drives now allow inserting a diskette image in gzipped form.
* The Spotlight search module now also scans gzipped diskettes.
* Solved an issue that caused the emulated game paddle button #1 to "stick" when controlled with the right mouse button or the alt key.
* The previous version (5.6) had introduced a problem with USB game pads on Intel Macs. This issue has been solved.
* Solved an issue that prevented the use of reset (ctrl-F12) in full-screen mode.
* Solved a ProDOS compatibility issue concerning the Thunderclock card.
* Solved an issue that could cause the Inspector to show a wrong memory bank in the slot 3 memory space on an Apple //e.

Visit the Virtual ][ Website

Alfred DiBlasi is at it again! This time it's a 1989 Quicktime demo at YouTube.com.
Alfred's Intro:
"This is from the Quicktime 1 (yes, ONE) CD from 1989. It showed how QuickTime could digitize animations. The animation was rendered, I believe, on Apple's CRAY Supercomputer, done by their ATG (Advanced Technology Group) Media Technology Group.
Yes, back in the day, we would digitize movies at resolutions of 145 x 112 in thousands of colors. You think we could go 'full screen' back in 1989? Nope. LOL!
Enjoy the time trip. This is, without doubt, one of my absolute favorite 'early era' QuickTime clip."



Secret Serpent - Apple QuickTime Version 1.0 Demo

Today we return to the informative "This Week in Apple History" series at The Mac Observer. The February 8-14 entry in the series by Owen Linzmayer & Bryan Chaffin is entitled, "Apple's Beginnings, The Newton, & Star Trek".

February 8-14: Apple's Beginnings, The Newton, & Star Trek

This time, our friend Alfred DiBlasi really delivers, with his latest video at YouTube.com. This is a rare, behind the scenes look at the making of the Macintosh 1984 commercial, and he even put in a fresh MP3 of the original music that was used, editing the song exactly the way Apple had used it for the video!
Alfred's Intro:
"This is a rare video clip I restored, which shows 'behind the scenes' of Apple's famous 1984 commercial. Enjoy this trip back in time -- and see why 1984 isn't like '1984'"



Apple 1984 - Behind the Scenes

A tale at Folklore.org by Andy Hertzfeld. This time the topic is the Macintosh, and specifically, that Burrell Smith actually designed 5 different Macintoshes. It begins:
"The awesomely creative design of the Macintosh digital board was always the seed crystal of brilliance at the core of the project, but there wasn't just one design; Burrell redesigned the digital board four different times as development proceeded, finally arriving at the shipping design in the fall of 1982."

Read More:
Five Different Macintoshes

Today we return to the magical Wayback Machine at Archive.org to retrieve another lost nugget. This 1997 article by John Rizzo reviewing the best picks from Macworld Expo '97, is originally from Creative Mac.
It begins:
"What do Waterworld, Woodstock II, and Apple CEO Gil Amelio's keynote speech at January's Macworld Expo have in common?
All were eagerly awaited, star-studded events that turned out to be duds. Despite a lineup of celebrities that included Muhammad Ali and 'Independence Day's' Jeff Goldblum, Amelio gave his worst public performance ever. Meandering from one subject to another, it took him nearly two hours to get to what everyone came to hear--Apple's plans for the just-purchased NeXT operating system."

Read more:
Dynamos and Duds

We round out the week with... you guessed it, another great video at YouTube.com from a Alfred DiBlasi. We sure hope he keeps these treasures coming!
Alfred's Intro:
"This was a corporate song that was used during the Macintosh rollout in January, 1984. I heard it live, in Manhattan, before Steve Jobs took the stage to introduce the Macintosh and the new line of Lisa computer systems.
The copy that's been out on the Internet was pretty ratty looking, with dropouts in the video and the audio. I digitized and restored this version from a first generation VHS tape in my personal library. I also extracted the audio and enhanced it in my home studio to give it some more punch and reduce the noise.
So, if you are into technology, Apple corporate history, or computing, you will enjoy this. if you're not, and you just like the videos of me and my family and my bad jokes -- don't watch it, because the song is really cheesy and is a blatant rip off of Irene Cara's 'Flashdance' song."



We Are Apple (Leading The Way)

Today we return to the informative "This Week in Apple History" series at The Mac Observer. The February 1-7 entry in the series by Owen Linzmayer & Bryan Chaffin is entitled, "The Woz Leaves, Jobs Buys Pixar, Apple Gets A Grammy".

February 1-7: The Woz Leaves, Jobs Buys Pixar, Apple Gets A Grammy