Category: Columns
James Savage and John Leake have released the 503rd episode of their RetroMacCast podcast. Join them as they discuss the latest Apple and Mac related eBay finds: Tempest Mac, Apple leather wallet, and iMac cat bed. They discuss iMac G5, and news includes connecting an original Mac keyboard to an iPhone, SE/30 webserver, redesigned Airpods, and the new Apple Card. To download the latest episode of the RetroMacCast, check out their website at:http://retromaccast.ning.com/
The Biggest Change to the society of the Fourth Civilization will not be pervasive computing technology per se. Certainly, the compound, sliding, dual bevel mitre saw we call the computing appliance, whether in big iron, small iron, desktop, laptop, pocket, or embedded form, is already ubiquitous. One assumes the embedded form will soon also be so. Indeed, to the younger of our world, computing technology is such an integral of the physical, social, and intellectual landscape that they cannot wrap…
RetroMacCast, the long running retro Macintosh podcast hosted by James Savage and John Leake, has reached the 500th Episode. This episode is special to us here at A.P.P.L.E. as well, as it features our own Brian Wiser talking about the Lordlings of Yore project as well as the 2019 rendition of Kansasfest. James and John discuss eBay finds: Apple Computer Clubs membership kit, Fat Mac/coolerand reproduction signs. John interviews Brian Wiser to talk about his KansasFest experience, and news includes…
Technology News and Views Since 1983 The Future–Not What It Used To Be August 2019 The usual bunch of idiots will be no longer. Mad magazine, which gored everyone’s ox in ways that ranged from hilarious to despicable (depending on whose ox) but were always in exquisitely wretched taste will cease publishing new material. One supposes that after a few retrospective collections, the whole thing will fold up like a deck of jokers. “What has this to do with a…
July 2019 The news of Jony Ives’ Departure from Apple to lead his own design company cannot, despite iCook’s comments, have a positive spin put on it for Apple’s future. Each industry, each profession, each discipline has its practitioners and its leaders. A few of these have iconic founders–people who made themselves the sine qua non of an entire school of thought and practice. Modern technology design has Jony Ive’s signature all over it. His designs for computers, pads, phones,…
This column is a little late because the Spy placed it on hold until after the June 3 announcements at the annual keynote WWDC speech. Items put on the table by iCook include those of modest importance to the Spy, but of more note to some people, including: the expected (and leaked) replacement of iTunes in MacOS by Apple Music, AppleTV and Apple Podcasts. This will certainly make it easier to find things. The three functions have been joined in…
The RetroMacCast Episode #492 has been released. In this episode, James and John discuss their latest Apple related Ebay finds as well as the game, Colony. They also talk about the “Show Time” event among other items. To listen to the latest edition of the podcast, check out the RetroMacCast website at:http://retromaccast.libsyn.com/
It was the best of sheds… until it became the worst of sheds. Oh, wait. Introductory sentences structured that way are yesterday’s news. Well, what the Dickens… The Spy has a small shed used to store his garden technology–tools, fertilizers, a very few chemicals, pots, fencing, poles, rototiller, etc. All of it is low tech. Built some five and twenty years ago out of scrap lumber, the underpinnings have proven susceptible to rot, so he decided to replace it. The…
Kevin Savetz and Carrington Vanston have released the 29th episode of their Eaten by a Grue podcast. This episode, the two wayward Infocom geeks interview Steve Meretsky, programmer extraordinaire who was responsible for a number of titles produced by Infocom in the 1980’s and 1990’s. To listen to the latest Eaten by a Grue episode, check out podcast website at:http://monsterfeet.com/grue/
Once again Carrington and Kevin take on the Infocom world with a run through of one of the classic titles. This episode, number 28 for those who are counting, the check out the little known title, Catch A Butterfly. While most folks might thing this was an elaborate scheme to pull off the ultimate April Fools joke, the joke really fails particularly hard since a demo of Catch a Butterfly was included as part of the first sampler (ID1) from…
The next great thing has, for some time now, been wearables. Smart watches haven’t made much of their time on the market, though. After all is hard to expect people to buy a smart watch when so few wear watches. And, how many people really need smart T-shirts or running shoes? These are all interesting, even geeky ideas, but like smart refrigerators, fit in the category of devices earnestly seeking for an application, but not finding much. Fitness and health,…
RetroMacCast has announced the availability of three new episodes of their podcast. Episode #389, #390, and #391 all have been released today. The RetroMacCast is a vintage Macintosh based podcast run by James Savage and John Leake. it is available as a free download from the RetroMacCats website at: http://retromaccast.ning.com/
The Spy’s Fourth Law reminds us Marketshare Lags Mindshare by two to five years. Long before the Internet was invented but was detailed here as the Metalibrary, the Spy warned that bringing people closer together electronically, far from creating the other pundits’ global village, would exacerbate old prejudices, hatreds, and uninformed beliefs, thus promoting division, not unity. This is exactly what the Internet has delivered–an echo-chamber platform for reinforcing differences rather than enabling dialog, much less promoting true tolerance. The…
John and James have been busy with a new episode of the RetroMacCast. The latest episode, number 288, includes a bevy of topics including: EBay finds: color ImageWriter II ribbons, Apple TV promotional display, iPod Red Sox. They declare their retrolutions for 2019, and news includes an Apple catalog graphic, Mac84, and VCF Northwest. You can find the latest episode of the RetroMacCast at: http://retromaccast.ning.com/
The 110th episode of the Mac Admins Podcast has been released. The podcast, run by hosts Tom Bridge, a partner at Technolutionary LLC and Charles Edge, the Director of Marketplace at Jamf, bring you a ton of topics including the latest Mac OS X Release, Adobe’s licensing, and of course the 35th anniversary of the 1984 release of Macintosh. The also take a look at Office 365 which is in the App Store as well as Armin Briegel’s outlook for…
The MacCast, a podcast produced by Adam Christianson, has released the 690th episode of the podcast. This latest episode goes over a myriad of Macintosh related topics including: AirPower still, still, coming… Snow in the underworld. Target will have Apple Pay. Apple Stagelight not a new video app. Apple updates all the OSes. AirPod 2 rumors. Apple reduces Titan staff. iPhone XR is ‘bestselling’ iPhone. AR app recommendation. Scheduling a Genius Bar appointment. The trouble with trade-ins. Stopping robocalls on…
Kevin Savetz and Carrington Vanston have released the 26th episode of their Infocom podcast, Eaten by a Grue. This episode, the two adventurers delve into the game The Witness. The Witness, originally published in 1983 by Infocom, follows in the footsteps of their earlier Deadline with the user becoming a sleuth and having to solve a murder mystery. The game was designed by Stu Galley and was released for 9 different platforms between May 1983 and September 1984. The game…
Episode 687 of the Adam Christianson produced MacCast has been released. This episode covers a host of topics including the Quarter 1 revision of guidance from Apple concerning the downturn in iPhone sales in China. Also, the AirPower, iTunes coming to “Smart TVs” and rumors of a Tri-Lens iPhone. More review of external DVD drives is also covered as well as UIs. Check out the MacCast podcast at their website:http://www.maccast.com/
The stock market has begun to speak about overpriced valuations, and its coming year looks growly. Much of the recent inflation in prices can be ascribed to the American tax cuts for corporations and the rich, who used their spare income to bid up equities, an option not available to most people, whose incomes have been static in the face of slow and steady inflation. The effect of this government cash injection into the American market has now run its…
The Eaten by a Grue Infocom Podcast episode 24 is now available. This months podcast takes a deep dive into the game, Zork III: The Dungeon Master. The Eaten by a Grue podcast is hosted by Kevin Savetz of Atari Archive fame and Carrington Vanston, long time Apple II fan and Kansasfest regular. In this episode, they talk about whether Zork III can be completed without cheating and have a few surprises for the listener. You can listen to the…
