by Rick SutcliffeApril 2014 Wearable computing technologyhas been the “latest” buzz longer than most ideas (indeed longer than some ideas endure from conception to death), generating endless speculation about who will bring out what product in the genre and when. As often the case, the Spy has the inside track. Mind, he does not deal in speculation or rumour. However, he does keep his ear to the ground, his eye on the horizon, his nose to the grindstone, his hand…
Apple has released the first update to iOS 7 since last September to the general public after a long beta test period. This update includes fixes for the TouchID fingerprint system, a fix for the home screen crashing issue, as well as the new feature for automobiles: CarPlay. Apple calls CarPlay “a better way to use iPhone while driving.” The system is only available on select new cars for 2014. iPhone 4 users will enjoy improved responsiveness and performance with…
A.P.P.L.E. has negotiated a discount for A.P.P.L.E. Members who purchase Option8’s Joystick Shield or the Joystick Shield Kit. These connectors allow users to utilize their original Apple II series joysticks with their current Mac or PC. Many emulators will also recognize the Joystick Shield. The discount code is available to A.P.P.L.E. members only through their login ID’s and is good for 10% off on the Joystick Shield and Joystick Shield Kit. This discount does not apply to any other Option…
Apple has announced that Peter Oppenheimer, the Senior VP and CFO, will call it a career in September. His retirement opens up a slow for the VP of Finance to move up. Luca Maestri will replace Peter beginning in June. For more on this story, see the announcement at apple.com — http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/03/04Apples-Peter-Oppenheimer-to-Retire-at-the-End-of-September.html
Being insanely proprietary can be both a strength and/or a weakness. On the negative side of the leger, HP, Xerox, and IBM, by not being more particular about their in-house inventions and IP, all lost opportunities to dominate the personal computing market. Oh, yes, IBM did for a while, but because the software was controlled by Microsoft, and wasn’t exclusive, clones eventually turned their boxes into commodities, and they exited the market rather than compete on a consumer level–much to…
Potion Factory, Publishers of software Mac based hits such as The Hit List and Tangerine has been acquired by the company which make Sandvox, the web production software for the Mac.
Silvern Castle was reported to have an update bug in it which was preventing users who had version 9.4 from upgrading to 9.5. The bug did not affect other users, however, the author has chosen to release and update of the program. According to his email, ” This release fixes the issue that prevented running the game after updating from v9.4 that was introduced in the original v9.5 release.” The V9.5.1 release is available at the following websites: http://webpages.milwpc.com/finkjc/silverncastle/ http://finkjsc.a2hq.com/silverncastle/
From the Kansasfest Comittee announcement: “KansasFest 2014, the Apple II convention, is scheduled for July 22 -27 in Kansas City, Missouri. Margot Comstock, co-founder and editor of the much-loved Softalk magazine, will join us with a keynote presentation. Comstock and Al Tommervik founded Softalk in 1980 to share the hardware, software, and people behind the Apple II. At its peak, Softalk had 250,000 readers and uniquely offered broad and deep coverage of everything Apple II related, including programming, game playing,…
According to the author of Silvern Castle, Jeff Fink, the latest release of Version 9.5 has a bug in the program which affects the update from Version 9.4 to 9.5. According to an email received by A.P.P.L.E> from Jeff, “It has come to my attention that if you update to v9.5 from v9.4, then it may fail with error #107-1190 when you start the game. The reason is simple. At the following line numbers I entered 9.4 instead of 9.5:…
AppleIIGo version 1.0.9 has been fully implemented. AppleIIGo is the emulator which currently runs the Java based version of the Virtual Apple II pages. Updates to the emulator include: – fixed disk speed-up bug (Sherwood Forest reads with the drive motor off) – added check for 2IMG header ID – fixed processor status bugs in BRK, PLP, RTI, NMI, IRQ The source code for the emulator will be available once we confirm that there are no issues with this release. …
Margot Comstock, co-founder and editor of the much-loved Softalk magazine, will join us with a keynote presentation at KansasFest 2014, which is scheduled for July 22 –27 in Kansas City, Missouri. Comstock and Al Tommervik founded Softalk in 1980 to share the hardware, software, and people behind the Apple II. At its peak, Softalk had 250,000 readers and uniquely offered broad and deep coverage of everything Apple II related, including programming, game playing, business use, and home use. The Apple II magazine ran for four years before…
Bill Buckels, curator of the Aztec C Museum has released a new image comverter for the Apple IIgs. According to the announcment on CSA2, “BMP2SHR is a command line utility to convert BMP files to Apple IIgs SHR Files. Please see the User’s Manual and the Tutorial for information on using BMP2SHR. If you have BMP2SHR Version 1.0 upgrading to Version 2.0 is well worth the effort. If you want to learn more about the SHR (Super Hi-Res) display on…
The Kansasfest committee has release a teaser email containing the 2014 rendition of the Kansasfest Logo. Kansasfest is an Apple II centric enthusiast convention which happens each year in Kansas City, Missouri. The event draws hobbyists from around the globe and is usually inundated with advancements in the hardware and software on the Apple II series platforms. The 2014 Kansasfest will take place July 22nd to 27th. For more information, check the Kansasfest website at: http://www.kansasfest.org
Virtual Apple ][‘s database has been updated this week with the release of Version 1.22. Current efforts include adding the blurbs of all of the games in the system as well as adding a new EBay pricing guide with the High and Low prices for items being sold on Ebay. The current database sports nearly 1500 records and is expanding daily. If you have the iOS version of the ActiveGS app, just click the update button at the top of…
Thanks to Charlie Reiman, the following typeset Aztec C Manuals originally scanned by the late Paul R. Santa-Maria have been reformatted (they are now smaller and searchable and pastable as plain text), and are now available for download at the following links: Aztec C 65 Version 3.2 cross-compiler http://www.aztecmuseum.ca/docs/CG65A.PDF http://www.aztecmuseum.ca/docs/CG65B.PDF Aztec C 65 Version 3.2 ProDOS native-mode compiler http://www.aztecmuseum.ca/docs/MANXC65B.PDF http://www.aztecmuseum.ca/docs/MANXC65B.PDF ProDOS Aztec C Unix-Like Shell http://www.aztecmuseum.ca/docs/SHELLC65A.pdf Charlie did a great job with these. Before Paul passed-away (June 19, 2010), he…
A posting in the CSA2 Users Group has announced a cracked version of the EA game Amnesia. According to the posting by a CSA2 user going by the moniker Random J Hacker, ” Amnesia is an Apple II text adventure written by science fiction author Thomas M. Disch. Its copy protection is in the form of a disk check that upon failure prevents the player from picking up any objects in the game, including the bedsheet you are required to…
The Spy and wife own and she drives a 1991 Buick Regalthat in today’s terms is generally regarded as hopelessly obsolete driving technology. It has no informative car computer display, not GPS, no telephone, no heated seats, TV in the back seating area or anti-lock /skid braking system, and the climate control system is primitive and manual. Even the 2002 Buick Regal he drives has some of that, though it too is regarded as ancient by some people. Yet both…
Earl L. Keyser, Jr., long time programmer and A.P.P.L.E. Member died on the 29th of January. He passed away peacefully on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 at Windmill Manor in Coralville, Iowa, after battling Parkinson’s disease. Earl, 70, of North Liberty,Iowa, was best known in the Apple world for his programs on the early Apple II computer. He produced over 20 programs for the early Apple II under the Rainbow Computing moniker which were carried by Apple Computer in the Contact…
Apple has released a minor update to the iOS operating system. iOS 7.0.5 is intended to primarily provide support for the networks run by China Telecom. This was necessitated by Apple’s recent agreement with China Telecom to provide the iPhone through them. The update addresses issues with the iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5S connecting to the network. For more information, see the iOS 7.0.5 update page at: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1718
Brian Picchi, the author of Lamb Chops, has announced the release of his latest Apple ][ Game. Retro Fever is the first release of 2014 for the Apple ][ series computer and is Brian’s second foray into the realm of Apple ][ action games. According to the release on Facebook, ” For this game I teamed up with programmer and friend Brandon Bogle of retroswitch.com (some of you may know him as the creator of the Flyer Internet Modem for…
