Open Apple #22 (Dec 2012): Kay Savetz, 10 PRINT, Polaroids, and Microzine

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Kay Savetz, Internet publisher and author of the memoir Terrible Nerd. We cross enemy lines to review a book about the cultural, scientific, and philosophical implications of Commodore 64 programming, some of it applicable to the Apple II. Paul Terrell’s Polaroid snapshots of the first Apple-1 computers are cool, just like our reception to Jordan Mechner’s new Karateka game. On eBay, we discover the Androbot is not just another neat product from a Nolan Bushnell company, but another reason we prefer the Apple II to other platforms. And Ken’s accidental purchase of some Microzines produces the concept for a new and very expensive podcast!

Click past the jump for links mentioned in this episode.

Introduction (0:00 – 17:33)

• No Quarter podcast
• Arcade Explorers books
• Ken’s review of Max Brooks’ World War Z
• Organ Trail for iOS
• Ken’s Wii U unboxing
• Denver Apple Pi
• Colorado Macintosh Users Group

User Login (17:34 – 32:18)

• Kay Savetz’s homepage
• Terrible Nerd, from Savetz Publishing
• AtariArchives.org
• Classic Computer Magazine Archive
• Douglas Engelbart’s Mother of All Demos
• Kevin’s Free Printables & FaxZero sites
• Kevin on the Retro Computing Roundtable
• Name.com domain name registrar
• Liquid Web: Storm on Demand hosting company

II News (32:19 – 1:03:33)

• 10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10, by Nick Montfort, et al
• The 8 Bit Weapon Collection 1998-2012
• The early days of PCs as seen through DEAD TREES
• Remembering the EasyKey keyboard overlay for the Apple II
• Paul Terrell’s Polaroid photos of the Apple-1
• Help KansasFest by shopping at Amazon.com
• TIME‘s top 100 video games ever
• Elite Dangerous: Kickstarter
• Trade Wars
• Save the Day, an HTML5-based Choplifter remake (hat tip: Hanuman Welch)
• Karateka not so hot with Ken or Metacritic
• RIP, Tony Gonzalez of Ultima GS

Apple Pickings (1:03:34 – 1:18:44)

• Androbot Topo II robot, Apple IIe, sending unit, Toposoft software (video)
• The history of Androbot, Inc.
• Heathkit H.E.R.O robots
• Ken’s new Microzines, complete with case!
• Carrington’s DoubleTake podcast
• Jeri Ellsworth’s C64 Direct-to-TV joystick
• A modern PC inside a Commodore 64 case
• Curt Vendel’s Atari Inc: Business Is Fun, courtesy Kickstarter
• Commodore 64 games on the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console