The iPhone was released to the world 10 years ago today. We celebrate a decade of the device that changed the world. Interviews and articles Computer History Museum panel and interview with Scott Forstall Ganatra and Melton on Debug [ I II III IV V ] original iPhone reviewers panel Forstall, Fadell, Christer interview controversial new book The iPhone launch and legacy big lines at Apple stores Jobs and Forstall at the Palo Alto store a smaller launch event for Jaguar iFixit goes to Australia fo...
Jun 29, 2017•1 hr 22 min
The announcements made at WWDC 2017 reminded us of a lot of classic Mac technologies, in name, design, and function. Follow Up Ed on Mac Power Users #380 new additions to Internet Archive Mac emulation Apple museum visits Jake Bordens at Apple Museum Prague Stephen and Ticci at the Computer History Museum functioning Apple I sold at auction Pomona prototype recreated by Jeff Rule WWDC 2017 announcements macOS High Sierra High Sierra Format ISO 9660 optical media extensions in Mac OS 9 Drag and D...
Jun 10, 2017•58 min
Inspired by the grand reveal of the new MacPaw museum and some new early Apple exhibits in Seattle, we take a tour of the world's greatest Apple collections on display. Follow Up Love Notes to Newton film map of potential interviewees failed Crystal Quest Kickstarter Crystal Quest Classic available anyway Retronauts 98: Mac Gaming in the '80s Play Different YouTube channel Inside the new museum at MacPaw HQ. Apple Museums Apple Museum (Prague) Steven's Food image gallery Apple Museum (Moscow) Be...
May 20, 2017•55 min
The Internet Archive recently made a library of classic Mac software available via in-browser emulation. So we played a bunch of Mac games from the late '80s and early '90s — some that we remembered fondly, some that we'd never played, and some that destroyed us. Followup The TAM's bronze color SlickWraps retro iPhone skin Save/Cancel notepads arrived RIP EveryAppleVideo Games on the Internet Archive Roguelike Celebration possibly returning in 2017 Crystal Quest [ in browser ] [ download ] Phraz...
Apr 29, 2017•1 hr 12 min
Inspired by the release of the PRODUCT (RED) iPhone, we trace case colors throughout Apple's history: candy-color Macs, lots and lots of iPods, and some expensive rarities. Followup mini vMac emulator youtube-dl command line utility HyperCard Preview app for macOS Colorful Macs PRODUCT (RED) beige vs. platinum Power Mac 8600 iMac G3 our episode five flavors TV ad posted on apple.com [WayBack] "She's a Rainbow" Colorful iPods U2 Special Edition iPod Stainless Steel iPod shuffle iPod mini 1st gen ...
Apr 01, 2017•1 hr 7 min
We go behind the scenes of Simple Beep: how we create the show, a comprehensive emulation how-to, and our favorite classic Mac resources. Follow up Leibniz emulator its namesake and calculus eMate 20th anniversary prototypes in other colors Knowledge Navigator part 2 [YouTube] Pippin software on Macintosh Repository Making the show (on modern computers) Ed's setup Blue Yeti microphone Heil PL-2T boom arm Sennheiser HD 439 headphones Piezo Brian's setup Shure PG42 microphone Sennheiser HD 280 hea...
Mar 15, 2017•1 hr 13 min
This episode covers a bunch of Apple products that barely or never happened, including a magic tablet, IPTV vaporware, and some wild green machines from Macworld. Knowledge Navigator intro video John Sculley Educom (now Educause) Snow White design language original Kindle Pippin official website [WayBack Machine] ATMARK and @WORLD …from Bandai ! Applejack controller (and 29 others) Pippin apple cultivar Interactive Television Box photos at Shrine of Apple SCART port Apple Café official website [...
Feb 18, 2017•1 hr 25 min
Jake Bordens and Thomas Brand join us to share stories of the Newton community, past and present(!) e53 – The Newton Jake Bordens @allaboutjake YouTube: retronewton Jake's Newton software Jake's Newton hardware Thomas Brand @eggfreckles eggfreckles.net PC Expo 1997 [WayBack] INDIGI Newton web servers Newton Personal Data Sharing United Network of Newton Archives NewtonTalk email list WaveLAN networking Under Siege 2 Newton supercut Newton 2000 upgrade program [PDF] Tactile Systems Inc. [WayBack]...
Feb 04, 2017•1 hr 1 min
This episode, we look at the Newton platform — Apple's first attempt at (almost) handheld computing. Recorded on the 10th anniversary of the iPhone announcement, we notice a lot of parallels between the development of Newton devices and the iOS devices we carry today. Stocking stuffer followup Cancel/Save notepad elago W3 stand 512 Pixels video review buy on Amazon Newton Low End Mac: The Story Behind Apple’s Newton Jean-Louis Gassée Steve Sakoman Isaac Newton's "Apple incident" Be Inc. Knowledg...
Jan 14, 2017•1 hr 17 min
It's our Christmas special episode! We've made our own gift lists of classic Apple products that could fit in a stocking — not all of which have turned to coal over time. QuickTake cameras Polaroid i-Zone QuickTake 100 Plus upgrade Plus sticker iSight cube-shaped packaging iPod Socks Boston Red Sock discontinued in 2012 make your own! or buy from Etsy! iPod nano (7th generation, 2012) coal: a single Zip disk gift: floppy disk coasters coal: Apple modem original AirPort gift: Macinbot Classic...
Dec 24, 2016•41 min
Ed is joined by Stephen Hackett to talk about the how and what (rather than the why) of Apple chronicling its own history in the new photo book Designed by Apple in California , as well as Stephen's new ebook Aqua and Bondi . Stephen Hackett 512 Pixels Relay FM Aqua and Bondi followup: original Mac's modified RJ-11 keyboard connection Designed by Apple in California book Stephen's video with actual products Mac mini manufacturing Copper-wrapped iPhone Apple Watch prototype iPhone 3G internals Ci...
Dec 03, 2016•52 min
We cover the wild, wonderful, and sometimes half-baked history of getting data in and out of Macs. It turns out we've been citizens of Dongle Town for a long time already. Peripheral buses DB-9 (mouse, keyboard) and DB-19 (floppy) Apple Desktop Bus Mini-DIN connector Griffin iMate Serial (printer, modem, network) LocalTalk AppleTalk SCSI terminators Skuzzy HDI-30 Networking AAUI Ethernet Displays DA-15 vs. VGA dongle! Mini 15 dongle HDI-45 Apple AudioVision 14 Display S-video same connector as A...
Nov 19, 2016•1 hr 24 min
After what is surely-for-real-this-time the last event at Apple's Town Hall event space on the Infinite Loop campus, we cover the history of events big and small that have happened in Apple's most intimate presentation setting. Followup startup chime is gone on 2016 MBPs it can be brought back Avara source code now on GitHub WayBack Machine keyword search beta Apple's Town Hall at IL4 Apple Campus [Wikipedia] Six Colors – Apple’s Town Hall: A look back Upgrade 113 on entry to Town Hall The Talk ...
Nov 05, 2016•59 min
In September we attended the Release Notes conference and got to meet some awesome people in the Apple community. In this episode, we share five conversations we had at Release Notes about the history of the Mac, iOS, and finding fellow Apple nerds. Greg Pierce Agile Tortoise Power Mac 7200 UserLand Frontier Manton Reece Mac Classic ResEdit HyperCard Rich Siegel Bare Bones Software "Fat Mac" Macintosh Pascal David Sparks Mac Power Users MacSparky Apple II Jean MacDonald App Camp for Girls Umax c...
Oct 22, 2016•28 min
At Release Notes, we joined Stephen Hackett and Christina Warren to pick our personal favorite Macs…and we managed to keep it mostly on the rails. This episode was originally released in the Relay FM B-Sides feed. Round 1 Brian – iMac G3 (Slot Loading) Ed – Macintosh SE/30 Christina – PowerBook G3 "Pismo" Stephen – Titanium Book G4 Round 2 B – 12" PowerBook G4 E – iMac G4 C – Power Macintosh 6100 S – Power Macintosh G4 Cube Round 3 B – Macintosh LC E – Retina 4K iMac C – Black MacBook S – Networ...
Sep 29, 2016•49 min
Avara, the minimalist 3D mech shooter from Ambrosia Software, just turned 20 years old. We celebrate the occasion and are joined by Scarlet Swordfish, who ran a 20th anniversary event that was livestreamed on Twitch. official Ambrosia site on Wikipedia 20th Anniversary Stream on Twitch Gameplay the HECTOR bipedal tank Hector D. Byrd AT-ST MechWarrior Hector in the forest Key layout customization interview with creator Juri Munkki [WayBack] level files and add-ons Binary Space Partitioning the Fi...
Sep 24, 2016•1 hr 8 min
Apple announced a lot of things this past week, but they didn't announce One More Thing. This episode is a comprehensive rundown of Steve Jobs' biggest presentation trope — the good, the bad, and the ugly of specially featured Apple announcements. One More Thing from Steve Stevenote [Wikipedia] EverySteveJobsVideo 0. MWSF 1998: Apple is profitable MWSF 1999: Five flavors of iMac Seybold 1999: 22” Cinema Display Special event fall 1999: iMac DV , iMac DV SE MWNY 1999: Airport MWSF 2000: Aqua , St...
Sep 10, 2016•1 hr 19 min
From solid steel balls to unusable hockey pucks to sleek pieces of sushi, we cover all of Apple's mouse designs. And we couldn't stop there, so we threw in some trackpads and third-party pointers for good measure. 🐭 Followup G4 Cube yes, it has a handle "Behold the G4 Cube, Apple's most epic computer ever" iMac carrying case buy one on Amazon! I’ve had enough internet today… pic.twitter.com/c9O6ck4KC0 — Alex Vanderzon (@alexvanderzon) August 18, 2016 Patrick Blampied's iOS Macintosh Portable de...
Aug 27, 2016•1 hr 30 min
Apple has been striving to make their products thinner, lighter, and easier to carry around for well over 30 years. We discuss some landmark products in Apple's quest for portability. Apple IIc Apple Flat Panel Display Macintosh Portable 1984 Macintosh prototype 1984 Macintosh prototype 1984 Macintosh prototype PowerBook 100 Duo Dock Duo MiniDock 12" PowerBook G4 Apple IIc Apple Flat Panel Display AlphaSmart Running a IIc on batteries Macintosh Portable lead-acid battery 1984 flat-panel Macintos...
Aug 14, 2016•1 hr 8 min
This episode we discuss the history of how Apple has helped you learn to use the Mac. Along the way we encounter Jay, Cleo, undersea creatures, and the horror of HTML frames. Douglas Adams followup Starship Titanic box set H2G2 his hatred of dongles Psion Series 3a PDA Macintosh Help Macintosh Guided Tour updated Mac Plus Guided Tour MultiFinder HD20 Macintosh Basics MacroMind Director early sketches and concept art download at Macintosh Garden Mouse Practice Balloon Help Apple Guide (System 7.5...
Jul 30, 2016•1 hr
Douglas Adams is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , but he was also a huge fan of the Macintosh. We discuss his many Macs, interactive fiction, and his extremely astute vision of the future of technology, both fictional and real. Followup Erin McKean's floppy disk of HyperCard stacks e19 – All the words with Erin McKean e35 – HyperCard Douglas Adams “I love deadlines, I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Wikipedia entry Official website Hitchhiker...
Jul 16, 2016•1 hr 9 min
There were no big "end of an era" announcements at WWDC, but a few 30-year-old technologies are now officially on their way out. We say goodbye to catalog B-trees, naming everything after NeXTSTEP, and more. Followup The Motorola Envoy ran Magic Cap iCloud Documents and Desktop sync Deprecated technologies Hierarchical File System HFS+ 🛎 Hard Disk 20 tebibytes, exabytes, etc. Technical Note TN1150 Where_have_all_my_files_gone? …the song! Disk First Aid Apple File System (APFS) Apple Filing Prot...
Jun 25, 2016•56 min
On the eve of WWDC 2016, we look back at the history of the event: its role in the community, major past announcements, and Steve Jobs' most candid hour. Apple – WWDC Keynote WWDC app Bash Apple Design Awards teardown run-in with TSA San Jose Convention Center Moscone Center Bill Graham Civic Auditorium alternative events major events and announcements 1995: OpenDoc 1996: Copland 1997: Rhapsody 1998: 5 days after iMac launch followup: Upgrade #91 on the iMac 2002: funeral for OS 9 favorite and l...
Jun 11, 2016•1 hr 22 min
Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels and Relay FM joins us again to discuss his complete iMac G3 collection and the history of the computer that saved Apple. Stephen Hackett 512 Pixels iMac coverage Connected #85: Pokédex of iMacs @ismh Simplicity Shootout iMac on display at Ford Museum A one, a two, a one, two, three, four... @thehenryford ❤️🍏 cc @ismh pic.twitter.com/GQ6miZpny1 — Marina Epelman (@marinaepelman) April 30, 2016 Power Mac G3 All-In-One Original iMac announcement Original iMac promo vid...
May 21, 2016•1 hr 28 min
The Macintosh has had a voice since it was first introduced. This episode, we cover over 30 years of talking to Apple devices and having them talk back. Links for this episode: Followup ColorSwitch Pro [WayBack] Release Notes speaker list Macintosh introduction The first computer that introduces itself Steve Jobs (2015 film) Chariots of Fire introduction video PlainTalk MacinTalk 3 vs. Pro microphones [ rev. 1 and rev. 2 ] Speakable items OS X dictation VoiceOver on OS X on iOS Alex voice Voice ...
May 07, 2016•1 hr 6 min
This episode is all about the Control Strip and its many uses on the classic Mac, from early PowerBook power management to silly games. We also discuss its successors and how they got from the bottom left corner of System 7 to the top right of OS X today. Links for this episode: We're going to Release Notes in September! Control Strip Wikipedia Mac OS 9: The Missing Manual chapter 512 Pixels post PowerBook 500 series manual [PDF; see chapter 5] PowerBook Duo 280 swapping the battery out of a sle...
Apr 23, 2016•1 hr 9 min
In a special episode, we cover Apple's "40 years in 40 seconds" video in 40 minutes. It's a whirlwind tour, with nearly 100 Apple products, slogans, and references, and more than a few typos. Apple - 40 Years in 40 Seconds 512 Pixels - annotated version As @siracusa noted on ATP, Apple’s 40 in 40 video is definitely not chronological. The trendline is…OK. pic.twitter.com/NINE4e9i25 — Simple Beep podcast (@simple_beep) March 27, 2016 Ronald Wayne Apple I print ad The Computer for the Rest of Us M...
Apr 01, 2016•39 min
We discuss one of the defining pieces of early Macintosh software, HyperCard. We cover the application's origins and ambitious vision, the HyperTalk scripting language, our own creations, and the absence of HyperCard-like tools today. HyperCard Wikipedia apple.com [WayBack] hypercard.org @hypercard The Complete HyperCard 2.0 Handbook HyperTalk 2.0: The Book Bill Atkinson MacPaint Susan Kare icon The Origin of HyperCard in the Breakdown of the Bicycle for the Mind HyperTalk Smalltalk AppleScript ...
Mar 26, 2016•1 hr 33 min
What was the state of independent Mac software before iOS? We find out by returning to the 2006 competition My Dream App, featuring productivity plants, syncing in space, and meteorological eye candy. Followup @waynedixon: Hotline also on Windows Ed's Hotline usage Avaraline ( community ) Avaraline ( protocol ) Avara and its python clone screenshot of Ed's sweet setup My Dream App digg [ Wikipedia ] [ WayBack ] organizers Phill Ryu MacThemes Widget Machine Impending (Clear, Hatch, Heads Up) John...
Mar 12, 2016•56 min
We compare our current setups with how we worked and played on the classic Mac. Along the way we praise modern backups, pay for our previously pirated software, and Brian accidentally downloads malware. Links for this episode: Our current hardware 4K iMac [Ed] 13" MacBook Air [Brian] Our classic hardware 12" PowerBook G4 [Brian] 15" PowerBook G4 [Ed] iMac G3 (blueberry) [Brian] Power Macintosh G3 desktop (beige!) [Ed] Power Macintosh 6100 [Ed] Mac II [Brian] Our software now: Safari [Ed], Adaman...
Feb 27, 2016•1 hr 22 min
