History

Woz was once the best Tetris player on the planet – Here’s proof.

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Tetris was the killer app that brought Nintendo’s GameBoy into the mainstream.

Thirty years ago today, Russian computer programmer Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov created Tetris. Unveiled behind the Iron Curtain, the deceptively simple, maddeningly addictive game soon left the Soviet Union. It lived on dozens of platforms, but its Lennon-McCartney (Lenin-McCartney?) partner was Nintendo’s Game Boy. And the duo defined modern mobile gaming as we know it.

The article is a nice read, but take a look at the comments. Hint: Search for “Woz”.

Where have you gone, Peter Norton?

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Does the name Peter Norton ring a bell? Ever hear of Norton Utilities? If you answered yes to either of these, I think you’ll find the linked article fascinating. A lot of these pictures brought back memories. Guess that just proves how old I am.

Don Zimmer, the Forrest Gump of baseball

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Don Zimmer died yesterday at the age of 83. Here are a few things most folks don’t know about him:

Zimmer met Babe Ruth (in 1947), was a teammate of Jackie Robinson (1954-56) and played for Casey Stengel (1962). He was in uniform for some of the most iconic teams in history: the team that lost the most games (’62 Mets) and the team, including postseason play, that won the most games (’98 Yankees). He was in uniform for the only World Series championship for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1955), one of the most famous World Series home runs (Carlton Fisk’s shot in 1975), one of the most famous regular season home runs (Bucky Dent in 1978), the Pine Tar Game (1983), the first night game at Wrigley Field (1988), the first game in Rockies history (1993), and all three perfect games thrown at Yankee Stadium (Don Larsen, David Wells and David Cone).

An amazing baseball life.

Want to buy one of Apple’s old HQ signs?

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From the auction listing:

Two original exterior office building signs, approximately 46 x 49 x 1 1/2 inches and 33 1/2 x 36 x 6 inches, each with separate stem piece; the larger sign made of stiff foam with 6 vinyl applied colors; the smaller sign made of fiberglass backed with metal, vinyl applied colors; edgewear to both signs, some colors with slight pealing at transitions, larger sign with one color showing significant craquelure, both with stray marks and outdoor wear.

Provenance: Removed from company headquarters in 1997 and given to a longtime Apple employee.

If only the original pirate flag was up for auction.

California mansion sits empty since the 1950s, but in pristine condition

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Frozen in time since the 1950s, Bellosguardo, the estate of reclusive heiress Huguette Clark in Santa Barbara, has been kept up for $40,000 per month.

There was enough money in the estate to keep a full staff employed, while the owner spent the last 20 years of her life in a hospital room. Fascinating.

Larry Page and Google: The Untold Story

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Not sure this is the untold story as much as it is a collection of anecdotes from a variety of sources, but I did find it interesting, if a bit scattered.

There’s coverage of Page, Brin, and Schmidt of course. But there are stories about Andy Rubin and Android, Steve Jobs, Tesla (a big influence on Larry Page), Paul Buchheit and gmail, Marissa Meyer, and a lot more.

Definitely an enjoyable read.

Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World

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[VIDEO] The wah-wah guitar pedal emerged in the 60s as a huge influence in the guitar universe. I still have mine. A fantastic invention.

Cry Baby: The Pedal That Rocks The World tells the story of the wah wah effect pedal, from its invention in 1966 to the present day. Musicians, engineers, and historians discuss the impact of the pedal on popular music and demonstrate the various ways it has been used, as well as how its evolution has improved the ability of artists to express themselves musically. The film features interviews with Brad Plunkett, the inventor of the pedal, plus many other musical luminaries such as Ben Fong-Torres, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Buddy Guy, Art Thompson, Eddie Kramer, Kirk Hammett, Dweezil Zappa, and Jim Dunlop. These professionals explain how a musical novelty transcended convention and has become timelessly woven into the fabric of modern pop-culture.

Video embedded in the original post.

Video of Woz surprising a young girl by hand-delivering her brand new Mac

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[VIDEO] Steve Wozniak is such an incredibly nice, down-to-Earth person. This happened a few years ago, but the video was just put up on Saturday.

A few years ago, Steve and Janet Wozniak came to town to help us have a little fun with our kid Emma. Emma’s dad met them around the back of the block to give them Emma’s new iMac, and then they drove back around and rang the doorbell to deliver it…and shocked the heck out of Emma and her sister (who as Apple fankids immediately knew who he was) and friends (who only knew of him from “Dancing With The Stars”). Little sister Elizabeth got the iPod Touch as a “one more thing,” and Janet shot the video.

Steve’s known to be quite the practical joker, and it was very kind of him and Janet to spend the time to do this…and make a great memory for all of us.

He gave permission to put this up. We all hope you enjoy it.

Her reaction starts at about 2:30 in. Just a nice thing to do. You rock, Woz!

Search Google’s newspaper database

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Back in 2008, Google started scanning and archiving old newspapers, making the archives searchable. Imagine seeing the newspaper from the day after we landed on the moon. Great resource!

Twitter, Turkey, and the Streisand effect

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The Streisand effect occurs when an attempt to suppress something has the opposite unintended consequence. Which is the definition of irony, I might add.

So what does this have to do with Twitter and Turkey? Read on…

FirstTech, the first Apple reseller, closing its doors

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Before there were Apple Stores, before big box retailers like Best Buy, there were the mom and pop computer shops. It’s where you’d go to buy your first Apple computer, where you’d get supplies like floppy disks and perforated computer paper (one long sheet of paper, perfed into individual pages, sprocket feed holes on the side). More importantly, it’s where you’d go to get your questions answered, buy your software (or find shareware), and get your computer fixed. And now they are closing.

The very first Fender Stratocaster goes on sale for $250K

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I’m a long-time Strat fan and find this pretty amazing.

The sunburst-finish Strat bears the serial number 0100. Although some Strats have lower numbers that begin with 0001, Gruhn says they actually were manufactured later in that first year of production. He says the number-one Strat was sold to an amateur who evidently took good care of it.

If someone is going to sell a Strat for $250K, there better be some damn well documented provenance.

What is bit rot and why should we care?

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Just as we search for ways to preserve our ancient video and photographic images, it’s critical that we work out a mechanism for preserving our digital archives. Interesting article.

Cardiologist tells story of pitching a medical app to Steve Jobs in 1977

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Cardiologist George Diamond had an idea for a piece of software that could help diagnose coronary disease. The Apple II was brand new and, in 1977, represented a huge leap in the accessibility of computing power. This is the story of how Dr. Diamond pitched his idea directly to Steve Jobs and Apple.

Before He Died, Steve Jobs Told Top Executives Apple Would Not Be Making A TV

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This story is based on content from Yukari Iwatani Kane’s new book “Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs”.

One person asked if Apple was going to release a television next. There were already rumors all over the place that it was Apple’s next conquest.

Yukari says “Jobs didn’t hesitate.” He said, “No.”

Library of Congress scans classic books, puts them online for free

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The list is a long one and includes classics such as Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Dracula, and In the Court of King Arthur, to name but a few.

The real beauty is that these old editions are real scans, as opposed to optical character recognition (OCR) scans that are converted into plain text. To me, this adds to the experience of enjoying a truly classic work.

The birth of desktop publishing

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Professor David Brailsford takes you on a walk down memory lane with Apple’s introduction of the Laserwriter.

The Computerphile videos are a bit low tech and homespun, but I find them both charming and informative.

Tim Berners-Lee does a Reddit Ask Me Anything

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Sir Tim Berners-Lee:

On March 12, 1989 I submitted my proposal for the World Wide Web. 25 years later, I’m amazed to see the many great things it’s achieved – transforming the way we talk, share and create. As we celebrate the Web’s 25th birthday (see webat25.org), I want us all to think about its future and ask how we can help make it a truly open, secure and creative platform – available to everyone. The idea of an AMA is another great example of how the Web’s helping to connect and empower people around the globe and I’m really excited to be answering your questions!

Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s Next Cube computer goes on display in London

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THE COMPUTER used by Sir Tim Berners-Lee to write his proposal for the World Wide Web has gone on show at the Science Museum in London to mark the 25th anniversary of the web.

The Next Cube computer arrived at the Science Museum on Tuesday, having been shipped from CERN in Switzerland, where Berners-Lee used to work as a software engineer. Berners-Lee wrote his proposal for the World Wide Web that he submitted on 12 March 1989 on this computer.

I find it amazing to think that the origins of the web were created on a Next machine. If you missed it, be sure to read the story of Steve Jobs and Tim Berners-Lee’s narrowly missed connection, as masterfully told by Stephen Fry.