Mighty Mouse
An interesting and in-depth 2002 article from the Stanford Magazine, written by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang detailing the evolution of the Apple mouse.
"In 1980, Apple Computer asked a group of guys fresh from Stanford's product design program to take a $400 device and make it mass-producible, reliable and cheap.
Their work transformed personal computing."

Mighty Mouse

Jobs I’ve Known
An excerpt on Mike Evangelist's Writers Block Live of his new book ‘Jobs I’ve Known’ which will be written online on the site.
It begins:
"Steve Jobs, the Genuine Article
'Unreasonable perfectionist who terrorizes everyone around him' – you see that sort of comment about Steve Jobs so often it’s easy to believe it must be true. But I’m here to tell you it is not. It seems to be next-to-impossible for anyone to write about Steve without perpetuating one or more of the stereotypical images of how he works (i.e. that he always wear a black turtleneck; that no one wants to get in the elevator with him, etc.)
And nearly every article must make reference to the RDF (reality distortion field) that Steve’s deploys to great effect. I have some personal experience with Steve, so feel at least slightly qualified to comment on some of these things."

Jobs I’ve Known

Virtual ][ Version 4.2 Released
Virtual ][, the great Apple II emulator for OS X has been updated to version 4.2.

What's new:
• Added the option to convert diskettes from and to a real Apple II via a serial cable.
• Added emulation of the "no-slot clock".
• It is now possible to print text to the Macintosh clipboard.
• A configured machine can now be made the default machine in one simple step.
• The Preferences window has an option to open the devices drawer to either the bottom or the right side of the window. Opening it on the right side is particularly useful on small screens.
• When an USB game pad is connected, it is now automatically the preferred choice for game control. It used to be a configurable option, but this could easily lead to a seemingly not-working game pad.
• Improved artwork of the Printer button: it finally looks like a printer.
• Solved problems with the game "Alternate Reality The Dungeon" by improving the emulation of the stepper motor in the diskette drive.

Virtual ][

Mac TV
The latest from the talented Tom Hormby at Low End Mac. This time "Mac TV: 12 Years Before the iMac G5 with Front Row" compares the 1993 black Macintosh TV, which was first envisioned as a tenth anniversary Mac, to the new iMac G5.

Mac TV: 12 Years Before the iMac G5 with Front Row

The Beginning ///
To complement the addition of a 1981 Apple III SOS (Sophisticated Operating System) Dealer Spec Sheet to The Mothership Advertising and Brochure Gallery, here is a link to a great introduction to the operation of the Apple III at WAP.org. Written by Richard and Lavona Rann, it was originally published in the January, 1987 issue of On Three Magazine.

The Beginning ///

Newtendo
We don't have a Newton Messagepad 2x00 model handy here on The Mothership, so were gonna need some help. We need some reports on the useability of this - 'cause it's cool and we want it!
A Nintendo emulator for the Apple Newton. Try it and let us know, or just check out the video of it in action.

Newtendo

Stephen Wozniak: From the Garage to the Gigabyte
A biography of the man at Landsnail.com. There is a link to the Steve Jobs page there as well. The introduction:
"We owe a lot to Apple Computer. The machine with which you are viewing this page would never be without the two guys who built the first Apple in their garage. Stephen Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and their Apple Computer Company revolutionized the computing industry, bringing personal computers into the homes of tens, then hundreds, thousands and hundreds of thousands of homes across the world. Stephen Wozniak was the engineer behind it all. Here is the story of this revolutionary."

Stephen Wozniak: From the Garage to the Gigabyte

Pascal Arrives
A 1985 articale by Chris Derossi at Mactech.com. The Topic? You guessed it - the arrival of Pascal! (How did you know?) It begins:
"Well, after waiting and waiting and waiting, Macintosh Pascal has finally arrived, and with its arrival, Mac users now have a serious high-level language for programming on the Macintosh. This column will help the users of Macintosh Pascal both to learn about Mac Pascal, and to learn how the wonderous abilities of the Mac ROM can tie into Mac Pascal for creating powerful and useful programs."

Pascal Arrives

Quick, Hide In This Closet!
Folklore.org is a wealth of Apple history - as told from the inside! A very unique resource, as you will see from this tale as told by Andy Hertzfeld, recalling the early evolution of the Apple disk drive. Through the disk divisions development of the Twiggy, and Steve Jobs initially forbidding the Macintosh team to work with Sony.

Quick, Hide In This Closet!

Top 20 Small Systems
From the September 1995 issue of Byte Magazine comes this top 20 list. Agree or disagree? Apple products take four spots, and even the NeXTstation makes the list!
The Introduction:
"From soldering irons to SparcStations, from MITS to Macintosh, personal computers have evolved from do-it-yourself kits for electronics hobbyists into machines that practically leap out of the box and set themselves up. What enabled them to get from there to here? Innovation and determination. Here are the top 20 systems that made that rapid evolution possible."

Top 20 Small Systems