A team of ex-Apple engineers in the early 90s made a product that flopped worse than the Newton but might be the reason we have iPhones today. We look at the little-known history of General Magic and the newly released documentary about the company.
Podcast
e85 – Apple Kremlinology
Apple hardly ever gives away information about upcoming products…unless you believe that there are secret clues in hidden places. We look at what Apple may (or may not) have signaled in event invitations and product codenames over the years.
Follow Up
- QuickTake photos in 2019
- RIP Ambrosia Software
Kremlinology
- event invitations
- roundups at The Verge and Oak Innovations
- iPod – "Hint: It's not a Mac"
- iPod nano – change pocket
- iPod video – "One more thing…"
- movie store – "It's Showtime"
- Apple TV+ – "It's show time."
- iPhone – Welcome to 2007
- WWDC 2007 – Time Machine
- iPhone SDK Roadmap
- MacBook "in the air"
- WWDC 2008 – double Golden Gate
- unibody MacBook – "The spotlight turns to notebooks."
- WWDC 2009 – iPhone 3G…S!
- iPad – paint splatters
- similar art in Eminem iPod ad
- Retina MacBook Pro
- Lion – "Back to the Mac."
- iPhone 5 – 12 = 5
- WWDC 2016 – Siri responses
- 2015 – "Hey Siri, give us a hint."
Code names
- Apple varieties
- McIntosh
- Cortland – IIGS
- Jonathan – Jonathan computer
- Gala – El Capitan
- Fuji apple / mountain – Sierra
- Lobo apple / mountain? – High Sierra
- Liberty apple / mountain? – Mojave
- Plus Plus – Macintosh SE
- Gizmo – Apple Watch
e84 – Apple.com
Apple's online presence has evolved significantly since the days of the early web. From rainbow imagemaps to WebObjects to epic scrolljacking, we tour the technology and content of Apple dot com.
Follow Up
apple.com
- Version Museum gallery
- Kevin Fox's screenshot
- QuickTime 4
- host of Star Wars Episode I trailer
- Apple Online Store
- tabbed design
segmented controltab view redesign
Homepage Takeovers
e83 – Mac Mods
Brian made a summer project of putting a Mac Mini in a Macintosh Classic and it got us thinking about all kinds of mods people have done with old Apple hardware. Besides the "Classic Mini", we cover Macquariums, unexpected iLamps, weight-bearing cheese graters, and more.
Follow Up
- ProDOS
- Mac OS 9 code names
- Mac OS 8 color pickers
- Destiny corrections (thanks @siracusa!)
Mac Mods
- Brian's Classic Mini
- 🐠 Macquariums
- 🌱 planters
- 📫 mailbox G3 and mailbox G4
- 🐈 cat bed
- 🐕 dog bed
- 🤧 Cube tissue box
- 💡 iMac G4 lamp
- 🧀 cheese grater mods
- Mac in a Commodore
- MacBook in a tiny cheese grater
- iBoy
- Cube Mini
e82 – Pro
The announcement of the 2019 Mac Pro got us thinking about what Apple has called "Pro" in the past. That includes incredibly expensive hard drives, printers with RAM slots, an OS patch release, and even its employees!
Follow Up
- Taligent screenshots
- General Magic preorder
- Voice Control (e38)
- new New York (e71)
- old New York on our shirts
- Ed's Mac Pro pricing article
Pro Hardware
- ProFile hard drive
- LaserWriter Pro and StyleWriter Pro
- Pro. Go. Whoa.
- Pro Speakers, Mouse, and Keyboard
- MacBook Pro name hot takes
- Mac Pro 🧀🗑️🧀
- Beats Pro and PowerBeats Pro
- MKBHD on what "Pro" means