Dec 15
Jeff Keacher wanted to get his Mac Plus, now well into its third decade, online. It had been on BBSes and text-only Lynx via dial-up back in the day, but Keacher wanted to go full TCP/IP. And it worked. He even loaded Gizmodo for us!
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Dec 12
This 30 second time lapse video of a Lego original Macintosh being built captures all that is fun about playing with Lego. You see a pile of bricks slowly morph into an object that is instantly recognizable. It’s like seeing the pieces of your imagination come together into something just so freaking fun.
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Oct 09
If it wasn’t for artists who embraced the company’s computers, Apple might not have survived to release the iPod. And were it not for MacPaint, the simple (by today’s standards) bitmap-based painting program included with the original Macintosh, those artists may have never fell in love with Apple in the first place. But if you’re too young to remember what all the fuss was about, now you can relive MacPaint in your browser with CloudPaint.
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Oct 07
The Real Mac Mini
Posted in: Today's ChiliOn numerous occasions, I’ve thought about going on eBay and picking up an original Macintosh, just so I could have one in my office? But I always talk myself out of it because I don’t really have the desk space for what amounts to a museum piece. Now, one enterprising hacker has the solution – a miniature Macintosh.
Not only does this 1/3rd scale Macintosh look exactly like the original, it’s actually functional.
While it doesn’t have the brains of an actual Mac, it uses a Raspberry Pi miniature PC, along with Macintosh emulator to replicate the experience of using an original Macintosh – only smaller.
RetroMacCast host John Leake built this marvel of miniaturization by hand carving and bending PVC, and set the teensy Rasperry Pi circuit board, power supply and a 3.5″ LCD inside the case. Given the fact that John made the case by hand, it’s just that much more impressive.
Its display only runs at 320×200 resolution, less than the 512×342, 9″ screen found in the Macintosh 128K. Still, this mini Mac has an HDMI output for driving larger screens, as well as USB and Ethernet ports. Unlike the original Macintosh, this one boots off of an SD card, which should prove much faster and more reliable than 3.5″ diskettes.
Congrats on an amazing build, John! If you’d like to learn more about how he built his mini Mac, be sure to check out his blog. You need to start selling these now. I’d buy one in a heartbeat.
[via Mashable]
Aug 28
Apple’s compact Mac mini isn’t as popular as it once was, but the company could easily make it a hot seller again if they just followed John Leake’s lead and turned it into a miniature Macintosh. At one-third the size of the original, it’s pretty much too cute to resist.
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Jul 14
There are hacks out there which transform the original Macintosh into an aquarium, or the original iMac into a pet bed. But those require that you have an actual computer shell you’re willing to part ways with. Here’s another fun design that looks like an old Macintosh, but it doesn’t make you tear apart a vintage computer.
The MaCool is a thermal insulated carrier that looks like an original Apple Macintosh. It’ll keep cold drinks cold or hot food hot, and holds up to 8 drink cans and ice. As an added bonus, it’s guaranteed never to eat your 3.5″ floppy disks.
Here’s an amusing clip of the creator of the MaCool bringing it in to the Genius Bar for repair:
You can pledge to order the MaCool insulated cooler over at Kickstarter for $59(USD).
Apr 16
A luxury resort based in California, the La Playa Carmel, has lifted a 30 year ban on Apple after a company retreat turned in to more of a college beer blast, as described by Frank Rose who is the author of “West of Eden: The End of Innocence at Apple Computer.” Simply called La Playa back in 1983, this resort was one of Steve’s favorites for holding offsite meetings. Back then such meetings were considered a “way of life” for Apple, which was still in its early stages.
The Macintosh team’s retreat on January 27-28, 1983 saw the team have a bit too much fun. They lit a bonfire on the beach causing the police to come down and make them put it out. Some members of the team also went skinny dipping in the resort’s pool, which was obviously frowned upon. The next day they were told never to return to the La Playa. Now the resort is under new management, and they had this to say: Welcome back, Apple: All is forgiven. Apple is a lot bigger now than it was back in ’83, surely the new management knows how what it would be like to have Apple back on as a client. The company has not released a statement on this, perhaps they’ve found a couple of new resorts in the past 3 decades.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: iTunes Has 63% Share In Digital Music Market, Google ‘Would Still Really Like’ Apple To Use Its Maps, Says Eric Schmidt, 
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Feb 19
Apple Newest Target Of Hackers
Posted in: Today's Chili
On Tuesday, Apple announced that hackers had recently infected some Macintosh computers of Apple employees. There was no evidence of any data theft and it was reported that Apple is working on a software tool, to identify and repair infected Macintosh computers, which is due to release later today.The infected systems within Apple have been identified and separated from the internal network. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple MacBook Air Equipped with Retina Display [Rumor], MacBook Pro With Retina Display Prices Updated,
Feb 19
It’s been nearly 30 years since the original Macintosh hit the scene, so that definitely makes me feel old. But despite being ancient technology, I still love the little computer that smiled at you when you powered it on, and frowned when it crashed. And while I’m currently working on a 2011 iMac with a 27-inch screen, I’ve finally found a way to keep a classic Macintosh on my desktop.
Thanks to Technabob friend, artist, and all around good guy Metin Seven, we can now have a happy Mac to hold on to our pens! It measures about 2.6″ x 2.6″ x 3.3″, and is perfect for holding onto all of your pens, pencils, X-Actos and other long and pointy desktop objects. Thanks to the miracles of 3D printing tech, you can get your grubby little mitts on this classic Mac pen holder for about $53(USD).
Just don’t try cramming a 3.5″ MacPaint disk into that tiny drive slot. It’ll take way more than a paper clip to get it out of there if you wedge one in there.
Jan 31
Ah, the original Macintosh computer. It was an amazing machine to have in your home, especially when most of the other available computers were a bit more complex to use. The Macintosh made things easier, with its graphical user interface, and apps like MacPaint and MacWrite. While it’s not as functional as an original Mac, this LEGO version is still pretty cute.
This miniature LEGO replica of the classic Macintosh was created by Chris McVeigh (aka PowerPig), a Canadian toy photographer, t-shirt designer, old school gamer and LEGO builder from Halifax. This little LEGO Macintosh is a replica of the one shown in an early ad for the computer, featuring the iconic ‘hello’ scrawled across the screen using MacPaint.
Chris soon plans on posting a building a guide for who want to make this at home. In the mean time you can download his Digital Designer plans for a LEGO iMac, iPod and iPad. I wonder if you could put a Raspberry Pi and an LCD screen into this little build and actually make it into a working Hackintosh?
[via Gizmodo via designboom]
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