#applehistory

🎄💾🗓️ Day 9: Retrocomputing Advent Calendar - The Apple Lisa 🎄💾🗓️

The Apple Lisa, introduced on January 19, 1983, was a pioneering personal computer notable for its graphical user interface (GUI) and mouse input, a big departure from text-based command-line interfaces. Featured a Motorola 68000 CPU running at 5 MHz, 1 MB of RAM (expandable to 2 MB), and a 12-inch monochrome display with a resolution of 720×364 pixels. The system initially included dual 5.25-inch "Twiggy" floppy drives, later replaced by a single 3.5-inch Sony floppy drive in the Lisa 2 model. An optional 5 or 10 MB external ProFile hard drive provided more storage.

The Lisa's price of $9,995 (equivalent to approximately $30,600 in 2023) and performance issues held back its commercial success; sales were estimated at about 10,000 units.

It introduced advanced concepts such as memory protection and a document-oriented workflow, which influenced future Apple products and personal computing.

The Lisa's legacy had a huge impact on Apple computers, specifically the Macintosh line, which adopted and refined many of its features. While the Lisa was not exactly a commercial success, its contributions to the evolution of user-friendly computing interfaces are widely recognized in computing history.

These screen pictures come from Adafruit fan Philip " It still boots up from the Twiggy hard drive and runs. It also has a complete Pascal Development System." …"mine is a Lisa 2 with the 3.5” floppy and the 5 MB hard disk. In addition all of the unsold Lisa machines reached an ignominious end."

What end was that? From the Verge -

In September 1989, according to a news article, Apple buried about 2,700 unsold Lisa computers in Logan, Utah at a very closely guarded garbage dump. The Lisa was released in 1983, and it was Apple’s first stab at a truly modern, graphically driven computer: it had a mouse, windows, icons, menus, and other things we’ve all come to expect from “user-friendly” desktops. It had those features a full year before the release of the Macintosh.

Article, and video…

Check out the Apple Lisa page on Wikipedia

, the Computer History's article -

and the National Museum of American History – Behring center -

🎄💾🗓️ Day 6: Retrocomputing Advent Calendar - Apple Newton eMate 300 🎄💾🗓️

The eMate 300 was a before-Chromebook education-centric "laptop" by Apple, designed specifically for education as a low-cost laptop running the Newton OS. Released in 1997, it featured a 6.8-inch 480x320 grayscale touchscreen, a stylus, and a compact keyboard. It had a 25 MHz ARM 710a processor and built-in rechargeable batteries that could last up to 28 hours (I did not get that on ours, though). It was less powerful than the Newton MessagePad 2000, which was out at the same time however - the eMate had internal memory expansion and a PCMCIA slot for accessories like modems and Ethernet cards. Best of all, it had the translucent ascetic, which was popular then and built for classroom use. There were unreleased purple, clear, red, and orange versions, but we have yet to see those in real life.

🎉 💻🍎✨ Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh - Limited-edition Apple computer (1997)

The Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (or "TAM") is a limited-edition personal computer released in 1997 to mark Apple's 20th birthday. The TAM was announced almost 20 years to the day after Jobs and Wozniak incorporated the company.

The TAM featured a 250 MHz PowerPC 603ev processor and 12.1" active matrix LCD powered by an ATI 3D Rage II video chipset with 2 MB of VRAM capable of displaying up to 16-bit color at either 800x600 or 640x480 pixels. It had a vertically mounted 4x SCSI CD-ROM and an Apple floppy SuperDrive, a 2 GB ATA hard drive, a TV/FM tuner, an S-Video input card, and a custom-made Bose sound system including two "Jewel" speakers and a subwoofer built into the externally located power supply "base unit".

A thick "umbilical" cable connects the base unit to the head unit, supplying both power, and communications for the subwoofer.

This one was a lot of fun to photo, put together, and check out the video - rare footage!

Un 10 de junio de 1977, Apple comenzó a enviar la 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐈, la computadora que convirtió a una pequeña empresa de garaje en una fuerza real dentro de la industria tecnológica.

Diseñada principalmente por Steve Wozniak y empujada comercialmente por Steve Jobs, la 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐈 no era solo una placa para entusiastas:

Venía como una computadora completa, con teclado integrado, gráficos a color, sonido, BASIC incorporado y memoria inicial de 4 KB, expandible hasta 48 KB. Su precio base fue de 1,298 usd.

Lo importante no fue solo el hardware, sino el impacto. La Apple II entró a escuelas, hogares y pequeños negocios.

Con la llegada de VisiCalc, la primera hoja de cálculo de gran impacto comercial, dejó de ser una curiosidad para aficionados y se convirtió en una herramienta de productividad.

La 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐈 fue, en muchos sentidos, la máquina que le enseñó al mundo que una computadora personal podía ser útil, programable, comercial y deseable al mismo tiempo.

¿Te acuerdas de Ellen Feiss? En 2002, Apple lanzó su famosa campaña "Switch" para invitar a los usuarios de PC a cambiarse a Mac.

Nadie imaginó que una estudiante de 14 años se robaría el show y se convertiría en un ícono de culto de los inicios del internet.

Con una actitud increíblemente relajada (y arrastrando las palabras por el cansancio), Ellen explicó cómo su PC con Windows simplemente enloqueció y "se tragó" su tarea escolar:

"𝐸𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑏í 𝑢𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑏𝑟𝑒 𝑚ú𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑎... 𝑦 𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑖ó 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑎. 𝑇𝑜𝑑𝑜 𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑟ó. 𝑌 𝑛𝑜 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑜 𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑟ó 𝑒𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑣𝑜, 𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑟ó 𝑒𝑙 𝑝𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑙... 𝐸𝑙 𝑝𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑙 𝑦𝑎 𝑛𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡í𝑎".

Su frustración conectó tanto con las víctimas de la "pantalla azul de la muerte" que Ellen se volvió un fenómeno viral instantáneo, ganando clubes de fans y hasta menciones en shows nocturnos.

Aunque le llovieron ofertas para modelar y actuar, prefirió volver a su vida normal, dejando atrás uno de los comerciales más honestos y memorables de Apple.

El problema es que se le acusó de haberse filmado en estado inconveniente...

Aunque ella explicó en una entrevista de 2002 que su comportamiento se debía al cansancio después de filmar hasta altas horas de la noche y a los efectos del Benadryl que tomaba para las alergias estacionales.

Recently, while visiting the library in London, I came across a collection of old technology magazines and promotional material, and tucked away amongst them was an original 1999 iBook brochure. Naturally, as the Apple loyalist that I am, I had to stop what I was doing and flick through every single page.

The moment I saw that Tangerine Orange Clamshell iBook again, it instantly took me back to an era where technology still felt exciting in a completely different way. The late 90s and early 2000s had this optimism about them. Companies were not afraid to experiment. Devices had personality. They looked bold, futuristic, playful, almost rebellious. Modern tech today is refined and beautiful, but back then it felt imaginative.

The Apple iBook G3 Clamshell in Tangerine Orange was, in my opinion, peak industrial design. That translucent plastic shell still looks incredible even now. It felt approachable and futuristic at the same time. Apple somehow managed to make a computer look friendly without making it look cheap. The curved edges, the built-in handle, the colours, the glowing Apple logo, it all screamed confidence. It was technology with character.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my modern Apple MacBook Pro. The silver unibody design is timeless, elegant, minimal, and unmistakably Apple. But there was something about the Clamshell era that represented pure creativity. It was Apple returning from the brink, daring to stand out while the rest of the computer industry was busy producing endless grey plastic boxes that looked like microwave ovens designed by accountants.

As I sit here writing this in Gaucho Covent Garden, surrounded by the noise of London life and the smell of steak drifting through the restaurant, I can’t help but think how rare genuine design confidence has become. Modern devices are thinner, faster, more powerful, but very few feel iconic in the same emotional way the Clamshell iBook did.

That old brochure reminded me that technology is not just about specifications and benchmarks. It is about feeling. Inspiration. Identity. The best designs become attached to moments in your life. They become memories.

And honestly, the late 90s Apple aesthetic still holds up remarkably well today. Which is both impressive and mildly irritating for every other tech company that spent decades trying to imitate it.

Apple today marked a rather ridiculous milestone. Fifty years. Half a century since two young men started tinkering in a garage and accidentally helped reshape modern life. In a message on Apple’s website, Tim Cook reflected on that journey, writing about how Apple began with a simple but radical idea. Technology should be personal.

Back in the 1970s that belief sounded borderline insane. Computers were giant machines owned by governments, corporations, and universities. The notion that ordinary people would one day carry powerful computers in their pockets, wear them on their wrists, or place them on their desks at home sounded like science fiction. Yet that strange little company kept pushing forward.

From the first Apple computer to the Macintosh, from the iPod to the iPhone, then the iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, and the countless services people now use every day. The App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, iCloud, Apple TV. Each step slowly changed the way people interact with technology and with each other.

Cook made an interesting point though. Apple doesn’t see its inventions as the end of the story. They are just the beginning. The real story is written by the people who use them.

People start businesses on a Mac. Students write essays and finish degrees. Families capture their children’s first steps on an iPhone. Someone listens to a song that becomes the soundtrack to their life. Someone sends a message that reconnects a friendship long thought lost. Someone records a podcast. Someone writes a book.

Technology by itself is cold and meaningless. It only becomes powerful when a human being uses it to create something, share something, or remember something.

Reading Cook’s message made me think about my own experience with Apple. Ever since I held my first Apple product in my hand, the journey has been remarkable.

I’ve travelled across America with a MacBook Pro in my bag. My old one now, retired like a faithful old soldier. I’ve taken an iPod Classic on long road trips across Britain, those endless roads made easier with a soundtrack always ready in my pocket. And I still remember the iPod Nano days. Those childhood holidays to Turkey, headphones on, music playing while the world passed by outside the window.

Those little devices ended up becoming markers in time. Different chapters of life, quietly documented through the technology that happened to be there.

Over the years the devices have changed. The aluminium has become sleeker. The processors have become absurdly powerful. The screens sharper. The ecosystem tighter. But the strange thing is the feeling hasn’t really changed.

That sense that you’re holding a tool designed not just to function, but to help you create something.

These machines become companions in the creative process. The quiet partners in late-night ideas and long hours of work.

Fifty years is an extraordinary achievement in technology. Most companies barely survive a decade before fading into obscurity. Apple somehow keeps reinventing itself every few years.

Which brings us to the future.

Because while anniversaries are nice, Apple rarely sits around reminiscing for long. The next product is always waiting. The next leap is always coming.

And with WWDC 2026 on the horizon, there’s that familiar feeling again. That quiet curiosity about what the next chapter might look like.

If the last fifty years have taught us anything, it’s that Apple rarely moves the world forward by playing it safe.

So here’s to the garage that started it all.

And here’s to the next fifty years.