From the Archive of Things People Hoped Were Lost, another forgotten Apple video has surfaced from 1984. Unlike the formidable 1984 TV commercial that introduced the Mac, We Are Apple (Leading the Way) was a fluffy dealer sales presentation that highlighted Apple’s growth and breadth in those halcyon days.
Apple had four product lines in 1984, the Apple II, Apple III, Lisa and Macintosh. All share the spotlight in this cheesy sales extravaganza. Sung to the tune of Irene Cara’s What a Feeling and presented in the lost art of the multi-image slide show, it’s hilarious. Who knew the Lisa was so portable – and such a babe magnet!
This is one trend you will either love or hate. It seems that dancing at the Apple Store (and posting the performance to YouTube) continues to grow in popularity. Why let iPod-toting dancing silhouettes have all the fun when you can do it yourself at a mall near you? Especially when every MacBook has an iCam.
One frequent dancer many have seen is iJustine, who’s been dancing at Apple Store locations around the country for several years. Last week the mythical White iPhone 4 finally shipped, so Justine celebrated the occasion down in Orlando. And several shoppers joined in!
Steven Levy‘s new book about Google In The Plex revealed a few juicy nuggets about the relationship between Apple and Google.
At first, Larry and Sergey wanted Steve Jobs as their CEO. Then the two companies had a long honeymoon, sharing board members and collaborating on groundbreaking software. But then it all soured when Google released Android, and Steve Jobs hid the iPad from Eric Schmidt, even though he was sitting on Apple’s board.
We had a chance to ask Levy for more detail and insight into the relationship between Apple and Google. Here is our exclusive Q&A:
Dancing at Apple’s retail stores is becoming quite a trend. First there was iJustine, followed by the lip-syncing kid iTr3vor, and now the cast of a Disney TV movie.
Over the Easter weekend, the cast of Disney’s new made-for-television movie, “Lemonade Mouth,” invaded the Apple retail store at The Grove in Los Angeles to dance a number in front of amused shoppers.
Staff eventually gently shoed them out, but unfortunately not before the movie’s title song “Determinate” drives you absolutely f–king crazy.
We’re hearing rumors that Steve Jobs is on the verge of resigning from Apple.
Nothing more than that: Jobs is about to leave the company he co-founded 35 years ago. The anniversary of Apple’s founding is today. It was established on April 1, 1976.
This is totally unconfirmed, but there is chatter about it. A local TV news channel has also been asking about the rumor.
Maybe it’s an April Fools’ joke. Most likely, it’s just the Silicon Valley echo chamber. We’re throwing it out because there’s talk about it.
Jobs is still on medical leave that began in January.
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud! Okay, those may not be their words, but Amazon reportedly may make some announcement about a cloud-based storage service this week. If true, the online retail giant could beat Apple and Google to the punch.
Amazon is talking about a so-called ‘digital locker’ to Hollywood and music moguls, which could store music, movies and ebooks, according to one report. Although there is no word how receptive the execs are to such a plan, it may be further than Apple. The Cupertino, Calif. company is said to have gotten an earful from music heads that don’t agree on streaming fees. The labels want fees for every stream, no matter if it comes from an iTunes purchase or an already-owned CD.
Timing for me was good this afternoon. I went to sync my iPad 2 on my Mac and iTunes told me that an iOS update was available for it. Yes indeed and much to my surprise — iOS 4.3.1 (8G4) is out.
The latest firmware offers the following improvements and fixes:
Fixes an occasional graphics glitch on iPod touch (4th generation)
Resolves bugs related to activating and connecting to some cellular networks
Fixes image flicker when using Apple Digital AV Adapter with some TVs
Resolves an issue authenticating with some enterprise web services
The update supports: iPhone 4 (GSM model only), iPhone 3GS, iPad, iPad 2, and iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation). The update isn’t available of Verizon iPhone 4 users who remain on iOS 4.2.6.
There isn’t any mention of a fix for battery woes encountered by users across practically all iOS devices, but I hope that it addresses that problem as well.
Google has today launched Google TV Remotefor iOS – a fully functional remote control for Google TV devices, featuring the complete range of buttons, a mouse pad, and even voice search.
The application has been available on Android devices for a while, and just like the Android version, this one’s free to download. It’s compatible with all Google TV devices and it’s simple to set up – just ensure your iPhone or iPod touch and your Google TV device are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Apple is stolen from by just about everybody. Microsoft and other companies steal design and interface ideas from Apple’s OS X. Cell phone handset makers steal Apple’s iPhone design elements. The new tablet market is essentially Apple’s iPad plus the tablets that steal ideas from the iPad. Everybody has stolen Apple’s approach to app stores.
There’s a difference between stealing ideas and stealing intellectual property. Stealing winning general approaches to doing things like multi-touch gestures on a tablet device is good. Stealing the code to do that is bad.
Microsoft has long been accused of stealing Apple ideas in the many designs of Windows that have occurred over the years. Windows has tended to be more challenging to use than OS X over the years, and Windows products tend to be less elegant. Because of all this, Apple fans often dismiss Microsoft as a company without innovation.
In fact, the opposite is true. Microsoft’s research wing is an under-appreciated engine of invention, in my opinion. And while Microsoft fails to productize some of its best inventions, it’s also occasionally successful at implementing new ideas in real products.
I’ll go further. Apple and its customers would benefit enormously if Apple were to steal the following five key ideas from Microsoft.
