This is a guest post by Mike Daisey, who’s latest monologue, The Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs, is at New York’s Public Theater through March 4. We highly recommend you go see it. It made Steve Wozniak cry. The post originally appeared here.

Stephen Fry, brilliant comedian, wonderful actor, and bon vivant just posted this in his Twitter feed:

As a fellow raconteur it’s painful to have to confront Mr. Fry with this fact, but he’s being a total idiot.

He’s in good company—most of the Mac universe is in the midst of a massive propaganda campaign, trying to convince itself and the universe that the cognitive dissonance they are feeling at this moment isn’t real.

So you’re going to see some good people, like Mr. Fry, who happen to love their Apple products very much, say some horrible things because they don’t actually understand how to reconcile the beauty and grace of their wonderful Apple products with the unvarnished, verified truth of how they are produced.

Android may not be every Mac user’s cup of tea, but it’s the biggest mobile operating system in the world, and it’s important to know what’s going on with Android — what it’s doing right, and what it’s doing wrong. Here’s the best stories that hit today over at our sister site, Cult of Android.

A famous Apple campaign goes: “Here’s to the crazy ones.” Of course the crazy ones usually get institutionalized. And that’s exactly what has happened to Apple. It seems that in recent weeks, Apple has been or announced plans to be, institutionalized.

Apple, which represents the newest of the new, both aesthetically and technologically, is embracing the old. Here’s what I’m talking about.

Wow! 2011 has been one of the most interesting years in recent memory for Apple Inc. Of course the death of Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, stands out as one of the most important events of the year for Apple, but there have been a load of other stories too that have made 2011 a very memorable year for the fruit company. From one controversy to the next, to record-breaking earnings, and new products, Apple has plowed through 2011 with a steady determination to be the best technology company on the planet. Only one device underwent a redesign (the iPad), while other form factors stayed the same. Instead of focusing on making pivotal leaps forward with hardware, Apple’s main focus of 2011 was to fortify their strong foundation in the software game.

Here’s Cult of Mac’s look back on the Apple in the year 2011.

These days, Steve Jobs’s business acumen is legendary, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, when Steve first went on a fund-raising expedition to get money for the original Apple I in natal Silicon Valley, he was described as a secretive “joker” who couldn’t trust anyone and had a “flakey” partnership with Steve Wozniak.

Remember when we told you about Apple’s founding contract that was going up for auction? Well, the three-page document just sold for $1.6 million to an unidentified buyer in New York.

The contract was originally owned by Apple’s third co-founder Ronald Wayne, but he sold it in 1994 for only a few thousand dollars. Wayne sold his original 10% share in Apple for $800 and a later payment of $1,500 when he left the company in the early years, which would now be worth $36 billion.

Estimates originally pegged the founding contract as being worth around $150,000.

Did you miss out on seeing PBS’s fantastic documentary on the life of Steve Jobs when it aired in early November? Well, you’re in lucky: Steve Jobs – One Last Thing is now available on DVD. It’s also free to stream for Amazon Prime members.

While Apple computers today are famous for their svelte aluminum enclosures, the company’s first machine — born way back in 1976 — was made out of wood. In a bid to bring back that look, the iStation dock attempts turns your iPad 2 into the original Apple Computer.

Here’s a cautionary tale that should turn you into a hoarder: a contract of a nearly bankrupt tech company in the mid-1990s is now headed for the auction block with a $150,000 price tag. The company is Apple and the document is the tech giant’s founding contract with signatures of Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne — who must be kicking himself at this very moment.

Love this portrait of Apple co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs silhouetted in an old-school Apple logo.  It brings to mind the early days of the Cupertino company and its humble beginnings.

It’s the handiwork of Laurent Bourrelly who was inspired by Jonathan Mak’s iconic black-and-white image of Jobs that spurred a media storm.

“I thought Woz deserved as much props as Jobs,” he said.

Let’s hope this re-imagined logo ignites less controversy.

Via Flickr