January 16, 1986: Apple introduces the Macintosh Plus, its third Mac model and the first to be released after Steve Jobs was forced out of the company the previous year.
The Mac Plus is also the first Macintosh to include a SCSI port, the main way of attaching a Mac to other devices until Apple abandoned the tech on the iMac G3 upon Jobs’ return. The Mac Plus also boasted an expandable 1MB of RAM and a double-sided 800KB floppy drive.
January 15, 2008: Steve Jobs shows off the first MacBook Air at the Macworld conference, calling the revolutionary computer the “world’s thinnest notebook.”
The 13.3-inch laptop measures only 0.76 inches at its thickest point and 0.16 inches at its tapered thinnest. It also boasts a unibody aluminum design: An Apple engineering breakthrough allows the crafting of a complicated computer case from a single block of finely machined metal.
In a brilliant piece of showmanship, Jobs pulls the super-slim laptop out of a standard interoffice envelope during his keynote. (You can watch his introduction of the MacBook Air below).
December 23, 2005: Apple files a patent application for its iconic “slide to unlock” gesture for the iPhone.
At this point, the iPhone remained a secret research project. However, the ability to unlock the device by sliding your finger across it signifies Apple’s big ambitions for its smartphone. Cupertino wants the iPhone to be easy to use, intuitive and miles ahead of the competition technologically.
AirPods Max are controversial for a number of reasons. For one, there’s the $550 price tag. But the odd-looking case Apple designed for these over-the-ear headphones also drew plenty of mockery.
The designers of AirPods Max defended their creation in an interview published Thursday.
“You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you!”
That’s the Charlton Heston-pounding-his-fist-dispairingly-into-the-sand sentiment that shot through my mind when I saw what Apple did to the Clock app in iOS 14. Specifically, Apple ruined the app’s alarm feature, making it so unintuitive that you’ll struggle to believe it was made by the company that coined the phrase “it just works.”
How did Apple manage to take an app that worked spectacularly well and screw it up?
November 21, 1985: Following Steve Jobs’ departure, Apple comes close to signing its own death warrant by licensing the Macintosh’s look and feel to Microsoft.
The deal, between Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple CEO John Sculley, comes hot on the heels of the Windows operating system’s release. The pact gives Microsoft a “non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, nontransferable license to use [parts of the Mac technology] in present and future software programs, and to license them to and through third parties for use in their software programs.”
Oh, boy!
November 19, 2013: Apple gets final approval from the Cupertino City Council to proceed with building a massive second campus to house its growing army of workers.
Cupertino Mayor Orrin Mahoney’s simple message regarding Apple Campus 2? “Go for it.”
November 18, 2003: Apple debuts its 20-inch iMac G4, the company’s biggest flat-panel all-in-one computer ever.
The introduction makes an already superb Mac even better. Somehow, though, the additional screen real estate makes the new Mac weigh twice as much as the 17-inch model.
November 15, 1990: Cupertino wins a design patent for its Apple Extended Keyboard II, arguably the greatest computer keyboard of all time.
Delivering the perfect combination of durability, feel and a pleasing click-clack sound, the Extended Keyboard II will become a mainstay of pro-grade Apple setups during the early 1990s — and perhaps the best-loved keyboard in Apple history. Courtesy of an ADB-to-USB adapter, some people continue to use them today.
October 20, 2009: Apple goes big with its iMac redesign, introducing the first 27-inch all-in-one Mac.
The aluminum unibody design looks so good that the iMac will remain virtually unchanged for years.
