It Was 30 Years Ago Today--Apple Introduces Macintosh

30 years ago today, just a few days after a remarkable Super Bowl commercial touting it's new product, Apple introduced the Macintosh computer to the world and personal computing would never be the same. Below is the video of a very young, charming Steve Jobs introducing the new machine to loud hoots and hollers and he slips in a 3.5 inch disc (remember those!) and the small B/W screen starts to some some graphic and letters. By our standards today, it seems pretty ho-hum and the audience reaction over the top. But this was the first personal computer with a graphical interface...and it truly blew people's minds.

I have fond memories of the original Mac. I remember a guy in my college dorm who had one, which amazed everyone (it retailed for nearly $2500 bucks!). And then, a year later, the computers were available to everyone in the Boston College computer center. I remember writing my first short stories and crafting the plots for my first films using the Mac. I even used it to draw some characters for an animated cut-out film (ala SOUTH PARK) that I shot on Super 8. I'd like to get that one online one of these days! In the meantime, here's Steve Jobs and the Macintosh...

Siri Thinks New York City Is In Texas

Apple has been getting a lot of bad press recently in regard to its Internet-based software (see disastrous Maps app). Well, Siri has a huge glitch of its own which is not even something due to IOS 6.

This has been a problem w/Siri since last spring where if you ask for the weather in New York City, it will usually give you the weather for New York, TX.  How Siri could confuse these is a bit bizarre given that the other New York is hardly even a town; it's more of a crossroads about 80 miles southeast of Dallas.

Siri is supposed to be able to learn from its mistakes but not in this egregious case of error. There have even been a number of threads on the Apple website discussing this with people talking about going to the Genius bar.  But still there is no solution yet.  It seems like this is something that might be a priority given the thousands of iPhones in NYC. But months later, it remains unfixed. I love Apple products but Apple software? That's a whole other story....

Woman Needs iPhone 5 Now...But Not Sure Why

This is a real video of a woman who was sitting on line in New York last week waiting for a new iPhone 5. It seems that maybe she had been on the line a bit too long perhaps as she appears to be delirious, disorientated, almost brainwashed with a generic excitement about a phone she doesn't seem to know much about.  They are those who refer to the folks who go bonkers for the Apple hype as "drinking the Kool-Aid".  Well, this woman is not just chugging that stuff...she is apparently swimming in it.

As this video spreads virally, there have been some questions online about whether this woman was an actor or the whole thing was a comedy stunt/sketch. However, the guy who does these videos "Prime Time Sam Roberts" seems to specialize in finding real-life oddballs and drawing them out of their shell in ways that are bizarre and hilarious. Check out his video with a packing David Bowie from a recent ComicCon.

&$@!*? That Siri Says...And Sings Too

In the last week, people have been having fun with Siri, Apple's new built-in digital personal assistant that comes with the new iPhone.  Though you can make appointments, phone calls and search the internet for all sorts of information, people of course like to ask Siri personal questions.  To some of these there is a built in response while to others, Siri seems to go a little blank.  There is now a Tumblr devoted to the "Shit Siri Says" where you can read what people have said (PEOPLE: "I Love You" SIRI: "All You Need Is Love. And Your iPhone"! ) and add your own too.

But asking Siri what she looks like is not enough for us humans either. We also have to sing it to her.  A talented young musician named Jonathan Mann has created a little duet with Siri.  How cute.  And very funny too....

Steve Jobs Made Computers Cute

There are many obituaries, tributes and bios of Steve Jobs online today after the Apple visionary died yesterday at the age of 56.  Many superlatives have been used to describe Jobs and the remarkable impact he had on the world of computing.  One surprising fact to me was that he held more than 300 patents for everything from the casing for the original Mac to the staircases at Apple stores.  

But despite these remarkable technical innovations, Jobs did something unique.  Simply put, he made computers cute. Until the mid-80s, computers were forbidding machines that mathematicians, scientists and businessman used.  Then he created a Mac which smiled when you turned it on and was guided by a hand-operated mouse.  And slowly the world of computing truly became personal.  Later on, the utter simplicity of something like an iPod served as a sort of gateway drug for technophobes into the wonderful world of personal computing. People were surprised to find their parents and even grandparents online, often using a Mac or an iPad. 

In some ways, Job's remarkable story is similar to that of another industrial innovator, George Eastman. Despite what many think, Eastman did not "invent" photography (though he has multiple patents like Jobs).  What he did was to make it accessible with his equally cute and simple Brownie camera that spawned a similar revolution in the way people used photography.  Through his Kodak company, Eastman took an existing technology and made it friendly and usable for the masses.  Jobs did the same, times 10. And the world will never be the same....in a good way.

The SkyNet Chronicles: Apple Introduces Siri

I've posted a few times before about the increasing intelligence of computers and whether or not they are approaching the sinister capabilities of SkyNet, the fictional computer that became self-aware in the TERMINATOR movies and turned on its makers.  Yesterday, Apple was supposed to announce the iPhone 5 but the real big announcement was of a new app called Siri, which is a digital personal assistant.  It makes appointments on your calendar, it tells you where to find local Starbucks, it will even remind you gently to call your wife.

Of course, it does all of this after you tell it to.  But no matter....the Internets were abuzz with SkyNet freak outs yesterday.  CNN reported on this in a story which mentioned old SkyNet precursor Hal9000 from the 2001 movies.  I didn't even know that Hal has his own Twitter feed but he certainly had some snarky things to say on it about his new rival.  No word from Watson, IBM's supercomputer that beat a human on Jeopardy recently.  But maybe if someone set up Siri (who sounds like a woman, though Apple creepily calls her "it") and Watson and they had a baby it would grow up to rule the world! [Insert sinister laugh here.]  Computer conception, though, seems a little ways off....

Star Wars Episode IV Done Entirely In ASCII

I was at the Apple Store in Soho yesterday to fix a problem with my wifi. One of the cute geeks at the Genius Bar helped me out and, to test my connection to the internet, clicked on a site he uses as a test.  The site has a streaming version of STAR WARS: EPISODE 4 made entirely in ASCII.  Apparently, some computer nerd with some serious time on his hands started this whole thing in 1997 and now they've done a complete version of the film.  It was finished in April 2008.

I love going to the Apple Store because, not only do they always fix my problem promptly and efficiently, but I also learn something new...and sometimes a little bizarre too.  Thank you, geniuses!

Dog v. iPad

This video is making the viral rounds....a corgi checking out an iPad. He is interested at first when he sees his reflection.  But his relationship to the techno-beast changes over time.  Steve Jobs would not be pleased.