Here’s one of the earliest color icons for the graphics application Photoshop:
This image was pulled from The Abyss: Special Edition, which was one of the first major uses of the application developed by Thomas Knoll, and his brother John Knoll, a visual wizard at George Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic. Photoshop 1.0 was released for the Apple Macintosh exclusively.
More on the history of Photoshop at Wikipedia.
As some of you know, my wife met Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak back in April.
I caught the local news here in Edmonton tonight, and imagine my surprise (and disappointment) when I found out he appeared in Edmonton this morning to speak at a tech conference. I wasn’t aware of the conference so of course I missed out on his keynote conference speech. I’m guessing he’s been touring around guest speaking and helping to promote his new book, iWoz.
Woz is certainly the more accessible of the two main Apple founders and it’s likely I’ll get to hear him speak at a later time, but it’s still disappointing that he was right here in Edmonton and I didn’t know until it was too late. Even if you’re not an Apple or Woz fan, you can’t deny his contributions and effect on the worlds of personal computing and education. Hopefully the attendees were able to realize who they were listening to.
Oh well.
Photos from goofing around with Apple’s new Intel-powered iMac with built-in iSight camera and Photo Booth software.
Say “cheese!”
April met The Woz last night. How cool is that?!
April showing Steve a poster of himself, his son, and some PowerBooks.
Kerychuk and Wozniak. Gurus of technology and education!
Evening at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
April and one of her work associates attended an AIM Institute banquet in Omaha where Steve was the keynote speaker. After the speech, Wozniak hung around to pose for photos and graciously sign Macs, Apple II’s and other historic Apple and Woz-related items. She said he was not only an entertaining speaker, but also listened attentively to guests and welcomed their own stories.
Steve Wozniak: a class act all the way.
Update: My wife has posted her recollection of the event in the comments section, while another Woz fan shares his experience at Applemacpunk.com
I wonder how many people actually remember to do this on their wireless-enabled laptop computers?
Though it refers to Mac OS 9, I’m assuming it should be the same idea under Mac OS X and Windows.
In case you weren’t aware, the Apple iTunes Music Store for Canada opened for business as of yesterday. Not as large of a collection as the US or UK counterparts, but if you’re looking for music you can’t find through Peer-To-Peer networks, or if you’re looking to support the artists, head on over and start using your credit card to enhance your music collection.
According to some audiophiles and reviewers, the format you’ll be able to download is not as good as what you would find on a standard music CD because of the compression used for online file distribution. AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) is the standard on Music CD’s and are large in size, whereas the Apple iTunes Music Store-produced files and MP3 files are relatively low in size, with comparable quality. This allows for reasonable download times. However, most people will not recognize the difference and should be happy with their purchase.
If you’re curious as to who’s behind a lot of the current industrial designs (hardware) at Apple, then you’ll want to check out this interview.
From the iMac, to the G4 Cube, to the iPod, and PowerBook, Ive’s efforts combined with those of the Apple Design Team have provided us with some of the sleekest, and sexiest Apple products yet. His use of color cases in the iMacs and iBooks drew in the creative crowd; and his absence of it in the G5 and current PowerBook lines, keeps the products looking clean, appealing to professionals.
For his efforts, and in addition to the numerous awards he’s already received, Jonathan Ive was chosen as the 2003 winner of Design Museum’s Inaugural Designer of the Year award.
When MP3 players started appearing on the market, I looked at many and didn’t find one that met all the requirements I had in mind. If Apple made one, I knew they would do it right. It’s been 3 years since the introduction of the Apple iPod and if you’ve got one, you know how wonderful they are. My wife purchased one for me as a Christmas gift and I’ve used it almost every day. It feels great to hang on to, not awkwardly shaped like others. It possesses a clean interface - reminiscent of Apple’s early Mac experience, and most importantly, it holds A LOT of songs.
I’m on my third one now, and though the iPod isn’t perfect (darn close though), any flaws they’ve had have been addressed promptly and Apple has only kept making it better. Along with the U2 Special Edition iPod, today Apple introduced the iPod Photo. For those who can afford to purchase the color iPod, you’ll not only have a great portable digital jukebox, but also a vivid portable digital photo album. Canadians can drool here.
Amazon.com purchase link (shipped to US only):
Buy an iPod Photo
Buy an iPod or iPod Mini
It’s a ‘beautiful day’ for Apple and U2 junkies! Today Apple released the U2 Special Edition iPod. Americans can check it out here.
Apple also announced that the iTunes Music Store will be open for business to Canadians in November and that a version for European Union members launches today.
If you’re not a U2 fan, but you’re looking for a more colorful iPod, a company called ColorWare has been offering a service in which they will paint your iPod from a pre-chosen list of unique colors. They also offer custom coloring and can paint PowerBooks, iBooks, and other laptops. The quality of their work looks fantastic!
Amazon.com purchase link (shipped to US only):
Buy an iPod U2 Special Edition
Buy an iPod or iPod Mini
The new U2 song ‘Vertigo’ from the upcoming album ‘How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb’ can be heard (or seen) here.
If you’ve got iTunes for your Mac or PC, you’ll be able to watch a 2-minute video of the song - in the iTunes/iPod style of things. Also, if you live the US or UK, or have a US or UK billing address, then you can download the new single from the iTunes Music Store. The rest of the album will likely be available in November.
Some people are calling U2 ’sellouts’ for doing this with Apple, but U2 frontman Bono has always had a thing for technology. He’s been a champion of Apple products for many years and you’ve probably seen him in Apple Trade Show videos or on television speaking enthusiastically about iTunes, iPods, or PowerBooks. And if you’ve witnessed a U2 tour like Zooropa, you know he’s no stranger to using technology.
One of the driving factors as to why ‘Vertigo’ is available through the iTunes Music Store is because of a ‘music leak’ that occurred a few months ago. While doing a cover photo shoot for the forthcoming album, the best-selling music group had a copy of the new record playing in a nearby CD player. After the shoot, the band found the CD had disappeared. Whether it was stolen or simply forgotten remains a mystery, but the band was noticeably upset. In an effort to thwart illegal downloads on file sharing and peer-to-peer networks, U2 - and probably their record company - decided to partner with Apple and get the song up on the iTunes Music Store.
There’s also more news today that Apple and U2 will team up to possibly provide the new album preloaded on new iPods.
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