Prior to the Grammy’s last night, NBCs Lester Holt, co-anchor of NBC’s “Today,” Weekend Edition, introduced a report concerning the state of the music industry called “Off Key.” Tonight in Los Angeles,” Holt reported, “the music world’s best will be honored at the fiftieth annual Grammy Awards. While the faces will be familiar, the music industry itself is undergoing some of its biggest changes in years. They’re due in large part to new ways that we listen to our favorite songs and how the big labels are struggling to adjust.”

“Having a number one album isn’t what it used to be,” states NBC’s lead reporter Peter Alexander. “Just ask Alicia Keys. Her latest disk topped the Billboard’s music chart last week with 61,000 copies sold – nearly a historic low for a number one album in a single week. She’s not alone. Across the board, albums sales fell 15 % in 2007, the sixth drop in the last seven years.”

Gary Stiffelman, a music attorney, cut to the chase with his comment that “No artist is immune to the reduction in sales. You have superstars that are creeping their way to a million units that used to sell 10 to 15 million.” To the question why, Peter Alexander simply added, because “with 120 million iPods sold since 2001, digital downloads of individual songs are through the roof – Soaring 500% in the last three years. In that same period, CD’s sales of declined dramatically, as listeners prefer hits over to entire albums.

Tamara Conniff, Co-Executive, Billboard Magazine added that “The music business has been completely turned on its head because of the advent of new technology – And it is not easy for anyone to adapt [to] new technology, especially when it’s been moving as quickly as it has been.”

Major record labels such as Warner Music Group and EMI have suffered massive layoffs. Last year’s best sellers included the soundtrack for ‘Kids’ – and the Eagles come back CD collection went straight to Wal-Mart, bypassing the labels altogether. The slump in CD sales is even changing the way major retailers do business. Peter Alexander pointed out that retailer Wal-Mart had even changed their floor space by putting more profitable DVDs and video games where CD’s once were.
To the question, “Where will the industry be in five years from now? Peter Alexander states that “Industry analysts say it’s unclear.”

“While our interest in music may be as strong as ever,” Alexander concludes, “consumers have changed the way they buy.” The report ends with the image of an iTunes Gift Card being handled by an Apple Store Genius Bar representative (shown).

NBC’s report was obviously suggesting that Apple’s iTunes was and is the leading force behind the downfall of the music’s industry’s cash cow known as the album: An unfair marketing gimmick that had been forced on consumers for decades. On that note, Apple is guilty for championing the sale of the 99 cent tune: Long-live Apple.

But is the downfall of the music album what’s really behind the music industry’s ongoing malaise? – Of course not. Is it behind the massive layoffs at Warner or EMI? – Once again, of course not. The real culprit behind the music industry’s malaise rests with pirating. The Timesonline recently reported on U2’s manager Paul McGuiness striking out at music pirates by stating that “Music fans who indulge in widespread illegal file-sharing should have their web connections cut off by internet service providers.” Paul McGuinness, who has guided the Irish group to 150 million album sales during their 30-year career, said companies such as Yahoo! and AOL, should be prosecuted if they fail to prevent illegal file-sharing. Mr. McGuiness was speaking at the Midem music industry convention in Cannes in January.

In that same address, Mr. McGuinness managed to drag Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs into his speech by stating that “I wish he would bring his remarkable set of skills to bear on the problems of recorded music. He’s a technologist, a financial genius, a marketer and a music lover. He probably doesn’t realize it, but the collapse of the old financial model for recorded music will also mean the end of the songwriter.”

Now that’s a problem.

Written by Neo

Apple Files for Semantic Reconstruction & Content Encoding/ Rendering Patents

On October 25, the US Patent & Trademark Office published two of Apple’s patent applications titled Semantic reconstruction and Context-aware content conversion and interpretation-specific views .

Patent: Semantic Reconstruction

Apple’s Patent Background: Often electronic content data do not consistently adhere to one standard on format, organization, and use in consistent software. For example, each individual content data creator may choose to save electronic content data in various formats including a variety of text formats, document formats, spread sheet formats, presentation formats, visual graphic formats (e.g. chart, graph, map, drawing, image formats), audio formats, multimedia (e.g. video formats) formats, and database formats. Even when content data is encoded using standards-based formats, such as xml, often many different schemas are used. This heterogeneous nature of the electronic content data can pose challenges when the various content need to be re-purposed, re-styled, searched, combined, transformed, rendered or otherwise processed. Existing solutions typically require a user to convert heterogeneous content to a specific format required for desired processing. In some cases, it is difficult for a user to determine both the specific content format and the content formatting application best suited for the desired processing. Many standard tools for format conversion operate at inconsistent semantic levels, or encode an inappropriate semantic level, potentially causing information needed to perform desired content management and/or electronic publishing functions, for example, to be lost. Therefore, there exists a need for a better way to process electronic content.

Apple lists Philip Andrew Mansfield (Vancouver, CA) as the sole inventor of this patent. For full details of this patent, see 20070250762

Patent: Context-aware content conversion and interpretation-specific views

Apple’s Patent Abstract: Content encoding rendering is disclosed. An indication of a desired interpretation of a starting content having a first encoding is received. The starting content is processed to generate a representation data comprising a second encoding of the starting content, wherein the second encoding is determined automatically and at least in part by the desired interpretation. The representation data is rendered using a view associated with the desired interpretation.

Apple’s patent background for “Context-aware content conversion and interpretation-specific views” is identical to that listed for their Semantic Reconstruction patent noted above.

Apple lists Philip Andrew Mansfield (Vancouver, CA), Michael Robert Levy (Vancouver, CA), Yuri Khramov (Richmond, CA) and Darryl Will Fuller (Burnaby, CA) as the inventors of this patent. For more details of this patent, see 20070250497.

NOTICE: MacNN presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.

Written and researched by Neo.

If you were hoping to see a new iMac this fall with Blu-ray, then you might just be out of luck. According to a report put out by China’s HKEPC this past weekend, Intel won’t be officially supporting Blu-ray until the second quarter of 2008. That’s when Intel will introduce Eaglelake, replacing their current Bearlake chipset. Intel’s Eaglelake slide which HKEPC presented, displays Eaglelake’s noted upcoming features.

Although Apple’s iMac is based on Intel’s Merom, it’s safe to state that if Intel’s higher end desktops won’t support Blu-ray until Q2 2008 that this fall’s iMac’s are definitely out of the question. Late last Thursday, Apple released a statement concerning the delay of OS X Leopard until October. Unlike most, I found that to be welcomed news in that Leopard would now debut on iMac’s based on Intel’s forthcoming 45nm Penryn right out of the gate. But without a Blu-ray optical drive; I think iMac sales could suffer this fall if consumers are made aware of the fact that Blu-ray will only launch at best, in Q2 2008. Every Independent Apple retail store that I’ve contacted state that they won’t offer upgrades for iMac’s optical drives, period. And although iMac’s will likely support HDMI to enable a user to connect a Blu-ray drive later on, that’s an expense that most would like to avoid when making a major purchase.

The question becomes, will Apple will find a way to work around Intel’s roadmap and still deliver on Blu-ray to complete the new iMac’s with OS X Leopard this fall. Do you think we’ll see a Q4 iMac with Blu-ray? And more importantly, would you buy a new iMac without Blu-ray? Weigh in now.

Neo.

Is Apple in Alcatel-Lucent’s Crosshairs?

Apple’s licensing of MPEG Layer-3 audio coding technology from Fraunhofer IIS and THOMSON multimedia could spell trouble for Apple if the Alcatel-Lucent vs. Microsoft verdict, handed out by the District Court in San Diego, Calif., yesterday, stands after appeal by Microsoft. Well, that’s what some in the media would like you to think, that is.

Yesterday’s federal court ruling found that Microsoft infringed two Alcatel-Lucent patents in using the MP3 format for playing digital music on their Windows Media Player and was ordered to pay more than $1.5 billion in damages.

Microsoft released a statement yesterday, for attribution to Tom Burt, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, in response to the District Court finding which stated in part:

“We think this verdict is completely unsupported by the law or the facts. We will seek relief from the trial court, and if necessary appeal.

“Like hundreds of other companies large and small, we believe that we properly licensed MP3 technology from its industry recognized licensor – Fraunhofer. The damages award seems particularly outrageous when you consider we paid Fraunhofer only $16 million to license this technology.” The Fraunhofer Institute was involved, along with the French electronics company Thomson and Bell Labs, in the format’s development.

Various reports have since surfaced suggesting that if the ruling stands, Apple and hundreds of other companies that make products that play MP3 files, including portable players, computers and software, could be forced to pay royalties to Alcatel. Thomson’s mp3licensing webpage does in fact list Apple along with Microsoft and scores of other companies who are recognized licensees.

One of the reports on record, state that Merrill Lynch analysts have told clients that “If Lucent does possess an essential MP3 patent, something we are not qualified to judge, the company could potentially go after Apple, whose iPod can play MP3 files.” Yet that’s too generalized an assessment considering there are more than just two mp3 patents on record.

The listing of patents, found here, only adds to the confusion of the matter at hand. Being that only two Alcatel patents were violated, it would be a stretch at this point in time to assume that Apple’s iTunes uses the very same patent portfolio for their iTunes/iPod that Microsoft used in their Media Player. The two patent infringements have yet to be identified specifically, so how can anyone make such assertions that Apple could be implicated.

For the record, the history of the mp3, according to Thomson, doesn’t even recognize Alcatel, Lucent or Alcatel-Lucent’s role in mp3. They do however recognize AT&T which is connected to this case indirectly. CNET News.com on Friday reported that Microsoft said the verdict was “completely unsupported by the law or the facts” and noted that roughly half of the damages are for overseas sales of Windows. Such damages could be affected by a separate patent case that involves Microsoft and AT&T. That case, currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, deals with whether overseas sales of software products should be subject to U.S. patent law.

The U.S. software industry fears that a ruling against Microsoft could expand its vulnerability in patent infringement suits compared with global rivals and could make it more attractive to locate research operations abroad. AT&T, on the other hand, says software companies need only worry if they’re committing infringement in the first place.”

At the end of the day, it would appear on the surface at least, that the loss for Microsoft against Alcatel-Lucent could have dire consequences in their case with AT&T and that all of this other clatter about how their loss could eventually translate into losses for other mp3 licencees, including Apple, is nothing more than smoke and mirrors for the press.

The bottom line is this. Is Apple in Alcatel-Lucent’s Crosshairs? No one in the press knows that yet, period. What we do know however at this point is simple: Microsoft lost their case, full stop.

Written by Neo.

On Monday, MacNN filed the report titled “Apple’s 2002 iPhone trademark filing is still being appealed” which presented the history of Apple’s ongoing battle with the European Patent Office for the rights to “iPhone.”

Specific new data has recently surfaced in the IPAustralia database in regards to two new filings for iPhone that originated in Trinidad and Tobago under number 37090. Apple’s Australian filings were made under numbers 1136410 and 1136412. The “Lodgement Dates” for both are noted as September 19, 2006, while “Convention Details” notes the date of March 27, 2006. Furthermore, an “Acceptance Due” date is noted in the filing as being January 11, 2008. The filing enclosed images pertaining to the trademark, as noted above.

Apple’s Australian filing for iPhone under application number 1136412 specifically covers International Class 28 which Apple listed in full as follows:

Stand alone video game machines; pinball and arcade game machines; hand-held unit for playing electronic games; coin-operated video games; toy computers, phones and other toy consumer electronic devices; electronic action toys; electronic educational game machines for children; musical toys; battery operated remote controlled toy vehicles; toys and games, namely, action figures and accessories therefore; board games; card games; playing cards.

Apple’s Australian filing for iPhone under application number 1136410 specifically covers International Class 9 which Apple listed in full as follows:

Handheld and mobile digital electronic devices for the sending and receiving of telephone, calls, faxes, electronic mail, and other digital data MP3 and other digital format audio players; handheld computers, personal digital assistants, electronic organizers, electronic notepads; magnetic data ewers; telephones, mobile phones, computer gaming machines, videophones, cameras; pre recorded computer programs for personal information management database management software, electronic mail and messaging software, paging software, database synchronization software, computer programs far accessing, browsing and searching online databases, computer software and firmware, namely operating system programs, data synchronization programs, and application development tool programs for personal and handheld computers; electronic handheld units for the wireless receipt and/or transmission of data that enable the user to keep track of or manage personal information; software for the redirection of messages, Internet mail, and/or other data to me or more electronic handheld devices from a data store on or associated with a personal computer or a server; and software for the synchronization of data between a remote station or device and a fixed or remote station or device; computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global, information networks.

2007: One of the Most Exciting Product Years

Steve Jobs yesterday stated that “Looking forward, 2007 is likely to be one of the most exciting new product years in Apple’s history.” So what can we expect?

Well, we know at this point that Apple is going to debut their new iTV device sometime in calendar Q1 to kick off the exciting product year followed by the official launch of Mac OS X Leopard. 2007 is also the year that we should see Apple debut a new optical drive which may support Blu-ray and/or HD DVD standards. Yet in context with today’s trademark report, it would appear that Apple’s relentless battle to attain the iPhone trademark may very well suggest that indeed their new iPhone line of products are on track beginning sometime in 2007.

Think Different: iPhone, iTV

Whether Apple will wait to launch their new iPhone device in the second half of 2008 when Mobile WiMAX is expected to officially rollout worldwide or decide to strike earlier in late 2007 is yet an unknown wildcard. Yet the “Acceptance” date for iPhone is expected to arrive on January 11, 2008. That’s just about perfect timing for a MacWorld 2008 announcement. Then again, could something iPhone-related launch earlier?

Well, looking closer at Apple’s iPhone filing you’ll notice two very interesting points such as “pre recorded computer programs” and a “data store on or associated with a personal computer or a server; and software for the synchronization of data between a remote station or device and a fixed or remote station or device; computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerized global, information networks.” Perhaps it’s just me, but you have to wonder if there’s just a little wiggle room here for a connection between a future iPhone and Apple’s forthcoming iTV.
As far back as April 2005 I was discussing network-centric televisions integrated with IP/TV services and how your cell phone would become your TV remote, in a Next Wave series article titled “Apple’s NEW-TRON Bombshell.” And more recently, there’s been a new Apple patent application which has surfaced which contains all new patent “Claims” pertaining to “an appliance” which works in concert with an Apple universal remote to control everything from your TV to your stereo components and so forth. That same point was echoed earlier on in “Apple’s “Image scaling arrangement” patent which clearly links the iPod to being a TV-remote and more.

And the closest proof of an iPod using a communication module working on a national wireless communications network, to date, could be found in a recent Apple-related patent which also happened to illustrate an iPod-like phone (as noted here, to your right.)

In that same report you could find references to yet another Apple patent which in fact discusses communication modules for the iPod and provides a descriptive “Skier Scenario.” The communications modules described in that patent were in context with a “personal mobile radio” which included various radio based capabilities and options including voice communications, messaging (pager, email), digital one-way radio (one to one and group), digital two-way radio (one to one and group), data services (wireless web and private networks). Many of these services are in sync with Apple’s new iPhone filing number 1136410 noted above.

So taking a tiny leap of faith by combining Apple’s various iPod patent concepts of an iPod-like phone (iPhone) with TV- remote functionality isn’t that difficult to make. Where the fun comes in, of course, will be when Apple eventually introduces iPhone as a telephonic iLife iapplication of sorts: Perhaps as an option for Front Row. That will eventually lead to iPhone playing out on – yes – your High-Def television via Apple’s forthcoming iTV consumer electronics device.

Apple’s current iChat AV branding may be fine today for Mac geeks, but once Apple reaches out to the average consumer like Grandma, iPhone is going to be little easier to relate to than iChat AV. So what about the video side of iPhone playing out on your TV? Well, that’s really a subject for another day perhaps, but suffice to say for now that Apple does indeed have a patent on record whereby a display (or TV, of course) will also double as a built-in video camera. Yes, true face-to-face video telephony will finally arrive, eliminating the need to stare at a clumsy on-device camera. You’ll simply look at your TV display and see your caller looking right back at you directly, eye-to-eye, with neither of you being distracted with looking at the stupid camera. No more wondering-eye syndrome. It’ll be as natural as having an everyday conversation with someone in person. In fact, Apple’s patent application number 20060007222 states that “A video panel that has an embedded macro CCD is no longer just a display. It can be used to transmit as well as receive visual information. One use and benefit for such a panel is video conferencing: a user can maintain eye contact with someone on screen because the camera is “in” the screen.” Can it get any clearer than that? No. And who in the world will want a video cam clipped to the top of their cool HDTV anyways? So while the discussions about Apple’s iPhone are myopically looking at just a single device, Apple is looking at the bigger picture, literally and figuratively, whereby these two applications, iPhone and iTV, are very much intersecting on our future HDTV.

2007: iPhone application and Action Figure

For now, I wouldn’t be surprised to at least see Apple’s iPhone application pop up in Mac OS X Leopard just before the end of 2007 – setting up the eventual launch of their iPhone device for 2007 or 2008. The thought of being able to answer my future iPhone’s incoming calls right from my HDTV, while iTV puts my programming on hold automatically, sounds like a blast.

At the end of the day, only time will tell if any of these scenarios pertaining to iPhone will actually play out in 2007. Yet in Apple’s typical evolutionary manner, I think that we’ll begin to see some of the fundamental building blocks of iPhone unfold.

On the more humorous side of the equation, Apple’s iPhone trademark also included “action figures and accessories.” Yes, I could see it now: Get the Steve Jobs Action Figure today and we’ll include Steve’s powerful Zune-Killer ray gun at no extra charge!

Then again, you could always get that Zune-Killer ray gun today. It’s called an iPod!

Written by Neo.

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Apple’s TV Remote Patent discloses a very unique feature

Macworld: News: Apple unveils 2.0GHz MacBook

Is it time for me to upgrade? I have a 500 MHz Dual USB iBook 12″, and a 1 GHz Powerbook 17″. Pretty much the small end and the large end of the laptop line. The Powerbook is newer at about 3 years old. My AppleCare will expire in a month, and then it’s just a matter of time before it makes more sense to buy a new machine than fix the old one.

Or, I may just get sick of the old ones. I just helped my father buy a 20″ iMac Core Duo. It is sweet. But there’s nothing new that completely grabs me. No new type of serial port, I have a PC Card for USB 2.0 and the Powerbook has Firewire 800. Airport hasn’t gotten faster. Why buy an upgrade, if I don’t care that much about speed?

When do you upgrade? What triggers you into a buying frenzy, and how bad does it get? What are you waiting for?

MacNN | Apple Store Fifth Avenue to open Friday

I’ve never gone out of my way for an Apple Store opening. I don’t care so much about the store’s design, though they are beautiful stores, typically. Usually, though, I stay away for a while.

I have never driven 100 miles to an Apple Store. I went to the Rockingham, NH store, and I live in Boston. That’s the farthest I’ve gone.

But I’m definitely going to the New York store. Not on opening day, but definitely within the first few weeks. While the glass is still shiny. And late, very late at night. I want to stump a genius on the 3rd shift. It’s a nice, quiet part of Manhattan to walk around, late at night, believe it or not.

Are you going to the New York store? Are you going late at night?

I helped my father buy his second personal computer recently. He barely used his first computer, a Gateway Pentium II machine. When he bought it, he couldn’t understand the salesman well, and he ended up buying a Pentium II right after the Pentium III was released, because, in his own words, “I heard that the Pentium IV will be out soon, so why spend extra on the Pentium III.” I know, it doesn’t make sense.

It had a DVD player, USB ports, and an LCD screen to match. It was a hulking tower, though, so he hid it under the desk, which also meant he was intimidated by the ports on the back. When he got his digital camera, he almost never plugged it in, because taking out the machine usually meant he would accidentally unplug something else. That’s why the nice little Boston Acoustic speakers he bought never worked, because he couldn’t figure out where to plug them in. When he bought a Canon photo printer, he couldn’t use it at the same time as his color DeskJet because he only had two USB ports, and one of them was taken up by his Cable modem. He didn’t have an Ethernet card. It was all a mess.

I knew he needed a Mac. He almost never uses the computer. Mind you, my father is far from stupid, and not really behind the times. He is a consummate medical professional, and when it comes to his science, he is perfectly up-to-date. He’s never used an ATM in his life, but his checkbook is balanced, and he knows everything there is to know about the latest advances in his own business. He doesn’t need to learn about drivers, or networking, or even USB. He just wants to take the pictures off his digital camera and print them out.

So, I was home visiting, and he pops in to say “Let’s go computer shopping.” Are there four more beautiful words? The Apple Store is almost an hour away, and he doesn’t drive more than 15 minutes for anything he can get closer, so we went to CompUSA.

It was a funny trip. We went right to the 20″ Core Duo iMac. There was a young couple looking at the same machine. I could tell the salesperson wasn’t giving them coherent answers, so I started to walk the crowd through iLife, the Dock, etc. We both ended up walking out with a new machine.

Why did he resist so long? He was worried about compatibility with his productivity apps at work. Not the accounting software, but Word, Excel, Internet Explorer. Ridiculous, right? Maybe not. I think that, in marketing itself as an ‘Us vs. Them’ company, Apple has posited itself on the outside. That scares off my father.

Why is Apple so worried about proving it is better than a PC, unless it isn’t? he asks himself. I’ve often heard market share comparisons between Apple and BMW. Can you imagine BMW advertising that they are better than Ford? Of course not. BMW starts from the position that they are The Ultimate Driving Machine, and their real competitors, Mercedes and the rest, do the same. Apple needs to position itself as The Ultimate Computing Machine. Stop highlighting the differences.

I’m not suggesting that Apple focus on the similarities either. Just show the machines. Show people using the machines. Show a café filled with tiny white and long silver monitors, their apple logos glowing. Show Grandma printing out a picture of her grandkids to take with her to bingo. In other words, show people driving the beautiful machine, and show them driving fast, and show how much they love to drive.

Let’s see, what was that saying? “Don’t trust anyone over 30.” Ah yes, that’s it. Now that almost everyone who ever said that is almost 60, and Apple, the mothership, is 30; what does it all mean?

Do we realize that turning thirty only means that Apple has succeeded against all odds? Or that hundreds of naysayers, media and analysts that said Apple is dying or will die soon were just plain short-sighted and wrong? Ya, that’s it. They were just wrong.

So, while some are celebrating Apple’s birthday with cakes and blogs, let’s take stock of where we users are, now that Apple is 30. What really matters is not only that the company made it, as much as what did we make of what the company produced. This first day of any month in any year, is a good time to reflect on just how using Apple Computers changed us. Remember, without us, there would be no company. In reality Apple made a difference because of the thousands of user groups that pushed its products, and the hundreds of artists, writers, and business people that did believe in its products. We are the brains, the mouths, and the peer to peer marketing that helped Apple survive, Against All Odds.

Think about it, Steven Levy, Senior Editor and chief technology writer for Newsweek, David Pogue, author and columnist for the New York Times, Andy Ihnatko, author and columnist for Chicago Sun Times, and Bob Levitus, author of hundreds of books were once just user group members. Hundreds of Apple employees were fished out of BMUG and BCS•Mac too.
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Back in 1998 or so, when my own web site was in its infancy (which it still is), I had too much time on my hands and started to do “The People Who Think Different” pages. I sent an email interview to many Mac users and the answers of those that chose to reply were posted on my budding site, that eventually went nowhere. My incentive to create the pages was my own story of how using Macintosh computers had changed my life, and I was curious to see how that use affected other people too. Take a peek at how using the Macintosh affected lives of people like authors Robin Williams and Maria Langer, Macworld’s Chris Breen, a few former Apple employees, and 60 other Mac writers and users from Dantz, AOL, and other companies. Although some of the minor links are broken and the answers are from 1998-1999, it is interesting to see how the Mac changed lives.

Today is a good day to reflect on how “The Power To Be Your Best,” “What’s on Your PowerBook,” a computer “For the Rest of Us,” and “Think Different” made a difference in our lives. Please reply below and tell us your story!
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And while we’re talking past history and fun, how about looking back at David Pogue’s music contribution with his computer song spoofs, which I have on my history DVD, by the way.
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Now, as folks delve into their nostalgia and remember all the Macs they’ve owned, I only have to walk downstairs to the basement to see … a veritable Macintosh museum. Presently I have every Mac I’ve ever owned from the trusty 128 turned Plus, to my beloved CI, the frustrating 8500, 840AV, Beige G3, a Pismo, AGP G4, and my PB G4. Five of those machines are still actually upstairs in my office, ready for service with only a wayward plug to find a socket. In addition, I’ve collected another 13 machines, which sit patiently waiting for a reason to exist. Most even work. I also have at the ready 4 printers, none of which are newer than 2002, but all work, 3 scanners, and 2 iPods.

It is not just the machines that grace this space either. Somewhere down here I have almost every issue of MacUser and Macworld magazine ever published, along with a few St. Mac and Macazines, Byte, and various user group publications. I wish I could stop there, but alas, I AM a packrat. I also have tubs of almost every stupid little thing I ever collected at Macworld Expo, and all the Apple-related t-shirts I’ve acquired. Alice Through the Looking Glass is here, as is Wingz, Lotus, and a few other notable programs that no longer run on anything that graces my upper floors. I’m almost sure I have the only copy of a number of programs that still exist, such as MicroSoft File, Woodstock the CD, Chuck Jone’s Peter and the Wolf, and Infocom’s Zork (boy, I loved Zork!). (By the way, it was Zork that got me into computers when it only ran on a mainframe.) I won’t give any of it up either. It’s just too much fun and gives me a live sense of history. Just don’t ask me to move again!

So what else have I gained from my 20 years of using the Mac? Well, Macworld Expo provided me the opportunity to meet everyone I’ve mentioned in this Blog and that was amazing. In addition, I’ve met and got to spend time with Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau, Gregory Hines, Sinbad, and hundreds of exceptionally creative people I never would have tripped over in my life otherwise. Apple provided the mechanism, but Macworld Expo provided the place and time to actually interact with some of the best and brightest people I’ve ever met.

Oh, remember that DVD I created? Well, I finally found my old movie backup CDs and even more MBs of QuickTime movies. This project is winding down, but I got to walk through history, including ZiffNet/Mac, AOL, eWorld, CompuServe MAUG, and other Internet communities created as far back as 1984 without even booting an old Mac. Amazingly enough, even some System 6 and 7 programs run in Classic on OS X today.

There seems to be some kind of frenzy emerging on the Macintosh web and within the user group community concerning Apple’s upcoming 30th anniversary. You’d think that it is my kid’s birthday or something. The anniversary is on April 1st.

Anniversaries mean little to me, but they are the kind of fodder that the media and users feed on, so I offered to do a presentation to the MacWoburn User Group. It is simply a kind of historical walk about Apple Computer, Inc. through its QuickTime movies and commercials. As I had disks upon disks of these things saved, it wasn’t hard to copy them all to one DVD to use in the presentation. With little time to prepare, (ok, I could have started last year), I planned to show each file with a simple double-click, no iDVD creation for me; too long and too much time overhead.

Luckily, some more intense Mac fan than myself in the form of Nicholas Pyers from AUSOM Inc., Australia’s Leading Apple Macintosh User Group, created a short intro to his presentation, which I used as my ending summary to the evening. Thanks Nick! Unfortunately, the discussions that each viewing generated made the evening much longer than expected. We decided to continue the historical QuickTime walk at the April’s meeting. Now, my DVD was missing some files and that bothered me. As I got a reprieve with the second meeting, I could now dig up those files. One is an Apple employee made quirky little QuickTime called Black and Blue, and the other MIA is my switcher ad folder. Black and Blue is simply head shots of a number of employees morphing into each other while bouncing to some nice music.

After rifling through all my carefully stored backup CDs, I realized that many were still packed from my move 2 years ago. I decided to turn to the web to just download them all again. This might have been easier if I hadn’t found a few hundred megs of commercials that I didn’t have. So, a downloading I went. For days and days. A personal note here, my dog just died and I’m feeling really horrible, so this little task helped me stay focused on something and created sorely needed good humor in my life.

Well, this little task quickly turned into a major life’s work. My innocent search became a mild obsession. While the Web provided new commercials I didn’t have archived, little Apple-employee made movies just aren’t posted anywhere.

Well, after searching about 125 CDs and DVDs and a week of little sleep later, I found Black and Blue on a disc entitled, QuickTime: The CD (1992) by Sumeria. Lo and behold the music on the clip was created by Jim Reekes, the author of the Sosumi startup sound. As it happens Sosumi was the subject of much discussion in Blogs last year. My, what goes around comes around, doesn’t it?

I also uncovered, mostly on the Berkeley Mac User Group (BMUG) and BostonComputer Society•Mac User Group (BCS) CDs, rough-cut early QuickTime movies of the science fiction author Clifford Stoll, filmmaker Lenora Johanson, graphic designer Lynda Weinman, John Odam, Steve Wozniak, Former VP, ZDNet.com Stephen Howard-Sarin, former Editor of eMediaweekly and MacWEEK David Morgenstern, and former MacWeek writer Raines Cohen, QuickTime interviews with Jean-Louis Gassee and John Dvorak, AND the best bathroom in the Bay area!

My search also yielded a 1950s Maypo commercial buried on a CompuServe CD, a number of music videos on Apple marketing CDs, plus installers for every Mac OS ever produced. My own catching up with 30-years of Apple took me through early 1990s Developer and marketing CDs, the early years of the Apple Consultant program, and eWorld. It was certainly an interesting week. While the news media scrambles to interview people who experienced Apple’s history, I simply took a QuickTime walk through my own involvement with Apple since 1984, which thankfully, excluded that horrible stint I did as the Public Relations Manager for a Franklin Ace, i.e. anApple II clone, company in the early 1980s.

By the way, that DVD I created is now two.