lesson 2 : Database Concepts

What is a Database?

A database is a collection of information organized and presented to serve a specific purpose. Database programs are created using a program like Microsoft Access 2003.

• A Microsoft Access database is made up of several components including:
• Tables
• Forms
• Queries
• Reports

These components are called database objects. One or more of these objects are formed when a database is created. These components are stored in a single database file.

What is a Table?

Data is stored in one or more tables. Separate tables are usually created for specific topics, such as products or suppliers. Tables can be related to one another to access the different types of information. Because data is stored only once -- you probably would not save the same information in two different tables -- your database becomes more efficient.
The columns and rows in an Access table resemble an Excel spreadsheet. Tables organize data into columns (called fields) and rows (called records). A record is comprised of one or more fields, depending on the number of fields defined to the table.

Individual fields in an address book table might consist of name, street address, city, state, zip code, and phone number. A single record is an entry that uses all these fields, such as your brother or sister's contact
information.

What is a Query?

A query lets you find and retrieve information from one or more tables based on a set of search conditions you define (e.g., certain fields in one or more tables). The results can be displayed in a manner of your choosing. Queries can be created using a wizard or developed from scratch in the Query Design view.

What is a Form?

An online form can be created to view, input or change information in one or more tables. In this course, we will see how forms are used as both menus and as data entry forms to database tables. Forms can retrieve data from one or more tables, and display the output on the screen.

What is a Report?

A report is an effective way to analyze and present data in a printed format using a specific layout. You have control over the size and appearance of information printed on the report, similar to formatting you perform in a Microsoft Word document.

Challenge!

The best way to understand databases is to learn how to view the world and the things in it, and then think of structures that best serve to organize this information.
For example, think of your music collection in terms of a database. The database might be called music collection. What tables might be in this database?

• Do you have both CDs and tapes, or just tapes? Could this media type be an example?
• Do you listen to different styles of music? Could music style be a table?
• Do you listen to different musical artists? Could musical artists be a table?
• Do you have more than one recording for any artist? Could specific recordings be a table?

Here is your challenge:

1. Using the questions above, outline a structure using those questions for which you answered "yes" (or any other questions that you might think of).
2. List at least five items from your collection that could go into each category created in step #1. If your music collection is not large enough to list five items in each category, then think of artists that you know about and use this information as if you owned it.
3. After completing step #2, the database has some information defined to it. What report might you want to print that tells you about some part of the information in the database?

This step, looking at the information to be categorized, is the first step toward designing a database

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lesson1 : Introduction to Databases

Organizing Our World

The world generates an enormous amount of data from virtually every imaginable aspect of living -- credit cards, store merchandise, telephone systems, web sites, etc. Years ago this was a manual effort to track and report against this information. Today, computer systems and databases manage this information. Databases simplify our lives.
Think of an address book you might buy in a pharmacy. In it, you will write all your important contacts -- friends, family, relatives, companies, recruiters, and other people in your network. The address book contains all the data you need to contact anyone at any time.

Organizing Our World (continued)

Now what if you needed to pull out those contacts that represent family members? Perhaps another family member might want this information. You would have to flip through all the pages of the address book and write down the exact same information onto another piece of paper, or perhaps even another address book. This is time-consuming. Contact records are duplicated. A change to one phone number means it has to be changed in two or more places: in the address book and anywhere else where you recorded the information.

Over time, your address book will become old and worn. The records in it will be crossed out and changed as people move from one place to another, or change their phone number. You need a new address book. And then you need to rewrite all that information again in a brand new book.
It's a lot of work.
What you need is a database.

What is a relational database?

A database maintains order and structure in our lives. It is easy to maintain. It manages information and then shares it with other tables and databases.
Many entries in your address book will undoubtedly contain identical information -- name, address, city, state, zip code, and phone number. This information might be written into a table called the Contacts table.
You may want to structure your address book so that family members are separated from companies called during an employment search, for example. These categories -- family, friend, relative, company -- might appear in a second table called Contact Types.
Maybe you want write notes for certain calls. This is useful during an employment search. Information pertaining to a telephone call -- date, time, and notes, for example -- might be saved to a third table called Calls.

What is a relational database? (continued)

The information contained in any one table might in and of itself tell us very little. The Contact Types table, for example, provides relatively little information that stands on its own: Family, Friends, Relatives, Companies, Recruiters and Network.
However, if you could relate this table to the Contacts table -- name, address, and phone -- then you could separate contacts by category. The Contact Types table becomes useful, therefore, when related to another table.

Similarly, by relating the Calls table with the Contacts table you can relate specific phone calls to specific people.

The power of a relational database is twofold: 1) information is managed in separate tables to make maintenance easier, 2) data can be combined by relating different tables.

Real world examples of database applications

Databases play an enormous role in nearly every aspect of our lives. Think of the amount of credit card transactions that take place during a given day, from receiving authorization at the point-of-sale, to applying the purchase to your credit card, to the store receiving payment from the credit card company. There are many stores, many banks, and many credit cards involved. Databases are all around you. You only need to learn how to view the world in terms of databases.
Think of your favorite department store. Chances are the one you shop at is just one of several in the chain. And these stores are probably located in different states. Databases manage this information.
Inside the store there are different departments: Ladies', Men's, and Electronics, to name a few. Within Electronics, there are different categories called classes and these might be represented by radios, televisions, CDs, and DVDs. More databases.
And within any given class -- CDs, for example -- there are subclasses like jazz, rock, country, and classical. Within rock there are bands and within bands there are recordings.
Get the idea? Even more databases.
This structure categorizes different kinds of information at nearly every level of the store. It is essential to maintaining order and accuracy.

Real world examples of database applications (continued)

How do these databases work together? Well, everything in retail begins with the product or item. Each item has a barcode that uniquely identifies it. These items are defined in an Item database and associated with a specific department defined in a Department database.
When a buyer decides to purchase some products for sale in a store, he or she creates an order in a Purchase Order database, pulling the individual items to buy from the Item database. The order might then be transferred to Communications databases that electronically transmit the order to the vendor, and also to an Accounts Payable database to pay for the merchandise.
Trucks deliver merchandise to the store (don't forget the vendor has their own databases that tells what they shipped), where the products received are input into a Receiving database. The received quantities are then matched against the original Order database to make sure that all products ordered were received.
An Inventory database might tell the sales clerk which items to move to the selling floor because the shelves are bare, and what other items might be stored in the stockroom. For items moved to the selling floor, a Shelf Planning database might tell the clerk exactly where to place the product on the shelf.
When you shop and take items to the checkout counter, the cash register will lookup the price of each item in the Price Lookup database. Want to pay by check or credit card? Databases are used to ensure that sufficient funds are available in the account.
Every item sold in the store needs to be removed from inventory so that it can be re-ordered. This adjustment might be made in the Inventory table to alert the buyer that a certain amount of items need to be ordered to refresh the store's inventory.
Many things happen and many databases are used to make sure the products you want make their way from the manufacturer to the stores and then into your homes.

Challenge!

The next time you are in a restaurant, a supermarket, or just driving through a stop light, think of what is going on around you, and try to see what goes on behind the scenes as if everything supporting it is managed by a database.
Here are some examples:

• A restaurant needs to buy food to make menu items. The menu is structured in some manner. The restaurant has to pay bills. Customers have to pay for meals.
• The supermarket is stocked with items. Items are ordered, shipped, and stocked in the store. The supermarket has bills to pay. The cash register looks up prices. The customer pays for products.
• Streets are built in towns. Traffic lights are installed at intersections. How do these lights work? Do they all turn red at the same time? Do they all turn green at the same time?

Now think of your home and view it in terms of a database. For example, you buy products. How is your checkbook managed? There are different rooms in your house. What are they and what is contained in each? You develop dinner throughout the week. Is there a menu driving what you have or do you eat certain dishes on certain nights?
Come up with two different aspects of home living and think about whether or not it can be supported by a database. This is not to say that we are going to create a database for it; only to think of a structure or organization behind some process.

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Android runs 52% of smartphones sold

The smartphone market continues to grow worldwide, with Google's Android now the platform of choice for more than half of those sold

Samsung Asia CEO Gregory Lee with the Galaxy Note Android phone. Samsung is the world leader in smartphone sales, according to Gartner. Photograph: Beawiharta/Reuters

The smartphone market grew by 42% year-on-year in the third quarter to reach 115.2m units, with Google's Android operating system running more than half those sold, according to data from the research company Gartner.

The overall mobile market grew by just 5.6% worldwide, to 440.5m units, as smartphones grew further to hit a record 26% of the total sold.

Smartphones also continued their pattern of outselling PCs, which first happened in the fourth quarter of 2010; the gap between smartphone and PC sales is now widening steadily.

The success of Android, which powered 52.5% of handsets shipped – compared to 25.3% a year before – just three years after its launch indicates that the open platform, which allows handset makers to install it without paying a licensing fee, has been a roaring success for adoption.

The figures from Gartner suggest that 218m Android handsets have been sold since the first went on sale in the fourth quarter of 2008.

In total, more than 1bn smartphones have been sold since the first quarter of 2007, according to Gartner's figures from the past four years.

The explosion in smartphone usage has principally come from Android handsets which have seen strong sales growth, especially in China.

Yet sales in the third quarter did not accelerate as quickly in other regions, said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.

"Demand for smartphones stalled in advanced markets such as Western Europe and the US as many users waited for new flagship devices featuring new versions of the key operating systems," she said. "Slowdowns also occurred in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa."

Gartner said that Samsung was the leader in smartphone sales, pegging its shipments at 24m – less than the 27.8m suggested in October by Strategy Analytics, and close to that suggested by rival research firm IDC, which put the figure at 23.6m more recently.

Apple saw its share pushed down marginally from 16.6% in the third quarter of 2010 to 15% in 2011 even though sales rose from 13.4m to 17.3m, as purchases stalled in the expectation of an improved iPhone model – which did not arrive until October, pushing those sales into the fourth quarter.

Carolina Milanesi, Gartner's smartphone analyst, said: "Brazil, Mexico, Russia and China represented 16% of Apple's third-quarter sales, confirming that the iPhone has a role to play in emerging markets."

BlackBerry maker RIM saw further erosion of its share from 15.4% a year ago to 11% as sales remained almost flat at 12.7m.

"Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems such as Windows Phone 7 and RIM," said Cozza.

"Apple's iOS market share suffered from delayed purchases as consumers waited for the new iPhone. Continued pressure is impacting RIM's performance, and its smartphone share reached its lowest point so far in the US market, where it dropped to 10%."

But Gartner expects sales to grow more rapidly in the fourth quarter, as roughly 20m extra handsets are sitting in wholesale and retail channels ahead of the expected Christmas rush in sales.

"Some consumers held off upgrading in the third quarter because they were waiting for promotions on other new high-end models that were launched in the run-up to the fourth quarter holiday season," Cozza said.

"Other consumers were waiting for a rumored new iPhone and associated price cuts on older iPhone models; this affected US sales particularly."

Nokia's Symbian, which the company has said will be phased out, nevertheless sold 19.5m handsets, more than Apple achieved, but its market share halved.

Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, only launched in October 2010, shipped on just 1.7m handsets – a fall from the second quarter, when Gartner says it shipped on 1.72m devices.

Some of the fall may be due to some customers waiting for Nokia handsets to ship with Windows Phone, which has begun this month in the UK and a number of countries. US and Canadian shipments of Nokia phones with Microsoft's OS are not due to start until 2012.

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Apple recalls iPods over safety fears

First-generation nanos' batteries could catch fire, leading to Apple offering a free replacement to customers

Apple have recalled the first-generation iPod nano over fears its battery may catch fire. Photograph: Paul Sakuma/AP

Want a brand new iPod nano for free? Apple has them on offer if you are one of the millions of people who bought a first-generation iPod nano between September 2005 and December 2006 – and, crucially, if you can still find it.

Apple has issued a recall on the first-generation iPod nano, the device which pushed the digital music player's sales into the stratosphere at the end of 2005, over fears that the battery could catch fire.

The recall amounts to a free replacement offer which could cost the company millions of pounds – depending on how many people still have the ageing products in their possession.

The company is offering a replacement scheme for the devices, which will now be between five and six years old. The recall affects the slimline iPod nano model sold between September 2005, when it was first introduced, and December 2006.

During that period, Apple sold just over 60m iPods in total, according to the company's official figures, although it is not clear how many of those were the nano model. During the same period, the company was also selling its second-generation iPod shuffle and the "classic" iPod with a hard drive. Apple declined to say how many iPod nanos are affected, but added that no other devices are included in the recall.

Owners of the first-generation iPod nano will be able to get them replaced for free with a current model once they have provided their model to Apple, either through a store or via a courier.

Apple says the problem "has been traced to a single battery supplier that produced batteries with a manufacturing defect. While the possibility of an incident is rare, the likelihood increases as the battery ages." Owners are recommended to stop using the device and get the free replacement.

The iPod nano's introduction in September 2005 by Steve Jobs saw sales of the company's music player rise sharply. During its first quarter, iPod sales increased from 8.7m in the third quarter of the year to more than 14m, and they never fell below 8m in any succeeding quarter until the second quarter of this year as the category fell out of favour with buyers in favour of the iPhone and iPad.

The nano recall is one of a number of device recalls over battery issues that Apple and other companies including Sony and Dell have had to make in recent years. Normally the problem has related to laptop batteries: Sony, which provides lithium-ion batteries for a number of manufacturers, issued a recall in 2008 which affected Toshiba, HP and Dell laptops.

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Apple computer sales grow faster than PC sales for five years - but why?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs shows off the MacBook Air in January 2008. These sold well too. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

What is Apple doing right in the PC market? And what, exactly, did it do wrong in the first quarter of 2006?

Those are the two questions that occur in looking at some of the numbers pushed out by Charles Wolf, an analyst at Needham. He's posted an investment note on Apple which points out that Apple's Mac shipments have grown faster than the PC market for the past 20 quarters (that's five years in normal money).

Apple computer sales growth since 2007 Q1. Data sources: Apple, Gartner

He's also noted that in the first quarter of this year, when Mac shipments grew by 27.7% while the PC market shrank by 1.2% year-on-year (by IDC's numbers; Gartner's show a 0.94% fall) Mac shipment growth occurred in "every single regional market". In Europe, they grew 10% against a PC market down 17.5%; in Asia up 69.4% (v PC market up 8.8%); in Japan, up 21.1% (PCs down 16.1%). All figures are IDC data, and all year-on-year.

Slice it another way, and shipments to business were up by 66% (while the overall market grew 4.5%); to government by 155.6% (v 2.3%); to the home market by 21.6% (v a 6.5% shrinkage).

OK, but what's behind it? Why are all these home users, business users, government users getting Macs? One argument is that with Apple, you're starting from a small base, so any increase is going to look dramatic. And yet something is going on. My analysis of Apple's sales figures and the numbers from Gartner and IDC shows that in the second quarter of 2010, Apple hit 4% of the whole PC market for the first time in more than ten years; it hasn't happened since 1998, and I can't find the time before that when it was true.

In fact, my own analysis shows that if it hadn't been for a stumble in the first quarter of 2006, that figure would be 26 quarters, going all the way back to the fourth calendar quarter of 2004, when Apple emerged from 10 straight quarters in which it grew less fast than the market - or in other words, its market share of all computers shipped shrank.

Yes, but why?

According to Wolf, "shipment growth has resulted solely from an outward shift in the demand curve rather than from a relative reduction in Mac prices." We translate from analyst-ese: people aren't buying them because they're cheap, because (relatively) they're not: you can get cheaper computers, as pretty much anyone knows, and as Microsoft harped on about with its "Laptop hunter" adverts in March 2009 - which, if you've forgotten, were about people trying to get value for money in buying a laptop. Much good those did, by the way - Apple's share of the computer market, where three-quarters of its sales are laptops, kept growing from 3.35% to break through that 4% barrier.

Apple computer market share since 1999. Data source: Apple, Gartner

OK, so what's Wolf think is doing it?

"The key drivers of the growth in Mac shipments over the past five years have been the halo effects emanating from the iPod and iPhone," Wolf says. "The Apple Stores have played an important supporting role in providing convenient destinations and support resources for Windows users new to the Mac."

This is what has also been called "the halo effect", where one Apple product purchase leads on to others.

And he thinks that will get bigger: "The iPhone is competing in the mobile phone market, one measured in billions of units rather than the portable music player market, one measured in millions of units. Of course, theiPad is waiting in the wings."

You might have thought that the iPad had already been quite busy, having been on sale for more than a year, but perhaps not.

Is it that simple, though? It seems odd if the "halo effect" from iPhones and iPods is feeding through to business and government sales as well - the latter is notoriously indifferent to those outside trivia.

One argument is that the increase in Mac sales (in the last quarter, at just under 5m, a level it has been nudging for the past three quarters) is due to governments and businesses getting interested in developing apps for those iPhones, so they're buying one to be able to run the iPhone Software Development Kit. And home users? Quite probably they are the ones who are trading up (or as Wolf puts it, exerting an outward shift in the demand curve).

That's the best we have - what's your explanation? And what did Apple get wrong in the first quarter of 2006 to make its sales dip below the rate of growth of the rest of the market?

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appel hestory 2

On April 1, 1976, the Apple computer was born. Steven Wozniak, a high school drop-out who worked for Hewlett-Packard, dabbled in computer-design and created what would become the Apple I. His high school buddy Steven Jobs, also a drop-out, worked for Atari and convinced him that the two should form a company to market the new computer, which eventually took off in 1977 with the Apple II. By 1980, the Apple III was released and their company employed several thousand workers. [image: Jobs and Wozniak]

So begins the rocky, but enormously successful, story of the most revolutionary computer in history. The early Mac’s user-friendly interface, with such features as the trash can, windows, drag-and-drop file moveability, and plug-in-and-play compatibility, predated by far the efforts of those developing the PC. Bill Gates’ admonitions to his R&D people to “Make it like the Mac!”* can only be construed as the highest compliment. Even today’s Mac G4, with its velocity engine and 128-bit-wide architecture, smokes the fastest PC, as proven in side-by-side tests performing complex processing operations in Photoshop with enormous files. In addition, the Mac has been determined to be a more productive and economical platform in all aspects of the computing world.**

* Barbarians Led by Bill Gates, by Jennifer Edstrom and Marlin Eller; Henry Holt and Company, Inc., New York, NY 1998.
** Norris and Wong is a San Francisco based technology consulting firm specializing in personal computer productivity enhancement. They develop custom applications on both Macs and PCs for an exclusive clientele. Their very detailed study compared Macs and Windows in regards to: 1) Adding and removing applications, 2) Reorganizing the desktop for convenience, 3) Hard disk space management, 4) Adding and upgrading hardware components, 5) Backing up files, 6) Troubleshooting system conflicts and other problems, and 7) Recovery from system failures. In EVERY CASE, the Macintosh had MAJOR advantages. They conclude "These differences will translate into significant FINANCIAL SAVINGS and PRODUCTIVITY benefits for Macintosh users."

This article by no means attempts to relate the lengthy history of Apple’s development. For that, please visit Glenn Sanford’s wonderful and encyclopedic Apple History site [click to see a sample page from his website]. What you will find here are computer models that have been some of the more revolutionary highlights of Apple’s output.

	1976 • Apple I Based on the MOStek 6502 chip, the Apple I included only the circuit board. A tape-interface was sold separately, but you had to build the case. Initial cost: $666.66.
	1983 • Lisa The first personal computer to use a GUI (Graphical User Interface). It contained a Motorola 68000 Processor running at 5 Mhz, 1 MB of RAM, two 5.25" 871k floppy drives, an external 5 MB hard drive, and a built-in 12" 720 x 360 monochrome monitor. Initial cost: $9,995.
	1983 • Apple //e One of the most successful Apple computers ever. It used the 65C02 processor, running at 1.02 Mhz, and came with 64K of RAM, 32K ROM, BASIC (an assembly language interface), and several other hard-coded options. Initial cost: $1,395.
	1984 • Mac 128k The first affordable computer to include a GUI, and using the new 8 MHz Motorola 68000 chip. It came in a small beige case with a built-in black and white monitor, a keyboard, mouse, and a floppy drive that took 400k 3.5" disks—the first personal computer to do so. Initial cost: $2,495.
	1989 • Portable Apple's first attempt at a more easily portable Macintosh. It had a bay for a 3.5" half-height drive, and could support up to two Super Drives. Its active matrix screen (later backlit) made it incredibly expensive. Initial cost: $6,500.
	1993 • Color Classic Identical to the Classic II, except for a color screen, a larger ROM, and a restyled case. Also released as the Performa 250. Initial cost: $1,390.
	1997 • Power Mac 9600 The 9600 was built to make its insides more easily accessable. It ran on 233, 200, or dual 200 Mhz 604e's. Initial cost: $4,700 for the dual 200Mhz configuration, $4,200 for the single 233Mhz, and $3,700 for the single 200 Mhz.
	1998 • Power Book G3 The G3 Series was available with a variety of built-to-order options including a 233, 250, or 292 Mhz PPC750 processor and either a 12" passive-matrix screen, a 13.3" TFT Active Matrix screen, or an incredible 14.1" TFT Active Matrix Screen. All models included two RAM slots which used industry standard RAM modules (the same used in most IBM Thinkpads), hardware 2D and 3D Graphics acceleration, a VGA port, 4Mbps IrDA, 2 PC-card slots (CardBus compliant—a powerbook first), and the 13.3" and 14.1" models included an S-Video output. The G3 Series had two drive bays, either of which could hold a battery or a wide array of 3.5" expansion devices, such as floppy or zip modules. The right drive bay could also accommodate larger 5.25" devices. Initial cost: $2,299 for 233 Mhz with no floppy drive and a 12" screen, and $7,000, fully loaded.
	1999 • G4 Based on the Unified Motherboard Architecture, the G4 AGP used the MPC 7400 chip, AGP-based graphics, AirPort compatibility, a faster memory bus, DVD-ROM or RAM standard, an internal FireWire port, 2 separate USB buses for a combined 24 Mbs, a 2X (133 Mhz) AGP slot, and up to 1.5 GB of RAM. The G4 AGP also introduced the new professional color, "graphite." Initial cost: $2499 for the 450 Mhz with a 20GB hard drive and 128 MB of RAM, and $3499 for the 500 Mhz configuration with a 27 GB hard drive and 256 MB of RAM (both included internal Zip drives).
	2000 • G4 Cube Housed in an 8x8x8 cube, the G4 Cube combined elegance and power, trading expandability for its diminutive size. There were no PCI slots, and while the Graphics was fit into an 2x AGP slot, there wasn't room for full-length AGP cards. It contained three RAM slots, an AirPort slot, two USB and FireWire ports, a 450Mhz G4 processor, a 20 GB hard drive, a 56k modem, 64 MB of RAM, Apple's Pro Mouse, and came with an external USB amplifier and a set of Harman Kardon speakers. Initial cost: $1799, and $2299 for the 500 Mhz G4 with a 30 GB hard drive and 128 MB of RAM.
	2001 • Titanium G4 Powerbook Based on a new low-power G4 chip, the PPC 7410, the PowerBook G4 sported a stylish new Titanium enclosure, which was only 1" thick (.7" thinner than its predecessor, the PowerBook G3 with FireWire). The PB G4 had a fixed, 6x slot-load DVD-ROM drive instead of a removable drive bay, a single battery bay, a wide-aspect 15.2" screen with a native resolution of 1152x768. Initial cost: $2,599 for the 400 Mhz model w/128 MB of RAM and a 10GB hard drive, and $3,499 for the 500 Mhz model w/256 MB of RAM and a 20GB hard drive.
	2002 • Flat-panel iMac Using a 15- or 17-inch LCD screen, G4 processor, and the CD-RW/DVD-R Super Drive, the iMac's Flat Panel screen easily rotates and changes angles. The 10.6" semi-spherical base houses the rest of the computer. Initial cost: $1299 for a 700Mhz G4 Processor, 128 MB of RAM, a 40 GB ATA-66 hard drive with CD-RW; $1499 for the 700 Mhz model, with 256 MB of RAM, a 40 GB hard drive, and a CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive; and $1799 for the 800 Mhz model, with 256 MB of RAM, a 60 GB hard drive, and the CD-RW/DVD-R SuperDrive. Gateway is already copying this model.
	UPDATES: 2003 • G5 The PowerMac G5 was Apple's long-awaited fifth generation PowerPC-based machine. In an important move, Apple decided to break with Motorola, and used an IBM-designed processor. Motorola had been chronically delayed for both processor design and shipment, and was at least a year away from its fifth-generation PowerPC CPU. Apple and IBM had worked closely together for nearly a year of the PowerPC 970 Processor (publicly referred to as the G5), and the 64-bit PowerMac G5 represented a huge leap forward in both processor and machine design. Housed in an innovative new Aluminum enclosure, the PowerMac G5 was the first 64-bit consumer-level desktop computer ever sold. It featured either a single 1.6 or 1.8 Ghz processor, or dual 2.0 Ghz processors. It included a variety of motherboard enhancements, including PCI-X slots, and 8X AGP slot, a Serial-ATA bus, and up to 8 GB of RAM. Most impressive of all was the front-side bus speed, which was increased to half of the processor speed-up to 1.0 Ghz. This represented a more than six-fold improvement over the previous PowerMac G4 model.
	2004 • Xserve G5 The Xserve G5 brought the architectural improvements of the PowerMac G5 to the Xserve line. In addition to adding single or dual 2.0 GHz PowerPC 970FX processors, the Xserve G5 included dramatically faster data and memory buses, more and faster RAM, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0, Serial ATA and PCI-X support. Perhaps the most obvious change to the Xserve G5 was the incorporation of the PowerMac G5's cooling system, which resulted in one less drive bay, removed for ventilation. The Xserve G5 was available in two configurations: a single 2.0 GHz processor model with 512 MB of RAM for $2,999 and a dual 2.0 GHz processor model with 1 GB of RAM for $3,999. A Cluster Node configuration of the Xserve G5 was also available. In January 2005, the high-end model was speed-bumped to dual 2.3 GHz processors, and the low-end model was upgraded to 1 GB of RAM. Both models now shipped with Combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drives, with a SuperDrive available BTO.  The Xserve RAID also received an upgrade: it now had support for up to 14 250 GB drive modules, each on a separate ATA-100 bus, for a total of 3.5 terrabytes of possible storage.
	2004 • iMac G5 The iMac G5 brought G5 muscle to Apple's consumer desktop line. Housed in a completely new enclosure reminiscent of Apple's Cinema Display line, the iMac G5 was a marvel of miniaturization. The case was only two inches thick, yet housed a machine considerably faster and more advanced than its G4-based predecessor. In addition to a 64-bit G5 processor, the iMac G5 also included a much faster memory bus, better graphics for the low-end model, twice the hard drive space for the high-end model, and a new audio port which doubled as an optical digital audio output. The iMac G5 was initially available in three configurations: 17" LCD/1.6 Mhz/80 GB hard drive/256 MB of RAM/Combo drive/$1299, 17" LCD/1.8 Mhz/80 GB hard drive/256 MB of RAM/SuperDrive/$1499, and 20" LCD/1.8 Mhz/160 GB hard drive/256 MB of RAM/SuperDrive/$1899.
	2004 • Flat-panel iMac The Mac mini represented Apple's first real foray into the low-end consumer market, and Apple's first monitor-less consumer Mac in more than six years. Based around the basic motherboard design of the eMac (USB 2.0), the Mac mini packed an impressive feature set into a very small package, just two inches tall and 6.5 inches wide and deep. The rectangular case was reminiscent of the failed G4 Cube, the mistakes of which Apple seemed determined not to repeat with the mini. The basic idea was simple: let current PC owners spend $500 to replace their PC, while continuing to use their existing monitor and USB peripherals. While Airport Extreme and Bluetooth were available as BTO options, they were not included in either stock configuration, nor were a keyboard or mouse. The mini also lacked a sound-input jack, a feature present in Apple's entire lineup at the time. To keep the size small, Apple used a 2.5" laptop hard drive, and included a single RAM slot.  The Mac mini shipped in two configurations. The low-end 1.25 GHz model, with a 40 GB hard drive, was $499, while the high-end 1.42 GHz model, with an 80 GB hard drive, was $599. Both models shipped with 256 MB of RAM.

Read More

apple history

Saturday, 24 September 2011

Holy Moly! I could list all the models I'm adding, but it's basically 2010 and 2011. My newish-job at Twitter keeps me pretty busy, but I've been hacking away as time allows, and am finally up to date, with a number of small corrections as well. Thanks to all the folks who have emailed to check in and make sure I'm still here. I intend to keep the site up, running, and mostly current for the forceable future, though I'll probably continue to be a few months behind most of the time.

I've also been working on a larger structural update to the site, which didn't make the cut for this release, but I hope to get out by the end of the year (along with whatever new machines get released in the interim). I've added a follow button to the site navigation for the @apple_history Twitter account, from which I will tweet when ever I make up an update in the future.

Wednesday, 9 June 2010

Added the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models, added the iPhone 4. Fixed a few typos.

Monday, 8 February 2010

fixed a typo and the price list for the iMac (Late 2009), and added the Mac mini (Late 2009), which I had mostly added already.

Saturday, 6 February 2010

Happy (one month after) New Year! Added the Late 2009 models and the iPad. Made more smallish, not all that apparent under-the-hood changes.

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Within hours of launching the comparison feature I managed to break it in attempt to fix bookmarking (which had been broken for comparison pages). Both work now. Thanks Matthias!

Sunday, 27 September 2009

Boy oh boy, it's been a while, hasn't it? Nearly a year! Thanks/Sorry to all those who wrote in to ask if I was dead, and even more thanks to those of you who didn't! I'm not dead, I haven't forgotten about or given up on the site, and I do intend to bring it up to date and improve it over time.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way: the site has been updated with all the 2009 models, and has had some major under-the-hood renovations to increase stability, scalability, and to aid in future feature enhancements.

As proof that all that pretty much invisible under-the-hood work was worth something, I've added a new feature, which allows you to compare up to four models side by side. Every model page now has a pull-down menu listing all other models, and a "compare" button. Once you get past the initial annoyance at the list being so darn long, it's easy as pie! You can add a model to the comparison with the same pull-down menu, and you can remove a model by clicking "REMOVE." I intend, at some point, to come up with something better than a 340-item pull down menu, but I had to get the update out before 2010.

In addition to yet another round of corrections, I've also updated a bunch of the images for older models, thanks to the very generous folks at Old Computers (a really great collection of 70's and 80's computers) and Todo Apple Blog. I figure We've got a few weeks before the site goes out of date again, so enjoy!

Friday, 17 April 2009

Made some significant structural improvements under the hood, and made a few spec corrections. I'm hoping to have time to catch on new models sometime soonish.

Tuesday, 25 November 2008

Added new MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air. Made a few small corrections. Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, 13 October 2008

Just in time to be out of date again tomorrow, I finally managed to find the time to get the site updated. In addition to a round of generally corrections and minor site-tweaks, I added the following models, in no particular order: iPod nano (3G and 4G), iPod classic (6G and 6.5G), iPod touch (1G and 2G), iPhone 3G, MacBook (Late 2007, Early 2008), MacBook Pro (Early 2008), iMac (Early 2008), MacBook Air, Mac Pro (Early 2008), Xserve (Early 2008).

Phew!

I'll try to find some time later this week to add the various new MacBooks everyone expects tomorrow, and in general I'm going to try to make more, smaller updates, rather than giant, monolythinc ones that take me two full days of work to put together. I know you've heard it all before, but I mean it this time.

Honest.

That said, life keeps me awfully busy these days, so please do keep in mind that while I will always add new models eventually, it might take a while. In the meantime, have a look at the 250-odd gallery entries, and see if that won't keep you busy.

Friday, 8 August 2008

I had planned to make content updates today, but I ended up working on the guts of the site instead, and ran out of time. I've made a number of under-the-hood changes to improve query performance and to make future updates easier. I've also added a few small features:

• Family name is now included in the miscellaneous specs for each model.
• There has been confusion about what exactly is meant by "Data Path", so I've been a little more explicit, and now list "Data Path Width" and "Address Width" separately. The former is the width of the data bus, the latter is with width of the address-space.
• I've added an "AKA" section for models that were released under several names. Hopefully this will help with the cognitive disconnect that comes from clicking on one machine name and getting another.

I hope to get the site caught up in the next week or so.

Sunday, 2 September 2007

The long weekend finally gave me a free day to work on the site, and I think we're all caught up now. Added two revisions each of iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini. Also added the Intel Xserve, the Apple TV and the iPhone. Assuming the various iPod rumors are true, I'll try to add new iPods next weekend, after they have been properly announced.

Saturday, 10 February 2007

No, I haven't stopped updating the site, but I have been extremely busy with my "real" job over the past few months. I do plan on adding the various missing new models at some point, when things quiet down. In the meantime, take a deep breath, look at the Apple ][e or the Mac TV to calm yourself down, and then go look at the current apple machines on Apple'swebsite.

Sunday, 17 September 2006

Added the new iPod nano and shuffle, new iMac, Mac Pro, updated the iPod video and the mac mini, made a few minor corrections. I haven't forgotten the Xeon-based Xserve, I'm just waiting until it actually ships to include specs.

Saturday, 24 June 2006

Added the U2 iPod video, made a few small corrections, added del.icio.us links to all pages.

Sunday, 21 May 2006

Added the new MacBook, made a few smallish corrections and additions. Thanks to all of those who have contacted me in the past week to wish the site a happy 10th birthday.

Monday, 8 May 2006

Added the 17" MBP, made a few corrections. On Sunday, apple-history.com quietly celebrated its 10th anniversary. Thanks to all who have supported the site, and thanks to all of you who helped me to keep it accurate. Here's to the next 10 years!

Sunday, 23 April 2006

Added OS 10.4.6 as the max OS for tiger-capable machines. Made few more under-the-hood performance improvements. Added a note in the FAQ about the Pippen. Added an RSS feed of recent changes (so you can find out immediately when I update the site twice a year). Added some code to catch old, broken links from when the site was a flat html site and forward them to the appropriate place.

Friday, 21 April 2006

tweaked the scripts that generate the machine pages for performance.

Monday, 17 April 2006

tweaked the script that generates the navigation for performance. fixed a couple of small php bugs.

Sunday, 16 April 2006

made a few small corrections, added some reader notes to the apple II and lisa pages.

Thursday, 13 April 2006

Everything seems to have settled down. If you used the contact form yesterday, please do it again today. Thanks!

Wednesday, 12 April 2006

www.apple-history.com is transitioning to a new host, and there have been a variety of DNS problems all day. email sent through the contact form likely was not received, and mail is still down at the moment. I expect it to get worked out in the next 24 hours, so please try again in a day or so if you need to use the contact form. Thanks.

Sunday, 26 March 2006

Added the Intel Mac mini, made a few minor corrections.

Friday, 17 February 2006

Phew! Added the iPod video, the iMac G5 (iSight), the iMac (Early 2006), The PowerBook G4 (Dual-Layer SD), the dual-core PowerMac G5 and the MacBook Pro. Also noted the addition of the 1GB iPod nano and the iPod shuffle price drops, and made a number of small corrections.

I started a new job in August, and it takes up quite a bit of my time, and keeping up with Apple product announcements has been difficult. I expect the next few months to be very interesting, and will try to stay on top of things as Apple moves the rest of its line to Intel. Thanks for being patient.

Saturday, 1 October 2005

Oops. Added the eMac speed-bump from May. made a few small corrections. Waiting for an official announcement on apple's site to add the upgraded mac minis.

Saturday, 24 September 2005

Added the iPod nano, made a few corrections.

Saturday, 30 July 2005

It took longer than I expected, but I finally found the time to update the PHP/MySQL back-end of the site. While not much has changed on the client-side, there have been significant changes "under the hood." The new backend is significantly optimized, and should use many fewer database resources. What does this mean to you? Probably not a lot, but it means that the I can continue to host the site without resorting to getting my own dedicated server.

There are some small UI improvements as well: Every page now has a "bookmark this page" link, which if bookmarked will result in the entire UI being loaded (as opposed to just the main content frame) when that bookmark is used. Specs are now broken down by category, which should make them easier to read. The site download is once again available as well. Of course, I've also added all machines announced since the last update, and made a bunch of minor corrections as well.

Thanks again for your patience during the past few months. Finishing school took up a lot more of my time than I had hoped it would. Hopefully the new back-end will make more frequent updates more plausible for me. I found a job. Thanks to those who helped out.

Wednesday, 11 May 2005

Had some server trouble today. Apparently the site was using too many resources to run MySQL queries, so my host disabled my account. We're back up and running, but for now I'm using the flat version of the site used on mirrors and for the site download. As a result, many of the little UI featuers--such as different ordering of the machine list, the site download, and (notably) the noframes option--are missing until I can figure out how to better optimize the SQL code. I'm in my last quarter of school, and am as busy as ever, so it will probably be at least a few weeks. (And yes, I know I'm behind on the latest models.)

I appreciate your patience as I get this squared away. The site will be up in its current (hobbled) form until I can figure out the next move.

Monday, 24 January 2005

Added the Mac mini and iPod shuffle. Made a few corrections. Updated the Xserve G5.

In other news, I'll be graduating from UC Davis with a BS in Computer Science and Engineering in June, and am looking for fulltime employment as a Software Engineer in the SF Bay Area. If you are interested, please have a look at my contact me here. Thanks!

Tuesday, 23 November 2004

Added the photo and U2 ipods, the semi-recent iBooks and single 1.8 GHz G5, and the not-really-at-all-recent iMac G5. Also made a variety of small corrections. Apple seems to insist on releasing products just after I've made an update, and with a PowerBook revision imminent (No G5 yet, please don't ask me when this will happen), this trend seems likely to continue. I do my best to keep up, but am usually pretty swamped with real-life work. As always, I will update the site when there is time, usually 3-4 times a year. Just keep repeating my new mantra to yourself: "It's a history site. Not a current events site."

Tuesday, 10 August 2004

Big update! In addition to adding bringing the site up to date with new PowerBooks, iBooks, PowerMacs and eMacs, I've finally gotten around to adding both Newtons and iPods. I've also added a reverse-chronological view option to the "by date" listing, and made a few other under-the-hood changes.

As usual, things are going to get busy for me in the Fall. I should be able to add an update for the upcoming iMacs in September, but past that I probably won't make a large update until January. Thanks to all the readers who continue to support this site!

Tuesday, 4 May 2004

Hi all. I'm aware of the recent PowerBook and iBook updates, and plan to add them just as soon as I have time. At the moment it's looking like the first real chance I'll have to update the site will be sometime in early to mid june.

In the meantime if you need something to read, cruise on over to Threebase, a new Technology/Education/Culture weblog by my friend and colleague, Noah Kravitz. It's updated daily, and is a good read.

Thursday, 12 February 2004

I had a free night, so I decided to bring the site up to date. The iBook G4s have been added, along with the Xserve G5s. Updates to the PowerMac G5, iMac and eMac line have also been noted.

With the advent of several new income sources for the site, I am no longer requesting donations. Thanks to all those who helped keep the site afloat the past few years. I couldn't have done it without you!

Saturday, 7 February 2004

No, I haven't died, and I haven't stopped maintaining the site. I've just been incredibly busy the past few months. Unfortunately it looks as though I will continue to be just as busy if not more so for at least the next month. Rest assured, as soon as my schedule permits I will bring the site up to date. In the meantime, keep in mind that it is, after all, a history site and not one devoted to current events... (or at least that's what I keep telling myself.)

Saturday, 20 September 2003

I've added the new PowerBooks, the semi-new iMacs, the not-so-new G5, and the really-not-new-at-all eMacs. Made a few corrections.

The site lasted all summer without any bandwidth problems, and is averaging 55 GB/month of bandwidth consumption. The site is currently getting an average of 62,000 unique visits a month, about 2,000 a day. When I first launched this site, I had a CGI-counter that I checked religiously several times a day. I got maybe 100 hits in the first week. It's been a fun ride. Thanks everyone!

Tuesday, 17 June 2003

I've added the (not so) new Xserves and iBooks. Made a few minor corrections.

We had some server trouble last month, as our then current host went out of business. I've moved to a more stable host, and bandwidth trouble should be a thing of the past. Thanks for your patience.

Thursday, 6 February 2003

Yep. The IIgs is missing. The IIplus too. blame it on growing pains. Enter 150+ entries into a new database, and I guess entropy takes over... We seem to be timing out quite a bit. please try to use a mirror site if possible.

Wednesday, 5 February 2003

Welcome to the new site! Lots and lots of changes:

• Complete Redesign: I've redesigned the site, using as few images as possible, to reduce load time. I've also reduced the odds of getting sued by Apple for using their UI.
• Frames: I'm using frames as the default interface again, because I think it's the best way to display all the information of the site. However, I know many people hate frames as much as the infamousblink tag, so I've given a noframes option as well, although this will take a bit longer to display and load.
• PHP/MySQL backend: The site now runs off of a database, allowing me to make updates and minor UI tweaks much more easily.
• Customization: If your browser accepts cookies, the site will remember your frames preference, the way you last sorted the machines, and what page you were last on.
• Navigation: You can now get to any page of the site from any other page of the site. For this reason, I have removed the "quickjump" menu.
• Sorting options: Since "by name" and "by family" seemed about the same to me, I replaced "by name" with "by processor". This seems a lot more handy to me.
• Performas: All performas are now listed, although the links point to the machines they are based on. Alternate names for machines, such as LC, are also listed.
• FAQ: the FAQ has been updated with more wacky questions
• The links on the bibliography page have been sanitized.
• (finally) the website is up to date!

I've done my best to thoroughly test this new design, but I'm sure there will be unanticipated problems. Please use the contact form to let me know if you find them.

I really aim to keep more current in this (still sort of) new year, and this redesign, particularly the back-end improvements, should help me do that. In the meantime, if you happen to have come into a huge windfall of cash, feel free to make a donation.

Wednesday, 8 May 2002

We had some image trouble today. Apple recently added a bandwidth constraint to its itools homepage area, which had been hosting all of the images for the site. I've repointed these images to other hosts. hopefully it will work. I have every intention of adding the new PowerBooks, the eMac, and the upcoming rackmount servers. I hope to have time to get to it by early June.

Thursday, 11 April 2002

apple-history.com came in 3rd place in Low End Mac's "Rest of the Mac Web" survey, and will likely "graduate" to the "Best of the Mac Web" survey later this year as a result! Thanks to all those who gave us a favorable rating!

Tuesday, 26 March 2002

Please rate apple-history.com highly in Low End Mac's "Rest of the Mac Web" survey! If apple-history.com is in the Top 5, we will be listed in the next "Best of the Mac Web" survey in six months. (one vote per person, please)

Monday, 11 March 2002

We're having unprecedented access rates this morning, and would just like to remind everyone to please use mirror sites if possible. This will help improve the experience for all, as the main site won't be so flooded with requests that it can't handle any of them... Thanks.

Monday, 11 February 2002

I've added the new iMac, the 14" iBook, and the new PowerMacs, along with another round of minor corrections. The New Zealand mirror has gone bye-bye, but we've added a mirror inHong Kong, thanks to Eric Ho!

Thursday, 7 February 2002

apple-history.com has moved to a new host, and had some growing pains earlier today. Most problems have been fixed. If you tried to use the contact form in the past 24 hours, it's probably a good idea to try it again. It was broken for much of the day, and will be broken on most of the mirror sites for another day or so. But it works on the main site.

I'm retiring some email addresses, as they have been spammed up. From now on, any email sent to webmaster, comments, corrections or permission@apple-history.com will be ignored. Please use the feedback form on the contact/faq page to contact us.

Thursday, 24 January 2002

apple-history.com was down for several hours yesterday because we reached our bandwidth cap of 12 GB/month. I have added another 3 GB, which should get us through the end of the month. This has been a record month, with nearly 100,000 unique hosts served. The site has appeared in both MacWorld and MacDesign magazine, and was used as a source for the recent Time magazine article.

Thanks to everyone who has registered during this month! I hope to make an update with the new iMacs fairly soon.

Sunday, 9 December 2001

apple-history.com finished 5th in Low End Mac's Rest of the Web survey. Thanks to everyone who gave the site high marks!

Thursday, 29 November 2001

apple-history.com was listed in the January 2002 issue of MacWorld magazine! (shameless plug) Please vote for apple-history.com in Low End Mac's Rest of the Web survey!

Monday, 29 October 2001

Yikes. Time flies when you're working to hard. I've finally managed to add the latest iMacs, G4s, iBooks and PowerBooks, and made a few minor corrections.

Before I get a zillion emails (however well-deserved they might be) about how I don't have the iPod on the site, I should point out that at the moment I include only Apple-brandedcomputers on the site. There are no Newtons, no clones, no printers or monitors, no peripherals (I had to draw the line somewhere.). I hope to add the Newtons and the iPod sometime in the near future, but in the meantime, it'll just be computers.

Monday, 25 June 2001

I have finally added the new iBook, and made a few minor corrections.

Tuesday, 10 April 2001

I have managed to survive the "slashdot effect". With nearly 20,000 unique visitors, and over 2 million individual file requests, yesterday saw the heaviest traffic this site has ever had. The site got as many hits as it did in all of March. A big thanks to everyone who was kind enough to register yesterday!

Monday, 9 April 2001

I've been slashdotted! Since I've already gotten more comments this morning than I usually get in several days, I'm assuming traffic is pretty high... Please use the mirrors if you can!Shameless plug: Please don't forget to register!

Monday, 5 March 2001

Thanks to Charles Downs for a very favorable review of the site!

Wednesday, 28 February 2001

I've added the new iMacs, and updated the G4 Cube entry. I Also Made a few minor spec changes. I'm pleased to announce two new mirror sites: in Germany,www.theyopy.de/applehistory, and in New Zealand apple-history.macstuff.co.nz! [11/30/2002: both links dead]

Tuesday, 30 January 2001

I've tweeked the UI a little bit to reduce load time and bandwidth. The main site was down for a few hours, as we maxed out our bandwidth for the month. We've transfered over 12 GB in the last two weeks! I've worked out a way to make sure that if we max out our bandwidth in the future, we just pay more, instead of the site going down... I've also moved the movies and most of the images to a seperate server. As always, please use one of our mirrors if possible.

Wednesday, 24 January 2001

Thanks to all of you who have already helped to support apple-history.com! I've added a 1984 entry to the gallery, with the infamous commercial in several formats.

Thursday, 18 January 2001

Another day, another redesign... This design addresses a number of user comments on the former OS-X-like design. In particular I have replaced the blue background with a more muted white, and slimmed the whole design down quite a bit. It should load quite a bit faster as well. I have also finally added the not-so-new-anymore iBooks, as well as the newPowerMacs and the PowerBook G4.

I have also moved the site to a new host. As many of you know, I had a deal with my previous host, Reprahduce. In exchange for a banner add on all of my pages, they hosted the site for free.

For a variety of reasons, I have decided to move the site to a different host, and to use this as an opportunity to get rid of the banner altogether. I have never liked it, as it look up quite a bit of space, and compromised somewhat the design of the site. Unfortunately, hosting the site still costs money, and I've been trying to figure out a good way to cover my expenses. And here it is: I am making the site shareware. If you use the site a whole lot (like once or twice a day), or if you enjoyed it and want to help me out, you can make a donation. The cost is a mere $5. I can't offer much in return, but I'll put you on my mailing list, so you'll be among the first to know when I've made an update.

For more info on how to support the site, click here. I'd rather not ask for money from anyone, but even more I'd rather not have banner ads cluttering up the site. I hope you feel the same way.

Wednesday, 3 January 2001

Things have been quite busy, and I still haven't been able to add the not-new-anymore iBooks. I'm holding off now on an update until after MacWorld SF, because I expect some new stuff will come out then. Thanks to Davide Puppo, there is now an Italian translation of the site! My apologies for not linking this up sooner. I will add it to the mirrors page when I make my next update. The German mirror seems to have gone down.

Friday, 11 August 2000

Welcome to the new site! With Mac OS X Beta fast approaching, a redesign was bound to happen... Please let me know what you think of the new look. I've added a pulldown menu to every page that lists the models alphabetically, and I've added several new sorting options in the Gallery (By Date, By Name, and By Family). I've also, of course, added the new machines announced at MacWorld New York. The guestbook has gone the way of the Mac IIfx, as it was just to combersome to manage. Also the awards section has been combined with the mirrors and translations section. The Contact/FAQ section is now accessable via the blue button on the lower right of the nav bar. A new mirror has been added! Thanks to Stefan Trost, there is now a mirror of the site in Germany at: http://apple-history.trostweb.de [11/30/2002: link dead]

Monday, 20 March 2000

No content updates, but I added the "QuickJump" menu above, which goes straight to the gallery entry of your choice. Enjoy! [11/30/2002: the quickjump has been axed]

Friday, 10 March 2000

Apologies for the late update! Work has been extremely busy, and looks as though it will remain so for many months. Expect future updates to appear somewhere around a month after new products are announced. Added the new PowerBook, the iBook SE, and the renewed G4s. Also added Matt Garrison's updated Newton Book-formatted site download. (This brings it up to date with November's update)

Tuesday, 16 November 1999

The new iMacs have been added, and the G4s have been altered to reflect the recent 50 MHz "speed dump". I'm happy to announce that a mirror site in Norway has been set up, thanks to to hard work of Sverre Sørensen! The mirror runs atop an AppleShare IP Server, and is located at: http://applehistory.norhost.net/.

Thursday, 23 September 1999

A long overdue update! I've added the iBook, and the G4s. Also made a number of small corrections. The big news is that the site is now available in Newton Book format! (and there was much rejoicing...) Matt Garrison has spent countless hours translating the site into Newton Books for all Newton models. They are available on the Site Download page. Some might ask how I can justify have my site available as a Newton Book, but not having info on Newtons in the Gallery. The answer is that I can't, so in the next month or so I expect to add all newton models. [11/30/2002: still planning on Newton support one of these days...]

I want to take this time to thank everyone for their continued support of this site. I've been much more busy lately than I ever have in my life, and there have been a few moments lately when I've considered throwing in the towel with this site. Continued reader support has kept me (and the site) going, and for that I am extremely grateful.

Friday, 18 June 1999

Added new the PowerBook G3, made a number of small corrections. Look for a few big additions in the next month!

Monday, 12 April 1999

All '040 Macs now show the correct Max System Software (8.1), and a few minor back-end changes have been made. Also, the Rev. D iMacs have been added. Expect a few more additions after the next round of Apple announcements on the 19th.

Sunday, 14 March 1999

Thanks to everyone who emailed their Blue G3 Machine IDs. Thanks to Christopher Jennings, we now have an answer to the puzzle (and in retrospect, we feel pretty silly). Apparently all future Macs based on the "New World" ROM in RAM scheme, will return the same Machine ID. This is because They all share the same standard 1 MB ROM chip. This allows Apple to more effectively mass-produce the ROM chips, saving quite a bit of money. An Apple Developer Tech Note explains this in more detail... I made some updates to several items in the gallery.

Wednesday, 17 February 1999

We're tracking something interesting: According to one reader, the Machine ("Gestalt") ID of the new Blue G3 is 406. This is the same ID as that of the Rev A, B & C iMacs. This has some interesting implications if it is true, because Apple usually gives different IDs for even slightly different motherboards (UMA anyone?). Can anyone confirm this? (You can find the Machine ID by running "Apple System Profiler" in your Apple Menu.)

Tuesday, 16 February 1999

www.apple-history.com has been selected as the MacMadness Site of the Week! [11/30/2002: link dead]

Thursday, 11 February 1999

Many Thanks to the MacResource Page, MacNN, and iMacWorld for links earlier this week! www.apple-history.com was quoted in this month's episode of Macohesion, a monthly Quicktime Streaming radio show by Michael Piziak.

Wednesday, 10 February 1999

The Site Download is now available. added a new Apple I pic, fixed a few broken links. Quicktime movies are available only on the main server. Because of their size, I cannot place them on the mirror sites. I believe they are all linked absolutely on the site, but please let me know if you find a broken link.

Tuesday, 9 February 1999

Thanks to Takashi Noguchi, there is now a Japanese translation of the history page, alongside the Swedish one. Made a few cosmetic retouches, including a slight change to the stylesheet. The Site Download really will be available soon, probably Tuesday.

Saturday, 6 February 1999

The Dutch Mirror is back up. The Site Download option should be available in the next few days. (I have to stuff the whole site and put it up over my modest 33.6 kbps connection...)

Friday, 5 February 1999

It's been a while, but we think it's worth the wait! In addition to numerous updates and error-fixes, the site has had a huge facelift. We think the new design is nice without being too flashy. It may take a while to load up the first time, but after that download times should decrease.

We've added a Contact/FAQ page, which you should look at before sending us email. We've also made a number of back-end changes that should make future updates easier. In the process of reworking the site, we decided to get rid of LiveOpinions. There just wasn't enough public interest in the 'boards to put any more time into maintaining them. We hope you like the new site design, and if you have any comments on it, please, email us!

Wednesday, 14 October 1998

In Honor of Apple's fourth consecutive profitable quarter, I have made significant updates to every entry on the site. All entries have been checked against Apple's Spec Database, and now include measurements, weight, and system software info. I have also made small cosmetic changes across the site.

Sunday, 11 October 1998

I fixed up the main pages a bit, and added the new Reprahduce ad. A big update is in the works that will add more specs to all models, and updates to the G3 and PowerBook G3 pages. I am also planning to rewrite the conclusion and parts of the history. check back in a week or so for these updates!

Friday, 7 August 1998

You may notice that there are a fair number of missing pieces of information, listed as ?? in the gallery. The only way I can fill this missing information in, is with your help! I have found all I can, and need you to help make this site even better! please send any corrections and information !-- link:?page=contact -->my way. Specifically, I need HD sizes for many of the entries. Thanks!.

I have made a few smal changes, including lightening the background image.

Tuesday, 4 August 1998

I have made significant changes to the gallery: all entries now contain a list of stats, and should have considerably more information than they have up till now. I have also added the 10 or so servers to the list of machines. Also I have made minor updates to the history and bibliography pages.

Tuesday, 14 July 1998

I had to have hand surgury again on friday, so I can't type too well at the moment, but I pleasw check back soon, as there will be an important update as soon as my hand can type it. (in the next two weeks.)

Friday, 3 July 1998

I am pleased to announce that thanks to the arduous effort of Christophe Gravereau there is now a fully-functional French Translation of this site! To reduce the clutter of the banner, I have made a Mirrors/Translations page. This allows for a smaller header.

Monday, 18 May 1998

I am finished with my school work, and have finally been able to update the site with all the recent events. I have added entries for the Color Classic II, the PowerBook 550, the G3 All-in-One, the new PowerBook G3, and the iMac (these can all be found in the Gallery). I have also updated the History page to reflect the last few months' events. I am working on a "commercials" page, which will contain links to all commercials mentioned on this site, and many more. It will probably take me several months to get my act together and do it, though. [11/30/2002: I never did get my act together...]

Sunday, 10 May 1998

I apologize for the delay in making a very important update! I am in the middle of finals, and have several more large papers to write. I should be able to update the site at the end of next week, with an update to the history page, to the conclusion, and five new entries in the gallery. Thanks to all those who sent me p550 and CCII info, It has been a great help.

I got a job teaching computers at Saint Ann's School, in NYC, and plan to maintain this page as long as possible. (right now possible looks like several years at least.) Look for new french and korean translations soon.

Tuesday, 7 April 1998

I'm waiting for the G3-AIO to ship before listing it on the site (also I need official pricing info). I finally got around to fixing the misspelling of Bose on the 20th Ann. Mac. I'm still looking for CC II and p550 specs if anyone has them. On a side note, I'm graduating from Brown this May and am looking for a job in the New York City area doing either Graphic Design, Website design, or something Mac and/or Internet related. My resume is available here. If you are interested, please email me.

Tuesday, 31 March 1998

Thanks to the generous effort of Ton van der Bruggen, we now have a mirror site in the Netherlands! This should be somewhat faster for those of you connecting from Europe. Look for a Korean and a French Translation sometime soon. Added a page for the LC III+ and the LC 580. The G3 "All in One" has been announced! I'll have it in the gallery as soon as Apple posts more info. I need specs on the Color Classic II, which was never released in the US. please email me if you have such specs and/or a picture. I would also like specs on the PowerBook 550, which wasn't realeased here either... Thanks!

Wednesday, 18 March 1998

I've updated many pages of the Gallery to reflect recent speed-bumps (G3) and discontinuations (4400, 8600, 20th Anniversary, etc..). I have also added a link on the History page to Johan Ohlsson's Swedish translation. [11/30/2002: link dead]

Thursday, 19 February 1998

I am pleased to announce that Reprahduce, the excellent IPP that serves www.apple-history.com, will be advertising on the site. This will help to make the financial load of maintaining this site more managable.

I have updated the g3 entry in the Gallery to reflect the new configurations offered. The Site Download option is available again.

I wanted to take a moment plug LiveOpinions just one more time. Although it hasn't really gone anywhere yet, I truly believe it could be a great place for ongoing discussion of Apple's history and future. But only with your help. So please, have a look, and help me make this site even better. Thanks.

Tuesday, 27 January 1998

www.apple-history.com is now hosted on a 100% Macintosh server! I have moved everything over to Reprahduce's excellent G3 servers, which give me more bandwidth per day andway more room. In the process, however, I ran into a few problems. my email is a little messed up although that should get fixed reasonably soon. Also the guestbook, liveopinions and site download pages have been broken. both the guestbook and liveopinions' previous incarnations were written in perl, which I can't run on reprahduce's mac server. however, I have found nice mac alternatives written in WebSiphon, and am in the process of putting them together. LiveOpinions shoudl be much richer and more robust than it was before. thanks for your patience, I should have everything worked out in the next few days...

Saturday, 24 January 1998

I'm moving the site over to a new server, and this will cause problems with the domain name for a few days. please use apple-history.pair.com until I get it moved over. after that apple-history.com will be the only way to get to the site. thanks for your patience.

Tuesday, 20 January 1998

I'm temporarily taking 1984 off the site, due to disk quota issues. I'm moving to a new server in the next month that will allow me to have many more movies locally mirrored. sorry for the inconvenience!

Saturday, 3 January 1998

Having just had hand surgery, and with a lot of time on my hands, (no pun intended) I decided to redesign the site just one more time. I think I've found a way to dispense with frames for most of the site. The "Gallery" (where all the machines are) retains a frames interface, as I saw no other good way to do it. tell me what you think!

Wednesday, 24 December 1997

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Merry Festivus! (Happy Hollidays) I am pleased to announce that "A History of Apple Computers" can now be found at: http://www.apple-history.com! Older addresses will also work, but please bookmark this new address. My email address has also changed to reflect the new domain. you can contact me here.

Saturday, 15 November 1997

I apologize (again) for taking so long to bring this update! I was going to make a big update after MacWorld Boston, but by the time I was seriously getting around to it, there was already a big buzz about Novermber 10th. So I figured I'd wait until the big day, and get the G3's in here too. I have also added the 2400 and the twentieth anniversary mac.

structurally, I've made a few changes too. All of the pages now have "next" and "previous" buttons for easier navigation, and I added a scrolling menu as well. (look above) These changes should make the site easier to get around. I've also changed many of the pictures, replacing old b/w scans with nicer looking color scans. I'm still missing a few, but I should have them all in color sometime soon. Thanks to Matt Garrison for the Apple III pic!

Friday, 17 October 1997

Thanks to AppleLinks.com for such a nice review! I realize that I have been again somewhat lax in updating the site lately, but I'm waiting for this whole mess to blow over a bit before I document it. I want to make sure I understand exactly what's going on before it appears here. Remember that this is a history site, and not a current events one. thanks.

Wednesday, 23 July 1997

I finally got around to fixing the Guestbook problem, and The Australian mirror is back up and looking good!

Friday, 11 July 1997

I know I've been lagging, but I finally managed to finish this long overdue update! There have been some fairly large structural changes to the site this time around: each machine now has its own page. I think this should speed up load-time significantly. Also I have coded image size information into all the images on the site, which should speed things up further.

I also ditched the table-based Interface. I realize that it was a more browser-friendly design, but it added 10 kB to every single file, and I noticed an very noticable increase in load time. so back to frames. there is a non-frames front end to the site, but it's just much to have two wholey independant sites. so the non-frames site uses all the same pages except for the front-end. What this means is that if you don't like or can't use frames, you will probably have to use the back button an awfull lot. Sorry, it's the best I can do.

If you do like frames, then have a blast! I'm really happy with the way the site looks now. I made all the computer pictures transparent gif's which makes things look real pretty.

I also brought most of the Quicktime movies that I've linked to in the past on to this server. This should allow everybody (with a good connection) to see the 1984 commercial!

aside from that, I fixed a few entries, added a few machines, and updated the Amelio portion of the history to reflect his recent resignation.

Oh yeah! and the Australian mirror has finally been updated and all fixed up.

Monday, 17 February 1997

Completely overhalled the site. The site is all non-frames now, as I got a number of complaints about it. It should still be easy to navigate around, and It should load up slightly faster as well. It is also more aesthetically consistent, and I added more informative title information, so you always know exactly where you are. You'll find that "the list" as I like to call it will be to your left at all times. Updated information to include the buyout of NeXT and the new Powermacs, Performas and Powerbooks. I am thinking about adding the Newtons in the near future, (it's about time after all) but I'm afraid that peripherals are simply beyond the scope of this sight. Clones, on the other hand, may not be.... (stay tuned) I will definately be adding a threaded discussion group of some kind for the Opinions page (which I finally got around to updating as well) in the semi-near future. would people be interested in this? Let me know.

Saturday, 1 February 1997

Thanks so much to the MacWorld Online Community Center for their kind words!

Friday, 31 January 1997

Fixed a few little things, renamed the Centris 610/650 entries so that they more obviously included the Quadra versions. I'm studying in London for the semester, and internet access is a little more difficult, so updates will be few. I will try to make a major update in a month or so, to include the upcoming macs, and the recent *very* interestiong business with NeXT, and the return of Jobs. (so keep coming back!) Several readers have noted that the opinions page would be better as a threaded discussion n. I agree and am looking into it. (I would like to use WebX, but I don't have $600 to shell out for it.) Again, and sort of threaded discussion won't be up until at least June. Access is just too slow here. Both German and Spanish mirrors are in the works, and I'm looking into why the Australian mirror hasn't been responding lately. (I have yet to make the 12/13 update to the site) Take Care, and keep the comments (good and bad) coming! --glen

Friday, 13 December 1996

I am extremely pleased to announce that, thanks to Vincent Motte, we now have a fully-translated French Mirror Site! Added entry for Performa 4400, fixed entries for the Quadra 700, Centris/Quadra 610/650, MacTV, and PowerBook 145. Changed a few minor things here and there.

Thursday, 31 October 1996

Added yet another new title pic. I think I'm gonna keep this one.

Wednesday, 30 October 1996

Thanks to The Macintosh Resource Page, MacCentral, The O'Grady PowerPage, MacintoshOS.com, MacFixit, @ Home Mac, and Digital Apple for mentioning this site today! Changed the interface so that it no longer requires a specific window size (should still take up most or all of a 640x480 screen). Fixed information for the Quadra 700, the PB 180, PB 150 and finally fixed the wrong-century date on the Opinions page. Speacking of opinions, SEND YOURS IN!

Tuesday, 29 October 1996

Thanks to the Evangelist for all its help!

Brightened up the interface, added new title pic, moved "What's New" to the title page, moved bibliography and links to a separate page, added recent "Opinions" posts, added info on the PB1400, and the Performa 6360 and 5260, changed entries to the Portable and the Mac Plus, spellchecked everything _again_, (I think I got 'em all this time), updated mirror site. It's been a busy day!

Sunday, 25 August 1996

Added Apple II Plus pic, added Guestbook. (main site only)

Saturday, 24 August 1996

Fixed some IIvx info. Fixed a few typos.

Friday, 23 August 1996

Had my wisdom teeth out. In the hopes of making this site a bit more interactive, I replaced the Comments page with a brand, spanking new Opinions page. Updated information on the Apple II Plus, the Apple III (Added pic), the Lisa, the Apple IIgs, and the PB 5300.

Thursday, 15 August 1996

I've gone Phishin' for the weekend, so I won't be able to update this page or respond to emails until Sunday. (don't let that stop you) Upon return there are a number of small things I intend to fix. I want to make this site even better, so please send me suggestions for the site

Monday, 12 August 1996

Added pic of IIgs, better pic of classic II. Fixed a few links. Fixed PB 520/540 dates. Fixed Apple IIe dates.

Spruced up the interface, made it look a bit less "dark". The frames page should load a tiny bit faster. Fixed targets in the frames conclusion page. Fixed the color of the linked text in the non frames title page. I'm still trying to think of a way to make this site more dynamic, and to keep people coming back. (the site is a bit of a one-shot deal at the moment) If you have ideas please send them my way.

Saturday, 10 August 1996

I am pleased to announce that an Australian mirror site has been added! Thanks to Eis.net for making this site more accessible! Added the new PowerMacs, and the Performa 6400. Rewrote Amelio's entry. added a few new pictures, including a better IIsi shot and a IIcx/ci pic.

Sunday, 4 August 1996

MacintoshOS.com has informed me that since the page has moved to a faster server, they will no longer be mirroring it. If they have not already taken it off their servers they soon will. (so make sure to update your bookmarks to the new location!) Fixed bad links in the no-frames section. Made changes to several entries including the IIc, Mac IIcx and Portable, Quadra 660AV, 800, and 840AV, the PowerBook 100, 190, 540/c, and 5300, and the Mac 5400 LC. Lightened the background you're looking at. In the next week or so I intend to add entries for the new machines Apple has just released. Also, the Australian mirror site is coming along.

Thursday, 1 August 1996

Moved main page to new site. Made significant alterations to the frames layout to make it work better at 640x480, and with the default Netscape window size. Got rid of annoying configuration pages. Added links to get from frames to no frames, and vice-versa. Fixed no-frames pages' links to reflect addition of comments and what's new pages. Added link to new mirror in Australia.

Monday, 29 July 1996

The main site of the History of Apple pages will be moving to a much faster server in the next week or so, which will have its own domain name (The MacintoshOS.com mirror will stay right where it is). More details when I have them. Also look for an Australian mirror site sometime soon.

Wednesday, 17 July 1996

(my birthday) Fixed all the "moniter" misspellings (sp?). Fixed Sculley dates in no-frames introduction links. Fixed information about the IIgs, and the 165/c. updated macintoshOS.com's mirror.

Thursday, 11 July 1996

I Added the comments page and the very page you are now viewing. I Also lightened the backgrounds a bit, to improve text readability, and added a picture of the LISA. I'm taking Fridays off from now on, so I should be able to update the page more regularly. Future changes will include entries for various system software components, (i.e. system 7, Quicktime, OpenDoc, etc...) and I will eventually fix all the links in the no frames pages to reflect the addition of the two new pages.

Monday, 20 May 1996

Fixed most of the typos. mirror site should be up RSN.

(later) A faster mirror site [11/30/02: link now dead] is now available, thanks to MacintoshOS.com. If you're visiting by a high speed connection, you should notice a difference. (I can't at 28.8 though)

Tuesday, 14 May 1996

The Apple IIgs runs at 10 MHz, not 1. I'll fix that in a while. (this notice was all I had time for) Several people have complained that the blue text in the contents page is unreadable, I'm trying to find a color that satisfies everybody, and doesn't look gross. Any suggestions are welcome. If there are links to other history sites that you know of, please send them to me. Only one more final to go.

Monday, 13 May 1996

The "no frames" option now works. I am aware of the profuse spelling errors in this document, but have not had the time to fix them yet. I am in the middle of finals, and won't be able to for several days. To the nice fellow with the SparcStation 2: I'm working on it.

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