apple a day / 1999

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iMac (Rev C)

"In April 1999, Apple Replaced the Rev. C with the Rev. D iMac, bumping the processor speed to 333 MHz. All other specs were the same. The Rec. D iMac was terminated the following October." (picture credits: Apple Computer)
This byte of Apple's history from, "30 Years of Apple Products."



Johnny Yanok is a fantastic illustrator. How fantastic? So fantastic you wanna put a bird's nest on your head containing 3 sqwaking, somewhat baffled birds, throw your hands in the air, kick up your heels and exclaim: "Hoorah for Johnny Yanock - a most fantastic illustrator!"



A few days ago, I randomly stumbled upon a simply lovely little site for a band called, The Like. I was intrigued by the illustrations on the site: the crosshatched, little house with windows all lit up, that looked somehow quaint-but-creepy... cozy-yet-ominous. Inside, 3 girls are seated at a table, with faint smiles (or are they smirks?) on their faces. I browsed around the site quickly, making a mental note-to-self to give 'em a listen, then minimized the window. But apparently I got sidetracked on this fateful afternoon, absentmindedly quitting firefox; altogether forgetting about my find.
Today however (and isn't the universe just so queer sometimes?), my hubby was listening to a song I quite liked, and when I asked him who it was, he said "The Like." It didn't mean much to me right off, but I guess because I expressed an interest in the song, he thoughtfully and promptly navigated to their site to better educate me... and there it was! The quaint-but-creepy little crosshatched house with windows all aglow. Oh happy coincidence! Nothin' better (to me anyway) than a double-whammy of fun-site-find AND fun-music-find! (How positively blogworthy!) Musically, to give you an idea, these gals are a tiny bit Ride, a tad Lush-like, with generous, sweet smatterings of The Sundays. Vocally, me thinks me hears a familiar yet elusive its-totally-reminding-me-of-something-but-i-can't-quite-pinpoint-it combination of chrissiehynde-meets-sarahmclachlan-meets-bethgibbons-meets-bjork . I'm on the 2nd listen of the album, and know already that I rather quite like The Like, and that "are you thinking what i'm thinking," is hereby inducted with special honours (or something like that) into heavy rotation. Hoorah!


apple a day / 1998•1999

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iMac (Rev.B)
"Announced in May 1998 and shipped in August, the iMac was Apple's computer for the new millennium. Aimed at the low-end consumer market and designed with the internet in mind, the iMac was positioned by Apple as the most original new computer since the original Mac in 1984, and came in a stylish new case design, with translucent "Bondi Blue" plastics. The iMac included a 4 Mbps IrDA port, and an internal 56Kpbs modem (a 33.6 kbps modem was originally announced in May, but was upped to 56 kbps at MacWorld.), used two 12 Mbps Universal Serial Ports (USB) as its only means of external expansion, and included a newly-designed USB keyboard and mouse. While it had no other serial or SCSI ports, many manufacturers promised to make a variety of USB peripherals available by the time it shipped in August, and by and large they delivered on that promise. A "Rev B." model was released several months later, with 6 MB of VRAM, and several hardware bug-fixes. The iMac sold for $1,299. This Rev. B iMac was replaced by the Rev. C in January 1999."

This byte of Apple's history from Wired's, "30 Years of Apple Products."



{fig.1} masterpiece: american indian petroglyphs.
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apple a day / 1998

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"Announced in March 1998, the PowerBook G3 Series was an entirely new design, which resembled its predecessor only in name. The G3 Series was the first Built-to-Order PowerBook line, and filled Apple's PowerBook offerings, from low to high end, with a single motherboard design. The G3 Series was available with a variety of BTO 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." (picture credits: Apple Computer)

This byte of Apple's history from Wired's, "30 Years of Apple Products."



{05•11•06} family
spun with tears



Well, how nice it must be to be able to draw like you're not trying to draw well, but what you end up with... well... comes out really quite well. Rina Donnersmarck draws fun, fantastical things like monsters, and delightfully whimsical stuff like spiralling clouds of black birds. She draws freely and loosely... in a carefree, pure, uninhibited, and childish way. How nice it must be, indeed, for one to be able to draw so well, regardless of whether one intends or does not intend to draw as well as they do. Well!



Today's stumble session had me trippin' all over The Beatles. Seriously. Trippin.'


apple a day / 1998

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POWER MACINTOSH G3 ALL-IN-ONE
"Announced in March 1998, the G3 All-in-One built on the success of previous built-in monitor models. The AIO was the first Built-to-Order All-in-One Mac, and was available only in educational markets. It was based on the same motherboard as its big brother, the PowerMac G3, and had a built-in 15" monitor. The 233 MHz configuration started for $1599, and the 266 MHz configuration, which included video input and output, sold for several hundred dollars more. There was also a built-in Zip drive option. The G3 AIO was retired only 6 months later, after the release of the iMac." (picture credits: Apple Computer)

This byte of Apple's history from Wired's, "30 Years of Apple Products."


apple a day / 1997•1999

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POWER MACINTOSH G3
"The G3 came in either a mini-tower case (similar to that of the 8600 & 9600, but shorter) or a 7300-style desktop case, and operated at either 233 or 266 MHz, with a 512 KB backside cache operating at 117 and 133 MHz, respectively. The PowerMac G3 Desktop, available at 233 or 266 MHz came with 16-bit Audio In and Out on a separate "personality" card and an internal Zip drive (The Gossomer motherboard was so small that the main HD could be mounted on the floor of the case, leaving room for the Zip, and an additional half-height drive).

The G3 MiniTower model, which initially was only available at 266 MHz, had a different personality card, which offered all the features of the desktop card, plus 4 MB of VRAM (expandable to 6 MB) and S-Video In and Out. The Gossamer motherboard had 3 industry-standard SDRAM slots, allowing for 384 MB of RAM, but due to the height restrictions of the case, the G3 Desktop could not hold 128 MB modules, giving it a maximum of 192 MB. In early 1998, Apple made a 233 MHz tower model available, and added a host of new add-on features for all models including a 4 GB fast/wide SCSI disk, and a faster graphics card.

In March 1998, Apple added a 300 MHz option on all built-to-order machines, as well as a dual-SCSI configuration, with RAID software, and an optional DVD-ROM drive. (A 3rd-party solution were required for MPEG-2 video playback.) A 333 MHz version was made available in September 1998. The PowerMac G3 was discontinued in January 1999, when it was replaced by the "Blue" G3." (picture credits: Apple Computer, John Greenleigh/Flipside Studios)

This byte of Apple history from Wired's, "30 Years of Apple Products."



What an adventure! Brilliant Japanese advertising company, Yomiko, makes you the Supreme Commander of your own legion of samurai's and magistrates, and it is your duty to lead them safely and skillfully through the The Creative Bushido, comprised of 3 interactive battles: The Battle For Sakuragahara, The Black Ship of Riden Sea, and The Unknown Enemy From Heaven. The goal is to successfully wage war (ie. promote a product) to the Japanese public and conquer your enemies (ie. other advertising agencies). Victory or defeat rest on your advertising saavy. Do you have what it takes to reign in the world in this cut-throat realm? Are you bold enough to find out? The imaginative storylines and colourful illustrations make this the site i heart above all others this week! Now go. Be brave. Be wise. Seize the reigns of victory!!!



turning japanese: grandPerspective takes a picture so you can see your HD from inside as well.

To directly quote sourceforge.net: GrandPespective "is a small utility application for Mac OS X that graphically shows the disk usage within a file system. It can help you to manage your disk, as you can easily spot which files and folders take up the most space. It uses a so called tree map for visualisation. Each file is shown as a rectangle with an area proportional to the file's size. Files in the same folder appear together, but their placement is otherwise arbitrary."

Now I'm a person who prides myself on keeping a neat and tidy hard drive, but upon running this nifty little app for the first time, I was astonished to find files I didn't even know existed on my machine! It also encouraged me to finally back up some large files that I knew were taking up way too much space but couldn't be bothered to backup before. I cleaned everything up and before you could say "holy new-found gigabytes, Batman," I had cleared out over 6 fresh, sparkly clean GBs. Ah, graphical interfaces! You make every task so much more manageable and enjoyable to me!


apple a day / 1997•1998

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"Quietly released in the summer of 1997, the PowerBook 2400 was the first Apple sub-notebook since the Duo 2300, and was co-designed by IBM. The 2400 sacrificed an internal floppy or CD-ROM drive, but very little else. With most of the functionality of larger notebooks, the 2400 weighed only 4.4 lbs. A 240 MHz version ("Mighty Cat") was released only in Japan." (picture credits: John Greenleigh/Flipside Studios)

This byte of Apple's history from Wired's, "30 Years of Apple Products."



Live fast & wear good lookin' shoes: my buckle boots w/friends, circa 1986-ish.

They say you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, and I believe in this wholeheartedly. I often scan down to the feet in order to get a better read on someone. Are they a professional? A more creative type? A fashionista? A creature of comfort?

If I think back to the shoes I've owned in my life, they really do tell the story of me: who I've been at the time that I wore them, and how I've evolved as a person over the years, favourite pair by favourite pair...

When I first began walking, I was pidgeon-toed, and the doctor prescribed these special little shoes that had to be alternated daily, training my feet to straighten out. I don't remember these of course, but my mother certainly does. Apparently, they cost a pretty penny and it was no small sacrifice for my young mother to buy them for me. And laugh if you will at the mental image of an awkward little pidgeon-toed girl, but c'mon! It was a whole new world of mobility for me! I just needed a little help, from the shoes my mother bought for me, to learn how to do it right!

The first pair of (of non-correcting) shoes I actually remember owning and LOVING were my FLINTSTONE flip-flops. They were snazzy little numbers that I adored playing with as much as wearing: when you turned them one way, you saw one picture, then tilting them another way, another picture. Fred was on there for sure. Wilma and Dino too, I think. One fateful day however, I wore them on a family outing to Blue Mountain, and lost one whilst riding the chair-lift up, my feet swinging boisterously. I don't remember if we were able to retrieve the flip-flop, but I do remember the tears that came with the rueful knowledge that I had made such a silly error in judgement, and that I hadn't been sufficiently careful with something so special.

The next shoes I distinctly remember were my first pair of NIKE'S. I actually got them from an older friend who said they didn't fit her anymore. They were white (underneath all that dirt anyway) and had an orange swoosh. Truth be told, they didn't fit me at all. They were much too large - but I just tied the laces extra tight and hoped that they would pass as my own. You see, in our small town, very, very few had the illustrious Nike shoe, and I just NEEDED to possess them and have what so many others coveted. The following school year, in Grade 6, my mother must've taken pity and bought me new ones that were white-as-snow with a powder blue swoosh. Oh joy of joys! I wore them often -- even to Picture Day. Then again in Grade 7, after moving and upon starting at a brand new school, she bought me an exceptional, sporty baby blue pair with a dark blue swoosh. They just oozed COOL. Both pairs were just BEAUTIFUL in my opinion, and thanks to my generous Mom and the helpful clerks at the shoe stores, they fit me like a dream, making me feel like a million bucks.

Of course I could never forget the first pair of shoes that I intentionally picked to make a statement: my COUGAR boots! These were all the rage at my school. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE had these tan coloured leather boots with red lining and chunky souls. When you walked in the snow, you left a print behind that was supposed to resemble a cougar's. It was in 5th Grade when I got mine and I remember being at the store and specifically picking out a style that no-one else in my school had... dark brown instead of the usual tan. Nervy? Oh yes. Especially at that age when you MUST blend in. Oh, but I just wanted to be different. I wanted them to be noticed. It was no longer just enough to have a pair. I wanted everyone to look at MINE, and wish they had a pair like MINE.

After those, it was the classic PETER PAN boots. I don't think this was the official name of them mind you, but this is the nickname they had. You can spot them if you watch New Wave videos. (I actually think they were called Sand Boots if memory serves, though I am not sure of this). At any rate, they were black suede, with an ever so slight, pointed toe. They were ankle length, and had a turned-down cuff. It was the first pair of shoes I remember feeling really pretty in. I went out of my way to care for them, too; spaying them and cleaning them with a little brush when mud or rain dared to soil them. I debuted them (and me) on the first day of Grade 8 at another new school, and they completed my very hip, sophisticated look of Jordache jeans with a hot pink, off the shoulder mesh shirt, thank you.

Now... the highschool years! Ah, this is where my love for shoes really took hold. I became quite obsessed with footwear actually, and since I was making my own money via part-time jobs, I spent a good deal of it on building a to-die-for collection. It was at this time that I developed a love for skull-buckle boots, that took a good 5 minutes to put on or take off. They had to be laced first, then each of the 4 skull-buckles (x2 boots = 8!) needed to be fastened. I wore them all the time. They were the perfect companions to my black stockings, mini skirts and Skinny Puppy tour shirts. I secretly LOVED that clickity-clacking of the buckles that had everyone turning to look when I walked down the halls -- even though I looked bored and nonchalant, pretending to not know what all the fuss was about. I wore them so much that they began to fall apart, and even when they did, I went out and bought that exact style again. They were my trademark. What can I say? They told everyone who saw them that I was different from them, and that it really didn't matter to me if they thought they were weird or not.

When the 2nd pair of skull buckle boots began to show signs of wear, I discovered FLUEVOGS. At least 3 times a year, my friend and I would hit the Fluevog's shop on Queen West. The styles were outrageous as were the prices. I still to this day do not admit to exactly how much I spent on each pair. I got such a rush each time a new pair were obtained! Among my favourite Fluevog purchases (see if you can spot a theme): super-pointy black flats with a red crucifix on the toe (hey, I was a goth kid at this stage, if you haven't already guessed); super-pointy black flats with 3 thin straps across the front accented with tiny, round sliver buckles, and the creme-de-la-creme: a super-pointy pair of flats with one large silver buckle in the middle on the top. The jocks and the preps called them "witch shoes" when I walked by -- but only from a distance. These bad-girls actually had a steel piece inserted in the pointy-toe, that formed a raised, triangular tip. Oh how I loved the attention those shoes received! They told people that I was tough, and a force to be reckoned with. And from those bullying, spoiled, penny-loafer-wearing-preps -- I chose to wear the witch comments as a badge of honour. Each day when I wore them, it signified that I was ok with being on the outs with the in-crowd.

Throughout university, I must say I do not remember any other style of shoes but DOCS. I had black nubuck 10-holes for day and black patent-leather, pointed toe 10-holes for evenings (HA)! I suppose I was far too busy and too broke at this stage in my life to really care as much as I had in highschool. And boy, what a practical choice on that trip to Europe! Did they ever save my arches from the rigors of all that walking!

There of course have been countless pairs of shoes since then. Too many to recount here. Each pair is fairly different from the next -- maybe because there are more sides to my personality now, and I'm not so concerned with fitting into just one look. My current faves range from my tweed heels with the little rhinestone flowers (a girlie indulgence), to my super-pointy black NINE WEST boots (imagine my glee when super-pointy came back in!), to my white leather PUMA'S that are so comfortable and stylish (I get compliments whenever I wear them, and they provide relief from high heels), to my bevy of tried-tested-and-true Target flip-flops, in ever colour that $7.99 can buy. (I mean, it's not highschool anymore -- even a girl with a shoe fetish has to live by a budget!)

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