
Unofficial Apple Archive - todotask
https://www.applearchive.org/
======
cmod
My own random Apple-connected moment of delight. In 2005, when they announced
Dashboard widgets, I was running a data-visualization site built off Google
News called Buzztracker [0]. It was a really simple idea and hackneyed
execution, but it worked and was quite popular: it mapped the news from 1000s
of sources onto a map, allowing you to navigate via geography into the day's
events.

I took an afternoon and knocked out a widget edition of the site. If I
remember correctly, you submitted your widgets to Apple.com and they had a
little gallery. Well, I came home a few days later and my server was melting:
thousands of hits/second from apple.com. It turned out they decided to make
the _entire_ homepage of apple.com a hot-link to my widget. [1] It stayed that
way for about 24 hours — June 17 - 18, 2005.

I love this era of the 'net — when apple.com would just link to a dev's or
designer's project. I almost fell out of my chair. Printed the screenshot out.
I still remember the bar I went to that night, who I had a celebratory drink
with in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, sort of marveling at the absurdity of it all.

The exposure didn't have any marked direct effect on my career or work, but it
did boost my confidence in that maybe I wasn't working on such useless stuff
in isolation on the other side of the world.

[0] [http://buzztracker.org](http://buzztracker.org) — the maps don't work
because the SSIs are broken; but we often forget, Google News was one of the
first times world-wide news was consolidated into a somewhat homogenous format
(most sites weren't using RSS when it launched in 2001/2), certainly not one
you could easily scrape and process global news patterns.

[1]
[https://craigmod.com/images/misc/buzztracker_apple.jpg](https://craigmod.com/images/misc/buzztracker_apple.jpg)

edit: grammar

~~~
jw1224
I had a very similar experience!

My "Christmas Countdown Clock" widget (hey, I was only 12 at the time...) got
literally hundreds of thousands of downloads when Apple linked to my hosting
space from their old widget gallery.

After this first taste of "success" I doubled-down on learning to code and,
well, here we are today :)

------
herodotus
My own little moment of fame: WWDC June 8, 2009, Keynote, 21 minutes and 22
seconds in: Bertrand Serlet says (about improvements to Preview): "We have
added lots of little touches. The one I like...we have added a little bit of
AI to actually infer the selection"

My colleague and I (we co-developed the "little bit of AI") never saw this
comment (and the applause) live: we were still lining up outside of Moscone
West. As Apple employees we weren't allowed in until all the guests and paying
attendees had entered. Still, we watched the video afterwards and got a huge
kick out of the mention.

BTW, the AI we added did not use neural nets or deep learning.

~~~
blowski
That must be an amazing feeling! Is this a feature that's still in macOS
today? Can I see it in action?

~~~
cfitz
Yup, just open Preview for an image (possibly other documents as well e.g.,
PDF), go into “markup” mode, and begin to draw with the pen or pencil. Preview
will try to “perfect” your drawn check mark, X, straight line, curved line,
etc.

~~~
herodotus
That's a nice feature! But it was added after we left Apple. I cannot claim
any credit for it.

------
reaperducer
I love the early 2000's Apple aesthetic. I'm not sure if it was actually
really good, or I just associate it with a happy time in my life.

I still have an iTunes playlist with all of the music from the dancing
silhouette iPod commercials, and I get the warm and fuzzies when I listen to
it.

I wish there was a high-quality archive of these commercials online to relive
some of those memories. Unfortunately, every time I look for them on YouTube,
they're incomplete copies of over-compressed copies of watermarked copies of
cropped copies of altered copies of something someone recorded off what looks
like low-grade Betamax.

~~~
lostgame
>> I'm not sure if it was actually really good, or I just associate it with a
happy time in my life.

I am a collector of Macs from around this time. I just picked up an orange G3
Clamshell iBook, and I absolutely adore my 'pixar lamp' iMac G4.

I'm considering internal hardware mod projects to get these two up to a
reasonable speed.

~~~
reaperducer
The monitor on my iLamp went black last week for no reason that I can
determine. The machine still works, and I can VNC into it to use it, but
that's not so much fun.

I have the tools to fix it, but no longer possess the manual dexterity. Sadly,
it will probably end up in the garbage because my local Apple Store won't take
it back for recycling.

~~~
lostgame
That's unfortunate. The LCD displays on these units are stunning. I still use
mine for small Photoshop work and drawing in Flash. It's just beautiful and
inviting for work.

If you were anywhere near Toronto I'd take it off your hands. I specifically
want broken units for my hardware mods as I feel bad intentionally destroying
a functioning unit. It's just kinda shitty to collectors.

~~~
reaperducer
I've love to let you have it, but I'm over 2,000 miles from Toronto.

------
russellbeattie
What's interesting about this is how design and presentation has been a part
of Apple's DNA since basically day one.

When they launched the Apple II in 1977 at the West Coast Computer Faire,
there were dozens of other micro-computer startups there as well. But Steve
had the foresight to hire a professional product designer to create the foam
molded case, and professional graphic artists and marketing people to design
their logo, brochures, booth, etc. In addition to the technical genius under
the hood provided by Woz, the visual components clearly separated Apple from
the pack and put them in the same league as multinational corporations
Commodore and Tandy when Apple was still essentially two twenty somethings in
a rented office in Cupertino.

Corporate DNA is an interesting phenomenon. Throughout the years, under
various different leaders, Apple has somehow been able to consistently produce
quality technology that people want to own because it looks good and is
marketed well. One has to wonder how it becomes so ingrained in a company like
that.

~~~
NateEag
Steve Jobs.

It hasn't been there since he passed - they've been coasting, and it's
starting to show.

~~~
setpatchaddress
People have said that since 2012. Steve died in 2011. It's now 2020. Have you
really never used an Apple Watch or talked to someone who has?

~~~
NateEag
Several family members and friends have Apple Watches.

As far I can tell there is nothing significant about the devices. They're a
complicated way to stay distracted with a reasonably okay medical monitor
built-in.

They don't seem to be a game-changer the way the iPod or iMac was.

I could, of course, be very wrong.

~~~
scarface74
The cellular Apple Watch keeps me from being distracted. It keeps me off the
web and other apps but I’m still easy to contact.

When I’m running or at the gym, it’s really nice not to have to lug my phone
with me and still have access to music, podcasts, and when I’m running GPS to
track distance and speed.

The iPod was not technically a leap. They assembled it from third party
hardware in less than 9 months. The only reason it wasn’t copied sooner is
because Apple (smartly) bought up the complete supply of 1.8 inch hard drives
for months.

Competitors still haven’t been able to squeeze the functionality and
performance of the Apple Watch in a device as small.

------
mcculley
Mildly ironic: The first video I went to is
[https://www.applearchive.org/1990-feed/steve-jobs-on-the-
lib...](https://www.applearchive.org/1990-feed/steve-jobs-on-the-library-of-
congress-and-bicycles-for-the-mind) which has the caption, "We shouldn't build
too many more libraries, instead we should connect towns to the internet to
provide access to the Library of Congress". 30 years later and copyright has
us not much closer to unlocking the Library of Congress.

------
mortenjorck
I love the way the thumbnails for each year change with Apple’s brand
typography from the era. The one thing I would change is pre-1984: Apple
started using Garamond with the introduction of the Macintosh; I would use
either Motter Tektura (from the old logo) or Univers condensed (used in Apple
II print materials) for 1977-1983.

------
amatecha
First video I watch: "You are strictly prohibited from making a copy or
modification of, or from rebroadcasting or re-encoding, this broadcast without
the prior written permission from Apple Public Relations"

I'll be surprised if it's online for another week (not that I want that to be
the case).

At the same time, the right-click blocker, referral link to Rogue Ameoba, and
soliciting of donations just rub me the wrong way. To be honest, these all
should have been uploaded directly to archive.org or something.

It's kinda disappointing, as I've gone to apple.com/pr for years and
downloaded press images of the products I find cool/appealing. I always hoped
there'd somehow be an archive of all the awesome presentations and stuff over
the years. It's bittersweet that there's such a rad archive online, but it's
approached in such an exclusionary way.

Actually it's even worse than I thought -- went to copy one of the Vimeo links
(since I could see the videos are hosted on Vimeo) and they are not viewable
outside of the applearchive site?
[https://player.vimeo.com/video/372119562](https://player.vimeo.com/video/372119562)
for example. "Because of its privacy settings, this video cannot be played
here."

~~~
amatecha
I was shockingly accurate: takedowns came exactly a week after my comment:
[https://twitter.com/samhenrigold/status/1220903242856640512](https://twitter.com/samhenrigold/status/1220903242856640512)

Sadly, completely expected :\ Hope he still has all the original files on
hand.

------
DanCarvajal
Had to watch the iPod Nano reveal again. That was the first thing I ever live
steamed on Quicktime as a teen and it blew my mind.

Edit: also it's weird but I totally had a crush on the faceless dancer in the
miniskirt in this iPod Shuffle commercial.
[https://www.applearchive.org/2005-feed/ipod-shuffle-tv-ad-
li...](https://www.applearchive.org/2005-feed/ipod-shuffle-tv-ad-life-is-
random)

~~~
michaelgrafl
Not weird at all. Fit bodies are attractive, dancing is attractive, skirts are
attractive. And your mind gets to fill in the blanks with whatever it prefers!

------
Wowfunhappy
I've been using OS X since 2010, but in that time I never used the Dashboard.
I didn't see any point.

A couple weeks ago, I watched the keynote of Steve Jobs introducing Tiger, and
when he demo'd the Dashboard, I had this moment of dawning realization:

"Oh, so _that 's_ what you're supposed to use that for. That is... actually
completely brilliant. Yes. I want that. Now."

I'm now using the Dashboard quite heavily. It's great.

It got even better a few days later when I watched the Leopard keynote and
discovered how you're supposed to use Web Clips.

~~~
par
what's it for? i never used it when it was around.

~~~
Wowfunhappy
So, worth noting, I'm sure I saw plenty of these explanations over the years,
and it still took watching Steve Jobs's demo before I "got" it.

But: it's a workspace for quick glances that don't take you out of the flow of
what you're working on. If you've ever kept a paper notepad, or a calculator,
or a small tablet on your desk for reference while using your computer,
Dashboard is that, but even better because it can be activated and deactivated
more quickly than physically looking down at your desk.

(Make sure the Dashboard is set "As Overlay" if you're ever on a system that
has it. Modern-ish macOS defaults to "As Space", which reeks of a setting
created by people who didn't actually use the Dashboard.)

------
gatherhunterer
It is surprising to see that Steve Jobs is the most-featured person on a site
that says it is dedicated to “unsung heroes”. It looks like it’s just about
Apple in general.

Going from “all about Jobs” to “look at our cutting-edge emoji designs” is a
nice encapsulation of Apple history. I know that many people hope the period
from Jobs’ death to Ives’ departure was just a phase. But it feels like we’re
down to the wire product-wise. The new MBP is a nice start but before long the
iPhone SE will reach end-of-life and I just don’t want a flat brick with three
cameras and no audio port.

------
dewey
Some more backstory and an interview with the guy who compiled it for those
interested:

[https://ww.9to5mac.com/2020/01/15/the-unofficial-apple-
archi...](https://ww.9to5mac.com/2020/01/15/the-unofficial-apple-archive-
history-videos/#)

------
malkia
Also notable is [https://www.folklore.org/](https://www.folklore.org/) \-
thatnks for this site!

------
Ohn0
My favorite

[https://www.applearchive.org/1992-feed/whats-on-your-
powerbo...](https://www.applearchive.org/1992-feed/whats-on-your-powerbook-tv-
ad-haiku-guy)

------
gallamine
This "easy pay" training video is quite the show
[https://www.applearchive.org/2006-feed/apple-internal-
easy-p...](https://www.applearchive.org/2006-feed/apple-internal-easy-pay-
training-video)

------
nslocum
Check out the employee holiday bonus from 1983:
[https://www.applearchive.org/1983-feed/apple-holiday-
bonus](https://www.applearchive.org/1983-feed/apple-holiday-bonus)

~~~
reaperducer
Was this an employee holiday bonus, or a public promotion called "Apple
Holiday Bonus?" I don't see anything in it making it employee-specific. I
think it might just be a play on words.

~~~
nslocum
It has to be for customers and this site mislabeled it as "employee holiday
bonus". It's just too embarrassing... a bunch of coupons for magazines and
software.

------
nyjah
To this day these are some of my favorite coding posters. You have to hit the
little arrow to find them, I missed them the first time searching, so I wanted
to post it because they are awesome.
[https://www.applearchive.org/2006-feed/apple-computer-
scienc...](https://www.applearchive.org/2006-feed/apple-computer-sciences-
posters)

------
tolmasky
As best as I can tell, this is missing my favorite video, “Jaguar on the
Loose”. Really reminds me how things felt back then. I’m on mobile though
where the experience isn’t fantastic so maybe I just missed it on the site.
Provided below:

[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zfnka](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zfnka)

~~~
andrekandre
wow good times, for me it was this video

[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zfnja](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2zfnja)

the whole thing was rendered in quartz2d afaicr

~~~
tolmasky
That is a great one too! I love the fact that the QuickTime video at the end
is actually a PDF.

~~~
andrekandre
> QuickTime video at the end is actually a PDF

wow, i never noticed that until now!

------
Rebelgecko
Am I crazy or is right-clicking totally broken on this website? Is this
intentional? Maybe a joke about the old iMac hockey puck mice?

~~~
saagarjha
It is. One of the articles mentioned that they are trying to prevent piracy
(rolls eyes) so maybe that’s what it is.

~~~
pxtail
It always mildly amuses me when people are doing this on their websites, it's
like watching someone clumsily doing something pointless but you don't say
anything and just watch.

------
microtherion
My first contribution to a feature:
[https://www.applearchive.org/1999-feed/apple-special-
event-o...](https://www.applearchive.org/1999-feed/apple-special-event-
october-1999) at 13:24

A rather one-off thing, never ported to Mac OS X, but we had fun developing
it.

~~~
rahuldottech
Whoa, really cool!

------
rvz
For anyone curious about the intricacy of the guidelines of the Apple logo:
check this out here: [https://www.applearchive.org/1987-feed/apple-logo-
standards-...](https://www.applearchive.org/1987-feed/apple-logo-standards-
and-guidelines)

It goes into absolute depth into the do's and don'ts of their logo, which I
find quite frankly interesting to see from a designer's perspective.

------
golem14
Ahh, now I understand this Futurama jab:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSt04IPqFfM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSt04IPqFfM)

Compare: [https://www.applearchive.org/1984-feed/macintosh-tv-
ad-1984](https://www.applearchive.org/1984-feed/macintosh-tv-ad-1984)

~~~
pstuart
Futurama was written with us old folks in mind. My kids love it (as do I), but
it's rich with mockery you can't appreciate without having been there when it
was happening.

------
duderific
For some reason, the first thing I clicked was 1983, which led me to an ad for
the Lisa computer.

I remember seeing it at the local mall at a computer retailer, and being in
awe of how cool it looked compared to other computers at the time, and shocked
that it cost $10,000 (equivalent to ~ $25,000 today.)

Even though the Lisa never really went anywhere, it was an amazing achievement
at the time.

------
leerob
The amount of content here is incredible. Did Apple create this, or fans?

~~~
alias_neo
It's unofficial, there was a discussion on Reddit yesterday with people asking
if the author would provide access the content to archive it in case Apple
DMCAs it, to which he gave some childish strop in response about how he
deserves the in(fame)y. You'll find it on /r/DataHoarders if you care to look.

~~~
blowski
[https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/ep27pk/probabl...](https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/ep27pk/probably_worth_archiving_this_since_apple_will/fehyxtr/?context=8&depth=9)

~~~
exikyut
The relevant comments were deleted.

^Z time:
[http://removeddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/ep27pk/probably...](http://removeddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/ep27pk/probably_worth_archiving_this_since_apple_will/)

And just in case: [http://archive.is/bU2RM](http://archive.is/bU2RM)

(An aside: _wow_ , archive.is handles JS perfectly. It's necessary nowadays,
but I'm still extremely impressed)

------
telegrammae
Apple's design of 10-15 years ago looks excellent even today. Truly - good
design does not lose its attractiveness as styles and standards change. Most
icons, fonts, panels, colors of most of their old software and promotional
materials look very pleasant, even in low resolution.

~~~
throwaway2048
the original osx pinstripe look is pretty hideous, and the faux glossy emboss
look hasn't aged well either

[https://images.techhive.com/images/article/2016/01/mac-
os-x-...](https://images.techhive.com/images/article/2016/01/mac-os-x-public-
beta-05-100637717-large.png)

~~~
ceejayoz
We'll say the same about flat buttons-that-don't-look-like-buttons too.

~~~
reaperducer
The good thing about Material Design is that we don't have to wait for it to
go out of fashion among developers. People have been saying it's butt ugly
from day one.

------
TekMol
I cannot see any of the videos.

For all the videos, I get this on a black background:

    
    
        Sorry
        
        Because of its privacy settings,
        this video cannot be played here.
    

What is that? Anybody else seeing this?

~~~
filchermcurr
I get that in Firefox, but if I open it in Safari everything plays just fine.
You might just have to play the browser juggling game!

------
mengibar10
It was a nice "time travel" for half an hour as I watched the clips. I checked
what was it like when I was 8 years old, then when we moved to the big city,
when I was in middle school, when I entered the college, and then graduated,
when I moved to US, when I got married, and when I got my first child. I did
not see these before only except the famous 1984 ad.

------
ericzawo
Thank you very much for this.

------
mrfusion
Tbh I don’t understand what this is.

------
saagarjha
Im very curious to know how they got access to _recent_ internal and
unreleased material.

~~~
pxtail
Even more interestingly - why this site with _this_ domain name and that much
apple-related content still does exist?

[0] [https://techcrunch.com/2010/01/07/apple-domain-
names/](https://techcrunch.com/2010/01/07/apple-domain-names/)

------
WalterBright
I didn't see any Mac vs PC ads.

~~~
duncans
Several in 2006 at least
[https://www.applearchive.org/2006](https://www.applearchive.org/2006)

~~~
remcolandegge
They are always fun to watch :)

------
bsimpson
I forgot Seybold was a thing.

------
asimpletune
The design of this site is site is so good. I love the layout and how easy it
is to discover content.

------
starlig-ht
Don't know why I expected granny smiths and red delicious stored in case of
apocalypse.

------
overlyLogical
Aesthetics are pretty objective despite some people refusing to acknowledge
beauty in favor of their own ugly idea.

I don't even like Apple and I can say people like stainless steel more than
plastic.

That said, if you bought a product because of the color, I got bad news for
you.

~~~
telegrammae
I wasn't even talking about the hardware, that's a separate story. Apple's old
hardware also looks and feels wonderful.

~~~
cable2600
It is the style and design of Apple hardware that helps people choose them
more often. After all Apple targets the creative arts community.

