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It Lights Up. Really. (6/2/99)
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It's like some sort of beautiful dream come true. Long-time faithful viewers know just how long we at AtAT have been hoping-- nay, praying-- that someday Apple would finally ship a light-up Mac. There have been plenty of teasers: rumors that the original iMac lit up when used, reports that prototype blue-and-white G3s relied on internal illumination to backlight the silk-screened "G3" on the inside of the translucent case, sightings of glowing white Apple logos on the covers of pre-production Wall Street PowerBooks, etc. But all of those Macs eventually shipped without the light-up features, leaving Apple's product line sleek, attractive, and colorful-- but unlit. That is, until now.
Over the past several weeks, we received dozens of eye-witness reports that the latest "bronze" PowerBooks, code-named "101," did include a translucent Apple logo that glowed when the unit was in use, due to light filtering through from the LCD display. We've held off on accepting those reports as final proof, though, because we've been hurt before by the differences between early demo models and actual, shipping versions of the same product. So we held our breath and waited. Then Apple pushed back the ship date of the slim new beauties, and we waited some more. Finally, though, customers are reporting receiving their orders, and the verdict is in: the logo does glow. Houston, we have light-up!
For a nice set of first impressions from one lucky PowerBook owner, take a look at O'Grady's PowerPage. All in all, the new unit sounds like a real winner, with "better fit and finish" than the original Wall Street model, a brighter display, the ability to run while closed, and much faster performance. And, of course, an Apple logo that "glows brightly." What a pity that the new system is so much more Mac than AtAT needs for our portable tasks. Here's hoping that the iBook features a glow, too...
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 6/2/99 episode: June 2, 1999: The Clone Wars pop in for a guest appearance, as Umax chairman Frank Huang takes a couple of public pot shots at Steve Jobs. Meanwhile, it's official-- the new PowerBooks do light up, and a Microsoft lawyer finds himself in the unenviable position of having to discredit his own boss' words...
Other scenes from that episode: 1574: The Ugly Past Revisited (6/2/99) So you probably thought that the whole Clone Wars drama was dead and buried, right? And who can blame you? It wasn't exactly the brightest spot in Apple's admittedly mottled history; an ill-defined cloning program simply allowed other companies to siphon away Apple's user base and profits, in exchange for a paltry licensing fee that, at least according to Steve Jobs, couldn't come close to covering Apple's own development costs for that same clone on a per-machine basis... 1576: So Long, Promotion (6/2/99) "Redmond Justice" continues to prove that it's your best antitrust courtroom drama value for the money. On its first day back on the air, we long-suffering fans were treated to the same level of blunt contradiction in the rebuttal testimony that made the original witness series such a huge ratings success, as one MIT economist flatly rejected another's claims as "confused," "muddled," and "simply wrong."...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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