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I Can See Clearly Now (9/27/99)
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Wow. Wow! No, really-- wow. Is any of this sinking in? Because "wow" is our admittedly unimaginative monosyllabic response to seeing an honest-to-goodness photograph of a Graphite "Kihei" iMac. And if you're not just saying "wow" over and over again yourself, you probably haven't seen it yet. If that's the case, then this is one of those sad moments in life when the aphorism "you snooze, you lose" applies so perfectly; predictably, following what we imagine must have been a truly impressive apoplectic fit, Steve Jobs released the legal hounds and got Apple Insider to pull the image.
And we would have been fools to assume otherwise. After all, here's Apple, trying hard to make iMac 2.0 everything that the critics said iMac 1.0 was not; they add high-speed peripheral expansion via FireWire, pop in a DVD-ROM drive, slap a very capable 3D chipset on the motherboard, toss in a luscious melange of other compute-y goodness, and wrap the whole thing up in an even niftier-looking new enclosure-- only to have a photo of the new masterpiece posted to a high-traffic rumors site effectively ruining the surprise. Of course Apple had the image pulled at light speed. And no, we're not going to dig through our browser's cache files to find it and post it, because the last thing we need right now is the Wrath of Steve beating down upon our heads and shoulders; Apple's our favorite computer company, and it would be bad karma to tick them off.
That said, we just have to say this: Apple pulled it off. They really did. They managed to come up with a new iMac design that's clearly a continuation of the original, but it feels newer, crisper, and more modern. By incorporating RF shielding into the translucent plastic shell itself, Apple's managed to do away with the metal shielding that surrounds the innards of existing iMacs, making the Kihei the modern computing equivalent of The Visible Man-- you can see all the guts. Kihei's going to sell like crazy this holiday season, mark our words... In fact, we're sorely tempted to trade up our Bondi Blue model, but we could never really part with the funky blue guy. (Perhaps another iMac for the dining room?) Meanwhile, Apple Insider has probably just made the top spot on Steve's Most Wanted list for posting an actual photo of an unreleased and unannounced product, so we hope they're watching their backs. (Note: at broadcast time, several MacNews.de Kihei photos-- in Graphite, as well as in fruit flavors-- were still available at Mac OS Rumors. Hurry, or you'll miss your chance. Apple's lawyers move fast.)
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SceneLink (1806)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 9/27/99 episode: September 27, 1999: We have seen the future of consumer desktop computing, and its name is Kihei. Meanwhile, reports are trickling in from happy people confirming delivery of their bouncing baby iBooks, and Microsoft's "Millennium" operating system may not be all its name implies...
Other scenes from that episode: 1807: What The Stork Brought (9/27/99) But Kihei is just what's next on the horizon for Apple's continued consumer success. While sales of current iMacs appear to be flagging slightly, what's making waves here and now is the iMac-To-Go: the iBook... 1808: We've Seen THIS Before (9/27/99) Millennium!! It's an impressive word, right? It's something that happens once in a thousand years. It sends shivers right up the spine. Magnificent! Imposing! A breakthrough the likes of which we've never seen before! Unless, of course, you're talking about the "Millennium" version of Windows, which is sounding less impressive by the minute. Faithful viewer Jerry O'Neil...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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