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Evolution in Action (6/28/98)
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With all the refocusing that's gone on at Apple over the past couple of years, it's easy to forget sometimes that they're more than just a computer company. Over the years, Apple has pioneered lots of imaging technologies that are widespread and commonplace today. The LaserWriter comes to mind; the laser printer revolutionized computer hard copy and ushered in the desktop publishing age. Then there's the low-cost digital camera. The Apple QuickTake 100 was the first of its ilk-- a digital camera that was easy to use and cost less than $1000. Today, there are dozens of companies selling laser printers (while Apple now only sells a single model, and is rumored to be dropping that one), and trying to pick out a digital camera among the scores available today will make your head spin, though there's nary an Apple-branded one in sight.
But even with all its talk about focusing entirely on the Mac OS and the Macintosh line, Apple hasn't completely given up on creating cool imaging products. Take the Apple Studio Display, for instance. This nifty LCD screen earned itself a glowing review from CNET, who praised everything from its cool translucent blue housing to its pinpoint sharpness to its amazing pixel-smoothing technology, which allows the 1024x768 display to "resync" to 800x600 and 640x480 resolutions, without rendering the screen illegible, as all other LCD displays apparently do. They also liked the way you could plug the display right into a VCR or camcorder.
In fact, the only complaint they had was the price; that's the perennial stumbling block with Apple products. But even though some LCD displays were only about half the price of Apple's $1999 offering, you'd think it should count for something that only Apple's display was able to resync to lower resolutions and still deliver a crisp, clear picture. After all, you get what you pay for. But if history is any indication, in three years CRTs will have gone the way of the dodo, and LCDs will be the only way to fly. Suppose Apple will still be making them by then?
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SceneLink (813)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 6/28/98 episode: June 28, 1998: Apple's sleek Studio Displays has the CNET reviewers panting like wolves in a Tex Avery cartoon, but the price tag leaves them cold. Meanwhile, Microsoft officially acknowledges an interesting security bug in Word 98 (though no fix is yet available), and if you're really a slot-junky, why not add seven PCI slots to your new PowerBook G3?...
Other scenes from that episode: 814: I Sent You WHAT? (6/28/98) For those of you who use Word 98, Microsoft has officially acknowledged the latest fun glitch to rise to the surface. You may have heard by now that Word 98 (and, apparently, Word 6 and some other non-Microsoft applications like PageMaker and Quark Xpress) has a nasty habit of inserting seemingly random chunks of data from your hard disk into saved document files; the data isn't visible in Word, but you can see it if you open the file in BBEdit or a data editor like HexEdit... 815: Seven-Slot PowerBooks (6/28/98) There sure has been a lot of ruckus caused by Apple not selling any high-end Macs with enough PCI slots for professional use. The final resolution appears to be that Apple will not design any new systems with six slots, like their old 9500 and 9600 machines; instead, its pro-level G3 systems to be released this fall will ship with only four slots, and professionals who need more will have to purchase a third-party PCI expansion chassis...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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