ed tech | design | music
This eMate 300 Pen is a replacement stylus for the Newton eMate 300 device. The accessory is model number H0222Z/A and is unopened in the original packaging.
The eMate 300 was marketed to education as a low-cost laptop-like device, and was the only Newton with a built-in keyboard.
Source: Wikipedia
This QuickTime VR Authoring Studio retail software box from 1997 provided a CD and manual for Apple’s QuickTime VR Authoring Studio software.
According to Apple, “Apple® QuickTime® VR Authoring Studio software lets you create interactive virtual-reality scenes with point-and-click simplicity. It takes full advantage of the intuitive Mac® OS interface to help you easily turn photos and computer renderings into attention-getting 360-degree views. QuickTime VR Authoring Studio is a powerful one-stop solution for producing all kinds of QuickTime VR content.”
In addition, “QuickTime VR supports 360-degree views called panoramic movies, as well as object movies that allow users to view an object from all sides. Both objects and panoramas can be fully interactive, with zooming, animation, and hot spots linked to other multimedia objects.”
The software was very intuitive to use and allowed easy creation of Virtual Reality content as early as 1997.
Source: Macintosh Garden
The 1997 Apple MacAdvocate CD-ROM is a marketing CD from Apple designed to allow Macintosh fans to convince other computer users to consider buying a Macintosh.
The inside of the CD explains the purpose of the CD:
Are you a MacAdvocate?
Do you plan your winter and fall vacations around the San Francisco and Boston MacWorld shows? Do you find yourself looking at Windows PC users and asking, “Why would they buy one of those without looking at a Mac?”
If you answered yes you probably are a MacAdvocate.
Welcome to the club.
As a fellow MacAdvocate, we want to provide you with the materials you need to win others over to the Macintosh—and the freedom it represents. That’s why we created this CD.
The 1997 MacAdvocate CD features all kinds of tools—such as product sheets, technology showcases, research studies, interactive demos, and system updates—you need to dazzle your friends and help you make the case that Macintosh is, simply put, the best personal computer you can buy. We’ve also included a couple of surprises, just to keep things interesting. So pop this CD into your local Macintosh and have a look. And feel free to give it to any of your Windows friends (yes, it runs on PCs too).
Because, after all, if we don’t show them, who will?
The CD part number is shown as L02177A.
My collection of Apple CD and DVD media includes operating systems, applications, software collections that shipped with devices, promotional media, diagnostic tools, and educational content. In general, Apple-branded CD or DVD examples in original packaging have been presented separately, while single discs or collections of discs are presented chronologically.
Apple CDs and DVDs from 1997 include:
In 1997 Macintosh computer system software was able to fit on a single CD. For Macintosh computers, Apple used a standard white CD envelope with a white cloth-like back and a clear plastic front. Since Macintosh servers required several CDs, Apple used a clear plastic CD book with space for a thin, square book at the front and pages with white backs and clear plastic covers. Each page held a single CD. The design of Apple CDs began to change in 1997 from the older black and silver design (with red accents) to a design with a single background color, black or white text, and with some CDs using few additional accent colors.
Claris describes itself as “a subsidiary of Apple Inc.” The company began in 1987 as a software company Apple “spun off” to make software for the Apple II and eventually the Macintosh. In 1988 Claris purchased a popular database program FileMaker Inc. In 1998 Claris changed its name to FileMaker and returned its popular ClarisWorks product to Apple (changing the product’s name to AppleWorks). In 2019, FileMaker Inc. went back to the Claris name by rebranding as Claris International.
ClarisWorks for Kids was released in 1997. It had similar features as ClarisWorks, but with a simplified interface aimed at early elementary school students.
This pencil features the ClarisWorks for Kids logo, characters, and a bright yellow eraser. I have seven of these pencils in my collection.
The PowerBook G3/250 is the first Apple laptop to use the G3 processor. It shipped with a 250 MHz G3 processor; contained 32 MB RAM and 2 MB VRAM; used a 5 GB hard drive; and had an internal 20X tray-loading CD-ROM drive. It included “hot-swappable” drive bays—drives could be swapped while the computer was running without restarting—and dual PC card slots. The display was a 12.1-inch color TFT active-matrix display at 800×600 resolution.
The design of the original PowerBook G3 is nearly identical to the PowerBook 3400 that proceeded it. The laptop included the 3400’s notable four-speaker sound system. It shipped with MacOS 8.0 and could be updated to a maximum of MacOS 9.1. Its average weight was 7.5 pounds.
Because of its G3 (third-generation) PowerPC 750 processor that included a backside level 2 cache, the laptop’s performance exceeded that of some desktop systems at the time. When released, its retail price was $5,700.
Source: EveryMac
Beginning in 1995 with the PowerBook 190 and 5300 models, Apple laptops shipped with an expansion bay for both Apple and third-party drives. The drives were “hot-swappable,” meaning that the user could pull out one drive and replace it with another without restarting the laptop.
This PowerBook 20X CD-ROM Module from 1997 works with PowerBook 1400-series laptops.
The Newton 9W Power Adapter could be used with all Newton MessagePad products in the United States, Canada, and Japan. An Apple price list also noted that this adapter could “recharge the NiCd Rechargeable Battery Pack for the MessagePad 120 and 130, and the NiMH Rechargeable Battery Pack for the MessagePad 2000 and 2100.”
Source: Apple
The QuickTake AC Adapter for QuickTake 200 was sold separately from the QuickTake 200. According to the product box, this adapter “Lets you run your QuickTake 200 digital camera using AC power.”
I remember using the QuickTake AC Adapter primarily for school projects that involved the QuickTake 200 on a tripod and taking photos of many students or student work examples in succession.
Source: Apple
The QuickTake 200 was the third and final digital camera by Apple. It was released in 1997 and was built by Fuji. The QuickTake 200 was a major step ahead compared to the QuickTake 100 and 150 cameras that came before it, due to its 1.8-inch color LCD preview screen, removable memory cards, and additional controls. Further, the QuickTake 200 looked and functioned more like a traditional camera than its predecessors.
The QuickTake 200 shipped with a 2 MB SmartMedia card that allowed up to 20 high-quality or 40 standard-quality photos. The camera used four AA batteries and had controls for aperture and focus with three different modes: close-up (3.5–5 inch), portrait (17–35 inch), and standard (3 feet–infinity). It also shipped with a snap-on optical viewfinder to save battery. Unlike the previous QuickTake 100 and 150, the QuickTake 200 did not have a flash.
I used the QuickTake 200 digital camera extensively both as an educator and personally. In fact, I took my QuickTake 200 on my most memorable vacation to date on a trip to London in 1998. At the time, digital cameras were not well known and it allowed me capture many more photos than I’d taken in the past on film because of the removable SmartMedia cards. By no means was the experience similar to today’s virtually unlimited mobile phone camera photography, but it was my first indication of what was coming, years before everyone had a camera all the time.
As a fan of vintage Apple, I was intrigued to notice that Apple brought back the “QuickTake” name for a camera feature in the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro cameras in 2019. The Apple Support website states, “Grab a video with QuickTake. iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro have QuickTake, a new feature that lets you record videos without switching out of photo mode.”
Sources: Wikipedia, Apple Support
