This gray bag features a single white Apple logo on the front center. This bag was distributed at an educational technology conference in the late 2000s. Conferences frequently distribute these types of bags in vendor areas to assist attendees in carrying the printed conference guide, brochures, and tchotchkes such as pens, t-shirts, and other logo-printed items.
This bag is made from polypropylene by Logomark. The product line is SOVRANO (style KT6500). According to the company website, the bag measures 12 inches W x 14 inches H x 8 inches D.
This black t-shirt features the words, “I visited the Mothership.” on the front center printed in white in the Apple Myriad font. Although the architecture of the current Apple headquarters, Apple Park, resembles a UFO, this shirt refers to the 1 Infinite Loop location. Apple Park had not been constructed when they sold this shirt.
The back of the shirt features a white Apple logo at the top center.
This well-worn shirt is a Hanes Beefy-T brand in size 2XL. It was made in El Salvador. I purchased this shirt at the Apple Company Store.
This t-shirt is dark orange and features the words, “I’m a Mac.” front and center.
The t-shirt is a reference to an Apple ad campaign that ran from 2006–2009 titled “Get a Mac.” Television commercials and print ads featured two actors, Justin Long as “Mac” and comedian John Hodgman as “PC,” against an all-white background. Wikipedia describes the ads:
“The two…act out a brief vignette, in which the capabilities and attributes of Mac and PC are compared, with PC—characterized as formal and somewhat polite, though uninteresting and overly concerned with work—often being frustrated by the more laid-back Mac’s abilities.”
The t-shirt tag indicates it is a Hanes Beefy-T brand made from 100% cotton in size 2XL. It was made in El Salvador. The back of the t-shirt is blank.
Although Apple sold a shirt with a similar design, this shirt was exclusive to the Apple Distinguished Educator program. I am part of the ADE Class of 2007. (The Apple Company Store version uses smaller text with the words “Hello, I’m a Mac.” and has a white Apple logo on the top-center of the back.)
This Xsan 2 retail box from 2008 includes the software to set up Apple’s SAN (Storage Area Network) solution on a Mac with a G5 processor with an Apple Fibre Channel card running Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server 10.5 or later.
The box uses the tagline, “Share terabytes of storage. Zero bottlenecks.”
The four key technologies highlighted on the box include:
Simplified setup
MultiSAN
Full-throttle performance
Spotlight
The Xsan 2 setup guide is not for the faint of heart. It lists “Equipment You’ll Need” and specifies, “To set up a SAN using the instructions in this guide, you need:”
RAID storage devices for SAN storage
Two computers running Mac OS X Server v10.5 to act as SAN metadata controllers
One or more SAN client computers running Mac OS X v10.5 or Mac OS X Server v10.5
An Intel or PowerPC G5 processor and at least 2 GB of RAM in each SAN computer
An additional 2 GB per SAN volume in each metadata controller that hosts more
than one SAN volume
An Apple Fibre Channel PCI, PCI-X, or PCI-E card installed in each SAN computer
A Fibre Channel switch and cables for all storage devices and computers
An Ethernet switch and cables for the private SAN metadata network
A second Ethernet switch and cables for public intranet and Internet access
An equipment rack for your RAID storage systems and Xserve computers
A list of qualified RAID systems and Fibre Channel switches is available on the Xsan website at www.apple.com/xsan
MobileMe is the third in Apple’s iterations of online tools suites. This boxed version of MobileMe was available in 2008 and matched other Apple retail packaging of the time.
The history of Apple’s online services has included:
iTools (released 1-5-2000) with services including @mac.com email addresses (accessed through the Mail app), iCards free greeting card service, iReview web site reviews, HomePage free web page publishing, iDisk online data storage, and a KidSafe directory of child-friendly web sites.
.Mac (pronounced “dot Mac,” released 7-17-2002) with services including HomePage web hosting, iDisk online disk storage service, @mac.com email service (POP and IMAP), iCards online greeting cards, Backup personal backup (to iDisk, CD, or DVD), and McAfee Virex. Later enhancements included an online Mail interface, Back to My Mac remote desktop, Web Gallery, and the ability to add more online web storage and segment it according to purpose.
MobileMe (released 7-9-2008) had a difficult rollout where some users experienced instability over a period of several weeks. Steve Jobs later wrote, “it was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software, and the App Store.” Customers received a free 60-day extension of MobileMe services. Although .Mac removed some services, including iCards and some specific web services, greater iLife integration was added and primary services continued to be expanded and upgraded.
iCloud (beginning Fall 2011) was released with iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S. iCloud includes email, calendar, file across multiple devices, 5 GB of free cloud storage, and offers additional paid tiers for more storage.
For users like me who have been customers since the iTools era, all email domains remain available, including @mac.com, @me.com, and @icloud.com.
This MobileMe software box is from 2008 and features several services on the packaging: online syncing of email, calendar, and contacts; online Photo gallery; online storage; and an image depicting the ability of MobileMe to share files and information among a Mac, iPhone, iPod touch, and Windows via “the Cloud.”
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 2008 include:
Mac Pro Mac OS X Install Disc 1 (Mac OS X version 10.5.2, AHT version 3A146, Disc version 1.2, 2Z691-6202-A, 2008)
AppleSeed, Mac OS X Server Leopard Install DVD (Version 10.5.4, Build 9E26, 2008)
AppleSeed, Mac OS X Leopard Install DVD (Version 10.5.4, Build 9E25, 2008)
AppleCare is Apple’s name for extended warranty and technical support plans for its devices. Apple hardware includes a one-year limited warranty and 90 days of technical support by telephone. The AppleCare extended warranty coverage and technical support extends the length and expands the coverage.
When introduced, AppleCare included this packaged CD containing hardware tests that might be used to help diagnose a problem during phone support. This version is from 2008 and matched the design and size of other boxed software Apple sold at the time.
This collection of Apple gift cards spans the years 2005–2014, and includes gift cards for use in Apple Stores, the iTunes Store, and Starbucks. Apple Store gift cards can be redeemed in brick-and-mortar or online Apple Stores for purchases. iTunes Store gift cards can only be used at the iTunes Store for digital music, video, app, or downloaded purchases.
The special Starbucks card in this collection was sold as a standard Starbucks gift card, but it also allowed two free song downloads in the iTunes Store. When I learned about this offer in 2007, I purchased 25 of these cards at $5 each (the minimum amount allowed for this promotion) and received 50 free song downloads on iTunes (and $125 in Starbucks purchases).
Shortly after Apple began including USB keyboards with tower computers, they have included a USB extension cable in the box in the event the user wished to place the tower under a desk or otherwise far way from the keyboard. The extender is APple’s way of dealing with their notoriously short keyboard cables. The User’s Guide for the 2008 Mac Pro pictures this keyboard extension cable design and states: “If the keyboard cable isn’t long enough, use the keyboard extension cable that came with your Mac Pro.”
Apple has also followed a convention of placing a notch in their USB keyboard extenders. This notch matches a slot in the USB plug present in all Apple keyboards, thus allowing an Apple USB keyboard to be plugged into any standard USB port, but preventing the Apple keyboard extension cable to be used with anything except Apple USB keyboards with the slot in the USB plug.
This MacBook Pro 15-inch laptop was released in early 2008 with an identical case design as its predecessor. It shipped with a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo (Penryn) processor and 2 GB of 667 MHz SDRAM. It contained a 200 GB hard drive and 8X DVD RW/CD-RW SuperDrive. The display was an LED-backlit 15.4-inch widescreen at 1440×900 resolution.
Although the external case did not change from the “Santa Rosa” processor version of the laptop that preceded it, the keyboard design removed the numeric keypad accessed using the fn (function) key and replaced the right-side enter key with an additional option key, the same laptop keyboard layout still in use now (as of February 2020). This MacBook Pro also used the same trackpad design as the MacBook Air of the time, adding multi-touch gestures.
Ports on this MacBook Pro included an ExpressCard slot, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 400, Firewire 800, two USB 2.0 ports, optical digital audio in/out, and DVI out. Wireless connections included AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n) and Bluetooth 2.1. It also included an iSight video camera and MagSafe power connector, both standard at the time.
When I acquired this laptop, its battery had burst while installed in the laptop. The battery failure caused the battery to bow in the center and it was lodged in the case. Using a few iFixIt spatula tools, I was able to extract it safely and then properly dispose of the ruptured battery.
