Tag: white

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Apple Watch Nike Sport Loop (44 mm, Summit White, 2019)

Nike Sport Loop Apple Watch bands are designed in partnership between Nike and Apple. The 44 mm Nike Sport Loop in Summit White is described by Apple as:

“Soft, breathable, and lightweight, the Nike Sport Loop is designed for fitness, with summit white color matched to the new line of Nike running shoes. It features a nylon weave with a reflective thread designed to shimmer when light strikes it. A hook-and-loop fastener makes for quick and easy adjustment, and dense loops on the skin side provide soft cushioning while allowing moisture to escape. On the reverse side, the attachment loops are securely anchored for superior durability.”

The Nike Sport Loop fits all 42 mm and 44 mm Apple Watch models, original through Series 5.

Since I tried my first Sport Loop Apple Watch band, I have found this style to be my favorite.

Source: Apple

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Original iPod headphones (Generation 2, 2002)

The Original iPod headphones were the earbuds that shipped with the original iPod. They sounded quite good, shipped with two sets of black foam ear covers, were sometimes panned for not fitting some people’s ears, and came with the iPod at no additional cost so most iPod users used them.

Perhaps the most important, and in my opinion overlooked, feature of these headphones was not the specs, but the color. Soon after the iPod was introduced in 2001, an iconic ad campaign was released in 2003 referred to as “silhouettes,” created by the company Chiat\Day. In each commercial, poster, print ad, or billboard, the all-black silhouette of a dancer moved over a brightly colored background (hot pink, lime green, yellow, or bright blue) while the highly-contrasted bright white headphone wire and iPod moved along with the dancer. The effect was striking and the white cord color effectively called attention to the product nearly screaming, “I’m using an iPod!”

The white earbud design not only became permanently associated with “cool” Apple gear, but 20 years later is still being used as the only color choice for Apple-branded headphones, EarPods, AirPods, and likely future Apple headphone iterations. (Apple-owned brand Beats, however, does produce many headphone styles in multiple colors.)

According to my research, this particular example of the original iPod headphone design is a Generation 2 release, identified as such due to the addition of a plastic slider to adjust the gap between the headphone wires.

Sources: GQ, Wikipedia

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iBook G4 (Mid-2005, 2005)

The iBook G4 (Mid-2005) featured a 1.33 GHz PowerPC G4 processor, 512 MB of RAM, a 40 GB Ultra ATA/100 hard drive, a slot-loading DVD-ROM/CD-RW Combo drive, and standard AirPort Extreme (802.11g)/Bluetooth 2.0. The screen was a 12.1-inch TFT XGA active matrix display at 1024×768. The case was opaque white, rather than the translucent white used in earlier iBook models. 

This iBook model added a Sudden Motion Sensor and scrolling trackpad. The Sudden Motion Sensor stopped the hard drive from spinning if the iBook was dropped, thus minimizing damage and potential data loss. This was the first consumer-level Apple laptop to gain scrolling trackpad features, allowing users to use two-finger scrolling and two-fingering panning (a feature first introduced in PowerBook G4 laptops).

This and other iBook models were used extensively in the schools where I served as Technology Director among teachers and students. At the time, 1:1 laptop programs had just been adopted in a few school districts (where every student is issued a laptop for learning throughout the school day). At the time of the iBook G4, only one public school district in Chicago’s North Shore had adopted a 1:1 program for students, while most school districts had begun to issue laptops to staff and administrators.

References: EveryMac.com

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Wireless Mighty Mouse (A1197, 2006)

The Wireless Mighty Mouse was a Bluetooth version of the (corded) Mighty Mouse that was released a year before it. The original Wireless Mighty Mouse used the same opaque white coloration as the corded Mighty Mouse.

The Mighty Mouse was the first Apple mouse to have multiple buttons. The buttons consisted of two touch-sensitive areas on the top of the mouse and two “squeeze areas” on the sides of the mouse. Because it had no physical buttons, the entire body of the mouse could be clicked. The top of the mouse also had a mini free-spinning track ball that allowed scrolling in any direction.

The Wireless Mighty Mouse makes a sound when the scroll ball is rolled that is produced by a tiny internal speaker in the mouse. The sound cannot be disabled by settings.

Source: Wikipedia.com

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Mighty Mouse (A1152, 2005)

The Mighty Mouse was the first Apple mouse to have multiple buttons. The buttons consisted of two touch-sensitive areas on the top of the mouse and two “squeeze areas” on the sides of the mouse. Because it had no physical buttons, the entire body of the mouse could be clicked. The top of the mouse also had a mini free-spinning track ball that allowed scrolling in any direction.

The Mighty Mouse was opaque white with light gray touch-sensitive squeeze areas. The mini trackball on top was also light gray.

Mighty Mouse makes a sound when the scroll ball is rolled that is produced by a tiny internal speaker in the mouse. The sound cannot be disabled by settings.

In October 2009, Apple renamed the Mighty Mouse the “Apple Mouse” due to legal issues regarding the name. Although Apple had licensed the Mighty Mouse name from CBS (a cartoon character originating in 1942), another company had been selling a “mighty mouse” product before Apple. This is an example of Apple’s sometimes-confusing naming practices. in this case, Apple returned to using the name of a previous product (from 2003) that had a different design and different features.

Source: Wikipedia.com, arstechnica.com 

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Apple Mouse (white, M5769, 2003)

The Apple Mouse was very similar in design to the Apple Pro Mouse released in 2000. However, the Apple Mouse was white and removed the ability for the user to control the click-force setting on the bottom of the mouse.

The surface of this mouse was crystal clear acrylic with a base insert in white that matched the keyboard that shipped with it.

This mouse was included with the Power Mac G4 (mirrored drive door), Power Mac G5, eMac, iMac G4, and iMac G5. 

Source: Wikipedia.com

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Apple Mouse (white, unopened, M5769, 2003)

The Apple Mouse was very similar in design to the Apple Pro Mouse released in 2000. However, the Apple Mouse was white and removed the ability for the user to control the click-force setting on the bottom of the mouse. The surface of this mouse was crystal clear acrylic with a base insert in white that matched the keyboard that shipped with it.

This mouse was included with the Power Mac G4 (mirrored drive door), Power Mac G5, eMac, iMac G4, and iMac G5. 

Source: Wikipedia.com

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Apple Pro Mouse (white, M5769, 2000)

The Apple Pro Mouse was introduced in 2000 along with the G4 Cube. This mouse dropped the rubber ball used for tracking in all previous Apple mouse designs and replaced it with a solid-state LED optical sensor. The design of the mouse appeared to feature no buttons, but the entire mouse surface allowed for a single click. The shape of the mouse was an an elongated rectangle with two round sides (replacing the previous round design).

The surface of the original version of this mouse was crystal clear acrylic with a base insert in black that matched the keyboard that shipped with it. This version replaced the black insert with a white insert, and the bottom of the mouse used a translucent white screen.

The Apple Pro Mouse also included a ring to allow for three different click force settings on the underside of the mouse.

The successor to the Apple Pro Mouse was called the Apple Mouse and the ring on the underside that controlled the click settings was removed. The bottom of the mouse was replaced with opaque white plastic and a light gray gliding surface (shown below).

Source: Wikipedia.com

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HomePod (white, 2017)

Apple described the HomePod a “breakthrough wireless speaker for the home that delivers amazing audio quality.” HomePod can be controlled using Siri, “with an array of six microphones…users can interact with it from across the room, even while loud music is playing.”

HomePod’s features include an upward-facing woofer, a custom A8 chip, seven beam-forming tweeters (each with an independent amplifier), automatic room-sensing technology to optimize sound, and a six-microphone array with advanced echo cancellation. When Siri is in use, a multicolor waveform appears on the top of the HomePod using a round 272×340 display. In addition, touch controls are also available on the top of the HomePod.

The HomePod was available in white and space gray. Inside, the HomePod was powered by a 1.4 GHz Apple A8 processor and used 1 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.0.

The device runs an operating system that Apple refers to as audioOS (based upon iOS). The audioOS is specifically designed for the HomePod to play audio, run Siri, and control the custom round screen.

When the HomePod was announced in February 2018, multi-speaker support was demonstrated, but the feature was not released until September 2018 along with AirPlay 2. The September 2018 update also added support for multiple timers, Find my Phone, Siri short-cuts, phone calls (while in proximity to iPhone), and music search by lyrics.

I am a fan of the HomePod. I use two in my living room as my primary way of accessing Apple Music and controlling smart home devices. I also added a single HomePod to my bedroom.

Sources: EveryMac.com, Apple.com, Wikipedia.com