Posts Tagged ‘apple’
Finding a higher use for those left-over Easter eggs…
From the always-inspirational Instructables, and user bbstudio (among whose passions is carving that natural geometric marvel, the egg shell, as above):
This was done simply to discover if I could do it. I went though a stage where my goal was to remove as much material from an egg shell as possible while still retaining the shape and image of the egg.
More views of this minimalist marvel here; links to more views of the scrimshaw egg shell, and to other contra-seasonal sensations here.
As we gratefully put away the Rit dye, we might recall that it was on this date in 1961 that Robert Noyce was awarded the patent for the integrated circuit that changed electronics. Readers may recall that Jack Kilby had (separately and independently) patented the integrated earlier than Noyce— and won a Nobel Prize for it. But Noyce’s design (rooted in silicon, as opposed to the germanium that Kilby used) was more practical… and paved the way for an altogether new kind of “Easter egg.”
Noyce made his breakthrough at Fairchild Semiconductor, of which he was a founding member. He went on to co-found Intel, then to serve as the unofficial “Mayor of Silicon Valley,” a mentor to scores to tech entrepreneurs– including Steve Jobs.
Noyce with a print of his integrated circuit (source: BBC)
Infinitely Flat(land)…
Readers may recall your correspondent’s respect and affection for the extraordinary novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions— so won’t be surprised that he’s excited to discover the work of Vi Hart.
Hart is an artist and composer with a gift for using mundane materials (like balloons) to illustrate abstruse concepts. Her most recent creation is a wonderful animation of Flatland… on a moebius strip.
[TotH to BrainPickings]
As we we give up our search for a beginning or an end, we might recall that it was on this date in 1984– two days after it was introduced in an epoch-making commercial during Superbowl XVIII– that the first Apple Macintosh went on sale.
No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks…
Exam season draws to a close; the glorious expanse of Summer beckons. As one turns one’s papers face down for the last time this term, a look back at some of the more creative exam answers of the year:
More at Creative Test Answers…
As we trade White-Out for sun screen, we might recall that it was on this date in 1977 that the Apple II– the first practical personal computer– went on sale. The II had been unveiled six weeks earlier at the first West Coast Computer Faire, generally considered the “birthplace the personal computer industry” as both the Apple II and the Commodore PET were introduced there.
Visionary failures…
As one struggles to control “iPad lust,” one might take a moment to find perspective. Harry McCracken‘s terrific Technologizer is a great place to start.
In “Mr. Edison’s Kindle” Mr. McCracken observes that:
The brightest inventors on the planet keep coming up with ideas that never amount to much–even when they set out to solve real problems, and even when their brainchildren foreshadow later breakthroughs. And professional tech watchers have long proven themselves prone to getting irrationally exuberant about stuff that just isn’t ready for prime time.
… and then he regales one with fifteen great examples– from Edison’s “metal books” to “home teletypes,” inventions that spoke to real needs/desires (as events subsequently demonstrated), but that were at least a decade ahead of their times. For example:
The Watch-Case Phonograph
As seen in: Popular Science, June 1936.
What it was: A bizarrely small phonograph built into a watch case. You wound it up like a mechanical timepiece, whereupon a “midget record” played music through a “diminutive horn.”
Flies in the ointment: It would have required the world to accept a new media format: midget records. (Their running time is unknown–wonder if you could fit an entire song onto one side?) Also, holding the player up to your ear would have gotten old fast.
When did the basic idea become practical? The introduction of the Sony Walkman in 1979 kicked off the era of pervasive, portable prerecorded music.
Modern counterpart: The iPod, of course.
Perhaps as a courtesy to Apple and the big news of the week, McCracken left the Newton off the list.
As we muse that timing is everything, we might recall that it was on this date in 1969 that the Beatles gave their last public performance– an impromptu concert from the roof top of Apple Studios in London. Neighbors complained about noise, and police broke up the concert… at which point John Lennon closed with: “I’d like to say thank you very much on behalf of the group and myself, and I hope we passed the audition.” Get Back!
The second most traded commodity on earth…
From The Oatmeal (aka Matthew Inman),
click image, or hereDo visit the site, and check out such gems as “How to Use an Apostrophe” and “Six Reasons Bacon is Better than True Love.” (Tip ‘o the hat to our friends at Laughing Squid)
As we add yet another sugar, we might recall that it was on this date in 1307 that Wilhelm Tell, or we Anglos tend to know him, William Tell, shot an apple off his son’s head.
Tell, originally from Bürglen, was a resident of the Canton of Uri (in what is now Switzerland), well known as an expert marksman with the crossbow. At the time, the Habsburg emperors of Austria were seeking to dominate Uri. Hermann Gessler, the newly appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf, raised a pole in the village’s central square, hung his hat on top of it, and demanded that all the local townsfolk bow before the hat. When Tell passed by the hat without bowing, he was arrested; his punishment was being forced to shoot an apple off the head of his son, Walter– or else both would be executed. Tell was promised freedom if he succeeded.
As the legend has it, Tell split the fruit with a single bolt from his crossbow. When Gessler queried him about the purpose of a second bolt in his quiver, Tell answered that if he had killed his son, he would have turned the crossbow on Gessler himself. Gessler became enraged at that comment, and had Tell bound and brought to his ship to be taken to his castle at Küssnacht. But when a storm broke on Lake Lucerne, Tell managed to escape. On land, he went to Küssnacht, and when Gessler arrived, Tell shot him with his crossbow.
Tell’s defiance of Gessler sparked a rebellion, in which Tell himself played a major part, leading to the formation of the Swiss Confederation.
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