It had to happen at some point. On April 1st, that young, brash revolutionary we once knew is going to turn 50. Well … I’m sure a few of us can relate.
Aging aside, Apple’s had one hell of a ride making history across so many product categories. And as we approach this milestone birthday, the company is getting some well-deserved attention. Two celebrations in particular stand out.
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It wasn’t one of Steve Jobs’ longer emails. Just six brutal words, rattled off as easily as he might say, “Have a good day.”
The lucky recipient? A former colleague from my time working on the NeXT business long ago. After the success of iMac, he had sent Steve a presentation with a “big idea” for Apple and eagerly awaited the reply.
Safe to say, this wasn’t the reply he was hoping for.
Having seen his less-than-stellar enclosure beforehand, I can’t say I was surprised. What he received was a classic Steve-mail, concise and blisteringly honest. Such communiqués were kind of entertaining—as long as they weren’t directed at you.
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Honestly, I never thought I’d hear today’s version of Apple say such a thing: “We missed the mark with this video and we’re sorry.”
Then again, the natives don’t usually show up at Apple’s door, pitchforks in hand. However forced the apology might have been, kudos to Apple for respecting customers enough to admit its error.
That said, given that Apple “missed the mark” by a few light years, it’s fair to ask: How the hell could this even happen in the first place?
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Two days before Super Bowl LVIII, The New York Times reminded us that it‘s been forty years since Apple made advertising history with the 1984 Super Bowl ad introducing Macintosh.
This year also marks a related milestone—it is the twenty-fifth anniversary of Apple’s last Super Bowl appearance, built around the menacing computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey. By no means was Apple’s HAL a 1984-sized triumph, but neither was it a Lemmings-sized disaster. It was a spot that Steve Jobs was very much proud of, and had no regrets spending millions to run on the Super Bowl.
With the Big Game’s thrills still hanging in the air, I thought this was a good time to re-publish the story I wrote seven years ago. It’s the story of Apple’s HAL, from start to finish, and a bit beyond. If you have the time—and trust me, you’ll need it—it’s a fun bit of Apple history. Enjoy!
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Welcome to the first book review I’ve ever written. Likely, it will also be my last. Not my thing, really.
Today I am moved to masquerade as a critic only because I finished my final reading of Drawn, by illustrator Craig Frazier, and I’m in awe. I say “final reading” because I probably have at least twenty readings under my belt by now. I was the editor.
I assure you, this does not make me a biased reviewer. I’m a believer in truth (see my tagline above), and I’d be very bad at faking enthusiasm.
I first met Craig when I approached him about creating the cover design for my book, Think Simple. I had already been smitten by his “visual wit” and delightfully odd way of looking at the world. There was always something “off” in his illustrations that demanded further inspection.
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As a rookie copywriter struggling with headlines, my mentors warned me about two unforgivable sins.
One was trying too hard to be cool. The other was stooping to such overused tricks as puns and rhymes.
I rarely think about those days anymore, but every so often a headline grabs me by the throat and demands to be ridiculed. I, of course, am happy to oblige.
It happened right after the recent Apple event when I visited apple.com to learn more about the new iPhones.
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Blue robotic eye, vertical, isolated