Apple II Bits

Chris Espinosa has long been an unsung hero of Apple Computer Inc.; as Apple employee #8, he holds the record for the company's longest-running employment. He occasionally pops up on radars to give an interview or unveil some historical blueprints, he blogs about Apple history, and I'm told he occasionally speaks at WWDC's Stump the Experts panel.

Yet I've never had the opportunity to meet or speak with Espinosa. As editor of Juiced.GS, I have more than a passing interest in retro Apple topics. Whether it's Chris Espinosa, Steve Wozniak, Andy Hertzfeld, or Bob Bishop, I love to meet the industry's founders and learn more about life at Apple.

So imagine my surprise when, while attending the Denver County Fair this past weekend, who should I bump into but none other than Espinosa!

Espinosa was very gracious as I explained my role in managing an annual Apple convention, how excited I was to meet such a celebrity, and could I please get a photo? Espinosa graciously paused grooming a chicken to come out from behind the table and pose, telling me that with my gushing enthusiasm, "You just made my day."

I can't tell which of us was more surprised!

I don't know why the County Fair's name tag is missing the 'h' in Espinosa's first name, but I'm sure it's not a big deal.

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The above attempt at humor has caused far more confusion than I anticipated. To clarify:
Chris Espinosa (male) is a Cupertino-based programmer for Apple Inc.
Cris Espinosa (female) is a Denver-based chicken farmer.

While attending WordCamp NYC with representatives of IvanExpert last month, I had the pleasure of being introduced to Jazmin Hupp, director of marketing for Tekserve, New York City's oldest Apple specialist. She graciously provided us with a behind-the-scenes tour of the Tekserve space, from the classroom to the break room to the museum. I was pleasantly surprised to find a number of objects reflecting Tekserve's and Apple's heritage, including a typewriter, the Cirqus Voltaire pinball machine, and many models of Apple II and Macintosh models.

You don't need to have connections to see these artifacts for yourself: several will be placed on display on the main floor July 17 – September 6 as part of the store's 25th anniversary. In the meantime, this photo gallery should provide an intriguing vicarious experience of my tour.

Remember Lim Xin Mei? She was the inaugural star of the Cult of Mac's "Me and My Mac" series, which profiles Apple users and their rigs.

That series apparently has a variety of scopes, as rather than continuing to offer an in-depth profile of an individual user, the second installment spotlights many Apple fans in a photo gallery that's heavy on the visuals and light on the text. The change in format isn't what surprised me most, though — it was finding myself pictured.

As I previously detailed, Mike Maginnis staged the above photo shoot and took several shots, including the above with my camera. Little did I know that he'd also snapped one of his own with his cell phone and submitted it to Cult of Mac.

As it's an awesome opportunity to plug the Apple II, my surprise did not eventually shift into annoyance at the lack of forewarning. To be honest, I'm more disappointed in Cult of Mac's lack of links back to the stars' Web sites!

Given the quantity of photos in each Cult of Mac post, odds are good you'll recognize someone in each. Sure enough, the third installment features James, co-host of the RetroMacCast podcast. As far as I can tell, this third blog post is also the first to not sport an Apple II, unfortunately.

What I want to know is: where the heck is Blake Patterson? The gallery won't be complete without his setup!

Several historical depictions of Steve Jobs have recently been unearthed, giving us a visual glimpse of the man who came to helm one of Silicon Valley's most influential companies.

Though Jobs may be known as the suave and articulate emcee of many Apple events, he was not born to be in front of the camera. Moments before this early television appearance, he's clearly not ready to become a media star.

Later, he became more comfortable being recorded on film, as demonstrated by this excerpt from the 1998 documentary Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, which is still available from the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association. After hearing Woz speak on this illicit subject so many times, it's a pleasant change to hear his more severe counterpart acknowledge the company's origins.

Finally, there's this AP photo that shows a rather hirsute Jobs sporting a tie and an extra-large Apple II.

Steve Jobs with the Apple II

With Jobs currently on medical leave, it's interesting to see how far he's come — and how far we hope he still has to go.

(Hat tips to Richi Jennings, Your Daily Apple News, Adam Rosen, and David Ewalt)