Here's a blast from the past... in 1995, Apple created an Apple Set Top Box. Details from this 1995 Press Release announced that this interactive TV set-top technology was being evaluated in a six-state trial.
"Apple's ITV system incorporates key technologies including a subset of the MacOS, QuickDraw and QuickTime. In addition, it includes an MPEG1 decoder and supports PAL and NTSC video formats as well as E1 and T1 telephone protocols. "
Needless to say, this technology never went anywhere, but some units have been floating around. As Apple/Mac fans, we got our hands on one to take a look.
Continued (click Read More below)...Pictures (click on thumbnails for larger image):
Front of Unit.
Back of Unit.
From left to right on the picture of the back of the unit, there are the following things:
1. Power Switch
2. Power Cord Connector
3. SCSI Port
4. SCART/VCR port (covered)
5. SCART/TV port (covered)
6. RF Out
7. Channel 3/4 switch
8. RF in
9. Ethernet Port
10. Serial port
11. S-Video Port
12. Video RCA Port
13. Audio Right Out
14. Audio Left Out
Looking inside, the unit is based on a 68040 CPU. All in all, it does appear to be a 68k Mac-based machine. Plugging it in and powering it on gives a blank screen with no other sign of life. Though, one does wonder what happens if you were to plug in a 68k Mac Boot Drive onto that SCSI port. Unfortunately, we don't have access to one.
Tuesday September 19, 2023 2:04 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
All of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models feature a new battery health setting that prevents the devices from charging beyond 80% at all times when enabled, as confirmed by The Verge's Allison Johnson during a Q&A session today. The new setting is separate from the pre-existing Optimized Battery Charging feature on iPhones, which intelligently delays charging past 80% until a more...
Sunday September 17, 2023 12:35 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
In June, Apple announced iOS 17 with a wide range of new features and changes for the iPhone. Following over three months of beta testing, the free software update will be released this Monday, September 18 for the iPhone XS and newer. Below, we have recapped 10 key features coming to the iPhone with iOS 17, with additional features coming later this year. The update should be released to...
Thursday September 21, 2023 10:28 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1 updates for the iPhone and the iPad, adding bug fixes to the new software. The iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1 updates come just a few days after Apple launched iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. The software, which is build 21A340, can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. There is a...
Tuesday September 19, 2023 12:43 pm PDT by Juli Clover
As Apple was announcing new iPhone models last week, the Unicode Consortium was officially approving new emoji characters that are set to be added to smartphones starting in 2024. Mockup of new emoji from Emojipedia Approved Unicode 15.1 emoji include phoenix, lime, an edible mushroom, shaking head vertically (as in a "yes" nod), shaking head horizontally (a "no" head shake), and broken...