The Associated Press was recently given access to Stanford's Silicon Valley Archives which houses the largest collection of history on Apple. The collection of historical documents and videos was originally maintained by Apple with plans to make a company museum. Shortly after Steve Jobs' return in 1997, Apple contacted Stanford University and offered to donate the entirety of the collection to the school's Silicon Valley Archives.
The collection, the largest assembly of Apple historical materials, can help historians, entrepreneurs and policymakers understand how a startup launched in a Silicon Valley garage became a global technology giant.
The collection takes up more than 600 feet of shelf space, but is not open to the public.
Amongst the archives:
- Thousands of photos by photographer Douglas Menuez, who documented Jobs' years at NeXT Computer, which he founded in 1985 after he was pushed out of Apple. - A company video spoofing the 1984 movie "Ghost Busters," with Jobs and other executives playing "Blue Busters," a reference to rival IBM. - Handwritten financial records showing early sales of Apple II, one of the first mass-market computers. - An April 1976 agreement for a $5,000 loan to Apple Computer and its three co-founders: Jobs, Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, who pulled out of the company less than two weeks after its founding. - A 1976 letter written by a printer who had just met Jobs and Wozniak and warns his colleagues about the young entrepreneurs: "This joker (Jobs) is going to be calling you ... They are two guys, they build kits, operate out of a garage."
There's no indication when or if Stanford plans to make the documents available for public viewing.
Thursday November 6, 2025 11:12 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today updated its trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models. Trade-ins can be completed on Apple's website, or at an Apple Store.
The charts below provide an overview of Apple's current and previous trade-in values in the U.S., according to its website. Maximum values for most devices either decreased or saw no change, but the iPad Air received a slight bump.
...
Thursday November 6, 2025 2:45 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is promoting the new Liquid Glass design in iOS 26, showing off the ways that third-party developers are embracing the aesthetic in their apps. On its developer website, Apple is featuring a visual gallery that demonstrates how "teams of all sizes" are creating Liquid Glass experiences.
The gallery features examples of Liquid Glass in apps for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac. Apple...
Monday November 3, 2025 5:54 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Following more than a month of beta testing, Apple released iOS 26.1 on Monday, November 3. The update includes a handful of new features and changes, including the ability to adjust the look of Liquid Glass and more.
Below, we outline iOS 26.1's key new features.
Liquid Glass Toggle
iOS 26.1 lets you choose your preferred look for Liquid Glass.
In the Settings app, under Display...
Friday November 7, 2025 6:40 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple's online store in the U.S. is suddenly offering a pack of four AirTags for just $29, which is the same price as a single AirTag.
This is likely a pricing error, and it is unclear if orders will be fulfilled. Apple has not discounted the AirTag four-pack in any other countries that we checked.
Delivery estimates are already pushing into late November to early December, suggesting...
Wednesday November 5, 2025 11:57 am PST by Juli Clover
The smarter, more capable version of Siri that Apple is developing will be powered by Google Gemini, reports Bloomberg. Apple will pay Google approximately $1 billion per year for a 1.2 trillion parameter artificial intelligence model that was developed by Google.
For context, parameters are a measure of how a model understands and responds to queries. More parameters generally means more...
Thursday November 6, 2025 4:37 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple in iOS 26.2 will disable automatic Wi-Fi network syncing between iPhone and Apple Watch in the European Union to comply with the bloc's regulations, suggests a new report.
Normally, when an iPhone connects to a new Wi-Fi network, it automatically shares the network credentials with the paired Apple Watch. This allows the watch to connect to the same network independently – for...
Thursday November 6, 2025 4:08 pm PST by Juli Clover
IKEA today announced the upcoming launch of 21 new Matter-compatible smart home products that will be able to interface with HomeKit and the Apple Home app. There are sensors, lights, and control options, all of which will be reasonably priced. Some of the products are new, while some are updates to existing lines that IKEA previously offered.
There are a series of new smart bulbs that are...
Wednesday November 5, 2025 3:54 pm PST by Juli Clover
It's been over a decade since Apple's HomeKit smart home platform launched, and it is overdue for an update. HomeKit and the Home app can no longer keep up with AI-powered solutions from other companies like Google and Amazon, but that's set to change with a smart home revamp that Apple has planned for 2026.
Home Hub
Apple is working on a home hub or "command center" that will serve as a...
The all-new intro sequence for Apple TV was made with practical effects and shot in-camera, Ad Age reports.
Rather than using digital techniques, the new sequence was made by shooting large glass versions of the Apple TV logo, with physical motion and changing lighting used to create effects. Apple partnered with TBWA\Media Arts Lab to create the intro.
Ad Age released an exclusive look...
The preservation of recent history is a somewhat thankless job. Most people don't find it too interesting, but without people saving recent history we'd have no museums full of ancient history. So good for them.
Yeah well, Stanford's never been known for being generous. They're just kind of douchey.
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Um. Between 1985 and 1997?
Please sit yourself down at a computer running System 7, and then try running Windows 3.1. Mac OS 8 and Windows 95.
You're obviously a bandwagon Mac user, who was either too poor to too stupid to buy Macs in the 90s.
He has some points. Apple in the 90s was definitely running off momentum of the original Mac genesis. IMO, the big folly was Scully trying to make "his Mac" that was know as the Newton. As one of the original, independent Newton developers and also interviewing with the original Newton design team, IMO too many "establishment" types that Steve fought was firmly entrenched at Apple in the time.
This was the era of Steve #3, Donna, Larry and others that were trying to do something that one upped the highly touted General Magic, Magic Cap OS made by the original Mac crew. It was too many cooks on the soup. The elites at Apple R&D kicked out those that matched Job's and Woz's personality for being "not sophisticated enough." This corporate introversion created brilliant products that earned a lot of Ph.D.'s but not market share due to IMO VERY poor market communication promotions.
Scully left the place after his Newton mistress lost all dignity in an orgy. Her coming out party failed to attract any good suitors. Then Spindler came in and just bottom lined the place to near death. Amello came in and, while he got a lot of blame, did the best triage he could with the elegant scalpel work he used.
Problem is that Apple didn't need a scalpel, it needed a wrecking ball and high explosives. That is what Steve Jobs did coming in via the NeXT buyout with firing authority of anyone below the board including VPs. People were fired during elevator rides in The Loop, they were fired for leaving early for a social gathering, they were fired for not coming in on a Saturday to make a dead line, they were fired for wearing a band t-shirt that Steve didn't like (yes Tom, I remember) and even getting fired for buying a new car from a bonus paid during a quarter Apple posted a loss.
Rude? Yes. Crude? Yes. Did it turn the place around? Hell yes! God bless him and the hell with those that think they can stay comfortable at the peak of their career.
