Working Apple I Computer Up for Auction

apple1500

 

If you’ve got $116,000 to spare, you might have a shot of getting an Apple computer with 4k of memory to play with.

A rare working Apple I computer from 1976 is up for auction this weekend in Cologne. The auction house is inviting starting bids of 90,000 euros, though it has an  estimated sale price of 200,000 to 300,000 euros (US$260,000 to $390,000).

The computer is rare as only around 200 were made by Steve Wozniak in the garage of Steve Jobs’s family home. Of those only 46 are known for certain to still exist and only half a dozen are confirmed to be in working order.

The Apple 1 was supplied as a motherboard with the buyer having to supply the peripherals. This lot includes what the auctioneers call “authentic” peripherals including a keyboard, monitor and cassette recorder that appear to have been bought at the time. The lot also includes an original cassette interface card and reproductions of the original cassettes for loading software, including Basic.

The auction winner will also get a copy of a signed letter from Steve Wozniak in 1978 offering the original buyer $400 if he traded in his Apple I for an Apple II.

That original buyer may attract interest among US bidders as it’s Fred “Scrap Iron” Hatfield, who played for five teams during a 1950s Major League Baseball career. He died in 1998 and the ownership of the computer after that is uncertain: it’s being offered for sale by an anonymous US citizen.

Two working Apple I machines have been auctioned before, both last year, fetching $374,500 and $640,000 respectively. Auctioneers believe the latter price was unusually high and that the former is more likely to become a standard amount — or at least as standard as such a rare lot can be. Non-working Apple I machines have previously disappointed at auction.

Geeks on a tighter budget might still find something to bid on as the lot is part of an auction of office antiques, science and technology. Other lots include several adding machines including a Russian arithmometer, an Enigma machine, a six-digit calculator made by Pascal, and an Apple Lisa-1, the first machine to ship with a mouse and use a graphical user interface. There’s also an Apple II and an Apple III if you fancy collecting a set.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KETi6FO565s

Amazon Deal of the Day: 49% Off Smartphone-Controlled S215 Helicopter with Spy Camera – $45.55 + FREE Shipping

s215rcheli

For today’s edition of Deal of the Day, Amazon has the Smartphone-Controlled AS215 Helicopter with Spy Camera for just $45.55 plus free shipping. That’s 49% off the helicopter’s regular retail price of $89.99.

  • Made of high composite material, light-weight and durable. Overload protection for Battery.
  • Camera help you catch the whole view sight
  • 3 channel Gyroscopes System. Function: Up, Down, Forward, Backward, Left, Right, Suspension, Accelerate, Missile Launching
  • Auto stable & precision speed. Gyroscope system added allows better flying performance
  • Use your Apple iOS or Android device to fly and control the helicopter by downloading the free app available from Apple’s App Store or Android Market.

-Smartphone-Controlled S215 Helicopter with Spy Camera – $89.99 $45.55 (49% Off)

Google buys robot kite wind turbines

power

Google has bought a firm that uses robotic kites to generate power using miniature wind turbines in the sky.

Makani Power originally started with the assistance of ARPA-E, which isn’t the Defense Department’s gadget factory (that’s DARPA) but rather an agency of the Department of Energy exploring alternative power sources. Google had later come along and invested around $15 million before deciding to buy the firm outright.

The logic behind Makani’s work is that it’s more efficient to have small turbines moving around in the sky than to use turbines mounted on poles in the ground, which require more materials.

The robots carrying the turbines aren’t completely untethered like planes. Instead they are attached to the ground by cables and can fly between 250 and 600 meters high. Those are heights were winds are not just stronger than near the ground, but are more reliable.

The cables then carry the power generated by the turbines to the ground. The plan is to operate the devices in batches of six, each tethered to one corner of a hexagon on the ground.

The company will now become part of Google’s research unit Google X which work on a variety of projects involving physical objects rather than simply data. It specializes in “skunk works” — projects where staff have more room to experiment rather than have to stick to fixed protocol designed solely to maximize the chances of a profitable product.

Makani reports having successfully tested prototypes that can generate power at 30kW without problems, the long term plan being to generate 600kW with larger models. A “standard” fixed wind turbine can generate 3,000 kilowatts so a fleet of six robots would slightly outperform it if everything goes to plan.

Although the prototypes have all landed safely, Bloomberg BusinessWeek (which revealed the Makani purchase), notes that Google CEO Larry Page insisted that the purchase go ahead only if there was scope to crash at least five prototypes to see what would happen.

PHOENIX COMICON: Day 1 [Gallery]

IMG_3548

As a longtime attendee of Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia, I thought I would extend my vacation in Phoenix, so I could attend the 13th Annual Phoenix Comicon from May 23-26.

I can’t wait to go back for Day 2!

Amazing Version of the HALO Theme (Ft. Lindsey Stirling and William Joseph) [Video]

Got this in my email a few days ago. It got pulled, and then appeared back yesterday. Unfortunately, the old video was MUCH more entertaining than this version and featured Lindsey Stirling firing from a gatling-style gun. Hope they’re going to put that version back up at one point!

Thanks Bruce!

Edit: Yes, I know there are plenty of people who ripped the video before it got taken down, but the fact is, I prefer posting it when it goes back live on the original source.

[Lindseystomp]

The World’s Largest LEGO X-Wing Model Was Built Using Over 5 Million Bricks! [Pic]

xwing1

This LEGO model of an X-Wing starfighter was built using over 5 million bricks and is the largest LEGO model that has ever been built!

The model of the classic Star Wars fighter being unveiled in Times Square has a wingspan of 44 feet and comes complete with R2-D2 and a full range of sound effects. It’s a super-duper-sized version ofStar Wars Lego starfighter set #9493 and was made with 5,335,200 Lego bricks. That, according to Lego, makes it the largest model ever built, eclipsing the Lego robot at the Mall of America by some 2 million bricks. This replica of the Rebel Alliance dogfighter is 42 times the size of the Lego version we’ve all built and a bit bigger than a real X-Wing. (Yes, yes, we know they’re not real. Just go with it.) The X-Wing Luke Skywalker and his fellow rebels flew was about 41 feet long, 2 feet shorter than this Lego masterpiece.

The X-Wing was built at the Lego Model Shop at the company’s facility in Kladno, Czech Republic. It took 32 “master builders” (Note: This is a real job, and we’re preparing our resumés.) 17,336 man-hours to construct the X-Wing.

xwing2

[Via Neatorama | Wired]

I’m Depressed: It’s Pronounced “Jif” NOT “Gif” [Video]

That’s it, now you know. The guy who invented the format says that the acronym is pronounced “Jif” and NOT “Gif.”

I don’t know about you, but because of this, all my childhood dreams have just been shattered.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go sit down in a corner and cry.

Tumblr founder David Karp presents Steve Wilhite with the 17th Annual Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for inventing the GIF file format.

[TheWebbyAwards]