Blast From the Past

[A.Goldberg]

Found these old pictures today....

My old 1.5Ghz PowerBook G4 from back in the day- about 10 years ago.

The second picture I believe is a couple years newer, and includes some more uncommon products of the time, including an iSight camera and a iPod HiFi (that I still own).

 

[MatthewLTL]

Found these old pictures today....

My old 1.5Ghz PowerBook G4 from back in the day- about 10 years ago.

The second picture I believe is a couple years newer, and includes some more uncommon products of the time, including an iSight camera and a iPod HiFi (that I still own).

What the hell is a iPod HiFi?!

id be interested in that iSight if you still have it

 

[tevion5]

What the hell is a iPod HiFi?!

id be interested in that iSight if you still have it

iPod HiFi was a limited run of an iPod compatible sound system manufacture by Apple. It was quickly discontinued, due to poor sales and the fact that the quality of the product was overstated on release. Jobs went so far as to say that he got rid of all his home audio equipment and replaced it with this alone...a little bit unbelievable alright.

Those 2003 FireWire iSight cameras on the other hand, they are very plentiful and many can be had for around $20-30 on eBay. I have one I use daily with my MacBook Pro and 23" ACD. I also have a second one lying around. The only difficult part was finding the magnetic clip to attach it to the top of the aluminium Apple Cinema Display.

 

[A.Goldberg]

What the hell is a iPod HiFi?!

id be interested in that iSight if you still have it

I don't have the iSight anymore, I ended up selling it with the PowerBook.

The iPod Hifi is a neat little device. I think it's better than the Bose products at the time which really was the only competition. It had the benefit of not just an 3.5mm audio in jack but also digital audio in. The problem with modern day use is that the dock connector won't power any of the newer iPods because a few years after the HiFi they upped the power requirements on the iPod.

 

[MatthewLTL]

I don't have the iSight anymore, I ended up selling it with the PowerBook.

The iPod Hifi is a neat little device. I think it's better than the Bose products at the time which really was the only competition. It had the benefit of not just an 3.5mm audio in jack but also digital audio in. The problem with modern day use is that the dock connector won't power any of the newer iPods because a few years after the HiFi they upped the power requirements on the iPod.

I'm sure you can do some modifying of the hifi to produce more power to the iPod.

(I thought the iPod hifi was a version of the iPod, not a docking station.)

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I'm sure you can do some modifying of the hifi to produce more power to the iPod.

(I thought the iPod hifi was a version of the iPod, not a docking station.)

It's actually the other way around - the iPod HiFi provides higher-voltage power via the FireWire pins in the dock connector, rather than lower-voltage power via the USB pins.

Modern iDevices (iPod nano, and any iOS device,) can only charge over the USB pins, not the FireWire pins.

This was a serious problem when Apple moved devices from "FireWire primary" to "USB primary" - the older iPods require the charging be over the FireWire pins, the newer ones require it over USB.

I have a newer dock speaker that can't charge my iPod 3G, because it can only charge over the FireWire. And an older dock speaker that can't charge my iPhone 4, because it will only charge over USB.

There were some 'transitional' devices that could charge over either (most of the full-size iPods between the "iPod Photo" and the last iPod Classic,) and a few dock devices that provided charging over both sets. But you go too early or too late, and you get incompatibility. (The 'data' works fine - both of my dock speakers can play music from any Dock device, but there are certain pairings required to charge.)

 

[gavinstubbs09]

Here is a picture of my desk from October 2011. At this time (although not pictured) I had only a 400MHz B&W and a 700MHz iBook G3 12" while every other computer I owned at the time was a PC.

 

[MatthewLTL]

Here is a picture of my desk from October 2011. At this time (although not pictured) I had only a 400MHz B&W and a 700MHz iBook G3 12" while every other computer I owned at the time was a PC.

I used to have a Microsoft mouse just like that one. It was my 1st optical mouse, than i accidently left it hooked to a eMac at school (always HATED the pro mouse with its lack to right click) and a teacher stole it.

 

[poiihy]

What the hell is a iPod HiFi?!

----------

I used to have a Microsoft mouse just like that one. It was my 1st optical mouse, than i accidently left it hooked to a eMac at school (always HATED the pro mouse with its lack to right click) and a teacher stole it.

hahahaahahha a teacher stole it

 

[jruschme]

It's actually the other way around - the iPod HiFi provides higher-voltage power via the FireWire pins in the dock connector, rather than lower-voltage power via the USB pins.

Modern iDevices (iPod nano, and any iOS device,) can only charge over the USB pins, not the FireWire pins.

This was a serious problem when Apple moved devices from "FireWire primary" to "USB primary" - the older iPods require the charging be over the FireWire pins, the newer ones require it over USB.

I have a newer dock speaker that can't charge my iPod 3G, because it can only charge over the FireWire. And an older dock speaker that can't charge my iPhone 4, because it will only charge over USB.

There were some 'transitional' devices that could charge over either (most of the full-size iPods between the "iPod Photo" and the last iPod Classic,) and a few dock devices that provided charging over both sets. But you go too early or too late, and you get incompatibility. (The 'data' works fine - both of my dock speakers can play music from any Dock device, but there are certain pairings required to charge.)

Scosche made a device known as the passPORT which addressed the power issue. Basically, you plugged the passPORT into the dock and the device into the passPORT.

IIRC , they made two versions... one for docks-like devices (e.g., iPod HiFi, JBL OnStage, etc.) and one for devices like those FM transmitters that fit on the dock port (this version looks like a 30-pin extender).

I think they are discontinued, but still available from places like ebay.

 

[A.Goldberg]

Scosche made a device known as the passPORT which addressed the power issue. Basically, you plugged the passPORT into the dock and the device into the passPORT.

IIRC , they made two versions... one for docks-like devices (e.g., iPod HiFi, JBL OnStage, etc.) and one for devices like those FM transmitters that fit on the dock port (this version looks like a 30-pin extender).

I think they are discontinued, but still available from places like ebay.

Oh that's awesome I'll have to look into that. I usually just suck up not being able to charge or go through the aux input if I have to charge.

Thanks for the info!

P.S. They're $27 on Amazon

 

[eyoungren]

Me. Circa 2001-2002.

Arizona Capitol Times, a weekly political newspaper in Phoenix, AZ.

No idea what speed that Mac was but it had at least 1GB of ram and was running OS9.

 

[128keaton]

Me. Circa 2001-2002.

Arizona Capitol Times, a weekly political newspaper in Phoenix, AZ.

No idea what speed that Mac was but it had at least 1GB of ram and was running OS9.

Wow, do you miss that workplace?
Gorgeous photograph.

 

[eyoungren]

Wow, do you miss that workplace?
Gorgeous photograph.

Yeah, kinda do sometimes. What you can't see is that I am sitting at the right side of a 'U' shaped shelf. To the right of me is all floor to ceiling glass windows (front of the building) and the shelf (desk) runs uninterrupted along those windows and then behind me.

The person taking the picture was shoved up against the shelf at the left end of the 'U'.

This is the best pic I can find of the building. It's small, from the architect (the Times was a family owned business until it was sold to Donnelly Publishing). The picture I posted was one that went in to some architecture magazine later that year. Can't seem to find the article though. The building is two stories by the way.

 

[weckart]

I don't have the iSight anymore, I ended up selling it with the PowerBook.

The iPod Hifi is a neat little device. I think it's better than the Bose products at the time which really was the only competition. It had the benefit of not just an 3.5mm audio in jack but also digital audio in. The problem with modern day use is that the dock connector won't power any of the newer iPods because a few years after the HiFi they upped the power requirements on the iPod.

The iPod HiFi was awful imho. It sounded like a muddy £75 boombox and Apple had the gall to ask £250 for it. Calling it HiFi was just asking for brickbats, which it got in spades. It was nowhere near the sound quality of Bose, let alone Monitor's i-deck, both around the same price bracket.

This thread reminds me I have a boxed iSight that I have rarely used. I need to dig that out and see if I can find those useless iSight games someone gave me a while back.

 

[A.Goldberg]

The iPod HiFi was awful imho. It sounded like a muddy £75 boombox and Apple had the gall to ask £250 for it. Calling it HiFi was just asking for brickbats, which it got in spades. It was nowhere near the sound quality of Bose, let alone Monitor's i-deck, both around the same price bracket.

This thread reminds me I have a boxed iSight that I have rarely used. I need to dig that out and see if I can find those useless iSight games someone gave me a while back.

The HiFi definitely isn't a home audio system replacement. It is muddy but I found Bose's products, especially their systems around the time of the HiFi, to just have too much midrange compensating for a lack of bass.

I don't think the iDeck existed back in 2006, but I could be wrong.

 

[weckart]

The original i-deck certainly did, although Monitor recycled the name several times for different designs. Had Apple named its box the iBoom, iBlast or iParty it might have been cut some slack but it wasn't marketed as such.