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Pre and Post iMac G3 uses of Translucent Plastics
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Dt990
macrumors member
Still works. I've never heard of anyone taking the the time to replace the innards of an old power strip. The thing was rather expensive back in the day, I think I got it from like outpost.com or MacMall and it advertised a $10k warranty and how many joules it could handle. I bet it can be found in old mac malls if you're after specs. I just never have considered the power strip dying, I assume not subjected to the elements or massive power spikes it'll last until the plastics become too brittle.
Hilariously it has phone line protection.
Found another pre-iMac translucent product: the VTech cordless 900mhz phone "jelly bean" series (VT 02-9111), according to their website, launched in 1997. I find service manuals dating to 1998.
Here are some examples of them.
No doubt, these phones built off the massive success of the clear transparent phone craze of the early 90s. But in my view, those clear-shell phones were lacking in style, just showing off a bunch of internal cables for the novelty effect. The translucent designs hint at inner workings while retaining a pleasant consistency.
Here are some examples of them.
No doubt, these phones built off the massive success of the clear transparent phone craze of the early 90s. But in my view, those clear-shell phones were lacking in style, just showing off a bunch of internal cables for the novelty effect. The translucent designs hint at inner workings while retaining a pleasant consistency.
Some of the original Digimon V-Pets sold in Japan were translucent colored and pre-date the iMac by a few months:
Japanese Wikipedia has the Ver. 3 shown here releasing March 1998. There's a few other translucent colored models, not just this orange too. They can be a bit tricky to find because there are modern recreations with color screens now that gum up searches.
Japanese Wikipedia has the Ver. 3 shown here releasing March 1998. There's a few other translucent colored models, not just this orange too. They can be a bit tricky to find because there are modern recreations with color screens now that gum up searches.
Thinking about it, a bunch of the original Tamagotchi's were also translucent colored and also predate the iMac by a fair bit. One of them is arguably very Bondi Blue...
tamagotchi.fandom.com
Tamagotchi (1996 Pet)/Shell list/Original Release
The following are all shells for the original Tamagotchi, released from 1996 through 1998.
Nice, thanks!
Good catch.Thinking about it, a bunch of the original Tamagotchi's were also translucent colored and also predate the iMac by a fair bit. One of them is arguably very Bondi Blue...
Tamagotchi (1996 Pet)/Shell list/Original Release
The following are all shells for the original Tamagotchi, released from 1996 through 1998.
Japan was definitely at the forefront of all this. Mainly because they were at the forefront of consumer electronics generally.
I still haven't found any direct quote or source saying that Jony Ive studied Japanese design trends, but I'm sure he was aware of them, at least second hand.
Ok, I can't believe I missed this one. Funnily enough, it had already been mentioned on an old Macrumors post, but I didn't connect the dots.
I think the clearest precursor to the iMac G3, especially in putting translucency at the forefront of the product, is the Rowenta Surfline Iron.
It was introduced in 1991 in white, but in 1993 they introduced a model with a translucent blue casing, showing you the water level within (and evoking that 'water' feeling that we love). That design, of course, has been copied by almost all irons today.
Here's a Youtube ad from 1996.
People noticed the resemblance, at the time. One 1998 news article ran: "iMac and Surfline: Separated at birth?"
Rowetta's marketing department made the following statement: "Rowenta is flattered to see that the new iMac design bears a close resemblance to our Surfline iron, which was launched five years ago. We wish Apple all the success with iMac that we have had with our irons."
Of course, Apple itself made no statement on the resemblance.
I think it's case-closed, at least in terms of the translucent colour inspiration of the original iMac. In the 1999 book Icon: Steve Jobs by Jeffrey Young, Apple designers admitted to being influenced by household appliances, kitchenware, and fashion accessories — not just electronics.
I think the clearest precursor to the iMac G3, especially in putting translucency at the forefront of the product, is the Rowenta Surfline Iron.
It was introduced in 1991 in white, but in 1993 they introduced a model with a translucent blue casing, showing you the water level within (and evoking that 'water' feeling that we love). That design, of course, has been copied by almost all irons today.
Here's a Youtube ad from 1996.
People noticed the resemblance, at the time. One 1998 news article ran: "iMac and Surfline: Separated at birth?"
Rowetta's marketing department made the following statement: "Rowenta is flattered to see that the new iMac design bears a close resemblance to our Surfline iron, which was launched five years ago. We wish Apple all the success with iMac that we have had with our irons."
Of course, Apple itself made no statement on the resemblance.
I think it's case-closed, at least in terms of the translucent colour inspiration of the original iMac. In the 1999 book Icon: Steve Jobs by Jeffrey Young, Apple designers admitted to being influenced by household appliances, kitchenware, and fashion accessories — not just electronics.
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I recently thrifted this Scotch tape dispenser in a translucent Bondi-Blue color. You can see the sand through the plastic. I can't find anything about it online, it has the same model number as any other standard "black" tape dispenser that they ever made. The Scotch C-38. I have a lime green translucent stapler at home, but that seems to be a generic one without a major branding on it.
mac.27
macrumors newbie
I don't see any mention yet of this product within this thread, so adding it to the list: this is the "iCube Multimedia Super Woofer Speaker System" produced by a company called Ice Technology around 1999-2000. It uses translucent blue plastic that matches the "Blueberry" color that Apple used in its iMacs and B&W G3 towers during that era.
This is my NOS example; from all I can gather they are pretty rare as I can't find any information about them on the Internet aside from this product listing on Ice Technology's website from the Internet Archive.
They look pretty awesome with the Blue & White Power Mac G3:
This is my NOS example; from all I can gather they are pretty rare as I can't find any information about them on the Internet aside from this product listing on Ice Technology's website from the Internet Archive.
They look pretty awesome with the Blue & White Power Mac G3:
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Certificate of Excellence
macrumors 68020
Oh my gosh. I did not know this existed and now I MUST have one for my bondi iMac and pmg3 B&W. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Here is the elusive Macally iWebKey - took me a few years to find one!
I was curious to find this pre-Bluetooth wireless keyboard (c.2001-2004), especially as it was made with Mac OS 9 drivers, and came in this smokey translucent colour (grey top, frosted back).
By putting the grey on the front rather than the back, you get a much darker tone than Apple's own graphite.
The keyboard runs off 2 AA batteries, and apparently can last more than 6 months, given the low power needed for IR signals (like a TV remote).
The top right rubber button is a joystick-cursor, and the top-left buttons are left and right click, meaning that you really can use this on a couch as a standalone keyboard + mouse combo. The cursor and clicking works without drivers on any Mac, though on my M4 Macbook it seems to have a laggy cursor response.
The keyboard itself feels quite similar to a Wallstreet Powerbook – ok, maybe a knock-off Wallstreet.
My only problem with it is that some keys are quite cramped... I found myself hitting a lot of wrong keys, because I really expect the command key to be directly below the X. The tab key is very small.
Some photos below of the keyboard and the USB sensor, as there are hardly any online.
I was curious to find this pre-Bluetooth wireless keyboard (c.2001-2004), especially as it was made with Mac OS 9 drivers, and came in this smokey translucent colour (grey top, frosted back).
By putting the grey on the front rather than the back, you get a much darker tone than Apple's own graphite.
The keyboard runs off 2 AA batteries, and apparently can last more than 6 months, given the low power needed for IR signals (like a TV remote).
The top right rubber button is a joystick-cursor, and the top-left buttons are left and right click, meaning that you really can use this on a couch as a standalone keyboard + mouse combo. The cursor and clicking works without drivers on any Mac, though on my M4 Macbook it seems to have a laggy cursor response.
The keyboard itself feels quite similar to a Wallstreet Powerbook – ok, maybe a knock-off Wallstreet.
My only problem with it is that some keys are quite cramped... I found myself hitting a lot of wrong keys, because I really expect the command key to be directly below the X. The tab key is very small.
Some photos below of the keyboard and the USB sensor, as there are hardly any online.
Certificate of Excellence
macrumors 68020
DisraeliGears
macrumors regular
I remembered that I found this awhile back. For the life of me I can't get it to read though 🙁 Matches my G3s quite well anyway
opeter
macrumors 68030
Compact Flash card reader from LEXAR? Nice. Speed is USB 1.0 or 1.1? Or is it maybe Firewire/IEEE-1394?
DisraeliGears
macrumors regular
It's USB, though I don't recall if it's 1.0 or 1.1 standard off the top of my head. It's actually a "digital film card" reader for a different standard, though included in the box was an adapter from the longer film card to Compact Flash. What I've never gotten to work is using that adapter to read or recognize any of my CF cards.
Attachments
opeter
macrumors 68030
Interesting. So it is actually bigger, than the standard Compact Flash card? Could it be some sort of PCMCIA card ..? Nah, that is too big.
Here are some older websites, that shows the different memory cards used in the past decades, but I simply cannot find anything related to digital film card:
Memorycards
Did you know what memorycards are and were available for digital cameras?
Memory cards past, present and future - What you need to know about the different card formats
Jeff Cable Photography, Memory Cards, Memory Card Formats, SmartMedia, xD-Picture Card, MultiMediaCard, MMC, miniSD, Memory Stick, CompactFlash, CF, Secure Digital, SD cards, microSD, XQD, CFast, CFexpress
I only found this forum thread from 25 years ago:
Difference between CF and CF digital film
DisraeliGears
macrumors regular
Looking at a couple of these, it seems like the adapter it came with is a PCMCIA card with a slot for a standard CF card to plug into. I’ll post a couple more pics this evening
DisraeliGears
macrumors regular
opeter
macrumors 68030
Ah, thanks. Yes, that is a PCMCIA expansion card.
Interesting, didn't see such such a solution for a long time. Only once did I use an OmniDrive, that was for the old USB 1/1.1 standard and had PCMCIA card slot.
Because only later did came the variants of adapters for card readers, where you could put the (bigger) SD card, XD Card, Sony MemoryStick etc. into a CompactFlash sized adapter(s).
Interesting, didn't see such such a solution for a long time. Only once did I use an OmniDrive, that was for the old USB 1/1.1 standard and had PCMCIA card slot.
Because only later did came the variants of adapters for card readers, where you could put the (bigger) SD card, XD Card, Sony MemoryStick etc. into a CompactFlash sized adapter(s).
It seems like prior to the Skeleton Saturn Sega also offered the translucent grey "Cool Pad" as a promo in the summer of 1997 when you bought a console and game as seen in this Biohazard ad. The one in the commercial seems more clear than they do in reality.
EDIT: Turns out there's two translucent Saturns? A greyish "This is Cool" model and a bluish "Derby Stallion" model that was bundled with Derby Stallion.
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Surprised these haven't been mentioned yet, but the line of TI-83+ graphing calculators had some "special edition" translucent colors. The obvious "Silver Edition", then the Green, Blue and Purple ones. Purple and Blue ones sold at Target. Green and Blue ones sold at Staples.
If anyone wants to read more, go to:
TI-83+ Silver Edition
TI-83+ Purple
TI-83+ Green
TI-83+ Blue (1)
TI-83+ Blue (2)
Power strips were also available in a lot of translucent colors. I was surprised to see them only relatively recently at Menards brand new as a 2-pack. I don't know if they still have them. The one I attached in a picture is one I recently picked up. The manufacture date printed on it goes to that era. I've seen them in many different colors.
If anyone wants to read more, go to:
TI-83+ Silver Edition
TI-83+ Purple
TI-83+ Green
TI-83+ Blue (1)
TI-83+ Blue (2)
Power strips were also available in a lot of translucent colors. I was surprised to see them only relatively recently at Menards brand new as a 2-pack. I don't know if they still have them. The one I attached in a picture is one I recently picked up. The manufacture date printed on it goes to that era. I've seen them in many different colors.
