Retro

Apple was busy dreaming about the future of communications 29 years ago, long before the days of the iPhone, touch screens, cell phones, and even cordless phones.

Many years ago before Mac OS X, the Mac OS Finder was much more simple. There was no toolbar, no sidebar, no drop shadows, and each folder opened in it’s own window showing you only the icons in that Folder. That was basically the default desktop experience from Mac OS 1.0 through Mac OS 9, … Read More

Remember the old flip phones? Of course you do, they were huge and ugly and half of them wouldn’t fit in a pocket even when folded up, but oh were they cutting edge in 1998. Soon you’ll be able to have that same terrible user experience with the iPhone. From the company who brought you … Read More

Remember that retro iOS ’86 concept theme for iPhone that popped up recently? We were hoping it would become an iOS theme, and it has. To use the iOS 86 theme you’ll need to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 5.0.1, here is how to do that with absinthe for iPhone 4S, or … Read More

Update 2/22/2012: Want your iPhone to look like this? Here’s how to install the iOS 86 theme on an iPhone and iPod touch! What would iPhone’s iOS look like had it been made in 1986? Maybe this, and it looks awesome in that retro sort of way. This is just concept art from a few … Read More

Just in time for the holidays, Fireplace is a totally awesome interactive 8-bit fireplace app that fills your Macs screen with a pixelated fireplace. But don’t stop there, you can add logs, roast hotdogs and marshmallows, and even burn papers and photos. Each log ‘burns’ for about 30 minutes of pixel torching glory, and although … Read More

In 1991, astronauts took a Macintosh Portable aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-43, and amongst other things, it became the first computer to send an email in space. A slightly less historical aspect is this fairly entertaining video clip from that mission, demonstrating the Macintosh Portable’s disk ejection system, which works perhaps a little too well … Read More

Do you have an old Mac running Mac OS 9 laying around the closet? Dust it off and bring it into the modern age (of the web at least) with Classilla, an open source port of Mozilla, the same underpinnings of Firefox. It’s a work in progress so don’t expect it to be perfect, but … Read More

The very first Macs user manual is a fun look at the past, and despite being 27 years old, there are still some undeniably Apple aspects to the manuals imagery and text. The intro paragraph from the first page is classic: “You’re about to learn a new way to use a computer. If this is … Read More

Have a broken old Mac SE or Mac Plus laying around? Dork out your bathroom with a retro Mac toilet paper dispenser! Affectionately called the iWipe, inside of this Mac SE shell is a mounted toilet paper holder, and the screen was replaced with a translucent piece of plastic so you can see when the … Read More

I know what you’re thinking, the only thing missing from the iPad is the ability to throw it on your shoulder and pretend it’s a boom box, right? Well this much anticipated feature is missing no more, because now you can finally take your iPad back to the 1980’s by turning it into a retro … Read More

Update: We posted the games link under the assumption that all of the titles were abandonware or freeware, but some commenters are suggesting this may not be the case. We don’t have the resources to independently verify either claim, so we have pulled down the link. That said, you can play many of the definitely … Read More

If you grew up in the 80’s and you had an interest in video games plus a computer, you probably played Kings Quest. Now, you can relive the past for free thanks to AGD Interactive, who has remade and redrawn Kings Quest 1: Quest for the Crown, Kings Quest 2: Romancing the Stones, and Kings … Read More

Long before the iPhone, there was… an Apple phone? I don’t know if this is real, if it was actually patented by Apple Inc, or if it was ever produced, but it certainly looks like someones brilliant high-tech idea from 1985. Who wouldn’t want to be talking into a flip apple phone? For more retro … Read More

This won’t last long. A blatant rip-off of Super Mario Brothers has appeared for sale on the iOS App Store. Other than having slightly renamed characters, the game (called 莫尼诺拯救总动员 which translates roughly to “The Save Monino Story”), is practically identical to Super Mario Brothers. Here’s the ridiculous description: The protagonist of this game named … Read More

Long before the days of iPhones and App Stores, or even Macs and 3.5″ disks for that matter… Apple software came on 5.25″ floppies and… cassette tapes. Yes, like the same type of cassette tape your first album came on if you were a child of the 80’s or early 90’s. And here you are … Read More

If you’ve been a Mac user for a while, you’ll remember the Apple Extended Keyboards. They were very responsive and made a wonderfully crisp clicking sound as you typed. If you’re still in love with the old ADB powered Apple Extended Keyboard I don’t blame you, and you can reignite that old flame by using … Read More

Apple turns 35 years old today! The company was created on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, it was based out of Steve Jobs parents garage, and their first product was the Apple I encased in wood that you can see above. Yea, that’s not an April fools joke, the … Read More