Retro Tech Tuesday: Apple's Blue Busters

Given the popularity of last week's retro post from the Oct. 1984 International Apple sales meeting, we decided to go back once more to youtube user jimhoyt for this week's retro clip. This week, on the heels of the popularity of Ghost Busters and the song of the same name, Apple thought it would be fun (internally, at least) to marry the hot song with their plans to take out IBM, otherwise known as Big Blue. Here then, we present, Blue Busters:

Retro Tech Tuesday: Apple Sales Time Capsule

According to the youtube poster (jimhoyt), this video was part of a presentation at an Apple sales  meeting in 1984. It's a fast-paced, rah, rah, look at the super-early years of the company. Sure today we take the Ken Burns effect for granted, but the sheer number of zooms and pans on stills must have really gotten the blood pumping in the summer of '84:

TDL Live This Week: (12/7 - 12/13)

Don't adjust your sets: If something seems a little different about this week's show, it's because it's the debut of the newest member of the TDL team: Catherine Tillson. This week's news includes AT&T's customer satisfaction slide, Apple's satisfaction rebound, a new danger for iPhone users, game console boasting, Apple settles a lawsuit with change from the company couch ($21 million).

Enjoy:

Snow Leopard Takes Two Spots in Amazon Top Ten

Taking a quick look at Amazon's Top Ten selling software titles reveals Snow Leopard at #2, just behind Microsoft Office Home and Student for Windows.

Snow Leopard also registers at #4 with the Family Pack upgrade, which I find to be an interesting anecdote on how honest Apple owner can be, (or a cynic would say gullible. Be gone, cynics!) Between the two versions of Snow Leopard is Big Kahuna Reef, a free XP download. So technically, two of the top three paid software spots are occupied by Snow Leopard.

Apparently a lot of XP users are headed back to school and saying, "you mean it doesn't come with Office!?" which has pushed it to #1. The Mac version of Office Home & Student is #6 on the list.

Is that where you expected Snow Leopard to be? We sort of assumed it would be #1 during the launch.

Apple's Black Friday Sale Items Revealed

OK, I'll admit upfront, we don't know how much you could save on Apple products Friday, but we do have a good idea of what will be on sale. Go ahead and take a closer look at that Apple promo graphic ahead. Having worked at Apple, and also having observed these sales pics before, the answers are right there:

Items Expected To Be Discounted:
iMac
all iPods (except perhaps the shuffle)
iPhone Bluetooth Headset
MacBook
Apple iPod Accessories
MobileMe (while not pictured, it's perpetually $30 off)

What You Should You Not Expect To Get a Deal On?
MacPro towers
MacBook Pro (chance of a discount)
iPhone
Third-party products, with a few exceptions
The new Apple monitor

So while not written in stone, there's your quick guide to whether you need to brave the Apple store Friday morning. Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and don't forget we're back Monday with TDL Live at 9PM ET.

Also, if you plan on shopping Apple's sale from home, please consider using this link to help support TDL!