1955-2011
Captain Crunch needs your help
One of the most iconic hackers ever, and a very important figure in Apple history, John Draper, needs some money for surgery and therapy otherwise soon he won’t be able to code, type or even use his hands.
According to what Draper has written on Facebook and then has been published on the savingcaptaincrunch.com website, It looks that due to a too vigorous hug from a fan, Captain Crunch has sustained a very serious injury:
A few critical nerves have been trapped and despite a program of physical therapy and painkillers, Crunch’s fingers and forearms are now approaching total paralysis.
[...]
Crunch is in such pain that he can barely put his shoes on in the morning. One of the pioneers of the Word Processor can barely type any more, let alone code. And the doctors have told him that within 3-6 months he risks losing the use of his hands permanently because trapped nerves die after a while.
[...]
A straightforward surgical procedure can release the trapped nerves before they wither away, and return life to his hands.
The bad news is that Crunch cannot afford it. It costs $6,000 just for the Medical co-pay for the surgery, $2,000 for the post-surgery convalescence and even more for the drugs and physical therapy that will get him back at his Mac and coding again.
You can help the man who inspired Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs to get in business, by donating some money to cover for his medical expenses. I did.
p.s. Yes, that’s me in the picture with Mr. Draper.
My Classic Setup
There is a kinship between Stories of Apple and Riccardo Mori‘s System Folder blog.
We both share a mix of love and curiosity for the history of Apple and see it worthwile to delve and discover interesting tidbits of information and trivia to better understand the past, the present and even the future of the company at Infinite Loop.
This is why I answered Riccardo’s call to “vintage Mac geeks out there” to share their “corner, small desk, or other secondary space with their vintage setup”, i.e. nothing newer than Mac OS 9.
The questions he asks are the following:
What does your desk look like? [Photos here]
What is your vintage Mac setup?
Why are you using this setup?
What software do you use, and for what do you use it?
If you are using older Macs and feel like sharing a small piece of your Mac world please do write him at: rick [at] compunabula [dot] com
In the meantime I’d like to point out the first installment of “My Classic Setup”. It features the answers of yours truly, describing the two PowerBook G3s still actively in use in the house.
iPhone sales so far
Let’s take a look at Apple’s Quarterly financial Reports on the iPhone, straight out of their press releases archive (I’ve put numbers in bold):
June 2007: Apple Reports Third Quarter Results
iPhone is off to a great start—we hope to sell our one-millionth iPhone by the end of its first full quarter of sales—and our new product pipeline is very strong.
October 2007: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results
Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 1,119,000, bringing cumulative fiscal 2007 sales to 1,389,000.
January 2008: Apple Reports First Quarter Results
Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 2,315,000.
April 2008: Apple Reports Record Second Quarter Results
Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 1,703,000.
July 2008: Apple Reports Record Third Quarter Results
Quarterly iPhone™ units sold were 717,000 compared to 270,000 in the year-ago-quarter.
October 2008: Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results
Quarterly iPhone units sold were 6,892,000 compared to 1,119,000 in the year-ago-quarter.
January 2009: Apple Reports First Quarter Results
Quarterly iPhone units sold were 4,363,000, representing 88 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.
Let’s add those thousands: 1119+2315+1703+717+6892+4363
This brings us to a grand total of 17.109 millions of iPhones sold so far (at the end of January 2009) by Apple since its launch on 29 June, 2007.
Note: feel free to use this data analisys but please credit and link back to the Stories of Apple website.

