This new device and software not only perform the same organizational tasks as the original Neat Receipts, but now also provide the added functionality of turning your receipts into beautiful works of art. Simply touching the new Origami button on the Neat scanner (below) scans and folds your receipt, turning the receipt into useful data and either a swan, elephant, sea lion, or hummingbird.


Apple was kind enough to include a veritable encyclopedia of information with my Apple ][. Inside the big, red manual, you'll find complete step-by-step instructions for setting up the machine, adjusting a tape recorder for optimal use, plenty of programs to get you started, and a handy reference for the hardware inside.

I found the manual easy to read, although given the constraints of typing programs by hand using a typewriter, some code was printed using a dot matrix printer. Mr. Wozniak includes excellent code to help you build your own programs, however, and code for interfacing with the likes of a teletype, should you need printed output. There are critical routines for floating point calculations, which I'm sure some will appreciate.

Apple introduces a little design philosophy in the manual, which is a welcome break from the volumes used to learn the 5100, for example. Rumors on our sister site Engadget say Tandy is working on a consumer machine with BASIC and a human-readable manual as well, but I'll believe that when I see it. Anyway, the Apple ][ manual has some sample code for making actual audio tones using the built-in speaker (a novel idea, by the way). Why use audio in a program? Here's the design philosophy I found interesting:

"Computers can perform marvelous feats of mathematical computation at well beyond the speed capable of most human minds. They are fast, cold and accurate; man on the other hand is slower, has emotion, and makes errors. These differences create problems when the two interact with one another. So to reduce this problem humanizing of the computer is needed. Humanizing means incorporating within the computer procedures that aid in a computer's usage. One such technique is the addition of a tone subroutine."

It's like they want to make the computer more *personal*, somehow.

Once you've seen how to make graphics, sounds and even interaction and I/O in code, the manual wraps up with a thorough examination of the included hardware. This is a hobbyists' machine, after all. The schematics and diagrams will have you fully understanding how the computer addresses memory and controls video, plus many other miracles I can't believe they crammed into such a small package.

This valuable red book of data comes free with your Apple ][, but I wouldn't part with it! You'll find yourself referring to it time and again. Check out the photostat gallery below for a few sample pages.

Gallery: Apple II Manual

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TUAW Newsletter - April 1, 1976

In this Bicentennial year, technology is making big advances! You can read about it here in Technology Update Aptos Weekly, the official computer newsletter of the Aptos, CA Amateur Computer Club, delivered to your door every week. Remember to pay Steve Sande your dues, as part of that money goes towards the ridiculous rip-off that the Post Office has concocted -- 13¢ for a first-class stamp.

New micro-processor from MOS Technology

MOS Technology announced the new 6502 micro-processor, which should revolutionize the homebrew computing world. For $25, much less than Intel's $179 8080 chip, you get a 8-bit processor with a 16-bit data bus. Steve Wozniak from the HOmebrew Computer Club is basing his "Apple I" computer that he'll show at our next meeting on the 6502. Most people think he's crazy not to use the Intel 8080, but he wants to make a computer thats inexpensive (a friend of his named Steve Jobs wants to sell these computers - now there's a crazy idea!) You can ask Steve about it at the meeting at Tom's house on the 16th - I think he's going to make copies of the specs on one of the Xerox machines at HP.

At the last HCC meeting, Christopher Espinoza showed off a cool subroutine he wrote for the 6502 that prints the A-register in binary! He'll have that in the HCC newsletter sooN and we'll try to see if he'll let us reprint it for those who want to try out this cheap inexpensive mcicro processor.

In my opinion, and I am the editor of this newsletter until someone takes my IBM Selectric away, I think he should be using the Zilog Z-80 that's in the Cromemco Z-1. After all, it's a much faster chip than the 8080. I hear that Gary Kildall will have a version of his Operating System CP/M for the Z-80 and not for the 6502.

Cool new multi-function calculator from Casio!

The Japanese company Casio has just announced a breakthrough product called the CQ 1. Believe it or not, they've figured out a way to put a 4-function calculator (with memory), a digital clock, a stopwatch, AND alarm clock into one box. It's 14,000 yen, whatever that works out to in dollars.

Well, we admit we were snookered by the iPhone Dev Team's "we're selling out" alert, and so was our sister site -- but on a day when the hoaxes range from the desperately unfunny to the merely goofy to the silly-but-funny to the triumphantly hysterical, who can keep anything straight? Google's various flavors alone account for more than a dozen fake stories. Here's a couple of Mac-flavored gags that you might have missed:

• TidBITS has an entire 4/1-themed front page, with some gems like "US Federal Court Declares Email Bankruptcy Illegal."
• The introduction of the "Helvetica Serif" font, which cracks me up.
• Download Squad's warning about LSD in Apple products. I'd call shenanigans on this, but I'm very busy shooing away the multicolored bats.
• Macenstein's "Top 10 ways to DEcrease productivity on your Mac," which describes at least two or three bad practices I actually do already
• The full-monty retro reskinning of MacOSXHints
• ThinkGeek's alternative product lineup, including Wii Sports for iPhone
• Likewise, AppleTell has a collection of Apple-past stories up front today
• Not to leave out the Microsoft Mac BU, this delightful Games for Apple Remote product announcement

Do you love the cognitive dissonance of April 1, or despise the silly, lame jokes that seem to propagate? Either way, you'll have another 364 days to wait for the next one.

iLounge, in what they describe as "bowing to industry pressure," announced today that previously-free site offerings will now be fee-based. The new subscription service, dubbed iLounge Gold, will provide iLounge.com access for $12.95 a month. Or, if readers prefer, they can pay 99 cents -- much like iTunes -- per page visit. They're also launching a new service called iPod Buddies, "a $65/hour iTunes assistance service for needy readers."

And there's more: "iLounge will also test previously unacceptable content tweaks, including an all-nude version of its iPods Around the World photo galleries, reviews by accessory and service providers, and viral Forum advertising."

Sweet. This looks like a great deal, sign me up.

Well mark this a win in the "Stick it to Apple Corps" column: According to TheMacObserver, Apple today unveiled a brand new corporate logo, replacing the legendary bitten apple that Mac fans have grown to recognize and love. From TMO: "'We look forward to moving forward under our new corporate identity," said Apple vice president Phil Schiller in a statement. 'This gives us the opportunity to start our marketing off with a clean slate.'"

Here, here. I'm digging it, though I'm a bit skeptical that a birthday cupcake-like design may eventually get, I don't know, old. And what happens when Apple reaches 50 or 60 and starts to want to avoid birthday celebrations like some guy going through a mid-life crisis? Then what? It'll be constantly reminded every day that it's getting old and is no longer the energetic, motorcycle-drivin' ladies man it used to be.

Whatever. I'm sure Apple knows what it's doing...it just feels like the company is getting a tattoo that ten years down the road, when its arm is all wrinkly and the tattoo looks like a garbled drawing on a wet scrunched up rag, it's gonna regret it -- and no acid in the world could burn it off.

Well, good luck Apple. Here's to the future!