This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Earl Evans, Retrobits podcast host and Commodore 64 enthusiast — but we don't hold that against him. Registration for KansasFest 2013 is open, and we all want to go, but Earl has another destination in mind. Tech history is being unearthed before our eyes, with schematics for operating systems and circuit boards appearing in museums (where the price is right) and art galleries (where it's not). Brutal Deluxe is on a tear, releasing retroprogramming utilities for Windows and commercial games for the Apple II; we're big fans! But not all news is happy news: the Steve Jobs film has been delayed, and LucasArts has closed its doors — will we ever get another Maniac Mansion game for the Apple II? Maybe not, but Richard Garriott's successful Kickstarter gave fans a chance to pick up an original copy of Akalabeth. Better late than never!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:32:47 — 51.6MB)

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Jimmy Maher, the historian behind the renowned blog The Digital Antiquarian. A published author, Jimmy provides us with his perspective on the pros and cons of going with a publishing house over the recent trend in retrocomputing toward self-publishing. We gripe about the Steve Jobs film sacrificing historical accuracy for mass appeal and recommend some alternative movies that get it right. We're still loving iOS as a platform for classic gaming ports, from the adventure game Transylvania to the recently released Lode Runner Classic. Speaking of platforms, which is better: the Apple II or the Commodore 64? The answer may not be as obvious as you think! Finally, we offer a cautionary tale to vintage computer collectors whose inventory may be at the mercy of an avaricious landlord.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:01 — 55.0MB)

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Kevin Savetz, Internet publisher and author of the memoir Terrible Nerd. We cross enemy lines to review a book about the cultural, scientific, and philosophical implications of Commodore 64 programming, some of it applicable to the Apple II. Paul Terrell's Polaroid snapshots of the first Apple-1 computers are cool, just like our reception to Jordan Mechner's new Karateka game. On eBay, we discover the Androbot is not just another neat product from a Nolan Bushnell company, but another reason we prefer the Apple II to other platforms. And Ken's accidental purchase of some Microzines produces the concept for a new and very expensive podcast!

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:19:04 — 44.3MB)

This month on Open Apple, Ken takes the month off as Mike chats with Apple IIGS programmer Geoff Weiss, who does double-duty as both guest and co-host. Geoff discusses his work on the Spectrum Internet Suite and debuts some new Classic Desk Accessories for the IIGS, based on his KansasFest 2012 presentation. Mike and Geoff go over some recent Apple II news, such as Brutal Deluxe's latest software offering, a missing time capsule, a visit to the Russian Apple Museum in Moscow, and Woz's Ask Me Anything on Slashdot, as well as Apple II-related movie and TV items.

eBay items this month include a Franklin ACE-based educational unit and Geoff and Mike pause to puzzle over an Apple II Plus emulator for the Commodore 64. A discussion of recent Apple-1 auctions rounds out the episode this month.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:23 — 28.3MB)

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with Ewen Wannop, British programmer of 16-bit telecommunications programs such as Spectrum, SAM, SNAP, and SAFE. The hosts share feedback galore from the last episode and contemplate how to record a live show. After catching up on some headlines from last month, we plow forward, celebrating the return of an interactive fiction publication and grumbling that even beginner IF can be as obscure as the medium is infamous for. The September 2012 issue of Juiced.GS just shipped, and with it, a look at what features a hypothetical System 7.0 operating system would include. Is it reasonable to consider that a software upgrade warrants a hardware bump, and what the next model of Apple II would look like? Photos of Steve Jobs in his natural habitat show an Apple stronghold as Spartan as ever, but you can decorate yours with Melissa Barron's screenprints from Etsy. There's a Disk II floppy drive on eBay that holds within it a working Mac mini — a cool hack, but is it worth a cool grand? We question the value of purchasing free software on eBay and marvel at everything from lighters to thumb drives in the shape of an Apple II.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:37:32 — 55.2MB)

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken speak with Rich Dreher, developer of the CompactFlash For Apple (CFFA) card. The first batch of CFFA3000 cards sold out in 2011, and the second batch is now shipping with similar sales numbers. Rich takes us behind the scenes of the product's success before dishing on other II hardware developers Vince Briel and Mike Willegal. We look at the astronomical numbers rare Apple-1 computers are fetching on eBay and at Sotheby's and celebrate HyperCard turning 25 while Atari turns 40, though Mike objects to the latter. David Finnigan's new book is out, and Robert Tripp is hot on his heels when an updated and digitized version of the classic What's Where in the Apple — and we have the exclusive interview with Bob! All this content and all these guests make for our longest episode ever, perfect for listening to while you drive to next week's KansasFest.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:18:24 — 100.7MB)

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken speak with Martin Haye, 8-bit programmer extraordinare. We love us some conventions, be they KansasFest, the Vintage Computer Festival, @party, ROFLCon, or WordCamp. We wonder why video games have abandoned humor and if Kickstarter can bring it back. Steve Wozniak is advising the Steve Jobs film — no, not the one in which Ashton Kutcher will play Steve Jobs, but that raises the question: who will play the hosts of Open Apple? On eBay, we're suspicious of an Apple IIe that was supposedly once Jobs', and we wish there were a more comprehensive online resource for Apple II clones.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:33:37 — 61.4MB)

This month on Open Apple, Mike and Ken chat with David Finnigan, proprietor of the Mac GUI Web site and author of the upcoming book, The New Apple II User's Guide. Our eyes are caught by another new book release, The Best of Creative Computing: Volume 3, as well as the upcoming biopic based on Steve Jobs, in which actors have been cast to play Apple's two co-founders. Prince of Persia is still big news, with the source code for Jordan Mechner's classic Apple II game having been salvaged, released, and modified, while classic games like Leisure Suit Larry, Dungeon Master, and even Repton are enjoying literal and spiritual remakes. On eBay, we crack open the case to examine broken Apple III boards and prototype Apple IIGS boards.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:33:00 — 48.0MB)