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WOW! CNN reports an Apple IIe still works!


cbmeeks

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Who would have ever thought it? Who could have ever believed an Apple IIe computer would still work all of these years later? Thanks to CNN's top-notch reporting, we now learned that there exists in this world...an actual working....Apple IIe.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/17/tech/30-year-old-apple-computer-work-trnd/index.html

 

 

Hey CNN....this just in....man drives 1970's era Volkswagen Beetle.....kid plays baseball with 40 year old mitt.....who'da thunk it!!!

 

 

 

 

**EDIT**

 

OK, sarcasm over....mother always taught me to look for the positives. OK...something positive....perhaps CNN's coverage of the Apple II would spark more interest in vintage computers?

Wait, that might not be positive. Bad enough eBay scalpers have latched on...

Edited by cbmeeks
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Yeah, I just shook my head when I saw that. And it was linked off of the CNN homepage, as if it was really news.

 

What's really strange is that it looks like CNN basically annotated that guy's Twitter feed with some (inaccurate) color commentary. It's not even a real news article. And the emphasis seems to be on the fact that the Apple IIe still works, even though a quick web search reveals that there are thousands of these still out there and working. It's not like this computer is rare, either. If he had found an Apple I or something, that would have been different. It's not rare, it's not noteworthy, and the fact that it powers up is not unexpected.

 

So where's the story?

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What I love is reading all of you jump all over CNN like it was flashed up on the television screen as a breaking news story.

 

1) It started up on Twitter as some guy's Twitter post.

2) It made the rounds of social media.

3) Someone at CNN's tech team went "well, we need to plug something into this part of the web page - why not this cute story?"

 

And, CNN wasn't the only place I saw this story show up. But why let facts get in the way....

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"Man Discovers 30-Year Old Computer Still in Working Order" isn't even newsworthy, period. Working Apple IIe's are everywhere. This board has enthusiasts with working vintage electronics of all flavors. So yeah, even a techgasm over one more find like this is lampoonable.

 

Also, the separate tech page I saw this on seemed to have the CNN story almost word for word. I rolled my eyes about that too.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I face palmed myself when i saw this stupid story. There are 100+ year old radios that still work and old em pinball machines and tons of other electronic stuff. They built things way better back then. You could probably hook up a computer from the 50s/60s and it would probably work fine too.

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I saw this, too, and I was really confused. It's a solid-state computer that's been stored indoors for 30 years. Why wouldn't it work?

 

My coworker said he has a lamp that's 40 years old and still turns on, so maybe he should call CNN to let them know. :-)

 

Well CNN is 40 years old now, and they are barely function as well as they used to, so why wouldn't they be surprised? :lol:

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Does it mean old diskettes still work after 30 years?

 

Almost all diskettes I have are dead.

 

I must have been lucky then - I recently backed up all of my original Apple IIc disks from the mid 80s (I have about 50 of them)... Every one of them read, and I kept them in an attic on Long Island for 13 years...

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You guys realize this story was featured in the "just warm fuzzy slices of life" blog?

 

It's only reporting on the guy's personal experience, and the warm memories his post brought back for some people. Then it has a cute kids moment, as they try to understand us older folk and completely fail.

 

They've also reported on burning issues like a cop helping an old woman with her groceries. They do this, because some people enjoy learning about little bits of good news, instead of the usual 21st century clickbait desperately trying to make extinction level volcanic explosions out of molehills. (Or desperately trying to make molehills out of the things we should be worried about.)

 

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