By: Hannah Freedman
This January celebrated 25 years of Macintosh computers. Introduced January 24, 1984, the "Mac" was the first successful personal computer to use graphics instead of text to communicate. Designed, developed, and exclusively distributed by Apple Inc., the Mac has revolutionized the very idea of a computer and amazed thousands with each innovation. Apple Computers, started in 1976 by a college dropout and his friends, debuted with Apple I as a wooden box with the speed and memory of a pocket calculator.

When Steve Jobs, the dropout, introduced the Macintosh at Apple's company's annual shareholders meeting, pandemonium ensued. At $2,495, the Macintosh was the first affordable computer to replace text-based operating systems with an intuitive layout of folders and icons. Debuting to the world in a flashy Super Bowl ad, Macs were enormously popular. In the next 14 years, Apple consistently evolved the Mac until the unveiling of the iMac in 1998. Quickly the best-selling computer in America, it was an easy, contained unit that was pretty to boot. Apple's quarterly earnings tripled. Apple rose higher with inventions like iTunes and the iPod while Macs steadily refined into the current operating system, OS X. With the evolution initiated and steered by Steve Jobs, computers have changed because of the influence of Macs.

Computers are now more than bulky toys that played crude games or fancy tools used by untouchable scientists. "The Macintosh demonstrated that it was possible and profitable to create a machine to be used by millions and millions of people," said Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, research director for the Institute for the Future. "The gold standard now for personal electronics is, 'Is it easy enough for my grandmother to use it?' People on the Macintosh project were the first people to talk about a product in that way." Peter Friess, president of The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California, said that Steve Jobs "really has changed the world. You hardly find people who changed cultures. He changed culture."

Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/01/23/apple.macintosh.anniversary/
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/01/25-years-of-macintosh.ars
http://www.forbes.com/2003/12/15/cz_qh_1215macat20.html
http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/business/Apple_Through_the_Years.html

When you think of an A-list celebrity, what adjectives comes to mind? Confident. Outgoing. Dynamic. Creative. But did you know a select few of the L.A. elite are secretly nerdy? Yes, it’s true that among the beautiful people are a handful of techies and Trekkies and mathletes.… We’ve rounded up a few of our fave glam geeks:

Dan Grimaldi, who’s double trouble as twins Patsy and Philly on The Sopranos, has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, a master's in operations research and a Ph.D. in data processing. He’s a professor on the math and computer sciences faculty at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn.

Dexter Holland, singer/guitarist of The Offspring, graduated as valedictorian of Pacifica High School. From there, he enrolled in pre-med at the University of Southern California and scored a master’s degree in molecular biology.

Terrence Howard has a full-on filmography: Crash, Hustle & Flow, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Pride, The Brave One, August Rush, Iron Man.… But he wanted to be a science teacher and claims to love, love, love physics. He dropped out of the Pratt Institute for an acting role, but says he wants to go back for a doctorate.

Lisa Kudrow isn’t the ditzy blonde she pretended to be on Friends and in Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion. The brainiac has a psychobiology degree from Vassar College. She pursued a career in research at one time and worked with her father, who’s a physician.

Natalie Portman is a drama queen (Where the Heart Is, The Other Boleyn Girl) and a Queen Amidala (Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Phantom Menace). And she’s a Harvard grad, who put in time as a research assistant in a psychology lab and also worked for law prof Alan Dershowitz.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails studied computer engineering at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. But he’d already been bitten by the music bug back in high school, where he learned to play sax and tuba. He eventually left college to start a band.

Montel Williams has more than a talk show under his belt. He has an engineering degree from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and served as a special duty intelligence officer specializing in cryptology.