Mike Ritland

Believe it or not, that's how Apple started. Woz and Jobs made some of their first money selling blue boxes. What is a blue box? So it's the device that would allow you to more or less get free phone calls in the age of having to pay for long distance and stuff. Like go to a pay phone, just pull out your blue box, hold it up to the mouthpiece, press some buttons, make it do what you want.

Believe it or not, that's how Apple started. Woz and Jobs made some of their first money selling blue boxes. What is a blue box? So it's the device that would allow you to more or less get free phone calls in the age of having to pay for long distance and stuff. Like go to a pay phone, just pull out your blue box, hold it up to the mouthpiece, press some buttons, make it do what you want.

Call whoever you want. It was illegal at the time. There was a magazine I got into by a guy named Cap'n Crunch at the time. He got that name because there is a whistle inside of the Cap'n Crunch cereal. that just happened to make that 2600 tone when you blow it. So he didn't have perfect pitch like Joy Bubbles did, but he had the whistle.

Call whoever you want. It was illegal at the time. There was a magazine I got into by a guy named Cap'n Crunch at the time. He got that name because there is a whistle inside of the Cap'n Crunch cereal. that just happened to make that 2600 tone when you blow it. So he didn't have perfect pitch like Joy Bubbles did, but he had the whistle.

Call whoever you want. It was illegal at the time. There was a magazine I got into by a guy named Cap'n Crunch at the time. He got that name because there is a whistle inside of the Cap'n Crunch cereal. that just happened to make that 2600 tone when you blow it. So he didn't have perfect pitch like Joy Bubbles did, but he had the whistle.

So you just blow that into the phone, then you open up certain access with Cracker Jack. Not Cracker Jack, but Cap'n Crunch style toy, which is really cool. But, yeah, you can electronically reproduce those sounds, and that's what they were doing with the blue box. There was, like, red boxes and rainbow boxes.

So you just blow that into the phone, then you open up certain access with Cracker Jack. Not Cracker Jack, but Cap'n Crunch style toy, which is really cool. But, yeah, you can electronically reproduce those sounds, and that's what they were doing with the blue box. There was, like, red boxes and rainbow boxes.

So you just blow that into the phone, then you open up certain access with Cracker Jack. Not Cracker Jack, but Cap'n Crunch style toy, which is really cool. But, yeah, you can electronically reproduce those sounds, and that's what they were doing with the blue box. There was, like, red boxes and rainbow boxes.

There was so many different boxes that would do different things that people would figure out, and they would share that with each other. And, yeah, it was technically criminal, but a lot of people did it at the time. And, yeah, Woz and Jobs took that money and started Apple with it. Nice.

There was so many different boxes that would do different things that people would figure out, and they would share that with each other. And, yeah, it was technically criminal, but a lot of people did it at the time. And, yeah, Woz and Jobs took that money and started Apple with it. Nice.

There was so many different boxes that would do different things that people would figure out, and they would share that with each other. And, yeah, it was technically criminal, but a lot of people did it at the time. And, yeah, Woz and Jobs took that money and started Apple with it. Nice.

Very cool. And I would love to meet that guy one time, but he's a great example of like the old school hacker that was way more about like mischief and just figuring out how things work and not necessarily anything criminal.

Very cool. And I would love to meet that guy one time, but he's a great example of like the old school hacker that was way more about like mischief and just figuring out how things work and not necessarily anything criminal.

Very cool. And I would love to meet that guy one time, but he's a great example of like the old school hacker that was way more about like mischief and just figuring out how things work and not necessarily anything criminal.

Great example.

Great example.

Great example.

Yeah, so I wasn't working there. I was just enjoying it. And there were a lot of different cities would have meetups. Like, hey, 2600 meetup. And you go and meet people that are into that stuff. Really tiny where I was from, so I didn't really go anywhere. But that was cool. It would get you into just more like, hey, here's other ways of hacking that you didn't know about.

Yeah, so I wasn't working there. I was just enjoying it. And there were a lot of different cities would have meetups. Like, hey, 2600 meetup. And you go and meet people that are into that stuff. Really tiny where I was from, so I didn't really go anywhere. But that was cool. It would get you into just more like, hey, here's other ways of hacking that you didn't know about.

Yeah, so I wasn't working there. I was just enjoying it. And there were a lot of different cities would have meetups. Like, hey, 2600 meetup. And you go and meet people that are into that stuff. Really tiny where I was from, so I didn't really go anywhere. But that was cool. It would get you into just more like, hey, here's other ways of hacking that you didn't know about.