Seattle, Washington — May 14, 2018 — Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and John Blankenship are proud to announce the immediate availability of the book The Apple House: How to Computerize Your Home Using Your Apple II Computer.
Originally published in 1984 by Pearson Education, Inc, the new 186 page book is completely remastered and re-typeset. Additionally, all of John Blankenship’s custom home automation software featured in the book has been retyped and made available on a free disk image. No digital copies of this software are otherwise available online or found in John Blankenship’s personal disk archives.
Availability
The Apple House: How to Computerize Your Home Using Your Apple II Computer is available through the A.P.P.L.E. bookstore with production and fulfillment by Lulu.com. A disk image for the programs is available on the Apps page.
Features
- Table of Contents.
- Learn how to save time and money by using your Apple II computer to control your home: the security, lights, temperature, telephone, and much more.
- With John Blankenship’s system of software and hardware, your house can accept verbal commands and respond with its own voice. It does not need human instruction and performs many useful tasks on its own. Once you get used to an intelligent house, you will wonder how you ever got along without one.
- Even though devices featured in The Apple House can be purchased, the author shows how you can save money by building some from scratch. He also points out that you can substitute equipment you already own because of the system’s modularity.
- Although written with an Apple II computer in mind, the principles discussed can easily be transferred to other computer systems.
Author
John Blankenship taught programming, robotics, and engineering technology at DeVry University for 33 years. He holds a Masters Degree in Electronic Engineering Technology from Southern Polytechnic State University, an MBA from Georgia State University, and a BSEE from Virginia Polytechnic State University. During his early teaching years, John created Blankenship BASIC for the Apple II computer and other programs like Speech Development System. He wrote magazine articles for publications such as Byte, and numerous Apple books including Apple House, Robotic Arm Projects, and Structured BASIC Programming in BBASIC. After retiring from DeVry, he wanted to develop better methods for teaching and motivating precollege students. John, along with colleague Samuel Mishal, developed RobotBASIC for Windows – a programming language ideally suited to the educational environment. And, because of their desire to contribute to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) movement, John and Sam continue to make RobotBASIC available to schools, teachers, and students absolutely free from RobotBASIC.org.
Producers
Brian Wiser — Apple consultant, historian and archivist. Designer, editor, and co-producer of several books including: Cyber Jack: The Adventures of Robert Clardy and Synergistic Software, Synergistic Software: The Early Games, Nibble Viewpoints: Business Insights From the Computing Revolution, The WOZPAK Special Edition: Steve Wozniak’s Apple-1 & Apple II Computers, The Colossal Computer Cartoon Book: Enhanced Edition, and What’s Where in the Apple: Enhanced Edition. Producer/Director of the documentary film Done The Impossible: The Fans’ Tale of Firefly & Serenity, Beagle Bros and Applied Engineering webmaster. Brian also co-produced the retro iOS game Structris, and is a co-producer/writer for CallApple.org and Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine.
Bill Martens — Apple historian and enthusiast, Programmer, President of Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) and co-producer of Call-A.P.P.L.E. magazine, Cyber Jack, Synergistic Software: The Early Games, Nibble Viewpoints, The WOZPAK Special Edition, and What’s Where in the Apple: Enhanced Edition. Bill also co-produced and co-programmed the retro iOS game Structris.
Publisher
Apple Pugetsound Program Library Exchange (A.P.P.L.E.) has been a global Apple user group since 1978, with membership peaking near 50,000 in 1985. Offering many services, A.P.P.L.E. is also a book publisher and game developer, and has produced over a dozen new book titles since 2013 in addition to over 100 Apple software titles.
A.PP.L.E. produced and published the The WOZPAK Special Edition – a detailed book containing Steve Wozniak’s restored handwritten notes and printouts about his Apple II computer, as well as a forward from Steve Wozniak and other Apple legends. They also publish: Tome of Copy Protection, Cyber Jack: The Adventures of Robert Clardy and Synergistic Software, Synergistic Software: The Early Games, Nibble Viewpoints: Business Insights From the Computing Revolution by Mike Harvey, What’s Where in The Apple: Enhanced Edition, The Colossal Computer Cartoon Book: Enhanced Edition by David H. Ahl, The A.P.P.L.E. 1978 and 1979 Compendiums, and the retro iOS game Structris.
Press information is available at: www.callapple.org/press
