Link roundup

1. The LA Times says you shouldn't buy a car this year. You can click through and find out exactly why, but the article's existence is awfully interesting - - the car companies must have stopped buying ads, right?

2. The Nike + GPS running app is currently free at iTunes. Via.

3. I want to get a wifi router for my parents and need something simple and dependable. (It'll be mostly used for a Kindle, Dell laptop, iPhone and Droid.) Any suggestions? (I have a Cisco ValetPlus, which I've been less than thrilled with.)

Malcolm Gladwell's new article is about Apple, the first mouse, and intellectual property theft

Malcolm Gladwell's new article is about the early days of Apple:

By 1979, Apple was already one of the hottest tech firms in the country. So Jobs proposed a deal: he would allow Xerox to buy a hundred thousand shares of his company for a million dollars—its highly anticipated I.P.O. was just a year away—if PARC would “open its kimono.” Jobs was given a couple of tours, and he ended up standing in front of a Xerox Alto, PARC’s prized personal computer. Describes the innovations the Alto featured, including the mouse, icons, and “windows.” Xerox soon began selling a version of the Alto. It was slow and underpowered—and Xerox withdrew from personal computers. Jobs, meanwhile, raced back to Apple, and demanded that the team working on the company’s next generation of personal computers change course. He wanted menus on the screen. He wanted windows. He wanted a mouse. The result was the Macintosh, perhaps the most famous product in the history of Silicon Valley.

The article is for subscribers only. There's also a slideshow of early mouse designs. It all started with a butter dish and roll-on deodorant stick.

*Buy vintage Macs at eBay.

Link roundup

1. This review will make you think strongly about buying a first gen iPad instead of the iPad 2.

2. And if I had a tablet, I'd definitely sign up - - a year of Marvel's Unlimited Digital Comics is $60, and right now it's 30% off with the code Thor302011.

3. Portal dual screen wallpapers.

*Buy iPads at eBay.

Link roundup

1. Flickr posted a collection of fennec fox photos.

2. What impact did the tsunami have on Apple's ability to keep producing iPhones etc? They claim it had "no supply or cost impact."

3. Portal turret Easter egg. Also, an explanation for who the bald guy is on Valve's splash screen.