David Gelphman

@gelphman
257 Followers
525 Following
204 Posts
Formerly a Software Engineer in Graphics and Imaging at Apple. Co-author of Programming with Quartz. Icelandic horse and Maine Coon cat fan.
Bloghttps://davidgelphman.wordpress.com
LocationSanta Cruz, CA
David GelphmanAug 25, 2025
@caseyliss I enjoyed your Mail/YoLink post, especially since I have a similar but much more simplified setup. When you mentioned Mikaela’s excitement about the mail I thought you’d want to know about this service if you weren’t already aware of it. https://www.usps.com/manage/informed-delivery.htm
Informed Delivery® - Mail & Package Notifications | USPS

Informed Delivery is a free service from USPS that shows you preview images of incoming mail, plus status updates about your incoming and outbound packages. Get notifications in a morning Daily Digest email, or at any time from the dashboard using your smartphone, computer, or USPS Mobile app.

David GelphmanJul 24, 2024
@overcastfm do you still expect syncing to work properly for accounts with a userid/password login? I find that reordering items in playlists works visually initially but after a short time they revert back. It seems like the new order isn’t being pushed out to the server.
David GelphmanMay 24, 2024

This old story is relevant to OpenAI’s imitating Scarlett Johansson’s voice. And I especially love the quote about Tom Waits from one of the jurors: “The first time I saw him I thought this was a criminal case and he was a criminal, and when he left the court the first time, we thought he was getting away,”

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-05-09-me-238-story.html

Tom Waits Wins $2 1/2 Million in Voice-Theft Suit

In a novel case of voice theft, a Los Angeles federal court jury Tuesday awarded gravel-throated recording artist Tom Waits $2.475 million in damages from Frito-Lay Inc. and its advertising agency.

Los Angeles Times
David GelphmanFeb 17, 2024
It was a good day today, with a lovely ride on our horses at Ft Ord. And I did not have a $400M+ legal judgment issued against me.
David GelphmanJan 24, 2024

My first Mac was the 128k bought for $1k at Stanford’s discount. When Byte Magazine published an article on how to upgrade it to 512k my roommate Marc and I were all in.

Marc was one of the 1st people at Silicon Graphics and got the chips. Marc did his board and took me to SGI for me to do mine. I was terrified! But a very nice tech took pity on me and did the job.

It’s impossible to convey what an amazing upgrade it was. You could even copy an entire 400k floppy with only 1 swap instead of 4!

David GelphmanJan 24, 2024

Happy 40’th Birthday Macintosh! You changed my life. Without you I would not have met my wife, would not have had the career I had, and would not live in the beautiful environs I do.

On the Mac’s 30th anniversary I wrote up a bit of that story, all of which applies today.

https://davidgelphman.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/30-years-of-macintosh/

30 Years of Macintosh

Without a doubt the introduction of the Macintosh changed my life. In 1984 I was nearing the completion of my PhD in physics. I knew I wasn’t going to continue in physics and I had no idea what I w…

David Gelphman's Blog
David GelphmanDec 28, 2023
I can finally reveal that I was not the mastermind behind the code (and book) I supposedly wrote for Apple. Pictured here for the first time is the true author.
David GelphmanDec 5, 2023

A random phone number texted me: “ok, because if it rains, the bull cannot be used.”

This seems like the first sentence of a novel I might like to read. What comes next?

David GelphmanOct 14, 2023
Show threadKelly GuimontOct 14, 2023
@dnanian @gelphman @Gte John Prine's duet with Stephen Colbert is lovely. https://youtu.be/XokTQSGNj3Q?si=thav2vtFYvwvkiM4
John Prine And Stephen Colbert: "That's the Way the World goes Round"

YouTube
David GelphmanOct 6, 2023

The anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death brings back memories for many people and I have a few of my face to face interactions. But my best memory of interacting with Steve was through an email exchange. I wrote this in 2013 but it still brings me to tears.

https://davidgelphman.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/2-letters-from-steve/

2 Letters from Steve

During the 12+ years I worked at Apple I never met with Steve Jobs for work purposes. Of course like all Apple employees I saw Steve in Caffé Macs or walking with Jony Ive around the courtyard insi…

David Gelphman's Blog