Remember the command line interface? Remember when you had to play with IRQ and DMA settings then add lines to the autoexec.bat just to install a sound card? Remember when you wrote down phone numbers on paper instead of a PalmPilot? Remember when computers were ugly? Every successful feature of today's PCs and related products had to be invented somewhere. Even if the inventor or the first company to use the idea lost their shirt in the process, someone eventually made these ideas successful enough for them to become the industry standard. Shocking as it may sound, many things we take for granted in today's PC, including everything listed above, either started at or was proven successful at Apple Computer.

You may think that Apple makes nothing but cute toys, you may never touch a Mac, you may even think that Mac coverage has no place on a PC hardware site, but Apple has been bringing innovative products to market and pushing computer technology forward for over two decades. While Apple products have failed on the market many times, with the Newton handheld device as a prime example, others have picked up on Apple's ideas and turned them into PC standards, just as 3Com did when they made the PalmPilot.

Today, we're going to look at what Apple is doing now and in the near future. Why? When Apple blazes a trail today, you can bet that others are paying attention and, if the idea is good, you may see it in your PC someday. Read on to find out what apples we think the PC industry is going to pick from the tree of Apple's knowledge.