3D designer and illustrator Peter Zigich has posted a number of beautifully rendered mockups of what a future Mac Pro could look like, were it to use significantly more efficient CPUs. It is, of course, highly likely that Peter’s designs will bear no resemblance to what Apple is reportedly planning for this year’s Mac Pro refresh, but it’s still fun to ponder whether or not his designs could work.

On 6 October 1997, Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Inc., when asked how he would fix the then-struggling Apple Computer, told an audience at the Gartner Symposium that, were he in charge at Apple, he would “shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.” Today, Bloomberg reports that Dell is said to be in buyout talks with private equity firms. Meanwhile, the once-beleaguered Apple has something in the neighborhood of $123 billion in cash and securities on hand, according to its last financial statement.

An “art project to explore distances and heroism in user interface design” from masswerk.at offers a Google search interface as it might have appeared in the days of punch cards and line printers. Between the sound effects and the artfully rendered skeuomorphic interface, you’ll be sweeping chad off the floor.

Watch TidBITS’s own Glenn Fleishman have his wits and reflexes challenged on the Jeopardy quiz show! (Sadly, the shows are not available as streaming media or after their initial broadcast.) In the linked article at the Economist, Glenn explains his cramming strategy.

We’re not sure what’s more amazing about this Saturday Night Live sketch from last week: that the bit is funny, or that it pokes fun at Apple products and the entire industry in a way that doesn’t reflexively rely on lazy rumors or reporting. In it, bloggers from CNET, Wired, and Gizmodo are interviewed about the iPhone 5’s problems such as the new Maps app, lens flare when taking photos of the sun, being too thin and light, and susceptibility to scratches. Count on a trio of guests to put them in their place. (Our apologies to international readers since Hulu isn’t available in other countries. You may be able to find a copy on YouTube or other video sharing sites before NBC has it removed.)

If you regularly attend technology or engineering conferences, you might enjoy editor Glenn Fleishman’s account at Boing Boing of the recent XOXO Festival in Portland, Oregon. XOXO brought people who make things together with those who have new methods of reaching customers, an audience, fans, or colleagues directly, such as Kickstarter and Etsy. Beyond the content, the conference captured a magic that’s rarely found in such events.

Viewing the photos sent back from NASA’s Mars Curiosity mobile science laboratory has been exciting over the last week, but here’s one with a twist… and a roll. Open this link on an iOS device that contains a gyroscope sensor — like the iPad 2 and third-generation iPad, iPhone 4 and 4S, and fourth-generation iPod touch — and navigate the panorama by tilting and moving the device. (Bonus points for scanning the horizon while you’re sitting in a swivel chair!)

New York Times columnist David Pogue’s iPhone went missing while he was taking the Amtrak train home from a television shoot in Philadelphia. After it started reporting its location via Find My iPhone and he tweeted about its loss, the story went viral, with Gizmodo posting frequent updates and street photos of the house where the iPhone was located. By the end of the day, local police had recovered the phone, but anyone hoping for a tense hostage situation or shootout with the thieves was disappointed — the iPhone was found lying in the grass in the back yard. It’s worth assuming this approach is unlikely to work for those who don’t write for a major metropolitan newspaper or have 1.4 million Twitter followers.

Matthew Lasar at Ars Technica offers a look back at the wonder and glory that was HyperCard, Apple’s software construction kit for the rest of us. In its time, HyperCard enabled the development of software like Myst, the interactive Whole Earth Catalog, and the Voyager Expanded Books. And of course, TidBITS, which we published as a HyperCard stack for our first 99 weekly issues.

Apple made an in-house parody ad of its famous “1984” ad called “1944” that has to be seen to be believed. A long-ago Apple employee, Craig Elliott, provided the video to Network World’s Paul McNamara. Steve Jobs does an impression of FDR, among other bizarre moments. It was made to pump up Apple’s sales force, and may not have been seen since 1984.