Things To Do In SW Florida

BOSTON (AP) — A vintage Apple computer signed by company co-founder Steve Wozniak is being sold at auction.

The Apple-1 set in motion the company that in June became the first publicly traded business to close a trading day with a $3 trillion market value, according to RR Auction in Boston. The computer has been restored to a fully operational state and comes with a custom-built case with a built-in keyboard, the agency said.

“It’s an incredibly rare commodity,” said Tim Bajarin, chairman of Creative Strategies, a technology research firm with deep knowledge of the industry. “You can trace the growth of the PC industry to the Apple-1.”

The computer, which originally sold for about $666, is expected to sell for about $200,000 at an auction that runs through Aug. 24. An Apple-1 prototype sold last year for nearly $700,000.

“Before this, the idea of having a personal computer was totally outrageous,” Bajarin said.

About 200 were manufactured in Steve Jobs’ garage in Los Altos, California, in 1976 and 1977 and about 175 of them were sold, RR’s Executive Vice President Bobby Livingston said. read more

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is asking a federal appeals court to largely put on hold a ruling that blocked a new law aimed at preventing children from attending drag shows.

The state filed a motion Friday at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell of Orlando overstepped his powers when he issued a preliminary injunction that applied statewide against the law.

Presnell’s ruling came in a constitutional challenge filed by the Orlando restaurant Hamburger Mary’s.

The motion seeks a stay of the injunction while the DeSantis administration pursues an appeal at the Atlanta-based court. The motion, if granted, would allow the law to be enforced against establishments statewide, except against Hamburger Mary’s, which would continue to be shielded by the injunction.

“An injunction preventing enforcement of the statute against HM (Hamburger Mary’s) fully protects HM from any … harm,” said the motion, filed by lawyers in Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office. “In granting broader relief, the district court irreparably harmed the state by ordering it to refrain from enforcing a duly enacted law designed to protect children from exposure to age-inappropriate, sexually explicit live performances.” read more

A YouTube celebrity is going to court to try to shut down a virtual restaurant bearing his name that has significant Orlando connections, including to restaurateur Robert Earl.

Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, wants a federal court to declare that he has the right to shut down MrBeast Burger, a brand from Orlando-based Virtual Dining Concepts.

Earl, known for Planet Hollywood and chains like Buca di Beppo, co-founded Virtual Dining Concepts and has helped publicize MrBeast Burger. He is not named as a defendant in the case, however.

Beast Investments LLC sued Virtual Dining Concepts and two other companies on Monday in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York.

Virtual restaurants such as MrBeast Burger allow restaurants to add menus under different names on delivery apps like Uber Eats.

Beast Investments entered into an agreement in September 2020 to start MrBeast Burger and it launched in December of that year, the lawsuit said. MrBeast Burger, which as of Tuesday remained available on Uber Eats in Orlando, grew to 1,700 locations by 2022, according to the lawsuit. read more

Orange County Regional History Center is celebrating the run of its “Figurehead” exhibit with concerts, a Sunday brunch and a limited-capacity walking tour of downtown Orlando sites with ties to back in the day.

“Figurehead: Music & Mayhem in Orlando’s Underground” opened at the museum last September with the intention of a roughly yearlong run. Its stay now has been extended through the end of 2023.

The exhibit looks at Orlando’s music scene of the late 1980s and 1990s told through the lens of promoter Figurehead, which was headed up by Jim Faherty. It features underground bands, the club circuit and the concert-going community. Eye-catching concert posters of the era are a big part of the history center’s presentation.

There also are musical bits, explanations of how concert promoting works, Jim Leatherman photos, props and references to acts such as Jonathan Richman, Sonic Youth, Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, Guided by Voices and Jason Ross of Orlando-based Seven Mary Three. read more

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS (AP Business Writer)

NEW YORK (AP) — Troubled trucking company Yellow Corp. is shutting down and headed for a bankruptcy, the Teamsters said Monday.

An official bankruptcy filing is expected any day for Yellow, after years of financial struggles and growing debt. Its expected liquidation would mark a significant shift for the U.S. transportation industry and shippers nationwide.

“Today’s news is unfortunate but not surprising. Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions in bailout funding from the federal government,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said, in an announcement saying the union had been served with legal notice for the bankruptcy filing. “This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry.”

Yellow is one of the nation’s largest less-than-truckload carriers. The closure of the 99-year-old Nashville, Tennessee-based company risks a loss of 30,000 jobs. Yellow shut down operations on Sunday, according to The Journal, following the layoffs of hundreds of nonunion employees on Friday. read more