Newton Poetry

Sometimes it’s fun to see how the other guys do it. In this case, T-Mobile is offering a G1 simulator running Google’s Android operating system.

It’s really an Adobe Flash-based simulator, but it gives you a good feel for how the G1’s music player (above), contacts, and apps behave. Most of all, it’s neat to see how another touch-screen phone other than the iPhone operates.

Hopefully, Palm will do something similar when they release the Palm Pre.

Thanks to Ryan Vetter from This Old Mac, we now have an up-and-running wiki for all things Newton: the Newton Knowledge Wiki.

Ryan’s heart is certainly in the right place:

The whole purpose of the site is to allow new users of the Newton to get going quickly, and to give experienced users a repository of useful information that may have been forgotten with time.

Instead of searching through the NewtonTalk list or the semi-available Wiki Wiki Newt, Ryan’s wiki can serve as a home base for how-to articles.

Writers have already started to post articles, such as how to connect your MessagePad with Windows, or making and reading eBooks. Ryan is looking for more articles and more writers, so if you’ve got some how-to in you, head to the wiki and start posting.

I love my music, and I love listening to the radio, but lately – especially at the gym – I’ve been devouring podcasts. For me, podcasts are like little radio shows that you can listen to whenever the heck you want.

Unlike radio, podcasts are mainly done by amateurs for fun. There are a few that take sponsorships (like MacBreak Weekly), and those are non-intrusive, but most are put together by hobbyists who just want to share. I like to think of them as audio blogs, in a way, even though some are based on TV or radio shows.

The “pod” in “podcasts” comes from the iPod, of course, mainly because iTunes made it super easy to subsribe to shows. And that’s how I do it: I have running subscriptions that come in, usually, on a weekly basis.

So I wanted to share the ones that I never miss. I’d also love to hear your favorite podcasts, because I’m always looking for new shows to try out.

A note: when you click the main title of the show, you’ll be sent to iTunes – so if you don’t have iTunes, click the link in the body of the description.

THE TALK SHOW
A frustratingly-irregular podcast with Daring Fireball’s John Gruber and Hivelogic’s Dan Benjamin, The Talk Show is basically two nerdy guys talking about nerdy subjects. John and Dan mostly cover Mac-related topics, but their conversations have strayed from movies to flat-screens to football. One of the best is John’s rant on using an Apple Extended II keyboard, circa 1988, even on his modern Macs. The Talk Show is one of the best examples of a plain, no-frills podcast I can share. It’s the kind of show that makes the whole format worth supporting. The only problem is, it’s not on any set schedule – so catch it when you can.

MACBREAK WEEKLY
The obligatory Mac podcast, MacBreak Weekly is special because of the roundtable of commentators – including Andy Ihnatko, Scott Borne, and sometimes Merlin Mann, with a cast of special guests (like John Gruber – see above) that join the show once in a while. I’ve tried a few other Macintosh-related podcasts, but none of them are near as much fun as MacBreak Weekly. MBW is where the whole crew, with host Leo Laporte, chat over Apple-related news stories, rumors, and philosophy in a very non-serious way. Sometimes clocking in at an hour and a half, there are tons of “rat holes” (off-topic conversations) and goofing off. I never miss an episode, and I think it’s because listening to the gang ramble on is like inviting a bunch of friends into your brain every week. Scary? A little, but so worth it. The crew share “Picks of the Week” – good Mac or iPhone apps – as well as their personal projects each episode, and I’ve picked up a few good tips along the way. Mostly, MBW is a high-powered hour or so of Mac geekiness.

THIS AMERICAN LIFE
As one of the most popular podcasts offered, This American Life needs little introduction. It’s a smart, low-key NPR radio program that, if you miss it on the weekends, you can catch it in its podcast form. I only knew TAL as the program that followed A Prairie Home Companion on my local NPR station, but after I heard the program about how an Oklahoma preacher was shunned after he stopped believing in Hell, I was hooked. I’ll never forget driving through New Hampshire, listening to “The Giant Pool of Money,” and finally understanding what the credit crisis was all about. Some people make fun of Ira Glass’s radio show for being too quirky and too “so what?” But for me, you can’t get any more relevant than what TAL has become.

ZENCAST
Based on the west coast, near San Francisco, Zencast comes from Gil Fronsdal’s weekly talk at the Insight Meditation Center. When I was learning to meditate, I used Zencast’s beginning classes to get started.

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL
Bill Moyers’ podcast has its origins in his weekly PBS program. Think of it as a left-of-center “Meet the Press,” but instead of politicians, Moyers interviews academics, economists, political operatives, authors, and noteworthy figures about American issues. Moyers was the Press Secretary for President Johnson, but has used his journalism background for impactful reporting for years now. His Texas accent and folksiness make his program laid back and respectful. Moyers is a smart guy, too, which helps. I’ve heard great programs on everything from what Barry Goldwater would think of the Republican Party these days to famous writers’ thoughts on religion.

YOU LOOK NICE TODAY
Scott Simpson, Lonely Sandwich, and Merlin Mann do a sort of improv-meets-topical-meets-discussion-meets-goofiness show. Merlin described it as “comedy for people with a master’s degree,” and I’ll agree. What’s really embarrassing is laughing out loud at the gym, thanks to this show. I probably look crazy, but if anyone asks if I forgot my meds, I’ll be glad to recommend YLNT. The guys do a few live shows, have had Jonathan Hodgman (the “PC” guy in Apple ads) on, and even maintain a companion blog. If you like your humor dry and smart (and who doesn’t?), than this “journal of emotional hygiene” is right for you.

DAVE RAMSEY SHOW
Finally, there’s Mr. Ramsey and his Total Money Makeover radio show. I listen to this one mainly at work. Dave hosts a call in show where people ask about financial situations and ask for advice, and Dave offers his opinions freely. I was fortunate enough to take Dave’s Financial Peace University classes, and it helped turn my money situation around. The basics? Save up for emergencies, pay off all your debt, and use your income to live happily ever after. Sounds easy enough, but it’s not. That’s where Dave’s tough-love philosophy comes in handy. The radio show is simply a sounding board for Dave’s outlook, but he really does help people.

Check that out.

Frank Gruendel from pda-soft.de has created a multi-display FrankenNewt. Scribble on one screen, and the results show up on the other.

Frank has always been a source of great hardware fixes and DIY projects. Now if only someone could get an actual dual-screen Newton going…

[Via Newtontalk.]

John Sculley’s original idea, the Knowledge Navigator – a hyper PDA of sorts, with stellar artificial intelligence and a bit of personality.

The Newton could be said to be the realization of Sculley’s concept. Watch the video, and let me know what you think. You can also download Apple’s video from UNNA.

Seems like the iPhone and our always-networked Macs are bringing some of the ideas of the Knowledge Navigator to life, but we still have a long way to go in the AI department.

Since my eMate 300 arrived at the end of last summer, I’ve struggled with ideas on how to use it. I bought mine mainly as a testing machine; my MessagePad 110 could only run Newton OS 1.x applications, and I wanted to experiment with more recent Newton apps. Also, eMates don’t have the portability and flexibility of their MP2x00 cousins.

So, what to do? It’s only recently, as I think back to the eMate’s original use (education, writing, word processing), that I’ve thought of a practical use for the little green machine: a journal writer.

I’ve been a writer as long as I can remember. As a kid, I used a typewriter to hammer out short stories. When I discovered the computer, it opened up a whole new world for me. I grew up to be editor of my high school and college newspaper, earned my degree in journalism, and went on to be a professional public relations writer. I live and breathe the written word.

A few years ago, I picked up journaling after a long hiatus. A plain notepad and pen have been the victims of random thoughts since I graduated college in 2003. After using a keyboard for so long, though, I notice my hand fatigues after only a few paragraphs. It’s no laughing matter.

I thought about using one of my Mac SEs as a journaling machine, just as an excuse to turn on of the little guys, but the SEs lack the true portability I was looking for. Laptops are fine – I have two iBooks – but finding excuses to use my classic Apple hardware was the goal. The eMate was just what I was looking for in a writing machine.

At home, the eMate works fine. But the rechargable battery is dead, and it’s not like a standard MessagePad with replaceable batteries. The eMate’s battery is wired in. So my next project is to find a usable eMate battery and replace my dead one.

When that happens, the eMate’s portability will be good enough to carry with me on vacations, trips to the coffeeshop, and even local performances or exhibits, where I can type down my thoughts. The smaller eMate keyboard will take some getting used to, but I’ve used it a few times already, and it’s not that big of a change.

In the meantime, I’m going to use Newton Works (with, perhaps, a few add-ons) to keep an electronic journal. I may search for other word processor apps, just to test the options, and implement a folder structure by year for organization. Now that I have Newton-to-OS X syncing down pat, I can even export my entries as text files – just in case any of them work as a blog post.

It’s hard to justify owning an eMate just for testing and projects alone. Over time, I can think about other uses for it other than journaling – like recipe-keeping (that old cliché) or even Twittering. Who knows?

All this will give me an excuse to poke around the Newton 2.0 interface a bit more, try out some apps, and goof around with my newest Newton. Stay tuned – the next Newton Poetry post could be typed out on an eMate keyboard.

Dan Knight at Low End Mac:

It’s a good life writing about the Mac and working with other writers with the same passion, but it’s had its ups and downs. I left my full-time job do publish Low End Mac full-time eight years ago, just as the dot-com collapse was shredding ad income. Things bottomed-out in 2002 at less than 1/10 of a cent per page view in ad income while site traffic grew by nearly 25%.

Now, he says, times are getting tougher. One of the scary realities of leaving a “real world” job for one running a web site is the swing of the market, and Dan and company seem to be affected like everyone else.

I visit Low End Mac daily because it offers a historical view of the Mac platform, something that has interested me since I picked up my first Mac and Newton a few years ago. It’s a damn fine, fun site, with tons of great insight into keeping your classic Macs running in tip-top shape.

And speaking of “tip,” Dan encourages readers to donate to the site’s Tip Jars at the end of each post. I’ll be sure to give him some of my support.

“Through October, income seemed to hold steady, and then came the crash.,” Dan writes. “We don’t know what February holds (checks usually arrive the last week of the month), but we’re looking at our options.”

What’s worse is Dan lives in Michigan, the same state I live in (a bit north of me near Grand Rapids), which means a “real life” job isn’t easy to come by. I wish Dan all the luck in the world.

Head to The Gadgeteer to read an interview with Newton MessagePad user Marisa Giancarla, who is working on another eBook reader for the Newton.

Just a heads up: Eckhart Köppen posted a wiki on his site, 40hz, that describes the 2010 Newton problem and some possible solutions. He also posted a wiki on patching the Newton.

Köppen is a Newton developer as well, and has posted some thoughts on how to do GTD on the Newton.

The good news is there are really smart people working on the Year 2010 issue, and Köppen seems to think getting a patch up and running will require “less black magic than anticipated,” as he told the Newtontalk list.

This is a small, personal victory, but I’ve always wondered how to network my lone OS 9 Mac, an iMac G3, with my OS X Macs.

One day, it just worked. And I still can’t explain it.

Let me tell you how cool it was, though, to have full access to all my iMac’s files – even access to the CD-ROM WarCraft game I had in the iMac. All through a simple AirPort Extreme base station.

In fact, the connection worked so well, I was able to run my iMac’s SimCity 2000 game on my OS X Mac. Now that’s a connection.

After my OS 9 iMac went to sleep, however, I’ve lost the connection and haven’t been able to network the two Macs again. But I’m going to keep trying, and do a little research to see if I can keep the network up for longer periods of time.