Newton Poetry

David and I had a very special guest on The hello Show, episode 12: Thomas Brand of Egg Freckles.

Thomas was nice enough to share some of his stories as a head Apple Store Genius, why he has such a cool job, and which were some of the worst Macs to repair back in the day.

His Egg Freckles blog has been an inspiration since the early days of Newton Poetry, and Thomas is always a good source of MessagePad-based stuff.

Much like Grant, talking to Tom for the show helps personalize the fun folks you talk to through Twitter or who leave comments on the blog. We now know what the guy sounds like, and that’s pretty cool.

Enjoy the show by downloading the MP3 off the site or subscribing through iTunes.

It’s finally here: episode 11 of The hello Show, with David Kendal, me, and special guest Damian Ward.

Damian is a classic Mac collector in the truest sense. We talk about collecting old Macintoshes, why people do such crazy things, and a bit about recent Apple news.

Side note: when it comes to Mario Kart Wii racing, David and I are dead-even. Balloon and coin matches however? That’s another story…

What’s fun is that, with David in Northern England and me here in Michigan, we played a great series of Mario Kart races – even an ocean away.

This after today’s show toot:

Episode 11 is on its way. We’re being particularly lazy right now, and it’s all @davelawrence8’s fault.

What’s this “we” crap, David?

Stay tuned for the long-delayed episode 11. And have fun with Panic’s Coda Notes.

UPDATE: David and I are settling this Wild West style – with a Mario Kart Wii battle for the ages. Let us know if you want to trade Wii/Mario Kart user numbers to play online. Maybe a The hello Show tournament?

My podcasting pal David and I have hit the 10 episode mark over at The hello Show. If you’ve stuck with us this long, there’s no turning back now.

Our listeners must be like cranked-up “Lost” fans who have a backup generator for the DVD player – you know, just in case. Only replace “DVD player” with “iPod” and you have the typical profile of a The hello Show fan.

David and I, we’re not experts on much of anything. David has strong opinions, while I tend to waffle, but the magic is made in the middle: UK keyboards, an inane obsession with the iMac G4, and cross-pond currency conversions.

Coming soon, though, we have some real fun planned. Guests, where we throw some third sap in the middle of our lion’s den, should make things interesting.

Follow the show on Twitter, rate us on iTunes, and let us know what you think.

My podcast co-consipirator, David Kendal, finally posted a good image of himself for the world to see. A brave thing, especially in the hands of someone rotten like me.

It struck me, looking at David’s photo, how much he looks like my guitar hero, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.

Let’s see what you think:

What do you say? David think he’s more of a Leonardo di Caprio than (the also-British, and insanely-talented) Mr. Gilmour.

We discussed this, and other fascinating topics, on our latest show. Tune in for David’s suggestion as to who I look like.

David also kicked off a The hello Show secret meeting place, if you have any thoughts or photos to share.

Thanks, as always, for listening.

It was with tremendous pleasure that David and I got to speak with Grant Hutchinson, aka Splorp, during our show this week.

Since I first discovered the Newton, and in all the research afterward, Grant’s name kept popping up in all these different and helpful places. His FAQ, his Flickr library and group, his Newted Community – it was all kind of a “welcome to the party” for an up-and-coming Newton fan.

I’ve been lucky enough to talk with Grant about the Newted crash and resurrection, and David was wise enough to invite him on the show for a talk full of retro Mac and Newton goodness (among other things).

What’s neat is that Grant has been an Apple guy from the early days, when he got an Apple II in 1978, and saw his first OMP in Boston at a trade show. The clean, efficient Newton interface was appealing, and now here he is herding the cats of the Newton community, sharing his collection, and embarking on typography projects in his “free” time.

We should feel honored because Dan Benjamin and John Gruber of the thoughtful (and sporadic) podcast The Talk Show were going to invite him on. Grant, during some technical difficulties in recording our show, told us that he sent a spare Newton for Dan to try out. That’s pretty cool.

I think about how much free time Grant spends on a 11-year-dead PDA platform, or dinking around in his retro tech collection, and it helps me to feel that maybe I’m not so crazy after all.

So thanks for that, Grant. And thanks for being on our show.

[Photo courtesy of one Sir David Kendal.]