Newton Poetry

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Via badbanana.

One possible outcome of the Apple tablet rumors.

I’d buy it.

[Via Joy of Tech.]

What you’re looking at is the high crest of some Mac appreciation wave that is only now breaking.

I posted my Apple.com, circa 1983 picture on June 29 – three days after sharing it on Flickr. Since then, the image has been shared on numerous blogs (including one of my daily reads), and has spread around the world. It’s been an honor to see how this little project took off.

To give you an idea, Newton Poetry typically earns anywhere from 300-700 hits on an average day. For those days that I publish something to Macsurfer, that number can reach into 1,000 or so. But that’s only happened a few times.

Hitting 3,600 hits in a day, however, is unheard of for this blog. It’s madness. And it’s humbling.

The funny thing is, I had a feeling it was coming. Something told me that drafting a snapshot of Apple’s make-believe 1983 web site, something I hadn’t seen anyone tackle before, would be something people could enjoy. But 43,000 views and 30 comments on Flickr (and counting) tells me it reached those Mac fans, like myself, that love the retro kitsch stuff.

Here I thought the first day’s traffic, that little spike you see on the left, was big news. Then things creeped down back to normal, when Cult of Mac wrote about it and – BOOM – off it went. My biggest source of traffic has come from some German web sharing service Swedish blog network that I’ve never heard of. Amazing.

Looking at it almost a month later, there’s some things that I would change about the mockup. For one, someone pointed out that I had the wrong Apple II at the bottom. I’d like to mess with the kerning a bit on the headlines.

Also, some have suggested that I should have used Apple’s old serif font (what would become a modified version of Garamond) for the typeface. But I hate that typeface, and I wanted to keep things simple and more modern. Besides, the picture was thrown together on a Thursday night, the product of an idea and some Google Image searching, and is by no means an accurate representation. It only shows what one could do with Apple’s iconic web site design.

Most of all, my little project has shown the power of the share-able web. After I posted the mockup and Twittered it, the thing spread immediately to blogs and re-Tweets, and started generating unheard-of levels of traffic to this site.

So thanks to everyone who chimed in, shared the picture, and visited this site. I hope some of you will stick around, because I do love me some classic Macintosh, and Newton, and am willing to do more of this kind of thing.

I have a Newton launch day version of Apple.com swimming in my head as I type.

A bit of fun today. It was only a matter of time before someone would parody the “Congrats, It’s a PC” ads by Microsoft.

Apple has already responded in their smug way, but this kind of thing is much better. I mean, not even the homeless guy will buy an HP.

I wonder how Blue Ray compatibility would help Homeless Frank’s cough?

It’s amazing, the referring web sites that come across WordPress’s blog stats plugin.

Take this one: Google April Fool’s search. Someone searched for “coworkers” on the parody search site and found my post from last year about me pranking my coworkers.

The site isn’t officially affiliated with Google. Instead, it was created by Philipp Lenssen, who runs the Google Blogoscoped blog.

April Fool’s Day is like Christmas for me. I celebrate it every year, much to the chagrin of my roommate and coworkers, because I love to pull pranks.

If nothing else, Google April Fool’s search offers unique job opportunities for those willing to…uh…relocate to exotic destinations.

With April Fool’s coming up soon, this is a site I will be visiting often.

I must say: I’m not a big fan of the new iPod Shuffle. I bought a 2G model, one of the bright blue ones, and I love it. It’s perfect for my gym workouts and jogging trips.

But this new simplistic one is just a step too far. I mean, what’s there to like? It’s a metallic slab.

Thankfully, some geniuses have invented the iMac Shuffle – “simplicity defined.”

Just think. All you need is a big metallic slab of Mac to stare at all day. Isn’t that wonderful?

[Via Macenstein.]

I might be a little late here, with Christmas coming up, but if you’re still looking for the perfect gift for the Newton lover in your family, this might be it.

Here we have the Apple Newton plaque, custom designed by artist Cynthia Malaran that’s available for purchase (only $60!) at Shanalogic.com. Cynthia has all kinds of retro tech plaques (I like the Mac one) ready for the geek who has everything.

I’d venture to say Cynthia has crafted a mock-up of the MessagePad 2000. And I’m no art critic, but that stylus looks a little chubby, don’t you think?

You might not get it in time for this year’s holiday season, but there’s always next year.

[Via Geeksugar.com.]

“This is Steve Wozniak. You think I’m a fat lazy billionaire who cuts the line at Apple stores and hasn’t done anything serious with my life since 1982, and I think you’re a shit stain on the underpants of journalism. So can we talk?”

Quoted by Dan Lyon (formerly Fake Steve Jobs), on his new blog “RealDan,” from his phone call from Apple co-founder Steve “Woz” Wozniak.

It’s all thanks to the Steve Jobs opening line generator.

Fun! But I often think about that “haven’t done anything since 1982” part. Woz was the “good guy” back in the proto-days of Apple, and since then he’s become a teacher and a bit of an inventor, but not much else. I guess when you’re worth millions, you can do whatever the heck you want. Like call Dan up.

It’s on.

That low-life crank Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, has been leaving comments (here, here, and here) on Newton Poetry, and I’m tired of the abuse.

Okay, not really. It’s actually “Fake Steve Ballmer,” who is the *ahem* last man standing in the battle of fake technology powerhouses.

The Fake Ballmer site was a result of Dan Lyon’s own “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs” blog, which – in its hey-day – was one of the funniest and spot-on commentaries in technology. Fake Steve thrashed the real Steve Ballmer on a near-constant basis. Now Fake Ballmer is getting his revenge.

What made the Fake Steve site so funny was Steve Jobs real personality: all Zen-like and simple one minute, and firing people in a hissy fit the next. Steve Ballmer’s personality makes for a funny satire, too, but it’s a little too easy (developers, anyone?). People see Ballmer as an oaf and Bill Gates’s thug, and Microsoft is always an easy target.

I’m guessing is that Fake Ballmer is actually an Apple fan or Microsoft critic (or both), because by using Fake Ballmer to defend Microsoft’s evil, he or she is actually showing how silly it all sounds.

But it’s still good fun, and we welcome Mr. Ballmer’s comments anytime here at Newton Poetry. No Uncle Fester jokes – I promise.

When Merlin Mann, GTD guru and author of the 43 Folders blog, invented the Hipster PDA, he probably knew the adaptability of a plain index card idea holder would be infinite.

Us Newton MessagePad users, however, might scoff at the idea. Index cards? Color coding? Binder clips? It all seems so…Office Max.

But maybe Mann is on to something. Why can’t we Newton fans adapt the idea of the Hipster PDA into something more, I don’t know, Apple?

That’s why I’m introducing the pNewton, a Hipster-style MessagePad that takes the best ideas of the Hipster PDA and makes them even better.

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