Newton Poetry

Is Google’s Android mobile platform the Newton fan’s savior at bringing a Newton-clone app to fruition?

When Apple announced the iPhone SDK, I wondered whether someone could use it to develop an Einstein-based Newton app – even just to mess around with – for Apple’s Mobile OS X.

Because of the licensing agreement, a Newton app is probably impossible. But on the open-source Android OS and its new Android Market, the dream of a modern-day Einstein hack might be realized.

Now that Android has its own “app store,” some bootstrapping developer could do something really cool. A touch screen, a stylus, some sort of handwriting recognition, and access to the OS’s dates and contacts and notes, and you might be all set.

I’m positive its nowhere near that simple to develop a Newton emulator for a mobile phone. But one can dream, right?

Wondering what that error code your Newton just spat at you means?

Wonder no more, thanks to UNNA’s NewtonOS Error Database, a searchable reference that lets you look for your error code by number, description, or comments from other users. There is also a drop-down list where you can browse error codes by category, like “Data Link Layers” and “Serial Tool.”

Thanks to Matthew Reidsma on the Newtontalk list for the link. Joel over at Inventor’s Emporium posted a Newton eBook of all the OS 2.x error codes, too. Handy!

Whatever the platform, whatever the year, you can always count on a Tetris clone to help you waste time.

The same is true for the Newton MessagePad. Here, we have Newtris, the falling-block (or “tetromino“) puzzle game, but with a Newton twist. Since there is no d-pad or buttons, you use the stylus and the Newton’s touch-sensitive screen to guide the falling blocks.

Along the left and right of the game screen (above) are arrows that, when you point at them with the stylus, nudge the blocks that way. Want to rotate the blocks clockwise or counterclockwise? Use your stylus and select the twisted arrows. And if you want the blocks to fall faster, simply press the bottom of the screen. Pretty simple.

I found that Newtris was a bit slow on my MessagePad 110. There are newer versions available (something called “Super Newtris” can be had for $15, which seems like madness), but my Newton OS 1.3 can only handle the older games. With the decrease in speed, it’s hard to play Tetris/Newtris: the excitement of rapidly falling blocks is gone. But Newtris is still a handy time-waster, and a good example of how – no matter how old or new the system – the classic games are still fun.

You can download a free version of Newtris at UNNA.org.

How does the Newton MessagePad stack up against former Apple CEO John Sculley’s original Knowledge Navigator idea?

I’ve been doing some thinking, but in the meantime, check out this thorough post by Daniel over at Roughly Drafted on how the Newton came to be, how it failed to fully realize Sculley’s vision, and how Apple may, indeed, come up with the next big platform that could set all our devices free.

“The original intent of the Newton project was not to design a PDA, but to deliver a new tablet-based computer that would leap over the existing Mac user interface,” he says.

Everyone says how the Newton was a great idea, maybe ahead of its time, not really marketable, too darned big, and so on. It seems to me the Newton, along with the iPhone, iPod, and software like iChat, the idea behind an all-encompassing device that does everything from schedule meetings to video conference has already come to pass. The MessagePad may have just been the first match to light the fuse.

Says Daniel:

The Newton actually suffered from a number of fatal flaws; some of its issues relate to Apple’s new platform, which promises to solve many of the same issues that Newton was intended to cover. The main problem with the Newton was in its hardware execution: turning the concepts behind it into a product that could sell.

There have been shorter posts on why the Newton failed here before, but this in-depth article goes about and beyond any explanation I’ve ever read.

From Paul Potts, back in 1993:

Lewis Carroll’s famous poem, Jabberwocky, begins as follows:

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

This is fun nonsense, but interestingly, nonsense can teach us a bit about how the very first MessagePad’s handwriting recognition software works, by bringing about some “worst-case scenario” behavior. Handwriting recognition was one of the features of the original MessagePad that was perhaps too strongly hyped with respect to what it delivered, while the improved recognizers in later models never received the public credit they deserved.

Potts explains in this Folklore.org story how word lists and dictionaries can affect how the Newton translates handwriting. Interesting reading. And while you’re at it, check out the rest of Folklore – Andy Hertzfeld’s compendium of early Macintosh stories.

I couldn’t help but scour the iPhone’s new App Store for applications that mimicked what the Newton MessagePad offered at its height. Here’s what I came up with so far.

Good ol’ PocketMoney. This is a Newton classic, and they even brag about it on the description page. The Newton version is still available, and the new one will set you back $10. I was actually going to review the old school PocketMoney. Instead, it may call for a comparison.

Starmap here is a take on the Newton’s StarChart: basically a star-finder and map that helps you look for planets and such when you’re in your backyard with a telescope. Darned handy if you are an astronomy fan.

Squiggles is pure fun. You can take iPhone photos and doodle all over them in different colors. Your finger becomes the brush. I picked this one because it’s the first one I saw that, in whatever way, translates the MessagePad’s handwriting recognition into a creative app.

Sketches looks like it has the most potential to be Newton-ish. Basically you draw notes, diagrams, or whatever with your finger, and save the file for later. Notepad, anyone?

Have you tried out any of these, or another iPhone app that copies the Newton’s capabilities? Let me know in the comments. I’m going to try some of these myself, and offer a review later.

If you were one of the few people browsing Fox’s fledgling business channel web site yesterday, you may have stumbled on their article, “Apple’s Newton Lives, on the Internet.” It came across the Newtontalk list, and I might have noticed it sooner had the author, Dunstan Prial, provided a link to ‘Newton Poetry’ when he mentioned this site (last paragraph of the article).

While any coverage of the MessagePad is welcome, I took issue with Prial’s johnny-come-lately wording. Here’s Prial making fun of Newton fans in full passive-aggressive mode:

There are Newton blogs, Newton Web sites (organized by something called the United Network of Newton Archives), Newton social networking sites, an annual Worldwide Newton Conference, and seemingly more chatrooms dedicated to the handheld devices than just about any other gadget ever made.

“Personally, I can’t live without Five Speed’s Dashboard, but it really depends on what you’re looking to do with your Newton,” one enthusiast wrote recently on a popular social networking site.

The post reflects the common mix of die-hard exuberance and cutting edge technological savvy typical among current Newton users, who speak their own language.

Prial goes on to note how “some” call Newton fans “fanatics.” Typical Fox News “research.”

The post is one in a series of (wait for it) “Worst Gadgets Ever” articles Foxbusiness.com is running.

Thankfully Prial doesn’t try his hand at any Photoshop work.

If you’re looking to…gulp…replace your Newton, Nokia’s N800 may just be the portable PC you’re looking for.

This according to a review/comparison over here that gets pretty in-depth into the features of the N800, a modern internet tablet that runs about $200.

The modern Linux interface of the N800, however, is not without its drawbacks:

I like the N800. That’s why I bought it. But as great as the N800 is, and as much of an advance it represents technologically over my 10-year-old MessagePad, I am surprised at how much more sophisticated the MessagePad is than the N800 in terms of user experience.

The handwriting recognition, printing and faxing, and battery life (themes we’ve all heard before) are superior on the MessagePad 2100, according to the author.

Check out the full review for another great fight between a modern tablet and our good friend, the Newton.

Lots going on at the WWDC 2008 keynote, which I finally streamed and watched with much joy. Watch it yourself to see all the action, clapping, and skinnier Steve Jobs.

In the meantime, a few thoughts:

• iPod is now a great name. Some folks made fun of the name “iPod” when it was first released. What’s so “pod” about music, after all? But now it fits perfectly. With the iPod Touch, the “pod” become the mobile computing platform – a place to get your e-mail, web, games, and – yes – music. The iPod is now a “pod” for your mobile computing platform.
• “We’ve learned so much.” Here, Jobs displays some real humbleness. .Mac kind of sucked. MobileMe is an improvement of sorts. And Apple admits they had things to learn. That’s great.
• $199? That’s all me. But because I’m such a big fan of the white Apple products (iPod, iBook, everything), I may splurge and grab the 16 GB version. No 32 GB iPhone? That does stink.
• Wait for the Snow Leopard. I wished for a refurbished iMac with Leopard, but now I may just wait until Snow Leopard is released. Why not? “Improved” is always a good word when OSes are concerned. And waiting has seemed to pay off for me so far.
• Chinese character recognizer hack? I can see it happening. Use the handwriting recognition app for Chinese characters and hack it so it will recognize English characters. Boom – a Newton-like HWR emulator. And Jobs was right in the keynote: the lack of plastic keys or a physical stylus actually plays in the multi-language-supported iPhone’s and iPod Touch’s favor.

Now I have to wait until July 11 (or maybe a day or two after, depending on lines and in-store activation), but oh well. This is what I’ve been waiting for. A true successor to the Newton has been born.

Behold: iPhone 3G

Leander Kahney’s profile on Bill Atkinson, the original designer of Apple’s super-cool program HyperCard, has some folks feeling nostalgic for easy programming and cards arranged in stacks.

Which is cool. Stories about companies keeping inventory and invoicing duties on HyperCard – still to this day – remind us that old-school Apple is still usable and practical.

But how about for the Newton? Well, there’s NewtCard.

For $99, NewtCard

lets you put text, drawings, pictures and sound into a stack of smart cards. Add buttons to navigate, fields to collect data and scripts to bring your project alive with the tap of a pen. NewtCard is a Hypercard-like environment for Newton devices.

This according to NS Basic’s FAQ.

I’ve only played around with HyperCard on my Mac SE, but it seems HyperCard was an earlier version of HTML forms. In fact, Atkinson laments that his hyper-creation didn’t involve networking, or else it could’ve become the first (hyper)Web.

“Support is definitely limited,” George Henne of NS Basic says. “Still making NewtCard available makes absolutely no sense commercially, but it’s one of our favorite products of all time.”

A hundred bucks seems like a steep price for something to play around with on your Newt, but what the hey – HyperCard still has paying fans. Why not for MessagePad users?

Even better? NS Basic is offering a package deal: NewtCard AND NS Basic/CE for $99.95. Order it here.

“Please understand that it’s been years since we looked at the code,” Henne told the Newtontalk list. “We’ll do the best we can to help with support, but our memories are limited.”