Thank goodness for good Fridays on the stock market.
After my little experiment, and the tumble it took, every little bit helps.
I’ve been watching Apple’s stock creep up from $125 to $140, and now to a comfy $161. Some days I don’t even like to look. But Friday I did. A few more rallies like that I’ll recoup whatever I lost from January.
by Moritake
The falling flower
I saw drift back to the branch
Was a bultafly.
[Just when I thought the Newton would complete it’s first perfectly-translated poem, the last – and most important – word gets fouled up. It should say “butterfly,” of course. Hurray for spring!]
With the death of Dungeons and Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, what better tribute could a Newton user pay than to use the MessagePad as a tool during games?
Thankfully, Matt How (aka, “Papa Duck”) has developed programs for that very purpose.
Matt has created Newton Dice Roller and a Newton D&D spells ebook – both are available, with source code, on his Papa Duck page for free.
Matt was kind enough to e-mail me more information about his Newton D&D projects.
“I have used electronic devices to support my role playing games since pretty much the beginning,” Matt told me. More… »
by Lynn Johnston
A tiny cry within the night,
A mother’s touch, a gentle light,
a rocking chair, a cheek laeased,
A baby TV a bosin pressed,
A bundle lizn lot replaced,
Mother’s footstes soft, retraced,
She whispas as the shadows lreep…
“Now let me sleep! Please, let me sleep!!!”
[Johnston is the creator of the “For Better of Worse” comic strip. A good one for any new mothers. Read an interview with Lynn Johnston here.]
On the web, the Newton community used to be a very vibrant one. Before Newted crashed, Grant Hutchinson was able to post tons of web pages of MessagePad developers, modders, and tweakers.
Now? Most of those pages are gone. Dead links are everywhere.
So I’ve started a project of sorts: keep a list of actual, working Newton web sites that are still maintained. Barring that, they have to at least be functional.
I’ll probably post another page to this blog (next to the “About” one, above), and add to the list when I discover new sites.
So here’s the call: if you have a site, blog, or community online, I’d love to see it. I’d love for Newton fans and newbies to be able to check out sites that are still up and running.
I’ve got the standards, like UNNA.org and Kallisys and Grant’s Newted site (hopefully it gets up and running again), but I’m sure I’m missing tons of others out there – lost in Internet Land.
Hi,
I was just reading your Sunday project to install a wireless card in your iBook. It seems relatively easy to do and was exactly what I wanted to know about.
I just wanted your opinion. I’m in grad school and am going to China for 2 weeks in May on a school/business trip. I want to bring a computer but I’m too nervous to bring my MacBook Pro. I found a clamshell laptop on ebay for a really good price. Do you think if I buy a new battery for it and install the wireless card it would be a good laptop to take with me? I haven’t bought it yet. I just wanted someone else’s opinion first. I pretty much just need it for internet and word processing. I figure it would be a rugged computer to take on such a long trip.
Any tips, advice, opinions would be great.
Thanks!
Amy
Hi there, Amy,
Good question! In fact, that’s exactly what I bought my G3 iBook for – I drove Route 66 a few summer ago, and felt too nervous to take my then-new iBook G4. So I did what you did: shopped on eBay and got a cheap clamshell. I stored all my photos, sent all my e-mails, and kept my travel journal on the G3, and it was perfect. I just wish I had my Airport card then, because just about everywhere I went there was wifi.
I think it would suite your needs perfectly. They’re rugged as heck, and the wireless standard Airport uses is pretty universal. You should be able to hookup just about anywhere.
The battery part may be a bit trickier, but I know there are some online retailers that sell them. You could find one on eBay, too.
Good luck on your trip, and good luck clamshell shopping!
Dave
[Have a question or comment? Leave it in the comments, or e-mail newtonpoetry AT gmail DOT com.]
Forbes.com has a list of the best Apple innovations ever. The Newton is where you land in the photo gallery, which then takes you to the obvious iPod and iPhone. The Forbes lists the MessagePad because:
What It Does: A commercial failure, this software put a computer with an elegant touch-screen interface in a user’s pocket.
Why It’s Great: Apple’s pocket computer failed first, setting Apple up for success with the iPhone.
Isn’t it funny how so many web sites are doing Apple-related lists? And most of them include Newton, for good or ill? And how much of life can really be put into “top ten such-and-such” lists before it loses some of its magic?
Soon, I’ll bet.
It’s like reading those magazine covers that brag “10 best ways to please your hubby” or “Five easy ways to flatter abs.” Are we so dumbed-down we need it broken up into list-sized chunks?
Speaking of which, I’ll have a “10 best things to do with your Newton” post coming up soon.
I started running last summer after seeing a set of podcasts that made the whole thing really easy. I even ran my first 5k (not a sponsored one, just me out running one night), the longest distance I had run since track season in high school.
Near the end of the season last year, I hurt my knee because of the way I run. It turns out that I roll my feet on the inside, which wears away the soles of my shoes and is rough on my knee. This season, now that the weather is breaking, I decided to grab some supporting Nikes. While I was at the shoe store, the salesman offered me the Nike+ sports set – which fit my style of shoe – and I decided to give it a try.
It seems like for $30 you’d get more, but the whole set only involves a little red and white sensor and a white plug-in receiver for your iPod Nano. Setup is super easy: simply put the sensor into the little hole in your shoe (you don’t need a Nike shoe, either), and plug the other part into your iPod. That’s it.
More… »
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB_K66mrZi4&hl=en]
I had my own bit of fun for April Fool’s Day, but this is a hoot: a “virus” that makes…well, just watch.
Love the name!
// Originally seen here.
“Wow, it’s so big!”
In low-brow humor circumstances, that would seem like a compliment. But in relation to the Newton, it’s kind of embarrassing.
I whipped out my MessagePad at work one day to scribble in something I didn’t want to forget, and my boss saw it over my shoulder.
“What the heck is that?” she asked.
“It’s my Newton. I use it to keep my memory straight,” I said.
I told her it was the first PDA, invented by Apple, and hails from the early 1990s. “That thing is huge,” she said. I didn’t blush, but I did agree that we’ve come a long way since 1994. She knows I’ve been saving up for an iPhone, so I told her the Newton was my stand-by.
Newton users get a similar reaction fairly often, from what I’ve read. It’s happened to me twice. The other time I brought my Newton to a friend’s house while working on Newton Poetry. Someone saw the MessagePad and couldn’t believe it was so bulky. He switched it on, played with the handwriting recognition, and called it a “giant green brick.” I explained what it was, too, and we had a good laugh about the advance of technology.
And it’s true. When I rest my iPod on top of the MessagePad, it still amazes me the size difference. My iPod has a 30 GB hard drive and the ability to hold thousands of songs. The Newton, on the other hand, needs a 2 MB flash card to store data. Plus it’s monochrome and lacks the lush, movie-playing screen of the iPod.
But still, having the Newton around is a great conversation starter. Everyone has an iPod these days, but Newtons are so rare they inspire outbursts like…well, like the one above.