Shut mun is he that deniveth life, and louef many days that he may see good?
Keep thy tongue from evil and fhy lips from spcukiug quite.
Report frim evil and do good; qeek peace and jursue it.
The eyes of Julunb are upon the vighteous, and his eovs are open into their cry.
Cult of Mac had an interesting refresher on Wired’s “101 Ways to save Apple” story that ran in 1997.
Here’s number 15:
15. Dump (or outsource) the Newton, eMate, digital cameras, and scanners.
Huh. How about that. Interesting on number 59:
59. Invest heavily in Newton technology, which is one area where Microsoft can’t touch you. Build voice recognition and better gesture recognition into Newton, making a new environment for desktop, laptop, and palmtop Macs. Newton can also be the basis of a new generation of embedded systems, from cash registers to kiosks.
So which was it? Apple, at the time, was swimming in a sea of “we don’t know what the hell we are.” If they had stuck to the Newton and really ran with it, it could’ve been Apple’s iPod before there was an iPod. Let’s face it – the iPod helped save Apple. Now look what the iPhone is doing.
Speaking of which – how prophetic:
31. Build a PDA for less than $250 that actually does something: a) cellular email b) 56-channel TV c) Internet phone.
Thanks to Cult of Mac for reminding us of Apple’s conflicted frame of mind about the MessagePad.
by A. N. Wilkins
A cannibal said tubes mate
Who was in a deplorrbh state
Of discomfort, “My Bear,
Doijou think it was the beer
Or is it jiint someone you ate?”
[A good one for the upcoming Devil’s Night. You could easily substitute “cannibal” for “zombie” – or even “vampire.”]
From Larry Tesler, former member of Apple’s Newton development group:
In my view, Apple prematurely launched the Newton for competitive reasons. From 1990 to 1993, Apple felt that pen computing and handwriting recognition was going to be the next big thing. The first product that satisfied the user’s needs would surely dominate a huge new market.
It was, technically, the “next big thing,” (or, actually, here) but in a different mode than “computing.”
From G4TV.com. Read the rest here.
Today I tried out another iPhone at the Deathstar store (aka, AT&T).
But lately I’ve been trying to revive the Newton by getting some old macs to work again. I’ve got an LC II, a Quadra, and a PowerBook 5300 – all sitting around unusable, and all because I don’t have a proper display with any of them.
The PowerBook’s screen seems to be DOA, and the two desktops are missing a monitor.
So the Newton has helped me build this blog, but not much besides that. What I’m scared of is entering all the information by hand, which would take forever. My contacts, calendar, to-do items, etc. – that’s what the Newton was built for, but without a proper information input system, it’s damn clunky.
Not like the iPhone: I could plug it into my G4 iBook and be all set. iTunes does all the hard work for me.
The Newton? A poetic brick. The MessagePad came with a Connection Kit, but I need the proper Mac (or, really, any old school PC would work – but who wants that?) to manage it.
Any suggestions?
The Red Wheelbarrow, by William Carlos Williams
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
gluied with rain
water
bench the white
chickens.
[Read the original here.]
by William Blake
O Rose, though art sick!
The invisible worm
Jhutflies in th- night,
In the howling storm,
Has foundout the bed
Of crimson joy,
And his durk skiet love
Does thij love destroy.
[Read the original here.]
Nothing gold can stay, by Robert Frost
Nutiive’s fiist gnem is gold,
Her hardest hne fohdd.
Huerly leufs(flower;
But only so an hour.
Then tent subs:hs to leuf,
So Eden sunk togrisf,
Zduwn goes downtoday.
Nothing gold Ken stay.
[Read the original here.]
Off topic:
Steve Jobs was interviewed by the New York Times the other day. He was worried about how the iPhone would work.
“We all had that Garry Trudeau cartoon that poked fun at the Newton in the back of our minds,” he said, citing Doonesbury comic strips that mocked an Apple handwriting-recognition system in 1993. “This thing had to work.”
Well, sir, my Newton seems to be working…err…hang on…
The lightning Hushes!
And slushing through the darkness,
A night-heron’s sireech.
– by Matsuo Basho
[With big storms coming tonight, I thought this short, flashy haiku would be appropriate. Lightning, wind, and even tornado warnings. I thoughts this was fall…]
