Newton Poetry

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.

Courtesy of maczydeco on Flickr, and used with permission under Creative Commons.

I had so much fun creating Mac iPhone wallpapers last time that I went back and collected a bunch of classic Mac pictures to do it again.

You can see my entire collection on my Flickr site, or head to the iPhone Wallpapers group to see a bunch more.

Nothing says “classy” like a 68k Mac on your home screen, eh?

Just a fun heads-up: I created a bunch of Macintosh-inspired iPhone wallpapers over at my Flickr account and on the iPhone Wallpapers Flickr group. I took a bunch of recent Macs, like the G4 Cube above, and paired them with their marketing slogans, or a simple label, all on a clean white background.

Now you can carry around your favorite G3, G4, G5, or Intel Mac around with your iPhone. My iPhone is sporting the PowerMac G4 right now, just because I love the slogan so much.

Enjoy!

Check that out: a field ranger with his holstered Newt, courtesy of Steventon Consulting.

Gregg on the Newtontalk list pointed out the picture, and it turns out Sonny Hung has a blue version by Covertec posted on his Flickr page. This is like Last Action Hero stuff: “Bring on the bad guys, my MessagePad is armored!”

There are still sites out there, like this one with pictures of “The Divider,” featuring Newton holsters (though some of those look more like Man Bags).

MessagePads are already tough. A holstered Newt? There’s no telling what warzones they have seen. How about you Newton users out there – what do you use to protect your green machine?

Now this is what I’m talking about.

Check out the Flickr photo gallery of a Mac Plus turned into a G4 Cube mod by charles_mangin. I’ve seen a lot of this kind of stuff with Mac Minis, but a Cube seems even more flexible for creative mash-ups.

After messing around with my PowerMac G4, I’m starting to get into these Mac mods. It’s one of those fun weekend project kind of deals, you know?

Speaking of which, there are some cool designs over at the MacMod site. Not all of them are useful, per se, but then neither is a fish tank stuffed in to a Apple Studio Display.

[Courtesy of Mental Hygiene.]

It’s pretty universal that Apple product fans love to take pictures of their conquests. Unboxing photo galleries, videos of guys opening the first iPhone boxes, even retro photo tours – they all crop up from time to time on the Apple blogs (I’m guilty myself).

Sadly, however, unboxing a used Newton you just picked up on eBay doesn’t explode with excitement like today’s products. Thankfully, a group of Flickr users have dedicated a group to Newtonism that’s bursting with MessagePad photos of every sort.

If there’s a mayor of Newton Flickr City, it has to be Sonny Hung, who hosts tons of photo sets of his Newton finds.

Others are pretty great, too, including group founder Grant Hutchinson.

If you’re a Flickr user and know your way around a camera’s macro setting, be sure to snap some shots of your own Newton and share them with the group. New photo uploads are few and far between. It’s always nice to see some new ones.

I went to the Newtonlist mailing group and got some direction on how to fix my MessagePad 110.

Member Sonny, I presume of Flickr fame, sent me this:

Have you tried having the MP110 without any AA batteries then holding the power switch for about 60 seconds then holding the reset for about another 60 seconds? Leave the MP110 as is for about a day or two then try powering up with a Newton Adapter or a fresh set of Duracell AA batteries…

Sonny also pointed me in this direction, which gives a similar set of instructions. But those definitely didn’t work.

This weekend I’ll pick up a fresh set of batteries. I also have to grab a recharger, but I want to get something quality, like the MAHA I’ve heard so many good things about.

I think that’ll be the lasts straw. If I can’t get the Newton running after Sonny’s advice and the new batteries, I’ll cash it in and spring for a 2×00 series model.

What’s inside a Newton MessagePad?

Flickr photog splorp posts a great X-ray view of the insides of a MessagePad, including what each component is and does.

I’m trying to teach myself more about what makes a Newton tick, and this is a big help.

A great big advocate for the MessagePad, and founder of the Newton Flickr pool, splorp is a true Newtfan in every sense of the word. He also takes on other Apple projects.

[Part two of Flickr Newton finds.]

Apple Newton MessagePad Collection – #1a

Originally uploaded by sonnyhung

Looking to buy a Newton? Chances are this guy has some.

And to think it all started so simply:

I purchased my first Newton MP100 back in 1996 for $169 plus shipping. At the time I purchased also the Newton Enhancement Kit which included a Newton Bag and several software titles.

“Sonnyhung” has more than 1,300 photos dedicated to his Newtons, other Newtons, Newton advertising, Newton peripherals, Newton babies – everything. Even Newton cakes.

The guy’s a pro.

[Part 1 of “NewtFlick” finds.]