Newton Poetry

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.]

Turns out the playa-hatas over at Amazon have launched an e-book reader, named “Kindle.”

Only $399 (the price of an iPhone), high-res (“just like real paper!”), no syncing required, cheaper prices for books ($9.99), no service plans to worry about – the thing seems like a mixed blessing.

The no-syncing part is really interesting, since you don’t need to be at home with your computer to buy a book – kind of like what Apple is doing with the iPod Touch. That’s cool. So is the fact that you don’t have to carry around a shit-ton of books to read them – just this…thing.

So, again, the Newton delivers first. PDAs, portable computers, and now eBooks.

Fake Steve Jobs has an interesting take:

I know what you’re thinking. Wouldn’t it be just kick-ass super duper if, say, Apple came along and finally delivered the ultimate product in this category? Because you just know if we did it the thing would look gorgeous and have a beautiful feature set and would just kick everyone’s ass.

And there’s already a comparison with the iPhone.

But seriously, lots of luck Amazon. You don’t have a beautiful machine, but any way to promote reading is a good thing.

The look and feel of the thing has been published, the guts, and even the producer, but is this thing a possibility?

Previous patents have pointed more toward the iPhone, in retrospect. And the argument for a tablet says that doctors and do-gooders on the move can really use a portable Mac like what’s proposed. But the thing about Apple rumors is they’re rarely accurate. Or even true. This tablet Mac rumor has seen more than its share of screen space.

We’ve known that Steve Jobs holds no love for PDAs (or else Newtons would be alive and well, right?). My take (and I’m not alone on this one) is that if there is a Newton- or tablet-like device, it may just be a modified iPhone. Apple may decide to freshen things up in this product line like it did with the iPod: color, photo, video, games, etc.

But heck, is the rumor even true?

This will be the first edition of “RumorPad Watch.” I’ll keep you updated. Back to the poetry…

Holy moly.

There’s a blog I just found, called simply “My Newton Blog,” that’s shaped like a Newton.

Shaped. Like. A. Newton.

The only part I can’t figure out is how to scroll down through the individual blogs. Going from blog to blog is easy. But reading a blog that’s continued past the viewing point is beyond me.

Thomas Brand, the blog’s author, asks a great question – about the need for a walk-through for modern Newton users like me – and maybe that’s something I can get to. A step-by-step process for getting a MessagePad up and running, from purchase to everyday GTD.

I’ll contact Thomas and learn more.

There’s no telling what people will use a Newton for.

For instance, while checking Low End Mac yesterday, I discovered someone had found a way to make a MessagePad…

…a phone.

Over at the Unofficial Apple Weblog, a guy name Marcus turned a MessagePad 210 – with a little help from a SIM card – into a workable phone.

More opportunities – like, say, scribbling poetry into a Newton to see what comes spilling out – abound, which we’ll discover later.

But still. Need a weekend project that costs about $50?

Lots of luck.

It’s interesting to imagine what the Newton could’ve become.

Wikiwikinewt gives us some food for though, including some early prototypes before the Newton came of age.  Or how about the “Cadillac?”  There’s a whole set of Flickr photos dedicated to it:

The web is just full of this stuff.  The Apple Museum has a list of prototypes and codenames.  The Newton’s codename?  The all-too fitting “Batman.”

Here’s what it could’ve looked like:

Sleek and stylish!

The ol’ slab-black, flip-cover look never really went away on the actualy production models, with the obvious exception of the eMate.

And what a shame.  To think that we could be debating Newton styles like we do now with Blackberries or Blackjacks or whatever.

If only…

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.

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?