Newton Poetry

Someday Newton Poetry will have its own domain name, after a certain goal has been reached.

Before that happens, however, I have to draw up a plan. So that’s exactly what I did. If and when Newton Poetry becomes newtonpoetry.com, I’d like to stick with WordPress and do a customized blog. A Newton-looking theme would be great – not on par with some blogs, but sporting a MessagePad-ish theme would fit in nicely.

The rough draft above shows a basic outline of what this site could become.

1. The overall site would look much like the Newton’s screen looks: a dock at the bottom, notes in between (the blog postings) and icons that mimic the MessagePad’s. Each day’s post could include the little Newton clock and date, with the envelope icon for comments. Something like that.
2. My original idea for this site was to include the stylus somehow, but on newtonpoetry.com it’ll be a must. But no green. The header, the site, the posts – all on a nice clean white. Maybe some of the icons can be green.
3. Ah, the sidebar. It’ll have the requisite “archive” and “blogroll” and all the goodies, and maybe some space for an ad or two. This could, possibly, be the spot on the site where green plays heavily, just to set it off from the main body of blog posts.
4. Here’s the dock. It’s a must, I think, and it could be a great spot for archives and such in place of the sidebar. It’s hard to find good, high-quality images of the Newton’s screen, but if I have to I’ll simply recreate the icons. This may be where I put links to the “About” page and my upcoming “Links” page.

That’s the plan so far. I’ll still have to learn a thing or two about installing WordPress on a host, and how to manage themes, but it can be done. And now I have a basic outline of how I want things to look.

Any suggestions?

Browsing through Apple’s App Store, I lucked out on a program I’ve been meaning to try: Catamount’s PocketMoney. Previously available for $9.99, Catamount dropped the price to $0.99 for a few days only, and I snatched it up as soon as I saw it. How could I resist? Catamount was a dedicated Newton app developer. They’ve ported their PocketMoney finance manager to everything from the Palm to the PocketPC, and it only made sense for them to bring their piggy bank to the iPhone.

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Over at the NewtonTalk e-mail list there’s a great thread running about how people use their MessagePads. The whole thing was started by a 13-year-old Slovenian student who bought a Newton on eBay on a whim, got hooked, and started this project to compile all the messages into a Newton eBook for later reading.

The response has been huge, and there are some really great examples of how people use their Newton every single day to organize their life. Ryan from Vancouver says his upgraded MP2000 has replaced paper in his work flow:

Essentially, I am using it as a personal office assistant/tablet. It sits next to my MacBook Pro on my desk, and you won’t find any paper around here. I take notes on it, use it for To Dos and reminders, write articles on it for my blog, and am starting to use it more like a tablet PC. That is, reading eBooks and using it for analyzing spreadsheets.

Everything from reading the Bible to reading eBooks on the morning commute is mentioned. If you need practical ideas on how to use your MessagePad, this is a great forum to start with.

What about you? How do you use your Newton?

See here, from PC Magazine’s list of “21 Great Technologies That Failed.”  The linked list is Apple-specific, including the dead-horse Pippin and G4 Cube, among others.

Maybe it’s the nostalgia, or maybe it’s just an example of the tech press running out of good ideas. Or link bait? Cliche? All of the above?

Yikes. Newton in your pocket?

Maybe I don’t remember ’90s jean styles all that well – I was only 12 or 13 at the time – but somehow this ad seems improbable.

What do you think? Can your Newton fit in your back pocket?

[Image courtesy of The Mothership.]

Joe Rivera, serving in Iraq, over at Low End Mac:

I have both my PowerBook G4 and my black MacBook, but what I carry on me as part of my gear is my MessagePad 120. This is my second deployment with it, and I have it custom painted tan to match my old desert camouflage uniform.

Now that’s hardcore. Read the rest of Joe’s story, and why he doesn’t plan on springing for a new iPhone any time soon.

Well I’ll be darned – another Newton blog out there!

This one is called My Apple Newton, and it’s a great technical resource for hands-on projects and service comparisons. The blog is authored by Genghis7777 of New Zealand, and offers tips on how to go wireless, the latest software developments, and making Bluetooth connections.

The blog hasn’t been updated since mid May, but it still offers some great reading and handy info.

Already in progress.

Looking for advice on an eMate purchase. Is it worth it, to play around with Newton OS 2.x, to go with the cheaper eMate model?

The iPhone has been keeping Blake Paterson busy. His thumbs are busy, too, trying out all those new iPhone games for his blog project in collaboration with Macrumors’ Arnold Kim – Touch Arcade.

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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!