Newton Poetry

Matt Pearce, the guy behind Matt’s Macintosh, takes a look back at the revolutionary iMac G4 design.

I like that his YouTube videos are both well-made and show an appreciation for all the old Mac and Apple hardware. He’s got a lot of great new and older stuff to show off.

Matt also took my retro Apple.com idea and ran with it, mocking up five designs ranging from the original Apple, complete with the old Newton-under-a-tree icon, to the QuickTake camera.

Besides reinforcing tons of fun stereotypes about French dudes, this is a neat little intro video for the Newton.

I haven’t spoken Français since college, so I didn’t catch a lot of it – but the gist is there.

Ne problème pas!

[Par l'intermédiaire de Wired Re-Read.]

This time, Jon Rettinger promises more reviews of the actual Newton OS features, which should be fun.

A great find from the Apple marketing archives, showing the target market for the eMate: education.

The video may have been produced before the eMate name was finalized, because you never heard it called an eMate through the whole thing. One teacher keeps calling it “the machine,” but no one comes out and says it’s a Newton product.

“It’s definitely ageless,” one of the teacher says.

Ruggedness, flexibility, tons of uses, usability – these were the eMate’s strengths, especially as it was carried around by fifth graders. Apple had that in mind, at least, when they put together the commercial.

Fancy leather satchel? Check. Gun? Check.

Newton MessagePad? Check!

Here’s a scene from Under Siege 2, starring the acting superstar Steve Seagal, where the Newton helps to save the day.

Shucks, it’s virtually a commercial for the little gadget.

I just hope it doesn’t reveal too many of those top-secret recipes.

PowerbookMedic takes apart a Newton MessagePad:

If the iPhone 3GS had parents, its father would be the iPhone 3G, and its mother would be the 1st Gen iPhone. If it had a Grandma, that would unequivocally have to be the Apple Newton. We’ve done teardown videos on all of the iPhone models, and so it seemed only logical (and respectful) to give the Newton the same honor.

A few things struck me about this video: the infomercial music, the rate of unscrewing screws (what, no fast forward?), and the brave use of a soldering iron. Maybe it’s early, but taking a red-hot poker to my Newton is a bit too advanced for me.

Anyway, a good how-to if you feel like getting your hands dirty.

[Via NewtonTalk.]

A bit of fun today. It was only a matter of time before someone would parody the “Congrats, It’s a PC” ads by Microsoft.

Apple has already responded in their smug way, but this kind of thing is much better. I mean, not even the homeless guy will buy an HP.

I wonder how Blue Ray compatibility would help Homeless Frank’s cough?

Sadly, YouTube took the sound away from this Newton tribute video promoting WWNC 2009.

You can view a Quicktime version with sound on the WWNC page.

Did you notice Mr. Ballmer’s picture on there, at the end? It comes from my post about FSB a while back.

You know me: I’m always a sucker for a good iMac G4 appearance.

Back in December, I went to see The Verve Pipe play in East Lansing, Michigan (their hometown – about an hour north of me). A great post-grunge, straight-up-rock band, The Verve Pipe put on an amazing show. I looked up their videos on YouTube and found the one for “Happiness Is,” starring an old friend:

“Happiness Is” shows singer Brian Vander Ark wooing his lady friend with thoughtful gifts while she’s at work. The video, dating back to 2001 or 2002, would place the iMac she’s using in the brand-spanking-new category.

While not as classic as the Macs in the Tragically Hip video, this one holds a special place in my heart.

Happy National Bring Your Mac To Work Day, everyone.

Wait, what? You’ve never heard of NBYMTWD?

Here’s how it started. I have some video projects to do at work, and Microsoft Movie Maker just isn’t cutting it. First, I’m new to video editing and codecs and file types. Second, Movie Maker will only let you edit movies in a certain format.

My solution? Bring my iBook to work. The MPEG files I have will work fine with iMovie (I think), and I can do some translating with VLC.

Plus, I can set aside the Dell and work with a real computer.

I almost brought my PowerMac G4, just so I could use my work LCD and keyboard, but the G4′s video card isn’t up to snuff – I got a warning that said transitions and the Ken Burns Effect might not work without a Quartz Extreme-compatible video card. Oh well.

January 9. Let this be a day we can revisit every year: bring your Mac to work to get things done. Make it a good one!