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Apple Newton
The Newton was an early personal
digital assistant (PDA) developed by Apple
Computer and sold from 1993
to 1998.
It was based on the ARM
processor, and featured handwriting recognition. Officially the
term refers to the operating system that ran the Apple
MessagePad along with similar products from Radio Shack and
other manufacturers.
It was unsuccessful in the marketplace: critics pointed at its
high price and complicated desktop connectivity, both problems
solved soon after with the Palm
Pilot.
The marketing campaign trumpeted the handwriting recognition,
which critics considered poor in the initial versions. The
original handwriting recognition was actually very sophisticated
(learning the user's handwriting instead of forcing the user to
learn a new handwriting system, and using a database of known
words to make guesses as to what the user was writing). Later
versions of the handwriting
recognition abandoned the word database; they were
significantly improved and many users consider the Newton 2000
handwriting recognition software better than any of the
alternatives since.
Mentions
in Movies and Television
-
It
was featured in the movie Under Siege 2, where the main
character, played by Steven
Seagal, uses it to fax a call for help from a phone on a
passenger train.
-
Garry
Trudeau
ridiculed it in a series of episodes of his
popular comic, Doonesbury.
-
In
an episode of the Simpsons, school bully Nelson
Muntz has one of his buddies take a memo on a Newton.
When he wrote "Beat up Martin," on the screen, the
handwriting recognition turned it into, "Eat up
Martha."
Technical
Details
The Newton had an advanced object-oriented
programming system called NewtonScript,
developed by Apple employee Walter Smith [1];
one of the major complaints programmers had was that the
programming environment was overpriced - on top of purchasing a
Newton for nearly $1000 US, the Toolbox programming environment
cost an additional $1000 (late in the life of the Newton the
programming environment was made available for free).
Additionally, it required learning a new way of programming.
Despite this, many third-party and shareware
applications were (and continue to be) available for the Newton.
It has been suggested that the Newtonscript programming system
be made available open-source (as "abandonware")
but most Newton enthusiasts consider this possibility to be
highly unlikely.
Data in the Newton was stored in object-oriented databases known
as soups; one of the revolutionary aspects of the Newton was
that soups were available to all programs; and programs could
operate cross-soup; meaning that the calendar could refer to
names in the address book; a note in the notepad could be
converted to an appointment, and so forth; and the soups could
be programmer-extended - a new address book enhancement could be
built on the data from the existing address book.
The Newton used standard serial ports (Apple DB9 style, via a dongle
connector in the 2x00 series) for communications; all models
also had infrared
connectivity. Unlike the Palm, all Newton models were equipped
with a standard PCMCIA
expansion slot (2 on the 2x00 series). This allowed native modem
and even Ethernet
connectivity. With the 1xx series, an optional keyboard became
available, which could also be used via the dongle on a 2x00.
Newtons could also dial a phone number through its speaker
(simply hold any telephone up to the Newton speaker) and fax /
email support was built in at the OS level (although it required
external cards).
The Newton 2x00, with a vastly-improved handwriting recognition
system, 160 MHz ARM processor, Newton OS 2.1, and a better,
clearer, backlit screen, was perhaps one of Apple's finest
products. Although its large size was not conducive to the
ubiquitous nature of today's PalmOS devices, many users still
swear by them. Its handwriting recognition is still considered
by many the best in the world, with only the recent Tablet PC
handwriting recognition system coming close. Newton OS 2 was in
many ways a breakthrough in handheld operating systems, one that
many feel has yet to be beaten, even years after its
discontinuation.
eMate
Variant
The Newton eMate 300 was offered to schools in
1997 as an inexpensive (about $500 US, less in quantity to
schools) and extremely durable computer for classroom use. The
eMate had the same monochrome screen as the MessagePad, a
stylus, a full-sized keyboard, an infrared port and ports for
printers and modems. Power came from built-in rechargable
batteries. Its exterior a translucent plastic green shell with a
built-in handle. It was supposed to be durable enough to be
dropped from arm height on a hard floor without damage, a rugged
design that would eventually influence the first iBook
series. The eMate was cancelled along with the rest of the
Newton line.
Follow
on Efforts
Before the Newton project was cancelled, it was "spun
off" into its own company, Newton Inc; but this reabsorbed
several months later when Steve
Jobs ousted Apple CEO Gil
Amelio and re-took control of Apple; since then there has
been continual speculation of when Apple would release a new PDA
with some Newton technology (or possibly a combination of
technology from Newton and Palm); Apple continues to deny that
such a project will ever happen.
Interestingly, however, the Apple iPod
is somewhat of a descendant of the Newton in that it is a
pocket-sized greyscale programmable device based on the ARM
processor. Two ex-Apple Newton developers founded Pixo
http://www.pixo.com,
the company that created the iPod's OS.
Feeding a bit of speculation, Apple put the Newton 2x00's
handwriting recognition system into Mac
OS X version 10.2 (known as "Jaguar"), which can
be used with any graphics tablet to seamlessly input handwritten
text anywhere there was an insertion point on the screen. This
technology, known as "Ink", appears in the System
Preferences whenever a tablet input device is plugged in but
lacks the Newton's ability to recognize cursive handwriting in
addition to printing. Whether this means Apple will ever utilize
such technology again in a handheld
device remains to be seen.
Newton
models
-
Messagepad
(now known as Original Messagepad or OMP)
-
Newton
100 (similar to OMP)
-
Newton
110 New form factor.
-
Newton
120
-
Newton
130
-
Newton
eMate
-
Newton
2000
-
Newton
2100
External
links
This
content from Wikipedia
is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License.
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