Recent from talks
Apple Newton
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Apple Newton
The Newton is a specified standard and series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) developed and marketed by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1993 to 1998. An early device in the PDA category – the term itself originating with the Newton – it was the first to feature handwriting recognition. Newton devices run on a proprietary operating system, Newton OS; unlike the company's Macintosh computers, Apple licensed the software to third-parties, who released Newton devices alongside Apple's own MessagePad line.
Apple started developing the platform in 1987; concepted by Steve Sakoman as a tablet-like device with handwriting capabilities, he worked with AT&T Corporation to develop a low-power processor, Hobbit, for the project. However, slow progress and other issues led to Sakoman leaving Apple in 1990 to form Be Computer, Inc. The Newton project would be revitalized by Michael Tchao and Steve Capps who pitched the idea directly to CEO John Sculley; Apple invested in Acorn Computers who developed a specific ARM6-based RISC processor for the device. Apple introduced the Newton on May 29, 1992, and shipments began on August 2,1993.
The Newton was marred with issues before its public release; bugs and software instability played a part in a series of continuous delays of its shipment date, while post-release problems with its handwriting recognition feature led to negative publicity and became a source of mockery. Sales of the Newton were well below Apple's expectations, and despite significant improvements in later hardware and version 2.0 of Newton OS, the platform was discontinued in 1998 at the direction of CEO Steve Jobs. Despite its commercial failure, the Newton was considered technologically innovative for its time and influenced many ideas for Apple's later popular products, the iPhone and iPad.
Most Newton devices were pre-loaded with a variety of software to aid in personal data organization and management. This included such applications as Notes, Names, and Dates, as well as a variety of productivity tools such as a calculator, conversion calculators (metric conversions, currency conversions, etc.), time-zone maps, etc. In later/2.x versions of the Newton OS these applications were refined, and new ones were added, such as the Works word processor and the Newton Internet Enabler, as well as the inclusion of bundled 3rd party applications, such as the QuickFigure Works spreadsheet (a "lite" version of Pelicanware's QuickFigure Pro), Pocket Quicken, the NetHopper web browser, and the Netstrategy EnRoute email client. Various Newton applications had full import/export capabilities with popular desktop office suite and PIM (Personal Information Manager) application file formats, primarily by making use of Apple's bundled Newton Connection Utilities and also the Newton Connection Kit, which was sold separately and only worked for Newton devices that used the 1.x versions of the Newton OS.
The Notes application allowed users to create small documents that could contain text that had been typed, or that had been recognized from handwriting, as well as free-hand sketches, "Shapes", and "ink text".
In version 2.0 of the Newton OS, the Notes application (as well as Names) could accept what Apple termed "stationery", 3rd-party created plug-in modules that could extend the functionality of the basic applications.
One of the new types of Notes stationery added to Newton OS 2.0 was a hierarchical, bullet-ed, collapsible, multi-line "Checklist", an implementation of outliner software. This could be used for organizing tasks, "to do" lists, sub-tasks, etc. Each bullet point could contain as many lines of text as desired. A bullet point could be dragged and placed underneath another bullet point, thus forming a hierarchical outline/tree. When a bullet point was dragged, the entire sub-tree of child bullet points underneath it (if any) would be dragged along as well. If a bullet point had child bullet points, tapping the parent's bullet point once would "roll up" all the children ("windowshade" effect). Tapping the parent bullet point again would make the children re-appear. Because this functionality arrived in Newton OS 2.0, several third parties made similar software before for OS 1.x Newton machines, the most notable of which was Dyno Notepad, released in 1993.
The Names application was used for storing contacts. Contacts created either on the Newton device or on a Windows or Macintosh desktop PIM could be synchronized to each other. Entering a date in Names for fields such as birthday or anniversary automatically created corresponding repeating events in the Dates application. Each contact had an attached free-form notes field available to it, that could contain any mix of interleaved text, ink text, Shapes, or Sketches. Like Notes, Names could be extended by developers, to create special new categories of contacts with specialized pre-defined fields. Names shipped with three types of contacts, "people", "companies", and "groups", but a developer could define new types, for instance "client", "patient", etc. Stand Alone Software, Inc. also created a Newton software package called the Stationery Construction Kit, which allowed users to make stationery themselves without aid of any other tools.
Hub AI
Apple Newton AI simulator
(@Apple Newton_simulator)
Apple Newton
The Newton is a specified standard and series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) developed and marketed by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1993 to 1998. An early device in the PDA category – the term itself originating with the Newton – it was the first to feature handwriting recognition. Newton devices run on a proprietary operating system, Newton OS; unlike the company's Macintosh computers, Apple licensed the software to third-parties, who released Newton devices alongside Apple's own MessagePad line.
Apple started developing the platform in 1987; concepted by Steve Sakoman as a tablet-like device with handwriting capabilities, he worked with AT&T Corporation to develop a low-power processor, Hobbit, for the project. However, slow progress and other issues led to Sakoman leaving Apple in 1990 to form Be Computer, Inc. The Newton project would be revitalized by Michael Tchao and Steve Capps who pitched the idea directly to CEO John Sculley; Apple invested in Acorn Computers who developed a specific ARM6-based RISC processor for the device. Apple introduced the Newton on May 29, 1992, and shipments began on August 2,1993.
The Newton was marred with issues before its public release; bugs and software instability played a part in a series of continuous delays of its shipment date, while post-release problems with its handwriting recognition feature led to negative publicity and became a source of mockery. Sales of the Newton were well below Apple's expectations, and despite significant improvements in later hardware and version 2.0 of Newton OS, the platform was discontinued in 1998 at the direction of CEO Steve Jobs. Despite its commercial failure, the Newton was considered technologically innovative for its time and influenced many ideas for Apple's later popular products, the iPhone and iPad.
Most Newton devices were pre-loaded with a variety of software to aid in personal data organization and management. This included such applications as Notes, Names, and Dates, as well as a variety of productivity tools such as a calculator, conversion calculators (metric conversions, currency conversions, etc.), time-zone maps, etc. In later/2.x versions of the Newton OS these applications were refined, and new ones were added, such as the Works word processor and the Newton Internet Enabler, as well as the inclusion of bundled 3rd party applications, such as the QuickFigure Works spreadsheet (a "lite" version of Pelicanware's QuickFigure Pro), Pocket Quicken, the NetHopper web browser, and the Netstrategy EnRoute email client. Various Newton applications had full import/export capabilities with popular desktop office suite and PIM (Personal Information Manager) application file formats, primarily by making use of Apple's bundled Newton Connection Utilities and also the Newton Connection Kit, which was sold separately and only worked for Newton devices that used the 1.x versions of the Newton OS.
The Notes application allowed users to create small documents that could contain text that had been typed, or that had been recognized from handwriting, as well as free-hand sketches, "Shapes", and "ink text".
In version 2.0 of the Newton OS, the Notes application (as well as Names) could accept what Apple termed "stationery", 3rd-party created plug-in modules that could extend the functionality of the basic applications.
One of the new types of Notes stationery added to Newton OS 2.0 was a hierarchical, bullet-ed, collapsible, multi-line "Checklist", an implementation of outliner software. This could be used for organizing tasks, "to do" lists, sub-tasks, etc. Each bullet point could contain as many lines of text as desired. A bullet point could be dragged and placed underneath another bullet point, thus forming a hierarchical outline/tree. When a bullet point was dragged, the entire sub-tree of child bullet points underneath it (if any) would be dragged along as well. If a bullet point had child bullet points, tapping the parent's bullet point once would "roll up" all the children ("windowshade" effect). Tapping the parent bullet point again would make the children re-appear. Because this functionality arrived in Newton OS 2.0, several third parties made similar software before for OS 1.x Newton machines, the most notable of which was Dyno Notepad, released in 1993.
The Names application was used for storing contacts. Contacts created either on the Newton device or on a Windows or Macintosh desktop PIM could be synchronized to each other. Entering a date in Names for fields such as birthday or anniversary automatically created corresponding repeating events in the Dates application. Each contact had an attached free-form notes field available to it, that could contain any mix of interleaved text, ink text, Shapes, or Sketches. Like Notes, Names could be extended by developers, to create special new categories of contacts with specialized pre-defined fields. Names shipped with three types of contacts, "people", "companies", and "groups", but a developer could define new types, for instance "client", "patient", etc. Stand Alone Software, Inc. also created a Newton software package called the Stationery Construction Kit, which allowed users to make stationery themselves without aid of any other tools.
Recent media