From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Newton was one of the world's first 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 Newton refers to the operating system that ran on the Apple MessagePad. The term personal digital assistant (PDA) has been adopted as general term to describe the Apple Newton along with similar products from Radio Shack, Palm, and other manufacturers.
| Table of contents |
The Newton was unsuccessful in the marketplace because of its high price which went up to $1000 towards the 2100 and 2000 models. : Critics pointed out that its hand writing recognition was poor and that the Newton was too large to be easily portable. The Palm Pilot was soon released after the Newton was discontinued and included most of Newton's features but lacked the true style...
The marketing campaign trumpeted the handwriting recognition, which critics considered poor in the initial versions. The original handwriting recognition engine was called Calligrapher, and was licensed from a Russian company called Paragraph International. It 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 models of the Newton retained the original recogniser for compatibility, but added a printed-text recogniser (code-named "Rosetta") that was developed in-house. It was generally considered a significant improvement and many users consider the Newton 2000 handwriting recognition software better than any of the alternatives since. Recognition and computation of handwritten horizontal and vertical formulas such as "1 + 2 =" were also developed to a degree but never released because the principle engineer went on leave. Recognition and cleanup of simple drawn shapes such as triangles, circles, and squares also never made it to the final release.
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.
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, the company that created the iPod's OS. The Pixo website is at http://www.pixo.com.
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.
 Radios Golden Years: The Encyclopedia of Radio Programs, 1930-1960 |
 A Thirty-Year History of Programs Carried on National Radio Networks in the United States, 1926-1956. |
 Radio Drama: A Comprehensive Chronicle of American Network Programs, 1932-1962 |
 Radio Program Openings and Closings, 1931-1972 | ||||
 Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of over 1800 Shows |
 Media Log: A Guide to Film, Television, and Radio Programs Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Pu |
 Great Radio Audience Participation Shows: Seventeen Programs from the 1940s and 1950s |
 Radio Program Ideabook. | ||||
 Greater than the bomb : the first publication in English of a radio program broadcast internationally in 1950 and repeated many times since |
