“If you lived only on the Internet, you might not know that Apple’s Newton, the father of all personal digital assistants, was discontinued in 1998,” Dunstan Prial reports for FOXBusiness.
“About three times the size of most contemporary PDAs, the Newton was the predecessor to the Palm Pilot. But unlike the gadgets that followed in its wake, the Newton has a feature that continues to fascinate and attract users – it recognizes handwriting,” Prial reports.
“There are Newton blogs, Newton Web sites (organized by something called the United Network of Newton Archives), Newton social networking sites, an annual Worldwide Newton Conference, and seemingly more chatrooms dedicated to the handheld devices than just about any other gadget ever made,” Prial reports.
“Newton fans–some might call them fanatics — have kept the gadgets memory alive by staying in touch mostly on the Internet, where they trade innovations and software updates that allow them to keep up with contemporary shifts in PDA technology,” Prial reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Citymark” for the heads up.]
“Newton fans-some might call them fanatics…” Uh, fan is a shortened version of fanatic.
Good call, Jimbo!
The Newton would have been quite the successful product had Scully not been an idiot. Steve was right in killing this albatross.
And FOXBusiness looneys–some might call them lunatics . . .
Fan is the short form of fanatic, but it has come to be used to describe a person that just ‘likes’ something or someone specific a lot.
Therefore, fan is now a noun, derived from fanatic, but not the same.
Fanatic still means someone filled with excessive zeal, obsessed, usually concerned with politics or religion.
A Newton user, in fact….
Sooo… 20 years after Apple discontinued the Newton, their goal of domination in the hand-held computing market marches on in the iPhone.
I’m hoping to sign-up Friday…
Thank you Mr. Dictionary. I would still like concurrence from Ms. Thesaurus.
“Apple’s Newton continues to fascinate and attract users”
Go fig.
I’ve got a Newton 120 — still works perfectly. Not until the iPhone had anything came along that is as “fascinating and attractive.”
@ Bart
“Sooo… 20 years after Apple discontinued the Newton,…”
2008-1998 = ?
eh i think u mean 10 years
20 years ago there were no laptops, let alone a pda.
I actually have one. MessagePad 2100, extra batteries, universal power kit, keyboard, memory cards, leather case. It is nice. The handwriting recognition is very good. Don’t use it very much though…
@ Woody
But there is no webserver app for the iPhone.
The Newton is a very special piece of technology.
I bought a 120 in early 1996 and I love it still. I don’t use it anymore but the Newton is why I never bought a Palm or ipaq or anything else — none of them could hope to compare to the ease of the Newton and its wonderful handwriting recognition. I refused to learn “Graffiti” because I knew the Newton could do it right.
The Newton still has, from all I’ve seen, the best handwriting recognition on the market.
While fan is a derivative of fanatic, they do not have the same meaning.
fanatic
noun
a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, esp. for an extreme religious or political cause
fan
noun
a person who has a strong interest in or admiration for a particular sport, art form, or famous person
As you can see, a fanatic requires excessive and extreme zeal, while fan only requires a strong interest.
I lost my Newton on a plane trip years ago. I miss it. It was the best organizer I ever had, and the handwriting recognition was much better than was portrayed. I hope someone makes a “To Do” app for the iPhone that works as well as the Newton’s version did a decade ago.
I, too, have several Newtons. I do hope that someone (Apple or 3rd party) develops a handwriting recognition app for the iPhone. Aside from being a terrific organizer, it was the best tool for taking notes in business meetings. (Using your laptop for note taking is so déclassé.) Also, I found that hand writing your thoughts was more conducive to creative thinking.
The iphone actually already HAS handwriting recognition…it’s just for CHINESE.
http://www.ipodhacks.com/article.php?sid=2545
OOoooh, Ms. Thesaurus. Sounds like a catch for some lucky guy.
I still have two messagepad 110s in my closet. Maybe I need to dig them out and sell them on eBay.
“OOoooh, Ms. Thesaurus. Sounds like a catch for some lucky guy.”
Sure would be a lucky catch! Or it could be auspicious, beneficial, canny, charmed, favorable, fortuitous, fortunate, golden, happy, opportune, propitious, prosperous, providential, successful or even timely.
The iPhone is the natural progression of the Newton, which was one of the finest computers I have ever owned.
I have one beat up Newton 130, looks like a dog got it but it was just worn out by heavy usage. Then I have Newt 2100 which I still use, it’s still amazing “little” PDA. I might need to buy the iPhone though, China Post is not allowing to mail my Panasonic mobile phone charger to EU because of the Olympics, and the iPhone store is just 30 meters away.
@ palm = blah
“the Newton is why I never bought a Palm or ipaq or anything else — none of them could hope to compare to the ease of the Newton and its wonderful handwriting recognition. I refused to learn “Graffiti” because I knew the Newton could do it right.
The Newton still has, from all I’ve seen, the best handwriting recognition on the market.”
SPOT ON! My position exactly! But having said that, I do have an old Palm Tunsgten which I use for showing pictures and slides to a prospect when pitching for strategy consulting work. My capitalist tool soon to be replaced by an iPhone.
Back to the Newt – big hint to ParaGraph International Inc and/or PhatWare Corporation.:
PORT THE CalliGrapher APPLICATION YOU CREATED FOR THE NEWTON OVER TO THE iPhone!!!
According to the Newton entry on Wikipedia, Apple relied on ParaGraph International’s CalliGrapher for cursive handwriting recognition. This was later made available on PocketPC and is still available today from PhatWare Corporation.
Basically, a fan is a lesser version of the full blown fanatic
o, and uh why did Apple kill the Newton?