The Apple Newton MessagePad 100

The Apple Newton, or simply Newton, was an early line of personal digital assistants developed and marketed by Apple Computer (now Apple Inc. Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics ) from 1993 to 1998. Some electronic engineering and the manufacture of the Newton was done in Japan by Sharp. () is a Japanese Electronics manufacturer founded in 1912 It takes its name from one of its founder's first inventions the Ever-Sharp Mechanical pencil, which The original Newtons were based on the ARM 610 RISC processor and featured handwriting recognition software. The ARM architecture (previously the Advanced RISC Machine, and prior to that Acorn RISC Machine) is a 32-bit RISC processor architecture Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible Handwritten input such as pendrives digital cameras and other devices Apple's official name for the device was "MessagePad"; the term "Newton" was Apple's name for the operating system it used (Newton OS), but popular usage of the word Newton has grown to include the device and its software together. Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997 The name is an allusion to Isaac Newton's apple. Sir Isaac Newton, FRS (ˈnjuːtən 4 January 1643 31 March 1727) Biography Early years See also Isaac Newton's early life and achievements

The Newton in development

The Newton project was not originally intended to produce a PDA. The PDA category did not exist for most of Newton's genesis, and the "personal digital assistant" term itself was coined relatively late in the development cycle by Apple's then-CEO John Sculley, the driving force behind the project. John Sculley (born April 6 1939) is an American businessman Sculley was vice-president (1970-1977 and president of PepsiCo (1977-1983 until Newton was intended to be a complete reinvention of personal computing. For most of its design lifecycle Newton had a large-format screen, more internal memory, and an object-oriented graphics kernel. One of the original motivating use cases for the design was known as the "Architect Scenario," in which Newton's designers imagined a residential architect working quickly with a client to sketch, clean up, and interactively modify a simple two-dimensional home plan. A use case is a description of a system’s behaviour as it responds to a request that originates from outside of that system An architect is a licensed individual who leads a design team in the Planning and Design of buildings and participates in oversight of Building Construction

For a portion of the Newton's development cycle (roughly the middle third), the project's intended programming language was Dylan though in fact the language and environment never matured enough for any applications to be successfully written. The Dylan Programming language is a multi-paradigm language that includes support for functional Dylan was a small, efficient object-oriented Lisp variant that still retains some interest. Object-oriented programming (OOP is a Programming paradigm that uses " objects " and their interactions to design applications and computer programs Lisp (or LISP) is a family of Computer Programming languages with a long history and a distinctive fully parenthesized syntax Although it was efficient (for its day, and considering its substantial run-time dynamism), Dylan never lived up to its developers' performance expectations and was a tough sell for a development team unaccustomed to Lisp programming. This article is about a class of programming languages for the method for reducing the runtime of algorithms see Dynamic programming. When the move was made to a smaller form factor (designed by Jonathan Ive), ^{[1] [2]} Dylan was relegated to experimental status in the "Bauhaus Project" and eventually canceled outright. Jonathan Paul Ive CBE (born February 1967 is a British designer and the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc Its replacement, NewtonScript which had garbage collection, tight integration with the "soup" storage and user-interface toolkit, and was specifically designed to run in small RAM/large ROM environments.

The project missed its original goals to reinvent personal computing, and then to rewrite contemporary application programming. A rewrite in Computer programming is the act or result of re-implementing a large portion of existing functionality without re-use of its Source code. The Newton project fell victim to project slippage, scope creep, and a growing fear that it would interfere with Macintosh sales. Scope creep (also called focus creep, requirement creep, feature creep, and sometimes kitchen sink syndrome) in Project management It was reinvented as a PDA which would be a complementary Macintosh peripheral instead of a stand-alone computer which might compete with the Macintosh.

Product Details

Application software

The Newton was 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 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 EnRoute email client. Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997 A third-party developer is a developer not directly tied to the primary product that a consumer is using Intuit Inc ( is an American Software company that develops financial and Tax preparation software and related services for Small 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.

Notes

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". The Apple Newton, or simply Newton, is the IPhone 's predecessor and was an early line of Personal digital assistants developed and marketed by

Photograph of screen displaying Checklist, some bullet points checked and/or "collapsed"

In version 2 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. A tick (known as a checkmark or check in American English) is a mark (✓ ✔ ☑, etc Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997

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. @@@ main@@@ - title Hierarchy@@@ keywords structure; sociology; information@@@ review@@@ - In Typography, a bullet is a typographical symbol or Glyph used to introduce Items in a list, like below also known as the point of a bullet A checklist is used as an aid to Memory. It helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task An outliner is a special Text editor that allows text to be structured as an Outline. This could be used for organizing thoughts, priorities, "to do" lists, planning steps and 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. An outline is a hierarchical way to display related items of text to graphically depict their relationships A tree structure is a way of representing the hierarchical nature of a Structure in a graphical form When a bullet point was dragged, the entire sub-tree of child bullet points underneath it (if any) would be dragged along as well. A tree structure is a way of representing the hierarchical nature of a Structure in a graphical form If a bullet point had child bullet points, tapping the hollow parent bullet point once would "roll up" or collapse all the children ("windowshade" effect). WindowShade was a control panel for the Mac OS that allowed a user to double-click a window 's Title bar to "roll up" the window like The parent bullet point would become a solid black circle and all the children would disappear. Tapping the parent bullet point again would make the children re-appear.

Names

The Names application was used for storing contacts. Contacts created either on the Newton or on a Windows or Macintosh desktop PIM could be synchronized to each other. ^{[3] [4]} 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 3 types of contacts, "people", "companies", and "groups", but a developer could define new types, for instance "client", "patient", etc.

Dates

Dates supplied calendar, events, meeting, and alarms functions, including an integrated "to do" list manager. It offered many different display and navigation styles, including a list view, graphical day "time blocking" view, or a week, month, or year grid. As with Names, Dates items created either on the Newton or on a Windows or Macintosh desktop PIM could be synchronized to each other.

Screen and input

With the 1xx series, an optional keyboard became available, which can also be used via the dongle on a 2x00.

The MessagePad can be used with the screen turned horizontally ("landscape") as well as vertically ("portrait"). A change of a setting instantly rotates the contents of the display by 90, 180 or 270 degrees. Handwriting recognition still works properly with the display rotated.

Handwriting recognition

In initial versions (Newton OS 1. Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997 x) the Newton's handwriting recognition gave extremely mixed results for users and was often inaccurate. The original handwriting recognition engine was called Calligrapher, and was licensed from a Russian company called Paragraph International. Calligrapher's design was quite sophisticated; it attempted to learn the user's natural handwriting, using a database of known words to make guesses as to what the user was writing, and could interpret writing anywhere on the screen, whether hand-printed, in cursive, or a mix of the two. For the indie rock band see Cursive (band. Cursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing down notes and By contrast, Palm Pilot's Graffiti had a less sophisticated design than Calligrapher, but was more accurate in practise due to its reliance on a simplified alphabet which clearly differentiated similar characters. This is a new page about the Second Generation of Palm PDAs For the generic page see Palm (PDA The PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional ^[5]

For editing text, Newton had an intuitive system for handwritten editing, such as scratching out words to be deleted, circling text to be selected, or using written carets to mark inserts. Caret is the name for the symbol ^ in ASCII and some other Character sets Its Unicode code point is U+005E and its ASCII code in hexadecimal is 5E ^[6]

Later releases of the Newton operating system retained the original recognizer for compatibility, but added a hand-printed-text-only (not cursive) recognizer, code-named "Rosetta," which was developed by Apple, included in version 2. Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997 For the indie rock band see Cursive (band. Cursive is any style of handwriting that is designed for writing down notes and Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997 0 of the Newton operating system, and refined in Newton 2. Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997 1. Rosetta is generally considered a significant improvement and many reviewers, testers, and users consider the Newton 2. 1 handwriting recognition software better than any of the alternatives even 10 years after it was introduced. ^[7] Recognition and computation of handwritten horizontal and vertical formulas such as "1 + 2 =" was also under development but never released.

A critical feature of the Newton handwriting recognition system is the modeless error correction. In User interface design a mode is a distinct setting within a computer program or any physical machine interface in which the same user input will produce perceived different In Mathematics, Computer science, Telecommunication, and Information theory, error detection and correction has great practical importance in That is, correction done in situ without using a separate window or widget, using a minimum of gestures. In situ (ɪn siːˈtuː is a Latin phrase meaning in the place. If a word is recognized improperly, the user could double-tap the word and a list of alternatives would pop up in a menu under the stylus. Most of the time, the correct word will be in the list. If not, a button at the bottom of the list allows the user to edit individual characters in that word. Other pen gestures could do such things as transpose letters (also in situ). In situ (ɪn siːˈtuː is a Latin phrase meaning in the place. Error correction in many current handwriting systems provides such functionality but adds more steps to the process, greatly increasing the interruption to a user's workflow that a given correction requires.

User interface

Newton screen displaying a Note with text, "ink text", a sketch, & vectorized shapes

Text could also be entered by tapping with the stylus on a small on-screen pop-up QWERTY virtual keyboard. Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points lines, Curves and shapes or Polygon (s which are all based QWERTY (ˈkwɜː(rti is the most common modern-day Keyboard layout on English-language computer and Typewriter keyboards It takes its A virtual keyboard is a software and/or hardware component that allows a user to enter characters Newton could also accept free-hand "Sketches", "Shapes", and "ink text", much like a desktop computer graphics tablet. A graphics tablet (or digitizing tablet, graphics pad, drawing tablet) is a computer Input device that allows one to hand-draw images and graphics With "Shapes", Newton could recognize that the user was attempting to draw a circle, a line, a polygon, etc, and it would clean them up into "perfect" vector representations (with modifiable control points and defined vertices) of what the user was attempting to draw. In Geometry a polygon (ˈpɒlɨɡɒn ˈpɒliɡɒn is traditionally a plane figure that is bounded by a closed path or circuit Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points lines, Curves and shapes or Polygon (s which are all based "Shapes" and "Sketches" could be scaled or deformed once drawn. In computer graphics image scaling is the process of resizing a Digital image. "Ink text" captured the user's free-hand writing but allowed it to be treated somewhat like recognized text when manipulating for later editing purposes ("ink text" supported word wrap, could be formatted to be bold, italic, etc). Word wrap or line wrap is the feature supported by most Text editors Word processors, and Web browsers of automatically replacing some ^[8] At any time a user could also direct the Newton to recognize selected "ink text" and turn it into recognized text (deferred recognition). A Newton Note document (or the notes attached to each contact in Names and each calendar event) could contain any mix of interleaved text, ink text, Shapes, and Sketches.

Operating system and programming environment

The Newton OS consists of three layers. Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997 At the lowest level, a microkernel handles resources like tasks and memory. A microkernel is a minimal Computer Operating system kernel which in its purest form provides no operating-system services at all only the On top of the microkernel, the bulk of the operating system is implemented in C++, including the communications layer, handwriting recognition, and the NewtonScript environment. C++ (" C Plus Plus " ˌsiːˌplʌsˈplʌs is a general-purpose Programming language. NewtonScript is a Prototype based Programming language created to write programs for the Apple Newton. The top layer consists of built-in and user installed applications written in NewtonScript.

NewtonScript is an advanced object-oriented programming language, developed by Apple employee Walter Smith ^[9]. Object-oriented programming (OOP is a Programming paradigm that uses " objects " and their interactions to design applications and computer programs Some programmers complained at the $1000 cost of the Toolbox programming environment (later in the life of the Newton, the programming environment was made available free of charge). Additionally, it required learning a new way of programming. Despite this, many third party and shareware applications are available for Newton. The term shareware, popularized by Bob Wallace, refers to Copyrighted commercial Software that is Distributed without payment on a trial

Data storage

Data in Newton is stored in object-oriented databases known as soups. Instead of a "traditional" File System the Newton has a shallow database system based on the concept of "Soup" One of the innovative aspects of Newton is that soups are available to all programs; and programs can operate cross-soup; meaning that the calendar can refer to names in the address book; a note in the notepad can be converted to an appointment, and so forth; and the soups can be programmer-extended—a new address book enhancement can be built on the data from the existing address book.

While the soup concept works well within the Newton system itself, it causes several issues. First, it makes it difficult to synchronize data with other systems, like a desktop Macintosh or PC since the data stored in soups does not correspond well with such file based systems. Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac is a Brand name which covers several lines of Personal computers designed developed and marketed by Apple Inc A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated Apple's utility to perform this task, the Newton Connection Utility, was complex and was never completed to perform to the satisfaction of most users. The realization that a hand held computer needs to work within the existing data environment of its users was key to the success of the later Palm Pilot platform. This is a new page about the Second Generation of Palm PDAs For the generic page see Palm (PDA The PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional Difficulty in working and sharing data with other systems was a key contributor to Newton's demise.

The second consequence of the data-object soup is that objects can extend built-in applications such as the address book so seamlessly that Newton users can not distinguish which program or add-on object is responsible for the various features on their own system. A user rebuilding their system after extended usage might find themselves unable to manually restore their system to the same functionality because some long-forgotten downloaded extension was missing. Data owned and used by applications and extensions themselves is tossed in the "Storage" area of the "Extras" drawer. There is no built-in distinction between types of data in that area. For example, an installed application's icon could be sitting right next to a database of addresses used by another installed extension further down the list.

Finally, the data soup concept works well for data like addresses, which benefit from being shared cross-functionally, but it works poorly for discrete data sets like files and documents. Later, the 2. 0 release of the Newton OS introduced Virtual Binary Objects to alleviate the problem of handling large data objects. Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997

Package installation, capacity planning, and disaster recovery

Several software utilities which accommodate data transfer to and from a host system exist for the following platforms:

• Apple Macintosh
• Amiga OS
• UNIX
• Microsoft Windows 95/98/2000/2003/XP/Vista

See Apple Newton Software --> Backup for further details.

Hardware connectivity

Earlier MessagePads use Macintosh-standard serial ports—round Mini-DIN 8 connectors instead of the more common trapezoidal DE-9, commonly called DB-9. Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac is a Brand name which covers several lines of Personal computers designed developed and marketed by Apple Inc In Computing, a serial port is a Serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one Bit at a time (contrast The mini-DIN connectors are a family of multi-pin Electrical connectors used in a variety of applications The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of Electrical connector used particularly in Computers Calling them "subminiature" was appropriate The 2000/2100 models have a proprietary small flat connector, called an InterConnect port, used with an adapter. In addition, all models have infrared connectivity, initially only the Sharp ASK protocol, later IrDA. Infrared ( IR) radiation is Electromagnetic radiation whose Wavelength is longer than that of Visible light, but shorter than that of () is a Japanese Electronics manufacturer founded in 1912 It takes its name from one of its founder's first inventions the Ever-Sharp Mechanical pencil, which The Infrared Data Association ( IrDA) defines physical specifications Communications protocol standards for the short-range exchange of Data Unlike the Palm, all MessagePad models are equipped with a standard PC Card expansion slot (two on the 2000/2100). In Computing, PC Card (originally '''PCMCIA''', or PCMCIA Card is the Form factor of a peripheral interface designed for Laptop computers This allows native modem and even Ethernet connectivity; Newton users have also written drivers for 802.11b wireless networking cards and ATA-type flash memory cards (including the popular CompactFlash format), as well as for Bluetooth cards. Ethernet is a family of frame -based Computer networking technologies for Local area networks (LANs In computing a device driver or software driver is a Computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a Hardware device IEEE 80211b-1999 or 80211b, is an amendment to the IEEE 80211 specification that extended throughput to up to 11 Mbit/s using the same 2 Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed CompactFlash ( CF) is a Mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices Bluetooth is a wireless protocol utilizing short-range communications technology facilitating data transmission over short distances from fixed and/or mobile devices creating wireless Newton can also dial a phone number through the MessagePad speaker by simply holding a telephone handset up to the speaker, and fax support is built in at the operating system level, although it requires external cards or a small serial Apple modem powered by AA batteries.

Power options

As with the contemporary early-model PI-series Sharp Zaurus PDAs in Japan, the MessagePad and MessagePad 100 used AAA batteries. SHARP may refer to Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice Super High Altitude Research Project, a 1990s project to develop a high-velocity The Sharp Zaurus is the name of a series of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA made by Sharp Corporation. A AAA battery (pronounced "triple A" is a dry cell-type battery commonly used in portable electronic devices The early Zaurus used 2 AAA batteries, whereas the MessagePad and MessagePad 100 used 4 AAA batteries. However, even with twice as many batteries, AAA batteries proved to be an inadequate power source for the consumption needs of the Newton.

The use of 4 AA NiCd (MessagePad 110, 120 and 130) and 4x AA NiMH cells (2x00 series, eMate 300) give a runtime of up to 30 hours (MP 2100 with two 20 MB linear Flash memory PC Cards, no backlight usage) and up to 24 hours with backlight on. A AA battery (double a or /ˈdʌbəl eɪ/ is a dry cell-type battery commonly used in portable Electronic devices The nickel-cadmium battery (commonly abbreviated NiCd and ˈnɑɪˌkæd "nye-cad" is a type of Rechargeable battery using Nickel oxide hydroxide A nickel-metal hydride battery, abbreviated NiMH, is a type of Rechargeable battery similar to a nickel-cadmium ( Ni[[Cadmium Cd]] battery eMate 300 was a Personal digital assistant designed manufactured and sold by Apple Computer to the education market as a low-cost laptop running the Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed In Computing, PC Card (originally '''PCMCIA''', or PCMCIA Card is the Form factor of a peripheral interface designed for Laptop computers While adding more weight to the Newtons than AAA batteries or custom battery packs, the choice of an easily replaceable/rechargeable cell format gives the user a still unsurpassed runtime and flexibility of power supply. This, together with the Flash memory used as internal storage (if all cells lost their power, no data was lost due to the non-volatility of this storage), gave birth to the slogan "Newton never dies, it only gets new batteries". Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed

Later efforts and improvements

The MessagePad 2000 and 2100, with a vastly improved handwriting recognition system, 162 MHz StrongARM SA-110 RISC processor, Newton 2. The StrongARM Microprocessor is a faster version of the Advanced RISC Machines ARM design 1 OS, and a better, clearer, backlit screen, attracted critical plaudits. Although their size and expense were factors which kept them from being as popular as later Palm OS devices, the Newton still has a small but passionate user base. Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) is an embedded Operating system initially developed by U

The eMate 300

eMate 300

Main article: eMate 300

The eMate 300, which used a laptop form factor, was derived from the Apple Newton, and was offered to schools in 1997 as an inexpensive ($799 US, originally sold to education markets only) and durable computer for classroom use. eMate 300 was a Personal digital assistant designed manufactured and sold by Apple Computer to the education market as a low-cost laptop running the eMate 300 was a Personal digital assistant designed manufactured and sold by Apple Computer to the education market as a low-cost laptop running the eMate 300 was a Personal digital assistant designed manufactured and sold by Apple Computer to the education market as a low-cost laptop running the However, in order to achieve its low price, the eMate 300 did not have all the features of the contemporary Newton equivalent, the MessagePad 2000, and was cancelled along with the rest of the Newton line.

Prototypes

Many prototypes of additional Newton models were spotted. Most notable was a Newton tablet or "slate," a large, flat screen that could be written on. Others included a "Kids Newton" with side handgrips and buttons, "VideoPads" which would have incorporated a video camera and screen on their flip-top covers for two-way communications, the "Mini 2000" which would have been very similar to Palm Pilot, and the "NewtonPhone" (developed by Siemens AG) which incorporated a handset and a keyboard.

Cases

Apple and third parties marketed several "wallets" (cases) for the MessagePads, which would hold them securely along with the owner's credit cards, driver's license, business cards, and cash. These wallets were even larger than the MessagePads and even less able to fit in a pocket, so they were most often used as a protective case for the unit to shield it from bumps and scratches. Some cases included a metal or plastic shield inside the fabric to protect the glass LCD screen. The MessagePad has a receiver in the middle back to accept a pin that was mounted on the case. This allowed the Newton to be held by the case without the use of adhesives or straps.

Market reception

Although the Apple Newton was produced for six years, it was never as successful in the marketplace as Apple had hoped. This has been attributed to two primary reasons: the Newton's high price (which went up to $1000 when models 2000 and 2100 were introduced), and its large size (it failed the "pocket test" by not fitting in an average coat, shirt, or trouser pocket).

The MessagePad and MessagePad 100 were also limited by the very short lifetime of their inadequate AAA batteries.

Critics also panned the handwriting recognition, trumpeted in the Newton's marketing campaign, available in the debut models, and it was this problem that was famously skewered in the Doonesbury comic strips^[10] and the animated television series The Simpsons. Handwriting recognition is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible Handwritten input such as pendrives digital cameras and other devices Doonesbury is a Comic strip by G B Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of a vast array of different characters of different ages professions Although the handwriting recognition was greatly improved in later models, these initial problems marred Newton's reputation in the eyes of the public, and PDAs would remain a niche product until Palm, Inc.'s Palm Pilot, which emerged shortly before the Newton was discontinued. Palm Inc is a Personal digital assistant and Smartphone manufacturer headquartered in Sunnyvale, California that is responsible for popular This is a new page about the Second Generation of Palm PDAs For the generic page see Palm (PDA The PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional The Palm Pilot, with its smaller, thinner shape, lower cost, excellent PC synchronization, and more robust Graffiti handwriting recognition system—which had been available first as a software package for the Newton—managed to restore the viability of the PDA market after Newton's commercial failure. Graffiti is the Handwriting recognition software used in PDAs based on the Palm OS. Palm Computing was co-founded by ex-Apple employee Donna Dubinsky. Donna Dubinsky (born July 4, 1955) is a Businesswoman who played an integral role in the development of Personal digital assistants (PDAs

Another factor which limited the Newton's appeal was that desktop connectivity was not included in the basic retail package. Desktop computer synchronization hardware and software had to be purchased separately adding to the expense of the basic package.

Later versions (OS 2. x) offered excellent handwriting recognition and modeless access to error correction, quite possibly a leading reason for the continued popularity of the device among Newton users. Even given the age of the hardware and software, Newtons still demand a sale price on the used market far greater than that of comparatively aged PDAs produced by other companies. As of 2004 the Newton 2000 and 2100 could still fetch a price, without accessories, of over $100. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " In 2006 CNET compared a Newton Message Pad 2000 to a Samsung Q1, and the Newton was declared better [1]

Newton technology after cancellation

Before the Newton project was canceled, it was "spun off" into an Apple wholly owned subsidiary company, Newton Inc. CNET Networks Inc is a media company based in San Francisco California, United States, and is part of CBS Interactive, owned , but was reabsorbed several months later when Steve Jobs ousted Apple CEO Gil Amelio and resumed control of Apple. Steven Paul Jobs (born February 24 1955 is the Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc and former CEO of Pixar Animation Gilbert F Amelio (born March 1, 1943 in New York City) is an American technology executive Two ex-Apple Newton developers founded Pixo, the company that created the iPod's OS. Pixo was a company that developed infrastructure for Wireless systems iPod is a popular brand of Portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc

Speculation continued for several years that Apple might release a new PDA with some Newton technology or collaborate with Palm. Feeding a bit of speculation, Apple put the "Print Recognizer" part of the Newton 2. 1 handwriting recognition system into Mac OS X version 10. Mac OS X (mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn is a line of computer Operating systems developed marketed and sold by Apple Inc, the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently 2 (known as "Jaguar"). It can be used with graphics tablets to seamlessly input handwritten printed text anywhere there was an insertion point on the screen. This technology, known as "Inkwell", appears in the System Preferences whenever a tablet input device is plugged in. Inkwell, or simply Ink, is the name of the Handwriting recognition technology developed by Apple Inc Whether Apple will ever utilize such technology again in a handheld device remains to be seen. A mobile device (also known as cellphone device, handheld device, handheld computer, "Palmtop" or simply handheld) is a pocket-sized An Easter egg in Print Recognizer on the Newton (write "ROSETTA! ROSETTA! ROSETTA!", and the Newton will insert "ROSETTA! ROSETTA! Hey, that's me!" instead) was present in Inkwell in Mac OS 10. A virtual Easter egg is an intentional Hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, Book 2 and 10. 3, but seems to have been removed in 10. 4. This led to speculation that Inkwell was a direct port of Print Recognizer, but may have just been a programmer being nostalgic. The Rosetta name was later used for Apple's PowerPC emulation layer for Intel-based Macs. Rosetta is a lightweight dynamic translator for Mac OS X distributed by Apple. PowerPC is a RISC Instruction set architecture created by the 1991 Apple – IBM – Motorola alliance known as AIM

At an All Things Digital conference in 2004, Steve Jobs made reference to a new "Apple PDA" (likely a successor to the Newton) which the company had developed but had decided not to bring to market. [2]

The Apple iPhone, announced by Steve Jobs at Macworld on 9 January 2007, was described by one blogger as "surprisingly close to what a current-generation Newton might look like if Jobs hadn't killed the line in 1997" [3]. The iPhone is an internet-connected Multimedia Smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc Not to be confused with McWorld, a term for globalisation Macworld is a web site and monthly Computer magazine dedicated Events 475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Many of the iPhone's icons are reminiscent of the Newton 2x00 soft icons at the bottom of the screen.

Newton Emulation

Since 2004, the Einstein Project[4] has been working on emulating the Newton for use as an alternate OS on other platforms. It is currently available for the Sharp Zaurus, Apple's Mac OS X, Nokia 770 and N800, and the PepperPad 3. The Sharp Zaurus is the name of a series of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA made by Sharp Corporation. Mac OS X (mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn is a line of computer Operating systems developed marketed and sold by Apple Inc, the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is a wireless Internet appliance from Nokia, originally announced at the LinuxWorld Summit in New York City on The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet is a wireless Internet appliance from Nokia, originally announced at the Las Vegas CES 2007 Summit The Pepper Pad is a Linux -based mobile computer with Internet capability and doubles as a Handheld game console. The emulator is an open source project, but requires an original Newton ROM to be installed in order to function.

Newton models

Note(*): The eMate 300 actually has ROM Chips silked screened with 2. 2 on them. Stephanie Mak on her website discusses this. http://www.felesmagus.com/newton/otheremate.html

So if you remove ALL patches to the eMate 300 NOS you will end up with an NOS of 2. 2. 00-0 which is documented in photo located here. The Newton OS was also licensed to a number of third party developers including Sharp and Motorola who developed additional PDA devices that used the operating system. Newton OS was the Operating system for the Apple Newton PDAs produced by Apple from 1993 - 1997 Motorola added wireless connectivity to the unit, and renamed it the Marco. ^[11]

A possible Newton revival has been a common source of speculation among the Macintosh user base; when patents for a tablet based Macintosh were applied for ^[12], rumor sites jumped at the possibility of a new Tablet PC style Macintosh. A Tablet PC is a Notebook or slate-shaped Mobile computer, equipped with a Touchscreen or Graphics tablet/screen hybrid technology which allows Also, the Apple iPhone has PDA functions, and could be considered a successor to the Newton. The iPhone is an internet-connected Multimedia Smartphone designed and marketed by Apple Inc

Other uses

Petrosains uses Newton technology.

There were a number of projects that used the Newton as a portable information device in cultural settings such as museums. For example, Visible Interactive created a walking tour in San Francisco's Chinatown but the most significant effort took place in Malaysia at the Petronas Discovery Center, known as Petrosains. For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian owned oil and gas company that was founded on August 17 1974. ^[13]

In 1995, an exhibit design firm, DMCD Inc. , was awarded the contract to design a new 100,000 square foot (9300 m²) science museum in the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The Petronas Twin Towers (also known as the Petronas Towers or Twin Towers) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were the world's tallest buildings A major factor in the award was the concept that visitors would use a Newton to access additional information, find out where they were in the museum, listen to audio, see animations, control robots and other media, and to bookmark information for printout at the end of the exhibit.

The device became known as the ARIF, a Malay word for "wise man" or "seer" and it was also an acronym for A Resourceful Informative Friend. Some 400 ARIFS were installed and over 300 are still in use today. The development of the ARIF system was extremely complex and required a team of hardware and software engineers, designers, and writers. ARIF is an ancestor of the PDA systems used in museums today and it boasted features that have not been attempted since.

Appearances in popular culture

• 

  The Original Apple Newton's handwriting recognition was made light of in The Simpsons episode Lisa on Ice
  In an episode of The Simpsons titled "Lisa on Ice", which first aired November 13, 1994, school bully Kearney has his buddy Dolph take a memo on a Newton. " Lisa on Ice " is the eighth television episode of The Simpsons ' sixth season. " Lisa on Ice " is the eighth television episode of The Simpsons ' sixth season. Events 1002 - English king Ethelred orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) When Dolph writes "Beat up Martin" on the screen, the handwriting recognition turns it into "Eat up Martha. " Kearney throws the Newton at Martin instead. Martin Prince Jr is a recurring character in the FOX animated series The Simpsons, and is voiced by Russi Taylor. ^[14]
• The Newton 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. Under Siege 2 Dark Territory is a 1995 Action film set on board a train traveling through the Rocky Mountains from Denver to Steven F Seagal (born April 10 1951 is an American Action movie Actor, producer, writer director, Martial artist
• In early episodes of the series The X-Files, the FBI agents use Newtons. The X-Files is a Peabody, Golden Globe and Emmy Award -winning American Science fiction television series created by Chris Carter The Newton is also used as an in-game tool in The X-Files: The Game. The X-Files Game is an Adventure game for the PlayStation video game console PC, and Macintosh and is based on the television series
• In the end scene of Larry Laffer Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! the woman says "I even had a Newton". Leisure Suit Larry is the title character of a series of adult Adventure games written by Al Lowe and published by Sierra On-Line
• The character of Kate Libby in Hackers has a MessagePad which is seen in a number of scenes. Hackers is a 1995 Film that follows the misfortunes of the young hackers Dade Murphy ('Crash Override'/'Zero Cool' played by Jonny Lee
• Dennis Nedry in the film Jurassic Park has a Newton on his desk. Wayne Knight (born August 7, 1955) is an American comedic Actor, perhaps best known for his roles as Newman in the Jurassic Park is a 1993 Science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel of the same name by Michael
• Gary Sinise uses one as the hostage taker in the 1996 film Ransom starring Mel Gibson. Gary Alan Sinise (born March 17, 1955) is an American Actor and Film director. Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson, AO (born January 3 1956
• Daniel Brühl uses one in the German film The Edukators. The Edukators (Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei literally "the fat years are over" or "the days of plenty are numbered" is a German - Austrian
• A "Saturday Night Live" mock commercial featured a Newton/Post-it Note hybrid device. Saturday Night Live ( SNL) is a weekly late-night 90-minute American Sketch comedy / Variety show based in New York City
• The Newton is still used to this day (summer 2006), as a survey taking device by Disneyland castmembers. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
• In the movie Angels in the Outfield, the coach's personal assistant uses a Newton several times.
• A modified eMate 300 appears in the 1997 film Batman & Robin. eMate 300 was a Personal digital assistant designed manufactured and sold by Apple Computer to the education market as a low-cost laptop running the " Batman & Robin " is a 1997 film from the Batman film series starring George Clooney as Batman, Chris O'Donnell returning ^[15]
• Garry Trudeau ridiculed it in a series of episodes of his popular comic, Doonesbury. Garretson Beekman Trudeau (born July 21, 1948) is an American Cartoonist, best known for the Doonesbury comic strip Doonesbury is a Comic strip by G B Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of a vast array of different characters of different ages professions The last panel of one strip, which shows a character reading the words "egg freckles?" from his Newton ^[10], became an Easter egg in the Newton operating system itself (version 2. A virtual Easter egg is an intentional Hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, Book 0 and earlier). It can be seen by writing the words egg freckles then highlighting them and tapping the Assist button^[16].
• In an episode of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch titled "Geek Like Me" a character in the Science Club, Howard, relates an experience with his Newton to the rest of the club: ". Sabrina the Teenage Witch was an American sitcom based on the Archie comic book series of the same name. . . And the handwriting recognition on my Newton turned it into ‘Are you afraid of the dork’!"
• In 2004, CNET elected the Apple Newton one of the "Top 10 tech we miss" ^[17], mentioning the device's amusing willingness to translate nearly any stroke on the screen to text, allowing the user to generate surreal Newton Poetry from random scribbles. Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a science fiction/horror-themed children's Television series. CNET Networks Inc is a media company based in San Francisco California, United States, and is part of CBS Interactive, owned
• A number of Usenet discussion groups mocked the Newton's mangling of handwriting. Usenet, a Portmanteau of "user" and "network" is a world-wide distributed Internet discussion system For example: "Q: How many Apple Newtons does it take to change a light bulb? A: Foux! There to eat lemons, axe gravy soup. "

See also

• ALON Project The ALON Project (ARM Linux on Newton Project)
• eMate 300
• Apple Newton Software
• NewtonScript
• iPhone
• iPod touch
• Orphaned technology

References

Bibliography

• Apple's MessagePad 2100 description
• Apple's MessagePad 2100 technical specs
• A selection of PDFs of Apple's Newton manuals
• Apple's press release on the debut of the MessagePad 2100
• Apple's overview of features & limitations of Newton Connection Utilities
• Newton overview at Newton Source archived from Apple
• Newton FAQ
• Pen Computing's First Look at Newton OS 2.0
• Newton Gallery
• Birth of the Newton
• The Newton Hall of Fame: People behind the Newton
• Pen Computing's Why did Apple kill the Newton?
• Pen Computing's Newton Notes column archive
• A.I. Magazine article by Yaeger on Newton HWR design, algorithms, & quality and associated slides
• Info on Newton HWR from Apple's HWR Technical Lead

External links

Additional Resources & Information

• Defying Gravity: The Making of Newton, by Kounalakis & Menuez (Hardcover)

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Beyond Words Publishing (October 1993)
• ISBN 0941831949
• ISBN 978-0941831949

• Newton FAQ & Detailed upgrade/repair information
• the Open Directory Project's Newton links
• NewtonTalk discussion email list
• United Network of Newton Archives
• Newton-based web server software
• Online Newton Error-Code Lookup
• Up next for Apple: the return of the Newton
• Newton Poetry: MessagePad Jabberwocky (blog)

Newton Technical Documents for Programmers

NewtonScript Programming: NewtonScript is the native programming language for all MessagePads

• The Newton Application Architecture
• Newton Tool Kit (NTK) Integrated Development Environment Manual
• A quick introduction to programming in NewtonScript using NTK
• The NewtonScript Programming Language (Apple Manual).
• Newton Programmer's Guide, OS 2.0
• Newton Programmer's Guide, OS 2.1 Addendum
• Newton Programmer's Reference, OS 2.0
• Newton OS 2.1 Engineering Documents
• Explanation of NewtonScript Prototyping
• Newton User Interface Specification Guide

MessagePad 2100 & 2000 Assembly Language Programming:

• Complete Developer's manual for the StrongARM SA-110
• StrongARM SA-110 Technical Reference Manual for Programmers (by Intel)
• StrongARM SA-110 Technical Reference Manual for Programmers (by DEC).
• StrongARM SA-110 Microprocessor Instruction Timing Technical Manual
• Memory Management on the StrongARM SA-110
• Paper describing porting Xen to the SA-110. NewtonScript is a Prototype based Programming language created to write programs for the Apple Newton. Xen is a virtual machine monitor for IA-32, X86, X86-64, IA-64 and PowerPC 970 architectures Describes many points of interest regarding porting to the StrongARM platform from the X86 architecture, very useful for Newton programmers.
• StrongARM SA-110 Datasheet
• Very clear introductory overview of the StrongARM SA-110 Microprocessor suitable for beginners.
• A Technical Overview of the Original Newton OS
• Newton Internals
• Newton Bytecode Specification

Reviews

• Apple Newton Versus iPhone
• My Newton: Why I won't buy an iPhone or iPod touch
• Interesting modern review comparing the MessagePad to the Samsung Q1
• MacTech's review of MessagePad 2000
• MessagePad 2000 review at "The History and Macintosh Society"
• TidBITS review of MessagePad 2000
• Prof. Wittmann's collection of Newton & MessagePad reviews