Some people look at devices like the Apple
Newton and dismiss them as poorly designed, outdated crapware; we, on the other hand, get just a little giddy everytime
we see people giving love to Apple's doomed PDA, whether by modding them to perform new functions or assembling a
thorough collection of the handhelds and their related accesories. Well The Newton Museum has been fulfulling this
latter task admirably by displaying their impressive collection of Newtons and peripherals, but as Boing Boing's Xeni
Jardin (fresh off her victory as Sexiest Geek of 2005) reports, the museum is unfortunately closing its virtual doors
after seven years. The public's loss, however, could be one lucky person's gain, as the museums entire collection is up
for sale on eBay. This motherload of all things Newton contains 13 of the PDAs (some still boxed) including at least one
of every model manufactured, seemingly every peripheral and piece of software ever released for the platform, and
various developer kits and manuals for the hardcore fan. We'd love to see whoever wins this auction network all of the
Newtons into a grid to create the world's most powerful palmtop supercomputer unable to perform satisfactory
handwriting recognition.
[Via
Boing
Boing]
posted Dec 21st 2005 5:20PM
Newton? The idea could work now-a-days. Change it to llok like an iPod with a touch screen and they will fly off the shelves.
1st post... Anyways does comeone know the link for the auction
http://cgi.ebay.com/One-of-Every-Apple-Newton-Made-2000-2100-eMate-MORE_W0QQitemZ5844280178QQcategoryZ27966QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
is this really news? i know u guys need to meet your weekly "apple" headline quota to keep the steady flow of apple freebies coming in, but come on?? you could've come up with a better story than this.
funny, I played around with a friend's newton once in collage (it was a 100 as I recall), it recognised my handwriting with out a hitch. I found that particularly amazing given that most of my professors could not read my handwriting to the point where I had special testing privilages(I had to use a computer on all written exams)
I just wish I had the cash to buy one back than, as I could use that to 'type' papers faster than i can actually type :) Oh well...
Ncwton rocvs!
Egg freckles....
Funny... my last comment hasn't come out here yet, even though I confirmed it.
Wish I had a couple of grand for this collection. Even more, I wish I had saved at least one of my six Newtons I had. Wonderful device.
I'm getting one!
Xeni Jardin looks like a horses ass.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5844280178&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1
All I ever really wanted to do with my life was sell sugar water.
Guys... let it go.. this guy has. Wanting to hold onto the Newton is technological necrophilia at it's worst..
Time to move on...
The Newton is an interesting study. A remarkable product way ahead of the market. Handwriting recognition really isn't any better these days - it's never perfect and that's the problem.
The OS was a work of art. Scripted and completely object oriented.
When the Palm Pilot came out it just seemed like such a cheap little hack that I couldn't be bothered. Of course it took off like gangbusters.
Palm got the size and price right and they also weren't linked to the (then) pathetic Macintosh market. They were technically very simplistic which one could argue ultimately lead to their demise. But they understood what people were actually going to buy, not just what it was they wanted to sell.
Apple still operates as a company that sells what they want to sell, not what they think the consumer wants. Right now they happen to be very in sync with the consumer.
My Newton still amazes people. I thought that after two years we woudl see a replacement...but no
But the Newton was really before the internet. I actually think that it was before the internet that killed it. BTW I think the Nokia 770 may be my next newton
I still have two of these. An Apple MP2000 and a Newton Technologies MP2100. They're still great little machines and capable of a lot more than a lot of people think they are. Another Grant I know is acutally using one as a tiny webserver.
"8. Xeni Jardin looks like a horses ass.
Posted at 7:30PM on Dec 21st 2005 by Steven"
finally, someone agrees with me. i always thought "she" was a transsexual.
"Necrophilia"??? My God, man, it was just a friggin' virtual museum. Why the need to bash? Give it up already.
I suppose you are going to start hanging out next to the Smithsonian Museum, making fun of all the "necrophiliacs" inside.
Eat Up Martha...
"I suppose you are going to start hanging out next to the Smithsonian Museum, making fun of all the "necrophiliacs" inside."
Well, if they're actually *committing* necrophilia, I might...
People are always going "oh.. the Newton is so great.. blah blah".. I have two of them. They WERE great.. just like the NeXT WAS great... They're footnotes now...
What a great device, I have a MP130 and a MP2100 both still working. To this day, they still put my HP ipaqs to shame.
Guess I'll have to hold on to my Newton.
It's a shame this has to close. I wonder if the other "real" computer museums will buy or if the buyer will donate to one of these museums.
We need to keep museums of this type of stuff so that generations to come will understand where we came from (pictures don't necessarily do it.)
"People are always going "oh.. the Newton is so great.. blah blah".. I have two of them. They WERE great.. just like the NeXT WAS great... They're footnotes now..."
HELLO? Anyone home? Do you bother reading your own posts before sending them? You are failing Logic 101. What else do you expect to find in a museum? It was a freaking computer museaum dedicated to the Newton! Go search the web, there are lots of sites dedicated to obsolete computers; there are other computer museums filled with outdated computers, including the Newton. Do you go and heckle them, too? Do you stalk Amiga fanciers? Do you make fun of the Atari fans? How about VAX fans or Cray enthusiasts? What is your problem? Get over it.
I'll repeat this slowly so you'll understand: in ... a ... museum ... you ... typically ... find ... old ... and ... outdated ... things ... of ... historical ... or ... academic ... or ... other ... interest, ... in ... other ... words, ... things ... that ... are ... "footnotes" ... now.
Got it?