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Time's Harry McCracken on the battery life mystery and Polaroid Super Shooters
Every week, a new and interesting human being tackles our decidedly geeky take on the Proustian Q&A. This is the Engadget Questionnaire. Time's technology editor-at-large Harry McCracken offers his take on OS agnosticism and the golf disconnect in our latest weekly inquiry session. A collection of responses to the rest of our tech questions resides on the other side of the break.
Phil Schiller on the state of the Mac
After Apple unveiled its refreshed lineup of Mac computers on Tuesday, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller talked to Harry McCracken about the Mac and how it has evolved over the years. "This is what Apple has always been about, and the Mac has been about, from the first Mac and first iMac," Schiller said. "It's always been about making the best Mac we know how." Schiller added that the "approach at Apple has always been to make products we're proud to own and use ourselves." He reiterated to McCracken the same line we have heard from CEO Tim Cook -- that Apple "wouldn't make something cheap or low quality." Schiller pointed out that "when the economy is difficult, people care a great deal about the things they spend their money on" and added that "customers have come to understand that Apple's products aren't priced high -- they're priced on the value of what we build into them." You can read the full interview in McCraken's Technologizer column on Time.com.
Apple Newton celebrates 20 years of eating up Martha
History hasn't been particularly kind to the Newton. Apple's early play at the mobile device market has largely been a source of ridicule, considered a low point in the company's catalog. For every suggestion that the device was ahead its time, there are countless "eat up Martha" jokes. It's not hard to see why -- in spite of tenacious commitment on the part of John Sculley and co., the PDA never really took off, a fact blamed, in part, to hardware and software limitations. To mark the 20th anniversary of the device's on-stage debut, Harry McCracken picked a first-gen MessagePad H1000 and some accessories up on eBay, living with the device for six weeks, as part of an attempt to "reconsider" the Newton. So, how does the product hold up in the harsh light of 2012? At the very least, it offered up the opportunity for great shots like the one above.
A hands-on reconsideration of the Newton
Harry McCracken over at TIME Techland has written a beautiful piece about a 20-year-old piece of technology that was ahead of its time -- Apple's Newton MessagePad. As he notes, it was twenty years ago this week that Apple CEO John Sculley introduced the Newton to the public at a CES show in Chicago. The device wouldn't actually ship until August of 1993 and would fly for only five years before being axed by Steve Jobs upon his triumphant return to Apple, but it made its mark on the world and on Harry McCracken. He never had an opportunity to write a review of the Newton, so he purchased a "new in box" first-generation Newton MessagePad H1000 off of eBay and set to work giving this piece of nostalgic technology a fair review. McCracken found a number of things interesting about his time with the Newton. First, most people ignored the device when he pulled it out in a meeting or on an airplane, dismissing it as just another tablet. Next, he points out that the screen on the original Newton MessagePad was "terrible". Apple did improve it somewhat with a backlight later, but it remained pretty crappy by today's standards. When it came to battery life, McCracken was impressed. As he notes, "Back in the 1990s, people squawked that the MessagePad H1000 drained its four AAA batteries too quickly. I found, however, that I could go for a couple of weeks on a set. In an age of smartphones that conk out after less than one day, that was more than enough to keep me happy." I won't spoil the day for you by reiterating all of McCracken's post, but instead invite you to read his well-written words on the subject. The post was enough to make me dig out my still-working MessagePad 2100, plug it in (the battery pack no longer holds a charge), and take the title shot above comparing my vastly more powerful iPhone 4S to the last of the Newtons. If you have a little bit of time and want a nice trip down memory lane, I also suggest watching the video below, which is from a video that shipped (on a VHS tape) with the original device.
McCracken returns as PC World editor in chief
Last week we mentioned the resignation of PC World editor in chief, Harry McCracken who seemed to have quit because PC World (and former Macworld) CEO Colin Crawford canned a story on "10 Things We Hate About Apple." In the brouhaha that followed the canned story finally came out (revealing not much substance to speak of), and now finally the other shoe has dropped. PC World is itself reporting that McCracken is returning to PC World as "vice-president, editor in chief" and Crawford will leave as PC World CEO to rejoin parent company IDG "as executive vice president, online." IDG is presently undertaking a search for a new CEO to lead PC World and Macworld.So the story has a happy ending for McCracken and probably the right thing was done in the end. I'm sure everyone at IDG, PC World, and Macworld is just glad this thing is over.
