Here's a third post in a series of reposts of interests from the NewtonTalk list. My commends are in Code format

Joe Riley Wrote:
This is a continuation of the iPod touch talk from the "[NTLK] [ADMIN] This is only a test" thread.

I just got a 1st Gen refurb iPod Touch from apple (looked brand new!) and I've been very amazed with it. I'm not a newton power user in terms of the calendar/contacts and the info linking the newt can do so I could see me using the touch as its replacement for those functions. I also can do without the HWR since I usually end up using the onscreen keyboard on my newt because most of my data to enter doesn't like the HWR (gear charts for race cars, web addresses, etc.). If you use blackberry, treo, winmo, etc, getting the hang of the touch's keyboard shouldn't be too hard. The first data entry might be a pain if you do it manually but the touch can sync with address book and ical.

I synced everything with my MobileMe account and al info was there. I found the only problem to be the iPod's auto-correct. I write in Greeklish (Greek in latin characters) on twitter and it keeps wanting to correct everything. English typing was no problem, even from the get-go.

Someone also mentioned the small screen, which I do agree is a little annoying but scrolling is easy with the touch screen and it keeps the device small. The multimedia and web on the touch is awesome compared to the newt. Some of the interface touches even remind me of the newt, like how the keyboard and some other boxes glide on/off the display and the clicky sounds it makes when you type (although it doesn't have the overall interface sounds the newt has).

It does have some serious flaws though. First and most important to me is the lack of a good notes app. The built-in notes app looks similar to the newts but lacks folders. I'm going to try some 3rd party apps but reviews I've read so far don't give me hope.

This is a serious problem (as is note sync). I've written about this in a previous post.
Second is battery life. The battery life of the touch really sucks if your punishing it with lots of web surfing, app downloading, or worse online gaming. It seems to do ok if you've got the wifi off but its still no where near the newt, you need to charge it atleast every night if not sooner. Maybe if they made it as thick as the iphone 3g we'd be set.

You know, I don't think that battery life is a problem. Yes if you keep using the web and playing games it's going to drain your battery fast. It's a cost balancing situation. I use my iPod mostly for media playback, and I keep it charged while at work. I never run out of battery. I also don't hop on the net with all the time. I check my email, check my twitter and facebook, and turn the WiFi off. You can't compare the newton battery life-span to that of the iPod. The Newton does not go online, and it doesn't do media playback. I know people have created apps to let you do just that, but if you do this, your battery will drain equally fast as the iPod Touch.


Third is the lack of copy and paste. This one really bugs me because I use C&P on my blackberry and newt all the time. And last it lacks the Agent and overall search funtions of the newt although it does have in-app searches for some apps. Lack of HWR may be a deal breaker depending on if you are really fond of it.


If the notes and copy & paste problems are solved this may be a decent 'new newt' for some. It does the web, multimedia, mail, contacts and calendar, its not a brick, it syncs easily with modern apps and its easy to use IMHO. I do wish it had a green backlight and could be put into greyscale mode, maybe an app could be made to give all the white on screen a green tint and switch the rest of the colors to greyscale? I guess I'm saying it needs theme support too

LOL, a green backlight and a Newton theme would be awesome (maybe the jailbreak community can help out). The fact that the iPod is not a brick and can accomplish so much (despite its limitations) is why I choose it over the newton for my needs. Lets not forget that the newton is 14 years old and it's been more than 10 years without official support!

Do you have an IPod Touch/iPhone? What do you think?

Tags: technology, Newton, NewtonOS, Nokia, N800, ipod, touch

Continuing my series of reposts of mailings that I find interesting about the future of the newton from the NewtonTalk list, here's one from Carlos Santiago. I've added some comments and personal views in code format

Carlo's Post:
I was prompted by the 2010 timeframe barrier I'd heard about but I made the switch after v2.0 of the system software which had abilities much better in regards to email than the earlier version; at 1.x it most mostly an ipod but the 2.0 software brought it close to a pda but 100% and no where, anywhere close near a Newton.But I then sold off my iPAQ and BT GPS unit as we also gotten a Garmin GPS which made the switchover possible.

It took a while for me to make the switch, mentally, everything important I had on my 2100 and PDA. Key apps there I vitally needed and used.

• cut-n-paste! poor man's inter-app messaging
• Newton notes; still no clear replacement
• Newton calendar; Pocket Informant on the PDA made that platform a good transition but the Newton was the gold standard so it'll be tough to replace
• Newton inter-app slip messaging; but things are slowly improving within key apps
• PDA Pocket Informant; a PIM that's coming this month!

I'm not a twenty something wanting a gaming only device (but not that there's anything wrong with that! - these folks in part fueled Apple in recent months and this platform after all) but needed a PDA which approched Newton status. My iPod isn't a Newton but I'm finding less is more in some areas.

What I like:

• speed; I now juggle 6 email accounts; evan google and yahoo along with work, etc.
• apps availability; I often buy apps I like hoping support will spur further advances; most feature 'free' subset versions which is vital since all sales are final - and tied to you; you can't resell.
• web browsing - full screen and fast; however in recent months some sites take to dumming down their site when then see an iPOD; wrong approach; some offer a choice of classic or iPod site view; much better
• GREAT - f-n-GREAT (so far) app s/w provider support; I think they see the future ahead of most users and are running in droves to the unit; I can only hope some exNewton titles make it here.

I have all of my email accounts (except for my Hotmail account) on my iPod Touch and it's great! On my N800 I don't have everything. The again, I purchased the device for web browsing, not email handling. I only have my mobile me account on the N800 since I can't use the browser to check the mail. Hotmail, yahoo and gmail are all easily accessible on the maemo browser.

What I dis-like

• small sceen resolution with BIG UI interface controls means display real estate is an absolute premium; most apps either waste space or feature too much whitespace. There are some PDA style apps which try to cram too much info but I think within the next year the UI and developers will come to terms and deliver great apps - my hope anyway.
• poor apps sometimes crash the unit; recent I took to emailing one developer on their latest update and was totally floored at the response; *GREAT* had a new, fixed, app in a few days. Oh, and this app was *FREE*

I really would like to see some category for gag apps. I don't care that people are making fart or bouncing boob apps, but it really makes it hard to look for good apps when the gag apps are taking up so much space.

And neutral items...

• it's not a PDA let alone Newton. In the 2.1 s/w release Apple heard first hand that some folks actualy rely on their units for something other than on demand music purchase and play. Given the wider, non-game app availability, I suggested they spend a bit more time in QA; they appear to be.
• yes there's no stylus; it's up to the app the make the UI transition to gesture based input. it's funny to see HWR attempts etc. on this unit. IMHO those apps just don't get it (aka those don't dogs won't hunt It's hard but you do need to rethink things from scratch.

Would like to see items

• Newton notes; folders, outlines, todo, style sheets, etc. partridge in a pear tree...
• universal platform issues; cut-n-paste, messaging, 'back' ability. Each app execution replaces rather than pushes current apps. You can return to the former app after pressing the home button and navigating to it but I'd like to see a 'go back' button or gesture to do this. That would go a long way to addressing inter-app slip passing as app design all feature a fast save state ability you pick up just where you left off.
• built-in camera
• speaker (2nd gen unit already has this)
• dump AT&T in favor of generic provider support; this is part of larger soap box to have all cell phone carriers compete by using a U.S. then world-wide cell phone network topology and technology; we'd then see real competition vs. the fiefdoms we have now.
• overall h/w improvements; 3rd party storage & batter upgrades - don't try this yourself

Overall I'm happy I made the switch; but miss my 2100.

I agree. I still have my 2100, I don't use it and I miss it. But I am happy to be using an iPod Touch and N800 instead

Tags: technology, Newton, NewtonOS, N800, Nokia, ipod, touch

Well, the NewtonTalk list has been buzzing lately about the Y2K10 bug that is going to plague Newtons come next year. So what is it? It's similar to the Y2K bug (or oversight depending how you look at it) that was a headache on our computers not so long ago.

Here is an explanation from Andrei:



The basic issue is that the time calculations that deal with time containing
seconds work with integers, and as of January 5th, 2010 the number of
secondsthat have gone by since January 1, 1993 is greater than an integer
canhandle.

The Newton uses two formats for dates, number of minutes since January 1,
1904 and the number of seconds since 1993. It appears that the problem lies
with the functions dealing with the date in seconds, the date functions that
deal with years, months, and days have plenty of space left.  It looks like
the value is stored in a 29 bit value. All hell should break loose at second
2**29 which would be January 5, 2010 at 18:48:31.

The system routine TimeInSecondsToTime() returns an unexpected value.
If you give it the largest 29 bit value it gives a correct answer, but if you give
it a 30 bit number it screws up.
But the routines that handle date conversions handle the later dates.

Tags: technology, Newton, NewtonOS, bug

The World Wide Newton Conference for this year takes place in Tokyo next month. Last year Paul Guynot announced updates to his Newton emulator for the MacOS and for Linux devices (Zaurus and Nokia N800). The future of the platform was also discussed, things like getting color for the Newton, getting the OS onto another platform, and so on. This got me really interested, and happy, that the Newton is moving on, despite Apple's abandonment of the platform about ten years ago.

I have not used my Newton regularly for about four years now, however I am considering bringing it back from retirement for day to day note taking, GTD, project management usage. I am eager to download conference presentation notes, powerpoint (or keynote) slides, and to follow developments in the Newton community.

I had thought of selling off my Newton quite a few times...but I am currently more optimistic about platform improvements

Tags: Newton, emulation, NewtonOS, Conference, development