Nomadic Technologies produces programs for the Newton. Currently
of interest are "N*Project" which is a project management package
and "Accountable" which is financial management.
http://www.nomadict.com/
[1997/08/14]
Landware is a major handheld developer, covering WinCE ("Pocket Finance"),
PalmPilot and Newton ("PhotoShow 2.0" gray scale bitmap display program
for MP-2000 and eMate 300).
http://www.landware.com/intro.html
[1997/08/14]
July 1, 1997, PR Newswire reports that Newton, Inc. has announced
Newton Internet Enabler (NIE) 2.0 with Ethernet connectivity.
Coming in the Fall, NIE 2.0 will be bundled with Newton products
and available for downloading from the Newton, Inc. Website.
Newton, Inc. will be working with Farallon and Proxim. NIE
2.0 will support TCP/IP, UDP, DHCP, MacIP, PPP, SLIP, PAP
and CHAP.
[1997/07/04] revised [1997/07/14]
I've recently been in contact with PelicanWare, Inc. Among
their products are the QuickFigure Pro spreadsheet which
is included with some Newton MP-2000 and eMate 300 packages,
the AvailWorks productivity software, Notion list manager
and NewtCase utilities, all for the Newton.
PelicanWare, Inc
[1997/05/15]
May 7, 1997, PR Newswire reports that Apple's latest expansion
of market for the eMate 300 results in the addition of parents
of K-12 students, college students, teachers, and university
faculty members. Originally the eMate 300 was sold only to
institutional customers. Purchases can be made direct from
Apple or through "campus resellers."
[1997/05/10]
I recently bought a copy of the old Equate 1.0 revision f spreadsheet
and before sending in the registration card, I decided to call
and check that they were still in business. They are, but they
are no longer the distributor of the Equate spreadsheet. They
have sold rights to Balcones and WalletWare, Inc. Balcones
is the distributor of the Leverage database system. WalletWare
is a company I haven't run into before. I checked their website
and found the following:
WalletWare, Inc., 13 Bragg, Irvine California, 92620, USA
(800) 640-2068 (Canada and US only)
(714) 262-9380
http://www.walletware.com
[1997/05/07]
Apr. 18, 1997, PR Newswire reports that Apple claims good sales
for the first month of availability of the Newton MessagePad
MP-2000. Sandy Bennett, VP of Newton Systems Group claims
that ". . . bookings rates are running five times as high as
they were a year ago."
[1997/04/25]
This is a special test report of "real world" usage of the MP-120
with 2.0 software as an electronic notepad for reporting or research
usage. It points to some intriguing possibilities for the new
MP-2000, as well as the current capabilities of the still available
MP-120's and MP-130's.
Newton Note Taking
[1997/04/05]
While flipping through some TV shows I saw a bit of "Psi Factor"
and there was a scene where somebody was dictating to a Newton.
It was the older Newton MP-110/120/130 case. Those Newtons didn't
have sound recording capabilities. The new MP-2000 and eMate300
do.
[1997/03/01]
This file incorporates and expands on my earlier report on using the
"Newt's Cape 1.3" Web browser with "Newton Internet Enabler 1.0" on a
Newton MP-120. If anyone has tested this setup on an MP-130 (or later
Newton) please send me results via EMail and I'll post them. Also if
you have performance test results from any other Internet setup, I'd
be interested in hearing about it.
[1997/01/30] revised [1997/01/31]
newtweb.html
Apple announced the eMate300 in Canada on Oct. 31, 1996. The MP-2000 was announced in the US around Oct. 28, 1996. The current word is that Apple will release the eMate300 and MP-2000 in the US in March. Likewise in Canada they should be available by the end of March. It sounds like the releases in both countries will probably be the same day, or at the least, fairly close to it.
If you want to read the official annoucements you can find them through
Apple's Newton website.
Newton Website
[1996/12/14] revised [1997/01/16] and [1997/02/26]
I don't know much about this award, but it was announced on Jan. 7,
1997. I looked for a copy of Popular Science in the magazine shops on
Jan. 9, but didn't find a copy. I think it's good to see a mobile computer
recognized as a technological achievement by an established mainstream
technology magazine, and Newton fans in particular will be happy to hear
about it.
Apple eMate 300 Honored by Popular Science Magazine
[1997/01/09] revised [1997/01/13]
I did find the site for Popular Science and some information about the
award process.
PopSci Best of What's New - Computers / Electronics
[1997/01/13]
On December 26, I bought a "new" Newton MP-120 w/2.0. These older Newtons are being sold off at very good prices. I bought mine, including the normally expensive Newton AC adapter, for $399.00 + 15% taxes (Canadian funds) at CPUsed in Toronto, and there are similar prices at The Newton Store (also in Toronto) and I presume in other stores. I expect that this is mainly due to the coming of new product for January this year but it may also be a move to create a "Newton boom" capitalizing on the current interest in "Handheld" computers create by the introduction of the Windows CE machines. Regardless of that, if you have the money and have wanted to try out a Newton, this is an excellent time for it.
As a result of this purchase, I've written some notes on my contact
with Newtons so far, and added some information on recent software updates,
some of which will be important to people buying these MP-120's.
[Continued Below]
[1996/12/29]
On December 26, 1996, I bought a Newton for the first time. If you read
my review of the Newton MP-110 in "Computing Now!" back in 1994 you would
have run across the trivial information that I didn't buy my first
Newton. I won it as a door prize at a computer industry trade show. I
had already established myself as a writer in the field of mobile
computing with major articles on pocket organizers and coverage of laptop
computers. This strange act of fate merely solidified the direction
I'd already taken with my research and writing.
revised [1997/02/26]
Nor was that Newton MP-110 the first Newton I'd used. Earlier on I'd had a
chance to try a Newton owned by a friend I'd lived with for a while when
I was working on a project in Montreal. Being in the house as he worked
with it, I could observe the Newton in use by other people, and occasionally
try it out myself. So after about 3 years of Newton "experience", and
having owned one for over 2 years, I finally bought one.
revised [1997/02/26]
The first Newton article I wrote was interesting in a couple of other
ways. First, it was a rare instance where an editor took a chance on
trying out one of my more radical ideas. I have not felt that magazines
have done a very good job of informing the public. The Newton article
was written "full length". That is to say, I wrote everything that I
felt was worth saying about it. The article was so big that it ran
across 2 issues, and in each issue, what was printed was probably more
than any article previously published in any other review. It was a small
book. Also, it did not spare critical observation and it noted all problems
or inconveniences I found along the way.
revised [1997/02/26]
What was the basis for deciding how much to write? It is well known that one of the primary reasons people read computer magazines is to evaluate a purchase. I feel that a proper review of a product should provide enough information that most readers will be able to decide, without reading any other source, whether they want to buy that product or not. What is the ultimate test of this standard? Ask yourself this: AFTER the purchase and having used the product, do you feel that there was information that you were not given that would have influenced your decision to buy that product? This is a very simple premise, but there are currently no reviews that come close to fulfilling it.
Having bought my new Newton MP-120 with 2.0 software, I was faced with the problem of having to move data from my MP-110 with 1.3 software to the new Newton. When I wrote my first 2.0 review I was using a Windows laptop as my main computer and had been using Newton Connection Kit 2.0 (NCK). But Newton Intelligence 2.0 (NI 2.0) doesn't work with NCK. I came instead with Windows and Mac versions of a Newton Backup (NBU) 1.0. But there was a bug in NBU for Windows and I was unable to backup my MP-110. In order to test the MP-120 with 2.0 within the time I was allowed, I had to beam the data from one unit to the other item by item. While this was faster than re-entering the data manually, it still took an annoying amount of time and effort tapping away at both Newtons. Later when I had a chance to review an MP-130, I was able to re-load a copy of this data that I had stored off from the MP-120, simplifying that later review. Unfortunately, my "new" MP-120 came with the original version of NBU.
I checked around the Newton Website and found an update for NBU for Windows (version 1.0.1). I downloaded that file and installed it. This kit included updates for all Newtons up to the MP-130, but documentation about the updates for the Newtons was not provided and the documentation for NBU 1.0.1 relied on the updates having already been installed.
I went back to NCK and installed the update for my MP-110, and then succeeded in backing up the MP-110 with NBU 1.0.1. I then succeeded in loading the data into my new MP-120. At that point, I was happy enough, but I felt that most likely I should try loading the update for the MP-120. That update succeeded with no unexpected hitches. Since in both cases, there were no instructions for installing the updates, I left the PCMCIA card lock in the "open" position when I loaded the updates. This has been necessary in previous updates. I don't know if it was necessary this time or not, but it worked. At that point I thought I was finished my updating, but I decided to return to the Newton Website and see if I could find some documentation about what changes had been made in the NI updates. Reading through the materials I found out that the update for the MP-120 was also outdated and an even newer update was available. I downloaded this latter update and went through the update ritual again. Again, there were no problems installing this latter update.
Over the next few days, I'll be making some fresh notes about both
the Newton MP-110 and Newton MP-120. I intend to eventually check my
old notes and see what I observed in my earlier review. Most of what
I note should not be new. Unfortunately, this raises the question again
of how much I can post "here". I can post my background notes for my
original reviews. I've intended to do that much for a while now, and
I just need to find them. But I'm not sure whether I'll be writing
a fresh article for a magazine yet. So I'm not sure how much of my new
notes I can post. I'll decide that much later. For now, I'll post some
"raw data" about the update process:
[1996/12/29]