photo by oskay Some Rights Reserved.
Last night, I was checking out Engadget when a post took me back to the future. They were flagging up a rumour on AppleInsider that Apple is working on a PDA, a modern-day Newton, about "1.5 times the size of the iPhone".
This is one of those Apple rumours that just won't die (see number 6), but I have difficulty thinking that even in the Jobs-ian reality distortion field at 1 Infinite Loop that Apple would enter a dead, or at least the dying market for stand-alone PDAs. Besides, as Bobbie Johnson noted in our water cooler discussion, a couple of tweaks and the iPod Touch is there.
I think more likely is that this is a sub-notebook, tablet type UMPC-killer, rather than a PDA, which is how AppleInsider characterises the device later in its article. There are plenty of rumours floating around about a small notebook to replace the 12-inch iBooks and Powerbooks in the MacBook lines, the so-called MacBook Thin (with a later post that it has been delayed). Ah the Kremlinology of the Apple rumour mill.
The rumour did bring about a wave of techno-nostalgia. About 10 years ago, a co-worker was raving about his Apple Newton 2000, even though his Steve-ness would kill it soon after. The early versions of the Newton were slated for their poor handwriting recognition, even entering popular culture in the comic strip Doonesbury and the Simpsons. I got so nostalgic. I bid on one on eBay.
What old tech do you miss or better yet still use?
Technorati Tags: Apple, Newton, PDA, rumour
