AT LEAST ONE USER'S SWEET ON APPLE'S MUCH-MALIGNED NEWTON.Byline: Kourosh Karimkhany Bloomberg Business News This is a plea to Gilbert Amelio, the new chief executive of Apple Computer Inc. Please don't kill the Newton MessagePad. With a little more polishing, it still may shine. The newest version of Apple's previously maligned ma·lign tr.v. ma·ligned, ma·lign·ing, ma·ligns To make evil, harmful, and often untrue statements about; speak evil of. adj. 1. Evil in disposition, nature, or intent. 2. hand-held computer Noun 1. hand-held computer - a portable battery-powered computer small enough to be carried in your pocket hand-held microcomputer portable computer - a personal computer that can easily be carried by hand has features that make it easier for executives, who rely heavily on electronic mail, to keep in touch with the office. It's also easier to send documents to personal computers back home. The MessagePad 120, about the size and weight of a VCR VCR: see videocassette recorder. VCR in full videocassette recorder Electromechanical device that records, stores on a videotape cassette, and plays back on a TV set recorded images and sound. tape, also can store hundreds of names and phone numbers and keep track of years of appointments. These functions alone make the $600 Newton a lightweight alternative to a laptop computer. What's more impressive, though, is the Newton has a handful of small software companies churning out programs for linking the device to the Internet and popular on-line services such as CompuServe Inc. and America Online See AOL. Inc. Software that accesses text on the Internet's World Wide Web is in the works, too, and would let users peruse pe·ruse tr.v. pe·rused, pe·rus·ing, pe·rus·es To read or examine, typically with great care. [Middle English perusen, to use up : Latin per-, per- the burgeoning library of on-line publications and reference material. That means with an optional modem and a cellular phone, you could link up with newspaper databases and financial services wherever you might be. Apple introduced the original Newton four years ago amid a lot of ridicule. It was billed by former Apple CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. John Sculley as the ultimate communicator - a combination cellular phone and portable computer. But the device turned out to be little more than an $800 date book, and not a very good one at that. A lot of the criticism centered on the Newton's handwriting translation. Four years later, the Newton still comes up with loopy interpretations of handwritten hand·write tr.v. hand·wrote , hand·writ·ten , hand·writ·ing, hand·writes To write by hand. [Back-formation from handwritten.] Adj. 1. phrases such as "I love you" ("I lwe ym"). But Apple wisely added a software option to the Newton that allows you to forgo translation of your handwritten notes. Alas, analysts say the Newton may be one of the projects Apple may kill or sell amid its management changes and recent financial troubles. If new CEO Amelio can find enough cash to keep the project alive, the Newton just may become the apple of someone's eye. |
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