Egg Freckles
By Thomas Brand

Extras

Egg Freckles?

No. it doesn’t make much sense. Which is why the cartoonist Garry Trudeau coined this apt (or inept) bit of idiocy to lampoon the original hand-held Newton computer’s difficulty in deciphering handwriting.

After years of helping people with their computers I have found that, like the comic, human expectations and technological capabilities rarely coincide. I started writing Egg Freckles in 2007 to share my experiences with personal technology.

Who are you?

My name is Thomas Brand. I dropped out of art school to spend time behind the Genius Bar. Today I work at MIT, and run up hills for fun.

Why an Apple Newton?

Apple’s dud from the 90’s may not seem like an exciting theme for a blog, but the Newton still has a lot to teach us about technology.

  • Newton OS is a document centric operating system that values your data over your apps. When you boot a Newton the first thing you see is last note you wrote and not a screen full of app icons the way most computers work today.
  • The Newton’s handwriting recognition got better and some say matches technology made by Microsoft more than a decade later.
  • Despite being a device developed before its time, the Newton is still beloved and supported by a small community of dedicated users. Thanks to their efforts advancements such as wireless networking made there way onto the Newton long after Apple turned off the lights.

The small print?