getting tired of this.

Unfortunately by the time you read this the problem will be fixed, but I'm unable to post any news or Newton programs at this time, Spymac is updating their servers and it's making it impossible to do anything until they are finished. Thanks for sticking around while I'm unable to post any updates, I promise lots of stuff in the next few days.

taking back the Newton #2

I'm certain at least a few of you remember my original mini-review of Bowser, a decision making tree package released in 1995, and my attempt to have it's source-code released. Nothing, I haven't gotten anywhere with it so far, the e-mail address is invalid (DrMiller@aol.com), thanks to a reader (and google) revealed an address that I mailed a letter to that explained who I was and what I was asking, and no response. So for the moment I'm moving on to . . .

CommonWords - Mini-Review #2
How many people here have ever mispelled a word? Including mispell? Thanks to an incredibly simple Newton program developed by Coherent Visual way back in 1995 you shouldn't worry about incorrect spelling anymore. Taking up 263k on your Newton with a small heap footprint it's almost a no-brainer to keep installed on your Newton. Especially for those of us who use the Newton when writing e-mails or producing documents that other people will be using or reading. Even though it is common knowledge that poor spelling is a sign of true genius, when it comes to other people it's a sign of bad breeding and poor upbringing (and here is Texas it shows a low chance of passing the TAKS test).

You begin spelling out the word in question by tapping out the letters in order, words appear in alphabetical order. As you can see I misspelled the word misspelled (two s's for those of you who didn't notice that it was wrong earlier in the article). I've used it numerous times in making me look a lot more knowledgable than I actually am when it comes to the english language.

In an attempt to contact the creators (Coherent Visual) I've had less than good luck, aparently their old domain has been purchased by another group that just wants me to click on some pop-ups, get a credit card and maybe even join a dating service for a slight fee of course. I'm certain that my attempts to get the source for CommonWords released will be less than successful (how nice would it be to add words to the list, add the ability to work with assist, impliment a search and replace type function) but I'll look for any chance to get this excellent addition to my Newton's storage out to the people.

As with most any useful piece of Newton software this can be found thru a simple search of UNNA, or found under the applications folder. Once again I'm asking for any packages that are being used out there that you believe would be of more use to the Newton community with some recognition. I'm a big fan of older programs because they give me the chance to get the developers to relase the source code back to the community. When you imagine something not being updated in almost 10 years, why wouldn't a developer be happy to give back something to the community that at one point gave something to them for these same programs?

Also, stop by dmoz.org, I'm about to do a big re-orginization of the Newton section, and I still have big dreams of out numbering the PocketPC section, currently we are less than 100 sites away from that goal. Thanks for any help that you can lend in my dream of Newton domination.

wanting to meet swfwn, wait I've already got one!

I've already met a single white female with Newton (SWFWN), now you can try meeting one to, at Newton Meetup. Almost 25 Newton users have signed up so far, yes that's right, 25. Meetup.com is an easy self-contained way to meet other local Newton users as well as some not-so-local users. I would like to imagine it gaining importance in the weeks to come as a way to extend the reach of the Newton user base through the orginization of new Newton User Groups (NUG), Stanford shouldn't have all the fun. Register please, and if you live in or around the San Antonio area please do sign up, I'd love to meet a fellow user.

i wish my desktop was more like my newton!

Well, thanks to advanced in modern technology you can have your computer act more like your Newton everyday. People around the world remember, for good reason, the simple act of using a Newton and strive to bring that ease of use to your modern destop machine.

Aquaminds NoteTaker is a clear example of what the power of the Newton on your desktop can do. NoteTaker allows you to setup a virtual note book with user-created links, templates, and definable connections between contacts, websites, movies, audio-clips, almost any information you can throw at it. Combine note taking, to-do lists, linking information in human ways, and so much more it's an excellent addition to anyone's OS X apps.

They even host excellent tutorial movies to help new users to take full advantage of NoteTaker. I was introduced to the program not too long ago and have found it to be an excellent way to use my desktop as a Newton, now if only there was an easy way to sync it up to my little green friend then it would be world class.

thanks jeff.

Thanks to the pseudo-anonymous Jeff, I've been able to pick up the number of site updates with 100 Megs of space provided by spymac.com. I'm still in the process of moving things over but as soon as I'm done I have a few things I'd like to upload until then enjoy the "still-working" archives.

okay, they work.

Seems like my fix didn't fix it for long. I've changed it again and now the archives work. Sorry I haven't posted much lately, but I've run out of space for my site and am looking for alternatives for places to host it. Any ideas? I'm just finishing up a re-write of planks, it was taking forever to create levels for it and it was in desperate need of some rethinking. If I can find the space I'll hopfully post it by this weekend. Enjoy the archives now . . . at least till I do something to mess them up again.

didn't notice till today.

The archived pages weren't loading and now they are. So you are still able to download NES games, my software, as well as read through all the news you may have missed. Sorry for the inconvience and thanks for the cooperation.

wish it were Friday.

Today the web is full of incredibly sad stories that mock people who are still using their Apple Newton.

Good News - Apple's New Handheld
Bad News - The Only Place You Can Buy It
If anyone has any suggestions for the next Mini-Review please leave a comment and I'll work hard to make it a reality. For the moment I've taken a break from nControl and have began work on Planks again, I figure once I have a few levels (at least 10) then I can release the updated version, but I'm re-writing a large portion of it so it's taking longer than I first figured.