[NTLK] Fact Check

[Ryan Vetter]

Hi Morgan:

Thanks for chiming in.  This is my conclusion based on this and other literature:

OMP users, with the Newton Messaging Card, can:

-Receive alphanumeric messages wirelessly - messages will display on their screens
-Receive Email wirelessly (through BellSouth's MobileComm paging network)
-Send, through NewtonMail, messages (Email?) to other Newtons.  Not clear if this was possible wirelessly.  It is done through a standard plugged in modem.  NewtonMail works on licensed software from AOL, and runs over the Sprint and BT North America Inc. Networks.  Why NewtonMail though?  Why not just send through any data connection with any Email address?
-Can receive, wirelessly, news services and other data
-Can receive pages to notify them of voice messages

What is left as very vague during the Newton Getting Started Video (1993) is the bit about sending a fax to Margaret.  "Say you're on a train, or a plane, or at a little cafe, you can write a fax.  Say you want to send that fax to Margaret"... It then shows the Newton formatting a new fax cover sheet... but then it goes onto the next topic.  Say you do want to send that fax to Margaret from the little cafe, or the train?  How would an OMP user have accomplished this?  They leave this unanswered in the video.  The only way I can see wireless faxes happening is via a cell phone tethered to the Newton.  So the cell phone acts as a modem (Apple's PCMCIA fax/modem card could plug into phone with a standard phone cord).  Is that correct?  This is going back to when I was in the beginning of high school, so I was pretty much unaware of all this stuff.

Am I totally off, or is this what Apple really had in mind?  But they just did not have enough time to explain all this in the video, so they left it out, as it is obviously an additional add-on sort of outside the Newton ecosystem (i.e. you must have a cell phone with a data plan).

With the Gotham commercial, it's easy to surmise that the fax from the Motel was sent by plugging the Newton into the phone line in the hotel room, and sending the fax that way (with PCMCIA fax/modem card of course).  I have no idea how anyone would track the expense on that in real time, what faxes would cost from a hotel room... that was a bit before my time.  Any suggestions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yahKhat0294&feature=related

With the Interview commercial, Apple demonstrates receiving a message over thin air, as Morgan accurately stated:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiFBOr-hKQQ&NR=1


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