[NTLK] Battery life w/ Einstein

[Gene Beaird]

Actually, I used to think in a similar fashion.  I used to have to hand write everything down on paper, then transfer it to electronic copy later.  I did that for my 170-odd page Master's Thesis, and early in my professional career.  I found the time spent in front of a keyboard distracted me from my train of thought, and slowed me down.  The Newton bypassed the paper process, letting my hand write directly to electronic format.  

Now, I spend most of the day in front of a keyboard, I now find handwriting to slow me down, and distract me from my train of thought.  That, and I've really gotten out of practice writing.  It IS something you have to practice, or it gets very bad.  

Still, I LOVE the portability of the Newton, and used to use it when we were out racing to take notes on car setup and how we ran, and such.  People would walk up and be amazed that (when they recognized it) still used a Newton, or were wondering what I was writing on.  It was great.  Alas, the battery life has gotten so short on it, I have switched over to an iPad.  Hopefully, someone will 'make an app for that' that I can use to write notes directly to notepad, as typing with one finger is very time-consuming.  

But yes, I find people discredit certain technologies, or processes, because they don't have a solution themselves.  

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas


On Apr 28, 2014, at 4:46 PM, newtontalk-request at newtontalk.net wrote:
> <SNIP>-------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 12:22:56 -0400
> From: Noah Leon <moosefuel at hotmail.com>
> To: "newtontalk at newtontalk.net" <newtontalk at newtontalk.net>
> Subject: Re: [NTLK] Battery life w/ Einstein
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAPK1nAeuWUM9H8rapwmsDK4-5xRUqk6bpiS3TdJgPZNyoYNS0A at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> 
> "The main thing I miss from my Newton is
> its integrated HWR, and especially the NotePad. Man, I used that thing like
> crazy. It was my main usage--and to get things from there into the other
> parts of the system (to dos, calendar, addresses, or into a document on my
> hard drive, or email, etc.) IMO, if we could just replicate the Notepad on
> a modern platform, that would be the win."
> 
> I agree. The intelligent assistant made the Notepad all-powerful. The best
> note-taking app I've found for a modern device is Notability for iPad (with
> a good Adonit stylus). Unfortunately, there is no HWR at all, and so no
> intelligence whatsoever. I find I think "differently" using a pen than when
> I am typing or even talking to an assistant like Siri. It's a more creative
> process, especially writing cursive. It's a shame that no modern device
> exists around that way of working (with a pen). The newt was great because
> the HWR was not an afterthought, but it interacted with the user in a fluid
> way that makes current devices seem clunky. I wonder what could possibly
> change all that. Children nowadays often don't write at all, but only tap
> away at keyboards. I think we are really missing something by losing the
> process of writing.
> 
<SNIP>