_protoReality
The North Atlanta Newton Users Group Newsletter

Volume 1, Number 2
February 28th, 1994



Notices

Apple, the Apple Logo and Newton are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., 
registered in the United States and other countries.  MessagePad is a
trademark of 
Apple Computer, Inc.  All other products mentioned herein are copyrighted/ 
trademarked by their owners.  

The editor and the NANUG (The North Atlanta Newton Users Group) staff are 
responsible for the opinions expressed in this newsletter, unless
specifically by-lined.

NANUG cannot be held responsible for any damages that occur due to use or 
misuse of the information contained in this newsletter.  It must be
distributed free 
of charge, and the original contents remain intact.  Portions may be
reprinted, 
quoted, or adapted as long as proper credit is noted.  Individual portions
may bear 
the copyright of their original authors, who should be contacted directly. 
All such 
copyrighted material appears in this newsletter with permission of the
original 
author.



Contents

Contact Information
NANUG Membership Application Form
>From the Orthogonal Office
A NANUG Overview
Minutes of the February Meeting
NANUG Membership Statistics
An Interview with David Dunham
An Interview with David Alford
Views and Reviews
 SNAP
 Mr. Advisador
 List-It
 Soup Utilities
 MobileCalc
 TermLimit 1.1
 Accountable
The German Newton
Code Samples
Tips, Hints, and Secrets
:Messages
The Sharper Knife
Want-Ads, Classified, and Cork Board
NANUG Member Bios



Contact Information

For more information about NANUG, meeting times, or newsletter submission 
guidelines, please write:

Mark Underwood
President
The North Atlanta Newton Users Group
3381 Claire Circle
Marietta, Georgia  30066
USA

or E-mail:

InterNet:  mau@sun1.ema.com
AppleLink:  EMA.COMPSV
NewtMail:  MarkU


For questions about the newsletter's contents, Newton support, feedback, or
just 
want to say hi, please write:

Scott Portis
C/O _protoReality
3044-C Spring Hill Rd.
Smyrna, GA 30080
USA

or E-mail:

SCOTT.PORTIS@APPLELINK.APPLE.COM

If you have a Newton product you'd like to have reviewed, please write:

Erica Sadun 
112 Hampshire Court 
Avondale Estates, GA 30002
USA

or E-mail:

erica@cc.gatech.edu


NANUG Membership Application Form


Below is a membership application to join NANUG.  There is currently no 
membership fee.

The benefits of joining, as opposed to just reading the newsletter?  Well,
you get on 
our exclusive mailing list ;-) and can take advantage of our user group
discounts on 
hardware and software (soon to be published).  Even better is the general
idea of 
belonging, don't you think?  ;-)


NANUG Membership Application Form

Name:        

Address:        

City/State/Zip:       

Country:        

Phone:      

Fax:       

NewtMail:      

E-mail address:          


You can:

  Print this page and mail it to:

Mark Underwood
NANUG Membership
3381 Claire Circle
Marietta, GA 30066
USA

  Newt Mail your personal Names card to "MarkU" with a subject of "NANUG 
Membership"

  E-mail your personal information to "mau@sun1.ema.com" with a subject of 
"NANUG Membership"



>From the Orthogonal Office
Mark Underwood

Sorry, we're a little late this month, but we've added over 55 new members in
the 
last 30 days, begun our group programming project, received stuff to
review...well, 
and there are these day jobs we have to show up for!  ;-)

Lots of stuff to talk about, so let's get to it!

Newt OS 1.05

Well, the long-awaited upgrade to 1.0x Newton users is here at last, and in a
phrase, 
"have at it"!  Yes, system upgrade 1.05 is worth it (especially since it's
free), but you 
have to be careful.  For one thing, the update posted on the on-line services
can only 
be used if you have the Newton Connection Kit (or know someone who does, like 
us).  In order to provide the best sort of results, Apple's PIE guys changed
the way 
memory is partitioned inside the Newton--how much is allocated for each 
component (handwriting recognition, internal store, etc.).  The update is
also 
available on a PCMCIA card from Apple.

The steps to perform the upgrade using the on-line posted update go like
this:  using 
the NCK, back your Newton up (you don't have to leave your RAM card in--in
fact, 
it will go faster if you don't) by a "synchronize" operation.  When the
"synch" is 
complete, download the upgrade package.  When it's received by the Newt,
you'll 
get a couple of warnings telling you what's about to happen.  Be sure you
have a 
good backup before proceeding!

The Newt will restart to perform the memory re-allocation, and it will be
like you 
just opened the box for the first time--the pen alignment drill comes up--do
it.  
Before doing anything else, though, you want to restore your backup, again
using 
NCK.  When that's finished, you should reset the time and date.

The upgrade is complete!

What I noticed right away was how quickly things went.  Handwriting
recognition 
improved, bringing up Names was much faster, and the dreaded "not enough 
memory" dialog hasn't shown up yet!

The upgrade is available on all the commercial services, standard ftp sites,
and from 
Apple directly (call 1-800-242-3374 in the US, contact your Apple Authorized
Service 
Provider overseas) in two other formats:  PCMCIA card and diskette.

Upgrading from the PCMCIA card is similar to the NCK download, but allows you 
to do it entirely from the card.  Detailed instructions for this come with
the update 
card, but were not available to us when we went to press.  Apple is also
sending a 
"spare" 1 Mb card along with the PCMCIA upgrade package, and you have the 
option to buy the spare card for $99.  The update is also available on either
MS-DOS 
or Macintosh formatted diskette, but does not include the spare card.

If you have problems finding the upgrade on-line, drop me (or any other 
NANUGeer) a note.

X-Books and X-Readers

This is not the first issue of _protoReality that contains NewtonScript code,
but it is 
the first that contains stuff you can use outside the scope of the book!  In
the "Code 
Samples" you will find a couple of examples that can be entered into the
Inspector.  
Since you're a Newton owner, you're already on the bleeding edge of
technology--
but NANUG makes it possible for you to be on the serrated edge itself!  ;-)

Hence the "x-book" term--eXperimental books and eXperimental readers (such as 
yourself).  Our experiments generally come in two types:  "hacks" and
"goodies".

A "hack" is usually a quick, one-time change to your system that achieves a
specific 
fix or change.  Use hacks with caution, as they may affect other things.  We
include 
them so you can have fun, but be careful!  Hacks are marked "<<Shark>>".

A "goodie" is somewhere between a reusable piece of utility code and a full 
application.  Goodies add to your Newt's functionality without changing other 
things, and are marked "<<Newt>>".

With either one, you won't find anything dangerous (which some may find 
disappointing, but hey, we've got a reputation to uphold ;-) ), and we'll
include the 
instructions (if not an actual piece of code) on how to "undo" or "remove"
them.

If there are special restrictions in using an x-code item, it will be noted.

We've tested these freebies before including them in the newsletter, but as
always 
when introducing a new program to a computer, it's best to have a full backup
of 
your existing work before trying it out.  Drop Scott Portis a note and let us
know 
what you think about this sort of thing--we have a lot more we can include!

Member Bios

A new section this month!  I asked our members to write up small
"biographical 
sketches" to include.  These should help you to get to know us a little
better.  In 
future issues, you might even see a few photographs, courtesy of our staff 
photographer, Robert Stone!  (The New York Times  has nothing on us! ;-) )

Corrections

In the "we goofed" department:

Last issue, in our review of MobileMath, we noted that trying to solve "3+4="
didn't 
work.  It turns out that in order to use this format, you must put a space
between the 
equation and the equals sign:  "3+4 =".

Tom's list of Newton ftp sites had a slight typo:

UIOWA MIRROR:
ftp.uni-erlangen.de
/pub/Newton

We apologize to our friends in Erlangen!



A NANUG Overview
Mark Underwood

Founded in October of 1993, NANUG was created with these ideas in mind:

  To provide timely and correct information about the Newton and all of its 
accessories, software packages, and other Newton-related products

  To assist new and experienced Newton users in getting the most out of their 
purchase

  To provide (hopefully) an un-biased forum for the exchange of user tips,
hints, 
and suggestions

  To provide free or low-cost resources for small to medium Newton
development 
projects

There is currently no membership fee to join NANUG.  Meetings are normally
held 
the second Tuesday of the month.  Future plans include an "on-line"
conferencing 
system to allow our remote members interactive access to the meetings.

_protoReality, our newsletter, is published one a month (normally during the
third 
week of the month) in three formats:  a Newton Book Reader package, a "binary 
enhanced" text document, and a "plain" text document.  Each format strives to 
convey as much information as possible within the constraints of the media. 
The 
"plain" text version, for example, is posted to InterNet, while the "binary"
and 
"book reader" formats are posted to on-line forums and ftp sites that support
binary 
up/down loads (AppleLink, CompuServe, America On-Line, etc.).

NANUG also distributes a "best of" diskette of free or shareware
applications, digital 
books, and other Newton files that are posted on commercial services for the
benefit 
of those who do not subscribe to them.  We also provide a software "kiosk" at
the 
meeting to allow our members who don't have a Macintosh or PC to download 
these files to their Newton.



Minutes of the February Meeting

Meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM.

In the "old business" segment, Mark passed along the reviews and general
reaction 
to the January newsletter, which was phenomenal!  NANUG members now exist 
on just about every continent (see the breakdown in the next section).  A
mailing 
list has been started for those readers interested in NANUG activities, but
haven't 
joined as members yet.

The group programming project was discussed, but not finalized as Erica was
unable 
to make the meeting.  A special meeting to address these issues was held at
Mark's 
house on the 21st to finalize the plans.  [At the special meeting, Erica and
Mark 
finalized the project plans, and created the sample "starter" code for the
project 
teams to begin with.  More about the group project in next month's issue.]

In "new business", a discussion was started as to what sort of "on-line"
facilities 
NANUG could provide their "remote" members.  InterNet IRCs, a dedicated ftp
site, 
use of CompuServe conference areas, and a plain BBS were all considered good 
avenues to look into further.  A report on the findings will be given next
meeting.

Since there was no other new business, members adjourned after 9 PM.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 15th (Beware the Ides of
March!).



NANUG Membership Statistics 

Total number of members (as of 2/15/94): 71
 "Local" 19 "Remote" 52

Members by state (US):
 GA  19  WA  1
 CA  10  RI  1
 FL  3  PA  1
 MD  3  MI  1
 TX  2  NC  1
 VA  2  MO  1
 NY  2  OH  1
 MA  2  WI  1
 NE  2  NJ  1
 TN  2  AZ  1
 MS  1

Members by country:
 USA   57  Austria  1
 Canada  6  Japan  1
 Australia 3  UK   1
 Germany  2



An Interview with David Dunham
Mark Underwood

If you are reading our digital book version on your Newton, you are holding
in your 
hands the result of David Dunham's efforts.  David and the others at Pensee
are 
responsible for the Newton Book Reader application, which allows Newton users
to 
read on-line text, such as this newsletter.  David was kind enough to give us
a 
moment of busy time to talk about digital books and the Newton.

PR: Can you tell us how you (and Pensee) got involved with the Newton?

DD: Apple approached us in 1991, and asked us to develop the digital book
tools. 
We'd been working with the Macintosh since 1984, had a good relationship with 
Apple, and were already working on digital books for PenPoint.

We started designing the requirements and implementation even before we saw a 
Newton prototype, which wasn't until early 1992. In the intervening, Newton
had 
changed somewhat. We came away from that meeting and started work on 
Macintosh prototypes, first in HyperCard and then in C.

PR: How much of the work you guys did on the PenPoint platform went into the 
Book Reader project?

DD: Pensee worked on two PenPoint applications, one of which, PenBook, was 
published by Slate. This product was essentially a way to print from your
desktop 
computer to a pen computer -- we captured PostScript. With Newton Book
Reader, 
we took a different approach, where the book is described in a way that
doesn't tie it 
to a particular screen size. We started over from scratch with Book Reader,
though 
we tried to keep in mind what we'd learned.

We also did a lot more testing with the Newton Book Reader, probably because
it 
was easier to get prototypes up and running. We got feedback on each
prototype, and 
kept refining our original designs.

PR: As a developer, the most tantalizing part of the early NTK documentation 
was the cryptic mention of "authoring digital books".  When the documentation
in 
1.0b7 was finally available, I spent two days converting Word documents to
Book 
Reader format.  Am I crazy, or did you expect that sort of response from the
average 
Newton developer?

DD: The Newton is a place to put stuff, and that includes your own
information, 
as well as reference material. I don't think it's surprising that people want
to make 
personal books. I'm a little more surprised at the large numbers of novels
available 
in Book Reader format.

In some ways, I'm surprised that more developers don't take advantage of
books. It's 
a good way to organize an information product, and you get a lot for free
(table of 
contents, fast searching, consistent interface). And you can put any
NewtonScript 
code you like into a book. Really, the only difference between an application
and a 
book is whether you lay out all the views yourself or let Book Maker do most
of 
them for you.

PR: How did the code names of "Copperfield" and "Tiny Tim" come about?

DD: Digital books deal with information, and my partner, Scott Shwarts, found
a 
quote from Dickens' David Copperfield: "All I ask for is information."  So 
Copperfield became the code name for Book Reader, and Dickens had to be the 
author tool, Newton Book Maker.

When we were asked to create Newton's on-line help, the specification
described a 
scaled-down Copperfield. Hence, "Tiny Tim".

PR: One of my personal joys with the Book Maker/Reader is at last seeing my 
frequently rejected stories and novels "in print"--and in a format I can
distribute for 
others to enjoy.  During the project, did you realize that you were enabling 
individuals to become publishers?

DD: We wanted to make Book Maker as accessible as possible (despite the
archaic 
"dot commands," you don't need to know anything about NewtonScript to make a 
book). But I hadn't realized people would be writing and publishing their own 
works in quite that way. I'm very pleased to be empowering individuals.

PR: NANUG chose to use the Newton Book Reader for distribution of the 
newsletter primarily because of the ability to imbed Newton Script.  We've
received 
a lot of "gee, I didn't know you could do that" comments on our
"personalized" 
membership form, which was really simple to do.  What's the most interesting
or 
complicated use of scripting in a book you've seen?

DD: Certainly the Fortune Guide (where you can see a graph comparing
financial 
data for two companies) or Fodor's (where you can get directions from your
hotel to 
a restaurant) are complex scripts. But I think you can get a lot of use out
of much 
simpler scripts, like the one in the Quick Astrology Guide which calculates
your 
birth sign.

Like I said earlier, there's really no difference between an application and
a book. 
Both can run NewtonScript.

PR: Something we (NANUG) could really use is a way of saving a page (or
pages) 
of a book to the NotePad, so they could be modified, beamed, or e-mailed.  
Obviously, there's a potential problem with copyright violation, which I
suppose 
you could address by adding a specific directive to allow "saving" of a
content 
section at the author's discretion.  Will we see something like this in a
future 
release?

DD: This is the sort of question I can't answer.  I know that many publishers
are 
uncomfortable with the idea of people distributing modified versions of their
work 
(is it still a Rand McNally map if you've erased the earthquake-collapsed
streets and 
drawn in your house?).

PR: The on-line help in the Newton doesn't receive a lot of press.  Is that
because 
it's so seamless, or because people aren't really aware it exists?

DD: I don't know enough about how most people use their Newton to answer 
this. [My personal bias is that reviewers place too much emphasis on on-line
help 
and not enough on good design.]

PR: Is a separate book/manual planned on authoring digital books--something 
more along the line of a "non-programmer's" guide?

DD: I don't know, but I'm aware of an article in progress, which will
probably 
appear in PIE Developers magazine. And Apple has greatly improved the digital 
book chapter in the next draft of the Newton Toolkit manual.

PR: Do you think we'll see Book Reader packages for sale in Waldenbooks?  Or 
see them in the Library of Congress?

DD: I don't see why not. You can already buy two Book Reader packages
(Fortune 
500 and Fodor's).

PR: Are there any "undocumented" features of Book Reader that you can tell us 
about?

DD: PIE Developer Information Group has done a good job of completing the 
Book Maker documentation, which will be in the next NTK release.

As far as Book Reader, you could argue that all its features are
undocumented, since 
the (1.0b4 and earlier) Newton manual doesn't mention it. But there's nothing 
hidden.

PR: I understand you drive a Miata.  In Atlanta (at least), those normally
draw 
extra hits from radar and laser guns.  Have you run across that sort of
attention?

DD: Not yet. But I've only had the car a week, and don't have a radar
detector or 
other electronic countermeasures.

PR: What (aside from the Book Reader, of course) is your favorite Newton 
feature?

DD: I don't think it's a feature per se that makes the Newton, but rather its
hint of 
playfulness, like the sound effect and cloud after you scrub something, or
the 
crumpling trash.

A question for you: does Newton really need user groups? You see them for 
computers, because computers are so hard to use, but you don't see them for
toasters 
or other appliances. Is Newton falling short of its goal to be an assistant
rather than a 
computer? Or is this just an old term we're stuck with, but you're really
closer to an 
enthusiast's club (like some sports cars have)?

PR: Well, you hit the nail on the head!  I thought about using "Newton Ham 
Club", but it was too confusing for the people I tried it out on (Newton 
Sandwiches?).  In a way, since you can "program" a Newt, the parallel between
it 
and a computer is stronger than it and a calculator or Day-Timer.  It's bound
to be a 
term we're stuck with until someone comes up with a better one!  Thanks for
your 
time, David.



An Interview with David Alford
Erica Sadun

PR: Tell me about yourself and your Newton Pioneer company.

DA: WriteWare, is a partnership made up of myself, Robert and Linda Hine, who 
are my housemates as well as my business partners.  I originally had the
idea, and 
had the first prototype made, for SNAP.  Bob is the creative artist of the
group, and 
does all of our artwork, and graphics, while Linda is the administrator for
the 
business end of the  company.  WriteWare is a new company that we formed at
the 
beginning of 1994, and took our name from what we do.  There is hardware, 
software, and a company named Adaptec uses the term I/O ware for their SCSI 
interface  products.  We decided to make our name indicative of what we do. 
We 
are basically the first company in the marketplace dedicated to the input
devices 
used for the PDA and the PCA (Personal Communication Assistant)...

This may sound like somewhat of a narrow niche marketplace,  and currently,
it is.  
However, if you look at the current size of the  writing pen market, and the
size of 
the writing media market (paper), versus the media market we are addressing,
you 
begin to realize what potential size we could grow to.  Currently, there is
the Casio 
Zoomer, Apple Newton, Sharp ExpertPad, Sharp Wizard line and Amstrad with 
PDAs on the market.  AT&T, Sony, and Siemans have all announced plans  to 
market products based on Newton, or General Magic technology.  These  are not 
small players, and the market place for styluses is going to grow.

As for myself, I have been in the computer industry for 15 years.  I am
currently 
selling Electronic System Design software for a Swiss company here in Silicon 
Valley.  I have owned a Macintosh since 1984 (Would you believe I actually
had a 
LISA first?).  I have been in California for about six years.  I'm single,
with no 
children.

PR: What does SNAP mean?  Where did you get the name?

DA: S.N.A.P. stands for Stylus Not a Pen, and the original name was developed
by 
Bob Hine.  We tend to have brainstorming sessions when it comes to naming our 
products and our Company.  The three of us sit around, and bounce ideas and 
names off each other, which usually brings a "I don't like this part of what
you just 
proposed, but I do like the second part, what if we modify it, and call it
this" from 
someone else.  This has occurred for the company name, the first product and 
subsequent products.  Usually when Bob has an Idea! that we tend to go with,
I can 
literally see the light bulb come on above his head, and he gets very
dramatic, and 
presents it to us with a big flair.  It is a very synergistic process, that
we enjoy doing.

PR: What gave you the idea of manufacturing stylus replacements for pens? 
How 
did you start tossing the idea around and what brought you to realize that
you could 
actually go ahead and do this?

DA: I came up with the idea of the product due to the fact that I bought a
Sharp 
ExpertPad instead of a Newton.  Frys' ran a sale on them, and I went down and 
plunked down my credit card, and started having fun.  After only two weeks of 
using the Sharp supplied stylus, it began to crack around the support area of
the tip.  
I switched over to the backup pen, and after reading about the recall of the
Sharp 
Styluses on comp.sys.newtion.misc.  I sent in my broken stylus, and barely
got my 
replacements in time, because the second one had already started to break,
and I was 
using scotch tape to keep it together (I felt like a real nerd, you know, one
of those 
guys who uses tape to keep their glasses together at the bridge, just above
their nose).

Anyway, I don't know if you remember this particular episode, but the problem
was 
due to Sharp designing their stylus for the Japanese writers, who write with
their 
pens perpendicular to the writing surface by 90 degrees--American writers are 
trained in elementary school to write at an angle some 20 to 30 degrees off 
perpendicular, say around 60 or 70 degrees.  This puts sideways stress on the
tip of 
the pen, and the plastic wall of the Sharp stylus was never designed to take
the 
sideways stress, and would begin to split and break.

When my Sharp stylus (Which actually looks more like a carpenters pencil as 
opposed to the more stylish Apple stylus) broke, I got the idea that there
was going 
to be an after-market for replacement styluses in the PDA market.  Everyone
tends 
to lose a cheap pen, or someone picks it up and walks off with one that is on
you 
desk, they run out of ink (not a problem for the PDA, though), or are broken.
 The 
cost of a injection mould was over $6000, so I looked for an alternative.  We
decided 
to use existing ink replacement cartridges for our models, and I had one
prototyped 
for a Parker Pen that I had lost the cap for, and could no longer carry
around in my 
pocket.  Once the concept was proven, I had other prototypes made.  The
styluses are 
machined with numerical control lathes, which is not exactly cheap to do in
small 
quantities, but makes a very nice looking product.

PR: Which pen lines do you support and will support?

DA: We currently support MontBlanc, both the MeisterStuck and Rollerball 
models, Parker, Sheaffer, Cross, and we are about to announce a line of pens
that we 
are going to carry ourselves.  We are also having a run of generic SNAP
product for 
the cheap give away pens that you find nearly everywhere.  We are staying
away 
from the BIC line.  We want to address the upscale Pen marketplace, and
provide a 
status symbol for PDA users, as well as give them a product that will not
break, and 
is not apt to be lost, or picked up and walked away with, due to being within
an 
expensive pen.  I think you can feel the difference that comes from writing
with an 
instrument that has the weight and feel of something that you have written
with 
almost everyday.

We don't claim better handwriting recognition from your Newton, but we do
claim 
better handwriting from the writer since they are using something that feels
more 
comfortable, as opposed to a carpenters pencil.  We are somewhat breaking one
of 
the cardinal rules of sales and marketing by selling something that will not
give us a 
continuing stream of sales due to wearing out, or using up.  However, we feel
that 
we would rather sell one quality product to everyone, and make a name for 
ourselves, and have good word of mouth advertising, than put out a product
with 
planned obsolescence.

PR: How are you getting the word out about the SNAPs?  Are people really
liking 
it?  Do you consider Radio Shack's pens to be a threat?

DA: As a matter of fact, we saw a stylus begin bundled with Newton shareware
on 
a disk at MacWorld.  It was entirely made of plastic, and was shaped like a
pen, but 
really did not differentiate itself that much from the Newton stylus in look
and feel.  
We on the other hand got a great deal of excited reaction when we handed
people a 
real pen that they could use on their Newton touch screen.  I knew that we
had a 
winner, when I heard for about the fourth or fifth time "This is really
cool".  The 
people in the Newton corner of the Apple Pavilion gave me an open invitation
to 
stay around and sell my product, and show people how it worked. We had all of
the 
Newton demonstrators using a pen with a SNAP product in it during the show.

As we are bootstrapping into this business, we are using press releases,
newsletters 
like yours, word of mouth, InterNet announcements,  and trying to open
distributor 
channels. The Apple Retail Store currently  has the product for sale for
their Cross 
pens, and we do mail order. We are  going to go for bundling a card in IN
magazine, 
the Intelligent Newton  magazine, and we have already set up with several
software 
companies selling Newton products to put the same card into their packaging.
It is 
starting slow, but it is building up. We want to accelerate the growth, and
to that 
end, we will be making some announcements in the near future. However, we 
are 
getting Trademarks and applying for patents on these new ideas before we
release 
them.

We have had no complaints from anyone who uses the stylus.  What we have 
heard is disappointment, if we don't have a SNAP for a  particular Pen model.
As 
there are hundreds of types of pens out on the market place, we are trying to
design 
SNAPS that will cover multiple models.  We have not found the golden one-size-
fits-all-pens design yet, and never will. So we selected a market niche, and
have 
gone with the upscale market.  This has not given us the growth that we
desire, so 
our next step is to sell a value added pen.  This will eliminate the question
of can 
you fit my 'xyz' pen, and we will be able to offer an alternative to the
'xyz' pen 
owners that will allow them to use our product by purchasing a whole stylus
within 
a pen. However, these pens will really be a value added high-tech offering. 
Stay 
tuned.  I am not aware of the Radio Shack pen--should I drop by a store and
look for 
it? 

PR: The Radio Shack Zoomer Pen looks like a very cheap MontBlanc--you know, 
the big pen style.  I ordered one before I got your SNAP but it came in
damaged.  It 
was very lightweight but not bad looking.  Do you find  your sales going more 
towards the Newton or Zoomer communities?  What does this say about the 
communities?

DA: I don't think that I can identify any direct or mail order sales that we
have 
made to a Zoomer owner.  We are in negotiations to place the product with a 
company that sells all of the PDA products, so we might start making an
impact in 
that direction. For this reason, I can't really comment about the rest of the
question.

PR: Are there any other products you can see openings for in Newt's future? 
What might these be?

DA: Although we will not comment on unreleased products, we have some ideas 
clicking in our heads concerning OCR products that might plug directly into
the 
Newton's serial port.  This would be a Newt product only, and would really be 
entirely different from our current line.  However, it does attract my
interest, and I 
am always thinking up new products which can advance the state of the art. 
We 
have not really addressed what we call the active stylus market.  These are 
specialized styluses that are used on the EO, the new Compaq machines, and a 
handwriting recognition system available for the Macintosh.  As our current 
product line is passive and the margins are good, I expect we will stay
there, and not 
go into that market place.  We are designing custom styluses, and have been 
approached by Apple to give them samples of our product for the next
generation 
Newton stylus. We were very flattered, and have been pursuing a relationship
with 
the Newton group.

PR: Thank you very much for speaking with _protoReality!

DA: Don't forget to send me a copy of your article!
Views and Reviews
Erica Sadun

This has been a rather busy month here in Atlanta.  As you know by now, the 
Cowboys trampled over the Buffalo Bills and traffic became impossible here in 
Atlanta for several days.  Friday, we went downtown to hit a coffee-house and
found 
that at 10:30pm, traffic was non-negotiable.  You can't believe how many
limos we 
saw!  In some nightspots, only customers with limos were being allowed in! 
On the 
other hand, these people could afford Superbowl tickets so I guess that limos
just 
came in with the deal.  Street prices for the tickets were running at
$1750/pop in the 
late afternoon and settled just before game time to about $1300 (In most past
games, 
right before kickoff, you could generally get a ticket for about $200, I'm
told).  So let's 
do the math: two people, a hotel room (running at triple the normal
price--Fairfield 
Inns whose rooms normally go for $25/night were charging $90 per night plus
tax--
and what the Ritz Carlton was charging just boggles the mind), a limo, dinner
at all 
the best places (again the restaurants were charging double), Superbowl
tickets, misc. 
expenses and air fare.  Easily, the trip is worth an Indy (SGI's Killer
UNIX-based 
graphics system -Ed.), a Duo--with Dock, a nice new back-lit Newton, a
super-nice 
Quadra, and a large heaping of misc. software to boot.  Kind of makes you
wonder 
about people's value systems, eh?

Speaking of Indy, I completely failed to win an Indy last month.  Byte
Magazine was 
running a "I want an Indy"  in twenty five words or less contest.  I
submitted at least 
fifty gems of slogans but somehow failed to earn an Indy of my own.  You be
the 
judges: "I want Indy to improve dental hygiene and promote world peace".  "I
want 
Indy because if my desire does not exceed my grasp, then what are contests
for?".  "I 
want Indy because there is a large rectangular aqua hole in my life."  Think
I should 
have won?  Why not drop a line to byte@sv.poppe.com and tell 'em so! 

For those of you who spoke to me after the December Newton Developers 
Conference, some sad news.  Unfortunately, Apple has changed its mind about 
publishing my game.  Its hard to figure out how actually to make some money 
programming this beast.  I put out two shareware packages recently--Peekaboo
and 
the Figgles Utilities.  To date, after about four weeks on the net, I have
received zero 
checks for Peekaboo and after two weeks for the FigUtils, four checks for a
total of 
$80 (Thank you LE, DL, R(B)M, & RW).  Not a large amount by any stretch of
the 
imagination for however many programming-months.  Do the math.  It gets very 
depressing.  Someone suggested that I track down EASE--does that ring a bell
for 
anyone?  CE software didn't return my calls and I can't seem to find anyone
else 
interested in doing publishing of either utilities or games.  Gimme a write
at 
erica@cc.gatech.edu if you're a business tycoon.  (I'll put a general plea in
at this 
point to support shareware--c'mon, guys and gals!!!  Help keep Erica's
efforts going--
send in your fees!!!-Ed.)

SNAP

On the Newt front, I received a beautiful stylus (a SNAP from WriteWare,
$8.95) 
from David Alford (See the interview with David earlier in this issue-Ed.). 
This 
particular stylus fits into my Cross pen (the pen with the really neat NeXT
logo on 
it).  Now, I have a stylish pen to carry around and wow the hoi poloi when I
let 
them test-run the Newt.  Inserts fit Cross, MontBlanc, Parker, and Sheaffer
pens.  
David says they'll be supporting other pens REAL SOON NOW too.  So keep your 
eye on this space.  Of course, a real pen won't fit in the side slot of your
Newt, but 
quite frankly, a real pen is just plain *nice* to use.  I failed to be wowed
by Apple's 
aluminum pen offering but I really like the idea of using gift-pens
languishing in 
my closet.  The SNAP receives four and a half lizards on my scale of one to
five 
Newts.

Mr. Advisador

I finally got a chance to use Mr. Advisador, the historically significant
(read "first") 
Newt shareware offering.  I was charmed.  Download and give this baby a try. 
You 
may not keep him on your Newt long-term, but your personal digital advisor
will 
greatly amuse you.  You can ask Mr. Advisador a question directly or leave
him in 
"auto advice" mode.  He'll pop up discretely on occasion (during important
demos 
usually) and if you click on his head, he'll offer unsolicited advice--often
of a 
hilarious nature, especially when you let him use names from your Names 
database.  Ben Sharpe created a little gem here and it's well worth checking
out.  Mr. 
Advisador gets a reptilian three on the one to five Newt scale.

List-It

List-It is a list organizer product from the very French Macapa people in
Quebec.  
Apparently this is the logical heir of the ShoppingList app of olde.  List-It
is a fairly 
good program.  It lets you create multiple lists of apparently arbitrary
lengths.  At 
first, I was put off  by my first (default) list which had all sorts of
financial stuff on it-
-clearly a holdover from "shopping" days--but I soon discovered the options
button 
and within a few seconds, I had a lovely to do list with a little comment
slot next to 
each item.

I used keyQuick to pop up keyboardPRO and immediately began entering 
information into the slots using the Appointments keyboard to mark
"Important" 
and "Remember" in the comment column.  They fit in the column nicely.  Next,
I 
used Typomatica to try loading in a list directly from the Macintosh but had
to give 
up because carriage returns did not take me between fields.  I'd really love
to see that 
feature included because I usually do my "to-do-list" brainstorming at home
and 
then take Figgles along with me to go through my lists.  I also could not
"import" a 
bulleted list.  Pasting from the clipboard worked just fine--but could be
tedious since 
every time I wanted to add something to the clipboard I had to leave the app
and 
then get back in.  There wasn't enough memory to use kbdPRO's scrapbook with 
List-It running. 

There were a few other rough edges. When I tried to hit the index dot
(between the 
up and down arrows) and then move below my existing application it kept
beeping 
at me.  I'd prefer a notification window saying "No more lists below".  A
routing 
sheet lets you print, fax or delete individual lists, but doesn't let you
delete items 
from the middle of lists.  When I tried to delete a single item, I
accidentally deleted 
my entire list!  I couldn't undo it either.  I'd really prefer to see a
confirm dialog "Do 
you really mean to delete the ENTIRE list?".  After a list deleted, I
consistently got 
error -48204.  I'd also like to see an option of "Delete Checked Items"
included. Also, 
it might be nice to have different types of pre-built popups for the comments
field  
("Important", "Delay", "Note", maybe?)

I really liked List-it's "endless roll" approach to lists.  Users shouldn't
be limited to 
one page lists and Macapa beautifully provides scrolling.  If shopping is
your fetish, 
List-it is perfect.  The financial lists not only let you sum up you shopping
list but 
you can also hit the little scale icon and compare prices.  Very nice. 
List-it looks like 
a very promising product which I hope to follow in the future.  On my scale
of five 
Newts, List-it gets three geckos with the promise of more to come.

Soup Utilities

As a side-note, if you are feeling uncomfortable with your soups -- "Your
Newton 
Still Needs Your Card"-- you might want to download StewPot, Souper or  
keyboardPRO (part of the Figgles Utilities).  Sometimes shareware
applications leave 
behind data files called "Soups" even after they are deleted.  This can cause
problems 
when removing your card.  In general, you shouldn't be afraid of your
soups--they 
aren't that scary--but rather feel confident about removing data just as you
might 
want to remove a file from your  Macintosh.  In general, just don't mess with
any 
soup that has the words "Notes", "Backup", "Calendar",  "Directory", "Inbox",
 
"OutBox", "System" or "To do" in its title.  KeyboardPRO does this
automagically, 
only allowing you to delete custom soups.  StewPot and Souper are more
general 
Soup viewing and editing utilities and are highly recommended as
indispensable. 
They get five kiloslugs on a scale from one to five newtons.  (I also rate
The Figgles 
Utilities at five kiloslugs but its sort of hard to keep reviewing your own
software). 
[By the way, a newton = kg-m/s/s, or about .22 pounds while a slug = 14.59
kg].

Finally, our first _protoReality seems to have gone over very nicely.  I got
several 
very complimentary letters.  It was really neat to see the newtbook come
together so 
professionally.  After seeing the work and hours that Mark Underwood put into
it, I 
felt obliged to award him a six-lizard out of five rating for his efforts. 
(<Blush> -Ed.)

Availability Information:

You can purchase a "Stylus, Not a Pen" S.N.A.P. insert for $8.95 plus $2.50
s/h + tax 
(tax only for people from California though).  Specify pen model.  Send a
check to:

WriteWare
1428 Sunshade Lane
San Jose, CA 95122
USA

You can register Mr. Advisador by sending a check for $7.95 to:

Ben Sharpe
520 Frederick St. #38
San Francisco, CA 94117

You can register List-It 2.2 by sending a check for $10 to:

Macapa Software 
440 Upper Edison #7 
St-Lambert, Quebec, CANADA J4R 2V5

You can register the Figgles Utilities by sending a check for $20 (until
3/1/94, $25 
thereafter) (Utilities include keyboardPRO, keyQuick, keyMaker, Typomatica,
24, 
Thyme and Monitor) to:

Erica Sadun 
112 Hampshire Court 
Avondale Estates, GA 30002
USA
Attn.:  Figgles Utilities

To register Souper send a check for $5 to: 

Stephen Rose  
23 Oak Street  
Whitehorse, Yukon
Canada
 
To thank Mark for StewPot, send a very nice note to:

Mark Underwood
MAUi Software
3381 Claire Circle
Marietta, GA 30066

(<Blush again> Or e-mail me at mau@sun1.ema.com -Ed.)

Do you have Newton software you would like to have reviewed?

Send it to:
Erica Sadun
112 Hampshire Court
Avondale Estates, GA 30002 

or electronically to:

erica@cc.gatech.edu


MobileCalc
Scott Portis

MobileCalc v1.00 from MobileSoft Corp. is a spreadsheet application for the
Newton.  
This application allows the user to perform modeling and calculations using 
handwritten input.  The app. is very complete for a first version.  It comes
with a 
manual that is over 80 pages long that is clear, but fairly concise --
explaining 
everything from installation to the built-in functions.

MobileCalc is available on two media: Macintosh and Microsoft Windows
floppies, 
or on a Newton application card (PCMCIA).  The system requirements are fairly 
substantial: either a 1 MB Newton Storage Card or a 2MB Newton Flash storage
card.  
Either must have at least 340K of free space.  Technical support is available
directly 
from MobileSoft from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific, although not at a toll free
number.  
You may also reach them through AppleLink.

I was excited to get my first look at a shipping application, and since I am
interested 
in creating a super-sell Newton app., I wanted to see what the Newton
environment 
really was capable of doing.  Installing the application was fairly easy,
although 
entering the serial number was pretty much a pain.  The serial number was at
least 
15 characters long (come one MobileSoft, are you planning on shipping that
many 
copies?) and forces the user to re-install if it is entered incorrectly. 
Downloading 
takes about 3 minutes.

MobileCalc opens up with a new spreadsheet.  You can write in the cells
directly, or 
you can double-tap the cell to get one of two available keyboard dialog boxes
that 
helps to enter functions.  The functions on the first keyboard are available
by 
selecting descriptive icons under which the sets of functions are grouped. 
The 
following types of functions are available:  general arithmetic, mathematic
and trig,  
statistics, financial, and date & time.  The second keyboard groups the
functions into 
alphabetical lists.  Selecting a function from the keyboard brings the
function and its 
parameters up to the editing line.  The parameters for the functions can be
filled in 
either by writing on the edit line, or by tapping a single cell or dragging a
group of 
cells.  The user may write any text in the cells.  The rows and columns can
be sized 
by dragging the row/column labels.

There are several icons at the bottom of the screen that provide additional 
functionality.  Right of the standard clock icon, there is a Worksheet menu
that 
contains several general commands for working with the worksheets.  For
instance, 
you can create a new worksheet, format ranges of the cells, clear selections,
and copy 
formulas from one cell to a range of cells -- among others.  Next there is a
Keyboard 
icon that switches between the two available keyboards.  The next icon is the 
Recalculation icon.  It toggles on and off the automatic recalculation for
the 
worksheets.  In the middle the icons are the left and right scrolling arrows,
and the 
Page Scroller,  followed by the Recognizer icon.  The Recognizer aids in
numeric or 
alphanumeric recognition by toggling between the two modes.  Finally there
are the 
standard Filing Folder, Routing Slip, and Close box icons.

OK, so that's the basic overview.  Now for my opinions.  MobileCalc is a very 
complete spreadsheet.  The designers did a good job with the user interface. 
It is 
simple to use if you are familiar with other computer-based spreadsheets. 
The 
manual is really not needed, but it does help to figure out the shortcuts. 
There are 
several things that I do not like as well.  One of my main complaints is the 
performance.  Everything moves at a glacial pace.  A simple double-tap in a
cell 
takes 2-3 seconds before you even get the sound for the double-tap, and then
another 
2-3 seconds for the Keyboard to appear.  Scrolling takes several seconds --
even on a 
blank sheet.  Drag and drop one cell - burn about 10 seconds.  I don't like
the way the 
worksheets are saved.  The application automatically saves the blank
worksheets 
every time you open it, even if you make no changes.  To delete the sheets,
the user 
has to open each one and delete it, or use a soup tool to delete it.  Either
way it is a 
nuisance.  Another problem is that the application does appear to have some
bugs 
when evaluating the functions.  Several times I would enter a function in a
cell, 
only to have it display the text of the function instead of evaluating it. 
It would not 
evaluate the function even if I turned the auto-recalc button off and back
on.  I also 
expected to be able to dump the worksheets to a comma delimited file so that
the 
data can be exchanged with other platforms,  but this feature is probably
coming in a 
future release.

Overall, the application is very good for a first release.  There are a few
problems, but 
these will be addressed in the future I am sure.  If you do travel or are in
an 
environment where having instant access to a spreadsheet on a platform that
is 
smaller and more convenient than a laptop, then this is a good application.  
MobileCalc shows the power of the Newton.

MobileSoft may be reached at: 

MobileSoft
307 Orchard City Drive, Suite 207
Campbell, CA 95008

or through AppleLink at:   MobileSoft.


TermLimit 1.1
Mark Underwood

Terminal emulation software for the Newton has been viewed as the missing
piece 
of its communications abilities.  Part of this is due to the rapid growth of
on-line 
services, such as CompuServe, America On-Line, and the InterNet.  But either 
because vendors don't see the Newton market as worth their time, or because
the 
communications API for the Newton is not like anything else, there are only
two 
public domain programs (StupidTerm and TermLimit) and only one announced 
commercial program (PocketCall from ExMachina).

Newton terminal programs must address the concept of how to represent 80-
column text on a 30-40 column wide screen.  Wrapping the lines as they come
in 
works, but it's not easy to read.  Another problem is handwriting in system 
commands to the machine you're dialing into.  Most system commands aren't 
recognizable English words.

Ed Anuff's program has presented a very clean approach to those two problems.
 For 
the display, he has vertical and horizontal scroll bars (borrowing the look
from the 
Macintosh-kind), so you can scroll right and left to view the lines.  For the 
commands, he has easy-to-use "macros"--single taps from a menu that expand
into 
three lines of text.  The program also allows the saving/selection of
multiple session 
settings.

Because of a restriction in the current proto serial endpoint, the last bit
of received 
text may not be shown directly, so Ed has added a "More" button to make sure
you 
get it all.  He also has a routing button, which can print, fax, or save to a
note the 
contents of the receive buffer (the scrolling display).  I like the "copy to
note" 
command a lot.

With TermLimit, I was able to access my UNIX mail, CompuServe account, local 
BBS, and terminal server, all without problems.

If you need basic TTY-terminal emulation, you can save lots of bucks by
getting 
TermLimit (and registering it if you keep it!).  PocketCall is supposed to
provide 
some sort of full-screen, VT100-style of interface (in addition to the
TTY-style), but 
until it gets into the hands of users, we can only speculate how well it was
done.

TermLimit 1.1 is available on all the major on-line services, or contact Ed
Anuff 
through e-mail at:

edanuff@crl.com


Accountable
Mark Underwood

If you need to keep track of one or more checking/saving/etc. accounts, and
want to 
use your Newton, Accountable (Nomadic Technologies) is the app to get!  Even 
though a version of Quicken  for the Newt was announced early on, it hasn't 
arrived yet--but Accountable has.

I reviewed a copy of the product and found that it worked quite well.  On
opening 
the app, you are shown the list of accounts you have set up.  An account can
be one 
of five types:  checking, saving, credit card, frequent flier, or general. 
When creating 
an account, you enter the account name, number, and starting balance.  You'll 
probably want to password protect your Newt and your financial information
from 
the guys at work who want to play with your Newt.  Accountable works in
dollar 
and cents--and other currency formats as well!  I opened an account in yen,
which 
uses no decimals, and you can even use the proper monetary symbol ( ). 
Accounts 
can also have a "customized" icon to help make them easy to find.

Selecting an account displays the register for the account, and allows you to
add 
credit or debit entries.  Each entry can be "categorized"--utility bill, ATM
withdrawal, 
service charge, etc.  New categories can be created or removed as needed.  As
you add 
entries, a running balance is displayed at the bottom.  There is even a small
check 
box to allow you to indicate whether a transaction has "cleared" or not! 
When you 
add new payees and merchants in paying bills, they are remembered by the
program, 
and can then be chosen from the list--saving you from always having to 
"handwrite" their names in.

Accountable has a reconcile function that allows you to take a bank statement
(or 
account billing statement), select the account, enter the statement's
balance, add 
service charges, and you'll get the amount outstanding.  It even allows you
to 
credit/debut that amount automatically as a new transaction!  You can print
or fax a 
formatted register of an account, either the whole thing or a date range. 
Using the 
Mac NCK version 1.0 (or later), you can automatically export your account 
information to Mac-based applications, such as Excel or Quicken.

What use is a Newt app without Assist?  Accountable allows you to enter quick 
phrases, and through Assist, create transactions of the appropriate kind. 
Entering 
"Pay Joe 15", for example, creates a debit of $15 in your checking account
with payee 
of "Joe".  "Charge 50 at Acme for shirt to AMEX" creates a debit in the AMEX
credit 
card account for $50, the payee of Acme, and puts "for shirt" in the "memo"
area!

If you want to keep tabs on your money woes on your Newt, this is a serious 
product.  Quicken for the Newton, if and when it appears, will probably have
most 
(if not all) of the same functionality, but will probably be three times the
size and 
cost of Accountable, and twice as slow!  Plus, there may be a lot of things
you don't 
need.  I liked Accountable because it's clean, fast, and flexible.

Those who buy Accountable before July 1, 1994, will receive an upgrade
guarantee 
from Nomadic Technologies that entitles them to receive automatically and
free of 
charge every Accountable upgrade released during 1994.  Whether it's the
final 
availability of the Newton Connection Kit version 2.0, the arrival of
compiled 
Newton Script, or enhanced features in Accountable itself, buyers can be
assured 
that they will gain the advantages of upgraded software with no additional
cost or 
hassle.  There will be at least one upgrade in 1994 to distribute Accountable
Report, a 
companion Newton application that will generate reports from Accountable data.

The price is $39 plus shipping/handling and applicable sales tax.

You can read Nomadic Technologies at:

Nomadic Technologies
19948 Laurel Ave.
Rocky River, OH  44116

CompuServe: 76377,470 (preferred)
AppleLink:  TOMUNKEFER

Phone: (216) 331 5771
FAX:  (216) 331 5887



The German Newton
A Brief History of Time (Delay)
Uwe Hauck

(Editor's note:  Uwe is NANUG's official German Corespondent, and he will be 
bringing us news of how the Newton is faring in Europe, along with reviews of 
EuroNewtware.  A big Guten Tag to Uwe!)

The Day Apple Sent Us the Newton

On December the 15th the German Newton was officially presented to the German 
public in a big event, including a TV-interview with Baestians, Germany's
Apple 
CEO on the private TV-Channel Sat1.  Previous announcements stating the 15th
of 
November as official release date had been delayed due to some problems with
the 
localization (especially the differences in the style of American and German 
handwriting and the announcement of a major ROM update by Apple US led to the 
delay).  Finally, on Friday afternoon the 17th, my phone rang and a very(!!)
excited 
voice on the line told me: "It is here, we've got it, we have two Newtons in
stock 
right now.  Come and get yours."  As I found out later, they only got those
two on 
that day, the one I had ordered in September (!) and a demo system--and they
had 
preorders that exceeded the announced number of 4000 localized Newtons
totally.  
Preorders made after the middle of November presumably got their Newton after
X-
mas but for me it was my perfect X-mas Gift.  Jumping into my car, heading
towards 
my local dealer and getting my hands on "my" Newton happened almost in an 
instant...

So that's what a German Newton "looks" like!

It comes in a nice "multicolored box" with an introductory video, a 2 Mb
Flashcard, 
holding demos of "Fortune500", "Colombo's Mystery Capers", "GoFigure" and 
"Money Magazine Business Forms".  The price is 1690 DM including the 2 Mb 
PCMCIA Card, that's round about $1000.  The Connection Kit goes for another
150 
DM and the power supply costs about 50 DM.  Also included is a registration
form 
for the NewtonMail starter kit (not available in Germany right now, announced
for 
summer 94) but...no external power supply.  Yes, there is a battery pack.  My
dealer 
explained that Apple Germany had decided that they'd rather give their
customers a 
system with more RAM, and after using my Newton for about a week, I found
this 
idea to be a good one.  The system version, as stated in the configuration is
1.11 and 
the recognizer works quiet good in my opinion.  I am a lefty and was rather 
concerned about how well the Newt would recognize my rather ugly handwriting 
but was positively surprised.  After about 2 weeks of work, my Newton reached
a 
recognition rate of round about 97-98 % and that is, as I must confess, even
better 
than the recognition rate of most of my friends ;-).

The overall appearance is just like its American counterpart, despite the
fact that all 
messages have been translated into German.  ParaGraph had to completely
rewrite 
the internal lexicon and the letters you can choose from in the setup. 
Something 
rather interesting was the selection of "prototype letters" they chose.  They
also 
include some "Altdeutsche" letters, and the German "Umlaut".  Even the some
of 
the Easter Eggs have been translated: For example if you reset the German
Newton, 
tap undo and then scroll back to the first error message it isn't the first
man on the 
moon date but the date of the German reunion...;-)

The next thing I did was connecting it to my Powerbook and trying to download 
some software I had transferred from the InterNet servers using Peter Kaas 
incredibly useful Newton Package Downloader.  This piece of software is a
must 
have for all newbie Newtoneers.  It allows you to download Newton Packages
via 
Drag and Drop and the best thing is: it is available on the InterNet.  Some
of the first 
applications I tested included Steve Weyer's Newt, ExtraExtras, RemoveIt! and
some 
games like Minefield, Morpion and Yathzee.  They all worked fine with the 
localized version and kept me awake for almost my whole first night with the 
Newton.  (Thanks to the authors of those programs: you made a great job and 
Shareware-Donations are on their way.) The above programs and ListIt!, an 
application that helps you in handling all kinds of lists and which can be 
customized to your special needs, are my personal must haves up to today. 
The 
unique architecture of the Newton enabled me to work with all those programs, 
despite the fact that the messages by the programs still appeared in English.
 

The Newton and the (German) Press

Yes, Germans are rather careful with new technologies and one could
immediately 
realize this fact by following the news about "First Impressions with a
Newton".  
"Der Spiegel" a weekly magazine made some rather discouraging remarks about
bad 
recognition and lots of mistakes, but they only tested the Newton for a day
and used 
an English version to recognize German words and letters.  So the magazine
totally 
ignored the factor of training and the factor of differences between
countries and the 
way people write (besides I am very interested in the Japanese
version--presumably 
the version with the best overall recognition rating).  Another weekly
magazine - 
"Focus" - in opposite voted the Newton the "must have PDA" as soon as the
price 
would drop.  They also announced the availability of their magazine via 
NewtonMail!  So, despite some bad press most of the news at least realized
the 
potential the Newton technology carries and are awaiting future developments.

Conclusion

You have to give the Newton time.  Time to be trained, time to be accepted
and time 
for some features to be improved.  But one can't ignore the fact that Newton 
technology is the next step in human computer interaction.  And that having
those 
limits we have learned about in several articles and stories about the
development 
process of the Newton the result in my opinion is impressive.  I am working
in an 
AI-Department and I don't know a better handwriting recognition system at the 
moment.  And by the way, I would never expect my friends to be able to
recognize 
all of my scribbling.  Just as the Newton.  I haven't used a piece of paper
for a whole 
month now and I really don't miss it.  ;-)



Code Samples

<<Shark>>
StartupScreen Newt
Bill Kearney

Here's a nifty little hack for the inspector:

getRoot().sleepscreen.viewSetupFormScript:=
func() begin
self.country:=userConfiguration.country;
userConfiguration.country:="Graceland";
inherited:?viewSetupFormScript();
end;

getRoot().sleepscreen.viewSetupDoneScript:=
func() begin
userConfiguration.country:=self.country;
inherited:?viewSetupDoneScript();
end;

This will let you have the Newt startup screen appear instead of the normal
light 
bulb logo.  This is a temporary patch--resets will kill it.

I've put it into the install and remove scripts of an app of mine, and it
works nicely.  
Remember to nil the slots on a remove.

It is possible to replace the startup screen with a totally different image,
but I've not 
yet figured out how to do it without using around 30K of memory.

The above patch appears to consume about 3 to 5K.

What it does:

The Newton has an app called sleepscreen.  Guess what it does?  It's the app
that gets 
called when the switch on the side of the Newton is pressed while the Newton
is 
asleep.  The setup for sleepscreen looks at the userConfiguration.country
slot, and if 
it's "Graceland", it swaps the normal startupscreen for the Newt.  The above
hack 
sets the existing country code aside in the base view of the sleepscreen app,
in a new 
slot named "country".  It then replaces the current value with "Graceland". 
This 
lets another part of the sleepscreen app do its thing.  Once the app's done,
it replaces 
the user's country code with the original value and exits.

Changing the screen to a different image entirely is possible, it just takes
up a lot of 
RAM.  For that matter, changing the startup behavior of the Newton is
possible as 
well.  Stay tuned for a nifty little hack...

<<Shark>>
Joining "The Gang"
Mark Underwood

You can add your name to "the Gang"--the list of people on the Newton
project--
that is shown where you write "About Newton" and tap "Assist".

myGang:=Clone(getRoot().theGang.authors);
myGang[66]:=EnsureInternal("Mark");
// 66 thru 71 is open...
getRoot().theGang.authors:=EnsureInternal (myGang);

(Editor's note:  To add yourself to the Gang right now, tap the script above,
then 
select the phrase "About Newton" and tap "Assist")

Of course, you could replace the whole crew, but out of deference to a job
well done, 
please stick with array slots 66 through 71, which are empty at the moment.

Your changes will be undone when you reset the Newton.


<<Newt>>
Programming Tip
Jennifer Minge

Problem: You use the Intelligent Assistant to fax a note to "Bob."  When 
presented with the fax slip, you can select which Bob you want if more than
one is 
listed in your Names soup.  Ever wanted to be able to do this from within
your 
program?

Solution: Use the command smartCFQuery to get a list of all entries from the 
Names soup that matches your search criteria.  For example:
smartCFQuery( "Jennifer" ) on my Newton returns the following:

#44166F9  [{sortOn: "Minge", 
 cardType: 0, 
 phones: [#44126F1], 
 email: "minge@crl.com", 
 company: "", 
 address: "11555 Boxford Place", 
 address2: NIL, 
 city: "Alpharetta", 
 region: "GA", 
 country: "USA", 
 postal_code: "30202", 
 bday: 30646390, 
 name: {#4412941}, 
 _uniqueID: 6, 
 _modtime: 47393034} ]

 On closer look the name frame contains these entries:

 name: {first: "Jennifer", 
  class: person, 
  last: "Minge", 
  title: "Sr. Telecommunications
  Analyst"}, 
<<Newt>>
Adding Intelligent Assistance
Jennifer Minge

Implementing Intelligent Assistant within your programs is a very simple
task.  
This programming sample shows how to add IA to your program utilizing the 
smartCFQuery command detailed previously.  For this example, we will add the 
command "choose" to the Intelligent Assistant.

To implement Intelligent Assistance you must first define a task template,
one or 
more action template, and optionally a target template.  The task template
specifies 
the action to be performed and includes slots in which to store information
required 
to complete the task, synonyms for invoking the task, a task slip view to
display to 
the user, and specific instructions for executing the task.  The task
template is 
registered with the Assistant using the regTaskTemplate() command and is 
removed with the unRegTaskTemplate() command.  The task template relies upon 
other templates that define actions and potential targets of those actions.
These 
templates are called the action template  and the target template,
respectively. You 
always need to define one or more action templates when specifying a new task
to 
the Assistant; however, you may not necessarily need to define a target
template.  

Action Template

This sample will define a single action template and no target templates. 
The action 
template must define the slots value, isa,  and lexicon.

The value  slot is currently not used but is required for future
compatibility.

The isa  slot identifies the object type of the frame created from this
template.  I will 
use the predefined symbol 'dyna_user_action.

The lexicon  slot specifies a list of words or phrases that the Assistant is
to associate 
with the template.  This demo defines "choose" as our lexicon.  You may
define 
more than one lexicon.

Our action template is defined in the Project Data which is shown later.

Task Template

All task templates must define five required slots: isa,  primary_act,
preconditions,  
signature,  and postparse.

The isa   slot identifies the object type of the frame created from this
template. Task 
templates must store only the value 'task_template in this slot.

The primary_act  slot stores a reference to the primary action template. (In
this 
demo: kChooseAction).

The preconditions  slot stores an array of symbols specifying the names of
slots that 
the Assistant creates to store information required to complete the task.

The signature  slot is a list of all possible frame classes that may be used
to create 
frames stored in the task template.
Note:  The preconditions array must have the same number of elements as the 
signature array because the Assistant uses these two arrays in parallel.

The postparse  slot stores a reference to an action template that is invoked
after the 
Assistant parses the user input.

The following is our task template:

{
 isa: 'task_template,
 primary_act: kChooseAction,
 preconditions:  [ 'action, 'who,'generic_action ],
 signature: [ kChooseAction, 'person,'dyna_user_action ],
 postParse: func() GetRoot().(kAppSymbol):PostParseCommand(self),
}

Post Parse

After the Assistant has stored all of the objects that were created when
matching 
object types specified in the signature array of the task template, it
invokes the 
postparse method.  Our postparse function parses the frame returned by the IA
to 
find the name the user entered when IA was invoked.  Once the name has been 
found it calls the function DisplayEntry to display all entries from the
Names soup 
that matches the search criteria.  This is our PostParseCommand:

func( taskTemplate)
begin
// if our application is not open then open it
  local isApplicationOpen := GetView( self ) <> nil;
  :Open();

  local newMailMsg := Clone( defaultChoosePerson );

  for i := 0 to Length( taskTemplate.input) -1 do
 begin
  local template :=taskTemplate.input[i];
// search template to find the person to choose
  if Isa( template, 'person ) then
   newMailMsg.person :=taskTemplate.phrases[i];
 end;

// display all entries that matched
  :DisplayEntry(newMailMsg);

  GetRoot().assistant:Close();   // close the IA slip
end

DisplayEntry

This function takes the name parsed from the IA and searches the Names soup
to 
find all matching entries.  All matches are set as the labelCommands for the 
protoLabelInput called choosePerson.  If a match is found, then the first
entry is 
displayed in the text field of the entry.

func(aName)
begin
  local names := [], hits;

  if not ( StrLen(aName) = 0) then
 hits := SmartCFQuery(aName);
 if hits then
   begin
  for i := 1 to Length(hits) do
     AddArraySlot(names,hits[i-1].name.first && hits[i-1].name.last );
  choosePerson: SetLabelCommands(names);
  if names then
    SetValue(choosePerson.entryLine,'text, names[0]);
  else
    SetValue(choosePerson.entryLine,'text, "");
   end;
end

Project Data

The action template is defined in the Project Data as well as the
InstallScript and 
RemoveScript for our IA entry.  The following is the Project Data;

constant kAppSymbol := '|IA Demo:EASE|;
constant kAppName := "IA Demo";
constant kChooseAction := '{
    value:   "chose action",
    isa:      dyna_user_action,
    lexicon:  [ "choose" ],
};


// Install task template so "choose" appears in IA
InstallScript := func(packageFrame)
begin
   packageFrame.taskTemplateID := 
RegTaskTemplate(packageFrame.theForm.taskTemplate );
end;

// Remove our IA entry so we make a clean exit
RemoveScript := func(packageFrame)
begin
  if packageFrame.taskTemplateID then 
     begin
         UnRegTaskTemplate(packageFrame.taskTemplateID );
         packageFrame.taskTemplateID := nil;
     end;
end;

[Editor's Note:  The full source of Jennifer's IA example will be on NANUG 
Distribution Disk #6.  If you don't have access to our diskettes, please
e-mail Jennifer 
for a copy.]



Tips, Hints, and Secrets
NANUG Members

>From Kerry McCarthy
[72520.1334@compuserv.com]:

Some tips I've found:  
To enter business cards, the deluxe case holds the card on the right side
above the 
Newt at a 45 degree angle.

Try creating several notes within each folder with a text header for easy
recall.  For 
example we sell many products, Mr. Coffee, First Alert, all grouped within
the folder 
Factories.  Notes for each are in ink, and looked up easily with the overview
button.

>From Hardy Macia
[hardymacia@online.apple.com]:

Store your RAM cards in the slip case that comes with the Newton.  There is a 
velcro'd compartment holding the metal plate which protects your Newton
screen.  
I stuff my RAM card in there when I'm not using it.  I saved $69 on a leather
case!

>From Carl Scholz
[scholz@osf.org]:

To format text:

Select a block of text by encircling the text with the heavy selection pen
(in the same 
manner that you select a drawing).  The block of text will now have gray box
around 
it and be highlighted.

- Tap on the gray box to cleanup the text (remove all newlines and extra
whitespace).

- Drag one of the box sides to reset the width of the text (and reformat
appropriately, 
while maintaining newlines/whitespace).

- Drag any part of the highlighted text body to move the entire block.

Undo works with all of the above operations.

>From Robert Stone
[stone@phoenix.cs.uga.edu]:

Newton Drawing Hints

Tip #1:  If you want to draw a small detailed picture, select the smallest
pen size and 
draw a full-screen version of your drawing.  Align all of the shapes
carefully, then 
"box" the entire drawing and drag one of the corners until you have scaled
the 
drawing to the size you need.  Move your drawing to the "clipboard" (screen
edge) 
and then move it off to wherever you need it.  Using this method you can make 
some suprisingly detailed drawings at a very small size!

Tip #2:  If you find yourself drawing a lot of maps, use the above method to
draw 
yourself a library of map symbols.  File all your map symbols in a new folder
so you 
can quickly flip to them.

Tip #3:  Take a little time to experiment with drawing different shapes and
observe 
the amount of memory used by different ones.  (You can see the size of the
current 
note by clicking on it's "info" icon in the left side of its seperator bar.) 
Turn off the 
shape recognition and try to approximate the same shapes.  Observe the
different 
amounts of memory required to store shapes and freehand strokes.  Then try 
drawing the same shapes at larger and smaller sizes.  You may notice that
shapes 
don't change in memory usage as they change in size, but freehand strokes
drawn 
large will take up more space than freehand strokes drawn small.  Strangely
enough, 
you may find that small strokes often take up less memory than small shapes!  
Taking some time to optimize your drawing techniques for memory usage can pay 
off by allowing you to fit more into each note's 4K memory limit.



:Messages
Scott Portis

Unfortunately, we have received very few responses directly to the :Messages 
column of the newsletter.  We will publish the few letters we received last
month in 
the next issue (hopefully with lots of new ones -Ed.).

Letters may be sent to _protoReality via the InterNet at:

SCOTT.PORTIS@APPLELINK.APPLE.COM

directly through AppleLink at:

SCOTT.PORTIS

or through the mail at:

Scott Portis
C/O _protoReality
3044-C Spring Hill Rd.
Smyrna, GA 30080
 
We cannot guarantee a response to every letter, but we will do our best.  We
will 
publish a subset of the letters that we receive in the :Messages column.  A
FAX 
telephone number may be provided in the future if there are enough requests
for 
one.



The Sharper Knife
Elaine Barrett

Popularity for PDA devices have increased ten-fold from the introduction of
the 
Newton--therefore it would seem natural for other companies to jump on the 
bandwagon.  General Magic is one of those companies, formed by two ex-Apple,
ex-
Macintosh employees:  Andy (Finder) Hertzfeld and Bill (HyperCard) Atkinson.  
Apple owns a portion of General Magic.

Magic Cap (Communication Applications Platform) is General Magic's front end.
 
Telescript--a scriptable, agent-driven programming language--is also included
in the 
package.  Telescript will be licensed and available for other platforms, such
as the 
Newton and the Macintosh.

Magic Cap's "geographical" user interface could use a lot of work to bring it
up a 
couple of intelligence levels.  It looks like a kid's view of Sesame Street .
 General 
Magic must think if it's not cute enough, potential customers will not buy
the 
product.  Everyday, more and more consumer products are advertised to us as 
though we were children, and aren't very intelligent.  But "easy to use"
shouldn't 
mean "look and feel silly as you use it".

Magic Cap does have a few good features once you get beyond the exterior. 
Its very 
flexible, easy to modify interface toolkit is coded in C (meaning
cross-platform 
capable), and is complete with browse, authoring, and scripting modes (very
similar 
to HyperCard).  The addition of Telescript turns networked devices into
contiguous 
applications.  Telescript allows messages that can have complex delivery 
instructions and imbedded programs roam the net, collecting stuff like PDA
review 
articles, or setting up airline tickets.  The main drawback of this
technology is that 
everything--the client, the server, and the connection between--must be
Telescript 
enabled.  And Telescript is currently only available with Magic Cap.

Magic Cap's user interface, along with the future hopes of Telescript, is the
only 
thing that makes this PDA any different from the rest--but since they do not
expect 
Telescript out until sometime next year, the whole state of PDA-art may be 
drastically different by then.  Apple's policy of licensing Newton
technologies is a 
smart one, from many angles.  By doing so, you indirectly create a PDA
standard, 
since other hardware solutions will see the addition of Newton technology as
a way 
to get their hardware faster to market.  General Magic seems to be taking a
page from 
that marketing handbook with Telescript, but it will need to move quickly
before 
other vendors--or even Apple itself--moves to nail down the loose corners of
the 
PDA communications arena.



Want-Ads, Classified, and Cork Board

- -

Would you like to post an ad or other Newton-related classified item in 
_protoReality?  If so, please send your ad copy, via e-mail, to:

mau@sun1.ema.com

with a subject of "NANUG Ads".  Items will be carried in the current month's
issue 
is received before the 15th of the month, otherwise it will be in the
following 
month's issue.  NANUG reserves the right to refuse publication if the content
is 
deemed unsuitable for our audience.

Currently, there is no fee to list an item.  Please limit the size of your
text to no more 
than two Newton Book Reader sized "pages" (about a single typed page).  If
you 
want to include graphics, they should be no larger than 3"x 4" (8 x 10 cm).

- -

The Toronto Newton Users Group (GNUT) has chosen their list op Top 10 
free/shareware programs for the Newton:

(1) List-It
(2) Keyboard
(3) CopyMachine
(4) StewPot
(5) Resto 1.3
(6) Date Util
(7) Solo
(8) Newtris
(9) Convert Metric
(10) Hot Buttons

Congratulations to NANUG members Erica Sadun for picking up #2, and Mark 
Underwood for picking up #4!  And we salute GNUT and their President, John 
Marman, who is now an honorary NANUG member!  Here's to another friendly 
competition between Atlanta and Toronto!

- -

Read-Only Memories
Online Classifieds

What is it?
A CD-ROM disk published bi-weekly, featuring Personals and Classifieds.

Advertise with:
Pictures, sound, video, and unlimited text, and receive the CD_ROM disk free
of 
charge (Mac or PC format), or buy the CD-ROM for $7.50 and check out the ads!

In addition to the CD-ROM...
  free BBS
  free Voicemail

Ads only cost $25 if you can supply the information in digital form--i.e.,
word 
processing file, sound fie, etc.

If you don't have a computer, the rates are:

$5/page to prepare text
$5/30 seconds of sound sampling
$5/page of scanned images
$10/30 seconds of digitized video

Modem: 415 626 6342
Tel:  415 861 2706



NANUG Member Bios

Mark Underwood
Fifteen year veteran of the Cyberspace Wars, currently working with
Electronic Data 
Systems in their Utilities Division, located in Atlanta Georgia.  Bought the
second 
Macintosh 128K available in Atlanta in 1984, bought the first Newton
available in 
1993--still has both (Notice a trend here?).  Collects comics (partial to
X-Men), cards, 
coins, and dust--not necessarily in that order (wife claims more dust in his
room 
that anything else).  In his spare time, somehow manages to write fiction (SF
and 
Mystery, mostly).  Has seen Hitchcock's Vertigo and Lucas' Star Wars  at
least 77 
times each--and still claims to have his insanity.

Uwe Hauck
Graduate student of Computational Linguistics & Artificial Intelligence at
The 
Institute for Semantic Information Processing, Osnabrueck, Germany.

Several Jobs including:  Development of Time Management Systems, SysOp and 
Network Administrator for AIX RS6000, Natural Language Database Interfaces, 
Software Development for IBM Germany.  Fluent in several languages including 
C(++), Pascal, Prolog, Lisp, English...(I just couldn't resist the joke) 
Currently an 
Independent Software Developer for Macintosh, RS6000 and IBM and soon for 
Newton Technology.

Hobbies:  Everything related to Computers and Star Trek, Japanese Food,
Literature 
and Role-playing Games.

Scott Leapman
I am an Electrical Engineer specializing in Human Factors (Ergonomics, HCI,
etc.)  
Currently I am looking for employment within that field while working as a 
technical writer for IBM in Boca Raton, Florida.  My Newt and I have been
going 
steady since September, and are considering going all the way pretty soon.  I
can't 
spend a day without turning it on!  I am 25 years old, and also own a Saturn.
 I guess 
I'm just an early adopter of new products.  My car as well as my Newt haven't 
disappointed me yet.  My hobbies include fitness, robotics, and shopping.

Grey Mull
 Student Representative
 Apple Computer, Inc.
 North Carolina State Univ.
I am studying International Business and I plan to graduate 12/94.

Frank McPherson
My name is Frank McPherson. I live in Farmington Hills Michigan and I am 
currently employed as a system engineer.  A graduate of Michigan
Technological 
University, I am a native of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  My hobbies include 
tennis, bowling and playing the French horn.

I am an avid member of Cyberspace, holding membership on CompuServe, Delphi 
and Newton Mail. Through Delphi I frequent the UseNet.

Michael B. Edwards
CEO-HealthCare Communications of Lincoln, Nebraska.
HCC is a 10-year old developer of Macintosh products for the health care 
marketplace.  Our Newton development is a new venture, and our products
include 
Hippocrates (for physicians) and a new flat file database called FilePad,
which is now 
in beta testing.  I enjoy my work and my family, and obviously, computers!

Mike Brais
Mike Brais is your typical Gay technogeek saved from coke bottle glasses only 
through the wonders of modern optometric technology.  He runs a small
consulting 
firm dealing with customized and downsized OLTP applications for the banking
and 
hospitality industries.  He is permanently attached to his Newton.

Steve C. Linke
  Graduated 5/93 from San Diego State University BS: Information Systems
  Apple Student Representative, SDSU
  Manager, SDSU Computer Store
  Became Newton user, 10/93
  Started personal computer consulting company, Smarter Solutions, 1993
  Full-time job, Chaparral Computers & Networks, Sales Representative

Hobbies:  Outdoor sports, cycling, tennis, soccer, reading, computers, Newton

Future Plans:
San Diego Newton User Group (SDNUG!), Newton programming, Masters Degree, 
Travel, Successful Computer Consulting Company...Sports Bar!!

Robert Stone
Robert Stone is presently employed part-time as programmer for the 
University of 
Georgia's cooperative extension service in Athens, Georgia doing various
computer 
tasks ranging from small LAN management to AI implementation.  Previously 
employed at COSMIC (NASA's software technology transfer branch), he attended 
the University of Georgia briefly and then quit after becoming extremely
dissatisfied 
with the standard higher-educational paradigm.

Currently he is adding Newton programming to his repertoire of computer
skills 
while collaborating with another NANUG member to start a new company that
will 
be releasing Newton shareware  packages in the near future.

In addition to a number of computer things, he enjoys drinking several
traditional 
styles of  beer, brewing these styles of beer himself, publicly criticizing
the American 
educational institution among other faulty institutions in this society, and
doing 
volunteer work at a local elementary school.  He dislikes trashy hack
"literature", 
casseroles of any sort, and just about everything on MTV besides "Beavis and 
Butthead."  Don't try to tell him to "be satisfied that things aren't worse"
because he 
can't be satisfied until "things" are better.

Krishnan Aghoramurthy
Just moved to Austin to take up a position with Tivoli Systems ... currently
working 
as one of their Product Marketing Managers ... currently using my Newton as a 
productivity tool (have all my phone numbers on it, as well as my complete 
schedule ... also used to keep track of action items, fax short notes etc.)
... relying on it
extensively! (I don't keep a paper calendar any more!).

Hardy Macia
Computer engineer at the Naval Ship Systems Engineering Station in
Philadelphia.  
I'm the author of "AssistCalc", and working on my next Newton package.  My 
hobbies include snowboarding and biking.

Jennifer Minge
Jennifer is an independent consultant doing Newton programming for the
world's 
largest soft drink company, headquartered in Atlanta, GA (subtle hint-Ed.) 
Prior to 
this she worked for four years at Apple Computer.  Her journey with Apple
started 
in Cupertino, CA, where she was a Network Engineer providing technical
support 
to customers who purchased and of Apple's Networking and Communications 
products, such as SNAps, DAL, ARA, AppleShare, and the InterNet Router. 
After 
living through the 1989 earthquake, she started making plans to return to
terra 
firma in her native state of Georgia.  Her next stop with Apple too her to
Nashville, 
TN, where she worked as a System Engineer for a year before finally
succeeding in 
returning to Atlanta.  While there, she continued her work as an SE for
Apple, 
covering large business accounts in three states.

When she is not programming, she enjoys jumping out of perfectly safe
airplanes, 
driving at unsafe speeds, collecting Britain Toy soldiers, and raising two
adopted 
kittens.  As a new homeowner, she is also a budding gardener who claims that
she 
only has to wait until March to determine if she has the skills or not to
continue 
with this "hobby".

Dean Cookson
My name is Dean Cookson and I am a Newton owner. I'm currently working as a 
UNIX system admin. for the MITRE Corp. in Bedford, Ma. My experience with 
Apple products goes back to 1981 when I bought an Apple ][+, and I now run
the 
Connection Kit on a 1987 vintage Mac II. In my spare time I ride my
motorcycle, take 
photographs of anything that will sit still long enough and get into flame
wars on 
the net.

Alan Suding
I've been in information technologies for 23 years. Involved with mainframes,
PC's, 
and Macintoshes. My current role involves developing proof-of-concept
prototypes, 
including the use of Newton when integrated within the rest of our computing
and 
business context.

My hobbies include motorcycles, reading, walking, and computing.

I'm located in the Los Angeles area.

Rob Dreyfoos
Proud Newton owner since September 24, 1993.  I am an electrical engineer by 
training and head up a R&D group developing professional photographic 
equipment.  I have been interested in computers / calculators since before
the HP 35 
came out and have worked on (programming) systems from GE time sharing in the 
early 70's (today it is GEnie service), Apple II, PDP-11, 128K Mac, PC's...
UNIX 
workstations, even some time on an IBM System 38. My interests are diverse
but 
now as a father of two boys (2.5 and 3.5 years old), my primary interests
include 
studying God's Word, spending time with my family, and exploring on the
various 
computer systems I have access to (Mac, Newton, PC, Sun - UNIX, on-line
services 
AOL, CIS, GEnie, AppleLink). I feel that Newton is a great new technology
which is 
at the fore-front of the future of computing!

David Bozak
Associate Professor in Computer Science and Psychology departments (joint
appt) 
Chair of Computer Science--likes gadgets--kept buying HP calculators, stopped
at the 
48sx.

Wanted some kind of PDA that was hyper-oriented; held off on the Newton
(always 
buy it the 2nd year!) til my wife suggested I get it as a Christmas
present--and I caved 
in.

It works for me; still need to work on handwriting but now that 1.05 has been 
downloaded, it should improve some more.

Just downloaded QuickFigure--it really needed a better calculator as a
default (no 
sqrt? no memory?  gads!)

I live at the North Pole (or at least so Oswego seemed this winter).

Tom White
I am a senior at the University of Georgia in Athens.  I am interested in all
types of 
user computer interface issues ranging from computer support for cooperative
work 
to non-encumbering artificial realities.  I recently completed an internship
with 
Myron Krueger in which I did most of the software development "Small Planet" 
which was featured in the Siggraph 93 art show in Anaheim, CA.  My future
plans 
are completely undecided... and unpredictable. :-)

Elaine Barrett
I was born the fourth moon of Jupiter, the one that causes most of the
natural 
disasters.  Macintosh support person by day and a college student by night. 
Some of 
my other interests are minature knife collecting, restoring old pickup
trucks, and 
comics.  I am also an avid Doctor Who fan.