If you’re as fascinated by the prehistory of personal computing as I am, the early issues of Computerworld at Google News are hugely entertaining. They date from a time before there were such things as personal computers, but there are hints of what was to come everywhere in their pages. I wrote about a 1968 story on a 75-pound pseudolaptop recently. And after the jump, I’m reprinting a story from the November 13th, 1968 issue on Astrotype, an extremely early multi-user word-processing system with 4KB of memory which stored documents on magnetic tape. Its creators said that by permitting the correction of text documents, it would be a boon to…would-be secretaries whose typing was too lousy for them to find work. Little did they know that word processing wouldn’t help more people become secretaries, but would instead dramatically thin the secretarial herds in corporate America over the next four decades…
Author Archive | Harry McCracken
FastPencil: Self-Publishing, Web Style
Self publishing is an American tradition with a long, distinguished history that’s been immeasurably improved in recent years by two technical breakthroughs: the Web (which reduces the cost of distribution to almost nothing) and print-on-demand services (which permit the printing of professional-looking books in small quantities at reasonable prices). And FastPencil, which launched last month and added some new features this week, is an ambitious and interesting service (though an imperfect one) that takes advantage of both developments.
Web-based self-publishing services aren’t new–other contenders include Lulu and Blurb. But Lulu’s for folks who are comfortable designing a book in a page layout program and uploading the results as a PDF, and Blurb involves a downloadable application that lets you produce glossy photo books. FastPencil turns the whole process of writing, editing, and publishing a book into an online service, emphasizes text-centric books (although they can include photos, too) and aims for simplicity, collaboration, and affordability. It’s meant for everyone from folks who want to create a handful of books for a family event to those who think they have the great American novel in them and would like to sell it online.
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Share School Gadget Thoughts, Win a 500GB Drive
Quick reminder: We’re still collecting your reflections on gadget you used (or use) for schoolwork, and the ones you wish you had (or have). Share your thoughts by 5pm PT tomorrow and you might win a nifty 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive.
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More on Smartphones vs. Dumbphones
I already wrote this morning about NPD’s new research showing that only 28 percent of new phones sold are smartphones–and here I am talking about the news on Randall Bennett’s TechVi, along with PCMag.com’s Jeremy Kaplan:
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You Don’t Have a Smartphone Yet? You’ve Got Lots of Company
Smartphones such as the iPhone, Palm Pre, and various BlackBerries are responsible for about 98% of all phone-related news, and if you live in a tech haven like the Bay Area, it’s easy to slip into the assumption that everyone has one. But a new survey from retail experts the NPD Group says that 28 percent of phones sold in the U.S. in the second quarter were smartphones. That’s up 47 percent over last year, but it still means that 72 percent of phones sold weren’t smartphones. They were the more basic (but increasingly powerful) phones known in the industry by a name that makes me gnash my teeth: “feature phones.”
All of which leaves me curious how many of you are still using a reasonably traditional phone, and how many have smartphones. (There’s no really good definition of what smartphones are–NPD says they’re ones “sold with their own operating systems”–but I’m going to say that they’re phones that allow the installation of third-party apps, and which usually have either a physical QWERTY keyboard or a touchscreen.)
Here’s a special two-part T-Poll:
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Polaroid Cameras Are Back! Briefly!
I never expected to write as much about Polaroid cameras as I have at Technologizer, but the little guys continue to make more news than some gadgets which are still in production. Dazed Digital is reporting that the Polaroid preservers at The Impossible Project have saved 700 old-stock One600 cameras and will be selling them, along with film, through Urban Outfitters stores, starting tomorrow. (Urban Outfitters’ outlets may be primarily devoted to funky clothing and household knickknacks, but they’ve developed an entertaining sideline selling exotic, retro film cameras such as the Diana, making them a more logical venue for Polaroid sales than a real camera store–they already sell Fuji’s modern instant camera.)
Urban Outfitters will also have some additional old-stock Polaroid film on hand, but if you buy a One600 you’re buying into a format that’s already defunct. (The Impossible Project is trying to restart production of instant film–I wish them luck, but they named themselves appropriately.) Despite that, I’m tempted to pick one up tomorrow. No word on how much they’ll go for.
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5Words for Thursday, August 20th 2009
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Snow Leopard arrives. Then leaves.
The Posterous iPhone app: disappointing.
PayPal users notice fee changes.
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What if the Beatles Never Go Digital?
Forget the tablet. Ditto for the $800 MacBook. The greatest Apple vaporware of all time may be digital download versions of the Beatles catalog. I’ve lost track of how many Apple events I’ve attended that were preceded by the scuttlebutt that Steve Jobs would tell us that Apple had inked a deal with Apple Corp to put the Fab Four on iTunes. I’ve sat in auditoriums thick with the anticipation that they end would end with that happy news and a surprise appearance by Paul and/or Ringo.
Now the rumors are bubbling up again, based on the rumor (not yet confirmed by Apple) that new iPods will roll out on September 9th–the same day that a couple of new Beatles box sets and the Beatles Rock Band game hit store shelves. But 9 to 5 Mac is wondering just what Apple Corps. means by a statement in a recent press release:
Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalog will continue. There is no further information available at this time.
That might mean that the Beatles aren’t arriving on iTunes (or any other digital music venue) in a few weeks. Then again, it leaves copious wiggle room–maybe the discussions that are continuing involve the imminent digital release of said catalog.
I’m not exactly rooting for iPod-toting fans of the lads to be disappointed yet again on September 9th. But I wouldn’t be shattered if the words “John,” “Paul,” “George,” and “Ringo” weren’t spoken by anyone at the still-theoretical Apple event, either. Or any future Apple events, come to think of it. Building an Apple tablet is a job best left to professionals, and making a homemade $800 MacBook would likely involve more than $800 in parts. Creating a high-quality digital version of any Beatles album, however, can be done by anyone with a CD and a computer with an optical drive in minutes. Beatles fans can put the songs on their iPods; the Beatles get their money; we all get to continue the tradition of wondering about an official digital deal. If the Beatles did hit iTunes, we’d all have to switch to speculating about Garth Brooks, and it just wouldn’t be the same…
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Microsoft Upgrades Windows (Live) Movie Maker
Movie Maker–the Microsoft movie-editing application that the company has yanked out of Windows 7 and bundled into the suite known as Windows Live Essentials–is out in a new version today. LiveSide.net details the changes, which are plentiful. Microsoft also has a Movie Maker site up with even more info (which, incidentally, requires Silverlight).
When Microsoft announced it was removing Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery, and Windows Mail from the OS last September, I thought it was a great idea, even though the name “Windows Live Essentials” continues to confuse me. (Windows Live is Microsoft’s name for Web-based services with at least a tangential relationship to the OS–except when it decides to apply it to downloadable traditional software such as Movie Maker.) Bundling applications with Windows was ninety percent downside: They tended to fester, rarely showed much ambition, and were basically uncompetitive with the best apps from other companies. (Worst-case scenario: Windows Paint, which has changed remarkably little in almost a quarter of a century…although the Windows 7 version does get a new interface.) I haven’t tried the new Movie Maker yet, but I’m glad to see that it’s on its own upgrade regimen–and hey, it even beat Windows 7 to the market. (The new version works with Windows Vista and 7, but not XP.)
Here’s a screenshot:
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5Words for Wednesday, August 19th 2009
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Can Twitter control “Tweet?” Nope!
Om on Microsoft’s mobile “strategy.”
BlackBerrys getting Flash and Silverlight?
San Francisco opens its data up.
YouTube getting Time Warner clips.