[140] in bcs-newton
Newt Easter Eggs, NS Dev Collective, Other stuff LONG!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jim Rinaldo)
Fri Aug 6 02:54:18 1993
Date: Fri, 06 Aug 93 03:20:03 EST
From: bcs_jim@MIT.EDU (Jim Rinaldo)
To: bcs-newton@posse.mit.edu, newton_pda_group@bcsmac.bcs.org
Cc: john@dtg.com, eullman@world.std.com
Here's a quick pounding of the keyboard on the amazing NewtonWorld that
went on in Boston this week. Pardon spelling mistakes, it's 1 a.m.
(Uggug...now 2 a.m.) (ouhhggg....3 a.m.)
*************Newton Easter-Eggs:************
1 - Put the stylus on the bottom left clock, press and *HOLD IT
DOWN.* The MessagePad clock will then show you the temperature.
Is this the temperature of the Newton innards? the ARM? The Newt
M Pad batteries are sensitive to heat (at least the rechargeables are)
and this may have something to do with this mechanism.
First demoed to me by Kent Borg
2 - Write "About Newton" on the MessagePad. Highlight and touch
Assist. Shows about info on the Newt team.
Demoed at BCS parti by John Palaima
********BCS-Newton PDA Meeting! August 11th, 6 pmish, Main Office BCS,
One Kendall Square. **************************** **************** ****
**** ***************
Bring your Newton for a beaming party and massive brain-dump. We will be
talking NewtonScript, stylish stylis's, and why the little rubber feet
come off so easily. Al Willis will post a complete post on this Meeting.
**********Lamest Newton Product Award**********
The winner, without question, is Claris Corporation, for their
brainless, "Hello World" exerise they are calling a product. Why
bother...you should *GIVE* the games away, maybe with a free MacWrite
Pro ad in it. (I am a loyal MacWrite user)
**********ROM Patch update**************
If you haven't heard by now, the latest rev Newton software is 1.02.
This may or may not have gotten on your MessagePad. Seems like the
Lechmere machines are particularly older.
How do you tell? Tap Extras:Prefs: and look at the bottom of the screen.
The problems described by Cesar Maiorino with recognition biting it and
PCMCIA Getting Started Card problems are symptoms of older ROMS.
BCS-Newton PDA will have the patch package Real Soon Now. It will be
available on our BBS at 617-364-3375 in the Other BCS Groups:Newton
area. (First Class BBS) and on a (some time soon now...?) FTP site.
***Who are you Little Kid???*************
Someone from BCS, a young kid wearing a lot of buttons at MacWorld, has
the first piece of public domain Newton software from Ben in the Newton
sofware group.
Please email me!
****BCS-Newton and Apple Give away 6 Newtons! ****
From the Why are you posting this after the event Dept., a team of
volunteers gave away 6 Newton MessagePads and 90someodd T shirts to
those smart enough to wear the WayCool Did it, Scripted it, Had it, Seen
it, Bought it, Smoked it, (really I saw it, I did it, I want it) buttons
being given out at the NewtWorld at Symph Hall.
Saw it. Did it. Want it. *WON IT!*
*******NewtonScript Book******
One topic of Wednesday's meeting will be putting together a book on
NewtonScript, and producing templates, objects and apps for a PCMCIA
card BCS-Newton is producing. Basically, let's get the data distillaries
fired up and on-line; it's time to start a Content Brewery!
The book title? NewtonScript Feng Shui: Wind & Water NewtonScript
Development. Produced by the NewtonScript Progammers Collective of the
BCS-Newton PDA group, it will cover the Newton Toolkit; getting cool
graphics and sounds into Newton apps; Animating your App; Newton Toolkit
X-ref and Really Important Stuff You Should Read; The 4-day NewtonScript
primer and exercise guide (...Slot one, slot two, browse 2,3,4..
) Planning for the Future; Hard Core NewtonScript; Gumbo, Chowder and
other Soup recipies; Inside the Beaming Bistro; Pallette madness,
PCMCIAing, Miss Manor's Guide to Newtiquette, accesorizing M-pad and
other things...I would like to bundle a PD PCMCIA with this. Funds to go
to NPC projects and the group. Would include WayCool Extra Necessary
Totally Essential NewtonScript Poster/breakdown.
***What's this NewtScript Programmers Collective thing?***
Show up at the meeting Wednesday or email me for more info. I've talked
with a few of you about creating pallet extensions, templates and apps
for the public domain. Let's bang heads together and see what we can
come up with...We need to start a bunch of stuff and see where it goes.
We have to show those stupid Globe reporters and Wall St. Journal
B*stards; Newton is here! BRING YER NEWTS; Bring HomeBrew apps.
*****Great App Ideas**********
Dock & Dump: Geez! 1.3 megs is pretty big if only you want to just load
that great new Get Yer Own or Brain Boy PD Newt app! (See Below). How
about someone writing a little Compact Pro-like thingie that, when
double-clicked, asks the Mac owner to connect the serial cable to Newt,
turn it on, and download an app. Must be 70k or under...very simple, one
or two dialogs, SMALL SMALL SMALL.
Brain Boy: Inspired by the latest Wired, Brain Boy is a
AppleTalk-compatible brain manipulation system for Newton MessagePad. It
allow you to re-set Aelph, Bio and Cyrridan (sp) rhythms, and generate
joy, sadness and euphoria at a flick of the pen!
With the special OrgasmoTron Online(tm) add-on PCMCIA system, that
pleasure center is only a NewtCall away! Fully Penthouse Interactive,
BodyCello, Donna Matrix and NON-Virtual Valarie-compatible.
Get Yer Own!: Ever notice when you let someone "borrow" your Newt M-Pad,
that it takes most of the battery life to get it back? A solution is
here! Cesar M had the great idea and I named it.
How about a little app that, when the "guest" user handwriting is set,
lets one say, oh, put up the low battery warning after a pre-set time
period (3-5 minutes). Optional warning messages like "Warning. Warning.
Danger Will Robinson. Re-fill Digital Ink Well." and "-56697:
Orgasmo-Data Overload. Put more digi-bones in the soup"
The Hitchhiker's Guide to New England BrewPubs - A db and directional
app and framework for brew-enthusiases and Aleheads alike. Just hit the
Don't Panic button to find the closest Iron Man Ale or Pumpkin Wheat
Stout. I have a bunch of graphics/design suitable...Get to drink lots of
beer, write silly things like "...tastes slightly nutty with a hint of
pine tar" and "fruity, throaty, with a hint of lemon" and so on.
**Essential Word List****
Feng shui - literally the Chinese characters for "wind" and "water"; a
4,000 year-old technique for improving one's chances in life (...and
programming), by arranging furniture, travel dates, choice of mistress
and so on in a way that takes best advantage of the interplay of luck
and natural forces. A feng shui man get's $2/sq. foot for feng shuiing a
new building being built. The 1992 feng shui of the Hong Kong Hang Seng
index showed "...an Elliot wave analysis of the chart found an eeries
number of near-perfect Fibonacci ratios between chart movements."
---from The Economist, 1-23-93, p.75
Feng shuiing - As in "yup, I feng shuied the **sh*t** out of that job!"
Applying the principles of feng shui to construction, object-oriented
programming/dynamic languages, tennis, etc.
M-Pad - aka Newt Jr. aka Newton MessagePad
Digi-bones - PCMCIA cards; add bones to your Newton's digital soup.
Content Brewery - Place to create Info-Brews. Lots of copper, piping, 50
lb. bags of hop, barley and malt, as well as NTK and Newts needed.
Digital Distillery - Similar to content brewery. Higher hack content.
Info-Brew; also Info-Ale, Info-Stout; 21 ounces of pure programming fun!
Beaming Bistro - a french craze that sweeps the Europe; Data Cafes for
technos.
Jim Rinaldo
Content and Editorial
BCS-Newton PDA
Boston Computer Society
