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Inkwell easter egg shows Newton connection System
Using Inkwell, if you write Rosetta! Rosetta! Rosetta!, your Mac will recognize the text, placing a Hey,that's me! string in the converted output. This is actually a Newton Easter Egg that pretty much proves that they just ported the Newton Code to Inkwell.

[Editor's note: Worked here, although it took a few tries with my bad handwriting to get the phrase recognized!]
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it works
Authored by: Hes Nikke on Sep 09, '02 06:37:37PM

on the 1st try!

"Rosetta! Rosetta! Hey, thats me!"



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Newton?
Authored by: Beorn on Sep 10, '02 12:45:32AM
Does this necessarially mean that they used the Newton text-recognition engine? I can see how they would think it fun to put the same easter egg into the new Inkwell technology, even if it was written from scratch. I never used the Newton, so I really don't know what I'm talking about here, but it just seemed to me that Newton was so old that it seems that a complete re-write would make more sense on a newer operating system... Anyway, just my 2ยข. ;-)

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Newton?
Authored by: slytle on Sep 10, '02 07:47:52AM

I have a Newton and Inkwell seems almost exactly like it (although it's been a while since I have used it.)

That's the neat thing about the RISC chip that was in the Newton. The same software could be recompiled for the Mac. I'm sure that they have made some improvements, but that gave them a good starting point. It's almost always easier to use existing code than to write from scratch.

I think that Inkwell is a sign of things to come (an Inkwell "Newton" Based Cell Phone - - who wants to run with that rumor..... I'm a reliable source.... I had a Newton.... ) ;)



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Newton?
Authored by: ajmas on Sep 10, '02 01:31:53PM

Most of the recognition code would have been written in C/C++ and would have been full of AI algorithms. The only thing that would have to be changed is the input/output surrounding the recognition code.



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Newton?
Authored by: sfleming on Sep 14, '02 08:30:08PM

Don't know if they ported the Newton code or not... that was designed for an entirely different processor (StrongARM), and most of the team has been dispersed. But I *hope* they did!

Yes, the original Newton was a joke (I owned one), but once they gave it decent computing power (Newton 2000/2100), it was EXTRAORDINARILY accurate. Fast enough that I could take notes in meetings in realtime.

I wish some Palm licensee would build a PalmOS device with the Newton's form factor. (Okay, a bit thinner.) I miss it.



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Newton?
Authored by: Anonymous on Sep 11, '02 10:21:27AM

True, but isn't Apple trying to distance Inkwell from Newton? If so, this is either Easter Egg residue from the Newton or someone snuck this in and heads are gonna roll. :)



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Message Pad, best thing Apple ever killed!
Authored by: bmcmillan on Nov 30, '02 07:24:02PM

My understanding is that Rosetta is the same HWR system sa used on the NNewton. As a new Newton user I am very impressed with both. One interesting thing is that the Newton HWR supports cursive as well as a few other options. Inkwell and an article from Wired mag. prompted me to look into the Newton and yes, it is 5 yrs. old but it is still the best PDA on the market with support for ATA PCMCIA cards, Ethernet, 802.11b, Streaming MP3 support, Web server, DB and productivity apps, Sherlock support, voice recording, Text to speech, OS X sync., great battery life, a good user community, and the best HWR system on the market. The new tablets are a joke! Worth the $170.

More interesting things:
- An application doc
- "Genie" effects into the trash can



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Worked on my eMate, too!
Authored by: Mr. Spleen on Sep 13, '02 10:14:31PM

First try!



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