苹果牛顿MessagePad-CSDN博客

Apple’s first attempt at a tablet was an utter failure. First appearing in 1993, the Newton MessagePad was marketed as a simple and portable device that acted as your personal digital assistant. Through its ability to send faxes, take notes, manage calendars, and store contacts, Newton was advertised to consumers as the object that can replace all existing technologies, including a fax machine, a notebook, a planner, and a phonebook (Honan, 2013). The marketing of the Newton MessagePad aimed for a general audience through vivid imagery and descriptive messages, but its faulty hardware and inability to produce what was promised led to its ultimate demise in February of 1998, just five years after its debut.

一个小人第一次尝试平板电脑是一次彻底的失败。牛顿MessagePad首次出现在1993年，当时是一种充当您的个人数字助理的简单便携式设备。通过其发送传真，做笔记，管理日历和存储联系人的功能，牛顿被广告宣传为消费者，可以取代所有现有技术，包括传真机，笔记本电脑，计划器和电话簿(Honan，2013年)。 )。牛顿MessagePad的市场营销目的是通过生动的图像和描述性消息来吸引普通大众，但是其故障的硬件和无法兑现的承诺导致其最终面世，在1998年2月，即首次亮相后的五年。

Among all of the functions advertised, its main selling point was its ability to translate human text into computer text when the user used the provided stylist. Through this translation to computer text, Newton was able to comprehend action words, such as “send” or “schedule” and act upon them. Furthermore, this technology could detect what shapes the user drew and make them into perfect computer shapes. This translation is precisely what distinguishes this piece of technology as new media. As described by Lev Manovich, new media must maintain five principles: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding (Manovich, 2001). This translation from human input into computer digitized text translates what the user inputs into computer code or numerical data, which allows its modules (e.g., shapes, text, images) to be manipulated and re-formatted between computers (Manovich, 2001). This translation from user input to computer code which can be manipulated and transferred to other computers is precisely why the Newton MessagePad is considered a piece of new media (Manovich, 2001)

在所宣传的所有功能中，它的主要卖点是当用户使用提供的样式师时将人工文本转换为计算机文本的能力。通过翻译成计算机文本，牛顿能够理解诸如“发送”或“时间表”之类的动作词并对其采取行动。此外，这项技术可以检测用户绘制的形状并将其制成完美的计算机形状。正是这种翻译才使这项技术成为新媒体。如Lev Manovich所述，新媒体必须保持五项原则：数值表示，模块化，自动化，可变性和代码转换(Manovich，2001年)。从人为输入到计算机数字化文本的这种转换会将用户输入的内容转换为计算机代码或数字数据，从而允许其模块(例如，形状，文本，图像)在计算机之间进行操作和重新格式化(Manovich，2001)。从用户输入到可以操纵并转移到其他计算机的计算机代码的转换，正是牛顿MessagePad被视为一种新媒体的原因(Manovich，2001)

Apple released an ad campaign when Newton debuted to showcase a variety of users. The Newton MessagePad was showcased as a portable device that could go with you anywhere. As shown in Figure 1, this advertisement campaign, which appeared in popular media outlets, such as Byte Magazine, targeted a wide variety of users, including the American working man, the on-the-go parent, and the busy college student.

牛顿(Newton)首次亮相时，Apple展示了一个广告活动，以展示各种用户。牛顿MessagePad被展示为可随身携带的便携式设备。如图1所示，此广告活动出现在诸如Byte Magazine之类的流行媒体上，其目标受众是各种各样的用户，其中包括美国工人，随行父母和忙碌的大学生。

Image for post — Figure 1. Advertisement for the Apple Newton MessagePad’s Target Users. “Apple…Advertisement” (1993).

The slogan “Your World, Your Newton,” adds personalization to this piece of technology by stating that the Newton could fit into your lifestyle, no matter how unique. When it was first advertised through this campaign, Apple intended to showcase individuals who lead very different lives in very different social groups, all using the same device. According to this advertisement, the Newton and the need to always be on-the-go were the cultural threads that tied all of these identities together. Paul Du Gay described the idea of always being on-the-go as a signifying practice that uplifted this device from a new media technology to a social technology (Gay, 1997). This signifying practice and association with the way you use an Apple Newton MessagePad allowed it to gain meaning through its connection to a cultural practice (Gay, 1997).

标语“您的世界，您的牛顿”通过说明牛顿无论多么独特，都可以适合您的生活方式，为这项技术增加了个性化。通过该广告系列首次进行广告宣传时，Apple打算展示使用不同设备在不同社会群体中过着截然不同生活的个人。根据这则广告，牛顿和始终保持移动的需求是将所有这些身份联系在一起的文化线索。保罗·杜·盖伊(Paul Du Gay)将始终保持移动的想法描述为一种标志性实践，将这种设备从新媒体技术提升为社交技术(Gay，1997年)。这种标志性的实践以及与您使用Apple Newton MessagePad的方式的关联，使其通过与文化实践的联系而获得了意义(Gay，1997)。

Along with this advertisement campaign, Apple also released a set of descriptive one-page advertisements to describe all the capabilities of the Newton MessagePad. As shown in Figure 2, these graphic, text-heavy advertisements focused on the technology behind the Newton.

除此广告活动外，Apple还发布了一组描述性的一页广告，以描述Newton MessagePad的所有功能。如图2所示，这些图形化，文字繁复的广告集中于牛顿背后的技术。

This advertisement explains how your pager, calendar, notepad, phone book, and fax machine could be replaced with a portal, all-in-one device that comes with new features. This comparison between the Newton MessagePad and forms of old media helps the user understand the capabilities of the MessagePad by framing it around technologies, such as the fax machine, that the user already understands. As described by Lisa Gitelman and Geoffrey Pingree, this comparison helps users understand the new media technology through existing social understandings of old media (Gitelman & Pingree, 2003). For instance, the user understands that a calendar is used to keep track of dates, and a fax machine is used to fax documents. When Apple frames the Newton MessagePad around these technologies, the user can better grasp what the capabilities of the new technology are. Furthermore, this comparison advertises the newness of the Newton technology by explaining how the MessagePad far surpasses old media technologies through new features it offers (e.g., transforming human text to computer text).

该广告说明了如何将寻呼机，日历，记事本，电话簿和传真机替换为具有新功能的门户多合一设备。牛顿MessagePad与旧媒体形式之间的这种比较通过围绕用户已经了解的技术(例如传真机)构架来帮助用户了解MessagePad的功能。如Lisa Gitelman和Geoffrey Pingree所述，这种比较可以帮助用户通过对旧媒体的现有社会理解来理解新媒体技术(Gitelman＆Pingree，2003年)。例如，用户了解到日历用于跟踪日期，而传真机用于传真文档。当苹果围绕这些技术构建牛顿MessagePad时，用户可以更好地掌握新技术的功能。此外，此比较通过解释MessagePad如何通过其提供的新功能(例如，将人类文本转换为计算机文本)远远超越旧媒体技术来宣传牛顿技术的新颖性。

While Apple tried to run successful advertising campaigns that aimed for a wide variety of audiences, ultimately, the demise of the Apple Newton MessagePad came from faulty technologies and broken promises. Apple’s main selling point was Newton’s ability to transform handwritten text to computer text, but the early models of the MessagePad failed to do this accurately. The media quickly caught on to this failed attempt, and numerous publications made fun of the faulty technology present in the MessagePad. As shown in Figure 3, publications, such as the Baltimore Sun, wrote about their experience when trying out this defective technology.

尽管苹果试图开展针对广泛受众的成功的广告活动，但最终，苹果牛顿MessagePad的灭亡是由于技术错误和承诺不兑现。苹果公司的主要卖点是牛顿将手写文本转换为计算机文本的能力，但早期的MessagePad模型未能做到这一点。媒体Swift抓住了这一失败的尝试，许多出版物都嘲笑了MessagePad中存在的错误技术。如图3所示，诸如Baltimore Sun之类的出版物在试用这种有缺陷的技术时都写了他们的经验。

In this article, the writer pokes fun at the outputs that the MessagePad comes up with when its user writes simple phrases (Lewis, 1993). Through his experience with the Newton MessagePad, the author depicts the picture of a complete failure on Apple’s part to deliver on their promises (Lewis, 1993). Many articles, alongside this one, were published within the first few months of Newton’s release, which gave it a bad reputation very early on. In 1998, just five years after its release, the Newton MessagePad was discontinued by Steve Jobs. While the Apple Newton MessagePad faced an early death due to its faulty technology and broken promises, the idea of the personal digital assistant still lives with us today, through devices such as smartphones and tablets.

在本文中，作者嘲笑MessagePad当用户编写简单短语时所产生的输出(Lewis，1993)。通过他在牛顿MessagePad上的经验，作者描绘了苹果完全无法兑现其诺言的画面(Lewis，1993)。在牛顿发布的最初几个月内，发表了许多文章，与此同时，也给它起了很低的声誉。 1998年，即牛顿MessagePad发行仅五年后，就被史蒂夫·乔布斯(Steve Jobs)停产。尽管Apple Newton MessagePad因其技术错误和承诺不兑现而早逝，但如今，通过智能手机和平板电脑之类的设备，个人数字助理的想法仍然存在。

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翻译自: https://medium.com/old-media-when-it-was-new/the-apple-newton-messagepad-10c3df33f11b