History is an important and fascination topic to know and learn about. I personally enjoy History class at school the most, but that's just me. I think it's cool to learn about events from the past.
There are many kinds of history. There's history like government and history about a country or a person, but there's also computer history. There have been huge events in the history of computers since they were invented. There isn't a "1st computer", and it is really hard to call any computing device the 1st computer. There are computers though that include new technology or are 1st's in the computing category, such as Konrad Zuse's Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computing machine.
There is one company though that has a lot of history in it though : Apple Inc. Apple was formed back in April of 1976. Originally called Apple Computer Inc, the company later removed the word Computer in 2007 so they could focus more on their portable devices, such as the iPhone, iPod, and iPad.
There really is a lot to learn about Apple's history, so I won't explain much of it, but I do have some cool computers from Apple's history, and a cool portable gadget from the PC market as well.
The coolest gadget I probably have is the Apple Newton - eMate 300. The Newton line was Apple's 1st line of PDAs (portable digital assistants). Apple introduced the newton line in 1993, and the eMate was introduced in 1997. The eMate was designed for school markets, hence the letter "e", which apple uses for their education products. The eMac was also made for schools, but has been discontinued.
The eMate could be considered apple's "netbook of the 90's." It runs the Newton OS. It has a touchscreen, grayscale backlit screen. It has a keyboard, and a PC-Card slot for expansion. It also has a headphone jack and 2 connection ports to an old Mac system. This is pretty much obsolete nowadays. I have only played around typing and using its drawing program. It comes in a blue sturdy case, and the hinge feels very durable. The keyboard is designed to be spill-proof. It has a carrying handle built-in to the top of the case as well.
I purchased this item mainly for the collector's purpose, and I thought it looked really cool. And hey, it was only $30.00 for both the eMate and Power Adapter (usually more expensive), so I used the opportunity to get a piece of cool apple history.
Pics of this and more on my computer collection soon.
-Nathan :-)
