When Apple launched the Newton Notepad computer last year, the company's marketing line was that the Newton was just what journalists had been waiting for. They could sit in a press conference and make electronic notes by writing on the touch sensitive screen, which would then convert their golden words into stored computer text. They could even plug their Newtons into telephone lines, and send off their stories by electronic mail or fax. It all sounded too good to be true - and when Feedback tried Newton at Apple's headquarters in California, it was.
Writing on the screen was a slow and awkward business. Letters had to be formed carefully if Newton was to have any chance of recognising them. The electronic mail system would only work with Apple's own network, not Telecom Gold as used by New Scientist.
Although Apple had asked for frank comments, the company was visibly ...
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