Apple ALMOST made this portable word processor! (Patreon)

Apple ALMOST made this portable word processor!

The AlphaSmart text editing device was originally designed by Apple engineers. When they couldn't get their employer to build it, they decided to do so themselves -- and ended up being a rather clever, long-lived device. Sources: Computer lab photo: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/maclab.html Ketan Kothari photo: https://www.usfca.edu/faculty/ketan-kothari Joe Barrus photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/richardspics/14799355 Apple Infinte Loop campus photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_Headquarters_in_Cupertino.jpg AlphaSmart Pro owner's manual: https://archive.org/details/AlphaSmart_Pro_Owners_Manual_alt "AlphaSmart: A History of One of Ed-Tech's Favorite (Drop-Kickable) Writing Tools": http://hackeducation.com/2015/07/25/alphasmart PC computer lab photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Students_working_on_class_assignment_in_computer_lab.jpg "AlphaSmart Pro 2.1," Macworld, March 1997. "Smart Keyboard for the Classroom," Computerworld, July 6, 1998. AlphaSmart 2000 photo: https://www.journaldulapin.com/2018/03/07/alphasmart-adb/ 3rd-party SmartApplets: https://www.spectronics.com.au/catalogue/smartapplets-for-alphasmart-3000 "Lightweight Note-Taker," PC World, March 2003. AlphaSmart Neo photo and ad: https://hackaday.com/2020/11/05/alphasmart-neo-teardown-this-is-the-way-to-write-without-distractions/ "AlphaSmart files $58 million IPO," MarketWatch: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/alphasmart-files-ipo-as-latest-tech-player Renaissance Learning acquires AlphaSmart press release: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1264388/000119312505129967/dex991.htm AlphaSmart Neo 2 photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AlphaSmart_Neo_2.jpg Laptop charging cart photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Classmate_PC_charging_trolley.jpg AlphaSmart Neo discontinued: https://web.archive.org/web/20131114042404/http://www.neo-direct.com/ AlphaSmart 3000 with modded keyboard photo: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlphaSmart/comments/kn84w4/finished_my_3000_mechanical_keyboard_mod/ LazyDog's AlphaSmart keyboard mod kit (no longer being sold): http://tilde.club/%7Ejy4m/alphasmart/index.html and https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=91504.0 Freewrite devices: https://getfreewrite.com ----------------------------------------­------------------------------------- Please consider supporting my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thisdoesnotcompute Follow me on Twitter and Instagram! @thisdoesnotcomp ----------------------------------------­------------------------------------- Music by Epidemic Sound (https://www.epidemicsound.com). Intro music by BoxCat Games (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/BoxCat_Games).