Apple will spin out a wholly owned subsidiary -- tentatively called Newton, Inc. -- to serve "mobile users." It will start with the MessagePad 2000 and will help Apple sell the eMate 300 to education markets. Future products will probably serve vertical markets such as health care, sales force automation, and field service. Apple could spin off the new company to outside shareholders, or re-absorb it should the Newton become more successful. . [WSJ, 23May97.]

Apple appears to be selling about 1K MessagePad 2000s per day, plus a similar number of eMate 300s. Backorder time is several weeks. [NewtNews, 27May97.]

The Apple Library Users Group Newsletter reviews Apple hardware and software, including Newton technology. . [Monica Ertel , newjour, 30Jan97.]

Dragon System is said to have a good voice-recognition system for the Newton, but it requires more memory than a MessagePad 2000 supports. (Voice Powered Technology International (VPTI) is another company developing low-power voice recognition technology, in conjunction with Franklin Electronic Publishers.) [NewtNews, 27May97.]

An emulator for the Advanced RISC Machine (ARM) microprocessor (used in Newton and other devices) can be found at . [Amrik Thethi , NewtNews, 27May97.]

Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) from Unwired Planet, Inc., is a new language for offering web content on handheld devices with limited keyboards (such as mobile phones and pagers). The navigational model does not rely on visual context. . [Scout Report, 30May97.]

NewtDevEnv supports Newton applications in NewtonScript, a Lisp-like object-oriented language. $45 shareware. You can also build applications with embedded NewtonScript in HTML using the $35 Newt's Cape web browser/book creation tool. Both are from Computist Steve Weyer . See for more info. [21May97.]

The new MacTech CD contains every article of MacTech Magazine, the "develop" technical journal from Apple, and FrameWorks, plus the original Inside Macintosh Volumes I-VI. Printed out, that would be over four linear feet of material. Also, popular tools and demos, over 100MB of code, and the best threads from the Mac programmer newsgroups. The format permits Boolean searches. Through 30June97 you can get the preliminary version and final summer version for $99. (Normally $129, or $49 if you purchased a previous version.) or , 800-MACDEV-1 or 805-494-9797, 805-494-9798 Fax. , . ["Developer Depot Deals" , 06Jun97. Bill Park.]

-- Ken