3 ms·

Neo released "August 2004" - from that to iPhone in 4 years ...

by alexasmyths 9y ago

ClassyJacket 9y ago
Three, even. And only two and a half to the announcement! Consumer tech seemed to move blisteringly fast then. That being said, I feel like the AlphaSmart Neo would've looked somewhat out of date even when it was released. But I love these cool old pieces of tech, and I'd love to see LGR or Ashens or similar review it.
- SllX 9y ago
  >Consumer tech seemed to move blisteringly fast then. If I recall correctly one of the "major" features of Windows Vista that Microsoft was advertising back in 2006 was a little screen OEMs might add to their laptop that would let you see the time, check your mail and I think check your appointments without having to fully open your laptop up. Was supposed to be a convenience and battery saving feature. I don't think it was a particularly hyped feature, but it is one of those little things that shows where Microsoft was at in 2006. Of course back then there was a decent chance that any organization interested in that feature probably already had standard issue Blackberries, Treo 650s and whatever WinCE device and operating system name was in vogue at the time so there probably was never too much point to it. Then Steve Jobs gets on stage in January 2007 and announces the iPhone, and in 2008 or 2009, native ActiveSync support in iPhone OS (remember when it was called that?). Apologies for my off-topic ramble, but when I saw your comment, it occurred to me that yes indeed, tech did seem to move blistering fast back then. Really nobody knew or was completely sure what direction we were heading and all sorts of interesting approaches were attempted in a short span of time. Looking at pictures of the AlphaSmart Neo though, it looks pretty standard for tech at the time. Not that many tech companies had really figured out how to make hardware even remotely stylish yet.

3 ms·

Neo released "August 2004" - from that to iPhone in 4 years ...

by alexasmyths 9y ago

Neo released "August 2004" - from that to iPhone in 4 years ...

ClassyJacket 9y ago
Three, even. And only two and a half to the announcement! Consumer tech seemed to move blisteringly fast then. That being said, I feel like the AlphaSmart Neo would've looked somewhat out of date even when it was released. But I love these cool old pieces of tech, and I'd love to see LGR or Ashens or similar review it.
- SllX 9y ago
  >Consumer tech seemed to move blisteringly fast then. If I recall correctly one of the "major" features of Windows Vista that Microsoft was advertising back in 2006 was a little screen OEMs might add to their laptop that would let you see the time, check your mail and I think check your appointments without having to fully open your laptop up. Was supposed to be a convenience and battery saving feature. I don't think it was a particularly hyped feature, but it is one of those little things that shows where Microsoft was at in 2006. Of course back then there was a decent chance that any organization interested in that feature probably already had standard issue Blackberries, Treo 650s and whatever WinCE device and operating system name was in vogue at the time so there probably was never too much point to it. Then Steve Jobs gets on stage in January 2007 and announces the iPhone, and in 2008 or 2009, native ActiveSync support in iPhone OS (remember when it was called that?). Apologies for my off-topic ramble, but when I saw your comment, it occurred to me that yes indeed, tech did seem to move blistering fast back then. Really nobody knew or was completely sure what direction we were heading and all sorts of interesting approaches were attempted in a short span of time. Looking at pictures of the AlphaSmart Neo though, it looks pretty standard for tech at the time. Not that many tech companies had really figured out how to make hardware even remotely stylish yet.