Apple ALMOST made this portable word processor!
4,995The 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
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