Filed under: Hardware, Cult of Mac, Internet
Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 Newspad finally arrives, nine years late
One of my all-time favorite movies is Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. At several points during the film, we see ill-fated astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole using a flat, iPad-like device. In one of the posters for the movie, astronauts at a base on the Moon are seen using this device (see image at right).Those who read Arthur C. Clarke's novelization of the movie will remember that he described this device as the "Newspad," something that was used by people of the future (as envisioned in 1968) to watch TV and read newspapers. You can read the full description of the device after the break -- it's described as a newsreader, with two-digit codes for each article online, and a constant stream of information from the hourly updates on "electronic papers."
Of course, we don't have two-digit references to articles; we simply need to tap on them to bring them up. We do need to know the "codes" for the world's major electronic papers; we refer to them as URLs or specific apps. But like many things Clarke foresaw in his lifetime of writing science fiction, the Newspad has finally become reality in the form of Apple's iPad.
I think Arthur would be proud.
When he tired of official reports and memoranda and minutes, he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world's major electronic papers; he knew the codes of the more important ones by heart, and had no need to consult the list on the back of his pad. Switching to the display unit's short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him.
Each had its own two-digit reference; when he punched that, the postage-stamp-sized rectangle would expand until it neatly filled the screen and he could read it with comfort. When he had finished, he would flash back to the complete page and select a new subject for detailed examination.
Floyd sometimes wondered if the Newspad, and the fantastic technology behind it, was the last word in man's quest for perfect communications. Here he was, far out in space, speeding away from Earth at thousands of miles an hour, yet in a few milliseconds he could see the headlines of any newspaper he pleased. (That very word "newspaper," of course, was an anachronistic hangover into the age of electronics.) The text was updated automatically on every hour; even if one read only the English versions, one could spend an entire lifetime doing nothing but absorbing the ever-changing flow of information from the news satellites.
It was hard to imagine how the system could be improved or made more convenient. But sooner or later, Floyd guessed, it would pass away, to be replaced by something as unimaginable as the Newspad itself would have been to Caxton or Gutenberg.
From 2001: A Space Odyssey , by Arthur C. Clarke.
Published by Del Rey in 1968
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mark said 4:09PM on 1-28-2010
Hopefully mY iPAD doesn't try to kill me like Hal did...
My iPhone tried to change iPad to upas. What's a upas?
:)
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Ryan said 4:13PM on 1-28-2010
Maybe the "two-digit" reference is another nice Clarke prediction referring to the pinch multi-touch gestures. Because we do use two digits (ie. fingers) to access every article.
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TCHe said 4:25PM on 1-28-2010
My iPhone and Google Reader do exactly the same thing. Since 2007, in my case ;-)
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prevert said 4:27PM on 1-28-2010
Um. The tablet PC existed in 2001. It's not the tablet that's late.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_pc
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iPhone user said 5:42PM on 1-28-2010
Yeah, and look how well the UMPC, er, Tablet PC, has sold. After 9 years on the market. I've seen one in the wild. Just one.
Once again it took Apple to finally get the whole concept right. I'm glad HP called their device a "Slate." Makes them seem even more out of touch than ever.
And once again, it's to the drawing board, HP, Ballmer, Dell, and all you other cloners. Good luck trying to copy Apple's user experience. You'll never get there, but go ahead and waste time and money trying.
By the way, on BD you can see that the logo in the corner of the IBM devices reads "IBM Tele Pad."
fff said 6:06PM on 1-28-2010
I don't see how the sales of the tablet PC or the fact that you don't like the Windows interface has anything to do with my comment. Were you replying to someone else?
DarenW said 4:38PM on 1-28-2010
I'm not sure I'd call Dave Bowman "ill fated". He was transformed into a being of pure energy, or something like that.
If the info on the iPad is getting there through a communications satellite, you owe that idea to Sir Clarke too.
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kiodane said 4:38PM on 1-28-2010
I've been thinking about that news reader Heywood Floyd had all this last month.
I would credit the invention of the wireless tablet reader to Arthur C Clarke just as the communications satellite is.
I'm glad someone else saw this similarity. However, Mr Clarke didn't predict the democratization of this device's content pool (the internet) and so his device only featured two-digit "channels" for content providers. How quaint, and yet awe-inspiring!
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urf said 5:01PM on 1-28-2010
Didn't we have newspads for like 10 years now already?
This is only the first one that Apple does... Any tablet PC would fit the bill for this comparison.
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JAQ said 5:02PM on 1-28-2010
One interesting thing to note about "2001" is that all of the computers seen in the movie - including the 'pads - were simulated without the use of digital computers. The moving images on computer displays were done with projected movie film. Computers capable of doing graphics existed in 1968, but they were way too expensive to use in a Hollywood movie... even one about a computer.
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David Robison said 11:42PM on 1-28-2010
Yeah, the effects in the movie are amazing, even without considering the lack of CG.
trayser said 5:07PM on 1-28-2010
I don't complain that laptop makers never reduced the size of the laptop and made it touch screen back in 2001.
But I do complain that PDA manufactures never attempted to make a larger sized PDA, even though it would have been simpler to manufacture. People just wanted to carry the PDA in their pockets even when they were too small for planning meetings (week or month view), take notes, or read e-books. The only decent utility at that size was address book.
If they had kindle sized PDAs in 2001, I am sure there would have been an iPad a few months later.
I know, in hindsight everything looks so simple...
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iGlad said 9:39AM on 1-29-2010
In actual fact the e-book reader isn't new as they were being touted in the early 90's and i remember seeing a prototype n a design book a few years ago and it looked just like the Kindle!
Frank said 5:14PM on 1-28-2010
...hmm, i like it. perhaps i'll engrave "NewsPad" over the logo on my iPad when i get it. : )
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Le Big Mac said 5:18PM on 1-28-2010
Okay, sure, you got this one Arthur C. Clarke, but when am I getting my elevator to geosynchronous orbit?
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iGlad said 5:25PM on 1-28-2010
I had a larger screen PDA in the 90's but it was made by Amstrad!! ( those who know of the brand know there's nothing more I need to add)
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Mike said 5:34PM on 1-28-2010
I'm sure the comparison has been made to other devices, but we've really got a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on our hands with this one... Just needs DON'T PANIC in large, friendly letters on the back...
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iPhone user said 5:48PM on 1-28-2010
I can't wait for Steve Jobs, at a media event in the near future, to announce "We've sold more iPads in X weeks than all the Tablet PCs sold since 2001."
I put the over/under on the "X weeks" to be 12 weeks. That should put the announcement just about at the time that the 2010 iPhone is rolled out.
Perfect timing, no?
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iGlad said 9:42AM on 1-29-2010
lol I can't wait for that one
Just_a_guy said 6:05PM on 1-28-2010
I'd say that now that we have the newspad I just am glad we don't have HAL. Just don't program a computer to never keep a secret and then tell it to keep a secret... you'll get a hal....
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