New Yorker Article: Can "Distraction-Free" Devices Change the way we write?

Posted by bartb
Jun 10, 2022 at 09:29 PM

AlphaSmart was created in 1992 by two previous Apple Computer engineers, Ketan Kothari and Joe Barrus [with the mission to “develop and market affordable, portable personal learning solutions for the classroom” and to “deliver affordable, lightweight, rugged portable computing devices that are expandable, easy to use and manage, and provide exceptional battery life.” Later, they changed the name of the company to AlphaSmart, Inc.

Owned a few back in the day. Clever device! Those were the days!

MadaboutDana wrote:
I loved my AlphaSmart Dana, and took it everywhere with me. I had a ton
>of Palm software on it, too, so it was seriously useful for all kinds of
>stuff, although I used it primarily for rapid writing.
> >It had a battery that lasted 20-30 hours. It was the kind of device you
>can literally “throw in a bag” – all solid-state, two SD card
>slots, clear (backlit) screen (albeit monochrome).
> >If they’d kept it up to date with modern connectivity, I’d undoubtedly
>still be using it. It synced perfectly with my elderly HP PC laptop, and
>I could use excellent Palm apps like ListPro on it.
> >IMHO it beats the ghastly, clunky FreeWriter hands down.