Handholding

Do you remember when smartphones weren't just running Apple or Google's OS, when you really did need a stylus to do anything, and when the very idea of connectivity to the Internet was a expensive affair involving PCMCIA, CompactFlash, or SD based adaptors? Our panel does! Joining us once again are the wonderful Dan Vincent, Sean (aka. Action Retro), and Steve (aka Mac84) to dive into the world of handheld computing before the iPhone and Android era. We try to stay on topic, which proves a challenge with Sean's unusual definitions of handhelds cropping up along the way. What are your handheld computing memories, where you in camp Palm or firmly in the Pocket PC / Windows CE... pocket? We'd love to hear from you, so please send us a note to [email protected], or why not come join the discussion on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Affiliate Promotion "Don't you people backup? I backup, and I don't even know what backing up means!" - Nicola Murray, Secretary of State for the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship If you have any kind of file that's important to you, be that a treasured family photo, your latest research paper, or just the list of the co-ordinates of your best places in Minecraft, you'll want to make sure it's kept safe, right? Well, just syncing that to the cloud isn't really enough, you need a proper backup strategy too. Part of a good backup strategy is having a backup that isn't in the same place as your computer, and this is where a good cloud backup service is so important. Our friends at Backblaze provide simple, reliable, and affordable backup options for your Mac or Windows PCs for just $9/month. You can get a 15 day free-trial when you follow this link to sign up. Episode Links Guests Dan Vincent: Userlandia (YouTube) / Mastodon Sean: Action Retro (YouTube) / Mastodon Steve: Mac84 (YouTube) / Mastodon yBasic - Palm DB - The BASIC app Sean used on his Palm Graffiti (Palm OS) - WikiPedia Casio Cassiopeia E-125 - WikiPedia Springboard: the secret history of the first real smartphone (Full Documentary) - The Verge on YouTube The Cybiko Experience: a Handheld Computer for Year 2000 Teens - LGR on YouTube Nokia N-Gage QD - WikiPedia Chapter Times 00:00:04: Introductions 00:07:14: Our First Handhelds 00:18:32: The Pen Computing Era 00:32:42: Palm 00:40:04: Cybiko 00:44:15: Windows CE & PocketPC 00:52:21: The Appeal of Handhelds 00:58:28: The Demise of Standalone Handhelds 01:06:55: What Do We Miss? 01:19:59: First Dumb & Smartphones 01:32:18: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: