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The Apple Newton MessagePad 120 made a stunning cameo appearance in the third season of the Apple TV + series “For All Mankind,” highlighting how one of the show’s producers used the TV prop.
Ben McGinnis, producer of Tall Ship Productions and a member of the team behind “For All Mankind,” shared a behind-the-scenes image of Newton’s props modified on Twitter on Thursday.
In this series, the Newton MessagePad was used for video calls between actors. We also saw at least one person processing digital messages.
According to McGinnis, the modified Newton has a removable camera for video calls. The actual props themselves fit into the iPhone 12 Pro Max, allowing actors to make video calls using the front-facing camera.
Apple Newton itself was released in 1993 as a personal digital assistant (PDA) device with handwriting recognition and an attached stylus. It ran its own operating system, Newton OS, and was mostly based on the ARM610RISC processor.
In 1998, shortly after Steve Jobs returned to work, Apple eventually killed the entire Newton family. However, while it was running, it did not support video calls or other advanced features found in shows. McGinnis explains: [the show’s] 1990s. “
“For All Mankind” is an alternate history of the Space Race, and is an image of the case where competition between nations does not end. The first season began in the late 1960s, the second season focused on the 1980s, and the last season advanced to the 1990s.