Bonhams today announced that it will be auctioning several rare prototype Apple devices on November 3, including an unreleased VideoPad.
The VideoPad was intended to be a personal digital assistant (PDA) device similar to Apple's Newton MessagePad series, with Apple testing three versions of the device between 1993 and 1995, including the VideoPad 1, VideoPad 2, and VideoPad 3, according to Bonhams. The auction company says the VideoPad 2 headed to auction is the only surviving concept prototype, and it is estimated to fetch up to $12,000.
The three VideoPad prototypes were based on a conceptual design sketch drawn by Apple's former CEO John Sculley, but the devices were ultimately scrapped by Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple in the late 1990s, according to Bonhams.
The prototype VideoPad 2 features a hinged flip-top design with two screens, although the top screen appears to be missing. The device was apparently going to have a built-in camera for video conferencing, two speakers, a memory card slot, a power socket, and a phone line input, but it was ultimately never released to the public.
The prototype was purchased from an Apple engineer in Palo Alto in 1999, and it comes in its original black leather carrying case with the Newton logo, according to Bonhams. More details are available on the auction website.
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect.
There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect.
The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design.
It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information.
Relocated Charging Port
While the Magic Mouse switched from...
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent.
A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things.
Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out.
That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook.
Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
Apple's upcoming "iPhone Fold" will feature a foldable screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio, according to a Chinese leaker who previously leaked the book-style device's display dimensions.
The Weibo-based account Digital Chat Station claims that Apple will adopt a "roughly" 4:3 aspect ratio on the inner display in order to achieve consistency between the outer display, as well as to ensure parity...
“The device was apparently going to have a built-in camera for video conferencing, two speakers, a memory card slot, a power socket, and a phone line input”
Video conferencing over a POTS line and with 1990s technology. It’s no wonder Jobs killed it.
Since that was back then, the memory card was probably an SRAM card. Those were brutally expensive. I still have a couple of them around, for my PIC-1000s(!).
I can just imagine sitting there waiting for the modem to connect before starting my video call. Why would I want to do that at one FPM (frame per minute) when I could just pick up the phone and call the person?
The same reason people fly to meetings instead of call.
We’re spoiled now, but imagine being able to see your mother in California when you were at college in New York back in the 1980s or 1990s.
