Windup Apple Rumors?

From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Thu Feb 25 1999 - 08:55:55 MST


This is interesting, reposted from the wearables computer list.

P1 to feature wind-up power? [potential confirmation] [13:46 EST,
2/23]

 A recent article posted at CNN.com [direct link not available]
 confirms recent speculation that the Consumer Portable (codename
 P1) may include a "wind-up" power source.

 Essentially, this power source would be a concealable arm on the
 side of the Portable's case, which could be spun by hand to
 generate power for the Portable's Lithium Ion battery. The idea is
 that this Portable must be able to run the Mac OS, but must also
 be able to sustain operation for an entire school day (it is
 expected to be Apple's biggest hit in schools -- ever). To provide
both of these abilities without needing to be plugged in, Apple is
reportedly licensing the remarkably efficient wind-up technology
from a British company that invented it.

 Several anonymous sources claiming to be privy to Apple's plans
 for the webMate, the education-specific version of the P1
 (apparently webMate and macMate are the same machine; one is the
 education-tailored version, the other designed more for the
 general public; the differences are not entirely clear at present)
 suggested similar things earlier this week.



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