Apple's Future Computer: The Knowledge Navigator

Blake Patterson · 304.2K views · 2011-04-13 · 12:47

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Overview

Apple's late-1980s Knowledge Navigator concept video, produced under John Sculley, showing a professor using a tablet-like device with a conversational software agent. It envisions hypertext, touchscreens and voice assistants.

On Hacker News

HN cites it as an early vision of personal software agents and AI assistants, and as a fun retro look at predicted computing.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2011–2024

Topics

GUI, HCI & interface history Tech company stories & documentaries

What people said

rlu · 2014-06 · Recommendation
These are always fun to watch. Here's one of Apple's versions if you're curious: [VIDEO] Microsoft still maintains its "home of the future". I think they update it every 3-5 years or so. Here's a newer one I found on youtube: [LINK] . It's pretty funny to see how the set, from what I can tell, is basically identical. And here's another Microsoft video about the "future of productivity" made back in 2011: [LINK]
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1oooqooq · 2024-06 · Criticism
it's so funny he still talks about the worst most embarrassing apple ad of all time. [VIDEO] it's so bad it's awesome.
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frik · 2015-12 · Reference
This. Exactly this. A personal software agent will make a lot of "smart" devices and many apps irrelevant. See Apple's vision from early ’90s: [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by Blake Patterson, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

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