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General Magic (1080p) FULL DOCUMENTARY - History, Technology, Business

Gravitas Documentaries · 73.3K views · 2022-10-06 · 1:32:48

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Overview

A feature-length documentary on General Magic, the 1989 startup that envisioned the smartphone and handheld connected devices, featuring Tony Fadell, Andy Hertzfeld and Marc Porat. It covers the company's vision and eventual failure.

On Hacker News

Recommended as a fun and illuminating watch on early mobile computing, especially in threads about Bill Atkinson and Telescript.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2023–2026

Topics

Tech company stories & documentariesHistory of computingStartups & entrepreneurship
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general magicsmartphone historystartupstech historybill atkinson

What people said

gavmor · 2025-06 · Recommendation

If you haven't, check out the documentary[0] on General Magic which Bill co-founded in 1990. Among the more remarkable scenes in there is when a member of the public seems perplexed by the thought that they would even want to "check email from Times Square." An unthinkable future, but they thought it. And yet, most folks have never heard of General Magic. 0. [VIDEO]

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JKCalhoun · 2025-06 · Recommendation

Plenty of interviews will Bill on YouTube. Example: [LINK] Also, perhaps the General Magic documentary is a fun watch too: [VIDEO]

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tapoxi · 2023-09 · Recommendation

For anyone else amazed by General Magic, the recently released documentary is available for free (legally) on YouTube: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Gravitas Documentaries, played through YouTube.

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