Written on 25th August 2026. Sorry for the dense text; I think I need to fix the blog layout.

The almost-future we have today was humorously predicted 25 years ago in "Palmtop" magazine:

Musings -"I point the Psion 15mx at the security barrier to obtain clearance. A system so faithfully replicating human security guards, it's powered not by barriers but by 48 cups of tea a day. Via bluetooth, one zap synchronizes my database with a convenient desktop PC (we're all hotdesking now - handy, providing you don't mind being surrounded by framed photos of other peoples' ugly children….The 15mx immediately text-messages my Smart Fridge to order in ready-prepared gourmet food, while the robotic vacuum cleaner spruces the place up. My boyfriend is, of course, at home and quite capable of doing this himself, but smart appliances are so much more reliable, and only require commands to be punched in once." - "Debbie Barham takes a satirical look at one of the possible futures of EPOC computing." (Issue 32)

Musings "Do you remember when you didn't have a palmtop computer? Life was so much simpler then, and you could feel superior to the person sitting next to you on the plane, simply becuase you enjoyed the scenery while they tapped away on their laptop. You longed for the days when you could just enjoy the beauty of Barcelona without feeling compelled to photograph it from all angles" - "John Woodthorpe reflects on simpler times - when computers didn't rule the world." (Issue 24)

I wrote last year about Repairing a Psion 5mx handheld computer and my fascination with Psion computers. The owner of the original computer also gave me a collection of issues 13 to 34 of "Palmtop" magazine. The magazine appears to be out of print and not available now. I'd like to give back for the various things I've found online so decided to scan these in and have uploaded to the Internet Archive.

I find these magazines interesting: They began at a time where pocket computers were the domain of the early adopting computer enthusiasts, but you can see how things evolved into the beginnings of the the online smartphone world we all use today. I thought I'd share some articles I found while looking through them, in case you find them interesting too.

Quality warning: I used the Bookeye 5 book scanner at Edinburgh University to do this. My well-intentioned scans were going to be perfect but this desire quickly evaporated once I discovered the "I wish I'd never started this stupid project" tedium of book scanning. The scanner had a habit of rotating pages no matter how hard I tried to straighten them, and also had a weird bug where it would warp pages with dark images in them. I added some white screen wipes in an attempt to correct this (This is not technical wizardry; they were lying next to the scanner and were white so I gave them a try) - so apologies for the non-perfect scans. A bad scan is better than no scan; Perfection is the enemy of the good, etc.

The staff at uCreate at Edinburgh University library were really helpful and fun which helped with the tedium. Maybe in return this post will help future history students at the university - who knows.

Predictions of the future, 1990s style

OK. Here's some kind of "173 and a half ways they predicted the future" article but I hope without the click-bait. Put the kettle on if you're in the UK, sit down and prepare yourself for a long list:

  • In 1996 Leigh Edwards predicted Computers you can wear (Issue 9)
  • In December 1997 the Psion web browser (Issue 15) was discussed - "Navigating the Net - graphics and all"
  • Musings - "Smartphones, e-commerce, WAP and Bluetooth are the way of the future and being online on the move is going to get easier. In the next few years, mobile phones and electronic organisers will become one and the same." (Issue 27/February 2000)
  • An article in 2000 - "The Quartz crystal ball" (Issue 29) showed a preview of a "communicator" which looks remarkably like our current phones. This was speculated on four years earlier in "The Psion of the future" (Issue 6) and in Symbian - "It's widely accepted that the features and general functionality of palmtop computers and mobile telephones will overlap and eventually merge…The prospect of implementing Psion's core technology into millions of handheld devices is strategically significant….Psion stock more than tripled in value…" (Issue 19)
  • CeBIT report and Symbian goes Java crazy includes Ericsson MC218 and Oregon Scientific Osaris shows the future in 1999. The next - CeBIT 2000 - "Ericsson show first fully working Quartz device" shows a prototype "communicator"
  • I suspect the vast storage of today could not have been predicted: IBM Microdrive - "So, when the truly impressive technological fear of a 340 megabyte matchbook-sized hard drive landed on my desk, I couldn't help but take notice". (Issue 14 in 1997 talked about 16Mb flash disks reducing in price from £266 to £205).
  • Concept devices (Issue 34/June 2001) - reminds me of Philips Vision of the Future
  • The shape of things to come - Symbian "Crystal" and the Nokia 9210
  • PacketVideo - "Expanding into the European market and has demonstrated a version of its technology…enabling users to view video clips". (Issue 32/December 2000)
  • Linux - "A company from the United States has launched a mobile device running Linux, the first of its kind. The Agenda VR3 will be made available in the UK early in 2001". (Issue 32/December 2000)
  • This was also the beginning of the "app economy" - Software adverts for small companies (Issue 9)
  • The World wide web was going to be a thing: "an ever increasing number of companies are using the 'World Wide Web' as a means of advertising their wares…"

In Issue 13, a Mark Stevenson wrote an article complaining of The insidious bloatware "Will Windows 2007 require 100Mb RAM and 1Gb of disk space". I wish it was only that Mark, I wish.

Some of the articles just seemed so "duuh" that I struggled to remember how else it was ever done:

  • Lloyds electronic cheque book - "The service provides the ability to write and send 'electronic cheques' to any UK bank account, view statements…and pay bills electronically" (Issue 6)
  • Joining the information superhighway - "You can even talk to the BBC Electronically" (Issue 1/1995)
  • Banking on your Psion (Issue 8/1996)
  • The Euro - "There is now an officially agreed symbol for the Euro: it looks something like a capital "C" with 2 short horizontal lines through the middle…Just think of all the fonts, keyboards which will have to be changed…why couldn't they have left it as E, Eu or EUR?" (April 1998/Issue 17)

Ebooks

Book reading looked to be a popular activity:

Let's all fax our video recorder schedules from our WAP pages

Other things just died out and aren't known today. I don't think I've ever sent a fax, but it was a recurring theme and clearly sending a fax from your pocket was an amazing thing. There was special software in issue 27 to Remind me to program the video recorder (what was a video recorder?).

Misc

  • I enjoyed A brief history of Psion (Issue 20) and the Psion factory tour, London (Issue 14). It was nice to see that the UK still had a consumer electronics manufacturing industry.
  • "Digital Nomads" were beginning to be a thing - The Technomad tour - "The delightful sounds of a long-distance cycling tour! The hum of tyres on a good suface. The 'snick' of a clean-shifting derailleur. The crackle and hiss of a high-speed cellular modem…" (Issue 13) and Digital Re-Cycling (Issue 19)

"End user programming"

At the same time, I liked how these devices were programmable by their owners. This doesn't really happen with our phones today and I think this is a shame, and would be good to revive (see also Maggie Appleton's Barefoot developers). The closest thing I can think of today is emacs orgmode but I find this far less usable than the Psion's interface (although, to be fair, arguably more powerful).

Java programming was a big thing in 1999 - Java (Issue 25), Some Java applets to try (Issue 26), Programming in Java (Issue 27)

Navigation

The new-fangled "GPS" receivers or a "Geographical Information System" were a thing in 1995/Issue 4:

Hardware reviews

Miscellaneous articles

Some other random things that looked interesting:

Magazine links

Here are links to all the magazine issues I can find online - not all of these were scanned by me and thank you to the person who scanned the others.

Steve Litchfield has a cover index, including the magazines I don't have. I can't find some issues so I assume they are missing.

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