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

Gravitas Documentaries
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2023–2026
YouTube
73K views · 4 years ago · documentary · historical

A full documentary about General Magic, the Apple spin-off that tried to build a handheld communicator in the early 1990s. It covers the company's history, technology and business, and features people such as Bill Atkinson.

HN people send it to anyone fascinated by General Magic, noting how early the team imagined the smartphone future, often in threads about Bill Atkinson.

Mobile & touch interfacesProduct design & product thinking
#generalmagic#billatkinson#earlysmartphone#pda#siliconvalley

6 comments from Hacker News

J
@JKCalhoun2025 · in “Bill Atkinson has died”
Plenty of interviews will Bill on YouTube. Example: link Also, perhaps the General Magic documentary is a fun watch too: ▶ this video
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g
@gavmor2025 · in “Bill Atkinson has died”
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. ▶ this video
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t
@tapoxi2023 · in “Telescript (programming language)”
For anyone else amazed by General Magic, the recently released documentary is available for free (legally) on YouTube: ▶ this video
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w
@wmf2026 · in “We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail?”
This headline isn't great. It's an interview with Tony Fadell who invented the iPod, iPhone, and Nest thermostat. Before the iPod, Fadell worked at failed PDA maker General Magic. The interview doesn't get into other 90s attempts like the IBM Simon, Palm Pilot, or Apple Newton. There's also a documentary about General Magic: ▶ this video
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J
@JKCalhoun2025 · in “Bill Atkinson has died”
Atkinson at this timestamp: ▶ this video Also, it's here in the documentary that someone expresses the excitement anticipating the smart phone. It's hard to watch for me now and not shake my head, "Oh, it's not quite as wonderful as you imagined."
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A
@AlbertCory2023 · in “50 Years Later, We’re Still Living in the Xerox Alto’s World”
Well, the Macintosh team certainly thought they were. There's a YT video about General Magic that tries to paint them that way, and they thought of themselves that way at the time. ▶ this video Take it all with a grain of salt.
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