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GENERAL MAGIC - Official Trailer

General Magic and the Soul of Tech

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354K views8 years ago2 recommendations

History and cultureHardwareHistory of computingInside tech companies

The official trailer for the documentary about General Magic, the 1990s Apple spin-off that pioneered early smartphone concepts.

Multi-award winning documentary General Magic is the untold tale of how a great vision and epic failure changed the world. General Magic is available to rent or purchase on iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo, Kanopy, Google Play and more: www.generalmagicthemovie.com. English-subtitled version available worldwide on Vimeo: vimeo.com/ondemand/generalmagic The ideas that dominate the tech industry and our day to day lives were born at a secretive Silicon Valley start-up called ‘General Magic’, which spun out of Apple in 1990 to create the first handheld personal communicator (or “smartphone”). The film combines rare archival footage with powerful honesty from the “Magicians” today, reflecting on the most influential Silicon Valley company no one has ever heard of. Featuring legendary members of the original Macintosh team, along with the creators of the iPod, iPhone, Android, and eBay, this is the story of one of history’s most talented tech teams, who after a great failure, went on to change the lives of billions. ‘Inspires big dreams at every turn.’ - Time Out ‘A captivating history lesson with global appeal.’ - Variety ‘Poignant, entertaining and full of life and lessons.’ - Forbes ‘Engaging’ - LA Times **Winner** Napa Valley Film Festival: Best Documentary Feature Music used with permission by the composers: ‘Powerhouse’ by Phillip Guyler ‘Ship or Die’ by Benji Merrison www.generalmagicthemovie.com

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2 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as a fascinating look into the history of General Magic and its massive influence on modern smartphones.

brunorsinion Hacker News • Recommends

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Highly recommend the documentary on General Magic. They were actually trying to build the iPhone as early as 1989 (and into the 90s). My former boss Meghan Smith was part of that team, she loved it — and so many Silicon Valley companies came out of that project. link to this video
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Have you watched the (pretty good) documentary "General Magic"? If features a lot of the same people than folklore.org, to the point one could consider it an Apple "side story", though there are also future Googlers and people who built Android. Here's the trailer: link to this video I found it interesting. There is a bit of hagiography going on, though (and note the trailer seems way more antagonistic towards Sculley than the documentary actually is.) One thing I found striking is that none of these people seem to need or care about money. They say so explicitly, "we didn't care about the money", and that it was all about the vision and passion. Yet somehow they managed to remain clothed and well fed.…
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On “Microsoft Bob: Microsoft's biggest flop of the 1990s”

…ike a touchscreen, downloadable apps and animated emojis — the first of its kind. Fadell thought it would be revolutionary — people could now carry a personal computer with them wherever they went. But nobody bought it. In the end only three to four thousand Magic Link devices were sold, and mostly to family and friends. There's a documentary too: link to this video…
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