Filed under: Hardware, Portables, iPhone, Apple History

While everyone waits for Apple to implement copy and paste on the iPhone (or hacks their own), Newton users have been enjoying it for 15 years.

Here’s a great video of the just how Apple pulled it off on a previous touch device. Clicking and dragging selects the text, and moving it to the side of the screen sends it to the clipboard, represented by a shortcut. You can then move multiple copies out of the clipboard and into your applications with a drag of that shortcut.

It seems like a variation of this could work for the iPhone — drag text to an edge or corner as a clipboard. Of course, there’s a lot less text manipulation on the iPhone than the Newton, which was a PDA.

Either way, I still love my Newton. Sure, people make fun of me for carrying around a PDA the size of a baby dolphin, but I don’t care. At least I have copy and paste.

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Filed under: Accessories, Hacks, iPhone

Since the iPhone’s introduction, people have been using the built-in camera for more than quick snapshots. Some have taken macro shots, used it as a webcam or even created high art (OK, so that last one was a bug).

Another popular practice is to use it to generate to-do lists and even as a scanner. People have taken photos of things they need to buy or remember to do. Others have sent snapshots of business cards, receipts, etc. into applications like iPhoto and Evernote.

That’s clever, but getting a legible image of your documents is difficult. Enter the iPhone Document Scanner. This device positions the iPhone and document to be “scanned” at the perfect distance and ensures a steady hand. If you’re a Ponko member, you can download a free .eps file of the plans to build your own.

We knew Apple put the camera on the back for a reason!

Thanks, Baptiste!

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Filed under: Cool tools, Hacks, Mods, iPhone

Like most phone cameras, the iPhone’s lens is focused for the most general possible use, i.e. nearly at infinity. TUAW reader Daniel Forsythe modded his iPhone to focus a bit closer up so he could use it to read bar codes that he shoots from magazines and equipment labels.

The mod involves breaking the glue that holds in the camera module and rotating the lens to bring the focus closer to the camera. With this hack, he can snap photos of close-in subjects. Check out his Flickr photo set for samples and discussion.

He writes that he plans to make a full mod guide should readers express interest in it. The photo seen here is focused to 0.25″.

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