TECHNICK

Before Steve Jobs unveils his latest and perhaps greatest creation today at a massively hyped event in San Francisco–which is expected to be a tablet computer–you might want to peruse this video clip that the crack All Things Digital team unearthed from our archives, in which the legendary Apple CEO said he was glad he did not do another single screen PDA-like device after the Newton debacle.

In an interview with Walt Mossberg at the second D: All Things Digital conference in May of 2004, Jobs said definitively: “I’m as proud of the products that we have not done as the ones we have done.”

He specifically referenced calls to create a new version of the Newton, an innovative personal digital assistant hardware/software platform that Apple (AAPL) tried to make a success of throughout the 1990s and ultimately shuttered.

While the Newton MessagePad was not exactly the kind of tablet that Apple is likely to unveil later this morning, it is widely considered influential in the development of the iPhone. On Wikipedia, in fact, it is noted, “Some refer to the Newton as the iPhone’s grandfather.”

Since the iPhone is kind of the son of the iPod, that would make it the father of the upcoming tablet. Thus, the new device is the Newton’s great-grandson.

We’ll see if it is a Silicon Valley chip off the old block or not very soon.

Here’s the video from D2: