Steve Jobs on The Huffington Post

Gerald Sindell: iTablet Beta Tester Breaks Embargo

2009-11-20T12:27:46Z

Recently I was given just 24 hours to explore a first production build of the Apple iTablet -- and here are my first impressions and discoveries. First, it's more like an iPhone than a MacBook. The operating system depends on gestures, and expands the vocabulary. Your hand is going to be dancing.

Second big news: it's not just an application platform and full-color reader and media player. It's also a dual camera and, yes, read this twice, a phone. And therein lies a tale. For those whose habits have been formed around their iPhones, be very, very careful when your iTablet rings for the first time. That urge to whip the thing with its ginormous 10 inch screen up to your ear is going to play havoc with your eye. In the small group of folks I ran into who were returning their demo versions, most of us had nasty shiners.

Apple assures us that final production versions will come with training corners -- foam wedgies that will soften the blow until the user gets used to answering the giant device. And the second mod will be a catcher's mitt-like webbing on the back of the iTablet so you can one hand it.

Killer apps? Try this -- for those who will want to mount the iTablet high on their dashboard, this thing is going to block your view. So Apple has come up with the brilliant iDrive. The camera on the back side stays live and you basically can see right through your iTablet, like a virtual window. A second camera, imbedded invisibly in the screen, can provide help in backing up.

When you're not in your car, the embedded cameras creates iMirror, and one of the coolest apps we've seen so far is iTrim. Male or female, select your hairstyle from dozens of possibilities, and then iTrim gives you cut by cut directions so you can do it yourself. You might need a little help for the back and top, or you can sync up two iTablets and put them on the Infinite Barbershop Mirror setting.

Now with all that extra screen area to dance your hand on, Apple has greatly expanded the gestures it understands. First, there's the Full Palm Down. Just spread out your hand and plant it on the screen. Whatever program that's currently running will screech to a halt. Flip your hand over and give it the Brush Off, and the program will go away. Do it several times and the screen will clear. Then there's the Fist Bump. Closed fist means 'Yes.' Or Agree, or Continue, Install, or 'Can I have some more, please?'

Finally, all of publishing has been praying that the iTablet will be a Kindle killer and free the publishing world from the threat of world domination by Amazon. Success may depend on whether people will want the reading part of their life to be as easily interrupted as everything else in their world. When your book can hurl e-mails at you, ring your phone, cut your hair and even show you who's sneaking up behind you, some may not find that to be the ideal reading environment.

Then there's the concern about the infantilism that permeates Steve Job's attitude toward culture. "People don't read anymore," is one of his brilliant observations. On iTunes, all music has become a "song." Verdi's Requiem Mass is downloadable as a bunch of songs. For an entire generation, a Beethoven symphony is now four songs. This is surely a crime against humanity of some sort.

So take the same attitude and apply it to books. And guess what? You aren't going to be buying a 'book' on the iTunes store. You're going to be buying a 'story' one chapter at a time, whether it's Wind in the Willows or Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, everything is going to be just a chapter in a story.

The good news is the color is great. You can zoom in for spectacular detail. And when you check in to that "mirror" function you'll be able to track the progress of your shiner.

Jobs Replies To App Developer: 'Change Your Name,' It's 'No Big Deal'

2009-11-19T16:39:10Z

The Little App Factory CEO John Devor emailed Steve Jobs regarding the issue. Amazingly, Jobs replied.

Bill Gates: Steve Jobs Is 'Fantastic,' 'Saved The Company' (VIDEO)

2009-11-13T15:06:08Z

During CNBC's TV special featuring Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Microsoft's Gates had warm words for Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

According to CNBC, a Columbia Executive Business School student asked this question:

If you could just comment and tell us what your thoughts are on the job Steve Jobs has done as the CEO of Apple? (Audience laughs as Gates smiles.)

Gates' response, CNBC reports:

GATES: Well, he's done a fantastic job. Apple is in a bit of a different business where they make hardware and software together. But when Steve was coming back to Apple, which was actually through an acquisition of NeXT that he ran, Apple was in very tough shape.

In fact, most likely it wasn't going to survive. And he brought in a team, he brought in inspiration about great products and design that's made Apple back into being an incredible force in doing good things. And it's great to have competitors like that. We write software for Apple, Microsoft does. They compete with Apple. But he, of all the leaders in the industry that I've worked with, he showed more inspiration and he saved the company.

Watch Gates' answer in the video clip below.

WATCH:

Beth Arnold: Letter From Paris: Apple Mania!

2009-11-09T15:15:41Z

Hallelujah! Three years ago, I was transformed. I was sick and tired of all the problems I was having with my umpteenth PC, and slowly, over time, several friends finally convinced me to try a Mac. I went to San Francisco for the holidays and went up to the spirit in the Apple sky, the flagship Apple store. I bought my first MacBook, and I was one happy girl -- especially after I got through the totally doable yet hair-pulling frustration period of throwing my PC knowledge into the poubelle and installing the latest Apple OS into my non-tech brain.

The next year I went back to San Francisco for the holidays, and I immersed myself in Apple classes and personal training sessions. I was determined to learn how to use the amazing media-producing machine I'd purchased, and that's exactly what I did. And FYI: I give that store, and its staff a stellar 10 out of 10 for their work and for their working with me. After all, I live in Paris and only had a limited amount of time to drill as much Apple info into my brain as possible. Because unlike New York, London, Sydney, and Tokyo, Paris didn't have a real Apple store. And sorry, France, and my French friends, but we all know about the almost non-existence of what the rest of the world knows as "Customer Service" in France. Plus, I'd had a major problem with the "Customer Service" that was here. It wasn't up to Apple snuff in my book.

Could Apple do sufficient training so a staff here could pull off Steve Jobs' amazing company concept?

And I dreamed of an Apple store in Paris, where I could find what I needed and maybe even get technical help. Because, you see, in the past three years, I've become a full-fledged Apple fanatic. I now own a MacBook, iPod, Apple TV, iPhone, Magic Mouse, wireless keyboard, and more. I switched my daughters to Apple though not the Lone Wolf because his frustration period would get dumped on me and drive me insane. But I love everything Apple and only want more of everything Apple in the most desirous way. With no shame, I call myself Apple greedy.

I had heard rumors before that an Apple store was coming to my town, but on Saturday, yes, kids, an Apple store opened in Paris. And I had to make a trip down to Le Louvre du Carousel to see it.

I walked into the door on the rue de Rivoli. The line to get into the store started right after you got off the escalator in Le Carousel du Louvre.

People were in a swarm to get there.

Were they Apple people, curious Parisians, or tourists--or all of the above?

I talked to one of the security guards who told me there were 18 security guards in all, working for the Louvre, who were there to manage the huge crowds.

How long were people willing to wait to get into the store? It was Apple mania!

I couldn't believe it. As people were allowed to go into the store--and they stepped into the doorway--the Apple store's new staff yelled and clapped for their customers. It was so un-French--but so Apple! They were dressed in red T-shirts.

It was even more crowded than the San Francisco Apple store at Christmas.

As I was on my way out, I stopped a smartly dressed young couple in front of me who were carrying Apple bags to ask them about their experience.

So you went to the opening day of the Apple store, I said.

Yes, but we had invitations. We would never have waited in those lines. We went in to pick up our gifts. We use Macs, but we're not Apple people. There's a difference you know, the attractive man said. Yes, we don't even have iPhones, said his girlfriend. We have Blackberries they chimed together showing me their un-Apple products.

What were your gifts? I asked, although I could see through the translucent bag to read big Apple lettering that said MacBook Pro. They gave us computers, the man said, and then they walked away before I could get their names.

Who were these people that didn't really care about Apple that Apple was sucking up to?

Apple, you know I love you. Steve Jobs, where was my invitation?

All photos taken by Beth Arnold on her iPhone, which she loves. And she writes on her MacBook every day but she needs a MacBook Pro and maybe an iMac.

Beth Arnold lives and writes in Paris. To see more of her work go to www.betharnold.com.

This piece is dedicated to my Apple friends in the San Francisco store at One Stockton Street: the best Apple staff!

Steve Jobs: Fortune Crowns Apple Guru "CEO Of The Decade"

2009-11-05T13:32:49Z

(Fortune magazine) -- How's this for a gripping corporate story line: Youthful founder gets booted from his company in the 1980s, returns in the 1990s, and in the following decade survives two brushes with death, one securities-law scandal, an also-ran product lineup, and his own often unpleasant demeanor to become the dominant personality in four distinct industries, a billionaire many times over, and CEO of the most valuable company in Silicon Valley.

Ken Segall: Steve Jobs Hated 'iMac', Had Terrible Alternative

2009-11-05T11:39:41Z

Jobs said he was betting the company on the [iMac] machine and so it needed a great name. He suggested one at the meeting, Segall says, but it was terrible. It would "curdle your blood."

Forgotten Co-Founders: Technology's Overlooked Innovators

2009-11-04T16:02:12Z

A few co-founders do get overlooked by the media.

Why?

Some choose to stay out of the spotlight. Unlike the other YouTube cofounders who joined Google, Jawed Karim decided to go back to school.

Some have partners whose personalities overshadow theirs. Ronald Wayne quit Apple when fellow cofounder Steve Jobs began taking on debt without consulting him.

Some have had to fight to be recognized. Elon Musk is famously known as the founder of Tesla, but there are four others: Martin Eberhard, JB Straubel, Marc Tarpenning, and Ian Wright.

But the fact is, these guys founded some of today's most successful digital companies, and we won't let you forget about them.

Chris Weigant: From The Pentagon To Monty Python: The Internet Turns 40

2009-10-28T19:58:37Z

Tomorrow is the internet's fortieth birthday. Its creators are even throwing it a birthday party at the University of California, Los Angeles, the origin of the first message ever transmitted over what we know today as "the internet," on October 29, 1969. If you're wondering what the first message ever transmitted was -- the digital age's "Come here, Watson," statement, as it were -- it consisted of two letters: "LO." It was actually supposed to be "LOG," as in "LOG IN," but the receiving computer crashed after receiving just the first two letters -- not a very auspicious beginning, it must be admitted. Still, for poetic reasons, "LO" seems pretty apt: "Lo! The Internet was created!"

The project, the first linkage of two computers over a distance, was paid for by the Pentagon. Specifically, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. This was a Cold War agency created out of fear -- the fear that the Russians were ahead of us technologically. This fear was not unfounded at the time, since DARPA was a hasty response to the Russians launching the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, in 1957. Americans could tune in their ham radios to a little "beep...beep...beep..." signal that crossed over our skies, and thus know that the Russians had done something we hadn't managed to do yet -- which was not only downright ominous in those days, but also downright inconceivable to many Americans. This was the dawn of the "space race" between the two countries, which culminated with the landing on the moon in 1969 of two Americans. But it also culminated in the same year with what was then called ARPANET.

The internet's birth was in the depths of the Cold War, created for scientists to exchange some very hot data -- the design and testing of nuclear weapons, for instance. Its transformation from its militaristic beginnings to where it stands now should be seen as the greatest "swords into plowshares" story in the history of mankind. Because today, while its origins are at best dimly remembered, what it has morphed into has gone far, far beyond the original intent -- and changed our planet and our way of life as a result.

Technology has grown by such leaps and bounds since 1969 that it's hard to conceive how things were before we all had access to computers. The 1970s saw the dawn of the "personal computer" -- a phrase unthinkable a mere decade earlier, when computers had shrunk from boxcar-sized to merely pickup-truck-sized... but were not expected to shrink much more. But the rapid progress of the microchip ushered in a revolution in such shrinkage. The first small computers were merely hobbyist machines for scientists and tinkerers, but Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak saw their true potential, and changed the world with the introduction of what became the Apple II. IBM, while much slower to accept such a radical idea, eventually introduced its own version, the "PC," or "Personal Computer." Since then, computers have gotten faster and data storage has gotten much, much better, so that today the machine you are likely reading this on is more powerful than the machines they were designing nuclear weapons on back in 1969. Indeed, the computer in your cell phone may even be more powerful.

The concept of linking computers together grew by leaps and bounds as well. In 1983, DARPA in essence split the net into two parts, the military component (renamed MILNET), and what became the commercial, public internet. Also at this time, TCP/IP protocols were introduced, which also fed the eventual explosive growth. The non-military net was also at this time opened up to much wider use within the universities where it had originated.

Networking was fast growing in the early 1980s on two other fronts -- the Local Area Network (LAN) and the first subscription service for online access. It was the era of TokenRing, Ethernet, and AppleTalk; of AOL and CompuServe. It may stun younger users today, but back then people paid ten bucks per hour to access online services -- which were laughably crude by today's standards. Heavy online users would often pay hundreds of dollars a month to access text-only, non-web data over their phone lines.

It was also the era of the beginnings of information overload. This led to the introduction of "bulletin boards" and automated file searching. The real beginnings of what we call "the internet" today were a message-posting area of the net called UseNet; and the beginnings of the Google-type search engine were the humble "gopher" software of the time.

But the real explosion came about in the early 1990s, with two cornerstone events -- opening up the internet to commerce, and the introduction of the World Wide Web. The internet, now being called "the Internet" (previously the term had not been used -- the inventor of the concept, in an early-1960s paper, called his dream an "Intergalactic Computer Network," which I always thought sounded way, way cooler...) was about to grow beyond all conception.

The World Wide Web, still known to us today in that "www" prefix in web addresses, was dreamed up a Swiss laboratory for (once again) nuclear research -- the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, or CERN. For the second time, nuclear researchers came up with an idea which quickly outgrew its original scientific data-sharing purposes. The combination of hypertext (clickable links) and a common file format which included graphics (the HyperText Markup Language, or HTML) were soon exploited by the world's first truly effective graphic "browser," Mosaic. From Mosaic, Netscape was born, and the rest is history.

Of course it hasn't all been wine and roses along the way. The internet (the term is now used increasingly without benefit of capitalization, a mark of how common an idea it has become) also gave birth to online fraud and other forms of online crime. Back when the internet originated, the Pentagon was interested in its advanced researchers having the ability to easily talk to each other, to better share information. This information had a goal -- to always always stay one step ahead of our foes. At the time, this was mainly the Soviet Union and, to a lesser extent, China. These days, some of the most prevalent data attacks come from malware (Trojan horses, DDoS attacks, viruses, worms, botnets, and all the rest) which originate all over the world, with an unhealthy portion coming from (you guessed it) Russia and China. Which brings us, in a way, full circle.

But for many of us, the internet will serve one very important function far, far into the future. I speak of the immortalization in digital history of Monty Python's Flying Circus. When contemporaneous comedy troupes will long have been forgotten, centuries hence, Monty Python will still live on in its anti-paean to a Hormel meats product -- the lowly "spiced ham" in a can known as Spam.

Spam was widely consumed in Britain during World War II, due to it not being rationed as most meats were at the time (which alone says something). Spam became prevalent as a civilian wartime staple as a result. Which explains the origins of the Monty Python sketch, where a man and a woman argue over a cafe's breakfast selections which seem to contain far too much spam for the woman's liking (example from the menu: "Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon, and Spam"). The idea that spam is prevalent and unwanted was first applied in the infancy of online gaming, and in the early 1990s was used specifically to describe an unwanted email solicitation for money. Knowing the makeup of online gamers back then, it's easy to see that a Monty Python reference would have caught on quickly, as one thing all geeks unanimously agree upon (both back then and today) is the sheer awesomeness of Monty Python. Because the term spam is now so universally accepted to describe unwanted email (even Hormel has largely given up on trying to stamp such usage out), it follows that the story of its origins -- complete with the original Monty Python "Spam sketch" -- will live forever in the digital world. For which we have the Pentagon to thank.

But in any case, tomorrow when you're reading your email, or deleting spam (90 percent of all email is now spam; an astounding figure, when you think about it), or browsing the web, or checking stock quotes, or doing your banking online, or reading an online news article, or writing a blog post, or researching a topic, or using a search engine, or playing an online game, or playing online poker for money, or even just looking at some porn -- take a moment to stop and raise your glass in a toast. Because the internet you are using to do all of these things is having a birthday, and it's the big four-oh.

Meaning we should all mark the occasion with a hearty: "Happy 40th birthday, internet!"

[Historical Note: For those interested, the very first "web page" is still available online, just to show how far we've come in less than two decades. It's pretty basic by today's standards, but the concept of "links" was brand new back then, keep in mind.]

Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com

'Don't Cry For Me, Cupertino': David Pogue Sings Tribute To Steve Jobs (VIDEO)

2009-10-25T11:49:41Z

New York Times tech columnist David Pogue sang a tribute to Steve Jobs at the Boston Book Festival: a parody of the Evita song 'Don't Cry For Me, Argentina' titled 'Don't Cry For Me, Cupertino.'

Watch it below.

WATCH:

Which Clunky Apple Computer Was The Worst? (PHOTOS, POLL)

2009-10-21T11:57:54Z

So Apple's new updates are sleek and all, but let's not forget that the Apple Lisa was once cutting edge too.

All this change has got us feeling a little, well, nostalgic, so we decided to open up the archives for a look back at the ugly ducklings in Apple's past.

See the slideshow of Mac's chunkiest, clunkiest computers and vote for the worst!

(Also check out the ad that introduced Apple to the world (from 1984) below.)

WATCH:

The Top 15 Business Thinkers: Thinkers 50

2009-10-15T11:51:40Z

Amidst the thousands of management tomes published every year, there are only a few truly influential collections of business wisdom. But measuring the true impact of one of the world's thought leaders can be tricky.

Thinkers 50 believes it has come up with a formula to measure the impact of the world's top business gurus. They've compiled a list of the top 50 thinkers in business based upon, among other things, originality of ideas, practicality, writing style, loyalty of followers and rigor of research.

Based on that analysis, they've come up some very interesting results. C.K. Prahlaad, the author of Fortune At the Bottom Of The Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, was actually deemed more influential than Steve Jobs, Richard Branson or the uber-popular Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell.

To see more of the rankings, check out our photos below, and vote for the world's most influential business thinker.

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Steve Jobs: Disney Hires Apple CEO To Help Disney "Dream Bigger"

2009-10-13T08:14:07Z

The involvement of Mr. Jobs, the Apple chief executive who joined the Disney board with the 2006 acquisition of Pixar, is particularly notable. For the first time, Mr. Jobs's fingerprints can be seen on Disney strategy, in the same way that he influenced the look and feel of Apple's own immensely popular retail chain. While Mr. Jobs did not personally toil on the Imagination Park concept, he pushed Disney to move far past a refurbishment.

"Dream bigger -- that was Steve's message," said Andy Mooney, chairman of Disney Consumer Products.

Steve Jobs More Popular Than Oprah, Ashley Olsen, Teen Study Shows

2009-10-13T08:06:11Z

Junior Achievement surveyed US kids aged 12-17 and asked them to choose the entrepreneur they most admired from a list provided. Surprisingly, teens chose a business legend from the technology sector over fashionistas, Facebook and even the Queen of Daytime. Steve Jobs was selected over Tony Hawk, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Kimora Lee Simmons, Oprah Winfrey and Mark Zuckerberg.

Who Said It: Bill Gates or Steve Jobs? (QUIZ)

2009-10-05T13:20:03Z

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have been battling each other for computer supremacy for about 25 years now. As far as we can see, neither has anything very nice to say about the other or his products. But at the end of the day, aren't they basically coming from the same place? They're both self-made geeks who got really, really rich. And they both seem to be just a wee bit drunk with power. Hey, we're not saying it's wrong. If we were the lords of the technology universe, maybe we'd say these things, too. Can you guess which CEO made which outrageous statement?

Aaron Greenspan: The Fallacy of Execution (and Sex), or Why Mark Zuckerberg Doesn't Answer Questions About Facebook's Origins

2009-10-05T02:01:46Z

Running a company in Silicon Valley, you hear a lot of advice. It is sometimes offered by those esteemed individuals who are invited to speak on panels at conferences, by professors, by family members, by friends, by enemies, by the wealthy, by the not-as-wealthy, by the invested, and by the generally apathetic. Some of it is definitely good advice and some of it is definitely bad, and it comes regardless of whether or not the people giving it are actually qualified to do so. Often, it directly contradicts advice you've heard in the past. What is truly striking is that so frequently advice comes in the form of the cliché: the pat phrase that will supposedly solve all of your problems and transform you and your business into the next success story on the front page of The Major Newspaper--and of all the business clichés in the world, there is none that I hear more, and that I hate more, than the vague, poorly-defined and generally ill-conceived notion that "execution" is more important than "the idea."

There are a number of analogies that are quite illustrative when examining why the idea-versus-execution paradigm is pointless to even discuss in the first place. The simplest analogy among them is sex. There are two genders that we generally recognize: male and female. Both have their role in sexual reproduction; without one or the other, it is by definition impossible for sexual reproduction to take place. It would be pointless (and also wrong) to argue that male sex cells are "more important" than female ones, or vice-versa, which is why it's not an argument you see very often in journals that biologists read, such as Cell or Nature. If we suppose that a successful company, like a successful embryo, needs two complementary inputs to form--in this case, both a profitable idea that solves a problem, and execution on that idea--where the lack of either one guarantees a result of failure, then it should be patently obvious why it doesn't make sense to weigh one of those source's importance against the other's. (Granted, there are also a number of differences between companies and mammals, but there's a good chance that it's the similarities that led you to read this in the first place.)

Despite such thinking, or perhaps in spite of it, many people go on to assume that execution is more important than the idea, perhaps because anyone can have an [intriguing and profitable] idea--another common notion that is also false. Some of those same people continue to draw myriad conclusions from their apparent insight. These conclusions are similar to the kind of mathematical results that can be derived by dividing by zero. (In eighth grade, our math teacher proved that 0 = 1 by doing just that.) One such false conclusion is that "the idea actually doesn't matter at all," implying that the importance of the idea is equal to zero, and that "with proper execution, any idea can be made into a successful company." This is of course false. There are some ideas--say, the combination iron/cellular telephone, the imageless television, or the disposable jumbo jet--that even the best execution can't save. Put another way, the above conclusion means that there are no bad ideas, even while reality clearly indicates this not to be the case.

Another problem with the idea versus execution argument is that while the word "idea" has a relatively clear meaning, the word "execution" does not. Effectively, it refers to everything that isn't the idea, and in turn, that means that "execution" refers to a whole wide array of confounding factors that would make any serious student of statistics blanche. Funding? It's part of execution. Hiring decisions? Execution. Corporate culture? That would fall under execution. Engineering? Also execution. Marketing? Execution. Ethics? Oddly enough, ethics also falls under execution, which raises an interesting point.

There's another cliché that says, "rules are made to be broken," and indeed some rules seem to be. When those same rules are also laws, however, the situation becomes more complicated. If successful execution on an idea--for the sake of argument, one that could save millions of lives--requires breaking a law, is it worth executing on? Or if the legality of execution isn't clearly illegal, but falls into a gray area, does that change things? What if executing involves murdering one person (the literal case of idea versus execution)? What if the idea's benefit is nebulous in all of the above cases? Personally I would argue that regardless of the idea, execution strategies clearly involving even gray areas of the law should be out of bounds for entrepreneurs, if only because paying endless legal fees is rarely good for business.

There are plenty who might disagree, though, notably including every software mogul most people have ever heard of. Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and even Steve Jobs are not celebrated for their kindness or moral rectitude. Just as we do with oil and energy, as a society we tend to accept that the benefits of using software outweigh the costs of developing it, which sometimes can include the strategic destruction of other programmers' companies and careers.

If and when it happens, all of this, too, is "execution." While I wasn't present when Microsoft, Oracle or Apple got started, I did happen to be around for the beginnings of another technology company in 2004 to witness what the word execution meant then.

I've been told time and again that the reason Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook succeeded over my own at Harvard is that I simply didn't "execute," while my classmate did. And so without casting any blame, I'd like to put everything that notion implies to rest. In his latest thirty-minute-long interview, Mark didn't mention anything about the fully-functional and heavily-marketed houseSYSTEM integrated student portal that was far more than a mere idea, the "Facebook" component that he joined along with his co-founders, the hours he spent visiting and re-visiting the site in January of 2004, or the Harvard College Student Entrepreneurship Council that created it, let alone the decades-long history of face books at educational institutions across the country. That doesn't mean that those products, organizations and events never happened, however. There's plenty of evidence indicating that they did.

So the next time you consider the importance of execution in a business situation, take the time to analyze exactly what it is you mean. The phrase "execute better" has never helped anybody. It's just about as helpful as telling someone to "do everything better," which is at best not helpful at all, and at worst insulting, since it demonstrates a lack of interest in getting to any real core issue. Worse yet, by endorsing a litany of things you never meant to, you'll identify yourself as one of those shallow Silicon Valley types who doesn't really think things through. And if we ever want to get out of our present economic slump, the last thing we need is more people in the Valley who don't think.

Aaron Greenspan is President & CEO of Think Computer Corporation and the author of Authoritas: One Student's Harvard Admissions and the Founding of the Facebook Era.

Apple Patents Head-Mounted Video Display (PHOTOS)

2009-09-29T15:17:13Z

Apple today received a patent on a head-mounted laser video display. Now that the three-year old application has finally been approved, Steve Jobs can put these babies through his grueling design process and hopefully pretty them up a bit.

Here's a picture of the "iGlasses" Apple has patented:

Apple Gets Green: Steve Jobs Launches Efforts To Help Environment

2009-09-26T15:51:51Z

In one of his first post-leave interviews, Apple CEO Jobs says the impact of products, not the emissions of factories, is what counts, and that it's time to focus on a company's results, not its lofty goals

Tim Chambers: Apple's Lesson -- Innovating Our Way Out of the Recovery From Hell

2009-09-26T09:15:18Z

"We decided to innovate our way through
this downturn, so that we would be further
ahead of our competitors when things turn
up."

The "downturn" was not the Great Recession of
2008. It was the 2001 recession that was fading
(after about three years) at the time these words
were said. The speaker was Steve Jobs and the
"innovations" included the iTunes Store, which
had just launched eight months earlier.

220 million iPods, 30 million iPhones, 8.5 billion
songs sold, 1.8 billion mobile apps downloads
later it's easy to miss that the foundation for all of that was set during the darkest part of
the 2000s downturn. When many companies were retracting fearfully, and while dot-com
companies were exploding like evil pinatas.

I thought about that old quote as Steve Jobs triumphantly returned (after a liver transplant)
to the public stage, looking weathered, but happy. He was in his element: showing off new
candy-colored camera enabled iPod Nano's, poised to enter another new category for Apple,
the home camcorder marketplace.

What we've just faced makes the dot-com recession look quaint. We came as close as one
could to complete economic meltdown. As it became clear what we were facing, then
President Bush summed up the state of the US financial system in a perfectly Bushian
phrase: "This sucker could go down."

Later, as President Obama was first proposing the emergency stimulus -- to act as a sort of
national defibrillator -- conservative friends of mine emailed me, panicked. They wrote:
"What the Hell is Obama thinking? You can't spend your way out of an economic collapse!" I
replied with something entertainer and libertarian Penn Jillette wrote. He too was worried,
but admitted that the spending might be needed, and that sometimes metaphorically you
have to steer the car into the skid to regain control.

We as a country were scared and didn't know if we were, in Jillette's words "turning into a
skid" or "accelerating into a concrete wall."

All the sturm and drang over the stimulus has become somewhat academic. Thankfully,
we're seeing the beginnings of good news. Most economists say that the Great Recession is
over and the early stages of recovery are at hand, and the stimulus seems to be working as
Obama promised -- as a buffer against deeper pain and loss until the recovery can really
kick in. Even Google search patterns are showing this. But economists also agree that
recovery will feel less like a weight lifted, and more like a slow march out of a deep and
wide crater. So we've escaped the Abyss and the Recession from Hell, how do we navigate
the Recovery from Hell?

The answer I suggest -- for the entire country -- is the same as it was in 2000 for a pre-
iTunes and pre-iPod Apple Corporation: we innovate our way out.

America is a generative, innovative nation all the way down to our DNA. In the technology
sector, but in all sectors(including governance) innovation will be our north star as we
rebuild a 21st century new, new economy. Obama quotes Lincoln at the drop of a hat, but
mostly with cause. On several occasions talking about our economic path forward, Obama
alluded to wisdom from Lincoln's second State of the Union Address:

"The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is
piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so
we must think anew, and act anew."

In other words: Think Different.

Steve Jobs: Tablet His Personal Project, Runs Staff Ragged For Apple TV upgrade

2009-09-22T10:52:13Z

Steve Jobs has reportedly taken personal charge of the forthcoming Apple tablet, working to get the details right while aiming for a 2010 launch. Meanwhile, overtime in the Apple TV group, plus last week's price cut, suggest a new model could be here soon.

Fake Steve Jobs: You're Late to the Party, HuffPostTech. Apple Invented "Technology is Anthropology."

2009-09-21T10:00:00Z

My interns inform me that Huffington Post has declared that "technology is anthropology." Wow. That's heavy. As they say on "30 Rock," tell us some other things we already knew. Not sure if you've been paying attention to Apple for the past three decades, but, see, this concept is pretty much the foundation of our operation. Remember those people who spent a week camping out on folding chairs outside Apple stores back in 2007, so they could get the iPhone? They didn't do it because there was shortage of phones. They did it because they wanted to make a statement about themselves. I don't know how this camping out thing got started, but Apple people really love to sleep on sidewalks and in malls. They'll do it for almost anything that involves Apple, especially my keynotes.

The reason is, Apple is not really a company -- it's a cult. Imagine what it might be like if the Church of Scientology went into the consumer electronics business, and you'd have a pretty good idea of how we operate. We have a philosophy, a way of looking at the world. Minimalism is part of it. Simplicity is another. Our fundamental belief is that people can achieve transcendence through technology -- that by owning certain products, meaning our products, a person can become smarter, and even better than other people. The products we make are simply totemic objects -- signifiers, as Saussure would have said. (I'm assuming you're up to speed on your semiotics, and if not, well, keep using Windows; it's the right solution for you.) Our products are physical representations of our philosophy, capsules that let you carry our belief system around with you and share it with others. For me, the process of making these objects and splattering them all over the world is a kind of performance art - what Christo does with cloth, I do with aluminum, glass and plastic.

People sometimes complain that we charge too much for our products, but the truth is, our prices are irrelevant. How much is a Picasso worth? Our prices are not based on cost of goods or any kind of research into what the market will bear or how much profit we need to make. We set prices based on numbers that we think will make our fanpersons feel special. They don't want something cheap. They want to feel good about themselves. Paying more is one way to achieve that. (I'm amazed that more companies haven't figured this out.) If you're asking about the price of an Apple product, you've already self-selected out of our target demographic. Not because you're too poor, but because you just don't understand what we're about. And that's fine. We're not for everyone. True fanpersons are always ready to buy whatever we make, without question, because they know the object will give meaning to their lives. You can't put a price on that.

How did I figure this all out? Back in the '70s, before I started Apple, I made a trek to India and studied with a holy man, Baba Shreepakdeva. He taught me one thing: People are desperately hungry to find meaning in their lives. They will go to great lengths and spend huge amounts of money in this quest. Ever seen the Vatican? Okay then. Religions are the greatest marketing organizations in the world. All you have to do to become rich and powerful, he told me, is create objects that are imbued with spiritual significance. I left India knowing what I would do with my life.

Why tech products, instead of, say, furniture? For one thing, Woz and I both sucked at woodworking in high school. But also, technology has the benefit of seeming like magic. Think of the old Arthur C. Clarke line: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And religion is all about magic. Transubstantiation of the host? Please. It's Penn & Teller in colorful robes. Or think of Pizarro and the conquest of the Incas. You know how the Spaniards converted the Incas to Christianity? They built churches and crammed them full of mirrors and shiny objects, with loads of flickering lights. Everywhere I go I see people staring down into their iPhones, zombies hypnotized by the flashing screen, and I think, Oh, Pizarro, you've got nothing on me, hermano.

Right now we're working on this tablet computer, and it's all about anthropology. At least it has been since I came back to work. While I was away they were just doing things the way ordinary MBA idiots do things: focus groups, market research, engineering, feature sets, specifications. But I came back with my new liver and I was like, Damn, people! Hold up here! We need to ask some fundamental questions -- not about the product, but about the fanpersons who will use the product. Will they write on this tablet, or just read from it? Maybe they will just buy it and put it on their coffee table and look at it. Or maybe they will carry it around in a stylish, modern-looking bag and place it on the table in restaurants to impress other humans.

Will it be shiny? It must be. It must be so shiny that fanpersons can see themselves reflected in its surface and adore themselves when they are using it. How will it feel in your hand? It must be smooth. It must be light, yet substantial. It must feel perfect. It must feel like something that sprang into being, fully formed - one day it was not there, and the next day it was. It must inspire awe, and even a touch of fear. It must cause people to admire you. It must intimidate them and make them believe that you possess some powerful magic that they do not understand. Plus, it must have great battery life.

Can we really do all that? Can we really make something that will change people's lives? Of course we can -- all you have to do is believe.

(Cross-posted at FakeSteve.net.)

Steve Jobs' Apple Keynote: "Incredible, Awesome, Amazing" Apple (VIDEO)

2009-09-17T09:38:53Z

All of the incredible, awesome, amazing, really outstanding, better-and-better-and-better adjectives from the keynote speeches at Apple's September 2009 event strung together into a two-minute long video. Note: No cuts are repeated. Boy, will you get excited about Apple...

Fortune's just released the Microsoft version, which features COO Kevin Turner's July presentation to analysts boiled down to just the buzzwords.

Apple's all about the awesomeness, Microsoft wants to talk innovation and marketshare. A fair depiction of the two tech giants?

WATCH:

WATCH:

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Jesse Kornbluth: Mark Knopfler: 'I Have Become A Veteran At This Music Thing'

2009-09-14T07:00:49Z

"I'm writing too many songs, and then I have to put them out -- I'm sorry," Mark Knopfler said at the start of what seems like our annual phone call.

But if Knopfler is going to make CDs like Get Lucky, he can call me every few months -- these eleven songs are completely original short stories and character sketches, set against music by one of the planet's greater guitarists. That the quality is uniformly high is no surprise.

What did take me aback -- and what will make fans of Dire Straits and Knopfler's previous solo releases shake their heads -- is that Knopfler seems to have assembled this CD without regard for the commercial marketplace. Nothing that says "automatic Top 10" jumps out at you like "Punish the Monkey (Let the Organ Grinder Go)" from Kill to Get Crimson or "Boom Like That" from Shangri-La.

The likely result: The guy whose band sold 120 million records has made a CD that will be appreciated mostly by the smallest cohort of music lovers: smart, literate grownups who can read without moving their lips. [Click to listen to Border Reiver, the CD's hottest song.]

An unwillingness -- or is it an inability?--- to compromise. A curiosity, at 60, about songwriting that explores new personal territory. A concern, in all things, for authenticity. You don't have to talk to Mark Knopfler long before you realize that these are bred in the bone. Listen:

Jesse Kornbluth: Three words: Dire Straits reunion.

Mark Knopfler (audible sigh): These days, it does seem to be the style. But putting the brakes on when I did [he disbanded Dire Straits in 1995] was right. I'm happy with the way things are.

JK: We're talking about the easiest $300 million you'll ever make!

MK: I'm looking to do more of what I do -- improve my recordings and playing the new music live, enjoying the variations that brings.

JK: At a conference, I heard Steve Jobs quote The Beatles: "You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead." I hear that idea running through your new CD. There's a lot of life experience -- people on the far side of young love, lost comrades, memories of a distant childhood.

MK: The road ahead -- yes, it's a different picture. I have become a bit of a veteran at this music thing, so there's some of what made me. One song, "Cleaning My Gun." is from the vet's viewpoint, the survivor's viewpoint. I've made a couple of notes where it's possible to tell you the background of some of the songs. But I try not to interfere too much or explain. I don't want to spoil the songs for you; I'd prefer that it's going to be what you want it to be.

JK: In "Remembrance Day," you sing the names of those -- war dead, it seems -- now under the "earthen roof." Are they men you knew?

MK: It's just a list of boys. It begins with a cricket team. In a lot of communities, cricket teams and football teams -- and in America, baseball teams -- were the kids who went to war.

JK: That's the closest you come to social criticism on this CD. There's no wry, angry song like "Punish the Monkey." Is Knopfler mellowing?

MK: The older I get, the more grouchy I become. I have some equally disagreeable friends who are walking partners with me in the morning. We get most of our bile out then. By the time I get home, I feel better.

JK: I think of a Bruce Springsteen CD that, according to his manager, had no obvious hit single. Bruce went home and dashed off "Dancing in the Dark." And the entire world bought "Born in the USA." In contrast, I fear that "Get Lucky" will be under-appreciated because it's merely gorgeous.

MK: It does occur to me I need to have someone like that.

JK: I see you have one concert scheduled this month -- then your schedule looks blank until May of 2010. This can't be.

MK: I'm trying to work out a way to pop over to America and do Prairie Home Companion or Letterman, just by myself. And there will be a tour from April to July. [The American tour is April/May, 2010. Information here.]

JK: Didn't Dire Straits once do 250 concerts in a year?

MK: When you're young and in a band, it's like you have a football under your arm -- you're running. But some of that is running away.

JK: Fender has just launched the Mark Knopfler Stratocaster. Do you use it or just endorse it?

MK: I play it on stage instead of my old one. It works better. It has all the things I specified: a rosewood finger board, nice big smooth frets. Other owners seem to like it too.

JK: Michael Jordan wore a new pair of Nike shoes every night. Do you have more than one Knopfler Strat?

MK: I can make a lot of money for charity by playing one at an event and then selling it. So I'll generally be using a new one....

JK: I see your high standards as an affront to our rapidly deteriorating culture. They reassure those of us who care about these things that we're not alone, not crazy. In that sense, "Get Lucky" is a comfort. Can you relate?

MK: There's been an erosion, and not just in the United States. It becomes more important for people who regard themselves as having the ability to discern and feel to stand tall.

JK: So market-directed music....

MK: I'm sorry. Those words are meaningless to me.

Consider "Get Lucky" Exhibit A.

[cross-posted from HeadButler.com]

Steve Jobs: "I'm Vertical"

2009-09-09T15:20:12Z

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs delivered the keynote address at the company's invitation-only event in San Francisco on Wednesday, making his first appearance at an Apple event in nearly a year. Apple unveiled a new iPod lineup Wednesday at the event, including new Nanos with video cameras, and slashed most of the music players' prices.

Apple CEO Jobs on stage, discusses transplant

2009-09-09T14:39:47Z

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs returned Wednesday to the showman role that has helped define his company leadership, taking the stage for the first time since his medical leave to announce such new products as an iPod Nano that records video.

Jobs, who had a liver transplant this spring from a young adult who died in a car accident, got a vigorous standing ovation from many in the audience.