Walter Isaacson Biography of Steve Jobs

It didn’t take long after Steve Jobs, the renowned Apple CEO, died in his house at the beginning of October, that his official biography came out. This week, the book titled simply by his name, appeared in libraries and e-book readers everywhere. Written by Walter Isaacson, the book of 656 pages describes the life of Jobs, and his most personal thoughts, from the man himself, and throughout the book, many surprising facts came out.

The book starts with Steve as a young man, focusing on his relationship with his adopted father, and how much of his personality came from him. As an adopted child, he wanted to prove himself to him, and show that he could do great things. One of the passages for example describes how he was once painting a fence, and his father came to him, and told him that the back side of the fence, the one that was hidden and nobody would ever see, needed to be just as well painted as the front, because it proves that if something is worth doing, then it’s worth doing well. It’s from things like this that Steve’s goal of perfection came, and what he brought with him to Apple.

A lot of his college years and his early time at Apple revolved around Wozniak, his business partner. Steve did not last long in school, but he did learn important lessons. For example, one passage, which Steve also said in a previous presentation, was a class he attended showed him how crucial type fonts were. And that’s why the Macintosh has had great fonts since day one, because he now knew to focus on details like that. There’s no question that reading this book, we know that Steve Jobs was a perfectionist, but he also demanded perfection from everyone around him. This made him a controversial figure, but helped deliver the products Apple made.

This demand for perfection also brings some surprising revelations. For example, he speaks of Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, as someone who is unimaginative and has never invented anything. He sees him as someone who copies ideas. In the case of Google, he holds a very similar view, and is much harsher with words. He always believed Android was stolen from the iPhone, and says “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.” He has quite an opinion of most other large technology companies out there, as well as some politicians. It’s revealed for example that he spoke to Bill Clinton during the Monika Lewinsky scandal, to whom he said “I don’t know if you did it, but if so, you’ve got to tell the country.”

There’s no question that Steve Jobs was a fascinating man, and the book is quite worth a read for anyone interested in Apple, or even technology as a whole. With the current sale figures, it’s very possible that this will end up being one of the most sold book of 2011.

Buy The Book on Amazon.com!

Apple loses another iPhone in a bar!

Some of you may recall a strange event happening last year, in the Spring of 2010, when it was widely reported that an Apple employee had lost his phone in a bar. Of course, the juicy bit was that this particular device wasn’t a typical iPhone, but a super secret prototype of the yet unreleased iPhone 4. Long story short, it turned up in a blogger’s hands, who took pictures and reported about it online. Apple was not happy, the police got involved, but nothing much came of it.

Now, it seems history is repeating itself. CNET has learned that an Apple employee lost another unreleased iPhone in a bar. This time it was a police report Apple filed in late July that said the device had been lost in a Mission District’s tequila lounge, in San Francisco. This time however the iPhone 5 did not end up in a blog, but instead Apple was able to track it electronically to a two-story home in Bernal Heights. After the house was searched, the device was not to be found.

In both cases it seems like the authorities took the case very seriously. The blogger in question last year, a man named Jason Chen, had his home searched, his computers and phones seized, and legal threats sent from Apple’s lawyers, before the case was finally dismissed thanks to his journalistic protections. This time however, if the device does surface, it might be harder for whoever took it to get a similar get out of jail card.

There’s no question that a lost Apple prototype is big news, because the iPhone is a hot technology, something millions of people buy, and seeing the next version of the phone would be very profitable for whoever can get their hands on it, especially with Apple’s history of being so guarded when it comes to revealing future products. Launching such a device would be something done on a stage, in front of millions of viewers, and they don’t want anybody stealing their thunder.

Still, it’s not hard to guess what the iPhone 5 will contain. There’s been tons of rumors, leaks, speculations, and potentially fake photos coming out of manufacturing plants. What most people assume is that the iPhone 5 will look a lot like the iPhone 4, but with a faster processor, the same that was put into the iPad 2, as well as new antenna features, possibly either NFC, or a single chip for both GSM and CDMA, which would allow a single phone to connect to any wireless network such as Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile or AT&T. Indeed, a new rumor is making the rounds saying that when the iPhone 5 launches, it will be on Sprint.

Regardless if the lost device is ever found, one thing is certain, this news story made it all around the world, and is just one more item to add to a never ending list of rumors about the next iPhone. Because if there’s one thing technology enthusiasts love is to speculate about the next Apple product.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils iCloud  – Video

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveils iCloud at Apple’s WWDC in San Francisco.  Video is seven minutes twenty seven seconds long. Steve Jobs does a good job explaining why we need the cloud. Watch the video below or click through YouTube link.

I got my hands on the iPad this Sat. and first impression is this is an amazing little device. 2nd reaction that came a little later to me is this is primarily a content consumption device. Surfing the web gets really frustrating when you run into the fact the Apple iPad doesn’t support flash. Do you know how frustrating this becomes when surfing the web? What was Apple thinking? This makes the iPad junk in my opinion. 2nd where do I put the my SD cards from my digital camera? Oh I know, Apple decided not to include a SD slot in the iPad. Also, the minute you hook up the iPad to your computer’s USB port it wants to sync with iTunes and then asks you to create an Apple account. I absolutely hate this kind of control. May be some people like the walled garden experience, but personally I think it gets old fast. Where the iPad excels is watching video, surfing the web specifically browsing news, and streaming NetFlix. The iPad as far an I can tell is an entertainment consumption device. Sometimes I feel it’s sad that the technology industry today keeps coming up with new devices that feed us the same content movies, music, web, and news. How many more places do I need to watch video, browse news, or play video games? Do I really have to be entertained to this extent at all times? I’ll pass on the iPad, but that doesn’t mean I think it won’t be hugely successful. I think of Apple users like hipsters carrying around an iPad to them is a fashion statement. Just as carrying around a cup of Starbucks was about 10-15 years ago. Apple users see themselves as apart of a club that somehow is just a little better than everyone else. With the iPad fashion definitely comes before function. iPad’s fashionable function = consuming.