Steve Jobs

666 'Steve Jobs' stories February 2010 - August 2012

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The foundation of Apple

Steve Jobs was the co-founder and CEO of Apple. He also founded NeXT and was the majority shareholder of Pixar, both of which he was also CEO. Jobs is known as an icon of creativity and entrepreneurship. The prolific author Walter Isaacson released Jobs’ biography in October of 2011. Isaacson describes his major accomplishment as being a “creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.”

Jobs attended Reed College for a short period of time before dropping out in 1972. However, he continued to dabble with classes unofficially and came across a calligraphy course instructed by Robert Palladino. This course ended up being highly influential for Jobs as he attributed it to bringing multiple typefaces to the Mac.

Steve Jobs founded Apple with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976. After a drawn out power struggle Jobs was pushed out of Apple in 1985. He then founded NeXT in 1985 and also funded the move of Lucasfilm’s Graphics Group to become its own corporation, which became Pixar in 1986. Just over a decade later in 1997, Jobs returned to Apple as they acquired NeXT. His return marked the beginning of a new era of success. He took over as CEO in July of 1997 and continued on until handing the position to Tim Cook on August 24, 2011 after increasing health problems. Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011.

Isaacson describes his major accomplishment as being a “creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.”

HBR: Who Cares If Samsung Copied Apple?

9to5 Staff Aug 20 2012 - 8:51 am PT

The Harvard Business Review’s James Allworth asks the question ^

If Apple ends up winning this case against Samsung — and either stops Samsung from releasing their phones and tablets to the market, or charges them a hefty license fee to do so — does anyone really believe that the market will suddenly become more innovative, or that devices will suddenly become more affordable? Similarly, if Samsung wins, do you really believe that Apple will suddenly slow its aggressive development of the iPhone and iPad? It’s certainly not what happened last time they lost one of these cases.

Now, if you’re with me so far, then I don’t think it’s a leap to suggest that having these companies duke it out in court over “who might have copied who” is counterproductive. Let’s have these companies solely focused on duking it out in the marketplace — where consumers, not courtrooms, make the decisions about innovation. In such a world, the best defense against copying isn’t lawsuits, but rather, to innovate at such a rate that your competition can’t copy you fast enough. That, to me, sounds like an ideal situation not just for consumers — but for the real innovators, too.

This is what Apple used to do.

Report: ‘Kenny the Clown’ used Steve Jobs’ stolen 64GB iPad in clown routine

Élyse Betters Aug 17 2012 - 6:57 am PT

<em>Kenny the Clown</em>

Mercury News’ Mike Rosenberg caught up with the clown who had Steve Jobs’ 64GB stolen iPad.

Literally–he’s a professional clown. Kenneth Kahn, 47, received the iPad, which Mercury News noted as being “silver,” from 35-year-old Kariem McFarlin. He met McFarlin roughly a decade ago when he coached him on a basketball team in Alameda, Calif. Kahn thought he was getting an “old device McFarlin wanted to get rid of” and believed his friend bought a newer-version.

Kahn, who is known as “Kenny the Clown” by day, only used the illustrious tablet to play a “Pink Panther” theme song and Michael Jackson during a clown act.

Mercury News explained:

He had no idea the device came from the fabled Jobs residence until after the friend who gave him the gadget was charged with breaking into the CEO’s Palo Alto home. By then, the cops had already shown up at his door and taken it away.

“It would be like getting a football from Joe Montana that was stolen out of his house,” said the 47-year-old professional clown, whose real name is Kenneth Kahn. “It’s bizarre; it’s really bizarre.”

<em>Kenneth Kahn</em>

McFarlin, an Alameda resident with only a misdemeanor charge on his record for driving without a license in 1999, stole the iPad from Jobs’ Waverley Street home on July 17. He allegedly gave another iPad to his daughter, according to police, but both devices were returned to Jobs’ family upon McFarlin’s arrest on Aug. 2. McFarlin immediately admitted the crime and waited in jail Thursday in lieu of $500,000 bail.

“Before the public sees him as this horrible monster, I’d like to hopefully think we can somehow get across that he just made the worst mistake of his life,” Kahn said to Mercury News. “It still hasn’t really 100 percent set in for me. It was Steve Jobs’ iPad — literally. If this thing weren’t so tragic, it would be comical.”

Get the full report at Mercury News.

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Steve Jobs personal items including his wallet (with his yearly salary in it!), 2 iMacs and 3 iPads returned after theft

9to5 Staff Aug 14 2012 - 5:00 pm PT

We told you earlier about the burglary at Steve Jobs’ home this past month. The Daily reports on the items missing and the suspect.

Wearing work gloves, McFarlin set down lawn furniture cushions outside the perimeter of the home in order to safely toss his take including: two iMacs, three iPads, one Apple TV, a Sodastream soda maker and various Tiffany jewels before fleeing away in his car.

The jewelry McFarlin lifted was the bulk of the heist’s value, totaling nearly all of the $60,000 in value. Jobs’ wallet, including credit cards and $1 (his famous yearly salary), was also part of the heist. Laurene Powell Jobs was staying nearby while the renovations were being done.

The suspect, McFarlin, did not seem to realize he was in Jobs’ home. McFarlin said he was in dire straits with money and “he was desperate.”

McFarlin told cops that he had been living in his car and had chanced upon the abandoned Jobs home while sleeping on the street there. He decided it would be the target of his first burglary. Before the heat was on, the novice McFarlin quickly Googled how to fence the jewelry.

He was caught when trying to plug in the Apple equipment and the devices “called home” for software updates.
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More than $60,000 worth of ‘computers and personal items’ stolen from Steve Jobs home

Jordan Kahn Aug 14 2012 - 6:52 am PT

Update: List of items stolen (and returned)

According to a report from MercuryNews, suspects are now in custody for the recent burglary of the Silicon Valley home of Steve Jobs that contained more than $60,000 worth of computers and personal items:

The deceased Apple co-founder’s home on the 2100 block of Waverley Street in Palo Alto was burglarized July 17, said Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tom Flattery, a member of the high-technology crimes unit…More than $60,000 worth of “computers and personal items” were allegedly stolen, but Flattery declined to say whether they belonged to Jobs, who died last year at the age of 56, or another family member.

Weeks after the burglary on July 17, police arrested Kariem McFarlin, 35, who is currently in jail on $500,000 bail, but other specific details regarding the crime are not available. We know that Laurene Powell Jobs and family were likely not living in the home at the time of the robbery, as during July the property was undergoing renovations with construction barricades and scaffolding surrounding the house. Forbes snapped photos of the property under construction (below) on July 4:

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Watch Steve Jobs’ ad man Ken Segall talk for over an hour about the simplicity of Apple [video]

Seth Weintraub Aug 8 2012 - 7:33 am PT

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvUJpvop-0w&feature=player_embedded]

Ken Segall, author of “Insanely Simple: The Obsession that Drives Apple’s Success“, talks with Techland’s Harry McCracken at a Computer History Museum event.

From the Computer History Museum:
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Forstall on inertial scrolling: Steve told Samsung ‘here’s something we invented. Don’t copy it. Don’t steal it’

Jordan Kahn Aug 7 2012 - 6:03 am PT

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdbvAdINPPA]
We have brought you updates on the Apple vs. Samsung trial all week with yesterday’s highlight being a testimony from Apple’s expert design witness, former President of the Industrial Designers Society of America Peter Bressler. Last week, we told you Apple Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall testified in the case, but Network World discovered some interesting bits today from Forstall’s deposition from a few months ago. While noting the three key multi-touch patents involved in the case (381′ related to “rubber banding,” ‘915 related to determining one-finger scroll vs. multi-touch gestures, and ‘163 related to double tap to zoom), Network World posted excerpts from Forstall’s highly redacted deposition. The SVP appears to have claimed the now-late CEO Steve Jobs once told Samsung not to copy or steal the inertial scrolling, rubber band invention:

Returning to the Forstall’s deposition, Apple’s iOS guru is asked about discussions Steve Jobs seemingly had with Samsung over the rubber banding patent…Forstall responded:

I don’t remember specifics. I think it was just one of the things that Steve said, here’s something we invented. Don’t – don’t copy it. Don’t steal it….Rubber banding is one of the sort of key things for the fluidity of the iPhone and – and all of iOS, and so I know it was one of the ones that Steve really cared about… I actually think that Android had not done rubber banding at some point and it was actually added later. So they actually went form sort of, you know, not yet copying and infringing to – to choosing to copy, which is sad and distasteful…

Regarding whether the feature was discussed in subsequent meetings with Samsung:

But I can’t give you a specific recollection of – of Steve, you know, going over rubber banding with – with them in those meetings or not… I expect it came up, because it’s one of the key things we talked – you know, he and I talked about, but I don’t know if it came up there.

It is unclear which meetings Forstall is referring to due to the large amount of redactions in the documents, but Network World noted that court documents revealed previously that Apple offered to license Samsung patent ‘381 in November 2010. Forstall also described meetings Jobs had with Samsung when questioned about iOS icon designs:

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January 2011 email from Eddy Cue to other Apple execs notes Steve Jobs’ interest in 7-inch iPad

Jake Smith Aug 3 2012 - 2:08 pm PT

image Samsung cia CNET

Going against his claim that a 7-inch tablet would not work (seen in a video below), and that Apple would not go into the 7-inch market, Steve Jobs seemed receptive to the thought of a 7-inch iPad according to an email with Eddy Cue. The Verge, which is currently in the courtroom where Scott Forstall testified, reported:

Wow. Forstall is shown a 2011 email from Eddy Cue, in which Cue forwarded an article that a journalist wrote about dumping the iPad after using a Galaxy Tab. Cue writes “Having used a Samsung Galaxy [Tab], i tend to agree with many of the comments below… I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one. I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time.”

[tweet https://twitter.com/jonfortt/status/231494904621170688]

[tweet https://twitter.com/iansherr/statuses/231497155028856832]

After months of rumors, the 7-inch iPad is believed to be announced at a media event on Sept. 12 along with the new iPhone. Several other publications confirmed the initial report shortly after.

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Jony Ive: Apple almost shelved the iPhone because nearly unsolvable problems like ear-dialing

9to5 Staff Jul 31 2012 - 9:25 am PT

Apple SVP of Industrial DesignJony Ive is making the rounds in London for the Olympics this week. Yesterday he spoke on Apple’s design process and the ‘Bankruptcy Days’ at the British Embassy’s Creative Summit. Today more of what he’s has said was revealed by the Independent and the following quotes stand out:

“There were multiple times where we nearly shelved the phone because we thought there were fundamental problems that we can’t solve,” said Sir Jony, speaking at a British Business Embassy event to coincide with the Olympics. One problem involved an early prototype “where I put the phone to my ear and my ear dials the number”… accidentally.

The Ive-designed iPhone has gone on to enjoy extraordinary success since its launch in 2007, selling almost 250 million and becoming a design classic. But Sir Jony, who has worked at Apple since 1992, said it was not uncommon to feel during the planning stage of a device that “we were pursuing something that we think ‘that’s really incredibly compelling’, but we’re really struggling to solve the problem that it represents”.

“We have been, on a number of occasions, preparing for mass production and in a room and realised we are talking a little too loud about the virtues of something. That to me is always the danger, if I’m trying to talk a little too loud about something and realising I’m trying to convince myself that something’s good.

“You have that horrible, horrible feeling deep down in your tummy and you know that it’s OK but it’s not great. And I think some of the bravest things we’ve ever done are really at that point when you say, ‘that’s good and it’s competent, but it not’s great’.”

Apple SVP of Design Jony Ive speaks on Apple’s design process and the ‘Bankruptcy Days’

Élyse Betters Jul 30 2012 - 6:29 am PT

Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jonathan Ive spoke at the British Embassy’s Creative Summit this morning about Apple’s design focus, and Wired was on hand to get the report.

The Apple executive primarily described how revenue does not drive the folks in Cupertino but rather “great products” do. He noted the company is “pleased with revenues,” and its goal is again not “to make money.”

“It sounds a little flippant, but it’s the truth. Our goal and what makes us excited is to make great products,” said Ive. “If we are successful people will like them and if we are operationally competent, we will make money.”

Ive made similar comments on the day of his Knighting [audio] and to Walter Isaacson for the “Steve Jobs” Bio. Moreover, Tim Cook has reiterated Apple’s great products goal many times since he took the reigns as CEO.

Ive also recounted at the summit Apple’s bankruptcy days. He said Steve Jobs recognized Apple products needed to be better, so that is where the chief’s attention remained instead of trying to earn money.

He explained how, in the 90s, Apple was very close to bankruptcy and that “you learn a lot about vital corporations through non-vital corporations”. When Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1997, his focus was not on making money — “His observation was that the products weren’t good enough. His resolve was to make better products.” This was a different approach from other attempts to turn the company around, which had focused first and foremost on cost savings and revenue generation.

According to Wired, Ive then detailed how thrilled he feels to “be a part of the creative process”:
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Microsoft’s lost decade, chronicled

Jordan Kahn Jul 27 2012 - 6:40 am PT

In a lengthy piece, titled “Microsoft’s Lost Decade”, Kurt Eichenwald of Vanity Fair profiled CEO Steve Ballmer and his role in the company’s steadily decreasing dominance. The piece includes interviews with current and past executives of the company, thousands of internal docs and legal records, and, not surprisingly, Apple’s role in the decline of Microsoft makes up a large part of the story:

Truly, for senior management, the problems didn’t make sense. Microsoft had some of the smartest people in the technology business. It had billions of dollars at its disposal, and the ability to throw that money into any project the executives chose… Current and former executives said that, each year, they tried to explain to Microsoft’s top executives why the company was struggling in the quality of its innovation compared with Apple… Exhibit A: today the iPhone brings in more revenue than the entirety of Microsoft… One Apple product, something that didn’t exist five years ago, has higher sales than everything Microsoft has to offer. More than Windows, Office, Xbox, Bing, Windows Phone, and every other product that Microsoft has created since 1975. In the quarter ended March 31, 2012, iPhone had sales of $22.7 billion; Microsoft Corporation, $17.4 billion.

One anecdote covered in the story comes from emails that circulated around Microsoft following the introduction of Tiger:

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Samsung says Apple stole iPhone design from Sony

Jordan Kahn Jul 26 2012 - 12:15 pm PT

With Apple and Samsung’s jury trial slated to kick off in a federal district court in San Jose, Calif., this Monday, AllThingsD points us to trial briefs where Samsung’s lawyers argued Apple’s inspiration for the original iPhone CAD drawings and designs were inspired by a Sony product:

Right after this article was circulated internally, Apple industrial designer Shin Nishibori was directed to prepare a “Sony-like” design for an Apple phone and then had CAD drawings and a three-dimensional model prepared. Confirming the origin of the design, these internal Apple CAD drawings prepared at Mr. Nishibori‘s direction even had the “Sony” name prominently emblazoned on the phone design, as the below images from Apple‘s internal documents show..

Soon afterward, on March 8, 2006, Apple designer Richard Howarth reported that, in contrast to another internal design that was then under consideration, Mr. Nishibori‘s “Sony-style” design enabled “a much smaller-looking product with a much nicer shape to have next to your ear and in your pocket” and had greater “size and shape/comfort benefits.” As Mr. Nishibori has confirmed in deposition testimony, this “Sony-style” design he prepared changed the course of the project that yielded the final iPhone design.

The article referenced above is from a 2006 interview with Sony designers that appeared in Businessweek.

Wired does a Steve Jobs cover complete with halo and horns

9to5 Staff Jul 22 2012 - 5:36 pm PT

The article sounds a bit boring with the TIRED anecdotes from the Isaacson bio, but it is something to see Wired still trotting out Jobs covers to sell some mags.

Wired’s cover story has gone live.

Ashton Kutcher laying down reality distortion in Steve Jobs bowtie [Photos]

Élyse Betters Jul 19 2012 - 11:31 am PT

Images are surfacing on Twitter that depict actor Ashton Kutcher as the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs during his bowtie-wearing days. The biopic is apparently filming now at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, Calif., where students are live on scene to capture the action.

The last gallery image (via X17 Online) of Kutcher noticeably dressed as an older Jobs is also reportedly from the Los Angeles set.

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Steve Jobs warned Yelp’s CEO not to sell out to Google

Élyse Betters Jul 16 2012 - 8:01 am PT

Steve Jobs once urged Yelp’s Jeremy Stoppelman to not go Google.

SFGate published a lengthy profile of Yelps’ co-founder and chief executive today, but one of the more interesting anecdotes concerned the late co-founder of Apple, of course.

According to SFGate:

Jeremy Stoppelman was on a conference call with venture capitalists when an assistant slipped him a note: “Steve Jobs is on the line.”

Stoppelman quietly left the room at Yelp headquarters in downtown San Francisco. It was January 2010, and Google wanted to buy Yelp, the online, crowd-sourced review site. On the phone, Jobs urged Stoppelman, who revered the Apple chief as a visionary, to “stay independent and not sell out to Google.” Jobs was not a fan of Google and had accused the search giant of stealing Apple’s smart-phone and tablet technology.

“At that point, we had already turned down Google,” Stoppelman said. “But Steve liked Yelp and wanted to make sure about Google. It was a moment where I said, ‘This is crazy. What just happened?'”

The CEO further admitted that he received another flooring phone call this spring when his company went public. Apparently, President Barack Obama ringed to congratulate Yelp on all of its successes since founding in 2004.

Yelp’s continuous upswing shows no signs of stopping, either. Senior Vice President of iOS Software Scott Forstall even demoed Yelp on Apple’s new Maps app during the opening keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference last month. The check-in integration is slated to debut in iOS 6.

So, it appears Jobs may have had ulterior motives when warning Stoppelman about the repercussions of a Google acquisition—surprise, surprise.

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Want to be in the Ashton Kutcher Steve Jobs movie? Here’s how to be an extra this week…

9to5 Staff Jul 14 2012 - 3:05 pm PT

We received an interesting tip this weekend. Apparently, Steve Jobs—the movie with Ashton Kutcher—is filming two important crowd scenes in Pasadena, Calif. this week.

The scenes we’re part of will be the 1983 PC Conference (Monday the 16th) and the 1977 Computer Jobs Faire (Tuesday the 17th)

The movie company is looking for extras to be in those crowds, dressed in “period clothing” (sorry, not the acid scene) as “Businessmen, Computer Nerds, Salesmen, Lookie-Loos.”

Here are some examples of the wardrobe:

The casting company advertises plenty of time with the movie’s stars, including Ashton Kutcher, James Woods, Matthew Modine, Durmot Mulruny and JK Simmons, and we imagine some will want to be a part of the historic scene.

The full details are below:

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Tim Cook makes surprise appearance at Allen & Co retreat this morning (Update: Spotted with Dorsey)

Élyse Betters Jul 11 2012 - 10:18 am PT

Tim Cook with Twitter creator Jack Dorsey

[tweet https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/223099203377836032]

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook made a low-profile, surprise appearance at the Allen & Company annual retreat in Sun Valley earlier today.

According to The New York Post, the CEO attended the event for the first time to observe The New Yorker’s Evan Osnos’ session on China:

While his name was on the list of possible attendees, no one knew if the low-key CEO would put in an appearance.

Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs hadn’t traveled to the annual gathering in recent years.

Cook slipped out of the session at the Sun Valley Inn largely unnoticed. While other business titans gathered at the Duck Pond for lunch, he headed in the direction of the lodge.

The session was hosted by The New Yorker’s China correspondent, Evan Osnos. Apple is getting ready to unleash the latest version of the iPad in China, the world’s largest consumer market.

The Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference is a 29-year-old annual conference hosted by private investment firm Allen & Company. It takes place in Sun Valley, Idaho for one week in July, where moguls, executives and philanthropists flock to rub shoulders. Previous conference guests have included Steve Jobs, Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren and Susan Buffett, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, and more.

: Tim Cook with iPad

: Tim Cook and CEO of Akamai Paul Sagan

: Tim Cook

: Tim Cook with Twitter creator Jack Dorsey

(Cook and Sagan pictures via BusinessInsider; Cook and Dorsey picture via mcatwellons—Thanks, @wiserjoe727!)

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Casting for Jony Ive role, others announced for indie Steve Jobs biopic

Jordan Kahn Jul 10 2012 - 1:29 pm PT

We previously told you about the “jOBS” biopic staring Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs that is currently in production, and we brought you some early images of Kutcher on set. The film was previously confirmed to star Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak and Matthew Modine as John Sculley, but a new report from HollywoodReporter announced more additions to the cast including Giles Matthey (pictured right) as Jony Ive:

Kevin Dunn and J.K. Simmons have joined the cast of Jobs, the biopic about the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, starring Ashton Kutcher. Also rounding out the cast are Elden Henson, Lenny Jacobson, Giles Matthey, Ahna O’Reilly and Victor Rasuk… Dunn, who recently co-starred in HBO’s Luck, will play Apple chairman Gil Amelio. Simmons, known from his nine seasons on Law & Order, will appear as venture capitalist and Apple investor Arthur Rock. Among the other additions to the cast, Henson plays computer scientist and Macintosh developer Andy Hertzfeld; Jacobson portrays Apple engineer Burrell Smith; Matthey is iPod designer Jonathan Ive; O’Reilly plays Jobs’ girlfriend Chris-Ann; and Rasuk is Apple’s first employee and user interface architect Bill Fernandez.

The biopic is now shooting in Los Altos and Los Angeles, and it is expected to release later this year. Other cast members previously confirmed include James Woods, Ron Eldard, John Getz, Lukas Haas, Dermot Mulroney, and Lesley Ann Warren.

Here’s Ashton Kutcher playing Steve Jobs on Acid [Photos] (9to5mac.com)
‘jOBS’ biopic starring Ashton Kutcher will shoot in Apple Garage and childhood home (9to5mac.com)

How to add a USB Blu-ray player to your Mac for $42

9to5 Staff Jul 2 2012 - 7:06 am PT

With 1080P hitting the new iPad and Apple TV a few months ago, and the new Retina MacBook Pros now reaching people’s hands, some of you are perhaps now looking to send your Blu-ray collection over to Apple devices.

Here is the easy part: Buy a Toshiba Lightscribe Blu-ray Player for just $42 with free shipping (via 9to5Toys) in white or black. It also burns DVDs, and Lightscribe media will even do some art on the cover. Oh, and it is USB bus-powered, so it is nice and portable.

Toshiba advertises it as “Mac compatible,” but we all knew that the late and great Steve Jobs viewed Blu-ray as a “bag of hurt” from the “mafia.”

So, the hard part is getting Blu-rays to your Mac…

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Former Mac OS X chief Bertrand Serlet working on cloud startup with ex-Apple colleagues

Jordan Kahn Jun 29 2012 - 10:08 am PT

In March 2011, Apple officially announced that Mac OS X chief Bertrand Serlet would leave Apple after 22 years with Steve Jobs at NeXT and Apple. At the time of the announcement, Serlet said he wanted “to focus less on products and more on science,” but we did not have any other information on what was in the cards for the man Apple credited with the “definition, development and creation of Mac OS X.”

Today, BusinessInsider reported on what Serlet has in the works:

Business Insider has learned that Serlet has spent much of the time since his departure from Apple working with at least two other former Apple employees to launch a cloud computing startup in downtown Palo Alto called Upthere

Some of these job postings also allude to the fact that the startup was founded by high-profile ex-Apple employees.

We have since learned that this is a reference to Serlet (the brains behind Mac OS X) and Roger Bodamer, a former VP of product operations and development at Apple who previously worked at Oracle.

Based on the job postings we’ve seen, it’s clear the startup is looking to rethink the way people store files in the cloud, though just how this service will compare to options like Dropbox or Apple’s own iCloud feature remains unclear.

Here’s Ashton Kutcher playing Steve Jobs on Acid [Photos]

Élyse Betters Jun 26 2012 - 8:13 am PT

French website Premiere (via DailyMail) just posted a few pictures of Ashton Kutcher acting like Steve Jobs under the influence of LSD during a scene shoot for the upcoming biopic on the late Apple co-founder.

The actor appears delirious and euphoric with his arms outstretched while in the grassy California field. Jobs confessed on many occasions that the effects of LSD inspired him and served as one of the “most important experiences” of his life.

Here is a clip from “Pirates of Silicon Valley,” where Noah Wyle also portrays Jobs high on Acid:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EIu21QPQMc&feature=player_embedded#]

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Neon Trees to perform at WWDC Bash on Thursday

Élyse Betters Jun 12 2012 - 11:49 am PT

Apple just revealed to developers via email that pop-rock band Neon Trees will put on a show at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 14:

An amazing week just got better. Neon Trees will perform at Thursday night’s WWDC Bash. The party starts at 6:00 p.m. at Yerba Buena Gardens.

The WWDC Bash is intended to give developers’ coding skills a break. Apple told attendees on its website: “We’ll bring the food, the drinks, and the tunes. Just bring yourself and get ready to rock the night away.”

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Judge rules Steve Jobs’ thermonuclear comments can be used in Motorola trial

Jake Smith Jun 2 2012 - 3:49 pm PT

Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs was known for being vocal when it came to talking about Google’s Android. Comments from Jobs referring to Android as a stolen product and vowing to destroy it even made it into Walter Isaacson’s official biography about the chief. Now, a judge presiding in a patent case with Motorola ruled that he would allow the comments to be referenced in trial, which goes against requests from Apple’s lawyers. Reuters reported (via GigaOM):

Steve Jobs gave a lot of juicy quotes before he died, and Apple Inc has failed to keep some of them out of an upcoming patent trial against Google’s Motorola Mobility unit, according to a court ruling.

A couple of examples:

“I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong.”
“I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

Rumor: Apple working on standalone iSight camera?

Jordan Kahn May 31 2012 - 1:24 pm PT

The New iPad Buyers’ Guide published by iLounge this week included a piece that speculated Apple might be working on a standalone camera product. While the story discussed the possibility of Apple working on a point-and-shoot iSight camera, iLounge clearly labeled it as speculation and simultaneously noted it received a tip claiming Apple is working on the project.

Take special note of pages 152 and 153—“Making the case for a standalone iSight Camera.” I’ll share more on this topic shortly, but for now, I’ll say that this two-page spread very nearly had a different title. We were tipped that this project is actually happening at Apple right now, but we didn’t feel confident enough in our source to call it a certainty; it’s therefore billed as speculation. Still, there’s enough smoke to make us think there’s a fire.

It did not feel strongly enough in the source to run the story, but Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge sent out a tweet today noting once again that Apple is working on a standalone camera:

[tweet https://twitter.com/horwitz/status/208273241540792320]

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Aaron Sorkin compares daunting task of Steve Jobs biopic to ‘writing about The Beatles’

Élyse Betters May 30 2012 - 12:55 pm PT

Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter behind the Sony-backed biopic based on Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography, just sat down with Walt Mossberg at the D10 Conference to discuss everything from the late CEO and upcoming blockbuster to writing techniques and…The Beatles.

Sorkin is a Hollywood mogul thanks to his numerous successes, including “The Social Network,” “Moneyball,” and “The West Wing,” but the Big Shot warned that his silver-screen version of the best-selling biography is still in its early stages.
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