‘Becoming Steve Jobs’ Excerpts: Friendship With Tim Cook, Campus 2 and Succession at Apple
The upcoming book Becoming Steve Jobs, written by Brent Schlender, a reporter who interviewed Jobs several times throughout his life and became close to him, and Rick Tetzeli, executive editor at Fast Company, is set to be released on March 24. Ahead of time, the authors have shared a number of excerpts from the book that provide untold details about his life.
Apple CEO Tim Cook claims that Walter Isaacson’s autobiography of Steve Jobs “did him a tremendous disservice,” depicting the late Apple co-founder as “a greedy, selfish egomaniac.” Cook added that Jobs certainly “wasn’t a saint,” but that “it’s emphatically untrue that he wasn’t a great human being.” He believes that Jobs truly cared about things, but his passion was sometimes mistaken for arrogance.
“Steve cared,” Cook continues. “He cared deeply about things. Yes, he was very passionate about things, and he wanted things to be perfect. And that was what was great about him. A lot of people mistook that passion for arrogance. He wasn’t a saint. I’m not saying that. None of us are. But it’s emphatically untrue that he wasn’t a great human being, and that is totally not understood.”
Even as his sickness progressed, Jobs continued working at Apple until his final days, and wanted others to treat him as if he were not sick. Cook claims that Jobs began thinking about a succession plan and life after Apple in 2004, and spent time working with Joel Podolny, a professor he hired from the Yale School of Management, on Apple University to pass on his methodologies to Apple’s next generation of leaders.
“But as the days went on he would spend more time with me and with other people explaining why he thought or did something, or why he looked at something in a certain way. This was why he came up with Apple U., so we could train and educate the next generation of leaders by teaching them all we had been through, and how we had made the terrible decisions we made and also how we made the really good ones.”
The book also details that Jobs worked closely with Norman Foster Architects on the design of Apple’s Campus 2 in Cupertino, California, a spaceship-like headquarters under construction on the grounds of Hewlett-Packard’s old campus. Jobs approached the design of the headquarters with the same principles he applied to the iPhone, iPad and everything else.
“Steve wanted people to love Apple,” says Cook, “not just work for Apple, but really love Apple, and really understand at a very deep level what Apple was about, about the values of the company. He didn’t write them on the walls and make posters out of them anymore, but he wanted people to understand them. He wanted people to work for a greater cause.”
Cook reflected on August 11, 2011, the day that Jobs called him to his house and decided that he should be the next CEO at Apple. Cook, who had previously served at the helm of Apple during Steve’s medical leaves in 2004 and 2009, was hesitant about taking the position at first, but believed that the best candidate had to come from within Apple to truly understand the culture of the company.
“If you believe that it’s important to understand Apple’s culture deeply, you wind up clicking to an internal candidate,” explains Cook. “If I were leaving this afternoon I’d recommend an inside candidate, because I don’t think there’s any way somebody could come in and understand the complexity of what we do and really get the culture in that deep way. And I think Steve knew that it also needed to be somebody that believed in the Beatles concept. [Jobs believed that the Fab Four brought out the best in one another—and moderated any individual’s excesses.] Apple would not be served well to have a CEO who wanted to or felt like they needed to replace him precisely. I don’t think there is such a person, but you could envision people trying. He knew that I would never be so dumb as to do that, or even feel that I needed to do that.”
Jobs passed away in October 2011 following a lengthy battle with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. The excerpts above were adapted from Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart Into a Revolutionary Leader, which will be available in hardcover on Amazon for $18 on March 24. Apple executive Eddy Cue described the book as “well done” and the “first to get it right” earlier this week.
Nintendo Bringing Mario and Other Games to Smartphones and Tablets
Nintendo announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with Japanese mobile game maker DeNA to jointly develop games for smartphones, tablets and PCs, meaning that iconic franchises such as Mario, Pokemon and Zelda could soon be available on devices such as iPhone, iPad and Mac. Nintendo will purchase a 10% stake in DeNA for ¥22 billion ($182 million) as part of a cross-shareholding deal, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Nintendo consistently refused to license its intellectual property to other platforms, fearing that doing so may threaten its traditional, console-based business model. Nevertheless, as the mobile gaming industry has grown into an estimated $25 billion market, and competitors such as Sony begin making more games available on other consoles, it appears that Nintendo has caved into the pressure.
“The company seems to have totally changed its mind-set, after having resisted against mobile game development, publicly complained about the low quality of content in mobile and played down its role in the game world overall,” said Serkan Toto, a Tokyo-based game consultant. “This is about the most drastic, bold shift in strategy Nintendo could have undertaken.”
Nintendo and DeNA will team up to develop a “multi-device membership service for the global market,” available next fall for PCs, smartphones, tablets and also Nintendo gaming consoles, according to the report. Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said at a news conference on Tuesday that he hopes the service will allow the company to reach hundreds of millions of new users.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge camera put to test against Apple iPhone 6 Plus
With the ever expanding capabilities of camera sensors on our favorite smartphones, sample photos and comparisons are becoming more and more relevant to your purchasing decisions. Players like Apple with their line of iPhones and Android players like Samsung and Sony have been making waves, bringing the general casual smartphone photography to the next level.
We’ve got a few photo shootouts coming for you, but for now, let’s take a look at of few sample photos from the Apple iPhone 6 Plus vs the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge out of Denmark. In the below sets, the top image is the iPhone, the bottom image belongs to Samsung.
For those familiar with Apple vs Android phone shootouts, I hope you are pleased with the results you see here. Usually Apple comes out the victor, but we’re not so sure that is true today. Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus clocks in with 8MP, 18mm squared sensor shooting at a 4:3 aspect ratio, f/2.2 with image stabilization. HD video recording is complemented by 240fps slow-motion capture at 720p.
Samsung’s equipped sensor on the Galaxy S6 Edge looks slightly better on paper, 16MP, 19.9mm squared sensor shoots at 16:9 aspect ratio, f/1.9 with image stabilization. 4K video recording is on board, but only 120fps slow motion at 720p.
If the devil is in the details, you just witnessed all the evil there is to see in the camera samples. 100% zoom reveals all the grain, or lack thereof.
OK, these phones perform quite well in the bright of day. Perhaps there is a touch of yellow in the iPhone photos. Now, how do they handle night images? Our cameraman didn’t wait for night, instead headed into an enclosed parking garage.
What is this you see, yes, it is strengths and weaknesses from both camps. To my untrained eye, the iPhone 6 Plus loses a ton of clarity vs the Galaxy S6 Edge. There is also a huge discrepancy in the white balance of the photos, perhaps your translation of the original site can identify which phone managed to capture the coloring more accurately.
Last, what you all may have been waiting for, video capture. Here is the Apple iPhone 6 Plus shooting those cars in the dark of the parking garage at its best 1080p resolution.
http://video.mobilsiden.dk/v.ihtml/player.html?source=share&photo%5Fid=11158847
Last, but certainly not least, is the 4K video capture from the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, taken in the same dimly lit parking garage.
http://video.mobilsiden.dk/v.ihtml/player.html?source=share&photo%5Fid=11158853
Once again, the videos give off that huge difference in white balance, but the resulting imagery may leave you debating realistic colors against almost HDR-like image brightness balancing.
As mentioned, don’t let this be the end of your research if you are comparing these two devices for purchase. We have our own Samsung Galaxy S6 (Edge) vs Apple iPhone 6 (Plus) camera shootouts in the works. Stay tuned.
In the end, the choice is yours, obviously – from what you see so far, do you think the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge has overthrown the Apple iPhone 6 Plus in this camera comparison?
Xiaomi planning on releasing a smartwatch of its own
Xiaomi, is looking to respond to the Apple Watch with a smartwatch of its own. Also known as ‘China’s Apple’, the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer is reportedly gearing up to take on Apple in a new product category. As per the rumors, the Xiaomi smartwatch is expected to feature a round dial and a brushed […]
The post Xiaomi planning on releasing a smartwatch of its own appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Apple Planning to Launch Streaming TV Service Featuring ABC, CBS, Fox and More
Apple is in talks with programmers to launch a subscription-based streaming TV service anchored by networks ABC, CBS and Fox, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report, citing sources familiar with the matter, claims that the service would have about 25 channels and be available on Apple TV, iPad and iPhone.
BREAKING: Apple in talks to launch online TV service in the fall with about 25 channels, featuring ABC, CBS and FOX networks – WSJ
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) March 17, 2015
Apple’s web-based TV service will reportedly be a lightweight package consisting of popular channels such as ABC, CBS, ESPN and FX, but not smaller stations typically included in a standard cable TV package. The service is rumored to cost between $30 to $40 per month and debut at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June ahead of a September launch in the United States.
The report adds that NBCUniversal content will be notably absent due to a falling-out between Apple and NBC parent company Comcast. The two sides were allegedly in negotiations as recently as last year, although Apple believed that Comcast was too focused on its own X1 set-top box for web-based streaming. The breakdown in discussions may have prevented Apple from launching its online TV service sooner.
WSJ: Apple’s TV service due this fall with about 25 channels
With the thawing of the spring we have a renewal of an old favorite: Apple TV rumors. After Re/code suggested a month ago that Apple might go its own way Sling TV-style instead of working with cable companies, the Wall Street Journal is reporting similar details. According to WSJ, Apple is negotiating to launch a “slim” package of 25 or so channels for streaming this fall for $30 – $40, but there’s a twist: there’s no negotiations so far with Comcast-owned NBCUniversal, because of a falling out between the cable giant and the tech company. The rumors go so far as to claim Apple felt Comcast was intentionally stringing it along while it developed its X1 cable box. So far Sling seems to be doing ok without Syfy and the rest, but we’ll see if that changes after The Expanse launches. With an Apple TV price drop and similar services either launched or on the way, we’ll move the Apple TV rumor alert level up to a still-skeptical (see my reasoning here) chartreuse.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple
Source: Wall Street Journal
WSJ: Apple’s TV service due this fall with about 25 channels
With the thawing of the spring we have a renewal of an old favorite: Apple TV rumors. After Re/code suggested a month ago that Apple might go its own way Sling TV-style instead of working with cable companies, the Wall Street Journal is reporting similar details. According to WSJ, Apple is negotiating to launch a “slim” package of 25 or so channels for streaming this fall for $30 – $40, but there’s a twist: there’s no negotiations so far with Comcast-owned NBCUniversal, because of a falling out between the cable giant and the tech company. The rumors go so far as to claim Apple felt Comcast was intentionally stringing it along while it developed its X1 cable box. So far Sling seems to be doing ok without Syfy and the rest, but we’ll see if that changes after The Expanse launches. With an Apple TV price drop and similar services either launched or on the way, we’ll move the Apple TV rumor alert level up to a still-skeptical (see my reasoning here) chartreuse.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple
Source: Wall Street Journal
How to Pair Your Apple Watch With Your iPhone and Install Apps [iOS Blog]
In just over a month, we will finally have the long-awaited Apple Watch in our hands, or technically, on our wrists. The first thing you’ll need to do once you get a hold of the new gadget is pair it with your iPhone and prepare to install apps for it.
To make sure you are ready for the big day, we have a how-to guide for pairing your iPhone with your Apple Watch. It won’t be hard, but it will use technology to pair the two devices in a way we’ve never seen before on an Apple product.
Apple Watch will require connection to an iPhone 5, 5s, 5c, 6, or 6 Plus running iOS 8.2. With varying methods of connectivity between the devices, Apple has developed a interesting system to pair the two devices using a camera feature.
Steps for Pairing Apple Watch with iPhone
- Launch the Apple Watch App on your iPhone
- Tap “Start Pairing” on the main screen
- Hold Apple Watch up to your iPhone’s camera so the screen is in alignment with the yellow outlined box on your iPhone’s screen
- Follow the on-screen instructions provided in the Apple Watch app
Alternate Method for Pairing Apple Watch Manually
If you do not wish to use the camera feature, you can alternatively pair Apple Watch with your iPhone manually.
Read more 
Apple preparing trade-in program to lure Android users
Almost every carrier and hardware manufacturer has some form of an incentive program to gain customers. Whether it is paying for fees or offering credit for old devices, consumers have it made to get value when making a decision. Apple, however, has not entered this kind of territory. The company has long had its Apple Reuse and Recycle Program but that kept trade-ins restricted to its own products. That will all change as Apple is preparing a more generalized trade-in program.
Owners of non-Apple smartphones will be able to recycle and trade-in their devices for credit from Apple, according to 9to5Mac. The company-issued gift cards that accompany the trade-in are tasked with converting consumers into buyers of an iPhone. The value of the devices being swapped is based on both looks and operative status.
Training for the new program starts by the end of this week with a launch scheduled in the coming weeks. To make the trade-in process as seamless as possible, Apple employees in retail locations will offer to port contacts to a consumer’s new iPhone. All other data must be moved manually by the device owner.
When Apple launches this trade-in program, will you be interested in jumping ship from Android? Let us know in the comments.
Source: 9to5Mac
Come comment on this article: Apple preparing trade-in program to lure Android users
Apple Launches ‘Global Volunteer Program’ to Encourage Employees to Volunteer in Local Communities
Apple today notified its employees about a new volunteer program that it’s launching, which is designed to encourage Apple employees in select locations to volunteer in their local communities.
Under the new Apple Global Volunteer Program, Apple is offering employees a way to receive training and tools to help them create and publicize local volunteer events to better their communities. The program, currently available in the United States, Sydney, and Cork, also aims to help employees find activities to volunteer for.
Since its launch in 2011, the Apple Matching Gifts Program has been an astounding success, with a combined total of over $78 million donated to charities and non-profits around the world. Now employees in the U.S. have a new way to make an even bigger impact on the causes they care about where they live: the Apple Global Volunteer Program. The program empowers employees to become Volunteer Champions and receive training and tools to help organize and publicize volunteer events in their communities. It also makes it easy for employees to find activities where they can volunteer their time and quality for Matching Gifts. Right now we’re piloting the program in the US, Sydney, and Cork with the goal of expanding it worldwide in the future.
The launch of the Apple Global Volunteer Program comes just months after Apple made efforts to expand employee benefit packages under the direction Denise Young Smith, who took over as head of human resources at Apple early last year. Improved benefits included more maternity/paternity leave for parents, educational reimbursements, and an expansion of Apple’s long-running donation matching program.
Apple’s Matching Gifts Program [PDF] has existed since 2011, seeing the company match the money its employees contribute to charities (up to $10,000 per employee per year), but with the expansion, Apple also began matching time volunteered. As of October 2014, Apple donates $25 per hour to any non-profit where an employee volunteers.
As stated in the memo sent to employees, Apple’s charitable efforts have thus far raised a combined total of $78 million for charities and non-profit organizations around the world.
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