CNBC Recognizes Steve Jobs as Most Influential Business Leader in the Past 25 Years

To commemorate its launch in 1989, CNBC today ranked the most influential business and financial leaders from the past 25 years. Topping the list in the number one spot is Apple’s own “iVisionary” Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs was recognized by CNBC not only for his work at Apple, but also for his influence on the wider culture both in business and in people’s personal lives.

His creative genius revolutionized not just his industry and its products, but also everything from music and movies to smartphones. He provided a platform for others to create and distribute apps, bringing innovation and change to an even wider sphere. Apple’s co-founder tops our anniversary list of the 25 most transformative leaders, icons and rebels of the past-quarter century. More than any other member of our group of extraordinary entrepreneurs and executives—all outstanding leaders—his vision spurred changes far beyond his industry and put an indelible stamp on the wider culture.

When assembling the list, the editorial board at CNBC focused on business, eliminating politicians and government leaders from its top 25. They considered only those business men and women who were transformative both in their own field and beyond. Though most are well-known billionaires, the list was not based on personal financial success or popularity.

We made the decision early on to eliminate heads of government and state from our deliberations. This is a list, after all, about business people, not politicians. It’s about the men and women who, for better or worse, have had the most transformative effect on commerce, finance, markets, human behavior and global culture over the past 25 years. So out went Bill Clinton, Angela Merkel, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, Lee Kuan Yew and Vladimir Putin. In came Oprah.

Also included on the list are other notable technology leaders including Microsoft’s Bill Gates at number two, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos at number five, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg at number eight and Google’s trio of Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, who collectively share the number four spot.

Fleksy Keyboard for iOS Overhauled with New Design, Improved Help System [iOS Blog]

Earlier this year, Fleksy updated the Android version of its keyboard alternative to version 2.0 with a new badge system and cloud syncing features. Today, the company followed up that release with a major overhaul to its iOS App.

The newest version of Fleksy for iOS offers a significant redesign that brings a new user interface, six new themes and a few new features to the universal iOS app. The biggest addition is an in-app tutorial and FAQ guide to help new users start using the alternative keyboard.

Fleksy is known for its predictive text engine that compensates for your sloppy typing with accurate word replacement. It also supports gestures that make it easy to enter punctuation, add returns and more.

Though Apple’s restriction on keyboards prevents Fleksy from replacing the default iOS keyboard systemwide, the company offers a workaround that allows developers to integrate Fleksy on an app-by-app basis. This iOS software development kit was made available to all iOS developers earlier this year.

Fleksy is popular among consumers with the keyboard software reaching the one million total cross-platform downloads. Despite its limitations on iOS, demand for the keyboard is strong.

“We get about half our downloads from iOS, a platform our competitors have publicly criticized as doomed for failure for third party keyboards. Our success shows that iOS is a genuine opportunity for really innovative keyboard technologies, and today’s major update is the first step of us doubling down our efforts on this platform,” said Ioannis Verdelis, Founder and COO of Fleksy.

Fleksy is free for users to install and for developers to integrate into their apps. iPhone and iPad owners can download Fleksy [iTunes] from the iOS App Store, while developers can visit Fleksy’s website for SDK information.

iPhone 6 Camera May Feature Electronic Image Stabilization, Bigger Pixel Size

Apple may be planning to use electronic image stabilization instead of optical image stabilization in the iPhone 6, according to new details shared on Weibo [Google Translate] by ESM China analyst Sun Chang Xu (via GforGames). Xu suggests that the iPhone 6′s camera will also boast a larger pixel size of 1.75 um compared to the 1.5 um pixel size of the iPhone 5s’ camera, which would result in a higher picture quality as more light can be taken in.

While previous reports have indicated that Apple is looking to integrate optical image stabilization into the iPhone 6, adding an electronic image stabilization system would allow for the device to have a slimmer camera that does not protrude out of its body. To this point, a number of alleged iPhone 6 images, including renders posted by Japanese magazine MacFan last month, have depicted the iPhone 6 with a protruding camera.

Xu also previously reported on her Weibo account that the iPhone 6 will add pressure, temperature, and humidity sensors, and that the iWatch will utilize optical sensors to measure heart rate and oxygen levels.

Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 6 this fall in two different sizes of 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches. The smaller 4.7-inch version of the iPhone 6 will likely ship first, while the larger 5.5-inch version is estimated to ship later due to challenges with the device’s display technology and battery life.

In addition to a larger display and an improved camera, both models of the iPhone 6 are expected to include a thinner, bezel-free design, faster A8 processor, and Touch ID fingerprint sensor. The device will also likely debut with Apple’s iOS 8 mobile operating system, which will feature improvements to Maps, Siri, and iCloud in addition to a new “Healthbook” app. Apple is also said to be negotiating with carriers to increase the price of the iPhone 6 by $100.

Apple Launches Updated MacBook Airs with Faster Haswell Processors and Drops Price

As indicated last week and yesterday, Apple today launched updated MacBook Airs, which feature faster versions of Intel’s Haswell processors at $100 less across the board. The updated models are currently out in Apple’s European Online Stores, and are expected to be available in Apple’s U.S. Online Store shortly.

All standard models of the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air now come with a faster 1.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor along with the same 4GB of RAM. Both entry-level configurations of the 11-inch and 13-inch models now sell for £749.00 and £849.00 with 128GB of flash storage, while the higher-end 11-inch and 13-inch models come in at £899.00 and £999.00 with 256GB of flash storage, respectively.

Build-to-order options include a 1.8 GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor with up to 8GB of RAM on both the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Airs.

Apple is also rumored to be working on a 12-inch MacBook with a new ultra-slim design and a high resolution Retina display.

The updated 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Airs are available today through Apple’s various retail locations and online store, with all standard configurations showing availability of “within 24 hours.”

42 Peripheral Devices Connected to One 2013 Mac Pro [Mac Blog]

Since Thunderbolt ports can support up to six peripherals in a daisy chain, which is a wiring scheme where multiple devices are chained together in a certain order, Macworld Lab decided to test how many devices they could daisy chain together with the new Mac Pro’s six Thunderbolt ports, four USB 3.0 ports, one HDMI port and two gigabit Ethernet ports.

MacWorld Lab referred to the test as the Mac Pro Daisy Chain Challenge and were able to connect a total of 42 peripheral devices to the Mac Pro.

We connected 36 drives (19 Thunderbolt, 15 USB, 2 FireWire 800) with a combined capacity of 100.63TB. In addition to the drives, we also connected two Thunderbolt docks (the Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock and the CalDigitThunderbolt Station), an Apple Thunderbolt Display, two Apple Cinema Displays, and one HP Z Display Z27i. All this to a single Mac Pro.

Only a dozen of the drives were being powered from the cables connecting them to the Mac Pro. The 24 remaining drives required external power and had to be plugged into three power strips with an attached Watts Up power meter. The combine power draw when Macworld ran a script that copied data from the Mac Pro’s internal flash storage to the drives was 865 Watts.

Through Mac OS X’s Activity Monitor, the lab found that there was a combined throughput of 3 Gbps. The rate slowed as the fastest drives, of which OWC’s Mercury Helios was the fastest, finished transferring data.

The lab also found that the daisy chains didn’t affect the performance of a single drive working alone. Rather, the location of the drive within the daisy chain affected performance. For instance, one drive’s average write speed was 709.8 Mbps when tested at the beginning of the daisy chain and without a daisy chain and only 556.7 Mbps when placed at the end of the chain.

The full list of devices connected to the Mac Pro, along with more information on the challenge and future tests can be found at Macworld.

Apple’s iPhone 6 Could Be As Thin As Current iPod Touch

Last week, a case designed for the iPhone 6 was compared to an iPhone 5s, a Nexus 5, and a Galaxy Note 3 in order to explore how the upcoming device might look compared to other large-screened devices.

Today that same case has been compared to a current generation iPod touch by Unbox Therapy, suggesting the future iPhone 6 could be as thin as the existing iPod touch. In the video, an iPod touch is placed inside of the alleged 4.7-inch iPhone 6 case, demonstrating a perfect fit when it comes to depth.

Released in 2012, Apple’s current generation iPod touch measures in at just 6.1mm thick, while the iPhone 5s 7.6mm thick. iPhone 6 rumors have already suggested the device could be much thinner than the iPhone 5s, and reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted a thickness of 6.5mm to 7.0mm.

The way the iPod touch fits in the case also suggests that the iPhone 6 could have the elongated, rectangular buttons of the iPod touch rather than the circular buttons of the iPhone 5s. This is in line with previous rumors and with a possible volume button part leak posted in our forums earlier today.

While it’s impossible to tell whether the iPhone 6 case in the video is a legitimate representation of what Apple’s next-generation device might look like, the case design does resemble previously leaked schematics, case maker’s renderings, and manufacturing molds.

Along with a thinner design and a larger, the iPhone 6 is also expected to incorporate slimmer bezels, an upgraded A8 processor, and an improved camera via optical image stabilization. While a 4.7-inch version of the iPhone 6 is expected to ship in the fall, a 5.5-inch version may also come somewhat later in the year due to production issues that have delayed its release.

Angela Ahrendts to Bring a Personal Touch to Apple’s Retail Operations This Week

During last week’s earnings conference call, CEO Tim Cook confirmed that Angela Ahrendts will be transitioning from Burberry and officially joining Apple this week as its head of retail. Her achievements and personality as the CEO of Burberry have been well-publicized, but her Midwestern roots, early career influences, and resulting business and life philosophies are less well-known. These characteristics were recently detailed in a lengthy profile by CNET.

Ahrendts was born in 1960 in the small town of New Palestine, Indiana, where she was one of six children. As a young girl, she “lived vicariously through fashion magazines” and moved to New York after graduating from Ball State University to pursue her dream job in the fashion industry. She got her start at bra maker Warnaco and then landed a position at Donna Karan in 1989. She rose through the ranks at DK to eventually become President of the New York-based fashion house.

When Donna Karan changed its focus, Ahrendts transitioned to Liz Clairborne as the executive vice president and finally landed at Burberry, where she rejuvenated Burberry’s image and sales as CEO of the London fashion house. When she started in 2006, Burberry was a well-known rainwear company and upon her leaving a short eight years later, the company is now an internationally acclaimed fashion label.

Ahrendts has a personal management style that keeps her in touch with her employees, traveling to stores to meet them and “communicating constantly” with them via email to thank them for their work. She credits her Midwestern values that taught her compassion towards others, humility, and hard work were the keys to success. It is this human touch that Ahrendts will be bringing to Apple’s all-male executive team and will be a balance to the company’s technology and engineering focus.

“Technology has given us access to the world and its sea of content, allowing us to never speak to another person if we don’t want to,” she said. “Computers and smart devices are among the greatest intellectual gifts ever created for man, but if not balanced with human contact, may offer little to develop ones heart. Don’t get me wrong, I am mesmerized by this Digital Tsunami, but Google doesn’t have all the answers, and are all those people on Facebook truly your friends?”

Ahrendts will be joining Apple at a time when its retail sales are flat, despite an increase in the number of retail stores opening worldwide. As noted by Bloomberg’s European correspondent Caroline Hyde, analysts are watching Ahrendts closely with the expectation that she will bring her luxury flair to Apple’s retail operations and repeat with Apple what she did with Burberry.

Ahrendts will head up Apple’s retail push in 2014 and beyond after several years of instability in the division. The company confirmed during its recent Q2 2014 earnings conference call that it will continue to invest in retail stores in 2014. It recently opened its first retail stores in Brazil and Turkey, expanding Apple’s retail presence to a total of 15 countries. Apple also will continue its focus on China with a plan to triple the number of Apple retail stores in the Asian country over the next two years.

Apple Execs Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi to Speak at Code Conference in May

Apple executives Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi will speak at the first annual Code Conference hosted by Re/code, the site reported today. The duo will headline the second night of the event in late May.

We are very excited to have both Cue and Federighi at the event to talk about a range of things about the company that remains at the center of the action, especially in the important mobile sector. From the shifting entertainment and communications landscape to the fast-moving wearables space to, well, everything digital, these two play a very important role.

Eddy Cue serves as Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services handling the iTunes Store, App Store, iCloud, and more, while Federighi serves as the senior vice president of Software Engineering, overseeing both iOS and OS X.

Both Cue and Federighi report directly to Tim Cook and are responsible for overseeing many essential elements of Apple’s ecosystem.

Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher of Re/code have done multiple yearly conferences, formerly under All Things D. Past events have included interviews with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs and last year’s event featured current Apple CEO Tim Cook, who spoke about wearables and television.

The 2014 Code Conference will also feature speakers like General Motors CEO Mary Barra and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. While the event is sold out, the site does have plans to post news and videos on Re/code throughout the conference.