(Steve) Jobs at Apple: Master inventor, master marketer

SAN FRANCISCO: Steve Jobs started Apple Computer with a high school friend in a Silicon Valley garage in 1976, was forced out a decade later, then returned to rescue the company. During his second stint, Apple grew into the most valuable technology company in the world.

Jobs invented and masterfully marketed ever-sleeker gadgets that transformed everyday technology, from the personal computer to the iPod and iPhone. Cultivating Apple’s countercultural sensibility and a minimalist design ethic, he rolled out one sensational product after another, even in the face of the late-2000s recession and his own failing health.


Jobs helped change computers from a geeky hobbyist’s obsession to a necessity of modern life at work and home, and in the process he upended not just personal technology but the cellphone and music industries.

Perhaps most influentially, he launched the iPod in 2001, which offered “1,000 songs in your pocket.” Over the next 10 years, its white earphones and thumb-dial control seemed to become as ubiquitous as the wristwatch.


In 2007 came the touch-screen iPhone, and later its miniature “apps,” which made the phone a device not just for making calls but for managing money, storing photos, playing games and browsing the Web.


And in 2010, Jobs introduced the iPad, a tablet-sized, all-touch computer that took off even though market analysts said no one really needed one.

Earlier this month, Apple briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil as the most valuable company in America, with Apple stock on the open market worth more than other company’s.

Under Jobs, the company cloaked itself in secrecy to build frenzied anticipation for each of its new products. Jobs himself had a wizardly sense of what his customers wanted, and where demand didn’t exist, he leveraged a cult-like following to create it.


When he spoke at Apple presentations, almost always in faded blue jeans, sneakers and a black mock turtleneck, legions of Apple acolytes listened to every word. He often boasted about Apple successes, then coyly added a coda — “One more thing” — before introducing its latest ambitious idea.

In recent years, Apple investors also watched these appearances for clues to his health.

In 2004, Jobs revealed that he had been diagnosed with — and “cured” of — a rare form of operable pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. In early 2009, it became clear he was again ill.

Jobs took a half-year medical leave of absence starting in January 2009, during which he had a liver transplant. Last January, he announced another medical leave, his third, with no set duration. He returned to the spotlight briefly in March to personally unveil a second-generation iPad.

Jobs grew up in California and after finishing high school enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but dropped out after a semester.

“All of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it,” he said at a Stanford University commencement address in 2005. “I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out.”

When he returned to California in 1974, Jobs worked for video game maker Atari and attended meetings of a local computer club with Steve Wozniak, a high school friend who was a few years older.

Wozniak’s homemade computer drew attention from other enthusiasts, but Jobs saw its potential far beyond the geeky hobbyists of the time. The pair started Apple in Jobs’ parents’ garage two years later. Their first creation was the Apple I — essentially, the guts of a computer without a case, keyboard or monitor.

The Apple II, which hit the market in 1977, was their first machine for the masses. It became so popular that Jobs was worth 100 million by age 25. Time magazine put him on its cover for the first time in 1982.

Three years earlier, during a visit to the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, Jobs again spotted mass potential in a niche invention: a computer that allowed people to access files and control programs with the click of a mouse, not typed commands. He returned to Apple and ordered the team to copy what he had seen.

It foreshadowed a propensity to take other people’s concepts, improve on them and spin them into wildly successful products. Under Jobs, Apple didn’t invent computers, digital music players or smartphones — it reinvented them for people who didn’t want to learn computer programming or negotiate the technical hassles of keeping their gadgets working.

“We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas,” Jobs said in an interview for the PBS series “Triumph of the Nerds.”

The engineers responded with two computers. The pricier one, called Lisa, launched to a cool reception in 1983. A less-expensive model called the Macintosh exploded onto the scene in 1984.

The Mac was heralded by an epic Super Bowl commercial that referenced George Orwell’s “1984” and captured Apple’s iconoclastic style. In the ad, expressionless drones marched through dark halls to an auditorium where a Big Brother-like figure lectures on a big screen. A woman in a bright track uniform burst into the hall and launched a hammer into the screen, which exploded, stunning the drones, as a narrator announced the arrival of the Mac.

There were early stumbles at Apple. Jobs clashed with colleagues and even the CEO he had hired away from Pepsi, John Sculley. And after an initial spike, Mac sales slowed, in part because few programs had been written for the new graphical user interface.

Meanwhile, Microsoft copied the Mac approach and introduced Windows, outmaneuvering Apple by licensing its software to slews of computer makers.

With Apple’s stock price sinking, conflicts between Jobs and Sculley mounted. Sculley won over the board in 1985 and pushed Jobs out of his day-to-day role leading the Macintosh team. Jobs resigned his post as chairman of the board and left Apple within months.

“What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating,” Jobs said in his Stanford speech. “I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

He got into two other companies: Next, a computer maker, and Pixar, a computer-animation studio that he bought from George Lucas for 10 million.

Pixar, ultimately the more successful venture, seemed at first a bottomless money pit. Then came “Toy Story,” the first computer-animated full-length feature. Jobs used its success to negotiate a sweeter deal with Disney for Pixar’s next two films. In 2006, Jobs sold Pixar to The Walt Disney Co. for 7.4 billion in stock, making him Disney’s largest individual shareholder and securing a seat on the board.

With Next, Jobs was said to be obsessive about the tiniest details of the cube-shaped computer, insisting on design perfection even for the machine’s guts. He never managed to spark much demand for the machine, which cost a pricey 6,500 to 10,000.

Ultimately, he shifted the focus to software — a move that paid off later when Apple bought Next for its operating system technology, the basis for the software still used in Mac computers.

By 1996, when Apple bought Next, Apple was in dire financial straits. It had lost more than 800 million in a year, dragged its heels in licensing Mac software for other computers and surrendered most of its market share to PCs that ran Windows.

Larry Ellison, Jobs’ close friend and fellow Silicon Valley billionaire and the leader of Oracle Corp., publicly contemplated buying Apple in early 1997 and ousting its leadership. The idea fizzled, but Jobs stepped in as interim chief later that year.

He slashed unprofitable projects, narrowed the company’s focus and presided over a new marketing push to set the Mac apart from Windows, starting with a campaign encouraging computer users to “Think different.”

Apple’s first new product under his direction, the brightly colored, plastic iMac, launched in 1998 and sold about 2 million in its first year.

Jobs later dropped the “interim” from his title. He changed his style, too, said Tim Bajarin, who met Jobs several times while covering the company for Creative Strategies.

“In the early days, he was in charge of every detail. The only way you could say it is, he was kind of a control freak,” he said. In his second stint, “he clearly was much more mellow and more mature.”

In the decade that followed, Jobs returned Apple to profitability while pushing out an impressive roster of new products.

Apple’s popularity exploded in the 2000s. The iPod, smaller and sleeker with each generation, introduced many lifelong Windows users to their first Apple gadget.

ITunes gave people a convenient way to buy music legally online, song by song. For the music industry, it was a mixed blessing. The industry got a way to reach Internet-savvy people who, in the age of Napster, were growing accustomed to downloading music free. But online sales also hastened the demise of CDs and established Apple as a gatekeeper, resulting in battles between Jobs and music executives over pricing and other issues.

Jobs’ command over gadget lovers and pop culture swelled to the point that, on the eve of the iPhone’s launch in 2007, faithful followers slept on sidewalks outside posh Apple stores for the chance to buy one. Three years later, at the iPad’s debut, the lines snaked around blocks and out through parking lots, even though people had the option to order one in advance.

Jobs’ personal ethos — he is a natural food lover who embraced Buddhism and New Age philosophy — was closely linked to the public persona he shaped for Apple.

Apple itself became a statement against the commoditization of technology — a cynical view, to be sure, from a company whose computers can cost three or more times as much as those of its rivals. -- AP

May the perpetrator will be caught and get punished

(Click on Title for Full Article)

“We suddenly realised a man in his 30s, wearing a snow cap and jacket, had approached our table. In a menacing voice, he demanded I hand over my belongings,”

“I didn’t know he had a knife and I wasn’t facing him directly. As I was bent over my bag, I felt a blinding pain in my back and I just knew I had been stabbed.”

Fabregas signs 5-year deal in (euro) 29 million transfer

(Click on title for original article)

"It took a lot of years, months, days to get here ... it's nice to be home after eight years,"

"I gave everything with Arsenal. But it didn't show in the club because I really only won an FA Cup,"

"One of my biggest regrets is not leaving Arsenal with a championship."

Put your shirt on it: Cesc Fabregas is forced to wear the Barcelona top (dailymail.uk.com)

"It wasn't really the losing, it was the routine. Year after year, it was always the same story,"

"Fighting until the end only to see we didn't have the energy, in the semifinals, the finals, to arrive in the final sprint."

"My goal is to triumph in Barca, to add my part to make this team stronger."

"This is the most difficult challenge of my life,"

"When you play with great players you learn a lot. I'll work hard for the team, with humility, to earn my spot in the team and I won't stop until I do so."

"There have been some long weeks, months, of suffering. Not the worst suffering of my life, but yes these have been difficult days not knowing what my future would be,"

"It appeared it would never end."

"The number is not the most important thing, but the club knew it was special for me,"

"I'm very happy to wear it."

"Wenger is a special person to me. He'll always be a second father to me,"

"I'll never be able to find the words to express my thanks for what he did for me. I think he has a been given a bad image here and that shouldn't be the case. If I'm here, a big part of that is thanks to him."

"I am physically ready,"

"but it is the coach's decision."

Bionic boy

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A teenager has a new £35,000 bionic hand - thanks to an F1 team.

Motor-racing fan Matthew James, 14, wrote to Ross Brawn, boss of Mercedes GP Petronas, asking him to pay for the hi-tech artificial limb. He offered to let the team put the Merc logo on the hand for publicity.

Matthew James can do many things with his bionic hand.

Brawn was so impressed that he asked specialist firm Touch Bionics to fit Matthew with an i-LIMB Pulse, the world's most advanced prosthetic limb.

Matthew, of Wokingham, Berks, was born without a left hand, and controls the fingers through electrodes that sense arm muscle signals. He can hold a pen, draw pictures and catch a ball. The hand will have a tiny Merc badge on it.

Matthew said: "It's so cool." Brawn, who persuaded fans and sponsors to contribute, said: "It was a pleasure." - www.thesun.co.uk

'Action against Bersih rally justified'

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"Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government's actions then was to avoid serious untoward incidences such as attacks on people and burning of shops. He said in a street protest, there was always a possibility that the situation could spiral out of control as some parties with bad intentions might take advantage of the situation. Speaking after chairing the Barisan Nasional supreme council meeting here yesterday, he also regretted that the government's offer to hold the rally in the Shah Alam stadium was not taken up by the Bersih rally organisers.

"That offer of a stadium was never withdrawn. We took that decision to avoid any bad incidents."

Thanking the police, he said their actions during the rally ensured no property was damaged."

A Famous Speech

Saturday, 20 September 1997, The Annual Seminar of The World Bank in Hong Kong. Speech by The Prime Minister Of Malaysia, The Honourable Dato Seri Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad

"27. We are told that the trade in currency is actually 20 times bigger than real trade in goods and services. Other than profits and losses to the traders involved, there really is no tangible benefits for the world from this huge trade. No substantial jobs are created nor products or services enjoyed by the average people. The whole trading is secretive and a bit shady as huge sums are apparently moved about from banks to banks. No real money are involved, only figures. One billion Malaysian ringgits would need a big truck to move from place to place. Obviously this is physically impossible if the Great Train Robbery is not to be repeated hundreds of times over.

28. The traders apparently make billions with each transaction. But when the funds at their disposal is huge and they are in a position to influence the values of the currencies with their investments and divestments then the currency market become cash cows to them. They cannot fail to make a profit whichever way the index goes.

29. Unfortunately their profits come from impoverishing others, including very poor countries and poor people. South East Asian countries have now become their target simply because, we have the money but not enough to defend ourselves.

30. In the case of Malaysia, the ringgit is devalued by 20 percent. What this means is that we, everyone of us including the Government, have lost 20 percent of the purchasing power of whatever money we have. The poor have become poorer and there are now more poor people in Malaysia. The rich have become poorer too but we will not waste any sympathy on them of course.

31. But the currency traders have become rich, very very rich through making other people poorer. These are billionaires who do not really need any more money. Even the people who invest in the funds they operate are rich; we are told that the average return is about 35 percent per annum.

32. And we are told that we are not worldly if we do not appreciate the workings of the international financial market. Great countries tell us that we must accept being impoverished because that is what international finance is all about. Obviously we are not sophisticated enough to accept losing money so that the manipulators become richer.

33. We are also warned that these are powerful people. If we make a noise or we act in any way to frustrate them they would be annoyed. And when they are annoyed they can destroy us altogether, they can reduce us to basket cases. We have to accept that they are around, that they will always be around and that there really is nothing we can do about it. They will determine whether we prosper or we don't."

Some Insight about Gold Dinar

October 23rd, 2002, The Gold Dinar In Multi-Lateral Trade Seminar at IKIM Hall, Kuala Lumpur. Speech by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

"26. If we want to avoid being short-changed we must have a currency that has intrinsic value. Gold does fluctuate in price but the fluctuation is minimal. It is not possible to devalue gold by one hundred percent or one thousand percent. Nor is it possible to revalue gold by the same percentage. The fluctuation in the value of gold can only be by a few percentages, up or down.

27. When the Allied nations met in Bretton Woods to determine the principle for the rate of exchange of international currencies in order to facilitate trade, they decided to use gold as a standard. The value of the U.S. Dollar was fixed at one dollar for 1/35 ounce of gold or 35 U.S. Dollars per ounce. All other currencies were valued in gold through the rates of exchange with the U.S. Dollar.

28. This worked quite well until some countries wanted to devalue their currencies in order to become competitive in the international market. Then other countries also decided to devalue in order to remain competitive. Finally the U.S. Dollar was devalued against the Gold.

29. At this stage the gold standard could not be sustained. The market claimed that it could determine the exchange rate through the demand and supply of
currencies freely traded in the market. But profiteers moved in and they manipulated the value of the currencies so that there was chaos in terms of exchange rates of currencies. Business became very difficult. Indeed many good businesses went bankrupt when the domestic currency gets devalued. The hedge Funds which claim to insure the value of the currencies made huge sums of money speculating and manipulating the values of the currencies.

30. This anarchy in the international financial regime will remain because it benefits the rich and the powerful. If we want to protect ourselves we must evolve our own payment system, our own trading currency.

31. The Gold dinar can provide the currency for trade between nations. If we value all trade items against gold, then we will have no problem with the exchange rate. We know that in the last resort we can melt the gold and sell it in the market. You obviously cannot do that with paper currency, worst still with figures on a computer. They have no intrinsic market value as gold has.

32. But gold is bulky. We cannot be carrying gold all over the world in order to pay for goods we want to import. But we need not do that.

33. It is not intended to use the gold dinar as currency for everyday transactions in the domestic market. For this we can use national currencies. If there is inflation then the currency can buy less gold and other goods. And vice versa. So there is no necessity to carry bags of gold coins for transaction within the countries.

34. But even for international trade the transport of gold bullions or gold coins would be very minimal. Through bilateral payments arrangements the imports can be balanced by the exports and the differences settled in gold dinars. The Central Bank can provide a guarantee for the gold required for the payments of the balance. In the following weeks or months the deficits may be reduced or a surplus achieved. In that case the payments of the balance can be made through accounting arrangements between the Central Banks. It is only occasionally that a necessity might arise for the actual gold dinar to be used to pay for the purchase of imports.

35. We cannot really verify the amount of money a country has. A country's own currency cannot be regarded as its reserve. But gold dinars or gold bullion or gold ingots can serve as a country's reserve. Still in the end we have to trust each other. If we are good Muslims then the cases of fraud by Central Banks would be minimal.

36. Assuming that Malaysia exports to a Dinar Area country a hundred million Dinars worth of motor vehicles and then imports 110 million dinars worth of oil, then the payment required by Malaysia would be just 10 million dinars. The ten million dinars is credited to Malaysia's trading partner. If in the following month the trading partner buys 110 million dinars worth of Malaysian cars and Malaysia buys 100 million dinars worth of oil, then no payment need to be made by either party. The 10 million dinars that has to be paid by Malaysia's trading partner for the motor vehicle can be offset by the credit of 10 million dinars from the previous month's transactions.

37. Today with computers we can close account and pay more frequently. Through this method it is not necessary to purchase or earn hard currency.

38. Of course there may be some countries which are so poor that they cannot have gold dinars. We can buy some raw materials to be paid in gold dinars. They can be helped to build up the reserves of gold dinars.

39. There will be problems. But if we begin with just a pair of countries we would be able to minimise problems and demonstrate whether it works or not. We will be able to identify the weaknesses and the faults and correct them."

Bersih 2.0, Her Majesty Queen and London Riots August 2011

“However, after considering the public's safety, I had decided not to allow the rally to take place in Merdeka Stadium. The rejection letter was served to the applicant about 2pm. However, they still have 24 hours to make an appeal to the state police chief,” said Dang Wangi police chief Assistant Commissioner Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman yesterday."

NST Online, 2011/07/08, Police declines Bersih2.0 permit application to hold rally at Merdeka Stadium. By Hariz Mohd

"Royal wardrobe and fashion is strictly regulated, and the Queen and members of the Royal Family are always careful not to make any fashion faux pas or distress their guests. Her advisers would have advised her to stay away from wearing yellow, and explained the significance of the colour in present circumstances. As Sarawak Report suggests, “She must have been informed of the sensitivity of the colour yellow”."

Malaysia Today, Let me tell you why the Queen wearing yellow when granting an audience to Najib was not a coincidence or a faux pas, Monday, 18 July 2011. By Being Vernon

"In a street thick with smoke, looters smashed their way into a local shop, stealing whisky and beer. One man grabbed a packet of cereal, another ran off laughing with four bottles of whisky."

"Mobile phone, sports goods and clothing boutiques were the looters' favoured targets, followed by jewellers and pawnshops. Several young men strolled by, balancing flat-screen televisions and computer consoles on their heads. The thinly stretched police were unable to prevent the looting."

NST Online, Tuesday August 9, 2011, Riots spread beyond London on third night of violence. By Stefano Ambrogi and Mohammad Abbas

Bersih 2.0 rally is still politics all the same

"If Malaysian elections had not been credible, the Pakatan Rakyat would not have won its several unprecedented victories in 2008. And if there had been no need for such demonstrations before, why does anyone need them now other than to score political points?

Both pro- and anti-rally groups are in need of coming clean themselves."

The Star Online, Wednesday June 22, 2011, Bersih 2.0 rally is still politics all the same. By The Star Says

When great nations go broke.

"Our national debt stood at RM233.92bil last year (2010) or 34.3% to the Growth Domestic Product. It used to be worse but some of the debts were repaid in the last decade when the ringgit gained in strength. Yes, surprisingly our country’s debt is not a huge mountain as some people would like us to believe, but what is worrying is the lack of support for efforts to reduce it further. A sure way of doing it is by reducing subsidies.

In 2009, it was reported that the Government spent RM74bil in subsidies ranging from social projects to energy and food. This translates to an annual subsidy of about RM12,900 per household. Cutting back on subsidies would be unpopular with the people. The negative reaction to the floating of the premium petrol prices and the allowing of energy prices to rise are examples of the backlash the Government has gotten from its efforts to reduce its subsidy spending."

The Star Online, Friday July 22, 2011, When great nations go broke. By Wong Sai Wan

Singapura-pura

"At every opportunity, its players would try to slow the game down. Whenever one got a slight push in the back, he would collapse in a heap on the grass, and then would try to delay the game as many minutes as possible writhing around in mock agony.

This was the worst performance of the whole night. As bad as the crowd was in jeering the players, it was the players themselves on centre stage who needed to lead by example. Instead of standing up and playing the game as men, the Singaporeans played the fool, making a mockery of not just themselves, but the entire concept of competitive spirit.

That’s what really disgusted me."

The star Online, Sunday August 7, 2011, Singapura-pura. By Dzof Azmi

Doing It With Determination and Conscience

1. It’s been a while I did not write anything in my blog except posting few photos of numbers of activity that I have run throughout the year with my peers, and some other photos when I was outstation alone.

2. Now, in the month of Ramadhan (1432 Hijrah), the work phase seems more relaxing, with a lot of time spent inside the office instead of going outside, meeting up with my customers.

3. Last year, during this time, I recalled I was busy compiling my grandiloquences project from my facebook’s status, where in that side project, many books that relate to the development of words power have been read through, many words have been memorized, many sentences have been constructed, with some anecdotal, created with most ideas are based on current issues that occur at a time.

4. However, the project did not last long, as the momentum had slowing down, especially after my convocation in March 2010, and until June 2010, it was stopped due to work commitments and multiple excuses (not reasons) for what I could give. The project however, is only for responses to pass the time and I am free to decide whether or not to continue, having a long break before I start again at any time.

5. I keep going on admiring those who can write well, throwing ideas in their writings, moreover if coupled with some facts and figures about certain issues and situations, then finally make a short essay that is interesting to read. Believe that myself also capable on putting down my ideas too, but this time literally determination must be in line with my 'conscience'.

6. There are many definitions of ‘conscience’, and preferably, this is a little that accompany my prescription;

Definition of 'conscience'; noun

i. The inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action: to follow the dictates of conscience.

ii. The complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the actions or thoughts of an individual.

(source; http://dictionary.reference.com/)

7. Hopefully the next will continue to flow.