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Apple announces changes to its board: Arthur D. Levinson named Chairman, Robert Iger joins
Apple has just announced some changes to its board of directors, including the appointment of a new non-executive chairman: Arthur D. Levinson. Currently Chairman of Genentech Inc., Levinson has been a co-director of Apple's board since 2005, having first joined the board in 2000. He'll be welcoming new board member Robert A. Iger, who you may know as the President and CEO of The Walt Disney Company. In a statement, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Levinson "has made enormous contributions to Apple since he joined the board in 2000," and that his "insight and leadership are incredibly valuable to Apple, our employees and our shareholders." On Iger, Cook said: "Bob and I have gotten to know one another very well over the past few years and on behalf of the entire board, we think he is going to make an extraordinary addition to our already very strong board," further noting that "his strategic vision for Disney is based on three fundamentals: generating the best creative content possible, fostering innovation and utilizing the latest technology, and expanding into new markets around the world which makes him a great fit for Apple." The official press release is after the break.
Apple's board in a state of transition
While Steve Jobs's passing came with a lot of powerful emotional effects, it did unfortunately arrive with at least one practical effect that has to be dealt with sooner or later: Apple needs a new Chairman of the Board. A few experts say in this Reuters piece that it will probably be a tough choice for Apple to make. On the one hand, Apple's strength is in Jobs' legacy -- the company has to be committed to continuing to follow his vision, because that's what got them where they are today. On the other hand this may be a chance for Apple to diversify its team a bit, and bring in some new personnel who don't have a past history of politics inside the company. There's of course a third option, which is that Apple's board doesn't appoint a new chairman for a while, instead working on other priorities before taking on the enormous task of filling Jobs's spot. That might be the best option -- before Jobs took on the Chairman of the Board position as he retired, the company didn't have one anyway. Otherwise, Tim Cook's name is apparently going around as a possible successor, but insiders are saying that as CEO, he's already too busy to take on anything else. We'll have to see -- these next few months will be critical for Apple, as it tries to turn and face the future without the visionary that has pushed it along for so long.
Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple
A major development out of Cupertino: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stepped down, the board naming Tim Cook as his replacement. The company said "Steve's extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world's most innovative and valuable technology company." Steve himself published the following letter: I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee. As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple. I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role. I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you. Steve Apple has confirmed that Jobs will stay on as Chairman. Full details in the PR after the break.
Apple joins Bluetooth SIG board of directors
The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has announced that Apple and semiconductor firm Nordic have both joined the board of directors. Apple is an obvious choice; not only is the company now at the lead of the mobile device industry, but it's also been very faithful to the standard, including Bluetooth in all of the eleventy billion iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches out there these days. [Well, other than the first-gen iPod touch anyway. --Ed] Bluetooth says the confirmation to the board will help push a world of Bluetooth connections between mobile devices forward, bringing together "mobile phones, laptops, tablets, TVs, homes, and even cars [to] soon serve as hub devices to capture data from hundreds of millions of small sensors." That's an ambitious vision, to say the least, but that's what Apple is supposed to help out with while serving on the board.
Students build self-balancing TIPI robot, plan new world order (video)
Remember this guy, the QB robot that was priced at a whopping 15 grand? Seemingly, the webcam wheeler inspired a team of young minds at the University of Waterloo, who've unleashed the DIY in themselves to build one of their own. TIPI, or Telepresence Interface by Pendulum Inversion, was designed to give humans the feeling that they're not actually talking to a six-foot tall cyclops cyborg with an LCD face and webcam eye, but rather, evoke the emotions drawn when speaking the old, conventional, face-to-face way. Thanks to this team of mechatronics engineers, the low-cost TIPI uses an accelerometer, gyro and pendulum to balance by itself and can be remotely controlled while communicating via its Beagle Board and Polulu Orangutan SVP brain. Head past the break to see the robot struttin' its stuff -- oh, and get ready to rave. You'll see what we mean.
SEC forms show Apple execs donated $3 million in 2010
A few Securities and Exchange Commission forms filed this week show that Apple executives gave shares of Apple stock to various charities right around mid-December. The stocks added up to a value of about three million dollars across the four executives that gave. Unfortunately, none of the charities designated to receive the money were listed in the forms. Millard Drexler, the CEO of J. Crew and a member of Apple's board, gave away a total of 6,800 shares, as you can see above, and the other givers are also board members or executives. It's good to see the generosity flowing in Cupertino this year.
Apple's board gains a new director: Ronald D. Sugar
Apple's board of directors has been running pretty lean since the departure of Google's Eric Schmidt and the death of Jerry York, so a new director is welcome news. Today the company announced the addition of Dr. Ronald D. Sugar to the board; Sugar is the retired CEO of Northrop Grumman and previously worked at Litton Industries and TRW, Inc. Sugar has a bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree in engineering from UCLA, and considering his aerospace background there's only one possible conclusion to draw from this appointment: Apple is making a flying car. No, no, just kidding. Congratulations to Dr. Sugar; we wish him a long and pleasant term as an Apple director. [via TechCrunch] Show full PR text Ronald D. Sugar Joins Apple's Board of Directors CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apple® today announced that Dr. Ronald D. Sugar, former Chairman of the Board and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corporation, was appointed to Apple's Board of Directors. Dr. Sugar will serve as the Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee. "Ron is an engineer at heart, who then became a very successful business leader. We are very excited to welcome him to Apple's Board" "Ron is an engineer at heart, who then became a very successful business leader. We are very excited to welcome him to Apple's Board," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "In addition to having been the CEO of a high-tech Fortune 100 company, Ron has a Ph.D. in engineering and has been involved in the development of some very sophisticated technology." "I have always had enormous admiration for the people of Apple," said Sugar. "It is a special privilege to serve on the board of such an amazing company." Dr. Sugar served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Northrop Grumman Corporation from 2003 until his retirement in 2010. Previous to Northrop, he held executive positions at Litton Industries and TRW Inc., where he served as chief financial officer. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of both the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Royal Aeronautical Society. He is a director of Chevron Corporation, Amgen Inc. and Air Lease Corporation, and serves as a senior advisor to the private investment firm Ares Management LLC. He is a trustee of the University of Southern California, where he also holds the Judge Widney Chair as Professor of Management and Technology. He is a member of the boards of UCLA Anderson School of Management, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and several other philanthropic organizations focused on children and education. He graduated summa cum laude in engineering in 1968 from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he also received master's and doctorate degrees in the same field. He subsequently completed executive programs at Stanford, Wharton and Harvard. Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices. NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (www.apple.com/pr), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042. © 2010 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS and Macintosh are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
TUAW's Daily App: Tripolar
Tripolar makes a big point of saying that it's not a match-3 game, and though the grid looks similar to that matching genre, it's really not. But it is a puzzle game. The idea is that you have pieces coming in on top of the board, and touching anywhere on the grid will insert that piece and delete any like-colored pieces around it. Any pieces of a different color will switch to the next color in order. It sounds a little confusing, but in practice, it works pretty well. There's a timed mode, which challenges you to score as many points as possible in a certain amount of time, and a puzzle mode, which requires you to clear 50 different boards by putting the right pieces in the right places. Unfortunately, the gameplay is a little simple. Because you're dropping one piece in at a time, there are no real opportunities for building up combos, which is where the real fun is in these types of puzzle games. And unfortunately, there's no Game Center integration or leaderboards, though there is a high-score board for your phone itself. It is well-made and entertaining for what it is, and it's worth the US$0.99 price if this kind of game appeals to you.
Sprint execs leave Clearwire board out of an 'abundance of caution'
Well, it looks like Sprint and Clearwire aren't taking any chances when it comes to some of the new antitrust rules now in place. Clearwire has just announced that the three Sprint executives now on its board will be resigning out of an "abundance of caution" -- that includes Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, along with division presidents Keith O. Cowan and Steven L. Elfman. Not many more details than that at the moment, but Sprint does still hang onto the right to appoint members to the Clearwire board, and the four Sprint appointees currently on the board will remain in place. As The Wall Street Journal notes, however, the move would seem to clear the way for Clearwire to potentially make another deal, although no one involved is saying anything publicly at the moment beyond what's in the brief press release after the break.
iPad arcade cabinet built out of cardboard
ThinkGeek posted an iPad arcade cabinet as an April Fool's joke this past year, but gamer Hideyoshi Moriya actually did build just such a cabinet out of cardboard and hardware -- you plug the iPad into a dock, and then you can control software with the joystick and buttons via an Arduino board. You can see a full video of the device running (along with some cute puppies) after the jump below. ThinkGeek was only kidding, and Moriya is just joking around, but there is definitely a viable demand for something like this. Sure, the cabinet form built out of cardboard is totally a prototype, but a little stand that you could just plug the iPad into and then control arcade games with buttons and a joystick? That thing would sell like hotcakes.
Stick It for iPad: Beautiful "To-Do" notes application
There's not a lot of apps that make me sit up, take notice and go "yes!" Stick It for iPad is one of those apps. Introduced to me by Mark Peterson, a developer who hangs out in the same #iphonedev channel that I do on freenode, his app ticks a lot of the boxes that I have been looking for for free form note making. Stick It combines sticky notes with a cork board metaphor. You can create new notes, edit their text (and adjust their color, fonts, and so forth), and paste them onto one of five separate boards. This allows you to work with an "immediate" to-do board, a "grocery shopping" board, and so forth. You organize and name these boards, however you wish. Peterson has provided a wide range of note choices. You can use standard Sticky shapes, paper attached by "tape", talk bubbles, Rolodex pages, and more. It's visually stunning, with a lot of creative options that should suit anyone's taste. There's even a datebook calendar option, as you can see in thescreen shot. One of the features I absolutely adored was the option to convert a layout into a lockscreen photo. That's simply brilliant, letting you update that screen to match your current to do list. You can even preview how the lockscreen will look, so you can adjust your notes for best visibility. Other options allow you to e-mail a picture of your to do's or save them to your camera roll. In the end, Stick It is smart, it's simple, and it's versatile. And for just $0.99, it's a bargain. This app rocks, and is well worth checking out. TUAW is commonly provided with not-for-resale licenses or promo codes to permit product evaluations and reviews. For more details, see our policy page. Promo code requests are not guarantees of reviews.
If at first you don't succeed, Ride, Ride again
You think the first time Tony Hawk, the man himself, stepped onto a skateboard it was a sick run? Heck no -- it was pathetic. But you know what? He got back on. And the rest is history. Activision today fessed up to that new installment in the Tony Hawk game franchise, confirmed for a 2010 release and paired with the skateboard peripheral introduced with Ride last fall -- and boy was that a big fall. Shaking off signs that Ride and its board are about as beloved as worn-out Levis and antique Tupperware, Activision has committed to another run on the Tony Hawk board. "Game ratings for Tony Hawk: Ride weren't as high as we would have hoped last year, and in hindsight it took longer to optimize the hardware, leaving less time to develop the software we launched in 2009," said Mike Griffith, President and CEO of Activision Publishing, during a financial report and outlook call today. "Still, play-testing and consumer feedback have been very encouraging." "This year, with the hardware complete, we'll be focusing on improving the software in order to unlock the full potential of the board," Griffith added. "We continue to believe that this innovative peripheral redefines the skateboarding experience and could potentially have different applications in the future."
Arthur Levinson departs Google board amid FTC probe
We kind of doubt the departure of Genentech's former chief executive from Google's board of directors will close all of this out in the FTC's eyes, but if you were curious about the impact of said probe, here's your answer. Just two months after Google's Eric Schmidt peaced out from Apple's board due to a "conflict of interest," Arthur Levinson has left Google's board for presumably the same reason. Schmidt is still obviously fond of Sir Levinson, noting that he has "has been a key part of Google's success these past five years," and while he's exiting the board, he'll "always have a special place at Google." So, now that all of this is cleared up, can we finally move on without worrying that the aforementioned search giant will buy up the world's remaining inventory of dark fiber, fuse into Apple and create a telepathic iPod that would rule the world until the dawn of the Robot Apocalypse?[Via New York Times]
Video: Scarpar off-road powerboard absolutely must go commercial
Hoverboards? Too complicated, too far out and too expensive. What the world really needs is the Scarpar. Said device is an off-road powerboard that just moved on from the concept stage to engineering. Its creators have thrown together an absolutely sick video (after the break) which showcases all the possibilities, and now all that's left is for those very folks to procure a good bit of venture funding to get things moving. Take it from us, VCers -- hit these guys up, now.
Joystiq hands-on: Halo Interactive Strategy Game
Interactive level design to the max! The Halo Interactive Strategy Game is a crown of shame, aiming a Christmas-ruining SPNKr at happy children everywhere. Sure, I tempered my expectations of a board game based off a video game -- especially an "interactive" one. But after imposing it on my regular game night friends, the Halo board game's missed potential let me down. Building the map was fun. Playing capture-the-flag, deathmatch, or an objective-based contest wasn't.The game is full of weak and unclear rules and an optional DVD just distracts from the strategy. This could have been a chess-like adaptation of Halo, but it just ends up feeling sorry.%Gallery-35732%
Big Bang Board Games come to iPhone/iPod touch
If you're looking for a collection of classic timewaster games for your iPhone or iPod touch, look no further than Freeverse's Big Bang Board Games, which includes Chess, Backgammon, Checkers, Mancala, Reversi, 4-In-A-Row, and Tic-Tac-Toe. The artwork and gameplay is taken directly from the Mac version of the game, and Chess has a portrait (3D) and landscape (2D) mode. Unfortunately, each game only has a one-player mode. It would be nice to have a two-player option, for those situations where you're waiting with your significant other for a table, or in line for a movie. Other than that, they're great games for my (sigh) favorite activity: sitting quietly through endless telephone meetings. Note to self: my clients don't read TUAW, do they? Just kidding, everyone! Big Bang Board Games is available in the App Store for $7.99.
Hobbits will enjoy the new Mines of Moria web game
Turbine has been rolling out web-based games to promote The Lord of the Rings Online's upcoming expansion, The Mines of Moria. The first two games -- King Under the Mountain and Swig and Toss -- had a Dwarven theme. Now, a brand new, Hobbit-themed game called Eleventy Seven Morsels has been unveiled.Eleventy Seven Morsels is sweet for its simplicity; all you do for the most part is pick up a morsel from the board -- simple, right? Well, there's a bit of strategy involved. Morsels you pick up are distributed around the board with a certain pattern, and you have to try to distribute them in your favor instead of your opponent's. If you visit the website, you can read the rules to see exactly what all that means.As was the case with the previous two games, avid players will receive a little something -- a poster featuring art from the expansion, in this case.
How to put WoW Insider on your vBulletin Board forum
In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index.About vBulletin Board vBulletin Board is a very advanced piece of software that has to be installed on a website. It uses backend technology to make a very nice forum website. Ask your web provider if they have a vBulletin Board system setup for you already. If not, you might have to go through installing it and setting up the basic functionality. While this process is not too hard, it is beyond the scope of this guide. However, once everything is all setup, getting WoW Insider syndicated on your vBulletin Board site is easy. How to syndicate WoW Insider on your vBulletin Board website 1. Log in as an administrator. 2. Scroll down the left side administrator tools until you see "RSS Feeds". Expand that topic, and select "Add New RSS Feed". 3. Fill in the information as shown above, and select the options that fit your needs. 4. Scroll down and click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page. 5. That's it. You're now syndicating WoW Insider on your vBulletin Board site! Give it five to ten minutes to grab the news from WoW Insider, and you'll soon see it on your site's forums.
Andrea Jung joins Apple board
Today, Andrea Jung joined Apple's Board of Directors. Jung is currently the chairman and CEO of Avon. She graduated from Princeton University, and also serves on the board of directors for the General Electric Company, and is on the board of trustees for New York Presbyterian Hospital. "Andrea is a strong CEO and marketer and we look forward to benefiting from her insights and experience as a member of Apple's board," said Steve Jobs, today.Jung is the eighth member of Apple's board of directors. As you may recall, the last member to join the board was Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. Apple has recently come under fire about their perceived lack of diversity in the upper offices; this is a definite start to ending those comments. The current board of directors is made up of: Bill Campbell (Chairman and former CEO, Intuit Corp.) Millard Drexler (Chairman and CEO, J. Crew) Albert Gore Jr. (Former Vice President of the United States) Steve Jobs (CEO, Apple, Inc.) Andrea Jung (Chairman and CEO, Avon Products) Arthur D. Levinson, Ph. D. (Chairman and CEO, Genentech) Dr. Eric Schmidt (CEO, Google) Jerry York (Chairman, President and CEO Harwinton Capital)
Atari board axed, CEO believes Atari name means something good
Like Bartleby and Loki in the Mooby boardroom (video found after the break), Infogrames -- which owns Atari and rocks our world -- has ejected most of the Atari board. Five Atari directors were axed, three will remain, and new directors will join -- along with the creation of a "chief restructuring officer." The plan to overhaul Atari has been in the works for a while as the company continues to pathetically lose money during this time of financial fortitude in the industry.Infogrames CEO Patrick Leleu says the new board is expected to improve finances, revive publishing initiatives, improve distribution and leverage the Atari name. Maybe we're not drinking the hallucinogenic high-end scotch that Leleu is, but fixing the Atari brand is like asking a leper to pull himself together. In the meantime Atari is sure to keep those delays coming. Maybe it's time to start fresh with a completely new name and stop running the company like it's still amateur hour in the video games industry circa 1983.
