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Steve Jobs's long and complex relationship with Japan
Japanese writer Hayashi Nobuyuki has written a thoughtful article on Steve Jobs and Japan, covering both the professional and personal influences that helped shape Jobs's path through life and with Apple. The piece has been translated into English, and it's worth a read. Jobs considered himself a practicing Buddhist most of his adult life, and was a student of the Sōtō Zen monk Otogawa Kōbun; Otogawa even served as the "spiritual advisor" for NeXT. Apparently, Jobs's enthusiasm for Zen study once led him to threaten to retreat from the world and ensconce himself in a Sōtō temple in Japan. Jobs's affection for Japanese culture and cuisine even led him to 'bend' his strict vegan diet when it came to sushi; he was a frequent customer of the Kaygetsu restaurant in Silicon Valley, and he relished the raw fish delicacies in dinners with family and colleagues. When Jobs learned that the restaurant was set to close this year (which it did, two days after Steve's death in early October), he approached the restaurant's chef with a job offer. The same dishes that Steve enjoyed are now featured on the bill of fare at Apple's campus cafeteria. Thanks Rick! photo by Mike Tex | Flickr CC
Review: 'The Zen of Steve Jobs' graphic novel
I just took ten minutes (hey, it's a comic book) and read Caleb Melby and Jess3's The Zen of Steve Jobs graphic novel and I think anyone who is a fan of comic books or Steve Jobs is going to like it. As I told you in September, the 60-page graphic novel is a re-imagining of Steve Jobs' life during the mid-1980s after he left Apple and before he founded NeXT. Specifically, it deals with Jobs' relationship with Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Zen Buddhist priest (who also married Jobs and his wife, Laurene Powell). The writer, Caleb Melby, makes it clear from the get go that the graphic novel is not fact. He combines existing Jobs/Kobun interviews and biographies with his own interviews of several Kobun students who were contemporaries of Jobs. The result, enhanced with Melby's imagination is a really interesting story. In the graphic novel, Jobs and Kobun clearly have a Luke Skywalker/Yoda thing going on (although Jobs is more of a jerk to Kobun than Luke was to Yoda). As the story progresses, the reader is treated to flashbacks and flashforwards of how the Buddhist principle of Ma eventually affected Apple's designs after Steve's return. Speaking of style, Jess3's art is beautiful -- a combination of manga and western styles with clean lines and sweeping, single-color tones. While this graphic novel is about Steve Jobs, Kobun is the most interesting character. His real-life death eerily mirrored the fictional Joseph Knecht's death in Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game almost exactly, and Melby depicted that well (readers of both will probably note the similarities between the two before they even finish Zen). The Zen of Steve Jobs finishes with some extras, like a fascinating afterword from the author about why he brought Steve Job's to life in comic book form, a mini-biography of Kobun and some interesting behind-the-scenes looks as to how the project was created. The Zen of Steve Jobs is available in print from Amazon (US$10.28) or on the iBookstore ($9.99).
Creative Zen X-Fi3 gets covered in FCC fingerprints
Remember the Zen X-Fi3, that little, bitty portable media player that we spent a bit of hands-on time with, back in September? Well, the FCC has had its crack at the thing, and the agency wasn't quite as kind, ripping pint-sized music player apart and displaying its innards for all the world to see, which might be for the best, really. While the outsides of the device aren't particularly exciting, the player's got some stuff going on under the hood, like built-in Bluetooth, which the company claims can stream high-quality audio courtesy of the apt-X codec. See the X-Fi3 exposed to the world in the gallery below.%Gallery-138461%
Server issues preventing iOS 5 updates for many - TUAW recommends a dose of zen
Sometimes, bad upgrades happen. Multiple users are reporting an error 3200 or 3002 when they try to upgrade to iOS 5, or getting a warning about ineligible upgrades. Some others are encountering other scary, silly, or exasperating iTunes hurdles on the path to bringing your iOS device into the latest firmware. The 3200 and 3002 errors are the most pernicious and widespread of the problems we've heard of today, and they're most likely due to Apple's servers being overwhelmed by literally millions of users all trying to upgrade at once. Personally, my 10.7.2 upgrade has had "About 3 hours left" now for, well, hours. You can spend the rest of the day tearing your hair out over this... or you can take a few deep breaths, take a break, put down the iPhone, and go do something else. The chances of everything resolving quickly over the next hour or two are slight. Relax, go outside, breathe some air, give thanks for your blessings, and try again later tonight or maybe tomorrow. iOS 5 and iCloud will still be there.
Preview: 4 pages from forthcoming Steve Jobs graphic novel
Forbes has published four pages from the upcoming Zen of Steve Jobs graphic novel. The 60-page book is brought to you by Forbes and the people at JESS3, who specialize in data visualization. The Zen of Steve Jobs is a re-imagining of Steve Jobs' life during the mid-1980s after he left Apple and before he founded NeXT. During that time Jobs befriended Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Zen Buddhist priest. The two shared a passion about art, design and innovation. The graphic novel imagines how their friendship influenced Steve Jobs' later decisions when he returned to Apple. Yeah, it's a little weird that Forbes is publishing fictional Steve Jobs comic books, but I'm sure it'll be a best-seller. The graphic novel will have its digital release in late fall. In the mean time you can check out four preview pages by clicking the link above and another page here.
Creative keeps stabbing at the MP3 market, reveals bantam ZEN X-Fi3
Another IFA, another minuscule ZEN X-Fi media player. And somehow, they manage to get less and less impressive with each passing year. This go 'round, we're looking at the ZEN X-Fi3, equipped with a 2-inch LCD, 8/16GB of internal storage, Bluetooth 2.1, a built-in microphone / FM radio / speaker and a battery that should last up to 20 hours when playing back audio alone. As with prior ZEN units, this one also supports a multitude of file formats (FLAC, AAC, MP3, WMA, Audible, etc.), and for those kosher with watching Alf reruns on a thumb-sized panel, MPEG-4 / WMV9 / DivX video files are also capable of being played back. This guy's slated to ship at the end of October across Europe, but with $99.99 (8GB) / $139.99 (16GB) price tags, we're guessing most are bound to just collect dust. For shame.
Pinball FX 2 wants your high scores in XBLA Spider-Man tournament
Zen Studios is hosting a high-score Spider-Man tournament for XBLA's Pinball FX 2, running from today to August 12. The winners will receive goodies such as MS Points and sweet Marvel gear, all for playing some pinball. The prizes break down as follows: 1st Place: 4,000 MS Points, a Marvel Digital Comics annual subscription, a Spider-Man Bass Skyline tee shirt from Mighty Fine 2nd and 3rd Place: 1600 MS Points, a Marvel Digital Comics annual subscrption, a Spider-Man Bass Skyline tee shirt from Mighty Fine Zen Studios promises prizes for random players as well, so feel free to play some rounds without any pressure. The Spider-Man table is in the Marvel Pinball pack, which runs 800 MS Points on XBLA, and it is required to play in the tournament. Otherwise it'd just have a name like "Pinball Championships," which are already happening this August, and wouldn't that be awkward at the Kinko's badge station.
Marvel Pinball springing onto new devices, rolling out a new title
Marvel Pinball is slinging onto new systems, set to hit mobile devices (iOS, Android, PS Vita, and 3DS), a new stationary console (PC), and a strange mixture of the two (WiiU), all by the end of 2012. Specific release dates will bounce onto the scene closer to each launch. A new Marvel Pinball installment, Vengeance and Virtue, is scheduled to rebound onto Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network this winter, featuring Ghost Rider in a new pack of tables. Marvel lit up its Comic-Con panel with this rollout of news, but more importantly we just made it through this whole post without making a single ball joke. You're welcome.
Behind the Mask: Perfect World and the future
If I were to describe the emotions of the Champions Online playerbase regarding the Perfect World buyout, I would have to say "mixed." Some players are happy that the days of Atari are behind them, and some are really skeptical about the future of the C-Store. CO is a fairly "pay-to-win" game in that Gold members have a lot of gameplay advantages over their non-subscribing counterparts. A lot of players are suggesting that the C-Store might become inundated with paid features and that we might possibly see the removal of certain free features (like global-purchased respecs). I am cautiously optimistic about the whole thing. Perfect World Entertainment holds controlling shares in Runic Games, and if the recent Mac and console ports of Torchlight are any indication of PWE's approach to management, I'd be more than happy to welcome our new alien overlords.
Zen Bound 2 arrives on the Mac via Steam
Zen Bound 2, the second in the series of terrific iPhone and iPad games, is now out on the Mac platform as well, courtesy of Valve's great Steam platform. If you've ever played this one (and you definitely should), you'll know how it works -- wrap a virtual rope around a series of weird shapes trying to cover a certain percentage of the surface with paint. The gameplay's super intuitive and the whole experience is very zen, with solid colors and graphics backing up a great soundtrack and some intriguing realistic physics. The iOS version is universal at $2.99, and the Mac version comes in at just a little bit higher than that at $4.99. But the visuals have been upgraded a bit, and the desktop version will even make use of trackpad controls on the MacBooks and the Magic Trackpad if you want to play that way. Plus, the title has been released under the SteamPlay banner, which means that buying it once will get you access to both the Mac and Windows versions if you want to install and run it on a few different computers. Great game, and of course, it's always nice to support Steam's choice to step on over with us on the Mac, too.
Creative gets official with Android-based Zen Touch 2 PMP
Hard to say if this is the direct (or indirect) replacement to the Creative X-Fi2 we toyed with 13 months ago, but the new Zen Touch 2 has snuck out behind the cover of two ZiiO touch tablets. This here PMP sports a 3.2-inch touchscreen, Android 2.1 underneath, Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, an accelerometer, inbuilt speaker, two megapixel camera, microSD card slot, GPS, digital compass, FM radio tuner and a run-of-the-mill plastic enclosure. That last bit is according to Pocket-lint's brief hands-on with the device, noting that the touch panel is of the resistive variety and the user interface was jumpy and problematic to say the least. It'll be landing soon in 8GB and 16GB sizes for S$279 ($216 in Greenbacks) and up, but we get the impression that price and availability may not matter much in the grand scheme of things.
TUAW's Daily App: Zentomino HD
There are lots of frantic action games available on the App Store, but sometimes all you want to do is get home, sit down with your iPad, and relax with a fun puzzle. Zentomino is a game that lets you do exactly that. It's a very zen take on the "pentomino" puzzle game, requiring you to fit a certain set of shapes into a specific outline. The game's about as relaxing as it gets. While the music is somewhat repetitive, you're free to move as many pieces around as much as you want, and just pushing the big, colorful shapes around can be almost as entertaining as actually completing the puzzle. There's not a lot of flair, but what's there is intuitive and fun, and when you just want to sit on the couch and relax, that's what you need. Zentomino HD is the brand new iPad version of the game, and it's available as an ad-supported app. The first set of puzzles is completely free, with others available through in-app purchase. The game's also available for iPhone (either as a US$1.99 paid version, or a lite version with ads).
WWDC 2010: iZen Garden for iPad
Last week at WWDC, we met up with Jive DeVoe -- he's the developer behind the iZen Garden app for the iPhone, iPod touch, and, just recently, the iPad. The app purports to be a zen garden simulation, and it works as exactly that -- you can rake patterns in the sand, or put over 130 objects like stones, plants, or leaves on the ground and resize them as you like. In fact, everything in this app is "as you like." Rather than a directed experience, DeVoe called it a "coffee table app" -- something that you lay out on a coffee table, either with others or just on your own, and experiment with at whatever pace strikes you as right. He's added some features over time -- one of the most requested was a meditation timer, and so the iPad app comes with an option for background noise, as well as a timer that will stop or even put the iPad to sleep whenever you want. DeVoe's also put a few of his own little touches in the app: if you look closely at the screen while tilting it around, you'll see the shadows underneath the objects move with the accelerometer, a very subtle effect that you'll only notice if you look for it. DeVoe has played around with prices quite a bit since his app hit the store one day one way back when. He's been as high as US$7.99, and as low as $3.99 (which is where the iPhone version is currently set), and he decided to put the iPad app at $5.99. He doesn't want to go much lower than that -- at 99 cents, he says, there's more money to be made, but there's almost a stigma against pricing so low, as if a 99 cent app is somehow worth less, even if it's well-made. Plus, he told me, "at 99 cents you lose money until you hit the top 50." There are also lite versions available, with fewer objects to see, and none of the meditation timer functionality. iZen Garden is a cool metaphor app that does what it says on the box, and in the end, DeVoe says, that's what most of his users want. The App Store, for him, is a direct connection between "my customers and me."
Ready Check: Zen and the art of precognition
Ready Check focuses on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Icecrown Citadel or Ulduar, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses. Your regular host, Mr. Michael Gray, is still trying to fight his way out of Tyler's fever dreams, so Ready Check this week has fallen to me. I had to check in the blackened heart and the mage-hate on the way in, so if you want that stuff, you'll have to read Blood Pact. I toyed with the idea of doing some hardcore theorycrafting post or the like, but instead I want to talk about one of the raiding "soft skills." Hamlet said, "What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!" Today, we look at angelic actions through godlike apprehension.
Zen Studios' Planet Minigolf will be Move-enabled
Add one more title to the list of PlayStation Move launch games -- Zen Studios has announced that its Planet Minigolf game, set for a release as soon as this spring, will be "Move-enabled." Of course, Move isn't released until later this fall, but Zen promises that their game "will be fully-compatible" with the motion controller anyway. Presumably, that means you'll be able to swing the controller like a putt-putt club, but who knows -- maybe the game will incorporate any number of other minigolf-associated motions, from throwing your club in anger when the clown blocks your shot to stealthily nudging the ball with your foot when your opponent isn't looking. The possibilities are endless!
Creative rolls out X-Fi 2 SDK, developers now free to craft games and apps
We're going way out on a limb here and guessing that Creative's X-Fi 2 doesn't exactly have an insane amount of the PMP market share, but for those obsessed with its boyish good looks and world-beating user interface, we've got some thrilling news to share. The company has just made public its ADK (Application Development Kit), a Lua-based system where devs are able to "code their own interesting applications and customize the ZEN X-Fi 2." You're also able to "create and debug games and applications right from one's Windows PC," so any Mac loyalists in the house will have to fire up Boot Camp (or similar) in order to dive in. Hit the source to get your download on, and be sure to drop us a line when your riveting new title is ready for public consumption. [Thanks, Gavin]
Kung Foo! closed beta event
If you've been involved in a beta over the last several weeks and haven't been boldly going where no gender-neutral-pronoun has gone before, you've probably been taking a look at Kung Foo!. Statistically speaking. Maybe you're in on the Hello Kitty Online: Rise of Cthulhu beta testing, we're not sure. Anyway. If you have been testing Kung Foo! recently, you'll be familiar with the volume and intensity of events that the community team has been organizing to keep the beta tests as engaging as possible. In preparation for Closed Beta 2 next week, they've announced another testing event... and the rewards are cold, hard cash. Well, cold, hard, item-mall cash. Which is still a nice freebie. The servers will go live for Closed Beta 2 on January 26th, 4 PM PST (7 PM for those of us running on EST), and the event will start an hour later at 5 PM PST on Realm 4. The official blog for Perfect World Entertainment will update this blog entry with a screenshot hinting at where the GM is hiding. Be the first to find him, and you win $50 worth of Zen currency. Easy money, isn't it? And a perfect way to get more excited about the game's launch when testing starts.
Creative ZEN X-Fi2 sees its first firmware update, still has aways to go
Just weeks after going on sale here in America, Creative's underwhelming ZEN X-Fi2 portable media player is already seeing its first firmware update. If you'll recall, we found the unit darn near unusable back at IFA, and even now it's being panned for forcing users to mash the screen too often and wait too long for things to happen. Reportedly, the 1.10.04 update solves those responsiveness issues, and it also brings about colored icons (yeah, seriously), accelerometer usage (but only for photos), a Sudoku game and a "press and hold" behavior for powering the unit on or off. The most interesting aspect here (in our humble opinions) is the Sudoku bit, as it certainly hints at more titles being possible in future firmware refreshes. Hit the Read link to get that download going, and hop on past the break if you need any video convincing.
Creative's ZEN X-Fi2 touchscreen PMP now on sale
Candidly speaking, we can't honestly envision too many of you fine folks running out and purchasing one of Creative's new ZEN X-Fi2 portable media players given the availability of such robust alternatives. That said, we'd be remiss of our duties if we didn't point out that the PMP which shocked us at IFA is now on sale directly from Creative. $129.99 buys you an 8GB model, while $179.99 nets you 16GB and $229.99 provides 32GB. We know -- that 3-inch LCD and integrated FM tuner look good from afar, but remember kids, it's all about the UI. [Thanks, Tyler]
Creative announces Zen X-Fi2 touchscreen PMP (video)
Creative's Zii EGG may be snagging the majority of headlines for the company these days, but it looks like it's not about to let its regular PMPs fall by the wayside, and it's now announced its new Zen X-Fi2 player that ditches the few buttons found on the original Zen X-Fi in favor of full touchscreen controls. That, of course, also comes with an increase in screen size (to 3-inches), and a new interface that seems to include a few elements from that patent filing we saw a while back. Otherwise, the specs aren't too far off its predecessor, including the same 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB options, a microSD card slot for further expansion, a built-in microphone and FM radio, an RSS reader (which must be synced up with your PC). Still no firm word on a release date, unfortunately, but you can now pre-order it from a number of retailers for $129.99, $179.99, or $229.99, depending on the capacity. Not convinced just yet? Then perhaps smooth jams of the videos after the break will change your mind. [Thanks, Sim]
