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Al Gore praises Tim Cook as 'a fantastic CEO'
Tim Cook already has plenty of fans, but just in case you were wondering, we can add former US Vice President Al Gore to the list as well. Speaking with Bloomberg, the almost-43rd-President of the United States called Apple's head honcho "a fantastic CEO." This should come as little surprise, given that Gore is indeed seated on Apple's board of directors, but it's a nice pat on the back in the midst of the utterly absurd "the sky is falling on Apple" mania. "Can you imagine trying to follow Steve Jobs?" Gore continued. "Well, Tim's done it, and he's done it in his own unique way. Next week, there's yet another announcement from Apple. I invite people to tune in for that. They're really hitting on all cylinders." Gore, of course, was referring to the October 22 event in which it is expected that Apple will reveal the next devices in the iPad line... and maybe even something you aren't expecting.
We're live at SXSW's Al Gore on The Future panel
Al Gore: former Vice President, environmental activist, author, voice-over artist, gadget freak -- and psychic? The politician and supporter of all things green will be looking into his crystal ball today, with a little help from The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg here at SXSW. Join us after the break for all the robots, lasers and flying cars.
Al Gore buys lots of AAPL
Al Gore is not afraid of all the doom and gloom surrounding Apple. According to Forbes, the politician/environmentalist just spent US$440,000 to buy 59,000 shares of Apple stock. Of course, he exercised stock options that he received for serving on Apple's Board of Directors and bought the stocks at a very, very reasonable $7.475 per share. Based on Apple's closing stock price as of Thursday afternoon, that purchase is worth a cool $30 million.
Internet Hall of Fame gets first inductees at inaugural event in Switzerland
Major League Baseball has Cooperstown, Robots have their HOF in Pittsburgh and now we finally have a Hall of Fame to call our own. Today marks the inaugural set of Pioneers, Innovators and Global Connectors inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame, having taken place at an Internet Society conference in Geneva, Switzerland. The web HOF is part of an initiative by the nonprofit organization to "celebrate the advancements of 33 talented people who have made significant contributions to the design, development, and expansion of the internet." Among these are folks such as the Father of the Internet Vint Cerf, ARPANET engineer Paul Baran and the 45th US Vice President Al Gore, just to mention a few names. Between the 2012 inductees there were nine different countries represented, 11 PhDs, 11 published authors and a winner of an Academy Award and Nobel Prize. Interested in knowing who else made it in? The full list of inductees can be found at the source below.
WoW Moviewatch: An Inconvenient Expansion
With all the panda jokes flying around, plenty of people are expressing some paranoia about Mists of Pandaria. It's way too early to tell whether those jokes are serious concerns or just the sort of knee-jerk hand-wringing that's common on official forums. This is not the first time critics have freaked out about an upcoming expansion. Lagspike Films created this parody video to shout out to those folks who feel every expansion is the death of WoW. If every expansion is An Inconvenient Expansion, when can we finally be happy? Just remember, Cataclysm turned out all right. Mists will be awesome. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
Al Gore praises Apple Board at All Things D conference
Al Gore, Former Vice President and member of the Apple board of Directors, sat down with Walt Mossberg at the recent AsiaD conference held in Hong Kong last week. Besides environmental issues and politics, Gore also talked about Steve Jobs, Apple and its board of Directors. Gore has served on Apple's board since 2003. Gore had nothing but good things to say about the members of Apple's Board of Directors and praised them for making difficult decisions throughout Steve Jobs's protracted illness. I have the deepest respect for my fellow board members, we're all very good friends... I think that people who specialize in kibitzing about these things - I respect them, it's good for them to think about this kind of stuff, but I wouldn't change a thing about the way the Apple board has operated. Apple's board has been criticized in the past for withholding information about Steve Jobs's illness and for not publicizing its CEO accession plan.
Al Gore shares an incontestable truth: 'Games are the new normal'
"Games have clearly arrived as a mass medium," former Vice President Al Gore professed to a crowd of Games for Change conference attendees this afternoon. Gore gave the event's keynote address at New York University earlier today, where he looked especially sleepy from a redeye flight out of Tokyo. "This is a very large, extremely significant industry, with a radically diverse and growing audience of players on all kinds of platforms," he added, citing the ubiquity of gaming over the past few years as a result of efforts by major console manufacturers, smartphone makers, and (of course) Facebook. "Games are the new 'normal' for hundreds of millions of users every month." Gore went on to speak about his own admittedly short past with gaming, saying that the last game where he felt he "was best in the world, potentially" was Pong. He did, however, recently convert his book "Our Choice" into an eBook for iOS devices. He related this experience with the world of "serious games," where gaming is used to "illuminate issues that can seem intractable and overly complex." In so many words, it was an arduous process for him to convert the book -- just as it's difficult to convert complex concepts to the gaming medium. The secret sauce, he claimed, was in working with a group of "really good partners who know what they're doing." Identifying those partners, however, is where things get tricky. "How you insure that the integrity of the content is not in any way compromised, but rather enhanced," he pointed out, is another major issue. Without providing a roadmap for how to navigate that issue, Gore put it on conference attendees to take up the task -- not to mention the hundreds of millions of gamers worldwide. Gaming is the new "normal," after all, so shouldn't gamers be involved?
Al Gore taunted at shareholders' meeting, gets 10k more options anyway
Last week in this post and last night during the talkcast, we mentioned that Apple's shareholders had passed on a sustainability proposal during last week's meeting (the first time in recent memory that Apple didn't go for stricter environmental standards), but apparently the shareholders weren't just against the proposal. At least one of them was openly heckling Al Gore about his work with the environment. Shelton Ehrlich (who apparently has a reputation among Apple shareholders as a conspiracy believer) stood up and called Gore a "laughingstock," railing against Gore's re-election to the board of directors. Good times -- we're sure Gore is used to dealing with controversies like that, but we wouldn't have expected it at the Apple shareholder meeting. Still, that hasn't dissuaded him from working with the company -- according to an SEC filing, he also picked up another 10,000 stock options from Apple, netting him more than $227k according to Apple's current stock price. Good deal. At least one of Apple's shareholders isn't too happy with Gore's work for the environment, but the relationship between Gore and Apple seems like it's here to stay for a while.
Minutes from Apple's shareholder meeting
Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog has some unofficial minutes from this week's Apple shareholder meeting -- while press weren't actually allowed inside the event (which featured Apple's board, including Al Gore, Steve Jobs, and new co-lead director Andrea Jung), that didn't stop an anonymous shareholder from revealing the goings-on. Not that it mattered much -- the whole affair sounds pretty boring, with Apple running down what they've done in public over the past year, along with lots of formalities and shareholder votes. One highlight is that Steve Jobs sounds like he's got the magic back -- apparently he was "feisty" during the Q&A session, and he sounds like he's back to work, saying that Apple is holding onto their piles of cash for some "big, bold moves." There was news that Apple is planning to expand their retail presence in China, opening up 25 Apple Stores over there over the next two years. Both a stock split and a sustainability proposal were brought up, discussed, and turned down by the shareholders (more on the stock split here on TUAW in just a bit). In short, Apple is a company, just like any other. It's actually fun to see behind the doors on this one, and get a look at the mechanics that drive this historic company. You almost get a sense of what Jobs is like in actual meetings -- fairly demanding, always pushing for answers (or questions), and while opinionated, always fair (Eric Schmidt was brought up, and Jobs said that the Google VIP "conducted himself appropriately" while at Apple). Despite the fact that those two proposals were declined, it sounds like a productive meeting.
Blog Action Day: Five apps to help save the world
TUAW is participating in this year's Blog Action Day on 10/15, an annual event in which bloggers around the world aim to spark discussion and awareness of serious and important issues. This year's topic is climate change, and fortunately, just like last year, we in the Apple community are in a pretty good place -- the company makes it a point to stay as green as possible, they have Al Gore on their board, and they make it safe and easy to dispose of their products in an environmentally friendly way. But there's always more we can do, from person to person -- making the earth a better place to live is going to take all of us working together. And so, here's five iPhone and iPod touch apps you can use to find out what you can do to take action on climate change. Some are paid, some are free, but all of them will give you fun and useful ways to help find approaches to dealing with climate change in your own behavior and life.
Reproducing isn't nearly as much fun in Second Life.
This quote and many other gems are showcased in a recent Esquire article featuring Vint Cerf: the infamous "Father of the Internet". He talks about his views on everything from the future of the internet, pornography and a vindication of Al Gore's claim to have invented the Internet. He also expresses his concerns on spam and what he remembers as the first spam message ever. He says it was possibly as early as 1979 when the Digital Equipment Corporation sent a note around announcing a product demo, and Cerf's team didn't appreciate the advertisement in a business setting. What we feel as one of the most interesting and pertinent parts of this assemblage of quotations is his thoughts on World of Warcraft being an actual benefit to the parenting process. He says "It may seem like sort of a waste of time to play World of Warcraft with your son. But you're actually interacting with each other. You're solving problems."[Update: link to actual product demo spam added][Thanks Dan!]
How green is Apple?
Is Apple a "green" company? Today is Blog Action Day, where 15,000 blogs are publishing posts about the environment. I have always thought of Apple having an eye towards the environment, but perhaps I think this is because I remember Apple eschewing extra paper on their boxes way back in the early days. You see, to get optimal 4-color print on a shipping box you have to wrap that box in an additional layer of glossy paper. For a while, Apple was content to ship the monochrome brown box with black ink, thus saving trees and ink. The original Mac boxes were white, but didn't use the glossy stuff.A year ago you may remember Apple being taken to task regarding their recycling efforts. In fact, Apple has been taken to task on their computer take back program, their packaging and now the scary hazardous chemicals in the iPhone. Shock, horror! Yes, it is obvious Apple is determined to coat the Earth in a fine sheen of clear plastic, aluminum and bromiated compounds. Evil I tells ya, evil.In their defense, Al Gore is on the board. OK, they have more than just Al. Steve Jobs issued a statement just a few months ago for a greener Apple. Naturally, there are still plenty of skeptics, but the site Green My Apple provides constructive criticism and a fairly healthy outlook for the future. Apple appears to have listened! Of course, they could just hire the Professor and make iPhones from coconuts, right? Given the fact that consumer electronics is about as un-green an industry as you can get, it'll be a very long road indeed before everyone is happy. Then again, as we know too well, there's no way to make everyone happy. The hope is that Apple will continue to innovate with "green" in mind. Not the back of the mind, but right up there in front where it'll do the most good.
Apple boardroom now includes special "Nobel laureate" chair
It's official: Apple's board of directors now has a shiny new certificate to pin up over by the coffee machine, between the volleyball game announcement and the worker's-comp sign. Board member Albert Gore, Jr., who had some government gig before he won an Oscar, is a co-laureate (with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, honoring his work in climate awareness.TUAW extends congratulations to Mr. Gore and to the Apple board, who now have a much better shot at getting the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela to endorse the iPod and Leopard.Update: Apple's home page currently shows a tribute to Al Gore, and Apple is "bursting with pride." Picture if you read on. [thanks Martijn]
SimCity Societies teaches players to think 'green'
With Maxis still hip-deep in Spore's primordial ooze, EA's decision to hand the next game in the storied SimCity franchise over to Caesar IV devs Tilted Mill was understandable, if not entirely welcome given the game's move away from being a 'realistic urban simulation,' a shift decried by fans to the tune of "you killed my baby!"In keeping with the forthcoming SimCity Societies' touchy-feely approach, which looks to abandon simulation gameplay in favor of 'social energies,' EA has announced that the game will also include 'climate education' through "low-carbon electricity choices and carbon emission monitoring" thanks to a partnership with 'green minded' alternative energy organization BP. The goal, says EA, is to give players an "accurate" look at some of the causes and available solutions to the inconvenient truth of global warming, no doubt giving Al Gore reason to smile as he continues to tango with Mizuguchi.Thankfully, according to EA, the game will not shove any eco-friendly environmentalist perspectives down players' collective throat. Instead, Societies will offer choices on how players wish to power their cities, leaving those of us who feel less at home hugging trees than we do while shoveling coal into the furnace free to do as we please when the game ships for the PC this November.
Al Gore: ex-VP, environmentalist, gadget freak
We all know former-VP Al Gore loves his Apple gear. Besides sitting on Cupertino's board of directors, he was happy to be shown toting his then-PowerBook around giving that wacky Academy Award-winning Keynote presentation of his. But today in Time's photo essay of his life, we got to see another side of Al Gore: gadget junkie. It's not too often you catch a glimpse of these high profile figures' inner info-sanctums, but we're not at all disappointed in how he holds court over the internet kingdom legend holds he created.From here it looks like the dude's all hooked up with a triple-head 30-inch Cinema Display rig (daaaamn!), what appears to be a Sharp HDTV on the wall (we're gonna guess that's a LC-32D7U), Humanscale Freedom ergo-chair, and an iPod (didn't the President, who owns one, help develop 'em?), whose box sits up in his shelf. Not to get all political and stuff, but surely this office, messy though it may be, is a step up from Bush's humbler means of input, no?P.S. -Yeah, fine, we're creepy gadget stalkers, what of it?
Rig of the Week: Al Gore's setup
We're going to break from tradition this week and highlight a rig that is not a part of our flickr pool. At right we see former Vice President (and Apple Board member) Al Gore flanked by three huge Apple displays. We can only imagine where the computer powering those things is located in that cluttered office.By the way, does anyone know where I can get an enormous tree frog for my wall?"Al Gore's American Life" photographed for Time Magazine by Steve Pyke.If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. Each Sunday we'll comb through the most recent entries and declare a "Rig of the Week!"
Mizuguchi working on Al Gore environmentalism project
On stage to discuss the game development process during Grasshopper Manufacture's 'Snake vs Zombie Vol. 2' event Saturday, Lumines producer Tetsuya Mizuguchi was instead questioned about his rumored involvement in an unannounced Al Gore project. Coy about details, Mizuguchi did confirm, "It's not going to be a video game. The concept derives from video games, and its something which the gaming generation will appreciate."Like last year's film An Inconvenient Truth, the project will focus on environmental issues, including energy conservation. Mizuguchi hinted that the effort will play on our perspective of Earth. "I think that we would need to see our own planet from outer space. We see that there are no borderlines between the countries and simply notice how beautiful it is. And maybe then, we will be more conscious about the environment. It's about gaining a new perspective, like when we moved from 2D to 3D," suggested Mizuguchi.
E-rope: saving the planet one socket at a time
As we all know, the biggest problem with conventional power strips are the unconventional plugs with whom the ol' girl mates. These boys come in all sizes and shapes resulting in at least one or two unusable sockets due to overlap. Well no more dear reader, at least not if the 2006 IDEA award winning design concept from the kids over at Brooklyn's Pratt Institute is taken from art to part anytime soon. The E-rope, designed by Chul Min Kang and Sung Hun Lim, is a modular power strip which can be twisted about to better accommodate cable gore with large, bulky plugs. Worried about vampire devices quietly leaching power off the mains? No problem, just give the socket section a 90-degree twist to strangle-off the current. Of course, while you're down there you could just unplug the damn thing but that's just an inconvenient truth, eh?[Via inhabitat]
TUAW Podcast #10
Here it is ladies and gentlemen: TUAW Podcast #10 for 6/7/06. In this edition I sat down for some coffee talk with Dan Pourhadi and Conrad Quilty-Harper on everything from Apple's new 5G iPod U2 Edition to Macs in Best Buy, as well as gaming on, the finish of, and that darn glossy screen in the MacBook. We also discuss that "Why 1st Generation Apple Products Suck" article and other various bits of Mac culture.You can download the podcast in MP3 format here (42.2 MB), and it should appear in our TUAW iTMS Podcast feed soon, if it hasn't already. We recorded this via an iChat audio conference using GarageBand (which rocks by the way), and we're still working on our podcasting and audio editing skills, so there will be a little bit of noise. Also, Conrad was using his MacBook's internal mic, so let that be a testament to its quality. Nevertheless, it's a good podcast that we hope you'll enjoy.
Apple profiles Keynote use in 'An Inconvenient Truth'
I saw 'An Inconvenient Truth' last night and I couldn't help but think, 'This is one long commercial about Apple.' Al Gore is seen, in almost every scene, sitting at his Powerbook fiddling with his presentation in Keynote, or giving his presentation with his Powerbook front and center. Apple has posted an article detailing the use of Keynote during the production of the film, and why it was used (ease of use and the ability to import HD video top the list).I must say that the presentation looked great, and I bet Al didn't even have to pay for Keynote (he is on Apple's board).
