Jony Ive
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Jony Ive talks new materials and Tim Cook's involvement in the creative process
As an addendum to its recent profile of Apple CEO Tim Cook, the New York Times on Monday published the full transcript from its interview with Apple designer Jony Ive. The full interview contains a number of interesting tidbits, with Ive taking time to address issues as varied as the industrial design team he leads and Tim Cook's involvement in the creative process. Responding to a question about what it's like working with Cook, Ive explains: We meet on average three times a week. Sometimes those meetings are over in his space, sometimes here in the design studio. We all see the same physical object. Something happens between what we objectively see and what we perceive it to be. That's the definition of a designer – trying to somehow articulate what contributes to the way we see the object. Ive also added that Tim Cook has long been a part of Apple's design culture of excellence that Steve Jobs helped establish. Steve established a set of values, and he established preoccupations and tones that are completely enduring – and he established those principles with a small team of people. I've been ridiculously lucky to be part of it. But Tim was very much part of that team – for that last 15 or 20 years. Concluding, Ive didn't divulge what he and the creative folks at Apple are currently working on, though he did note -- in classically vague Apple fashion -- that the work involves materials new to Apple. I've worked for the last 15 or 20 years on the most challenging, creative parts of what we do. I would love to talk about future stuff – they're materials we haven't worked in before. I've been working on this stuff for a few years now. Tim is fundamentally involved in pushing into these new areas and into these materials. Intriguing, especially in light of Eddy Cue's recent statement that Apple's 2014 product pipeline is the best he's seen in 25 years. Materials-wise, it remains to be seen what type of tricks Apple has up its sleeve, though it is worth noting that the company last year partnered up with GT Advanced Technologies to manufacture a lot of sapphire. Further, Apple last month renewed its exclusive right to use metal alloys from Liquidmetal Technologies.
Jony Ive on the Steve Jobs to Tim Cook transition: "Honestly, I don't think anything's changed"
With WWDC 2014 now behind us, many are holding up this year's developers conference as the moment when Tim Cook and Apple were able to finally step out of the long shadow cast by Steve Jobs. What's interesting, though, is that while those on the outside are often quick to contrast and compare Apple under Steve Jobs to Apple under Tim Cook, Apple executives themselves will be the first to tell you that not a whole lot about Apple's innovative and operational processes have changed. This, of course, is the result of Steve Jobs assembling a talented team of executives, engineers, and designers that continue to work within the framework of product development that he helped shape. Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a profile on Cook wherein Apple design guru Jony Ive explained that it's still business as usual over at 1 Infinite Loop. "Honestly, I don't think anything's changed," Ive explained, noting that the central mission of Apple remains innovation. "Steve established a set of values and he established preoccupations and tones that are completely enduring," Mr. Ive said. Chief among them is a reliance on small creative teams whose membership remains intact to this day. The philosophy that materials and products are intertwined also continues under Mr. Cook. This brings to mind a statement made by Apple executive Eddy Cue just a few weeks ago. While speaking at the first annual Code Conference, Cue explained that the passing of Steve Jobs did not necessitate Apple having to "reset" but rather transition. While Apple in a broad sense hasn't changed, there are of course differences in how Cook and Jobs personally involved themselves with Apple's product designs. If Mr. Jobs was maniacal about design, Mr. Cook projects "quiet consideration," Mr. Ive said. Mr. Cook digests things carefully, with time, which Mr. Ive said "testifies to the fact he knows it's important." Lower-level employees praise Mr. Cook's approachability and intellect. But some say he is less hands-on in developing products than his predecessor. This of course shouldn't come a surprise to many as even Steve Jobs noted in his biography that Tim Cook isn't necessarily a product guy. Nonetheless, Apple under the helm of Tim Cook has soared to new heights. The company's share price (adjusted for stock splits) is on the brink of an all-time high while iPhone sales figures continue to impress even the most cynical of analysts. Though critics have been quick to call out the Cook-era at Apple for having no new innovative products or product categories to speak of, Eddy Cue recently said that Apple's 2014 product lineup is the best he's seen in 25 years. Suffice it to say, it's going to be an interesting Fall.
Apple confirms: Longtime iPhone software engineer Greg Christie to retire
Originally reported by 9to5Mac, Apple today confirmed that longtime software engineer Greg Christie will be leaving the company. At Apple, Christie served as the Director of Human Interface. In a statement provided to Tim Bradshaw of the Financial Times, Apple said: Greg has been planning to retire later this year after nearly 20 years at Apple. He has made vital contributions to Apple products across the board, and built a world-class Human Interface team which has worked closely with Jony for many years. For nearly two decades, Christie has been a key Apple employee ho has largely remained outside of the spotlight. Recently, though, Christie made headlines when he granted an interview to the Wall Street Journal wherein he described the arduous process involved in getting the iPhone to market. Mr. Christie's team pored over details like the perfect speed for scrolling lists on the phone and the natural feel of bouncing back when arriving at the end of a list. He said his team "banged their head against the wall" over how to change text messages from a chronological list of individual messages to a series of separate ongoing conversations similar to instant messaging on a computer. Speaking to Christie's talents, he was one of the few people Scott Forstall originally asked to join the iPhone team when the project was just getting off the ground. Also of note is that Christie has a number of GUI patents to his name, including the "slide to unlock" feature that is now being argued over as part of Apple's second California trial with Samsung. With Christie on his way out, the Wall Street Journal has since added that Christie's "human interface" team will now report directly to Jony Ive. Interestingly, 9to5Mac claims that Christie's impending departure was the result of creative differences with Ive, an assertion that Apple's statement on the matter understandably didn't directly address. Other reporting (including Matthew Panzarino at our sister site TechCrunch) dismisses the notion that any tensions between Christie and Ive were at play in Christie's decision to retire.
Apple features new "Indie Game Showcase", and other news for March 21, 2014
Apple has rolled out a new section on the App Store called "Indie Game Showcase." It's dedicated to spotlighting stunning games by independent iOS developers. As Apple describes the new section: Often made up of just a few dedicated members, independent studios prove that what really matters is the size of your dream. In each Indie Game Showcase, we celebrate a popular game and its creative team, highlighting the developer's titles along with their favorite games from other studios. The move will no doubt be a welcome one for many independent developers who often feel that it's hard to compete against the might of bigger developers and the coverage -- and resulting spots on the top app charts -- they get. The first game to be featured is Device 6, and action-thriller from developer Simogo. In other news: The redesigned Starbucks iPhone app has been released. It has had an iOS 7 makeover and offers digital tipping plus the ability to review rewards from the dashboard. Apple has released an update for GarageBand which adds the option to export songs as an MP3. Jony Ive is one of the 10 finalists for The Drum Design Award. You can vote for him to win if you want.
Daily Roundup: 8GB iPhone 5c rumor, Microsoft OneNote goes free, and more
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Jony Ive talks design with The Sunday Times, and other news for March 17, 2014
The Sunday Times in the UK has published a lengthy five-page article in its magazine about Jony Ive, including an exclusive interview. The article delves into Ive's work practices, among other things. The article is behind a paywall, but for Apple (or design) fans, it's worth a read. Ive holds no punches when he says Samsung using Apple's designs for inspiration was "theft." The article also looks at Ive's design process, including the great lengths he goes to to source the right materials: Ive starts a new project by imagining what a new kind of product should be and what it should do. Only once he's answered those questions does he work out what it should look like. He seeks advice in unlikely places. He worked with confectionery manufacturers to perfect the translucent jelly-bean shades of his first big hit, the original iMac. He traveled to Niigata in northern Japan to see how metalworkers there beat metal so thin, to help him create the Titanium PowerBook, the first lightweight aluminum laptop in a world of hefty black plastic slabs. In other news: Apple has updated the Apple Store for iPad app with the ability to purchased gift cards ranging in value from $25 to $2000 USD. More revelations from a new book about Apple says Steve Jobs said Apple would never build a TV. Apple's iPhone is capturing 80% of the coveted "premium" smartphone market in China. Need 128 GB of RAM for your new Mac Pro? Transcend has you covered.
Download this Adobe Flash update now (again!), and other news for Feb. 21, 2014
For the second time this month, Adobe has released an emergency update to its Flash Player software on OS X and Windows. What's wrong with it this time? Here's what the researchers who discovered the latest vulnerability had to say: This threat actor clearly seeks out and compromises websites of organizations related to international security policy, defense topics, and other non-profit sociocultural issues. The actor either maintains persistence on these sites for extended periods of time or is able to re-compromise them periodically. This actor also has early access to a number of zero-day exploits, including Flash and Java, and deploys a variety of malware families on compromised systems. Based on these and other observations, we conclude that this actor has the tradecraft abilities and resources to remain a credible threat in at least the mid-term. Mac users can confirm what version they're running with this tool. The current, secure version (as of the time of this writing) is 12.0.0.70. Older versions put your system at risk. Users can manually download the latest version of Flash here. In other news: A teenaged Jony Ive almost gave up on a career in industrial design, but was talked out of it by renowned designer Tom Karen. Apple has registered several more new generic top-level domains including apple.technology, ipad.technology, iphone.technology, and mac.technology. Google is launching 'Project Tango,' a 3D-Mapping smartphone containing "customized hardware and software designed to track the full 3D motion of the device, while simultaneously creating a map of the environment." And it looks awesome.
Caturday: Finn and Catniss enjoying the designs of Jony Ive
We all know that cats are more intelligent than humans -- I mean, what other animal gets to lay around sleeping all day, gets food handed to it, and really doesn't have to do much of anything to get free housing? Well, Finn (the ginger cat) and Catniss (the grey one) also get a ton of Apple-related toys to play with and sleep on as well. Says owner Scott Jones, "We have two cats that just seem to love all things apple (like their owners) - Finn (ginger) and Catniss (grey) just love to sleep and chew and sleep more on anything that was designed by Jony & Co. They even seem to find the blinking LED on the Apple TV as fun as a laser pointer (well almost)." Two words: spoiled cats. (But then, aren't they all?) We'd love to see photos of your favorite feline soaking up the warmth of an Apple product, chasing a Magic Mouse, or just being a general nuisance while you're attempting to work on your Mac, iPad, or iPhone. Please let us know via our feedback page and please remember that your cat photo has to have some sort of connection to Apple or its products. For security reasons we can't accept inbound attachments, so you should host the photo (Dropbox, Flickr, iPhoto Journals, etc.) and send us the link. Many thanks to reader Scott Jones for sharing these photo with us.
Tony Fadell, the Podfather himself, appears to have purchased the red Mac Pro and gold EarPods from Jony Ive's auction
The Jony Ive and Marc Newson Project (RED) auction held just a few weeks ago at Sotheby's was without question a rousing success. Many items yielded winning bids that were hundreds of thousands of dollars more than what auction officials were anticipating. All told, millions of dollars were raised and subsequently donated to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. With Ive being one of the two designers curating the auction block, there were two Apple-centric items up for bid. One was a one-of-a-kind red Mac Pro that fetched US$977,000. The other was an 18k gold pair of Apple EarPods that were purchased for $461,000. The money and person behind these winning bids has remained a mystery, until now. Two photos posted to Twitter today seem to indicate that former Apple executive Tony Fadell, the podfather himself, may have picked up not one, but both items. The photos come courtesy of photographer Kevin Abosch, who tweeted that his "friend" Fadell came by sporting some unique hardware. My friend @tfadell stopped by with 1 of a kind solid rose gold earbuds. Very cool! Thank you!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/RUc6hpD0JG - kevin abosch (@kevinabosch) December 11, 2013
Jony Ive's first design project at Apple
Thanks to a seemingly endless string of iconic products, Apple design guru Jony Ive's name has long been synonymous with award-winning industrial design. When one thinks of Ive's greatest creations, it's only natural to conjure up products created in the Steve Jobs part-deux era, beginning, of course, with the Bondi Blue iMac. But Ive's career at Apple began all the way back in 1992, nearly a decade before the iPod was unveiled and a good five years before Jobs returned to the fray. Ive's first design project at Apple, interestingly enough, was the Apple MessagePad 110 (internally codenamed Lindy). It's funny to think that Ive has been at Apple for so long that he actually helped design a device that ran the Newton OS. In Leander Kahney's new book, Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products, Kahney details the work and dedication Ive put in when designing the MessagePad 110, the first product Ive was ever tasked with designing as an Apple employee. BusinessInsider reports: Ive added a spring-loaded cover for the Lindy that popped open after you pressed it. He also integrated the pen at the top of the device. The pen telescoped out to fit in the device. "I insisted the lid fold up and over the top, like a stenographer's notepad, which everyone understands ... The stored pen at the top where a stenographer's notepad's spiral binding would be, made the right connection," said Ive. He thought the original Newton was too foreign, so he tried to make the Lindy more relatable. Ive went from his initial design concept to a foam model in two weeks, the fastest anyone at Apple had ever seen, says Kahney. When it was being made, Ive stayed at [a] hotel in Taiwan near Apple's manufacturer to help get the product right. He basically broke his back; spent an enormous amount of time in Taiwan getting that thing just right. It was beautiful. Well executed. It worked really well. It was an amazing product," said Robert Brunner, who led Apple's Industrial Design group at the time. The Ive-designed Newton MessagePad was released in March of 1994 and would go on to win a number of industrial design awards. Of course, when Jobs returned to Apple a few years later, one of the first things he did was axe the Newton. As a point of interest, here's what the packaging for the MessagePad 110 looked like. Apple's packaging sure has come a long way since then. To borrow an over-used phrase from Ive himself, this box is unapolegetically '90s. Lastly, and for any Apple history heads out there, this is how Apple, back in 1994, touted the features of the Newton MessagePad 110: The Newton MessagePad 110 personal digital assistant can help you manage information; stay in touch via fax, e-mail, and paging; and exchange information with your computer. It's the second member of the Newton family, and has more than three times the memory space and twice the battery life of the original Newton MessagePad. It can help you stay in and communicate more effectively. You can send faxes and receive pages and messages. Tap into on-line services or electronic mail. Even exchange business cards via built-in infrared technology. It can help you share and synchronize information with your Windows-based or Macintosh computer. It can help you organize ideas. Take notes. Make sketches. Format and print letters. And you can expand its capabilities with new software titles that help you keep track of your time, find your way around unfamiliar cities, and even deliver better-organized speeches. The Newton MessagePad 110 has powerful handwriting-recognition capabilities for both printed and cursive writing. So it can transform your handwriting into text letter by letter or word by word. It can also leave your notes handwritten should you wish to defer recognition until later. And as time goes by, it learns about you, your handwriting, and the way you work, helping you get more done. It comes with a built-in notepad, to-do list, datebook, and name file to get you started. And when combined with software titles offering new capabilities, the Newton MessagePad is your personal assistant with all the right connections and is likely to become your most treasured possession.
Amazon mocks Jony Ive, iPad Air in new Kindle Fire HDX ad
Amazon has released a new commercial in which it subtly mocks Jony Ive while comparing the new iPad Air with the new Kindle Fire HDX 8.9-inch tablet. The commercial features two voice actors, one with a British accent talking about the "magical" iPad Air, and the other with an American accent talking about the Kindle Fire HDX. Throughout the ad, the Brit talks about the iPad Air's amazing screen, weight and price while at every point being countered by the American who explains the Kindle Fire HDX has more pixels, is lighter and costs less. While the ad forgoes Apple's customary white background and doesn't show a designer with a shaved head, it's obvious that the British voice is supposed to be a cheap imitation of Apple's star British designer, Ive. All in all, the ad is pretty successful in its tone, never veering into insulting. Still, however, its comparisons between the iPad Air and the Kindle Fire HDX are a little forced as the two tablets feature very different build materials and different screen sizes.
Jony Ive and Marc Newson-curated Project (RED) auction a huge success; Mac Pro fetches $977,000 while Leica M camera nets $1.8 million bid
This past Saturday, Sotheby's held its long-anticipated auction that saw folks with extremely deep pockets bid on a selection of items curated, and in some cases designed, by famed designers Jony Ive and Marc Newson. The auction was held to benefit Bono's Project (RED) charity and all proceeds will be donated to The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. By the time the auction ended on Saturday, the winning bids were leaps and bounds higher than what anybody could have anticipated. For instance, one of the items up on the auction block was a one-of-a-kind red Mac Pro. It was initially expected to fetch upwards of $60,000. The actual winning bid checked in at a whopping US$977,000. Another Apple-centric item that was put up for bid was a pair of solid gold 18k EarPods designed by Ive. Initial estimates pegged the winning bid to come in somewhere around the $25,000 range. The real winning bid? $461,000. Also up for bid was a one-off production of a Leica M camera designed by both Ive and Newson. The winning bid? An astronomical $1.8 million. Initially, the auction house was expecting the winning bid to come in somewhere between $500,000 and $750,000. Meanwhile, a uniquely designed aluminum desk, also designed by Ive and Newson, fetched a winning bid of $1.68 million, while a customized Steinway & Sons grand piano fetched $1.93 million. Incredibly, the auction house was anticipating bidding to come in between $150,000 and $200,000. Also worth mentioning is that a custom-made pair of leather shoes went for $12,500. Only in America! You can check out the full listing of all the products that were part of the Project (RED) auction over here on the Sotheby's website.
Jony Ive and Marc Newson discuss their upcoming (RED) auction
On November 23, the famed auction house Sotheby's will be holding an auction to benefit Bono's Project (RED) charity. While Sotheby's holds notable auctions quite regularly, the Project (RED) charity is unique insofar as all of the products up for grabs have been curated by two of today's most distinguished designters: Apple's own Jony Ive and eclectic industrial designer Marc Newson. In addition to picking which items will be up for grabs, both Ive and Newson worked together to design some unique items that you won't be able to find anywhere else. Some Apple-centric items include golden EarPods and an all-red version of Apple's highly anticipated Mac Pro. One of the more intriguing items is a one-of-a-kind Ive and Newson-designed Leica M camera. With the auction less than two weeks away, Ive and Newson sat down to discuss some of the themes that run across many of the objects which will be on the auction block. Also making an appearance in the video is Bono, who is as engaging as ever. The auction, naturally, is titled "Jony and Marc's (RED) Auction" and you can peruse all of the 44 items available over at the Sotheby's website. Some other notable items include a Stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars, a Soviet space suit and a Product (RED) inspired Steinway & Sons Grand Piano. As a point of interest, Sotheby's anticipates that the aforementioned Leica camera will fetch the most money, with bids expected to fall in the range of US$500,000 to $750,000. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to The Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. While we're on the topic of auctions, I wonder what ever happened to the person who won the auction to have coffee with Tim Cook at Apple headquarters. If you recall, the winning bid came in at $610,000. So many questions to ponder: Did this meeting already go down? Has the meeting been delayed until Apple's new mothership campus is finally up and running? Was Carl Icahn the lucky winner?! Questions for the ages.
Sotheby's auctioning off special Jony Ive designed Product (RED) Mac Pro
The entry level Mac Pro will set you back about $2,999, but If you've got much deeper pockets you might want to take a look at this one-of-a-kind Product (RED) Mac Pro that was custom designed by both Jony Ive and industrial designer Marc Newson. The candy red and super sleek Mac Pro will be up for auction at Sotheby's and is expected to fetch any where between $40,000 and $60,000. The auction is set to kick off on November 23 at 7 PM. Recall that the uniquely colored Mac Pro won't be the only special Apple product up for auction come November. A pair of 18k gold EarPods, also designed by Ive and Newson, will also be up on the auction block.
Jony Ive, Marc Newson interviewed by Vanity Fair
Earlier in the week, TUAW featured a post about a special, one-of-a-kind Leica M camera that was designed by Apple's Jony Ive and his close friend, designer Marc Newson. The camera was created for Product (Red) and a charity auction that's scheduled for November 23 at Sotheby's in New York. Vanity Fair's Paul Goldberger interviewed the two designers about design, the auction and their friendship, revealing some fascinating stories and facts. Ive and Newson have been good friends for years; their families actually spend time together each July at Britain's Goodwood Festival of Speed. While Ive has become well-known as the designer of Apple's mass-market products, Newson is best known for some of his more rare and handcrafted works like 1986's "Lockheed Lounge." One single example of this rare (10 were made) chaise lounge sold at auction in 2009 for US$1.6 million. The two designers share a passion for understanding the materials of which their products are crafted; in the Vanity Fair post, Ive highlighted that passion by saying that "We are both fanatical in terms of care and attention to things people don't see immediately. It's like finishing the back of a drawer. Nobody's going to see it, but you do it anyway." Newson concurred, replying that "You discover that very few people have the level of perfection we do. It is actually very sick. It is neurotic." As for the co-designed Leica M camera and the other items selected (and in some cases modified) by Ive and Newson for the Product (Red) auction, it should be a big moneymaker for the charity. U2 frontman Bono, who co-founded the charity in 2006, has his own idea as to who will walk away with the camera: "Jony and Marc are so excited about this, that I think what will really happen is that they are going to outbid each other to see who gets the Leica." Mocoloco also reports that Ive and Newson have designed a one-of-a-kind aluminum desk for the Product (Red) auction.
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The Jony Ive-designed limited edition Leica M for (RED) camera
Last month we told you that Jony Ive was working on a limited edition Leica M camera to be auctioned off for The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Well, that very limited edition camera -- there is only one -- has been unveiled. According to Leica's Google+ post, the camera took 85 days to create and required a total of 561 models and nearly 1,000 prototype parts. Ive was assisted by his good friend and fellow designer Marc Newson on the project. The camera "features a laser-machined aluminum body and an anodized aluminum outer shell," and has "a full-format CMOS sensor, high performance processor and new Leica APO-Summicron -M 50mm f/2 ASPH lens." Provided you have very deep pockets, you can participate in the auction at Sotheby's on November 23, 2013 and the one-of-a-kind camera could be yours.
Jony Ive-designed Leica M emerges ahead of November charity auction
Ever wondered what happened to Sir Jonathan Ive's custom-designed Leica M? Wonder no more, because the one-a-kind camera has been spotted in the November edition of Vanity Fair. A render of the Apple-inspired Leica M shows one of two original pieces designed by Ive in collaboration with influential Australian designer Marc Newson set to be auctioned as part of a (RED) auction at Sotheby's New York in November. The German camera maker reportedly spent more than 2,149 hours and used 55 engineers to manufacture 561 models with nearly 1000 prototype parts, which may not be surprising given Ive's fascination with aluminum. For their part, Ive and Newson spent more than a year and a half curating the 40 auction items for the original collection, including an 18 carat rose gold pair of Apple EarPods and a limited edition 2012 Range Rover. Considering the hefty list prices a regular Leica can fetch for, we might just have to postpone purchasing that super yacht.
Jony Ive, Craig Federighi chat with USA Today
In anticipation of Apple's worldwide iPhone launch this Friday, Apple executives have been hitting the interview circuit. Earlier today, we pointed to a Businessweek interview with Tim Cook, Craig Federighi and Jony Ive; and now comes yet another chat with Apple's higher-ups courtesy of USA Today. In detailing why iOS 7 does away with the skeuomorphism so favored by Steve Jobs and Scott Forstall, Jony Ive explains: When we sat down last November (to work on iOS 7), we understood that people had already become comfortable with touching glass, they didn't need physical buttons, they understood the benefits," says Ive. "So there was an incredible liberty in not having to reference the physical world so literally. We were trying to create an environment that was less specific. It got design out of the way." On the same note, Craig Federighi explains that graphical improvements in mobile devices have somewhat negated the need for previous iOS mainstays like drop shadows. "This is the first post-Retina (display) UI (user interface), with amazing graphics processing thanks to tremendous GPU (graphics processing unit) power growth, so we had a different set of tools to bring to bear on the problem as compared to seven years ago (when the iPhone first launched)," he says. "Before, the shadowing effect we used was a great way to distract from the limitations of the display. But with a display that's this precise, there's nowhere to hide. So we wanted a clear typography." Ive jumps in. "Yes, we wanted to defer to the content, and just get out of the way." There's a whole lot of interesting information in the interview, and seeing as how interviews with Apple executives are rather hard to come by given the secretive nature of the company, the USA Today piece is certainly worth reading in its entirety.
Jony Ive creates solid gold EarPods for charity auction
At an upcoming Sotheby's auction, folks will be able to bid on a pair of solid gold 18k EarPods designed by Apple design guru Jony Ive and industrial designer Marc Newson. In addition to golden EarPods, there will be a number of other items up for auction, all curated by Ive and Newson. "It's been a fantastic honor to curate this collection of objects with Marc for the auction at Sotheby's," Ive explained. "Each piece represents the value of thoughtful design. What we create for each other is not only a comment on our culture, but of course in many ways defines it. (RED) is making a difference in the lives of millions of people and we're humbled to make this contribution to such an important and worthy cause." Other items on the auction block include a unique Leica digital rangefinder camera, a grand piano from Steinway & Sons, artwork contributed by Banksy, a Russian cosmonaut suit, an Ive-customized 2012 Range Rover and a whole lot more. The auction, organized by U2's Bono for the benefit of his Project (RED) charity, will take place on November 23 in New York.
Give me a break: The Kit Kat parody video
The fun news yesterday from Google World Dominance Headquarters was the announcement of Android 4.4 "KitKat." The new OS name follows in the footsteps of other sugary monikers like "Jelly Bean," "Donut" and the ever-popular "Ice Cream Sandwich." It's also the first sponsored OS name, blessed with the name of Nestlé's crunchy chocolate wafer bar confection. In keeping with the general tone of mockery between Google and arch-rival Apple, the Kit Kat (confection) team developed a video that parodies the general tone of Apple's product intro videos featuring Jony Ive. Take a break from your day and enjoy a crispy, crunchy video that's perfect with all liquid accessories:
