Steve Jobs
Latest
Steve Jobs has been awarded almost 150 new patents since his death
Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011, in Palo Alto, CA, leaving behind a legacy of technological innovation and having built one of the largest companies in the world. At the time of his death Jobs had been awarded 317 patents over the course of his life, an incredible portfolio for anyone. But something interesting as happened since then; Job's number of patients now stands at 458. In the years since his death Steve Jobs has been awarded 141 additional patents. The patient news was discovered and documented by the MIT Technology Review, who point out that the distinction for posthumous patent awarding might now be exactly what it may seem. While Jobs was indeed an innovator, often the placement of his name on a patent had to do with his work on smaller details of a design, fine tuning things others might not think about. Tim Wasko, who developed the interface for Apple's QuickTime player and the iPod, remembers that Jobs would give feedback on small details, and he'd often end up with a position on a patent. That's what Wasko says happened when he came up with a concept for a button used on software called iDVD. The button shuts like an iris, giving you a chance to interrupt a process. "It looked pretty cool so he loved that," says Wasko. "He had useful comments, suggestions, and it's worthy of him being on the patent." If you're interested in how patents work MIT Technology Review's article goes into some of the specifics of why patents like this are awarded, even after someone's death. In the meantime we're looking forward to seeing how many patents Steve Jobs will be able to collect this year while his soul is off watching from above.
12 lessons for entrepreneurs that Steve Jobs taught Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki is well-known in the entrepreneurial world as an author and speaker, and he often seasons his speeches and texts with stories about his times at Apple. I say "times" because Kawasaki often claims that he's one of the only people who ever worked for Steve Jobs twice and survived. Inc. posted an article today a speech that Kawasaki gave the day after Steve Jobs died -- he was supposed to talk about "enchanting customers" at the Silicon Valley Bank's CEO Summit, but changed the topic to "12 Lessons I Learned From Steve Jobs that Can Be Applied to Entrepreneurs". The speech is well worth watching, and we've included it below. But if you only have time to quickly scan a list of bullet points, here are the dozen points that Steve Jobs taught Guy Kawasaki that should be picked up on by entrepreneurs: Experts are useless Customers cannot tell you what they need Biggest challenges beget the best work Design counts Big graphics. Big font. Jump curves, not better sameness "Work" or "Doesn't Work" is all that matters (or "Changing your mind is a sign of intelligence") "Value" is different from "Price" A players hire A players Real CEOs demo Real entrepreneurs ship Some things need to be believed to be seen Inc's Justin Bariso added his comments to these points in the original article, and I found both those comments and the original video to be well worth viewing to gain a bit more insight into the brain of Steve Jobs and the philosophies that still govern the way that Apple does work.
Susan Kare selling replicas of the Mac team's "pirate flag"
If the interior components of the original Macintosh were the heart of the device, then many of the graphic elements designed by Susan Kare were its soul. Kare designed fonts for the Mac, created many of the icons that graced the Mac for many years, and is even responsible for the Command Key symbol that's still on Apple keyboards. She also painted a skull and crossbones on a black "pirate flag" that flew over the Mac team's original office that embodied a Steve Jobs slogan -- "It's better to be a pirate than join the navy." Kare is now selling custom replicas of the pirate flag, perfect for that someone special on your holiday shopping list. The original flag is part of the Macintosh legend. The team moved into its own office building on the Cupertino campus, and programmer Steve Capps sewed together a black flag, asking Kare to paint a skull and crossbones on it. The left eye of the skull? The rainbow Apple logo of the time, of course. The replica flags won't be cheap: Kare's asking US$1,900 for one that is 3 feet by 5 feet in size, or $2,500 for a 4 by 6 foot version. But they're bona fide custom artworks, each hand painted and signed by Kare. Oh, and by the way... if you happen to feel like buying your favorite TUAW blogger this flag for Christmas, I sure wouldn't turn it down.
The Apple years while Steve Jobs was away
As one of the founders of Apple Computer Inc., Steve Jobs became synonymous with the brand. But his relationship with the company wasn't always so hallowed and harmonious. After internal disputes with Apple's board of directors in 1985, Jobs left the company to pursue other projects, including NeXT Inc. and Pixar. Although he'd piloted the Apple brand from the start, the company carried on without him until his return in 1997 during which time he rebooted the company and turned out "world-changing" products. Join us in the gallery below as we look at some of the hardware that Apple made while Jobs was away.
Barely Related: Star Wars wakes up the Force
This week was full of little geeky goodies. Om nom nom. Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs. Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
Rare photos show NeXT-era Jobs doing his best to change the world
Yesterday we brought you news of a Wired photo gallery with a few great early Steve Jobs photos from Doug Menuez's book Fearless Genius. Today, we bring you some more glimpses into Silicon Valley's golden age that Menuez has decided to share with us, along with his own insights and recollections from the moments the photos were taken. It's a fantastic look back in time and a ride well worth taking. You can pick up Fearless Genius via Amazon, and keep an eye on his Storehouse page this week as he'll be sharing additional photos from the book online for the very first time. Steve Jobs Explaining Ten Year Technology Development Cycles. Sonoma, California, 1986. Steve giving a history lesson about how technology evolves in ten year wave cycles to his new NeXT team at an off-site meeting. Every few months, Steve and the fledgling company's employees would travel to a retreat in the country with their families to grapple with myriad technical issues. There he would regularly hold talks to explain his vision for the company and to encourage his brilliant cofounders and employees to participate fully in its realization. Steve planned to ride the next wave by putting the power of a refrigerator-size mainframe computer into a one foot cube at a price affordable to universities, thus "transforming education." When I asked him what he meant by this, he said he wanted "some kid at Stanford to be able to cure cancer in his dorm room." Because he absolutely believed this was possible, his whole team did. Behind this noble goal, Steve was also on a quest for redemption and revenge after being forced out at Apple in a humiliating boardroom coup after alienating key board members and his handpicked CEO, John Sculley. Most industry pundits believed NeXT would be a huge and rapid success, as did Steve. Instead, it was the start of a decade of difficult, often bitter struggle. The Day Ross Perot Gave Steve Jobs $20 Million. Fremont, California, 1986. Steve was a consummate showman who understood the power of a compelling setting. This was never more apparent than at this incongruously formal lunch he hosted for Ross Perot and the NeXT board of directors in the middle of the abandoned warehouse he planned to turn into the NeXT factory. He told Perot that they were building the most advanced robotic assembly line in the world and that "no human hands" would be assembling hardware. He predicted that NeXT would be the last billion dollar a year company in Silicon Valley and that they would ship ten thousand computers a month. Perot, who was then championing a movement to reform education in the United States, was blown away by the presentation and invested $20 million, becoming a key board member and giving NeXT a crucial lifeline. Steve Jobs Returning from a Visit to the New Factory. Fremont, California, 1987. Although Steve could be extremely rude, critical, and occasionally even vindictive, he also was incredibly joyful, with an infectious grin and energy that was irresistible. In the early days at NeXT he would often come bounding in, hungry to get to work. Still, there were not too many unrestrained moments of hilarity such as this one, when Steve was riding back from a visit to the newly chosen factory site with the company employees in an old, rented yellow school bus. Geek Sex. Mountain View, California, 1991. Real-life boyfriend and girlfriend act out a rudimentary electrical metaphor at an Adobe Halloween party. Technology workers were notoriously socially inept and often shy, especially male engineers. Fantasy games and role playing were popular, and any opportunity to dress in costumes was welcomed. This couple repeated the ritual all over the company to the delight of fellow workers. The Painter David Hockney Rests during the First Photoshop Invitational. Mountain View, California, 1990. As digital technology grew more powerful, Silicon Valley became an unexpected crossroads of culture. Artists arrived from all over the world, eager to experiment and hang out at happenings such as the TED conference, creating a freeway and office park version of what Paris in the twenties must have felt like. Producer Quincy Jones and musicians Peter Gabriel and Herbie Hancock were early adopters. Graham Nash was so taken he started his own fine art digital printing business. Tom Wolfe had been out to write about Bob Noyce, the coinventor of the integrated circuit, and lots of writers followed, including Steve Jobs's half sister Mona Simpson. George Lucas was a pioneer in digital film, as was Francis Ford Coppola. The cultural ground was shifting, with the avantgarde gathering to push new digital ideas into the zeitgeist. Here, painter David Hockney, holding one of his beloved dachshunds, attends Russell Brown's first Adobe Photoshop Invitational, where he learned how to use the first release version of Photoshop, happily smoking in the computer room and playing with his dogs on breaks. Excerpted from the book Fearless Genius: The Digital Revolution in Silicon Valley 1985-2000 by Doug Menuez, Atria Books. Foreword by Elliott Erwitt, Introduction by Kurt Andersen. All photographs ©Doug Menuez
Photos from Silicon Valley's early years show Jobs in his natural habitat
If you want an unfiltered glimpse into the early days of Silicon Valley, look no further than the recently released Doug Menuez book Fearless Genius. A photojournalist in the thick of the early tech revolution, Menuez spent much of his time from 1985 to 2000 documenting the companies and faces that would eventually become household names. It was an age where CRT monitors were still high tech and Steve Jobs was a NeXT employee, and his work is quite impressive. You can pick up his book right now on Amazon, but you'd rather take a free glimpse at some of his fantastic photos you can do so in a cool little gallery Wired has put together. It's worth checking out solely for the chance to see Jobs "pretending to be a human" and Steve Ballmer looking like he's about to knock out a Microsoft programmer. Ah, the good old days. Photo via Fearless Genius / Doug Menuez
Christian Bale no longer set to play Steve Jobs in upcoming Aaron Sorkin flick
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Christian Bale has pulled out of the Aaron Sorkin penned Steve Jobs biopic. The report claims that Bale decided to withdraw from the film because he felt he wasn't right for the role. Sources say Bale, after much deliberation and conflicting feelings, came to the conclusion he was not right for the part and decided to withdraw. The script is said to be divided into three acts that detail Jobs preparing for three presentations that came to define his life and the life of the company he co-founded, lost and came back to. Not even a week ago, Sorkin explained that Bale secured the Jobs role without even so much as an audition. "He has more words to say in this movie than most people have in three movies combined," Sorkin said. "There isn't a scene or a frame that he's not in. So it's an extremely difficult part and he is gonna crush it." Personally, Bale's casting actually got me excited for the movie, which was quite a feat given how forgettable the first Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher was. All in all, it's a shame to see Bale pull out. So now the question becomes, who else has the acting chops to take on what will undoubtedly be a demanding role? Edward Norton, maybe? The great thing about the Bale casting (for the glorious week that it lasted) is that in addition to being a tremendous actor, Bale would have arguably been able to emulate Jobs' outward appearance more easily than some other top actors in the game today.
Walter Isaacson: "Steve Jobs' favorite product was the Apple Team"
In a new interview with Big Think, Walter Isaacson, author of The Innovators: How a group of Inventors. Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks, Created the Digital Revolution, explains what Steve Jobs told him product he was most proud of being a part of. The answer: the Apple Team. The shared vision of great minds working together is what helped Apple become one of the leading forces in the world of technology, and Jobs was well aware of it. Here's Isaacson on the revelation: I once asked Steve Jobs, you know, what product are you the proudest of. And I thought he might say the iPod or the iPhone or the iPad, whatever, the Mac. And he said, you know, making a product is hard but making a team that can continually make products is even harder. The product I'm most proud of is Apple and the team I built at Apple. And that's when I moved to this new book, The Innovators, because I wanted to say it's not just about the visionary, it's about the visionary being able to execute on the vision by finding the right people to be collaborative and creative with. So with Steve Jobs even though we think of him as being a tough boss or we think of him as having sort of a prickly personality, there were people who were so loyal to Steve they would walk through walls for him. He developed around him the tightest, most loyal, most integrated team in Silicon Valley. The remainder of the interview talks about exactly what Jobs thought was necessary for building an environment where collaboration was possible, including the importance of physically working together rather than digitally collaborating. You can view the complete interview below.
Christian Bale in talks to play Steve Jobs in Aaaron Sorkin's Jobs biopic
With Leonardo DiCaprio now out of the running, Variety reports today that Batman star Christian Bale is in talks to take on the role of Steve Jobs in the upcoming Jobs biopic penned by the incomparable Aaron Sorkin. Oscar-winner Christian Bale, who has played Batman and Moses, is about to take on another iconic figure: Steve Jobs. Sources confirm the actor is in talks to star in "Jobs," Sony's biopic about the late Apple co-founder. Based on Walter Isaacson's biography "Steve Jobs," the real-life drama is directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin. Bale's association with the film first surfaced this past March amidst reports that he was director David Fincher's top choice for the role. While Fincher won't in fact be directing the movie after all, it appears that Bale is still in the running. Notably, the movie itself will not be a complete chronicling of Jobs' life. Rather, it will consist of just three 30-minute scenes which will be set backstage "before a trio of historic product launches: the original Macintosh, the NeXT and the iPod."
Flickr Find: Typing out Steve Jobs
Flickr member Charis Tsevis created a mesmeric mosaic portrait of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs as part of Steve Jobs month on Typorn. In order "to emulate the original Mac look'n'feel", the portrait is deliberately black and white and is composed of Susan Kare's classic Mac typefaces -- Monaco, Geneva and Chicago. You can read more about Steve Jobs and fonts on Typorn, and check out Tsevis' Flickr page for a few more portraits. Did you know that TUAW has a Flickr pool? And that we encourage readers to submit their own Apple related images? Please join and share with our group as we'd love to see your photos.
Former Apple CEO John Sculley: Steve Jobs sold experiences, not products
In a new video interview with Entrepreneur Magazine, former Apple CEO John Sculley discusses what exactly set Apple apart from its competition starting with the famous "1984" advertisement. Jobs' vision for Apple's marketing was selling experiences versus selling the product itself. It's interesting to look at Apple's advertising throughout its history through this lens. Its advertising seldom focuses on the technical specs of a product, but rather pushes an experience that you would want to be a part of. The legendary "1984" advertisement is a perfect example of this theory, not even showing the product it was selling. Instead the audience is sold on an event that, even if they don't know what it will be, they desperately wouldn't want to miss out on. It's a subtle trick which is still readily apparent in Apple's marketing to this day. You can watch the 3:24 interview with Sculley below.
Video of Steve Jobs calling out Michael Dell: "We're coming after you buddy"
On October 6, 1997, Dell CEO Michael Dell was asked what he would do to help what was then an ailing Apple. Dell famously responded, "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." Dell's quip, in a few years time, would eventually take on a life of its own amongst the Apple faithful once Steve Jobs began righting the Apple ship and propelling company shares to unprecedented heights thanks to products like the iMac and the iPod. With the benefit of hindsight, it's certainly easy to poke fun at Dell's statement. But at the time the comments were made, Steve Jobs wasn't laughing. Quite the contrary, Dell's statement served to fuel Jobs' competitive fire. In the Steve Jobs biography, Walter Isaacson relayed how Jobs, in response to Dell's quip, sent an email to Dell which read, "CEOs are supposed to have class. I can see that isn't an opinion you hold." Moreover, Jobs, just one month later, even took a few minutes to publicly address Dell's statement while discussing Apple's new online store in November of 1998. Jobs' "indignation" might have been hammed up a bit, but Isaacson notes that Jobs "liked to stoke up rivalries as a way to rally his team..." Jobs remarked to the enthusiastic crowd: I can sort of understand it. Michael might be a little upset that we've taken something they've pioneered and really done it a lot better. We're basically setting the new standard for online e-commerce with this store. So I guess what we want to tell ya Michael, is that with our new products, and our new store, and our new build to order manufacturing, we're coming after you buddy. Recently, video of Jobs' comic retort was posted online for the first time. It's vintage Jobs. Interestingly, Dell a few years ago backtracked a bit, alleging that his infamous statement was misconstrued: The meaning of my answer was that I'm the CEO of Dell, I don't think about being the CEO of any other company, I'm not a CEO for hire, so if you asked me what I'd do for any other company, it's not really something I think about. And in the irony of ironies, it was Michael Dell who, in February of 2013, decided to take his company private and return money back to his own shareholders.
The pre-history of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue Apple Store cube
When it comes to Apple's retail stores, probably the most iconic is the one in the plaza of the GM Building on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The store's signature architectural feature -- a 32-foot glass cube emblazoned with a glowing Apple logo -- is immediately recognizable . NY Magazine's Vicky Ward provided the back story to the origins of the cube in an article published yesterday, and it's fascinating. The story began in 2003, when property developer Harry Macklowe bought the GM Building for US$1.4 billion in borrowed money. One issue with the building at the time was the huge and useless open plaza that spread from the front of the building to Fifth Avenue. Architects hated the plaza, and those in the business of building, buying, and leasing skyscrapers saw it as a waste of space. Macklowe was aware that Apple was stretching its wings in the retail business, so he began to bother George Blankenship, who was then Apple's vice-president of real estate. Macklowe's persistence paid off when he was invited to meet with Steve Jobs in November of 2003. Jobs and his team already had an idea of a 40-foot glass cube for the plaza, which would take advantage of an unused basement located below the plaza. But Macklowe realized at a glance at a model provided by Apple that the cube was too large, both in terms of violating zoning laws and its scale from the street level. Macklowe realized that he wouldn't be able to just talk to Jobs about the cube being too big; he'd have to show Apple and let the company come to the conclusion. He invited two Apple retail development execs, Ron Johnson and Rob Briger, to come see a scaffold mockup of the cube built on the plaza in the middle of the night since regulations forbade Macklowe to put up the mockup in the day. The executives met with Macklowe and his team at around 2 AM, and the Apple team immediately realized that the 40-foot cube was too large. Macklowe then pulled a "magic trick", having the model dismantled to reveal a 30-foot cube underneath -- which the Apple team loved. In the end, the store opened on May 19, 2006 as a 32-foot cube. There's more to the story of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store, which became not only symbolic of Apple's rising success in the consumer electronics market, but also marked Harry Macklowe's success in the development business. Be sure to check out the NY Magazine post for the rest of the amazing story.
Tim Cook says Steve Jobs' office is still Steve Jobs' office
Although he passed away in 2011, the memory of Steve Jobs still touches everything that Apple does. His presence isn't just felt in the products of the company, but in his old office as well. In a new interview with Business Week about the iPhone 6, Tim Cook confirms that Steve Jobs' office is still Steve Jobs' office. Steve Jobs's office remains Steve Jobs's office. After his death in 2011, Tim Cook, his friend and successor as Apple (AAPL) chief executive officer, decided to leave the sparsely decorated room on the fourth floor of 1 Infinite Loop untouched. It's not a shrine or place of mourning, but just a space that Cook sensed no one could or should ever fill. "It felt right to leave it as it is," he says. "That's Steve's office." It's a lovingly simple tribute to the Apple founder that was in line with his design philosophy; nothing extravagant or flashy, just what was needed to get the point across. The statement "that's Steve's office" is all the memorial the space needs. You can read the rest of Business Week's article here for Cook's thoughts on the iPhone 6 and his time as CEO of Apple.
YouTube Find: Creepiest thing you'll see waiting in line for an iPhone 6
As spotted by Gary Allen of ifoAppleStore, this replica of Steve Jobs in a lounge chair and with an apple has to the be the most disturbing iPhone 6 line-waiter ever. The video reportedly was taken at the Ginza (Tokyo) Apple store. Update: Well, apparently the owner of the video took it off of YouTube, so at this time the only reminder of just how creepy the video was can be found in that screenshot above...
Tim Cook: Work on the Apple Watch began after Steve Jobs died
In a short video interview ABC News anchor David Muir conducted with Tim Cook following today's Apple Watch announcement, the Apple CEO talked a bit about the impact Steve Jobs had on him and Apple at large. Echoing a statement he's made on a number of previous occasions, Cook explained that Apple -- the company itself -- is one of Jobs' "greatest gifts to mankind." Of particular interest is Cook quickly noting that work on the Apple Watch began after Steve Jobs died, making it the first new product category from Apple conjured and developed exclusively during the Tim Cook era. You know we started working on it after his passing, but his DNA runs through all of us. And so the foundation that he left, you can see it in all the things we're doing today, and the way we look at things. And so to me, it's not a big deal if he saw something or he didn't, it's that his thinking and his taste and his incredible perfectionist kind of view, and his view that you should always innovate, all of those things are alive and well in the company. And I think they always will be. I think his DNA will always be the foundation of Apple. The full clip can be seen below. Watch more news videos | Latest world news
Video: Every Steve Jobs "boom" in under four minutes
Steve Jobs will forever be remembered for his contributions to technology and business, but there's another, slightly more whimsical, distinction the Apple founder was known for. We're speaking of course of his "boom." During live demonstrations, Jobs was known to punctuate explanations of particularly exciting features by exclaiming a mighty "boom." The "booms" hit their peak with the 2003 WWDC keynote with 37 booms in total, but the trend continued until Job's final public presentation at the 2010 WWDC. You can watch a super cut of every one of Steve Jobs' "booms" below thanks to YouTube user EverySteveJobsVideo. Below the video you'll find a list of how many times Jobs said the word at each individual event, also compiled by EverySteveJobsVideo. Enjoy. Boom. 1 : NeXTSTEP internal demo video (1992) 4 : MSPDC (1996) 1 : Macworld SF (1999) 1 : WWDC (1999) 18: Macworld SF (2000) 7 : Macworld NY (2000) 15: Macworld SF (2001) 4 : Macworld Tokyo (2001) 8 : Macworld NY (2001) 4 : Apple Special Event (iPod) (2001) 11: Macworld SF (2002) 4 : Apple Special Event (Xserve) (2002) 14: Macworld NY (2002) 8 : Apple Expo Paris (2002) 9 : Macworld SF (2003) 9 : Apple Special Event (iTMS) (2003) 2 : All Things D1 (2003) 37: WWDC (2003) 11: Apple Special Event (iTunes for Windows) (2003) 1 : MacWorld SF (2004) 2 : Apple Special Event (iTunes EU) (2004) 30: WWDC (2004) 20: Macworld SF (2005) 6 : All Things D3 (2005) 9 : WWDC (2005) 1 : Apple Special Event (iPod video) (2005) 21: Macworld SF (2006) 9 : WWDC (2006) 3 : Apple Special Event (Apple TV) (2006) 17: Macworld SF (2007) 3 : All Things D5 (2007) 14: WWDC (2007) 3 : Apple Special Event (Aluminium iMac) (2007) 2 : Apple Special Event (iPod Touch) (2007) 2 : Macworld SF (2008) 1 : Apple Special Event (New iPods) (2008) 1 : Apple Special Event (iOS 4) (2010) 1 : WWDC (2010)
Steve Jobs is a Japanese manga star
The life of Apple guru Steve Jobs is already a book and a Hollywood movie, so why not adapt it into a Japanese comic as well? That appears to be just what has happened. It's noted that the book is "based on" the official Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, though just how close it stays to the source material is anyone's guess. [Photo credit: Daniel Rehn]
Steve Jobs' vision for free Wi-Fi for the masses
Writing for Re/Code, Walt Mossberg today relays an interesting anecdote about Steve Jobs and his desire to deliver free Wi-Fi to the masses. More than just an idealistic pipe dream, Jobs told Mossberg that he hoped to get big name companies on board in order to bring his vision into fruition. Of course, the pressing problem with free Wi-Fi is security, something Jobs had a solution for. His idea was to get as many wireless router makers as possible to build in a "guest network" option - essentially a second Wi-Fi network, securely walled off from the rest of the home network, and with its own name. Then, he hoped that the industry would encourage people to share their bandwidth with strangers via these guest networks. That way, a smartphone user could walk around, moving from one Wi-Fi hotspot to another, without logging in - much like people using cellular data move from one cell tower to another. Users of this second, guest network wouldn't have any way to access the owner's main network, or the computers, network drives, printers, or files on the main network. Yet they'd be able to get onto the Internet, while in range. While the industry at large never quite congregated in the manner Jobs may have hoped, some companies offer services very similar in nature to what Jobs envisioned. Fon, for example, is a company that enables users of its routers to share their bandwidth with other Fon customers. A Fon Spot is made up of two separate, dedicated WiFi signals - one private signal just for you, one shared signal for other members and visitors to the network. It allows you to safely share a bit of WiFi with others and in return, they can share safely with you. All the Fon Spots together create a crowdsourced network where everyone who contributes connects for free. Not a bad idea at all. Notably, Apple has a "guest network" feature built into its AirPort base stations.
