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Glassdoor: Apple employees love Tim Cook
Glassdoor is a site that allows employees of various corporations to rate how they think their management is doing (while remaining anonymous), and the company has shared some info with TUAW that it says comes out of Apple's campus in Cupertino. The site works kind of like Yelp for employees, as users can come along and leave ratings and reviews for their own company. But presumably this information came from anyone who works for Apple, not just the employees that work directly with CEO Tim Cook in California. And what's the word? In short, they love him. Cook has never had anything less than a 92% approval rating since this time last year, and his current approval rating sits at 93% among employees leaving reviews on Glassdoor. During his time overseeing the company, Steve Jobs held a 97% approval rating, and Cook is a few points below that, but still -- Apple employees think he's doing a great job. Glassdoor also shared a few comments from users who identified as employees actually working in Cupertino, and they called Cook "a CEO who demands work before 6 a.m. everyday, and 'accountability without control'." Another engineer from Cupertino said that "no work/life balance is to be expected at Apple," and that management required employees to be "reachable after work hours." But despite those extra requirements, employees in general seem like enjoy Cook's management. Obviously, these reviewers are all basically self-selected, and like Yelp, this is not exactly an objective look at exactly what the entire company thinks of how things are going over there. But as far as this data goes, it seems like Cook has the support of his employees, and those choosing to report from inside Apple are happy with where the company is at.
Mike Schramm04.23.2013'iSteve', Funny or Die's satirical biopic of Steve Jobs, is now available online
After delaying the release of iSteve due to the tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon this week, the Steve Jobs parody film went live on Funny or Die's website late on Tuesday. With a run time of 78 minutes, iSteve offers what promises to be a uniquely comedic, if not inaccurate, take on the Apple co-founder's life and persona. In one particularly amusing scene, Jobs becomes furious while directing a "Get a Mac" commercial and rips into a character playing the Justin Long role. Yep, this film gets meta. Lest you think this is a big-budget Hollywood film, bear in mind that the script was written in just three days while the film was shot in less than a week. Needless to say, iSteve won't be generating any Oscar buzz, but it is replete with inside jokes about Jobs and Apple lore that Apple enthusiasts will undoubtedly get a kick out of. The film stars Justin Long as Jobs and features a rather hilarious Jorge Garcia of Lost fame as Woz. If you're not yet intrigued, check out the film's trailer below. The full film can't be embedded so head on over Funny or Die for the full feature.
Yoni Heisler04.17.2013Funny or Die delays launch of iSteve movie until April 17
Funny or Die has delayed the premiere of iSteve, a movie about the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. The short film was scheduled to debut on April 15, but the tragic bombing in Boston prompted the comedy website to reschedule the film. According to Funny or Die's website, iSteve is now expected to air on April 17.
Kelly Hodgkins04.16.2013Laurene Powell Jobs discusses Steve's legacy
Behind every great man there's a great woman. Such is the case with Steve Jobs, who was married to Laurene Powell Jobs for more than 20 years and raised three children with her before he passed away in late 2011. For the first time since her husband's death, Mrs. Jobs sat down with NBC's Brian Williams and publicly talked about her husband's legacy. Jobs says she sees a bit of Steve everywhere she goes. "Having the body of work surrounding us is actually a really beautiful reminder," she said, "and I find it touching and inspiring for me to make sure that I continue to do what I'm most passionate about, and I hope my kids feel the same way." Like her husband, Jobs is a very private person, but she recently stepped into the limelight to talk about immigration reform. She worked with filmmaker Davis Guggenheim on The Dream is Now, a 30-minute documentary that profiles the undocumented children of immigrants who want to earn their citizenship. You can find out more about Jobs' legacy and The Dream is Now documentary in the NBC Rock Center video embedded below. [Via NY Daily News]
Kelly Hodgkins04.15.2013Apple licenses 'worthless' Palm patents
Japanese blog Macotakara has uncovered documents published on Access (formerly PalmSource) that show Apple has licensed US$10 million worth of patents from a number of former technology companies, including the now defunct Palm. Interestingly, as 9to5Mac points out, Steve Jobs once told then Palm CEO Ed Colligan in an email exchange that Palm's patents were essentially worthless. There's not much word on what patents were licensed, but given that they "only" cost $10 million, they probably don't represent groundbreaking tech. The announcement letter refers to the patents as "foundational patents." Microsoft reportedly licensed the patents as well.
Michael Grothaus04.10.2013Daily Update for April 9, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Steve Sande04.09.2013Atari's Nolan Bushnell on finding the next Steve Jobs
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell took a chance on Steve Jobs when he hired the young non-conformist in 1974. Bushnell recounts that decision and his ensuing friendship with Steve Jobs in his recent book Finding The Next Steve Jobs. The book is not a biography about the Apple co-founder, but a frank look at the worrisome trend in business hiring that focuses on productivity over creative thinking. Talking with the LA Times, Bushnell says "Sometimes when you hire people who have to pass a Mr. Congeniality test; you end up losing some of the non-conformists who will give you different views and perspectives." Jobs was one of those non-conformists and he talked with Bushnell at length about the need for creativity in the workplace. "Creativity is every company's first driver. It's where everything starts, where energy and forward motion originate. Without that first charge of creativity, nothing else can take place," writes Bushnell in his book. You can read more about Bushnell and Jobs in this 2012 interview conducted by our own Mike Schramm.
Kelly Hodgkins04.09.2013Anti-poaching lawsuit against Google, Apple and others denied class action status
In 2010, several high-profile tech companies -- including Apple, Google, Adobe, Intuit, Lucasfilm, Intel and Pixar -- settled a suit with the US Justice Department regarding anti-poaching agreements. The suit alleged that the aformentioned companies, from 2005 to 2009, agreed not to recruit employees from one another. One year later, five software engineers filed a class action lawsuit against those same companies alleging that the anti-poaching agreements lessened their employment opportunities and ultimately affected their negotiation power, resulting in lower salaries. Originally covered by Reuters, US District Judge Lucy Koh this past Friday ruled that the case can't proceed as a class action. At least not yet. While Koh decided against class action certification for the time being, that may change once the plaintiffs address Koh's concern that the proposed class group as defined by the plaintiffs is too broad. "Plaintiffs' examples, though compelling," Koh writes in her ruling, "may not be sufficient to show that all or nearly all class members were affected by the anti-solicitation agreements without additional documentary support or empirical analysis." Bloomberg later specified that the proposed class group put forth by the plaintiffs encompasses more than 160,000 employees. The chronology of the anti-poaching agreements, along with who partnered up with whom, can be gleaned from the graphic below. Regardless of whether or not the case proceeds as a class action, the plaintiffs appear to have a strong case as Koh has found the evidence introduced thus far to be both persuasive and damning. Koh's ruling reads in part: Indeed, the sustained personal efforts by the corporations' own chief executives, including but not limited to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Pixar President Ed Catmull, Intuit Chairman Bill Campbell and Intel CEO Paul Otellini, to monitor and enforce these agreements indicate that the agreements may have had broad effects on defendants' employees. Koh specifically cited a 2007 email sent from former Pixar president Ed Catmull to the head of Disney Studios wherein Catmull alludes to practices geared towards keeping salaries down. "We have avoided wars up in Norther[n] California because all of the companies up here -- Pixar, Dreamworks and couple of smaller places -- have conscientiously avoided raiding each other," the email reads. One example involving Apple was first brought to light during the initial 2010 investigation. There, it was was revealed that Google in 2007 was recruiting an Apple engineer. Upon getting wind of this, Steve Jobs fired off an email to then Google CEO Eric Schmidt which read, "I would be very pleased if your recruiting department would stop doing this." Schmidt reportedly forwarded the message along and implored employees to "get this stopped." Another example involving Jobs transpired when the Apple co-founder emailed former Palm CEO Ed Colligan and threatened legal action if Palm continued to recruit and hire Apple employees. Colligan indicated that Palm wasn't intimidated by Apple's threats and fired off the following email response to Jobs: Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other's employees, regardless of the individual's desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal. [...] Palm doesn't target other companies -- we look for the best people we can find. l'd hope the same could be said about Apple's practices. However, during the last year or so, as Apple geared up to compete with Palm in the phone space, Apple hired at least 2 percent of Palm's workforce. To put it in perspective, had Palm done the same, we'd have hired 300 folks from Apple. Instead, to my knowledge, we've hired just three. It'll certainly be interesting to see what other types of evidence, if any, come to the surface as the case proceeds. In the meantime, Apple expectedly had no comment on the matter while a spokesperson for Google stated that the company has "always and aggressively recruited top talent."
Yoni Heisler04.08.2013Mark Zuckerberg loves Apple and his iPhone, but isn't optimistic Facebook Home is iOS bound
Facebook this past Thursday took the wraps off of its highly anticipated Facebook Phone. Calling it a phone, however, is a bit of a misnomer because it's more of a Facebook layer -- dubbed Facebook Home -- that sits atop of Android and effectively drapes the user experience with all things Facebook. For instance, when a user installs Facebook Home (which will be available from the Google Play store), the user's homescreen and lockscreen become home to his/her Facebook newsfeed. Put simply, it's Facebook 24/7. In addition to being available as a download from Google, Facebook announced that it will come pre-installed on various devices as well, including the HTC First. Facebook also partnered up with handset manufacturers like Samsung and Sony to release Facebook Home enabled smartphones in the future. All that said, can we expect to see Facebook Home show up in the iOS App Store anytime soon? Well, given that Apple exerts stringent control over the look and feel of its iPhone user experience, smart money is that the answer to that question is a resounding no. Naturally, Zuckerberg was asked about the prospects of Facebook Home coming to iOS during Thursday's media event. He was rather diplomatic with his response. "We have a great relationship with Apple," Zuckerberg answered. "We have integration into iOS, we've worked with them before. With Apple, everything you want to do goes through them. With Android, it doesn't have to." In a subsequent interview with Wired's Steven Levy, Zuckerberg was asked if he could envision Facebook Home coming to iOS in two years time. While Zuckerberg admits that Facebook has a "pretty good partnership with Apple", he is also keenly aware that Apple is adamant about controlling the entire user experience. That notwithstanding, Zuckerberg answered that he would "love for that answer to be yes" before proceeding to explain that Android's open platform gives them the flexibility they need to create unique user experiences like Facebook Home. "Of course, a lot of people also love iPhones," Zuckerberg added. "I love mine, and I would like to be able to deliver Facebook Home there as well." Bloomberg TV also posted an interview with Jon Erlichman who recalled asking Zuckerberg about how an enhanced Facebook experience sits with rivals and partners like Apple. "We love Apple," Zuckerberg told Erlichman. It's interesting to note that Apple and Facebook, while seemingly on good terms now, have butted heads in the past. You might remember that Steve Jobs a few years ago explained why Apple was never able to secure a deal to integrate Facebook with Ping, Apple's failed attempt at a social network for music. Jobs said that talks with Facebook went nowhere because Facebook wanted "onerous terms that we could not agree to." Nonetheless, Steve Jobs admired Mark Zuckerberg's determination to create a long-standing company and not sell out for a quick payday when such opportunities presented themselves. What's more, Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson once recalled that when he asked Jobs who he admired most in Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg was the person Jobs mentioned. Jobs appreciated Zuckerberg's "intuitive feel" regarding Facebook's direction, his willingness to "cannibalize old things" and, according to Isaacson, "felt an odd kinship with Mark." Zuckerberg expressed a similar sentiment during a November 2011 interview with Charlie Rose. I mean, Apple is a company that is so focused on just building products that -- for their customers and their users. And -- and that's like -- it's such a deep part of their mission is build these beautiful products for their users. And I think we connected a lot on this level of, okay, Facebook has this mission that's really more than just trying to build a company, right, that has a market cap or a value. It's like we're trying to do this thing in the world. And I don't know, a lot of it I just think we connected on that level. And on a somewhat related note, Zuckerberg about a year ago uploaded a photo of his desk to Facebook. Suffice it to say, Facebook's office space seems rather Mac heavy while Zuck appears to be a fan of Apple's MacBook Air. Lastly, if I may jump back to Facebook Home for a second, Zuckerberg indicated that Facebook Home will eventually display advertisements. I wonder how users, not to mention Google, will feel about that.
Yoni Heisler04.06.2013Online Steve Jobs memorial pays tribute to the original Mac OS
Rememberum is a new start up company that provides clean, customizable options for creating online memorials for loved one. To promote their new service the company has published a stunningly creative tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs, designed to look like the original Mac OS. On his blog Rememberum developer David Kelly described the process of creating the unique design of the tribute site. One of the primary goals of the design was to simulate the original Macintosh OS interface as closely as possible – this meant pixelated (pixel-perfect) graphics as well as some of the original functionality of the Macintosh, such as keyboard folder navigation and double-clicking. We separated key points in his life into groups of folders and individual files. The folders have keyboard navigation and it is possible to hold down CTRL to select multiple files to open. Each file opens as a 'textpad' file and can be moved and cascaded like any window. This, coupled with the keyboard navigation and small retro animations helped to provide a more genuine experience of the original Macintosh computer. Rememberum's service is free to use, though the FAQ on the site mentions a future premium option. Details are still scant on the premium option and if it will allow users to create tributes like the Steve Jobs memorial for their own loved ones.
John-Michael Bond04.04.2013Apple government liaison suggests that next two iPhone models were designed under Steve Jobs
A common refrain from Apple critics is that without the visionary talents of Steve Jobs steering the ship, Apple is toast. Just recently, former Microsoft COO Bob Herbold added his name to the long list of people who are pessimistic about Apple's ability to innovate during the post-Jobs era. I think the stock market is telling us that the public is beginning to believe that Apple really doesn't have strong visionary leadership. Apple will be a solid technology company, but the Apple era may be on its way out. There's no question that Jobs was an unparalleled tech visionary, but people tend to forget that Apple is a company teeming with thousands of talented engineers and a top-notch executive team. Furthermore, it's not as if each and every one of Jobs' ideas was a home run. Nevertheless, for the folks out there who still worry about Apple's upcoming product pipeline, you can rest easy. The San Francisco Examiner relayed some choice quotes from San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon who recently met with Apple government liaison Michael Foulkes to discuss ideas to curb smartphone thefts. Specifically, Gascon wanted to talk about implementing a kill switch on iPhones that would be activated when a device is reported stolen. The meeting, however, was anything but productive. "It was very underwhelming," Gascon explained. "He did most of the talking. It was incredible. He would just go on and on, one subject to the next. It was hard to follow. It was almost like someone who's been trained in the art of doing a lot of talking and saying nothing." What's interesting, though, is that Foulkes told Gascon that the next two iterations of the iPhone have already been developed, adding that "they preceded Tim Cook." Put differently, Apple's next two iPhones may still bear the influence of Steve Jobs. While skeptics may scoff at Foulkes explanation as an excuse, it's well-known that Apple's development process is methodical, measured and sometimes planned out years in advance. During this summer's Apple / Samsung trial, for instance, former Apple executive Scott Forstall revealed that Apple's plans for the iPhone were first hatched in 2004, years before it eventually came to market in the summer of 2007. It therefore stands to reason that Jobs, though he passed away nearly 18 months ago, really did have an impact on Apple's next two iPhone models. What's more, you might remember that Apple back in 2010 invited select members of the press to check out the company's testing facilities following the iPhone 4 antennagate scandal. TechCrunch's MG Siegler was one such journalist who was granted that special access and he relayed that the "iPhone 4 specifically had been in testing in these chambers for two years." The takeaway here is that folks predicting the inevitable demise of Apple's ability to innovate aren't keenly aware of how long Apple's development process sometimes takes. It remains to be seen if Apple can maintain its streak of innovation without Steve Jobs, but it's still too early to make that call.
Yoni Heisler04.02.2013Watch the trailer for Funny or Die's upcoming iSteve biopic
Will Ferrell's comedy website, Funny or Die, is working on a biopic of Steve Jobs starring Justin Long, who played opposite John Hodgman in Apple's popular "Get a Mac" advertising campaign. Titled iSteve, the hour-long film will make its debut on April 15th on the Funny or Die website. To promote its movie, Funny or Die released a trailer that you can watch below. The 90-second clip is a montage of buzz words, cliches and overly dramatic conversations that may or may not happened in the life of Jobs. According to writer and director Ryan Perez, the script for the movie was written in three days and the film was shot in five. It may not be the best Steve Job's biography you will see, but it will be the first and perhaps the funniest.
Kelly Hodgkins04.02.2013Photos from the night Steve Jobs returned to Apple
Former Apple employee and Mac OS evangelist Tim Holmes has posted a series of photos on his Flickr account from December 20, 1996. That's the night Steve Jobs returned to Apple after an 11-year absence. As Holmes explains on Flickr: Working late on a Friday on December 20th at Apple Computer as Mac OS Evangelist, my manager came rushing past my office door saying to come with him to Town Hall, Apple's theater for announcements, company meetings and the like. It was clearly not a company meeting... I called Mitch, my wife who also worked there at the time, and told her meet me there. We had no idea what was about to happen... I tend to take a camera everywhere, so I had my Apple QuickTake camera, which Steve Jobs killed within the year. The colors are way off due to the poor quality of digital cameras in 1996, Steve's jacket was black in real life. Holmes has posted 12 photos with an explanation for each one. They're a fascinating look back at Apple's history and a historic night in Steve Jobs' life. [Image credit: Tim Holmes]
Michael Grothaus03.27.2013First chapter of Steve Jobs manga now on sale in Japan
The first chapter of the eponymous Steve Jobs manga is now available in Japan. The comic, penned by award-winning artist Mari Yamazaki, is reportedly the graphic version of Walter Isaacson's official biography Jobs. The story begins with Jobs asking Isaacson to write his biography. Shoppers in Japan will find the first chapter in the current issue of Kiss, the manga serial publication. We'd love to get a look if you care to send some photos.
Dave Caolo03.25.2013Awesome Steve Jobs portrait made by injecting bubble wrap with paint
An artist by the name of Bradley Hart has created an amazing Steve Jobs portrait by injecting paint into individual nodules of bubble wrap. As Benjamin Starr at VisualNews describes: Hart's newest works -- mostly portraits -- are exceptional in the way they use each bubble in the wrap as an individual pixel. Like using colored tiles, he painstakingly injects each with paint to create the final image. We see Steve Jobs, a street scene in Amsterdam and the LCD monitor test image all beautifully reproduced. Each image when complete, becomes shiny bubbles of color. It's just about the perfect additive process. The Jobs portrait is shown above, but check out VisualNews for other bubble wrap-injected artwork from Hart.
Michael Grothaus03.20.2013Justin Long to play Steve Jobs in Funny or Die biopic parody
For years, actor Justin Long played the Mac to John Hodgman's PC in Apple's US TV advertising. Now Long is starring as Steve Jobs in a biopic parody due from the comedy website Funny or Die on April 15, 2013. Ryan Perez, the writer and director of the upcoming iSteve, said that "in true internet fashion, it's not based on very thorough research -- essentially a cursory look at the Steve Jobs Wikipedia page. It's very silly. But it looks at his whole life." The movie is expected to run anywhere from 60 to 75 minutes in length, short for a feature film, but the longest-ever project for Funny or Die. Perez notes that the script took him three days to write, and the movie was shot in five days. "We may not be the best, but we will be the first," said Perez. He's right, of course. Aaron Sorkin's biopic based on Walter Isaacson's book Steve Jobs is years away from hitting theaters, while the release of the Ashton Kutcher film Jobs has been delayed while a new marketing plan is created. So grab your bag of popcorn and zap iSteve to your HDTV using AirPlay on April 15. It's sure to be the funniest Steve Jobs biography you'll ever see. [via Cult of Mac]
Steve Sande03.18.2013Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher delays release
Ermagerd! It's a catastrophe of Hollywood proportions! Jobs, the somewhat biographical movie starring Ashton Kutcher that chronicles the rise of late Apple founder Steve Jobs from stinky college dropout to highly-successful CEO, has been given a delayed release date so that Open Road Films can have more time to market the film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jobs was initially scheduled for an April 19, 2013 release to coincide with the 37th anniversary of the company's founding. As with most "facts" that come out of Hollywood, that date is wrong -- Apple was founded on April 1, 1976, not April 19. Jobs received mixed reviews from several tech sites that had the opportunity to see the film at the Sundance Film Festival premiere, so it may be that Open Road Films wishes to do a big marketing push to capture as much of an opening weekend audience as possible. No date has been announced for the film's eventual release.
Steve Sande03.16.2013TUAW Bookshelf: The Apple Revolution
On occasion, I will get a request to review a product, and based on the initial description sent to me by a PR flack, I just know that I am going to hate it. That was my initial impression of the book The Apple Revolution by Luke Dormehl. Fortunately, I ultimately found the book to be much more enjoyable to read than I originally anticipated. The book is yet another retelling of the Apple / Silicon Valley story with a focus on Steve Jobs. The Apple Revolution is subtitled "Steve Jobs, the counter culture, and how the crazy ones took over the world,"; which describes the book's premise very well. Dormehl had to write the book within the confines of history, so he travels down the well-trodden path of Steve Jobs as stinky hippie founder, genius behind the Macintosh, pariah who founded NeXT as revenge for being ousted from Apple, deep-pocketed visionary who bought Pixar and triumphant leader of Apple after his return in 1997. Despite the fact that this is a story that has been told many times, Dormehl uses a combination of literate writing and a profuse number of personal interviews with many of the original characters to bring a fresh perspective to The Apple Revolution. Ultimately, the book is not a deep dive into the personal life of Steve Jobs like Walter Isaacson's classic biography of the man, but a well-reasoned treatise on how the times helped to shape Jobs and eventually resulted in him being the person whose vision and singleminded pursuit of perfection shaped our culture today. Dormehl's prose reads like the script of a good documentary, not surprising as he has a background in both journalism and documentary filmmaking. Since his specialty is pop culture, he was the perfect author to explore the connection between the counter culture of the '60s and '70s and the eventual rise of Apple to its dominance in the personal electronics industry. The fruits of Dormehl's interviews are apparent not in pages-long descriptions of something that Jobs or his contemporaries may have done, but in short, to-the-point statements that help to bolster an argument or prove a point. TUAW's Michael Grothaus is quoted twice in the book, primarily for his perspective as an Apple employee during five years in the 2000s when the company was riding the success of the iMac and iPod to create the new computing paradigms -- the iPhone and iPad -- that are feeding the company's bottom line today. Unlike Isaacson's biography of Jobs, The Apple Revolution has no photos of the many players who have helped to shape our current cyberculture. And there's no reason to include those images; anyone with access to the Web and a bit of curiosity can easily search for any number of pictures or wiki entries about those who became heroes of The Apple Revolution. At 532 pages, The Apple Revolution is not a quick afternoon's read. Dormehl turns a story that we already know the outcome of -- that of Steve Jobs and Apple -- into a compelling page-turner that includes just enough unique details to keep even the discerning Apple historian happy. For example, at one point Steve Jobs was being considered for NASA's ill-fated civilian astronaut program and was turned down in favor of teacher Christa McAuliffe, who perished in the 1986 explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. That's something I had never known until reading this book. I won't ruin the book for other potential readers, but there are other little gems to be found in the pages of The Apple Revolution. It's a great read, and a must for the bookshelf of anyone who has found their life to have been benefited by the many fruits of the Apple tree.
Steve Sande03.15.2013Steve Jobs' prank call to Starbucks lives on
On January 4, 2007, I was fortunate enough to be one of the few thousand people in the audience at Moscone West when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone to the world. Most of us had been standing in line in a chilly pre-dawn San Francisco alley for hours, and between the lack of sleep and a need for warmth, all of us could have used coffee... lots of coffee. So when Jobs demonstrated Google Maps integration by searching for a Starbucks, finding a local store and then calling and ordering 4,000 lattes to go, the entire audience went wild. That prank call will probably go down in history as one of the more famous ones ever made, and Fast Company has tracked down the barista who took the call to get her comments on that groundbreaking latte order. It turns out that the young lady who answered the call -- coincidentally the first public phone call ever made on an iPhone -- Ying Hang "Hannah" Zhang (at right), is still a barista at the same Starbucks. She didn't know that it was Jobs making the prank call until after the event, when Apple fans began visiting the store and mentioning that the Apple CEO had playfully made the mass latte order. To this date, the Starbucks store still receives prank calls from Apple fans who want to relive a bit of history. Zhang and her boss, while being interviewed by Fast Company, did a quick calculation and figured out that those of us in the audience would have waited 48 hours for our lattes. Zhang told Fast Company that she wished she had known it was Jobs on the line, saying "she would've loved to know what he was announcing -- and, like a true Apple fan, when 'the launch date' would be." She also "would've asked him if he'd want to come down to our store so I can make him the perfect drink." You can watch that famous call starting at about 4:50 in the video below.
Steve Sande03.04.2013Steve's 'One More Things' all in one video
Steve Jobs' "One More Thing" pronouncements made for some of the most memorable and fun moments of the various Apple events he hosted over the years. Near the end of each show, he would usually pull out a "I've got one more thing to share with you" reveal, and it would always be something not necessarily groundbreaking, but always charming and fun. The G4 Cube, the iPod shuffle and FaceTime were all announced as "One More Thing," and while I'd argue that none of those were really that influential, they're definitely well-used and well-remembered by the Apple faithful. And now, someone's collected (almost) all of the "One More Thing" mentions all together in one video below. It's fascinating for a number of reasons, both just as a collection of the "One More Thing" moments, but also as a timeline of Jobs' presentation style, as he slowly refined and cultivated the mystique that he was eventually so well-known for. At the beginning of the video, "One More Thing" is just something he says in the course of his talk, but near the end, it's become an event all its own. It's very cool to watch these back to back for sure.
Mike Schramm02.25.2013