Liberty Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Tom Cook offered part of his liver to Jobs. Wow. http://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/12/becoming-steve-jobs-early-leaks/ I'm really looking forward to that book, I've heard good things from those with advanced copies. Isaacson might be a good biographer, but his book on Jobs was seriously flawed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Really cool stuff. Stanford University researchers were stunned when they awoke Tuesday to find that 11,000 people had signed up for a cardiovascular study using Apple Inc.’s ResearchKit, less than 24 hours after the iPhone tool was introduced. “To get 10,000 people enrolled in a medical study normally, it would take a year and 50 medical centers around the country,” said Alan Yeung, medical director of Stanford Cardiovascular Health. “That’s the power of the phone.” With ResearchKit, Apple has created a pool of hundreds of millions of iPhone owners worldwide, letting doctors find trial participants at unprecedented rates. Already five academic centers have developed apps that use the iPhone’s accelerometers, gyroscopes and GPS sensors to track the progression of chronic conditions like Parkinson’s disease and asthma. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-11/apple-researchkit-sees-thousands-sign-up-amid-bias-criticism Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZenaidaMacroura Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Tom Cook offered part of his liver to Jobs. Wow. http://www.macrumors.com/2015/03/12/becoming-steve-jobs-early-leaks/ I'm really looking forward to that book, I've heard good things from those with advanced copies. Isaacson might be a good biographer, but his book on Jobs was seriously flawed. Curious (no opinion currently), but what makes the issacson book flawed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Curious (no opinion currently), but what makes the issacson book flawed? People who knew Jobs for decades say it doesn't show who he really was (see Ed Catmull's comments on this, among many others). Part of the problem, I think, is that while Isaacson is quite smart, he doesn't really get design, which was the central part of Jobs' existence, and his understanding of technology and Apple in particular is lacking. He also mostly got people from his early days to comment, so we got more a portrait of the 20-year-old Jobs. Almost all the people who worked with him starting in the late 90s either stayed at Apple, or left but wanted to be in good terms with the company to be able to come back (it's a known thing that many Apple employees leave to take a kind of sabbatical, work on their own thing, and then come back), so they don't talk to the press. As long as Jobs was alive, many people just wouldn't speak because they knew he was very private and didn't want secrets to leak out and spoil the surprises that everybody worked so hard to create. I also think the book was probably rushed when it was clear that Jobs was dying. I've read his book on Benjamin Franklin, and the Jobs book seems a bit like a draft. Also, just from reading and listening to people who worked with him (even just folklore.org or podcasts with ex-Apple employees) it's clear to me there's a lot that's missing from the Isaacson book. This new biography that is coming out later this month will probably have got a lot of people to speak on record because 1) Jobs is dead and 2) they feel like Isaacson got it wrong and it feels unjust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/16/apple-will-offer-android-switchers-gift-cards-to-trade-in-rival-smartphones-for-iphones/ Smart if true. They no doubt make more from iPhones sold in their own retail stores than in carrier stores, and they also have better chance to cross-sell things like Watch, Macs, accessories, etc. Smart move, especially when Android is weak. Whatever they pay in gift card might be partly offset by whatever the cut of a carrier would be, plus whatever else they can sell on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intothebreach Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Curious (no opinion currently), but what makes the issacson book flawed? I read Isaacson's book when it came out and after reading the preface of Becoming Steve Jobs, I was convinced this one would be better (about 60 pages in, so far so good). What I took away from Isaacson's book is that despite the colossal effort that it surely took to write it, it did not offer much beyond reporting facts, and never quite put the pieces together to help readers get a better understanding of his subject Jobs, or Apple, beyond reporting the facts, despite unprecedented access to Jobs. Something I find that writers such as Levy and Michael Lewis (among others) do rather well. So I think it was not as much what was wrong with it than what it could have been. Gruber said it best when he wrote that Jobs just did not pick the right guy for the job (strange to think this last line may also apply to Buffett). Back to Isaacson: if the following quote from January 2014 was reported accurately by CNBC back then, it illustrate quite well that the author just did not understand basic elements of the story: "To play catch-up, Cook has to think about what industry he wants to disrupt next, Isaacson said. "I think Steve Jobs would have wanted as the next disruptive thing to either have wearable-like watches or TV, an easy TV that you can walk into the room and say put on 'Squawk Box' … or disrupt the digital camera industry or disrupt textbooks." Probably no need to point out that at that point, the iphone was the most used camera in the world, having already upended the industry. And I'm really not sure what to add regarding textbooks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 http://www.macstories.net/linked/feeling-the-interface/ No doubt the future (ForceTouch tech in New trackpads and Watch) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerscorecard Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Gruber said it best when he wrote that Jobs just did not pick the right guy for the job (strange to think this last line may also apply to Buffett). Are you saying The Snowball could have been better? What didn't you like about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerscorecard Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/16/apple-will-offer-android-switchers-gift-cards-to-trade-in-rival-smartphones-for-iphones/ Smart if true. They no doubt make more from iPhones sold in their own retail stores than in carrier stores, and they also have better chance to cross-sell things like Watch, Macs, accessories, etc. Smart move, especially when Android is weak. Whatever they pay in gift card might be partly offset by whatever the cut of a carrier would be, plus whatever else they can sell on top. While I think it's good that Apple is reducing the barrier to getting a new phone by helping transfer address book information (that's surprisingly extremely hard to do), I don't like the fact that Apple is taking in Android and Blackberry phones. That seems to value things which are already devalued or of no value. I think the messaging would be better if you just showed Apple your Android or Blackberry phone and they gave you the discount, but Apple didn't actually take in the phone. When Microsoft took in Macbooks in exchange for Surfaces, they were acknowledging they had to bribe people to get Surfaces. The dynamics are different here, but the messaging of actually taking in the old devices, which should rightfully be seen as worthless, seems odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intothebreach Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Gruber said it best when he wrote that Jobs just did not pick the right guy for the job (strange to think this last line may also apply to Buffett). Are you saying The Snowball could have been better? What didn't you like about it? We're going off topic here, so apologies for adding to it. My comment was not related to my appreciation, but rather an allusion to her subject apparently not being overly pleased with the final result. Just happened to cross my mind when I wrote the Gruber line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerscorecard Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Gruber said it best when he wrote that Jobs just did not pick the right guy for the job (strange to think this last line may also apply to Buffett). Are you saying The Snowball could have been better? What didn't you like about it? We're going off topic here, so apologies for adding to it. My comment was not related to my appreciation, but rather an allusion to her subject apparently not being overly pleased with the final result. Just happened to cross my mind when I wrote the Gruber line. I think the cases are quite different, however. Isaacson's biography had the issue of many of the people closest to Jobs not being happy with it, where the Snowball had Buffett himself not being happy with it. If a biography was very truthful, it would not be unexpected to have the subject be uncomfortable with it and thus not happy with it. I'm not aware of people like Walter Schloss, Charlie Munger, or other members of Buffett's inner circle publicly criticizing The Snowball as completely misrepresenting the essence of the man, as has been the case with Isaacson's biography. In interviews and other public statements, Schroeder also seems to understand Berkshire Hathaway quite well (although she obviously isn't a real insider), whereas Isaacson doesn't seem to understand Apple at all, as seen in both his book and in his public statements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCG Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I thought Isaacson did a good job with it. Anyway, I'm more excited about CarPlay than the Apple Watch. CarPlay solves an annoying problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 http://9to5mac.com/2015/03/16/apple-will-offer-android-switchers-gift-cards-to-trade-in-rival-smartphones-for-iphones/ Smart if true. They no doubt make more from iPhones sold in their own retail stores than in carrier stores, and they also have better chance to cross-sell things like Watch, Macs, accessories, etc. Smart move, especially when Android is weak. Whatever they pay in gift card might be partly offset by whatever the cut of a carrier would be, plus whatever else they can sell on top. While I think it's good that Apple is reducing the barrier to getting a new phone by helping transfer address book information (that's surprisingly extremely hard to do), I don't like the fact that Apple is taking in Android and Blackberry phones. That seems to value things which are already devalued or of no value. I think the messaging would be better if you just showed Apple your Android or Blackberry phone and they gave you the discount, but Apple didn't actually take in the phone. When Microsoft took in Macbooks in exchange for Surfaces, they were acknowledging they had to bribe people to get Surfaces. The dynamics are different here, but the messaging of actually taking in the old devices, which should rightfully be seen as worthless, seems odd. Maybe. I think they're mostly doing it for the convenience to the buyer (it's just a better experience not to have to deal with that on your own), and as a recycler, to reduce e-waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I think the cases are quite different, however. Isaacson's biography had the issue of many of the people closest to Jobs not being happy with it, where the Snowball had Buffett himself not being happy with it. If a biography was very truthful, it would not be unexpected to have the subject be uncomfortable with it and thus not happy with it. I'm not aware of people like Walter Schloss, Charlie Munger, or other members of Buffett's inner circle publicly criticizing The Snowball as completely misrepresenting the essence of the man, as has been the case with Isaacson's biography. In interviews and other public statements, Schroeder also seems to understand Berkshire Hathaway quite well (although she obviously isn't a real insider), whereas Isaacson doesn't seem to understand Apple at all, as seen in both his book and in his public statements. I agree. I think most of the complaints about Snowball were of the "how dare she write about his mother and wife and his emotional state rather than just about stocks and business deals!" because it made some people, including Buffett, presumably, uncomfortable. Not that these things were inaccurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Rumors of an Apple OTA video offering: http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-in-talks-to-launch-online-tv-service-1426555611 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Just received new macbook pro. FroceTouch (Taptic feedback in trackpad) is A Thing. The illusion is perfect. I can't wait until this comes to iPhones and iPads. It'll be totally sci-fi to tap a button on a glass screen and feel it push in and click. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innerscorecard Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Just received new macbook pro. FroceTouch (Taptic feedback in trackpad) is A Thing. The illusion is perfect. I can't wait until this comes to iPhones and iPads. It'll be totally sci-fi to tap a button on a glass screen and feel it push in and click. I think it's another example of how much better Apple is at actually deploying technology as a second-mover. Android phones have had haptic feedback for a long time, but it's unpleasant and adds nothing to the user experience. Apple waited until it could use taptic feedback in a way that actually added a useful dimension to the user experience. Although I obviously haven't used an Apple Watch yet, the same may be true for Apple's gentler style of wrist notifications with Taptic Touch, compared to the rough constant buzzing of a Pebble or an Android Wear device, which is supposedly extremely unpleasant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 http://www.fastcompany.com/3042435/steves-legacy-tim-looks-ahead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubsfan Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Great interview on the culture. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 Good piece on the cable industry and how Apple could position itself in that ecosystem with Apple TV: http://stratechery.com/2015/changing-unchanging-structure-tv/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsgOmiStJ04 Anyone thinks Samsung or LG has been running a lab like that for a few years? Nice to see them bringing out Jeff Williams more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jurgis Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsgOmiStJ04 Anyone thinks Samsung or LG has been running a lab like that for a few years? Nice to see them bringing out Jeff Williams more. Pretty cool. :) I just hope that this will lead to more than just a graph on a watch... I'm somewhat a sceptic regarding the fitness gizmos - I know other people like them, but for me they are not useful enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cubsfan Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsgOmiStJ04 Anyone thinks Samsung or LG has been running a lab like that for a few years? Nice to see them bringing out Jeff Williams more. I was thinking the same thing - whose R&D spend will match Apple's in these areas? Thanks for posting the clip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsgOmiStJ04 Anyone thinks Samsung or LG has been running a lab like that for a few years? Nice to see them bringing out Jeff Williams more. I was thinking the same thing - whose R&D spend will match Apple's in these areas? Thanks for posting the clip. Apple is a lot more secretive than most other corps, so if they had something like this, we'd know it. In fact, in Google's case, we'd have seen a press release with CGI rendering of the lab long before it was built :) The real question is, how many other interesting labs like this does Apple have that we don't know about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 The fashion magazine onslaught continues.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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