Portable Wisdom

Unbelievable Heroes

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PST

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

Fuzzy Concept

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 PST

“There is nothing worse than a brilliant image of a fuzzy concept.”

Technology married with the humanities

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 PST

Technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with the liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that makes our hearts sing.

Nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices… that need to be even easier to use than a PC, that need to be even more intuitive than a PC; and where the software and the hardware and the applications need to intertwine in an even more seamless way than they do on a PC.

We think we are on the right track with this. We think we have the right architecture not just in silicon but in the organization to build these kinds of products.

We have wonderful arguments

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 PST

Jobs: What I do all day is meet with teams of people and work on ideas and solve problems to make new products, to make new marketing programs, whatever it is.

Mossberg: And are people willing to tell you you're wrong?

Jobs: (laughs) Yeah.

Mossberg: I mean, other than snarky journalists, I mean people that work for…

Jobs: Oh, yeah, no we have wonderful arguments.

Mossberg: And do you win them all?

Jobs: Oh no I wish I did. No, you see you can't. If you want to hire great people and have them stay working for you, you have to let them make a lot of decisions and you have to, you have to be run by ideas, not hierarchy. The best ideas have to win, otherwise good people don't stay.

Mossberg: But you must be more than a facilitator who runs meetings. You obviously contribute your own ideas.

Jobs: I contribute ideas, sure. Why would I be there if I didn't?

An Intuitive Taste for People and Products

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 PST

Regarding Jobs’ legendary product vision, Gates said, “I would give a lot to have Steve's taste. In terms of intuitive taste for people and products, I sat in Mac product reviews...and look at it as an engineering question. I see Steve make decisions based on people and products—it's magical.”

ESPN president meets Steve Jobs

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 PST

The story goes that ESPN president George Bodenheimer attended the first Disney board meeting in Orlando, Florida, just after the company had bought Pixar, the innovative animation factory, and spotted Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a hallway. It seemed like a good time to introduce himself. “I am George Bodenheimer,” he said to Jobs. “I run ESPN.” Jobs just looked at him and said nothing other than “Your phone is the dumbest fucking idea I have ever heard,” then turned and walked away.

We don't even own suits

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 00:00:00 PST

When an AT&T rep suggested Jobs wear a suit to meet with AT&T's CEO, the deputy replied, “We're Apple. We don't wear suits. We don't even own suits.”

Between Saturday night and Sunday morning

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 00:00:00 PST

Oh, there's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Quality Matters

Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:00:00 PST

Quality matters, and much of the evidence suggests that while developing countries are encouraging and fostering meritocracy, their Western rivals are increasingly approaching academe with an egalitarian flare — more access (of course, with the benefit of widening educational opportunity) even if at the expense of quality.

The Credibility of a Comedian

Sat, 11 Feb 2006 00:00:00 PST

The embarrassment is that I'm given credibility in this world because of the disappointment that the public has in what the news media does.