Sony Pictures Entertainment has bought the rights to make a movie on Steve Jobs life, based on the upcoming biography by Walter Isaacson. While this was initially a rumor, the New York Times has since confirmed the news:
The studio late this week concluded a deal to buy film rights to the authorized biography “Steve Jobs,” from Walter Isaacson, according to a person who was briefed on the deal and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the studio had not authorized a public statement.
Isaacson has been reportedly paid $1 million in advance for the rights, and another $2 million will go his way if and when the movie is produced. There is no word yet on a filming or release schedule.
It’s hard to anticipate the style of film, but Sony Pictures Entertainment is the same movie studio that produced The Social Network, the dramatic and darkly intriguing film about Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook that garnered critical acclaim and won several Oscars.
Interested in Apple history? You should download Guy Kawasaki’s book “The Macintosh Way”, which he just made available for free as a PDF right here. Guy Kawasaki worked at Apple from 1983 to 1987 and was one of the employees charged with marketing the Macintosh at its introduction in 1984.
Adding even more Apple history to the book, the Foreword is written by former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée:
Anyone who’s a fan of Portal should appreciate this mockup video, which features the voice of the malevolent AI system from the game series, GLaDOS, replacing the default voice of Apple’s new Siri assistant. So nerdy, but so cool, it’d be great if this actually came to fruition, but don’t get your hopes up.
Siri is exclusive to iPhone 4S with iOS 5, although there is some speculation that the voice assistant feature will come to iPad 2 in the near future as well.
Original Siri video from Apple is shown below: Read more »
If you’re a fan of the most portable aspects of Apples lineup, you’ll like this setup. Two white iPad 2 3G models at 64GB, a 2009 MacBook Air 13″, a 2010 MacBook Air 13″, and a first-gen iPad WiFi model with 64GB make up this great collection of Apple gear.
Apple looks to have another hit on it’s hands with the iPhone 4S. Pre-orders of the device have already sold out by shipment on the release date of October 14th, and now Apple and all US carriers are giving a 1-2 week shipping delay for the next-gen iPhone. In fact, AT&T has already proclaimed the 4S as their “most successful iPhone launch”, having sold over 200,000 pre-orders in the first 12 hours alone.
With the device already sold out, this likely means that if you were hoping to get your hands on the iPhone 4S on launch day, you’ll probably have to wait in line at an Apple Store.
The rapid sell out is sure to impact iPhone 4S availability both in the US and abroad, although there is speculation that because Apple maintained the iPhone 4 form factor, they’ll be able to catch up to demand quicker. Nonetheless, with Fortune estimating over 500,000 pre-orders before Apple ran out, the shipping time for new orders placed online are likely to increase even further as sales continue to accumulate.
It’s been a week where some humor is much needed, so the guys who put together the ridiculous and so-called ‘banned’ promo videos for various Apple products pulled through with a drunken rendition for the iPhone 4S. It’s got some inappropriate language so it may not be the best thing to blast on your work speakers.
TinkerTool is broken into 12 main sections covering Finder, Dock, General, Desktop, Applications, Fonts, Font Smoothing, Login Items, Safari, iTunes, QuickTime X, and Resume (OS X Lion’s Restore feature), each section has a handful of options ranging from UI tweaks to behavioral changes. The other great thing is that you can always return to the default state and undo all the changes you make, meaning there’s no threat of accidentally screwing something up.
A free download, the new version is updated with a ton of OS X Lion specific tweaks and customizations, adding to it’s already robust abilities. It covers tons of things we’ve discussed here in the past, and everything is enabled through the apps simple GUI by just clicking on checkboxes. No defaults write commands, no digging around in /System/Library/CoreServices/, it’s by far the easiest way to access many of the hidden features of Mac OS X.
Soon you will be able to run Android apps directly on the iPad, with the help of a third party tool called Alien Dalvik. The technology works by packaging each Android application into it’s own virtual machine that runs atop iOS, giving the appearance of the app running natively on the iPad. Performance is claimed to be impressive enough for the end user to not notice much of a difference, and a live demo will be shown next week at a conference by the creators of Alien Dalvik, the Myriad Group.
Apple has announced that unlocked iPhone 4S models will be available starting in November, slightly later than the general 4S availability for both the US and other countries. These phones will work on any GSM carrier worldwide, you simply need to pop in a local GSM providers micro-SIM card and follow the onscreen activation instructions. The dependence on SIM cards does mean that the unlocked iPhone 4S will not work on CDMA carriers, however.
Unlocked iPhones are ideal for users who travel internationally on a regular basis and need to be able to utilize local carriers, this offers a significantly cheaper option than paying the roaming overage charges through a home carrier like AT&T. Unlocked phones also provide a pre-paid option, allowing you to use GoPhone, T-Mobile, or other pre-paid GSM choices.
The downside to an unlocked device is the costs. The price of the iPhone 4S contract-free is quite a bit higher than the subsidized price through a carrier, with the 16GB model starting at $649, the 32GB model costing $749, and the 64GB model coming in at $849.
The contract price of iPhone 4S is the same on each carrier, and comparing the iPhone 4S tech specs to other iPhones and competitors is one thing, but the other side of the equation is the data, text, and voice plan. How much data are you going to get, and at what price? What about overage charges? Does the data plan include internet tethering? How many minutes do you get? What about unlimited texting?
This nice comparison chart was put together by PCMag, breaking down each carrier of the iPhone 4S and what you can expect to pay on a monthly and yearly basis.
Would you have guessed that newcomer Sprint would offer the best deal on iPhone 4S data plans? It’s by a longshot once you consider heavy data use, where Sprint matches both the text and voice plans but then dramatically beats the competitors 2GB data offering. Not only does Sprint offer the cheapest data at a flat rate, but they’re the only remaining iPhone carrier in the USA to offer unlimited data, something only those grandfathered into old Verizon or AT&T plans have (in fact, both VZ and ATT are actually throttling heavy data users instead).
Check your iPhone 4S upgrade eligibility on each carrier, but in some cases it’s actually cheaper to jump carriers and break your contract. Or if you’re looking for a deal and you intend to be a data hog, you can’t beat Sprint’s $99/month.
Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S begin directly after midnight tonight at 12:01 AM PST, or 3:00 AM EST on Apple.com/store/. The impressively specced 4S is expected to ship on October 14 and be available in even more countries by the end of the month.
This is a rather simple but beautiful tribute to Steve Jobs in wallpaper form. The image is of the Apple logo with silhouetted profile of Steve Jobs forming the bite.
The official biography of Steve Jobs will be released on October 24, moved nearly a month ahead of the publishers originally scheduled November 21 launch. Since the passing of Steve, the book has shot to the top of best sellers list, despite only being available for pre-order.
The author of the biography, Walter Isaacson, is a former editor of Time magazine, and has written two other bestselling biographies for Albert Einstein and Ben Franklin. As noted by the Wall Street Journal, Steve “knew that he was dying weeks before the end” and says he was last interviewed four weeks ago, directly before and after he resigned from the position of CEO at Apple. These final interviews are said to be described in the sprawling book that covers his personal and professional life.
The following is a compelling excerpt from an upcoming Time essay written by Isaacson, describing his last visit with Jobs:
A few weeks ago, I visited Jobs for the last time in his Palo Alto, Calif., home. He had moved to a downstairs bedroom because he was too weak to go up and down stairs. He was curled up in some pain, but his mind was still sharp and his humor vibrant. We talked about his childhood, and he gave me some pictures of his father and family to use in my biography. As a writer, I was used to being detached, but I was hit by a wave of sadness as I tried to say goodbye. In order to mask my emotion, I asked the one question that was still puzzling me: Why had he been so eager, during close to 50 interviews and conversations over the course of two years, to open up so much for a book when he was usually so private? “I wanted my kids to know me,” he said. “I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.”
The official description of Steve Jobs biography is as follows:
Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.
Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.
Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.
Not long after Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the iconic “The Crazy Ones” commercial aired as part of the larger Think Different campaign. This is a variation of that commercial that never aired, with Steve Jobs himself narrating.
The video is embedded above for easy viewing, and the full text of The Crazy Ones, said to be written by Steve Jobs, is repeated below: Read more »
Unbelievably sad and terrible news to report: legendary Apple leader and tech visionary Steve Jobs has died. The following statement has been issued by the Apple Board of Directors:
We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.
Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.
Apple has put up a short and touching note on their website as well as the image up top, the note says the following:
Steve Jobs: 1955-2011
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com
The family of Steve Jobs’ has since released the following statement:
Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.
In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve’s illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.
We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.
Apple CEO Tim Cook sent out the following email to Apple employees:
Team,
I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.
No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.
Tim
There’s been an outpouring of words, here are a few notable citations from various industry leaders, competitors, and friends of Steve:
I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.
Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.
The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.
For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.
I am very, very sad to hear the news about Steve. He was a great man with incredible achievements and amazing brilliance. He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it. His focus on the user experience above all else has always been an inspiration to me. He was very kind to reach out to me as I became CEO of Google and spend time offering his advice and knowledge even though he was not at all well. My thoughts and Google’s are with his family and the whole Apple family.
Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.
By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.
The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve’s wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him.
We’re all at a loss for words. Thank you Steve for everything, rest in peace.
We’ve received a few questions regarding iPhone 4S availability both in the USA and abroad, here’s what we know so far directly from Apple, as announced at the launch event keynote.
First, iPhone 4S is to be released on October 14 with pre-orders starting a week before, the countries with immediate release will also take pre-orders on the 7th of October at midnight. Other countries will have the device on October 28 or later, we have the full list of availability on a per country basis below.
Second, there’s a big question as to whether or not 4S will sell out and generate the crowds that prior iPhone and iPad releases have generated. If you are at all concerned about being an early adopter and getting your hands on the new iPhone as soon as possible, you should either pre-order or wait in line at an Apple Store or reseller on launch day.
Now let’s look at the official availability dates per country:
iPhone 4S will be available immediately from October 14th from the following countries:
United States
Australia
Canada
France
Germany
Japan
UK
iPhone 4S will be available by October 28 in the following countries: Read more »
The easiest way to retrieve a routers IP address from a Mac is by going through System Preferences in Mac OS X. This is much the same way that you get your Macs IP address, but the router IP is a few steps further within preference menus.
Want to upgrade to the latest and greatest iPhone? Assuming you qualify for a new contract, the price of the iPhone 4S is the same on all carriers, starting at $199 for the 16GB version. If you don’t qualify for a new contract, there’s a wide variation of potential prices and fees that will come into play when you upgrade, so here’s how to check your exact eligibility status and the costs associated with it for each US carrier.
First things first, Apple’s upgrade checker website works with AT&T and Verizon, and Sprint will be added soon. You will get more data and sometimes a different offer if you check directly through your carrier though, so it’s recommended to do both.
AT&T
AT&T users call *639# from the phone or plan they want to upgrade and then wait for a text message from AT&T.
Currently most users will get one of two messages, one saying they can upgrade to the iPhone 4S with just a new two-year contract plus a $18 fee, and others are given a date of when they’ll be eligible for that same offer. For the latter, if you’ve had a plan for at least 6 months it seems like AT&T will readily offer an iPhone 4S upgrade for the price of a $250, plus an $18 fee, plus the signing of a new contract. This seems to vary widely based on your existing plan and contract, as we’ve discussed AT&T upgrade eligibility before, and for upgrading earlier in your contract they want you to visit a local AT&T store to obtain the offer.
Verizon
Verizon users can dial #874 on their existing phones to discover their upgrade eligibility status, or they can login to their Verizon account online and check their existing plan that way. You don’t need to be an existing iPhone customer to check for the upgrade, so if you’re ready to switch from an Android you can do that, but you will need to sign a new two year contract and pay an upgrade fee. These costs vary on your plan and your existing contract, so it’s best to check directly.
Sprint
Sprint is the newcomer to the iPhone party, and if you’re an existing Sprint user you just need to visit their upgrade page to check if you can upgrade and the fees and costs associated with it. The huge advantage to Sprint is they offer unlimited data plans, the only remaining carrier in the USA to do so for iPhone users.
Sony Pictures Entertainment has bought the rights to make a movie on Steve Jobs life, based on the upcoming biography by Walter Isaacson. While this was initially a rumor, the New York Times has since confirmed the news:
The 
will be released on October 24, moved nearly a month ahead of the publishers originally scheduled November 21 launch. Since the passing of Steve, the book has shot to the top of 
, despite only being available for pre-order. 
