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Steve Jobs - page 7

Today in Apple history: Apple and Cisco settle over ‘iPhone’ name

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The InfoGear iPhone was definitely a bit ... different from current models.
The first iPhone was definitely a bit ... different from current models.
Photo: Bob Ackerman/Wikipedia CC

February 21: Today in Apple history: Apple and Cisco settle over 'iPhone' name February 21, 2007: Apple comes to an agreement with Cisco over the iPhone trademark, which Cisco legally owns but Apple wants to use.

Under the agreement, both companies get to use the iPhone trademark on products throughout the world. The two businesses also dismiss outstanding lawsuits against one another, and agree to “explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications.”

It’s a classic bit of Apple CEO Steve Jobs steamrolling the opposition.

Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs says Apple is finally debt-free

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Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined
This was a significant moment in Apple's turnaround.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

February 18: Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs says Apple is finally debt-free February 18, 2004: Apple CEO Steve Jobs sends an internal memo to employees revealing that the company is, for the first time in years, totally debt-free.

“Today is a historic day of sorts for our company,” he writes. This marks a big turnaround from the bad old days of the 1990s, when Apple carried more than $1 billion in debt — and faced the danger of bankruptcy.

Today in Apple history: Pismo PowerBook is a multimedia powerhouse

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Apple Pismo PowerBook raised the bar for laptops.
The "Pismo" PowerBook was a brilliant early Steve Jobs-era laptop.
Photo: CG Hughes/Flickr CC

February 16: Today in Apple history: Apple introduces the February 16, 2000: Apple introduces the “Pismo” PowerBook, the finest of its G3 laptops. In the view of many, it’s one of the best Apple laptops ever.

The Pismo PowerBook is the first model without either SCSI or an Apple Desktop Bus connector. Instead, it utilizes a USB port and Apple’s Emmy Award-winning FireWire. Optional AirPort wireless support, tremendous battery life, and a gorgeous, curvy design just make this laptop better.

Today in Apple history: A young Steve Jobs appears on Time cover

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With Steve Jobs first Time magazine cover, he becomes the face of the 1980s tech boom.
Steve Jobs becomes the face of the 1980s tech boom.
Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

February 15: Today in Apple history: Young Steve Jobs appears on Time magazine cover February 15, 1982: Apple co-founder Steve Jobs appears on the front cover of Time magazine for the first time. The lengthy cover story makes Jobs the public face of successful tech entrepreneurship.

The first of many Time covers for Jobs, the article — titled “Striking It Rich: America’s Risk Takers” — casts him as the prototypical young upstart benefiting from the burgeoning personal computing revolution. It also identifies him as part of a surge of freshly minted millionaires running their own businesses.

Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs wins posthumous Grammy

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Photo of Eddy Cue accepting Steve Jobs' posthumous Grammy Award.
Steve Jobs' death caused an outpouring of support.
Photo: Grammys

February 12: Today in Apple history February 12, 2012: Months after his untimely death, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is honored with a Special Merit Grammy Award in recognition of his contributions to the field of music with the iPod and iTunes Music Store.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, collects the Grammy on behalf of Jobs’ family and “everyone at Apple.”

Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs’ NeXT quits making computers

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Photo of the NeXT Cube computer manufactured by NeXT Inc.
The NeXT Computer was great but it didn't sell.
Photo: Rama & Musée Bolo/Wikipedia CC

February 9: Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs' NeXT quits making computers February 9, 1993: NeXT Inc., the company Steve Jobs founded after being pushed out of Apple, quits making computers. The company changes its name to NeXT Software and focuses its efforts entirely on producing code for other platforms.

In a mass layoff, 330 of NeXT’s 500 employees lose their jobs in an event known internally as “Black Tuesday.” Cruelly, many people hear of their fate on the radio.

Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs flips out over iPad tweet

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The first-gen iPad in all its glory.
Steve Jobs did not like losing control of the iPad narrative.
Photo: Apple

February 8: Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs flips out over iPad tweet February 8, 2010: Steve Jobs reportedly flips out over a tweet sent from an iPad by an editor at The Wall Street Journal.

The reason? Apple showed the iPad to top staffers at the news outlet months ahead of its official release. While Jobs already unveiled the device to the public a couple of weeks before, the suggestion that people outside Apple gained early access to the tablet apparently upset the CEO.

The iPad tweet quickly disappeared.

Today in Apple history: Steve Jobs considers buying Yahoo

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Yahoo
Apple could have teamed up with Disney to make an offer.
Photo: Yahoo

February 4 Today in Apple historyFebruary 4, 2008: Apple CEO Steve Jobs reportedly considers buying the search engine Yahoo. Apple is one of several interested companies, following reports that Microsoft offered $44.6 billion for the web portal the previous week.

Nothing ultimately comes of it, but Apple’s interest is later confirmed in an authorized biography of Jobs.

Today in Apple history: Copland, Apple’s ‘unreleased’ Mac OS, ships to devs

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A screenshot of Mac OS Copland on a
Remember Mac OS Copland? Probably not from using it.
Image: Apple/Cult of Mac/Ste Smith

November 17: Today in Apple history: Mac OS Copland, Apple's 'unreleased' Mac OS, ships to developers November 17, 1995: Apple releases the first beta version of its new Mac OS Copland operating system to approximately 50 developers. Not so much a Mac OS update as a totally new operating system, it offers next-gen features designed to help Apple take on the then-mighty Windows 95.

Sadly, Copland OS will never reach the public.

Apple legend Bill Atkinson in treatment for pancreatic cancer

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Bill Atkinson at MacWorld
Bill Atkinson presented at MacWorld in 2010.
Photo: Cult of Mac

Bill Atkinson, a legendary Apple programmer, let the world know Tuesday he’s in treatment for pancreatic cancer, the same disease that killed his boss, Steve Jobs, in 2011. Atkinson published a post on Facebook asking for prayers.

Recruited by Jobs and Macintosh developer and user interface guru Jef Raskin, Atkinson became employee number 51 at Apple. He’s a primary architect of the original Mac. You can see some of his considerable accomplishments and his Facebook post below.

Today in Apple history: Turnaround artist Gil Amelio joins Apple’s board

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Bringing on Gil Amelio was viewed as a big coup for the Apple board.
Bringing on Gil Amelio was viewed as a big coup for the Apple board.
Photo: Apple

November 9: Today in Apple history: Gil Amelio joins Apple board of directors November 9, 1994: Gil Amelio, a businessman with a reputation as a talented turnaround artist, joins Apple’s board.

Coming off his impressive revitalization of two other tech companies, National Semiconductor and Rockwell International, Amelio’s appointment at Apple sparks widespread celebration. Many Apple watchers think his arrival means the company’s dark days are over. Sadly, Amelio’s turnaround tricks won’t work in Cupertino.

Laurene Powell Jobs’ super-yacht crashes into another one

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Laurene Powell Jobs super-yacht crashed
High winds caused the two mega-yachts to collide.
Photo: X.com, @RicardoBSalinas

Laurene Powell Jobs’ super-yacht recently crashed into another billionaire’s even bigger yacht off Naples, Italy, according to a report. Steve Jobs originally commissioned the $140 million Venus, collaborating on its design. High winds pushed the boats at anchor into each other.

Damage is estimated to be costly, given the yachts’ combined value of $265 million. For the merely wealthy or well-adjacent, that’s like paying through the nose to get a scratch fixed on your Bentley.

Steve Jobs’ bomber jacket goes up for auction

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Steve Jobs’s bomber jacket goes up for auction
Steve Jobs’s bomber jacket is one of dozens of Apple memorabilia items now up for auction.
Image: RR Auction/Cult of Mac

You have the opportunity to wrap yourself in a piece of Apple history: the bomber jacket Steve Jobs was wearing in an iconic photo of the Apple co-founder “flipping the bird” to an IBM sign.

It’s part of Steve Jobs and the Apple Revolution, an auction that just kicked off featuring nearly 300 items.

Would you pay $180,000 for Steve Jobs’ business card?

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Would you pay $180,000 for Steve Jobs' business card?
This item sold for a value that may set a new record for a business card with signature.
Photo: RR Auction/Cult of Mac

Steve Jobs’ business card bearing the signature of the Apple cofounder himself sold at auction for an amazing value: over $180,000. This is supposedly the most ever paid for a signed business card.

A collection of other Apple memorabilia brought in big bucks at the same auction, a sign of the popularity of rare items from the iPhone-maker.

$4 Steve Jobs check sells for $46,000 [Updated]

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$4 Steve Jobs check from the earliest days of Apple
This $4 check signed by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs sold for many thousands of dollars.
Photo: RR Auction

Apple is a trillion dollar company today but it started out with very humble origins. There’s no better evidence than company co-founder Steve Jobs hand writing a check to the electronics store RadioShack for $4.01.

And now that check recently up for auction, and bought  in 11,500 times its original value. How ‘s that for appreciation?

Why the dream of Apple buying Disney won’t die

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Disney+ logo
The idea that Apple could buy Disney keeps coming up.
Photo: The Walt Disney Company

As legacy studios like Disney face formidable problems, a new report suggests CEO Bob Iger might revisit a “once-unthinkable option” — that Apple might buy the company, or at least a stripped-down version of it.

After all, in a near-future of even greater tech-company dominance over entertainment, Disney may need deep-pocketed protection. And its longstanding connection with Apple could come into play.

Apple check No. 2, signed by Jobs and Woz, goes up for auction

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Apple check #2, signed by Jobs and Woz, goes up for auction
Both Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak signed this check.
Photo: RR Auction

A unique bit of Apple history just went up for auction: Apple Computer check “No. 2” signed by company co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Bidding for the $116.97 check is already up to more than $55,000.

A number of other rare Apple items are also up for sale, some signed by Jobs.

Steve Jobs check for $175 brings whopping $107,000 at auction

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Bid on check signed by Steve Jobs to own piece of Apple history
This check is from when Apple was still operating out of a garage.
Photo: RR Auction

Back in 1976, when Apple still operated out of cofounder Steve Jobs’ garage, he signed a $175 check to a consulting firm. And someone just paid $106,985 for it, Boston-based RR Auction said Thursday.

That’s one pricey piece of paper. And another one, a Jobs business card from NeXT, brought in a more affordable $3,076. Both sums far exceeded the auction estimates.

Bid on check signed by Steve Jobs to own piece of Apple history

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Bid on check signed by Steve Jobs to own piece of Apple history
This check is from when Apple was still operating out of a garage.
Photo: RR Auction

A check that Steve Jobs signed in the earliest days of Apple is up for auction. The Apple co-founder sent the check to a consulting firm way back in 1976, when the upstart computer company still operated out of Jobs’ garage.

Also up for auction: a Steve Jobs business card from when he ran NeXT in the early 1990s.

Tim Cook becomes Apple’s longest-serving CEO … but with a twist

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AI-generated image of Apple CEO Tim Cook sitting on an ornate golden throne.
Tim Cook has been Apple CEO longer than Steve Jobs was... sort of.
Image: Canva

Steve Jobs is no longer the man who spent the longest time as Apple CEO. Tim Cook, the executive currently in charge, has now surpassed Jobs’ record of 4,249 days with that title, making him officially Apple’s longest-serving CEO.

But it turns out the calculation isn’t that simple. Steve Jobs spent several additional years in charge of Apple. He just wasn’t officially “Apple CEO” at the time.

Get Steve Jobs’ new ‘memoir’ for free

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The new digital book comes out April 11 for free.
The new digital book comes out April 11 for free on the Steve Jobs Archive website and Apple Books.
Photo: Steve Jobs Archive

The Steve Jobs Archive released its first book Tuesday, Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs in his own words. It’s a memoir of sorts because almost everything in it comes directly from Jobs, from major speeches and interviews to emails he sent to himself. It covers the Apple co-founder’s life from a young age until he passed away in 2011.

The new book includes never-before-seen content, the archive said, and it’s free from multiple sources.

Mac mini is a total dream machine [The CultCast]

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Apple crammed a whole lot of computing power into the Mac mini.
Apple crams a whole lot of computing power into the Mac mini.
Image: Cult of Mac

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The M2 Pro-powered Mac mini is a dream machine for creative types, according to our reviewer D. Griffin Jones. He joins us to sing the praises of this pint-size powerhouse. (It’s quite an upgrade from the 2015 MacBook Pro he used before.)

Also on The CultCast:

  • It’s just two months until we’ll see Apple’s mixed-reality headset. We can’t help thinking this pricey “star product” is gonna flop hard, even as it points the way toward the future.
  • A free book coming next week will reveal Steve Jobs “in his own words.”
  • Will the next version of watchOS really bring big changes?
  • Erfon knows where you can find a steady supply of genuine Apple accessories at cut-rate prices.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

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Steve Jobs’ Make Something Wonderful comes out April 11 (for free)

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The new digital book comes out April 11 for free.
The new digital book comes out April 11 for free on the Steve Jobs Archive website and Apple Books.
Photo: Steve Jobs Archive

The Steve Jobs Archive’s first major release — a digital book titled Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs in his own words — will arrive April 11.

Despite the announcement coming in an email from the archive on April Fools’ Day, the news appears to be genuine. And that includes the part about the e-book, which is filled with Jobs’ emails, conversations, photos and more, being free online for all.

Steve Jobs returns from grave as a chatty AI

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Steve Jobs returns for grave as a chatty AI
A new AI chatbot isn't Steve Jobs. But it does sound like him.
Photo: Hotpot/Cult of Mac

Although Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died more than a decade ago, he’s back as an artificial intelligence. Kind of.

A programmer made a chatbot able to carry on conversations in a voice that sounds like Jobs. The result is authentic enough to be eerie.

Apple Lisa 1, factory-sealed iPhone 2007 rake in cash at auction

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Apple Lisa 1
This Apple Lisa 1 sold at top dollar this week.
Photo: RR Auction

An auction that included vintage Apple items that were almost thrown away wrapped up this week with many items bringing in more than their estimates. A Lisa 1 and an original iPhone still in the plastic sold at hefty prices. Some technical notes handwritten by Steve Jobs also brought in more than expected. There were many more.

However, some of the Apple items did not sell, including a fully functional Apple-1, likely because bids didn’t reach their reserve price.