Steve Jobs - page 8

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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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.

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.

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.

On what would have been Steve Jobs’ 68th birthday, the Steve Jobs Archive shared a favorite photo from 1984 — along with the promise of more content to come.

“We have so much to tell you about, but I want to start by sharing one of my favorite images from our collection,” wrote Leslie Berlin, the archive’s co-founder and executive director, in an email newsletter. “It’s Steve in 1984, spotting a new Macintosh in the wild.”

An Apple museum could be made of just the items currently up for bid at a single auction. There’s a fully functional Apple-1, an Apple Lisa 1, some technical notes handwritten by Steve Jobs, an original iPhone still sealed in the plastic and much, more.

Many of these items are expected to bring in big bucks.

The Safari browser turns 20 years old today, and I remember excitedly firing it up for the first time.

When Steve Jobs introduced Safari at Macworld 2003, he described the brand-new browser as a speed demon and way easier to use than competitors.

“Buckle up,” he said with a smile. “We have done our own browser and it’s hot … it’s sweet.”

A few weeks later, I deleted it in disgust. Safari wasn’t sweet. It sucked!

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Maybe, just maybe, Apple can make a metaverse competitor that won’t leave us ready to heave. Stranger things have happened, but we’re not so sure the long-rumored Apple mixed-reality headset will be right for us.

Also on The CultCast:

• Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature looks pretty cool and potentially lifesaving. Be sure to try the demo before you find yourself stranded on a mountaintop.
• We’re endlessly searching for a Black Friday deal on AirTags. (Editor’s note: Oh, wait, here’s one now: Grab an AirTag 4-pack for less than $80 before this deal disappears.)
• iPhone 4K video — it’s a scam!
• Erfon’s missing AirPods Max story takes a strange twist.
• You won’t believe how much somebody paid for an ancient pair of Steve Jobs’ stinky Birkenstocks.

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.

How much would you pay for a used pair of shoes? A few bucks, probably. What if they were owned by Steve Jobs? The amount you might be willing to put down surely goes up quite a bit. But would it go up to almost $220,000?

That’s what a pair of Birkenstocks owned by the Apple co-founder sold for over the weekend.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs passed away more than 11 years ago, but that didn’t prevent him from giving a new interview with superstar podcaster Joe Rogan. In it, the co-creator of the Mac talks about the importance of Eastern mysticism, his thoughts on LSD, Google, innovation and more.

There’s just one tiny wrinkle: The entire podcast is generated by artificial intelligence. That includes Jobs’ and Rogan’s voices and their responses.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Erfon returns from his Florida vacation just in time to rave about the Apple Watch Ultra and share some tips on how to use the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island.

Also on The CultCast:

• Remembering Steve Jobs, who died 11 years ago this week.
• The iPhone’s switch from Lightning to USB-C is coming sooner rather than later.
• Are iPhone cameras really good enough to replace DSLRs?
• Vacation talk, including how Erfon barely avoided a nasty Hurricane Ian surprise.

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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Special thanks to this week’s sponsor, Squarespace. Get all the tools you need to set up your very own website and commence selling anything online. Start your free website trial today at squarespace.com/cultcast (no credit card required). Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain with code cultcast at checkout.

August 11, 1950: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is born. While Steve Jobs may be the most admired Apple figure, Woz might be the most well-loved by fans.

In addition to his most famous creation, the Apple II, Wozniak is also responsible for imbuing Apple’s products with his fun-loving personality.

Happy birthday, Woz!

July 15, 1998: Apple reports its third profitable quarter after the return of Steve Jobs, continuing the company’s remarkable turnaround.

Cupertino earns $101 million for the quarter, largely thanks to the success of the Power Mac G3. In the same quarter a year earlier, Apple lost $56 million. This marks the first time in three years that the company managed three straight profitable quarters.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: This could be the year Apple Watch goes large … and rugged … and maybe long. Like, long enough to track the kind of intense, multi-hour workouts that “extreme sports athletes” engage in.

So the question is, what will this beefier (and pricier) Apple Watch look like? We can’t help letting our imaginations run a little wild.

Also on The CultCast:

• iOS 16 features that will keep us all waiting.
• Apple’s new Lockdown Mode sounds super-serious.
• The White House honors Steve Jobs with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• The dreaded pukerang!

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 livestream, embedded below.

Our sponsor: Squarespace

Special thanks to this week’s sponsor, Squarespace. Get all the tools you need to set up your very own website and commence selling anything online. Start your free website trial today at squarespace.com/cultcast (no credit card required). Save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain with code cultcast at checkout.

The White House said Friday it would award late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his world-changing contributions to society.

That’s the highest civilian honor in the U.S.

Editor’s note: We originally published this illustrated history of the iPod to celebrate the device’s 10th anniversary on Oct. 22, 2011 (and updated it a decade later). We republished it on May 10, 2022, when Apple finally pulled the plug on the iPod.

The iPod grew out of Steve Jobs’ digital hub strategy. Life was going digital. People were plugging all kinds of devices into their computers: digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players.

The computer was the central device, the “digital hub,” that could be used to edit photos and movies or manage a large music library. Jobs tasked Apple’s programmers with making software for editing photos, movies and managing digital music. While they were doing this, they discovered that all the early MP3 players were horrible. Jobs asked his top hardware guy, Jon Rubinstein, to see if Apple could do better.

Unveiled at a special event way back in 2014, the first Apple Watch looked similar to the wearable we know and love today. But looks can be deceiving. Take the Digital Crown and Side Button, for example. Their design may not have changed, but their functionality is now very different.

Apple Watch went through a radical evolution over the past eight years. What started out as an “intimate way to connect and communicate,” has become primarily a health and fitness device.

This pivot is uncharacteristic of Apple. Products like iPod, iPhone and iPad launched with a clear vision and remained true to it. The Apple Watch’s evolution suggests a shift in Cupertino’s approach to new products, and provides tantalizing clues to the future of the company’s rumored next platform launch: realityOS.

The first computer built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak is the Apple-1, right? Not quite. Turns out before that was the “Apple Computer A.”

Unfortunately, the actual Apple prototype with that name was not found. But pictures of it from 1976 were. And they show details of this handmade Apple prototype.

From time to time you hear about Apple’s first computer, the Apple 1, selling to collectors at auction for big bucks. But did you know some of those surviving antiques carry an enduring mystery? For decades, no one could figure out who wrote the serial numbers on their circuit boards. Until now.

In the very early days of Apple, co-founder Steve Jobs was VP Operations. And Alfred DiBlasi has one of Jobs’ business cards to prove it.

The card will soon go up for auction. You can own this bit of Apple history if you’re willing to put down enough cash.

December 14, 1999: Apple acquires the domain name www.iphone.org, prompting years of speculation that Cupertino is considering building a cellphone. While the news generates interest, some take it as a warning sign.

Apple only recently abandoned the kind of non-computer projects like games consoles, PDAs and digital cameras that proved to be dead ends earlier in the decade. An Apple phone could never be a thing, right?

Lots of Apple fans know the company’s first product was the Apple-1 personal computer. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs initially put the machines together in a garage in 1976. Now one unit in their early run of 200, known as the “Chaffey College Apple-1” because its first owner taught there, has sold at auction for $500,000.

An incredibly rare Apple VideoPad 2 prototype is headed to auction after it was purchased from an Apple engineer back in 1999. It comes with a black leather carrying case that features the Newton logo, and is expected to fetch $12,000.

The VideoPad, which was scrapped by Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple in 1997, was a personal digital assistant (PDA) similar to the Newton that would have allowed users to carry out video calls. But it never made it to market.

As many Apple fans knows, the company’s first products was the Apple-1 personal computer, initially put together in a garage by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in 1976. Now one unit in their early run of 200, known as the “Chaffey College Apple-1” because its first owner taught there, is going up for auction November 9 with a starting bid of $200,000.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: We reminisce about Steve Jobs and his lasting impact on Apple, a decade after his death. Plus, M1X MacBook Pros might be coming soon. And the Apple Watch Series 7 launch looks quite weird indeed.

Also on The CultCast:

• Jony Ive pens a tribute to his friend, Steve Jobs.
• Under Review: Awesome instant thermometer Thermapen One, Siri Remote alternative Function101 Button Remote for Apple TV and Belkin’s rock-solid Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 Wireless Charger with MagSafe 15W.

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 livestream, embedded below.