Why Don’t We Put Our Money Where Our Mouth Is?

Something interesting happened recently that got me thinking. I love it when that happens, because it's always helpful to be snapped back to awareness, especially when i operate a moving vehicle on a daily basis and all to often, find myself at work but not remembering driving there. But that's another story. This story is about a good friend's recent opportunity to make a career change, the typical back and forth considerations that go into doing so, and more importantly, the communication between us about those considerations.

Friends are and should be like extended family, right? They're not usually the first ones you'll turn to for a kidney or a place to stay for a few months while you recover from an unexpected financial setback, but they're definitely down the list, and being on the list at all, should be considered confidantes and people you can share things with, like goals, fears, conflicts, personal issues, etc.

But what about your salary?

I Shake Hands Like Howard Hughes

Perhaps I really am becoming a slight recluse, more and more curmodgenly every day, shaving less, letting my finger nails grow too long... and like Howard, becoming germophobic. Actually I'm not that bad but I am starting to try, more consciously, to reduce contact with strangers, particually the act of shaking hands. I've actually started shying away from/declining the act of shaking hands, and it's not always met with the greatest of understanding.



I don't know when and where the custom originated but I'd expect it dates back to the time of practicing 'bleedings' and leaches in the medical community, and telegrams and Morse code in the communications industry. But while those have gone the way of other socially irrelevant practices such as curtseys and hat tipping, this one's stuck around and is overwhelmingly practiced in the work place.



What's got me started on this was a work in progress on bathroom etiquette [yet to be published at this point] and a fellow bloggers well stated observations on the act of hand washing at the workplace. If you just start your day with this image and consciously observe and note how your fellow beings use their hands each day, you'll quickly be hopping on my bandwagon and never wish to shake the hand of even the closest of friends without a little more understanding of 'where that hand's been'.



Without exaggeration, in a given day, I've seen people do any combination of the following with their hands: Pet, rub or be licked by their dog or cat. Wipe or rub their eyes, nose or mouths. Pull some bone, gristle or other food object from their mouth or teeth. Change a child's diaper. Wipe or dust off a desk or counter with their hands. Lick something off their fingers.... and the list goes on from there.



I was never this 'aware' of germs and such until having kids. It was at this point that we learned that the two most prevalent ways that germs are passed around are 1: Shaking hands, and 2: drinking from the same cup/bottle. It turns out that our hands and mouths are bacteria central, the combination of the two only accelerating the passage between humans.



Sure, I have an immune system, and I'm sure that 80% of the possible issues i might encounter are thwarted by my very prevelenant and aggressive posse of white blood cells (gang name: the Bloods). And yes, as many parents probably do once they have kids, we have hand wash located about the house and even one in my office. But even then, just *knowing* about the things people do with their hands, without ill intent or malice, makes it really REALLY freaky for me to consider that a fist that might have recently been in what I might consider a compromising position, would subsequently be gripping my own hand. It's just a bit disturbing. Not quite 'Charles Manson' disturbing, but more along the lines of 'American Idol is still on the air but Arrested Development got canceled' disturbing.

Who The Hell Do I Think You Are?!

My posting pace has started to increase (right along side the irritations and introspections that are their motivation). And surprisingly, alongside, so have my 'site hits'.



I believe there's a small circle of geek friends that probably have me in their daily RSS feeds, and a relative or two that touches in occasionally, perhaps an obsessed ex-girlfriend that monitors hourly, rocking in a dark corner with a box of sewing needles and a tattered doll bearing a striking resemblance to me, but seriously, at best that accounts for perhaps 30%.



So who are the rest of you, and what the hell do you want from me anyway? Take... take... take, that's all you ever do. What about me? What about my needs?

Stuck In An Ineptfinite Loop

Why is it that things that should work and typical do work, also tend not to work at the worst time, and/or under the most ironic conditions. It's times like that when I find myself starting to twitch uncontrollably, much like the Michael Douglas character in the movie, 'Falling Down'.

Once in a while, well it's par. But this week, I seem to be on a roll.

#1: I contacted my credit union to get a replacement for a debit card that is showing lots of wear and tear and might go belly up soon. They said they'd send one. Meanwhile the old one worked fine on Friday night to purchase groceries without issue, which must have been simply because the kids were in bed, I was not in a hurry, and there was nobody waiting for me or a place I had to get to. The following morning, however, as we prepared for a long drive to Sepastapol, where the kids were to play an integral part in the success of my sister-in-law's exchange of wedding vows, I took the car to fill up on gas and get some Peets for the road. The wife and kids were waiting for me at home. Road travel loomed on the horizon. The clock was ticking. A wedding party was awaiting our arrival. We needed gas. This was when I most needed things to 'just work'. BUT the clerk at Peets advised me that the card had been declined. My subsequent stop at the gas station validated it. A phone call to the service nbr on the back of the card confirmed it. They'd shut me down, and I had no replacement card in hand.

Otnay Ootay Ightbray.

#2: A goodfriend of mine called asking for computer help; he'd forgotten his password and could not login to get his email online at Compuserve's website. I went to their website, clicked on the 'I forgot my password' link, and once I entered his confirmed login name, I clicked the 'next' button, and received a message saying 'your password has been emailed to you'.

Uh.... OK.... uh.... right....

#3: I dropped the 'Cryptocard' I use to remotely log in to Apple's network. The display slipped and became offset, and although it still displayed the numbers, somehow it got out of sync. I could not log in from home, and I called the IT folks the next morning and got it resync'd. It was working again, but they suggested I order a replacement given that the internal display slip might be an ongoing issue. So I ordered a replacement. Can you see where this is going... ? Yep, right back to #1: they shut me down before I received the replacement and I found myself, once again, trying to login from home without success.

... am I being Punk'd or what?

We'll Be Here To Shut The Lights Off

Wow.... I had to pause a moment and post this for my geek friends...

David Pogue, a prominent author in the Macintosh community, has posted a wonderful entry on his blog, reflecting on the grim view in the press on Apple from 1996, 10 years ago. And boy does it bring back memories.



Memories of Gil Ameilo's landmark 'no more wimp bullshit' comment at a communications meeting. Memories of Steve Jobs commandeering a keynote at MacWorld from under Amelio, and shortly thereafter, my coming to work to hear the news of Gil's subsequent ousting. Memories of Steve on a lone stool on the crescent shaped cement stage in the center of the campus, delivering his first message to the staff after having stepped in to help stop the bleeding.



And the memory of a phone call i got in 1996, during the Gil reign and one of the company's lowest points, from my boss at the time, advising me of yet-another round of layoffs taking place. I was traveling, on vacation actually, and I was standing in the Denver airport, about to head back to Cupertino, being told that even more of my friends and co-workers, and in a sense, more of my hope and faith, was being whittled away.



When I asked her if I was being given an option to take a package or stick around she said "No, you're not going anywhere. We'll be here to shut the lights off."



What a difference a decade makes.

Pogue’s Posts - When Apple Hit Bottom



As you probably know, Apple’s been in the news quite a bit lately. (That’s “lately,” as in, “pretty much every other month for the last five years.”)



Nowadays, Apple is a media darling. The critics like the company’s direction, and so does Wall Street.



But it wasn’t always so. This summer marked the tenth anniversary of Apple’s lowest point–a time in 1996 when the company’s profits and products were hitting bottom. (Steve Jobs’s return to the company he founded was still a year away.)



Not only was Apple NOT a media darling, it was the dog the media loved to kick. The analysts and columnists were amazingly confident that Apple would not live out the year, let alone the decade.



With a little help from the Lexis-Nexis database of all articles from all major publications, it’s my pleasure to present, for your nostalgia pleasure, some of their predictions from ten years ago:



* Fortune, 2/19/1996: “By the time you read this story, the quirky cult company…will end its wild ride as an independent enterprise.”



* Time Magazine, 2/5/96: “One day Apple was a major technology company with assets to make any self respecting techno-conglomerate salivate. The next day Apple was a chaotic mess without a strategic vision and certainly no future.”



* BusinessWeek, 10/16/95: “Having underforecast demand, the company has a $1 billion-plus order backlog….The only alternative: to merge with a company with the marketing and financial clout to help Apple survive the switch to a software-based company. The most likely candidate, many think, is IBM Corp.”



* A Forrester Research analyst, 1/25/96 (quoted in, of all places, The New York Times): “Whether they stand alone or are acquired, Apple as we know it is cooked. It’s so classic. It’s so sad.”



* Nathan Myhrvold (Microsoft’s chief technology officer, 6/97: “The NeXT purchase is too little too late. Apple is already dead.”



* Wired, “101 Ways to Save Apple,” 6/97: “1. Admit it. You’re out of the hardware game.”



* BusinessWeek, 2/5/96: “There was so much magic in Apple Computer in the early ’80s that it is hard to believe that it may fade away. Apple went from hip to has-been in just 19 years.”



* Fortune, 2/19/1996: “Apple’s erratic performance has given it the reputation on Wall Street of a stock a long-term investor would probably avoid.”



* The Economist, 2/23/95: “Apple could hang on for years, gamely trying to slow the decline, but few expect it to make such a mistake. Instead it seems to have two options. The first is to break itself up, selling the hardware side. The second is to sell the company outright.”



* The Financial Times, 7/11/97: “Apple no longer plays a leading role in the $200 billion personal computer industry. ‘The idea that they’re going to go back to the past to hit a big home run…is delusional,’ says Dave Winer, a software developer.”



Now, obviously, all of these commentators were wildly, hilariously, embarrassingly wrong. (Unless, of course, the iPod is in fact a mass delusion.)



This is why, when anyone asks me what the future of technology holds, or what kids will be bringing to school in 2016, I politely decline to answer. v



In the end, this story really isn’t about Apple–or any one company; they all have ups and downs. This story is about the journalists and commentators. It’s one thing to report what’s happening to a flailing company, and quite another to announce what’s *going* to happen. In the technology business, that’s a fool’s game.

Ive Made a Huge Contribution to the Success of Apple

Business Week has a very interesting article on the man behind 'The Man' at Apple; Jonathan Ive. They've also got an excellent slide show of his "Apple Portfolio" wryly entitled "An Ive For Design" which is all the more fun to view having been at Apple during much of the time these came about.

I was fortunate enough to be included at a presentation Jonathan Ive gave to our team back in late '99, after Steve had returned and after the iMac's were reviving Apple. He was just as this article states; casual, modest and passionate about design.

The design team is indeed sheltered away in one of the campus buildings, where all but a few badges are turned away with a simple red light and a 'moan' toned beep of dismay from the card reader. They have their own 'wing' so to speak, with their own kitchen and chef on hand, and i'm sure the air there is purified as well. But holy-shit, look at what they crank out! If that's what it takes, all the more power to 'em. Meanwhile, I'll continue gaze at those closed quarters from the outside, and hope that perhaps some day I'll be in a position to glimpse the hallowed walls within.

I've posted the article text to this entry as well, just in case the Business Week post has a limited lifetime.

BUSINESS WEEK

SEPTEMBER 25, 2006

INSIDE INNOVATION -- IN FOCUS

Who Is Jonathan Ive?

An in-depth look at the man behind Apple's design magic

Last spring, an eclectic mix of designers thrilled an auditorium full of their peers at a conference called Radical Craft, put on by the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi told inspiring stories of his rise to fame. Artificial intelligence pioneer Danny Hillis showed off a topographical computer display that could render anything, even the Himalayas, in three dimensions. Dutch inventor Theo Jansen brought one of his VW-size "beach creatures" made of plastic PVC tubes that "walked" across the stage like some George Lucas-inspired interstellar crab.

But the headliner of the show made a decidedly less showy impression. Shambling onto the stage with a nearly shaved head and dark T-shirt, Apple Computer (AAPL) Senior Vice-President for Industrial Design Jonathan Ive looked like grad student who had gotten lost on the way to Starbucks (SBUX). The 39-year-old Brit slouched unfabulously in his seat and quietly answered questions from conference host and award-winning editor, Chee Pearlman. Despite countless invitations, he refused to trumpet his own design prowess or to dish on what it's like to work with his perfectionist boss, Steve Jobs.

The man who, after Jobs, is most responsible for Apple's amazing ability to dazzle and delight with its famous products, chose instead to talk about process -- what he called "the craft of design." He spoke passionately about his small team and how they work together. He talked about focusing on only what is important and limiting the number of projects. He spoke about having a deep understanding of how a product is made: its materials, its tooling, its purpose. Mostly, he focused on the need to care deeply about the work.

None of this was very glamorous, especially for a famous designer. There was nothing newsy, few concrete details of anything. No doubt, that's in part because Ive is a reluctant celebrity, and also because of the secrecy that Jobs imposes on all things Apple. In fact, Ive wouldn't talk for this story. Neither would others, fearing Apple's ire, including the Royal Society of the Arts in England, which helped give Ive his start 20 years ago. Apple talks to the outside world on its own terms -- typically at new product launches, such as the well-hyped press event on Sept. 12.

Yet Ive's interview onstage revealed what many people close to the company say is indisputable -- that he is Apple's Man Behind the Curtain. While Jobs sets the direction and provides the inspiration, Ive melds Apple's unique creativity with the nuts-and-bolts required to make beautiful things. Apple's innovation success is due greatly to this alchemy between chief designer and powerful boss. "I think Steve Jobs has found somebody in Jony who knows how to complete or even exceed his vision, and do it time and time again," says Pearlman.

Since it began nine years ago, the "Steve & Jony Show" has cranked out a stream of iconic products, from the candy-colored iMac that changed the world's conception of a home PC in the late 1990s to the diminutive iPod Nano. In that time, Apple has created and maintained a choke hold on the digital music market, and analysts say it is poised for its biggest share gains in the PC market in years. The lessons from the 1,273% rise in Apple shares over the past 10 years transcend any particular tech market. Apple has put the design of great customer experiences on the map, not just as a means to win creative kudos but as a way to earn billions of dollars and revolutionize industries. "Apple's big contribution is showing that you can become a billionaire by selling emotions, that design can be a valid business model," says Gadi Amit, founder of NewDealDesign, a product design boutique in San Francisco.

There is no doubt that Jobs himself is Apple's most unique weapon when it comes to innovation. While he comes off like a rock star, laying down power chords for Apple's adoring fans at those dramatic product intros, he's as committed to perfection as any Swiss watchmaker. This is a guy who once insisted that a shipment of fine Italian marble for Apple's first Manhattan retail store be sent to Cupertino, Calif., so he could inspect the veining in the stone. And while designers elsewhere must fight off the cost-cutters, at Apple everyone knows their employment depends on living up to Jobs's high standards. According to one story, possibly apocryphal, Jobs once demanded that a designer of a new Mac not allow a single visible screw. When the designer built a prototype that had one screw, tucked out of sight under a handle, Jobs fired him. "Apple is the most design-savvy company in the world, and it's because of Steve Jobs," says Ray Riley, a former Apple designer who now runs Nike's (NKE) Advanced Innovation Div.

Ive says he and his boss speak at least once a day. In fact, their lives are very much part of the same fabric. Despite great fame and fortune, both manage to guard their privacy. Ive lives with his wife, a historian he knew growing up, and their young twins in a house "with not a hint of ostentation," says Clive Grinyer, Ive's first business partner. Jobs, for all his self-promoting skills, lives a relatively quiet life as well. He owns no vacation houses and rarely shows up to Silicon Valley social and business events. The sneakers, the T-shirts, and Issey Miyake turtlenecks that he sports are not only for dramatic effect -- he likes the informal style, as do Ive and his team of designers.

But if Jobs is the public keeper of Apple's design zeitgeist, then Ive is the private leader of its talented design team. "Apple is a cult, and Apple's design team is an even more intense version of a cult," notes Riley. Actually, it's not a big cult -- just a dozen people or so. But they operate at an extremely high level, both individually and as a group. Ive has said that many Apple products were dreamed up while eating pizza in the small kitchen at the team's design studio.

It's a team that has worked in idyllic comfort for many years. Some designers were at the company long before Ive arrived in 1992. They rarely attend industry events or awards ceremonies. It's as though they don't require outside recognition because there isn't any higher authority on design excellence than each other, and because sharing too much information only risks helping others close the gap. And they personally reflect the design sensibilities of Apple's products -- casually chic, elitist and with a definite Euro bent. The team, made up of thirty- and fortysomethings, has a definite international flair. Members include not only the British Ive but also New Zealander Danny Coster, Italian Daniele De Iuliis, and German Rico Zörkendörfer. "Its good old-fashioned camaraderie -- everyone with the same aim, no egos involved," says British fashion designer Paul Smith, a friend since the late 1990s when Ive sent him a new iMac. "They have lots of dinners together, take lots of field trips. And they've turned these gray frumpy objects called computers into desirable pieces of sculpture you'd want even if you didn't use them."

Most of Ive's team live in San Francisco, and rumor has it that the starting salary for the group is around $200,000, some 50% above the industry average. They work together in a large open studio with little personal space but great privacy. Many Apple employees aren't allowed in, for fear they'd catch a glimpse of some upcoming product. A massive sound system pumps up the music. Ive invests his design dollars in state-of-the-art prototyping equipment, not large numbers of people. And his design process revolves around intense iteration -- making and remaking models to visualize new concepts. "One of the hallmarks of the team I think is this sense of looking to be wrong," said Ive at Radical Craft. "It's the inquisitiveness, the sense of exploration. It's about being excited to be wrong because then you've discovered something new."

Ive's team at Apple isn't the usual design ghetto of creativity that exists inside most corporations. They work closely and intensely with engineers, marketers, and even outside manufacturing contractors in Asia who actually build the products. Rather than being simple stylists, they're leading innovators in the use of new materials and production processes. The design group was able to figure out how to put a layer of clear plastic over the white or black core of an iPod, giving it a tremendous depth of texture, and still be able to build each unit in just seconds. "Apple innovates in big ways and small ways, and if they don't get it right, they innovate again," says frog design founder Hartmut Esslinger, who designed many of the original Apple computers for Jobs. "It is the only tech company that does this."

What does this mean for the long list of companies now trying to lift their own design games, such as Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), and Microsoft (MSFT)? They have some reason to hope. As long as Apple focuses on so few products and relies so heavily on so few individuals, it can address only so many markets. "Apple doesn't have a model that scales," insists HP design chief Sam Lucente. And, barring any new breakthroughs on Sept. 12, Apple's current visual vibe -- white boxes -- is now five years old and getting predictable.

Yet most big corporations have neither the focus, the skills, nor the appetite for risk to build mass-produced products that feel as if they were made by high-priced boutiques in New York or London. While computer companies have focused on pinching pennies these past few decades, Apple has been perfecting its design game. The fact that rivals are now talking about design is not proof they're catching up -- but of how far they have to go.

Ive had his own ideas from the start. Born in a middle-class London neighborhood, he was consumed with the mystery of how things are made by his early teens. Upon enrolling in the design program at Newcastle Polytechnic in 1985, his talent and drive quickly became obvious. During an internship with design consultancy Roberts Weaver Group, he created a pen that had a ball and clip mechanism on top, for no purpose other than to give the owner something to fiddle with. "It immediately became the owner's prize possession, something you always wanted to play with," recalls Grinyer, a Roberts Weaver staffer at the time. "We began to call it 'having Jony-ness,' an extra something that would tap into the product's underlying emotion."

By the time he graduated, Ive was already something of a legend in British design circles. Grinyer visited him once in his flat in the very tough Gateshead section of Newcastle and was shocked to find it filled to the rafters with hundreds of foam models of Ive's final project, a microphone and hearing aid combo that teachers could use to communicate better with kids with hearing problems (not surprisingly, in white plastic). "I'd never seen anything like it: The sheer focus to get it perfect," recalls Grinyer.

Ive ended up winning the student's award for design from the Royal Society of Arts, not once but twice. The first was for an automated teller machine, commissioned by the sponsor of the contest, Pitney Bowes (PBI). That got him airfare to a brief internship at the Stamford-(Conn.) company, but Ive soon hopped a flight to California to make the rounds with up-and-coming design firms in Silicon Valley. Robert Brunner, then with Lunar Design, was floored when Ive showed him an elegant question mark-shaped phone -- not just a foam block but an actual model with all the internal components machined separately. "It wasn't just that the product had heart, but it was engineered; he was thinking about how to make it in volume," recalls Brunner.

After graduating, Ive joined Grinyer in 1989 in a London startup, Tangerine Design. But he couldn't get British companies to appreciate his work. When a company mothballed a bathroom sink he'd spent months working on, "he was dejected and depressed," says Grinyer. "He had poured himself into working for people who really didn't care." Ive admits he wasn't cut out to be a design consultant, where salesmanship is the most essential skill. "I was terrible at running a design business, and I really wanted to just focus on the craft of design," he told Pearlman.

So in 1992, he headed west to find a new life with Apple. By then, Brunner had become chief of Apple's design team. He had previously given Ive work at Tangerine to help visualize the future of its new PowerBook laptop PC line. Now he offered Ive a permanent job in Cupertino. Those were the lean years before Jobs returned. Not only was Apple hemorrhaging money and market share, but it was the whipping boy of Wall Street and the business press. "Through some sort of reckless sense of faith," said Ive at Radical Craft, he accepted Brunner's invitation.

From the start, Ive won his share of accolades. He designed the first PDA to run Apple's short-lived Newton software. But by the time he replaced Brunner to become Apple's design chief in 1996, Apple was in deep trouble. Ive, then only 29 years old, struggled to fight off the cost-cutters as best he could. They carted off the beloved Cray supercomputer Apple's designers had used to simulate the performance of dreamed up products. And Apple's products began to look as boring as everyone else's. Ive was still able to bring in a few talented young designers and maintain morale. Former Apple designer Thomas Meyerhoffer, one of the new hires, says: "Jonathan never stood on a chair or made any speeches. But if he hadn't believed we could do it, we wouldn't have believed it."

On July 9, 1997, Jobs returned from exile and took Apple's reins from ousted CEO Gilbert F. Amelio. Ive nearly didn't survive the initial turmoil as Jobs quickly set out to remake the company, say two of his colleagues. As Jobs axed all but four of Apple's sixty-odd products, he scoured the globe to hire a true design superstar. He called on Richard Sapper, who did the IBM (IBM) Thinkpad laptop, car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, and architect/designer Ettore Sotsass.

But just as Ive was dusting off his resume, Jobs, with a tremendous eye for talent, recognized that he already had what he needed. And as Jobs imposed his own design standards, Ive became the beneficiary. "Steve Jobs is a tyrant, but that's precisely what Apple needed," said usability expert and author Donald A. Norman, even though he was one of the thousands who were pushed out in those early days. "Jobs said: 'This is the direction we're going,' and he unleashed Jonathan to make it happen."

The synergy between the two set off an explosion of great Apple products. It started with the first iMac. Determined to recast the PC as something fun rather than forbidding, Apple created a friendly, all-in-one model encased in a deep blue, translucent shell. Insiders say that Danny Coster, an affable New Zealander, did most of the design with Ive's close collaboration.

To understand how to make a plastic shell look exciting rather than cheap, Ive and others visited a candy factory to study the finer points of jelly bean making. They spent months with Asian partners, devising the sophisticated process capable of cranking out millions of iMacs a year. The team even pushed for the internal electronics to be redesigned, to make sure they looked good through the thick shell. It was a big risk for Jobs, Ive, and Apple. Says one rival: "I would have had to prove that transparency would increase our sales, and there's no way to prove that." He figures Apple spends as much as $65 per PC casing, vs. an industry average of maybe $20.

In 2001, Apple unveiled the first computer made out of titanium. The backstory: Ive let Danny De Iuliis and two other team members sneak thousands of dollars worth of computers to set up shop in a San Francisco warehouse, far away from Apple's main campus. They worked there for six weeks on the basic design and then headed off to Asia to negotiate widescreen flat panels and to work with toolmakers. The result: a clean, post-industrial look that marked the end of the more whimsical design language of the original iMac. In October of that year, Apple unveiled the iPod, which immediately set the standard for cool in digital music players -- not just because of the iPod itself but because of the way it worked seamlessly with Apple's iTunes jukebox software and online store.

That integration is a major part of Apple's design magic. Thinking about "design" as simply style or fashion misses the point. The original iMacs were clearly retrospective nods to the Jetsons school of design. And the white, clean "look" of the iPod is "very derivative of central European design from the late 1960s and early '70s," says NewDealDesign's Amit. Compare many Apple products to the work of Dieter Rams, chief designer at Braun, and "you'll see that it's almost verbatim," he says.

What really sets Apple's products apart is the "fit and finish," the ultimate impression that results from thousands of tiny decisions that go into a product's development. Take Apple's pioneering work in injection molding. It's part science, part art, and plenty of trial and error. The process involves figuring out how to inject molten plastic or metal through tiny "feed lines" into an irregularly shaped cavity, and then having just the right amount of holes so that it cools to a blemish-free perfection in seconds.

Ive's team understands and respects this process of production so much that toolmakers and suppliers in Asia prefer working with them -- despite the fact that Apple is a ferocious negotiator on cost. Suppliers get a jump on the future by working with Apple, since it is setting the design pace.

Of course, Apple makes mistakes. Among the problems of the Apple G4 Cube, discontinued in 2001 after less than a year, was the appearance of cracks in its thick, clear enclosure. The company also faces lawsuits about scratching of the iPod nano. And while its iBook and PowerBooks were creative triumphs, Apple recently had to recall 1.8 million units that had potentially faulty batteries.

These misses are dwarfed by Apple's remarkable consistency as a high-tech hitmaker. And Ive, who recently received the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), is a major reason why. No doubt, such musty-sounding honors cause some rival designers to joke that Ive is past his prime. Not likely. So long as Ive has that close-knit team and that hard-driving boss, the Steve and Jony Show should continue to roll along just fine.

Called On The Carpet

A couple of weeks ago, while riding in the car with my wife and kids, en route to a favorite dining spot, a large white van began looming closely behind. Clearly, although we were exceeding the posted speed limit, we were not exceeding theirs.

I hate assholes that ride close to the back of my car, as if doing so will push me out of the way, or that they'll somehow drive over me. And I hate it even more when my kids are in the car. Who the hell do these bastards think they are, risking my life and that of my kids so they can arrive sooner to a place they're probably not even thrilled about going to?

We moved over, having to do so for our own safety as well as to not miss an off ramp, and as they sped by I decided to take action.

This was a business van. A carpet cleaning business. And although it didn't have a sincere 'how's my driving' sticker, or even the ever present '1-800-EAT-SHIT' sticker that tends to adorn beat up Pontiac Firebirds and Nissan Stanzas, the van did bear a business name and, to my good fortune, a business phone nbr as well.

Many years ago I encountered an idiot driving a service vehicle emblazoned with the name of the car dealership on it. He was driving as an idiot does; idiotically, and I used my cell phone to call the dealer, get transfered to the floor manager, and explain the circumstances, as well as the fact that I had been in the market for a new vehicle but would certainly not visit their business after seeing that employee's hazardous behavior. Sure, I lied about being in the market, but hopefully that had some impact and that goofball was pulled from the road.

So I thought I'd do the same in this situation.

I dialed the nbr on the phone, my wife driving the car and shaking her head, and I prepared to ask for a manager and launch into a tirade, but when the phone was answered, i wasn't greeted with a business name, just a standard 'Hello?'.

Momentarily thrown off, I asked 'Is this a carpet cleaning service'?

'Yes' said the voice on the other end of the line, but it was hard to hear them, as the connection sounded like they were on a cell phone in heavy traffic.

I paused, recognizing the background sound on his phone to be very close to the sounds I was hearing outside our own car, and then I asked "Are you driving a white van driving on 280?'.

'Yes' said the voice on the other end of the phone in relatively broken english. I was talking to the driver of the van!

As soon as I realized that, i lost it, as well as having lost the realization that my two children were sitting in the back seats, intently listening to every word I said and making mental notes that would be recalled in about 13 years when they start driving themselves.

"You drive like an asshole', I said loudly, continuing to explain that we'd had to pull aside, and that he had no right to endanger our lives and that of our children.

Now, let's remember that I am the one that grew up in LA, not my wife. So you'd expect that the first person to hesitate to engage in a verbal battle with another driver would be me, not her, but that was not the case. My words and actions set her off on a tirade of her own regarding how there's nut cases out there, people get shot, etc etc etc. Meanwhile the carpet cleaning clod was loudly responding to me but i could not clearly hear his words, as my wife's words and the sound of traffic from both his phone and our car made it indiscernible.

So i hung up. I don't know what he said or how crazy he may or may not have been, but in any event i'd not called to chat or, honestly, even look for a resolution or closure to the matter. I'd said my peace, called him a few four letter words, asserted my masculinity and demonstrated my willingness to step up and defend the safety of my family. All that was left was to bend a metal pipe with my bare hands.

By then we'd moved to the right to exit, and traffic had backed up somewhat so we had to slow down and attempt to merge into the exit lane. As we worked our way into the exit lane, and as I looked back along the passenger side to help guide my wife, I noticed, a few cars back, also working their way in the same direction, a white business van.

As my wife was talking about one thing or another and we inched our way towards the off ramp, her voice began to echo and fade and my mind started to envision the fight-or-flight situation i was about to head into. By now, I was steadily watching the white van, and it was only one or two cars behind us as we approached the off ramp. It was following every move we made. I tried to rationalize that, perhaps it was just another white business van, but as it neared us, now only one car away, i could clearly make out the words 'Carpet', backwards, through the side mirror.

I'm not a fighter by nature. In fact, by nature, i'm more of a bleeder. But when it comes down to an encounter that might involve the safety of my wife and family at the hands of some pissed off carpet cleaning madman behind the wheel of a larger vehicle, well, i was ready to rumble. I'd already started practicing my 'shoulder lift-back curve' move, expecting i'd appear larger and in doing so, send this Scott Farkis wannbe on his way, lest I be cornered and have to get all Ralphie on his ass. Of course, another option running on a parallel track in my mind was to assume the fetal position and hope he'd just assume i was dead and move along.

At the first stop light, the van pulled to the far right of the shoulder and began to drive along the line of cars, where they'd be directly at my window in only a moment. I placed my hand on the door handle and prepared to either hear profanity shouted at our car, have their door open and have to open mine as well so we'd be on equal playing ground, or see a white flash and smell gun powder. Gun powder, and of course, mama's fresh cooked apple pie sittin' on the window sill, coolin' in the breeze of an Alabama autumn. And that would have sucked 'cause it'd have been somebody else's life flashing before my eyes.

Surprisingly, there was not exchange of words, no physical encounter, and not even a menacing stare as they slowed while passing. They drove right by, close enough for me to see the driver not even glance over, and close enough for me to read the side of the van and, believe it or not, discover that it actually was a different white carpet cleaning business van.

I kid you not. A completely different while carpet cleaning business van followed us off the freeway just moments after I had telephoned that first one and ripped into them. What are the odds? In your life, and that of pretty much every other person on this planet besides me, well they're pretty high. For me, it seems to be even money.

As they drove past, I silently signed in relief, I let go of the handless grip i'd placed on the leather of the seat beneath me, and my wife's words began to return to clarity and to the forefront of my attention. I never said a thing about this to my wife. The first time she hears about this will be when she reads this entry.

I still hate that people drive like that, and i'll still call any and every time i can when a business vehicle bearing a logo or phone nbr pulls that on me. But perhaps the next time I directly reach the driver of the vehicle, I'll make sure they're well ahead of me and that there's no similar vehicles in the rear view mirror before launching into a four letter marathon.

A Mind is a Terrible Thing To Lose

Things can get a little hectic for all of us, with more things to juggle then we have time or attention to handle. But today, I think I reached a pinnacle. While in a conversation, I set down my phone alongside a set of batteries. A moment or two later, the phone rang, and I found myself being asked for the name of a co-worker. Just the question, and being caught off guard by it in the midst of other distractions, cause me to freeze, unable to recall a name I use weekly, that of a person I interact with as frequently, and I stood there struggling for minutes without any result.

But that’s not the worst part.

During the conversation, I noticed that the person I’d been talking to when the phone rang had stepped away. I turned to where we’d been standing, picked up the set of batteries I’d set by my phone, and noticed the phone missing, turned and asked them if they had picked it up.

Only, I had it in my hand and pressed to my ear in the aforementioned conversation at the time. :-/

UPDATE: OK, now I’m scared. At a wedding reception last night, seated with a number of people, I glanced around, saw my son but not my daughter, and asked my wife where she was. She replied “She’s on your lap” and it was true… in fact I had one arm supporting her while I asked of her whereabouts.

Funny and Frightening all at the same time.

#8: Be Prepared to Re-examine Your Reasoning

I previously posted a 5-star movie rating for the academy award winning documentary “The Fog of War” on an earlier incarnation of this website, but following on the heels of a post this week regarding the 5th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11, I chose to set aside some time to watch this again. Now, let me just say that I love a light-hearted and entertaining film as much as the next guy, but perhaps with age, experience and some first-hand observations of history in the making, I find myself becoming more and more introspective, and more and more intrigued with and in desire of learning from other’s experiences, and mistakes.

That’s just what this film provides. And it does so with as much character, drama, suspense and surprises as do many fictional stories you might have seen made into films in the past 30 years. But this is real. This is history. This film presents the life, reflections and observations of an 85 year old man who’s grown up in an era long past, and had been intimately involved in numerous political turmoils and international conflicts, from the Bay of Pigs, the Kennedy assignations, the Vietnam War, and many other pivotal moments in the nation’s history.

The most striking aspects of watching this is not only the recollections of his involvements, but also the idea, and admission that in retrospect, decisions made and actions taken are not always the correct ones. His reflections on bombing operations that killed thousands of innocent civilians is delivered with both a detached ‘matter of fact’ nature, yet with tearful empathy as to the nature of the actions and decisive mechanisms behind those courses of action. It’s chilling, and it’s human. You don’t see this degree of contemplation in the actions of the present day, and I wonder what steps are being taken now, which are justified and rationalized by our government, might be recognized to be the wrong ones in 30 years.

Additionally, for somebody that’s 85 years old at the time of this filming, McNamara is articulate, charismatic, dynamic and engaging. But is he, or was he, right? Is this an honest review and summation on his part, or simply posturing? He certainly took a great deal of heat and history does not reflect well on him in many circles, but I’ll leave the opinion on the role and sincerity for you to decide.

This will be added to my list of all time favorites. Meanwhile, I think i’ll queue up a few Mel Brooks films in Netflix and take a short break from the intensity.

View the Trailer

Check out The Fog of War website for more details. It’s a great site, btw.

Rent The Fog of War via netflix.com

When Steve made his announcements yesterday, he neglected to mention our greatest product in family entertainment, one I've been working on for the last three years. This system is double capacity of the standard release. It has a never ending-self sustaining battery life, with a recharging cycle easily 200% faster then your own. Introducing the new iPod Duo. 



Earplugs sold separately.

Leaving my Mark in Every Bathroom at Work

There's not a great deal about the time I spent at TiVo that left a more lasting impression on me then something in their bathrooms. I know that's not saying much for TiVo, and in their defense, let me clarify this by saying that i'm referring to the actual experience of working daily in their office buildings. After having spent close to 10 years at Apple and a couple years in person startup circumstances, my return to being in a corporate environment at TiVo left much to be desired, and paled in comparison to the relative luxury that was Apple. But something i initially found odd at TiVo eventually made perfect and idyllic sense, became a dependancy, and since returning to 'the Mothership', i've found it's absence a constant annoyance and source of frustration.

But I'm trying to change all that.

During my first few weeks at TiVo, when I'd enter one of the building's restrooms, i'd pass by a shelving unit they had in the initial entryway. It was usually completely empty and on occasion, might have some scattered bathroom supplies on top. I found it odd to consider that they had such space constraints that supply shelving needed to overflow from the supply areas and into the rest room, but the lure of easy money has a very strong appeal, and with kids on the way, I resisted the temptation to tender my resignation over this oddity.

And then one day I walked in and noticed a cool TiVo coffee mug sitting on one of the shelves. I was kinda tempted to take it, figuring it was just one of the many promo items TiVo had an inventory of, but being a lone mug on an empty shelf made me reconsider my idea, as it was all to easy a trap that might have been set for newbies. So I continued through the 'outer area' and into the restroom to 'utilize the facilities'. I heard another occupant exit before me, followed shortly there after, and while washing my hands, observed in the reflection of the mirror that the TiVo coffee mug had disappeared!

And then it struck me. It could not be more obvious.. the bastard stole the cup.

OR... perhaps the purpose of the shelving was not for overstock of Kirkland paper products, but instead, to serve as a resting place for workers belongings during their brief, or perhaps, extended visit.

Brilliant!

Having had that, and now being forced to live without it, has been quite difficult. Getting it adopted at Apple is proving to be even more difficult, as two email request, including photos, have failed to generate any momentum. But the options are unacceptable, and as the photo here shows, when one enters the restroom with a laptop and/or papers or a notebook, they've only got a few options:

1. Set it on the water splattered sink.


2. set it on the urine splattered floor.


3. cram it into the ass gasket dispenser as shown above.

As you can imagine, this is the only 'backward step' I've encountered in going from TiVo back to Apple. And I'll continue my campaign as time allows.

How Did We Survive Our Childhood?

Now that I’m a parent and spend the majority of my time with the twins doing everything in my power to ensure they make it through the perceived ‘land minds’ of daily living, I have to wonder how we made it through our youth. This particularly struck home this week, when, while on vacation, we spent a couple of days in Capitola and Monterey. A good deal of time spent playing on the beach was also spent worried about a renegade wave pulling one of them from my hand and taking them out to sea. I was actually uncomfortable with the idea of having them both at the waters edge with me at the same time. And when walking on the pier, the wooden fence that would certainly prevent them from falling was still not something I was willing to trust. So don’t even ask me about how I felt when we walked past the brief point at which there was no fence, where rental boats are lowered into the water below.

I’ve become my worst nightmare: an over-protective parent. So this email thread about ‘how did we survive’, which I am sure most of you have seen at one point or another, seemed an appropriate reality check.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren’t overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms……….WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?