When we first think of Apple versus Microsoft, we immediately jump to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, two of the most competitive men in the history of the tech sector.

Yet, behind the veneer of grueling competition, Jobs and Gates respected the work each had put into their companies. In fact, before Jobs’ death, Bill Gates had a chance to meet with Steve Jobs, and that final visit recently left Gates teary eyed.

During an interview with 60 Minutes, Gates explains his last visit with the Apple honcho before his death:

“When he was sick, I got to go down and spend time with him … [We talked] about what we’d learned, families … anything.”

Later in the interview Gates also says he wished that he had Steve Jobs’ design skills. It was those skills that Gates says helped launch the iPad despite Jobs’ lack of engineering know-how.

In the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley and subsequent stories that followed, the Steve Jobs and Bill Gates saga has always appeared to play down any friendship and focus on bitter rivalry, a fact that appears to be undermined in this newest interview. In fact, Gates mentions that the two men were rivals yet still close.

“He and I, in a sense, grew up together. We were within a year of the same age, and we were kind of naively optimistic and built big companies. And every fantasy we had about creating products and learning new things– we achieved all of it. And most of it as rivals. But we always retained a certain respect and communication, including even when he was sick.”

Here’s Bill Gates tearing up as he talks about his friendship and last meeting with Steve Jobs:

Bill Gates now works to give his billions of dollars away to charities and causes in need of his help. Apparently he was just as generous in friendship as he is with his charity, even when that friendship was with his own biggest rival. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer appears to be a motto that Bill Gates actually lives by.

[Image via AllThingsD]

Bill Gates Tears Up While Discussing Steve Jobs [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Bill Gates recently sat down with Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes and shared a few personal memories of his friend and business rival Steve Jobs.

Gates said that he got a chance to visit with Jobs shortly before his death. The Microsoft founder said that they talked about what they’ve learned over the years, their families, and Steve Jobs’ unfinished yacht.

Gates, who seemed to be holding back tears, said: “Jobs was not melancholy. He was very forward looking … He showed me the boat that he was working on even though we both knew that there was a good chance that he would never see it.”

Gates said that there was a mutual admiration between the tech pioneers and that, in a sense, they grew up together.

Gates said: “He and I, in a sense, grew up together. We were within a year of the same age, and we were naively optimistic and built big companies. We achieved all of it, and most of it as rivals, but we always retained a certain respect.”

The Microsoft founder also complimented Jobs and Apple on creating some phenomenal products.

Gates said: “Microsoft created a lot of tablets before Apple did. But he was able to put the pieces together in a way that succeeded … His sense of design, that everything had to fit a certain aesthetic. The fact that he, with as little engineering background as he had, it shows that design can lead you in a good direction. And so phenomenal products came out of it.”

Here’s the video of Bill Gates speaking about Steve Jobs on 60 Minutes.

Bill Gates Shares Steve Jobs Memories [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Steve Jobs sent a touching email answer to an Apple employee in 2010. It was two letters long.

Apple employees didn’t share a lot of Steve Jobs stories on blogs or social media while he was alive. Apple is famous for its secrecy. When employees leave Apple, some start sharing publicly.

David Gelphman worked in the Graphics and Imaging Group at Apple from 2000 until earlier this year. He just published his story about his one personal interaction with late Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Gelphman emailed Steve Jobs to ask for a kind of permission only Jobs could grant. Gelphman was on his way to visit a friend in the hospital who had less than a week to live after a liver transplant had failed.

The friend was dying of cancer, and Gelphman hoped to provide a little joy by letting his friend touch his iPad two weeks before it was released to the public.

According to iDevice.TV, “He wasn’t going to risk showing her his iPad without permission, and he knew if he asked anyone other than Steve, he’d just get shot down.”

Gelphman took a chance and emailed Jobs to ask for permission:

Subject: unusual request

Date: March 23, 2010 9:04:55 AM PDT

To: Steve Jobs <sjobs@apple.com>

Hi,

Today (Tuesday) I’m visiting a terminally ill friend in the hospital in San Francisco. I’ve been told that she will likely not survive until this Friday. She had a liver transplant in late February and we all had high hopes but unfortunately she has not recovered.

Apple has given me carry permission for the [REDACTED] software for the iPad and I take Apple’s security very seriously. I was hoping to get permission from you to show her photos on the iPad even though it is not due to be released until April 3rd. Under normal circumstances I would not make such a request, nor would I expect that such a request might possibly be granted.

Thank you for considering this request.

Steve Jobs’ Touching Email To An Apple Employee is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple Inc. is reportedly cutting the shipments of their newest tablet, the iPad Mini. These reductions of shipments will take the number of devices being shipped to between 10 and 12 million for the second quarter of 2013.

The final cut, according to numerous sources, could be as much as 20 percent and could eventually see less than nine million iPad Minis getting shipped a month. While some people will think this is an odd sales strategy for a tablet that is still pretty popular, most believe this is all in preparation for another generation of the smaller tablet.

Apple Inc. is also taking on quite a bit of competition from Google when it comes to 7-inch tablets. While the iPad Mini is actually seeing better shipment numbers than the full sized iPad, the market is quite saturated with smaller screen tablets.

Larger screen smart phones, sometimes called Phablets, have further eaten into the revenues that a smaller iPad can haul in. The computing giant expects to be shipping about 33 million iPads this year, compared to 55 million iPad Minis.

The step down in shipment numbers could mean that the next generation of the Mini will be coming in the third quarter of this year. That would put the next generation in line with the company’s usual sales approach.

It would mean that the second generation Mini would be out just in time for the Holiday shopping season. As usual, the company has stayed tight lipped over any of these rumors.

Current CEO Tim Cook is following in the steps of his predeccesor Steve Jobs when it comes to not confirming anything until he is good and ready. Cook has stuck to the tenets of not announcing a new product until it is almost ready to hit the market.

Apple Inc. won’t be letting us know the exact reason for cutting the shipments until they feel its time.

Apple Inc. Cutting iPad Mini Shipments is a post from: The Inquisitr

Shaquille O’Neal, interviewed by Bloomberg TV at SXSW, came out of the closet as as a geek.

“I’m a nerd. I’m a techie. I’m a geek,” the super-sized former NBA player said. “All those terms that we thought were funny are now in.”

Shaq told Jon Erlichman he always likes being at the forefront of everything. He thought one great way to get there would be if he could be the first person in the world to get an iPhone. Before iPhone went on sale, Shaq made his way through his address book until someone was able to connect him directly to “the great Steve Jobs” so he could have the “ultimate bragging rights.”

Shaq called the venerable founder of Apple a few times to try and convince Steve to give him an iPhone in advance. He told Steve he really, really wanted to be the first to get one. Steve didn’t budge and Shaq didn’t get iPhone early.

It’s his first time to attend SXSW in Austin, Texas, and he told Bloomberg all the new technology there makes him feel like a kid in a candy store. In particular Shaq, like Mark Zuckerberg, can’t wait to get his eyes behind Google Glass. He called Google Glass 2056 technology in a tweet:

When asked about Twitter, Shaq says he found Twitter by accident. After being misquoted by a reporter and confronting the reporter about the misquote, Shaq learned someone was using his name and pretending to be him on Twitter. He got control of the account and has a formula for tweeting now. It’s “60 percent to make you laugh, 30 percent to inspire you, and then ten percent … I like to promote myself.”

When Shaq retired, he used the social video service Tout to make the announcement. He said he wanted to control the message and didn’t want anyone to have an exclusive.

Shaq is attending SXSW to hear interesting technology and business ideas that he can match with investors:

“In this world, there’s enough tech … enough dream space for everyone to survive.”

Shaq Begged Steve Jobs To Give Him iPhone Before Release [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Did you know Ashton Kutcher was a method actor? Did you know that Steve Jobs only ate fruit? Well, when you combine those two facts you get a lot of stomach pain and a trip to the hospital.

Kutcher revealed recently that he was hospitalized after following Jobs’ fruitarian diet. The actor said that he was trying to get into character by following Jobs’ diet but eating nothing but fruit didn’t sit well for the former That 70s Show star.  

Kutcher said:

“The fruitarian diet can lead to like severe issues … I went to the hospital two days before we started shooting the movie. I was doubled over in pain. My pancreas levels were like completely out of whack. It was really terrifying, considering everything.”

Jobs premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last week and Kutcher has been receiving some positive reviews. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, however, isn’t completely satisfied with the movie.

Wozniak said earlier this week after seeing a clip from the movie that the filmmakers got several things wrong about the creation of Apple.

Wozniak said:

“Totally wrong …  Not close…we never had such interaction and roles…I’m not even sure what it’s getting at…personalities are very wrong although mine is closer.”

Are you excited to see the Ashton Kutcher’s new movie? Are you surprised that the actor tried to follow Jobs’ fruit-only diet?

Steve Jobs’ Fruitarian Diet Put Ashton Kutcher In The Hospital is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hey, want to see an exclusive scene from jOBS, that movie that stars Ashton Kutcher as the late Apple big-wig Steve Jobs?

I remember being incredibly skeptical about Kutcher playing Steve Jobs when it was announced (heck, I think most people were). Not because I dislike Ashton Kutcher, but because his casting as Steve Jobs really didn’t help us figure out what kind of movie jOBS was going to be. Was it going to be The Social Network but for Apple instead of Facebook? Maybe a lighter take on the founding of Apple with some comedy elements?

Well, according to the synopsis from distributors Open Road Films and Five Star Feature Films, jOBS will be:

“Directed by Joshua Michael Stern, written by Matthew Whitely, shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Russell Carpenter and produced by Mark Hulme, jOBS details the major moments and defining characters that influenced Steve Jobs on a daily basis from 1971 through 2000. jOBS plunges into the depths of his character, creating an intense dialogue-driven story that is as much a sweeping epic as it is an immensely personal portrait of Steve Jobs’ life. The filmmakers were granted unprecedented access during shooting to the historic garage in Palo Alto, that served as the birthplace to Apple Inc.”

So, more the drama variety then.

Sony Pictures is also creating a Steve Jobs biopic based on Walter Isaacson’s biography of him. This film, tentatively titled Steve Jobs, hasn’t gotten much farther than pre-production yet.

Kutcher’s jOBS will premiere this week at the Sundance Film Festival and arrive in theaters on April 19, 2013. Check out the exclusive scene via Entertainment Tonight below:

Watch Ashton Kutcher As Steve Jobs In Exclusive ‘jOBS’ Scene [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

There was quite the positive response that came out of the first released image as Ashton Kutcher as Apple pioneer Steve Jobs. jOBS, which filmed over the spring, is said to be a positive dramatic turn for Kutcher, which we haven’t seen since his effort in 2003′s The Butterfly Effect.

Now that jOBS has been set in a prime spot to close Sundance Film Festival for its premiere, Open Road Films has managed to snag the distribution rights to the film as well. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Insiders describe it as a ‘rent-a-system’ deal, where the producers commit to pay for the marketing of the film.”

Quick interest in Kutcher’s turn as Steve Jobs is good news for the actor, who isn’t exactly hurting financially from his gig on Two And A Half Men but hasn’t succeeded in wowing critics over his two-decade long career. According to costar, Josh Gad that’s all about the change. Gad told a few outlets recently about Kutcher’s performance:

“Ashton is going to blow a lot of people away. His performance was absolutely transformational. If he looked any more like Steve Jobs, I think it would just confuse a lot of people in thinking Steve Jobs never passed away. It’s that uncanny.”

Although at the time the news hit the web about Open Road Films’ involvement, they declined to comment about the new venture. However, Cinema Blend has confirmed that Open Road Films will put Kutcher’s version of Steve Jobs ahead, over Aaron Sorkin’s new take, with an April release date after its premiere at Sundance.

Sorkin’s version will be based on Walter Isaacson’s biography, while jOBS focuses on the earlier life and career of the genius, which is said to be an “unprecedented access during shooting to the historic garage in Palo Alto, that served as the birthplace to Apple Inc.”

Here’s the description of the synopsis for jOBS:

“Directed by Joshua Michael Stern, written by Matthew Whitely, shot by Oscar- winning cinematographer Russell Carpenter and produced by Mark Hulme, jOBS details the major moments and defining characters that influenced Steve Jobs on a daily basis from 1971 through 2000. jOBS plunges into the depths of his character, creating an intense dialogue-driven story that is as much a sweeping epic as it is an immensely personal portrait of Steve Jobs’ life. The filmmakers were granted unprecedented access during shooting to the historic garage in Palo Alto, that served as the birthplace to Apple Inc. jOBS stars Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, J.K. Simmons and Matthew Modine. Inferno Entertainment is handling international sales on jOBS.”

Do you think Ashton Kutcher was a good choice for Steve Jobs?

Ashton Kucher’s ‘jOBS’ Biopic Picked Up For Distribution, Set For April Release is a post from: The Inquisitr

Steve Jobs’ yacht was impounded in Amsterdam due to a battle over an unpaid bill. The Apple leader commissioned the $130 million yacht, but was not able to ever step on board before his death. Yacht designer Philippe Starck was reportedly supposed to garner approximately $12 million for his work on the yacht, but has received just two-thirds of his total fee.

Dutch officials seized the Steve Jobs yacht pending a resolution of payment matters, MSN reports. If the agree upon amount is not forthcoming, the yacht belonging to the Apple co-founder could reportedly be repossessed and sold. The yacht, called Venus, will not be sailing the open seas by anyone until all of the legal wrangling concludes.

Roelant Klaassen, an attorney representing Starck’s company, Ubik, had this to say about the yacht seizure:

“The project has been going since 2007 and there had been a lot of detailed talk between Jobs and Starck. These guys trusted each other, so there wasn’t a very detailed contract.”

Venus is a 256-foot all-aluminum yacht with a “minimalist aesthetic,” according to NBC 12 News. Jeroen Ranzijn, a spokesman for the Port of Amsterdam noted that the yacht commissioned by Steve Jobs has been docked in the harbor since December 8. Jeroen had this to say about the civil case concerning Venus:

“It was actually ready to continue its voyage when there was a dispute between two parties, including the heirs, and one party laid a claim on the boat.”

The attorney representing Steve Jobs’ estate could not be reached for a comment on the payment dispute over the vessel, The Guardian reports.

Steve Jobs’ Yacht Seized In Amsterdam is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ashton Kutcher’s undeniably uncanny resemblance to the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs can be seen in the first official still from the upcoming biopic — jOBS.

A far cry from the slacker image Kutcher usually presents, the actor’s transformation into the Apple entrepreneur is heightened by the 1977 Apple II computer sitting in the background of the picture.

Other nods include a poster that reads “Think,” a word that would later become a formidable keyword in Apple’s “Think different” advertising campaign in the 1990′s.

From the look of previously on-set pictures and the new still today, it’s clear that 34-year-old Kutcher (and movie magic) has thoroughly studied the physicality and mannerisms of Jobs.

Kutcher’s co-star, Josh Gad, who plays Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in the film, recently told Us Weekly:

“Ashton is going to blow a lot of people away. His performance was absolutely transformational. If he looked any more like Steve Jobs, I think it would just confuse a lot of people . . . it’s that uncanny.”

Today it was announced that jOBS will be the closing film at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013.

Directed by Joshua Michael Stern, the three decade spanning biopic is described on Sundance’s website as “a candid, inspiring and personal portrait of the one who saw things differently.”

Reportedly in a relationship with actress Mila Kunis, it’s been revealed that Kutcher’s ex-wife Demi Moore will also be premiering her new film — Very Good Girls — at the Sundance Film Festival.

The festival takes place in Park City, Utah and runs from January 17 to 27.

First Look At Ashton Kutcher As Steve Jobs: Biopic Will Close Sundance Film Festival 2013 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ashton Kutcher will play Steve Jobs in the forthcoming biopic Jobs, and the first official picture from the movie has revealed a seriously spooky resemblance between the pair.

Even allowing for hair and make-up, the photo of 34-year-old Kutcher as a young Steve Jobs is uncannily close to the real thing. The image, which is based on a similar 1977 file photo of Jobs (you can see the original below), shows Kutcher perched on a desk in front of what looks like an Apple II computer and a “THINK” poster.

Earlier this year, Kutcher was snapped on set and in character as the late Apple founder, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in October 2011. In those early pictures of the movie’s production, Kutcher was seen playing Jobs as he “tripped” on LSD; the Apple boss was open about the fact he had dabbled with hallucinatory drugs in the 1970s, and the movie will portray this part of his life.

The newer, more posed shot may just surprise fans of the Apple design guru and Kutcher, whose dated side parting hairstyle and beard perfectly match those of the Apple boss, circa 1977.

Kutcher’s co-star Josh Gad, who plays Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in the project, has been bowled over by Kutcher’s transformation into Jobs. Gad previously told Us Weekly:

“Ashton is going to blow a lot of people away. His performance was absolutely transformational. If he looked any more like Steve Jobs, I think it would just confuse a lot of people. It’s that uncanny.”

Comparing the photo above with the two images of Jobs below, I’m inclined to agree. What do you make of Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs?

Ashton Kutcher As Steve Jobs: Uncanny Resemblance In First Official Photo is a post from: The Inquisitr

Kariem McFarlin broke into the home of Steve Jobs and seven others after losing his job and becoming homeless. Kariem was arrested earlier in the year and has finally pled “no contest” for breaking into the former Apple, Inc. CEO’s Silicon Valley residence and the homes of his other victims.

In exchange for his plea, Santa Clara County prosecutors agreed to recommend that the burglar be sentenced to no more than seven years and eight months in prison.

McFarlin has been behind bars since July 17 when he was arrested and charged with one count of burglary and one count of receiving stolen property from Steve Jobs’ home. The Jobs family was not living in the home at the time as it was undergoing renovations.

Taken from the former Apple CEO’s home was $60,000 in jewelry. McFarlin also snagged several computers and Steve Jobs’ wallet, which was taken nine months after his death.

Investigators found stolen goods inside a storage locker owned by Kariem McFarlin. According to officials, some of the stolen goods dated back to March 2011.

When combined, McFarlin pled “no contest” to eight counts of first-degree burglary and one count of receiving stolen property.

McFarlin targeted homes in upscale San Francisco neighborhoods that were undergoing renovations, sometimes sleeping in the very homes he burglarized.

Investigators hunted down Kariem McFarlin using an iPad that was stolen from Steve Jobs’ home and which was still connected to the tech firm’s servers.

Do you think seven years behind bars is a fair sentence given Kariem McFarlin’s often and repeated offenses?

Steve Jobs Home Burglar Admits To Eight Break-Ins is a post from: The Inquisitr

Cupertino, CA - The Apple spaceship office campus could be delayed until 2016. Just a few months before his death, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced plans during a Cupertino City Council meeting  to build a massive campus to serve as Apple’s new headquarters. The circular design resembled a stereotypical UFO spaceship with woods in the middle. Unfortunately, construction on Apple’s new spaceship campus in California is running a bit behind schedule because of local government interference.

According to Bloomberg, maker of the iPhone 5 and iPad 2 Apple had hoped to have the spaceship campus ready to move into by 2015 but that target date is now being pushed back at least one year. Cupertino may not complete its environmental impact report until June, and Apple may not be able to start work until 2014.

“They could conceivably break ground in 2013, but only if everything goes smoothly,” said David Brandt, Cupertino’s city manager. Such speed is not known to be synonymous with government, and relies on the Cupertino city council approving the spaceship project quickly, the environmental impact being completed, and on residents not filing legal challenges. “The project is running a little bit slow,” he admits.

The Apple spaceship campus has been dubbed the unoriginal name Apple Campus 2. This iCampus “will be a new home for our company and an important part of the lives of more than 12,000 Apple employees,” said Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple.

“With that in mind, we have approached this project with the same care and attention to detail we pay when designing any Apple product. We look forward to moving the project forward with the city and beginning construction.”

Apple’s spaceship campus should be a sight to see when it is finished. It is too bad Steve Jobs could not have lived to see his spaceship fly. Here’s hoping they do not suffer any more delays in constructions.

Apple Spaceship Office Campus Could Be Delayed Until 2016 [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple founder Steve Jobs was a technological revolutionary in the world of computers, but he apparently spent years designing a yacht.

The so-called super yacht, which was completed one year after Jobs’ death, is named Venus, after the Roman goddess of love. Fox News reports that the ship is 250-feet long and it is steered by a group of 27 inch iMac computers.

The hull is aluminum, and Steve Jobs’ yacht contains its own speed boat. It is believed to be faster than similarly sized nautical vessels. French designer Philippe Starck helped Jobs design the interior, which includes a jacuzzi.

The Daily Mail reports that Jobs worked on the yacht up until near the end of his life, despite knowing he was unlikely to see it completed.

“I know that it’s possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat,” Jobs told his biographer. “But I have to keep going on it. If I don’t, it’s an admission that I’m about to die.”

Jobs died in October of 2011 of complications from pancreatic cancer.

The yacht was built by Feadship, a Dutch company that has specialized in making custom yachts since the 1920s. Jobs’ rewarded all those who worked on the ship with an iPod shuffle. The total cost of that gift, and the yacht itself, was not made known.

The official unveiling of the ship will take place in Aalsmeer, Netherlands with the Jobs family on hand. The date of the Venus’ maiden voyage is not yet known, but to be sure when the Jobs family takes their first ride on the last masterpiece of Apple’s founder, they’ll no doubt be doing so in sleek elegant comfort.

The Dutch blog OneMoreThing captured video of the Steve Jobs’ yacht, a screenshot of which can be seen above.

Yacht Designed By Apple’s Steve Jobs Unveiled is a post from: The Inquisitr

When Steve Jobs was still running Apple back in 2006 the famed CEO told officials he wanted to “patent it all” in regards to the company’s new iPhone smartphone.

Because of that decision Apple employees were forced into monthly “invention disclosure sessions” in which Apple patent attorneys would document even the dumbest of ideas.

According to the New York Times the company was so aggressive in filing patents that according to one employee it would submit an item ”even if we knew it wouldn’t get approved.”

It is no secret that towards the end of his life all Steve Jobs appeared to care about was sinking Google Android and creating a treasure chest of patents. In fact in 2007 the Apple CEO introduced the iPhone with a bullet point of patented features while telling the crowd “And boy have we patented it.”

Steve Jobs became paranoid about patent issues after the company Creative ended up paying $100 million to settle a dispute regarding a “portable music playback device” patent.

The effect of Steve Jobs’ iron fist ruling of patents is now being felt throughout the tech industry. Apple and Google now spend more money on patent creation and buying than they do on original research and development.

Apple in the meantime continues to defend its rigorous lawsuits, in a public statement the company says:

“Apple has always stood for innovation. To protect our inventions, we have patented many of the new technologies in these groundbreaking and category-defining products. In the rare cases when we take legal action over a patent dispute, it’s only as a last resort. We think companies should dream up their own products rather than willfully copying ours, and in August a jury in California reached the same conclusion.”

Apple may innovate but the company never actually creates new product types, instead choosing to add sleek new features and then calling the space its own.

Apple recently won a $1.1 billion patent judgement against tech giant Samsung.

Because of the numerous patent filings in recent years many patent judges have begun to speak out against what they see as the rampant abuse of the patent system.

Apple Abused Patent System On Purpose In 2006 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Uncover, a Netherlands-based laser-cutting company that specializes in customized MacBooks, designed the laptops with an illuminated Apple logo containing the silhouette of the late Apple co-founder and design guru. The logo design was the work of Hong Kong artist Jonathan Mak. The results are, in the spirit of Apple, stylish and understated, and there are other nice touches such as a Steve Jobs quote engraved on the bottom of each MacBook:

“When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world, try not to bash into the walls too much, try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

And the best news? These ultra-stylish, limited edition laptops can be bought by you … if you happen to be rolling in dough. Uncover placed all three Steve Jobs tribute laptops on eBid, where they are currently going for around €9,500 (around $12,400) each.

Buyers of the laptop won’t only be getting a sweet piece of customized kit (each laptop boasts the finest specifications currently available: a 2.7GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, and a 750GB SSD),they’ll also be helping charity. The auction listing promises:

“All proceeds from this auction will be evenly split between the charity Get It Done and a fund that we are setting up with the people at SellanApp, dedicated to creating iOS apps that don’t have a direct business model, but have a clear societal value.”

Any of our readers think they’re ready for an upgrade on their MacBook?

Steve Jobs Tribute Laptops Auctioned Off For Charity is a post from: The Inquisitr

Steve Jobs passed away exactly one year ago, but the impact he left on his company, the tech industry, and his fans remains. Some even argue that, because the technology Apple has come out with recently still has innovations inspired by Jobs.

PC Magazine notes that it will probably be another six months before we see anything that wasn’t influenced by the late Apple co-founder. Before you go and say that Maps wasn’t something he created, think again.

Along with the flawed Maps app, Jobs was also behind the G4 Cube, the Motorola ROKR, the doomed Ping social network, and the troubled iPhone 4 antennas. But despite this, Jobs was also an innovator, with his iPhone 5 breaking all previous iPhone launch records.

Along with news about his company on the first anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death, several people have reflected on the man who helped create the tech giant. The Washington Post reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook paid tribute to the late Apple genius on Friday, writing:

“Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We share the great privilege and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future.”

The company’s corporate structure has also shifted since Jobs passed away last year. Unlike his predecessor, Tim Cook doesn’t take up all the limelight. There are still similarities, however, like Apple’s notorious secrecy. While there have been leaks on products, like the iPhone 5, there were leaks in the Jobs era with the iPhone 4.

It appears that Steve Jobs’ death has not harmed the company he worked hard to help build; the company’s products continue to become more innovated, while the co-founder’s memory lives on.

Remembering Steve Jobs One Year Later is a post from: The Inquisitr

A wax figure of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is set to debut at a Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong next week, the LA Times reports. The figure was produced to coincide with the first anniversary of Jobs’ death, and will be unveiled September 27 before traveling to other locations in China.

The wax model, which cost almost $200,000 to create, was based on pictures taken of Jobs during a magazine shoot for Fortune magazine in 2006. His arms are loosely crossed, and he is wearing a pair of silver-rimmed Lunor glasses, along with his trademark black turtleneck, New Balance sneakers and Levi’s 501 jeans.

A team of artists spent three months working on the model. The most time-consuming part of creating the statue was the hair, which was inserted one strand at a time using a forked needle. Silk threads were used to create veining in the figure’s eyes.

The model will remain at the Hong Kong location until November 26. After that, it will travel to Madame Tussauds Bangkok and Madame Tussauds Shanghai.

The first attempt to commemorate Jobs was made just days after his death. Gabor Bojar, founder of Graphisoft, a Hungarian company that develops architectural software, commissioned a bronze statue of Jobs. Bojar said Jobs helped support his company in its early days. The statue was unveiled 2 and a half months later in an office park in Budapest.

Steve Jobs passed away at age 56 of pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed eight years earlier, and announced his diagnosis to his employees in mid-2004. He stepped down as Apple’s CEO on August 24, 2011 and named Tim Cook, who had acted as CEO when Jobs went on medical leave the first time, as his successor. He died less than two months later on October 5.

[Photo credits: Madame Tussauds Hong Kong]

Steve Jobs Wax Figure Set To Debut At Madame Tussauds is a post from: The Inquisitr

Kariem McFarlin gave his buddy “Kenny the Clown” a silver 64GB iPad with which he immediately started using in his act. Unaware of what he actually had in his possession, Kenny the Clown was actually using Steve Jobs’ personal iPad that was stolen from Jobs’ mansion on July 17th.

According to MercuryNews.com, Kenny the Clown, whose real name is Kenneth Kahn, loaded the stolen iPad with songs from iTunes, such as ”The Pink Panther” theme song and Michael Jackson, that he would use to entertain Bay Area kids and tourists during his performances.

“I was basically using it as an ipod,” states Kenneth.

Kenneth had no idea that he was holding onto the late Apple CEO’s personal iPad until McFarlin was charged with breaking into Jobs’ Palo Alto home. The police showed up three or four days after he started using the device to take it away. Having Steve Jobs’ personal iPad in his possession for a short period of time dumbfounded Kenny the Clown.

“It would be like getting a football from Joe Montana that was stolen out of his house,” said the 47-year-old professional clown, “It’s bizarre; it’s really bizarre.”

Newser reports that Kennith used to coach McFarlin’s high school basketball team more than a decade ago. Remaining close since then, Kahn had no suspicion in taking the iPad from McFarlin.

“He’s a nice guy who made a horrible, horrible decision,” Kahn said. “I wish I could ask him: ‘What were you thinking?’”

“Before the public sees him as this horrible monster, I’d like to hopefully think we can somehow get across that he just made the worst mistake of his life,” Kahn added.

McFarlin remained in jail on Thursday in leu of a $500,000 bail and is due in court on Monday where he will be represented by a recently hired private attorney.

Apple and the Jobs family have yet to comment.

‘Kenny the Clown’ Winds Up With Steve Jobs’ Stolen iPad is a post from: The Inquisitr

The home of the late Steve Jobs was burglarized last month.

According to San Jose Mercury News, more than $60,000 in computers and personal items were taken from the Apple Founder’s home in Palo Alto.

The burglary occurred on July 17th, according to ABC, and a few days later police arrested 35-year-old Kariem McFarlin.  McFarlin has been charged with residential burglary and selling stolen property. He is currently in jail on $500,000 bond. His court date has been set for Aug. 20.

McFarlin could face up to seven years and eight months in prison for robbing the home of Steve Jobs. Details about the crime, including what computers and personal belongings were stolen, were scarce on Monday morning. Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Tom Flattery said that McFarlin probably didn’t know that he was robbing Steve Jobs’ home at the time of the crime.

Flattery said: ”The best we can tell is it was totally random.”

Jobs passed away last year at the age of 56. Personal belongings from the founder of Apple, as well as computers and prototypes from the company’s beginnings, have fetched incredibly high sums at various auctions since Jobs death. It’s unclear if McFarlin got his hands on anything truly valuable. Of if he knew what it was when he stole it.

Steve Jobs’ Home Robbed is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis really have to give up the act at this point.  Lately they have been spotted all over Hollywood, all over each other.  Recently the paparazzi nailed the two of them getting a bit intimate at the Los Angeles hotspot The Duplex for a wrap party for Kutcher’s upcoming film Jobs.

One witness told Perez Hilton that what she saw left no doubt the two are a couple.

The witness said,

“They showed up as a couple and left as a couple. They appeared to be lighthearted and in good spirits, and hardly left each other’s side. They stayed within five feet of each other practically the entire evening. They spent a lot of the night engaging others in conversation while maintaining close affection. It looked like young love. “

The party was a wrap party for Jobs, the upcoming film starring Ashton Kutcher as Apple magnate Steve Jobs.  A couple of the 300 guests at the party included P-Diddy and Dermot Mulrooney.

Kutcher and Kunis played teenage lovebirds on the show “That 70′s Show”.  Mila Kunis was recently asked in the August 2012 of Interview why she refuses to watch any reruns of the show.

Kunis responded,

“I would cringe. You can see me go through puberty, and who wants to watch that?”

Kutcher recently went through a high profile divorce from celebrity wife Demi Moore.  The two split up over Kutcher’s alleged cheating.  Demi Moore than fell off the deep end requiring treatment for drug addiction.

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis All Over Each Other At Industry Event is a post from: The Inquisitr

In his younger years, Steve Jobs was known to experiment with hallucinatory drugs like LSD, and the new biopic starring Ashton Kutcher will apparently delve into those “LSD years.”

A few photos from the set showed up online today showing Ashton Kutcher “tripping” in a field. Kutcher appeared to have no problem channeling Jobs, or the effects of acid, during the scene.

The Daily Mail reports that in 1988 Jobs admitted in a government security clearance questionnaire that he had taken LSD up to 15 times in the early 70s.

Jobs said:

“It was a positive life changing experience for me and I am glad I went through that experience. I would ingest the LSD on a sugar cube or in a hard form of gelatin… I would usually take the LSD when I was by myself.”

Jobs also said that he occasionally smoked marijuana and hashish, saying that the drugs helped his creativity.

Jobs said:

“The best way I would describe the effect of the marijuana and the hashish is that it would make me relaxed and creative.”

The Steve Jobs biopic, titled Jobs, will follow the iconic businessman from his college days until he becomes the CEO of Apple.

IMDB writes:

“The story of Steve Jobs’ ascension from college dropout into one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.”

Do you think Ashton Kutcher was the right choice to play Steve Jobs?

Producer Mark Hulme said:

“‘Since our film covers the early years of Apple, when Jobs was in his 20s, we needed an actor who could carry not only the youthfulness of Jobs at the time but also the psychological complexity. Because of that, and Ashton’s physical similarities to Jobs, he’s perfect for our film.”

Set Photos Show Ashton Kutcher Playing Steve Jobs On Acid is a post from: The Inquisitr

Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs were the best of friends and worst of enemies. I guess you could technically call them frenemies. For that reason it seems absolutely perfect that the team at The Epic Rap Battle of History have created a Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates rap battle to settle their differences.

It’s really hard not to laugh at Steve Jobs as he makes suggestive remarks about Melinda Gates or as Bill Gates talks about Steve Jobs’ technology creating “beard” Steve Wozniak.

If the “low brow” humor isn’t really your thing the team also makes mention of coding, GUI’s, GNU’s and various other forms to geek awesomeness.

My personal favorite part arrives as Steve Jobs turns into his own Apple geeky version of Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey

I typically don’t like to purchase YouTube songs but I actually picked up this epic rap battle because it’s something I know my geeky friends would love to hear.

In a way this particular epic rap battle reminds me a lot of the awesome Pirates Of Silicon Valley which featured the cutthroat business of winning the PC market between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs during their company’s earliest PC building years.

Check out the video below:

So what did you think of the Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates epic rap battle? Does the win go to Microsoft for the first time in years or to Apple and their heavenly rapping co-founder?

Epic Rap Battle: Steve Jobs Vs. Bill Gates [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple’s clothing line viewed through the lens of time passed is hilarious in like, several different ways.

Apple’s clothing line was marketed in 1986- in the 80′s, Apple had some prominence, but far less cachet in the market than it does now.

And the 80′s were a far less apologetic time, sartorially in particular. In fact, we kind of feel bad for Apple because no one should have their 80′s fashions splashed all over the internet for mocking purposes, because back then, we were all dressed like that. Oh, yes.

Yes, Apple’s clothing line is (as friend of the blog Simon Doonan would say) totally naff when critiqued by 2012 eyes, but first of all, the 80′s were a time before one was able to pick up a masstige look at Target for relatively low prices- clothing was expensive, loud, cut in a matronly fashion and less focused on mix and match pieces.

But Apple’s clothing line also pre-dates the brand’s high-end feel, with a focus on minimalism, chrome and sharp lines. The items in Apple’s clothing line- dubbed “The Apple Collection”- are a snapshot of the era, and wouldn’t look too out-of-place in an 80′s comedy.

Instead of a uniform black turtleneck and jeans look, the one we’ve all grown accustomed to via Apple’s late leader Steve Jobs, neons and royal blues and even scripty logos prevailed. Apple’s clothing line also sported trucker style hats, bright sweatshirts, and a series of jaunty sportswear so the Apple fanboy of the 80′s could show their Apple pride.

Pics below- can you believe Apple’s clothing line was once officially offered by the brand before it was all sleek and cool?

Apple’s Clothing Line: iPad Maker Shilled Sweats in the 80′s is a post from: The Inquisitr

Steve Jobs will be forgotten long before Bill Gates, according to author Malcom Gladwell, who recently sat down for a talk at the Toronto Public Library’s Appel Salon.

Gladwell asserted, according to KRDO, that:

“Of the great entrepreneurs of this era, people will have forgotten Steve Jobs. ‘Who was Steve Jobs again?’ But … there will be statues of Bill Gates across the Third World. There’s a reasonable shot that — because of his money — we will cure malaria.”

Gladwell believes that, while people like Jobs who have contributions to the technology industry are worth remembering, he suggests that entrepreneurs, like the late Apple co-founder, are not worth being idolized. He does, however, believe that people like Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates should be remembered, but for their philanthropy, not their entrepreneurship. Gladwell stated:

“Gates is the most ruthless capitalist, and then he wakes up one morning and he says, ‘enough.’ And he steps down, he takes his money, he takes it off the table. I firmly believe that 50 years from now, [Gates] will be remembered for his charitable work, no one will even remember what Microsoft is.”

Brian Caulfield firmly disagrees with Gladwell, believing that entrepreneurs, such as J.P. Morgan and Thomas Edison are remembered more than humanitarians Albert Schweitzer and Father Damien. CBS News reports that Malcolm Gladwell’s criticism is not a direct attack on the Apple co-founder, but instead a sharp criticism of how business-leaders are being celebrated. He stated:

“[W]e need to be clear when we venerate entrepreneurs what we are venerating. They are not moral leaders. If they were moral leaders they wouldn’t be great businessmen. So when a businessman is a great moral leader, it is because they have maintained their conscience separately from their operations.”

Do you think it is right that we celebrate entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs more so than we celebrate humanitarians and philanthropists?

Steve Jobs Will Be Forgotten In 50 Years, According To Malcolm Gladwell is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Apple v. Motorola Mobility lawsuit has just gotten more interesting as the judge overseeing the case in a Chicago federal court ruled that comments made by former Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs could be heard at trial.

Apple’s own lawyers tried to have the comments suppressed from the record. In his comments Jobs specifically went after Google’s Android platform. In the Walter Isaacson biography Jobs said of Android:

“Our lawsuit is saying, ‘Google, you f**king ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off.’ Grand theft,” he then remarked, “I’m going to destroy Android, because it’s a stolen product. I’m willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

Apple asked one month ago that information from the Isaacson biography be suppressed, Apple’s team feels the comments need to be removed to ”avoid any potential prejudice to Apple if Motorola attempts to use the book to appeal to the jury’s passion.”

In a turn of events it is actually Apple who wants to turn the “jury’s passion” against Motorola Mobility, On Thursday judge Richard Posner said Apple could not argue with jurors that they should favor Apple over Motorola if they like Jobs and/or Apple products. According to Judge Posner:

“I forbid Apple to insinuate to the jury that this case is a popularity contest.”

Apparently Apple is worried enough about comments made by Steve Jobs to also ask that a judge in California suppress the former CEO’s comments from the Apple v. Samsung trial which is set to start in July.

This may not be the “thermonuclear” war Steve Jobs was hoping for. Also didn’t Apple “rip off” Motorola, after all they invented the cell phone, you know the device the iPhone owes all of its success to in the first place.

Judge Says Steve Jobs’ “Thermonuclear” Comment Is Admissable is a post from: The Inquisitr

A few pieces of Apple history will be going up for sale next month at a Sotheby’s auction. A working Apple-1 computer, one of only 50 left in the world, and a memo Steve Jobs wrote to Atari, are expected to be the big money winners at the auction.

Computer World reports that Steve Jobs worked breifly at Atari before he founded Apple.

In 1974, Jobs wrote a memo to Atari, making a few suggestions that the company could make to improve its World Cup Soccer Game. The hand-written note by the then 19-year-old Jobs is expected to fetch more than $10,000.

The auction will also include an Apple-1 computer. Sotheby’s reports that there are about 50 Apple-1 computers left in the world, but only 6 are in working condition. Sotheby’s expects the Apple-1 to fetch around $150,000.

Christie’s sold an Apple-1 computer in 2010 for over $213,000 but that computer also came with a letter from Steve Jobs.  According to Mike Willegal, an engineer who has identified and indexed 41 Apple-1 computers, said that the letter made the Christie’s computer even more rare, and therefore more valuable. Willegal said:

“This unit works, and is fairly complete with documentation and original cassette interface, so it should draw a pretty good sum… It doesn’t have a receipt with Jobs signature, so I don’t see it reaching the Christie’s number.”

Both the Atari memo and the Apple-1 computer could far exceed their estimates. Sotheby’s notes that in 2011, the original contract, signed by Wozniak, Jobs Ron Wayne to found Apple Computers fetched nearly $1.6 million. The contract had an estimated value of $150,000.

The auction is scheduled for June 15th.

Steve Jobs’ Memo To Atari, Working Apple-1 Computer, To Hit Auction Block Next Month is a post from: The Inquisitr

Steve Jobs was honored during Monday’s 16th annual Webby Awards by Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, vice president Al Gore, U2 frontman Bono and more.

The awards ceremony, called the “Oscars of the online world” are intended to honor online excellence, like websites, interactive advertising, online film, mobile apps, and more, according to Fox News.

The awards were held in New York City, and Obama stated of the late Apple creator:

“…the truth is, when we talk about Steve Jobs, we only need one word: amazing.”

Apple Insider reports that Richard Dreyfuss, who voiced an iconic “Crazy ones” commercial, took jabs at both Google and Facebook, prior to announcing the video honoring Jobs. He stated:

“Before we talk about Steve, I just want to say: Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Brin [sic] have you thought of the words quid pro quo? If you’re going to take our privacy away from us, why don’t you tell us something private about yourselves. And if you’re going to change our world, why don’t you pay for it, because it’s theft.”

He went on to say, according to Fox News, that:

“[Steve Jobs] wanted to make one statement that defined his company, defined his goals, defined his source point — where he started from, how he caught and held the attention of a world drowning in loud hyperbolic fraud.”

The Webby Awards, known for their “five-word speech” format, boast the shortest thank yous of all awards ceremonies. Each person remembering Jobs was required to stick within this format, leaving Clinton, Bono, and Vice President Gore to say short, but to the point thank yous to the late Apple genius.

Fox News reports that Clinton thanked Jobs for, “For spreading American ingenuity worldwide.” Meanwhile, Bono thanked him, “For saving lives with (RED).” Gore was even more to the point, saying, “Steve Jobs was insanely great.”

Two films are currently in production to tell the story of Steve Jobs life.

Steve Jobs Honored At Webby Awards is a post from: The Inquisitr

Meet Ethan Imboden, the Steve Jobs of Sex Toys. Imboden, a forty year old designer with degrees in industrial design and electrical engineering from John Hopkins and Pratt, has decided, through his sex toy company JimmyJane, to bring the same sense of aesthetics and good design to the sex industry that Steve Jobs and Jony Ive brought to the world of computing appliances.

He wants to make sex toys a classier than Lindsey Lohan Fleshlights and flavored undies.

Attending a sex toy convention, the designer realized that this gigantic market, $1.3 billion per annum, was just glutted with badly designed shlock and that people would pay good money for high quality items with which to pleasure themselves and their partners.

“As soon as I saw past the fact that in front of me happened to be two penises fused together at the base, I realized that I was looking at the only category of consumer product that had yet to be touched by design,” he said. “It’s as if the only food that had been available was in the candy aisle, like Dum Dums and Twizzlers, where it’s really just about a marketing concept and a quick rush and very little emphasis on nourishment and real enjoyment. The category had been isolated by the taboo that surrounded it. I figured, I can transcend that.”

According to Jezebel, Imboden aims for a day in which purchasing a vibrator will be “as boring as buying an iPod.”

“Imboden,” the site reported, “realized that the people who buy vibrators are the same people who buy the newest sleek phones and other design-heavy gadgets. They spend money, they care about how things are made, but they’d been buying crap for so long because it was still considered taboo, and there wasn’t a vocal group of consumers demanding something better.”

His idea? To sell well crafted toys made out of high quality materials and shipped in “low-key, white packaging (a la iPhones) and need not look like throbbing penises or wild ‘n’ crazy contraptions.”

He is also all about “changing the conversation” by, as he put it, “Insinuating beautifully designed and thoughtfully engineered sex toys into the mainstream consumer landscape” in order to “push Americans into more comfortable territory around sex in general.”

Seems like he is getting there. You can now buy his products at the Sharper Image.

Meet Ethan Imboden: The Steve Jobs Of Sex Toys [NSFW] [VIDEO] is a post from: The Inquisitr

New MacBooks Pros will look very similar to the current MacBook Air line, the tech media has been reporting. The new laptops will be super thin and light according to a report in tech blog Gizmodo. “Apple is revamping their MacBook Pro line in 2012 in a radical way—not merely evolutionary,” the website stated, with further details about the expected features of the new thin and light pro units in Apple’s laptop stable.

According to Gizmodo, the new MacBook Pros will be much less like the current generation and much more like the MacBook Air, the progenitor of the Ultrabook category, which was called the future of computing by the late Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Just like the Air, the new Pros are expected to drop many legacy technologies. This means that they will likely ditch optical (DVD) drives as well as Hard Drives, which will be replaced by speedy but more expensive SSDs. The new units will most likely also ship without ethernet network ports, just like the Air, and will rely on a combination of wi-fi and, possibly, 3G or 4G cellular connectivity if the new iPad is any indication.

Here is what Gizmodo is guessing will be in the new MacBook Pros:

“Faster Guts”- The new pros will “use Ivy Bridge, the new Intel 22-nanometer architecture with 3D transistors that will provide quite a speed boost over the current MacBooks.”

“No Hard Drives”- HDDs are “antiquated technology with a negative impact on battery life. Apple loves SSD and Apple users love SSD. They may not be the cheapest, but it’s the fastest, safest and most power efficient storage technology for mobile devices.”

“No Legacy Stuff”- The new Pros wil “get rid of…optical drives, and no more Ethernet port and FireWire. These machines will have nothing but a bunch of Thunderbolt and USB ports, plus the SD memory card reader, just like the MacBook Air.”

“Retina-ishDisplay”- While the rumor is that the new MacBook Air will get a full on retina display, Gizmodo claims that the Pro will not get the complete retina treatment but that the new displays will be “close enough.”

Perhaps Apple will just increase the resolution to 180 or 200ppi. Given the distance from your eyes to the screen, 200ppi will be enough to achieve close to the effect of a “retina” display in the iPhone, the point in which you can’t see pixels. And still, it will be a lot of extra pixels.

The most exciting features, discounting the better battery life and killer graphics, will be the “redesigned enclosure” and a “full surface trackpad.”

The new enclosure will be “the biggest selling point of these new MacBook Pros” Gizmodo reports.

These things will have a super-slim wedge profile. Perhaps even more so than the Macbook Air, given that they will have a largest surface to spread the components. They will also be really light compared to the current machines, all thanks to the saving achieved by getting rid of so much legacy crap. Although maybe they will be less aggressive on the weight shaving and increase the space used by the battery.

In my mind though, the best part would have to be the rumored “full surface trackpad.”

This is something that has been rumored before, but now I believe it may happen: the entire palmrest of the new MacBook 2012 will be a multitouch trackpad. It’s obvious that, technologically, Apple can accomplish this. They have patents that cover detection of palm touch vs finger touch vs accidental touch. Even a Wacom Bamboo tablet can distinguish between my fingers and my palm.

The next Mac OS X will only get deeper into multitouch, just like Microsoft is doing with Metro and Windows 8. A full surface trackpad—not a touchscreen—will be the key in this transition for laptops and the desktop (for an idea of how this could work you only need to see the video next to these lines).

New MacBook Pros To Look Similar To MacBook Air [VIDEO] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The newest American Customer Satisfaction Index is out and, no surprise here, Apple’s iPhone tops the list as the  best cellphone out there in terms of customer satisfaction.

Back in 2010, when the iPhone 4 first came out, Steve Jobs told reporters that the phone only had a 1.7% return rate, indicating that people seemed to like the best-selling device.

Now it’s official.

“Apple (iPhone) leads the field by a long shot, while RIM (Blackberry) lags behind as the least satisfying,” the report stated.

This is bad news for the fading RIM, which is pinning all of its hopes on its upcoming BlackBerry 10 platform.

“‘Companies with weak customer satisfaction often have weak stock performance,’ notes [ACSI founder Claes] Fornell. ‘RIM’s sales are slumping amid a bevy of problems, from hardware and software issues to server lapses that have caused email and messaging outages. Over the past year, share price for RIM has virtually collapsed.’”

“At [a rating of] 83 [out of 100], Apple’s iPhone is a game changer when it comes to customer satisfaction. No other cell phone company has ever broken into the 80s. Apple’s nearest competitors this year are three companies tied at 75: Nokia (+3%) and ACSI newcomers LG and HTC,” the report continued.

Surprisingly, Samsung, which makes some of the best selling non-iPhone handsets out there in the form of its Galaxy S series, is “a below-average score of 71.”

The report also contained potential bad news for Google.

“Motorola declines 5% to 73 and ties the aggregate of smaller manufacturers (-1%). This may be unwelcome news for Google as it hopes to make the most of its Motorola acquisition and widen the user base for its Android operating system.”

On the service side, the report also rated carriers, with Sprint Nextel “nominally grab[bing] first place among the big carriers.”

iPhone Tops American Customer Satisfaction Index is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sony Pictures announced yesterday that famed screenwriter Aaron Sorkin will indeed, as rumored, be scripting an upcoming Steve Jobs biopic.

Sorkin is well known for his take on tech entrepreneur and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the film the Social Network as well as for his work on The West Wing and A Few Good Men.

He had stated last year that he was “strongly considering” writing the film.

Sony Pictures Co-Chairman Amy Pascal said that Steve Jobs’ story is “unique” because “he was one of the most revolutionary and influential men not just of our time but of all time” and, as such, “there is no writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life for the screen than Aaron Sorkin; in his hands, we’re confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining, and polarizing.”

Sorkin’s project will be based on the authorized, and best selling, biography of Jobs written by Walter Isaacson published just after Jobs’ death of cancer last year and will compete directly with an small independent biography of Jobs starring Ashton Kutcher.

According to MacRumors, “Casting for the film has yet to be determined, but rumors have suggested that George Clooney and Noah Wyle may be in the running for the role of Jobs. Wyle portrayed Jobs in the 1999 made-for-TV film The Pirates of Silicon Valley, which focused on the early days of Jobs and Bill Gates.”

While Pirates of Silicon Valley is currently considered a cult classic, Sorkin will have a good chance of topping the film due to his access to Isaacson, Jobs’ official biographer.

Aaron Sorkin Confirmed To Write Steve Jobs Biopic is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ashton Kutcher is taking on perhaps one of the most iconic roles he will ever face, playing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in an independent film that focuses on the deceased CEOs early life and work and now the first photos from that gig are beginning to surface.

The low-budget indie picture titled Jobs: Get Inspired just recently began filming around LA and the first photo features Ashton Kutcher walking around in Steve Jobs’ trademark jeans and black polo sweater, a staple of the billionaires wardrobe over the last several decades.

The film showcases Steve Jobs‘ business prowess through the founding of Apple, his years helping start Pixar and his NeXT years.

In the meantime the Ashton Kutcher flick could soon be facing some stiff competition from Sony Pictures who just purchased the film production rights to Walter Isaacson’s biography of the former Apple CEO. Sony Pictures hopes to convince The Social Network writer Aaron Sorkin to write the biopic.

For his part Ashton Kutcher is having a great year, having just signed on for a 10th season of Two and a Half Men where he will now early $725,000 per episode, a $25,000 pay raise for his role as billionaire Walden Schmidt.

Here’s a first look of Kutcher as Steve Jobs thanks to a still capture from TMZ :

Do you think the former That 70s Show star can make a convincing turn as Steve Jobs or will his upcoming movie make Pirates of Silicon Valley looking like an Oscar winning made-for-TV movie?

Ashton Kutcher As Steve Jobs: First Pictures Surface is a post from: The Inquisitr

Anybody who has seen the famous 1984 commercial for the first Mac knows that Steve Jobs seemed to see himself as battling the forces of “evil” in the form of IBM’s corporate culture and bland PCs. Now, an internal employee motivational video entitled 1944, which was Apple’s humorous take on the 1984 video, has begun making the rounds online thanks to former Apple employee Craig Elliott, who provided a copy to Network World.

The video, Network World reported, was “designed to fire up Apple’s international sales force at a 1984 meeting in Hawaii.”

In the video, during which Apple’s sales team is represented as allied soldiers during the Second World War, Jobs played FDR, who, while chomping down on one of the former President’s trademark cigarettes in a holder, told one of his generals “you and your brave fighting force have a rendezvous with destiny. Your battle will be long, it will be hard, but it will be won. I am sure your victory will be great.”

After hanging up the phone and turning to the camera, Jobs uttered the phrase for which he is famous: ”Insanely great.”

The rest of the film showed allied soldiers saving a room full of Zombie office workers by replacing their PCs with Macs. Strange, but like most Apple commercials, internal or for commercial distribution, pretty funny…

Here is the snippet with Jobs:

And here is the complete video:

VIDEO: Steve Jobs Is FDR In Newly Discovered Internal Apple Video is a post from: The Inquisitr

Steve Jobs may be best remembered for creating devices like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod, but apparently, the founder of Apple was also an actor. A long-lost Macintosh commercial featuring Steve Jobs as Franklin Delano Roosevelt has just resurfaced.

The Huffington Post reports that Apple ran a commercial during the 1984 Super Bowl.

The ad, which was directed by sci-fi legend Ridley Scott, was such a success that Apple produced a $50,000 9-minute sequel. The nine minute ad spoofs George Orwell’s “1984″ and features Steve Jobs as FDR.

Jobs says:

“General, you and your brave fighting force have a rendezvous with destiny. Your battle will be long. It will be hard, but it will be won. I’m sure your victory will be great. Insanely great.”

Paul McNamara from Network World obtained the long-lost ad and yesterday a copy of the commercial was posted on Youtube. McNamara said that the 9-minute ad was originally shown to “rally the sales team” and hasn’t seen by many people outside of the Apple family.

The IB Times reports that several of the roles are filled by professional actors but Jobs, and other Apple employees like Apple vice president of marketing Mike Murray, appear in the film.

Here’s a video of the original Super Bowl commercial.

Here’s the nine minute ad.

Steve Jobs Plays FDR In Long-Lost Macintosh Commercial is a post from: The Inquisitr

Think of Apple Inc. and you think of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founding the tech giant in a garage in Cupertino, California, the same town that now houses Apple’s main corporate headquarters. This is where the iPhone, iPod, iMac, and iPad are designed and where the world’s eyes turn when looking for the next new something that will revolutionize consumer electronics and personal computing.

However, reports the New York Times, Apple Inc. has in fact placed “an office in Reno [Nevada], just 200 miles away, to collect and invest the company’s profits” in a move by which “Apple sidesteps state income taxes on some of those gains.”

Since Nevada’s corporate tax rate stands at a big fat zero, as opposed to California’s 8.84 percent, Apple is saving billions of dollars in taxes annually. In this current fiscal year, in which the company is projected to bring in $45.6 billion based on the sales of both physical and digital content, that almost 9 percent is a significant savings.

The Times noted that while Apple is not the only company to engage in measures meant to take advantage of loopholes in the tax code to increase corporate profits. However, the paper noted, Apple is emblematic of the ease by which technology companies can skirt tax regulations.

“Apple serves as a window on how technology giants have taken advantage of tax codes written for an industrial age and ill suited to today’s digital economy. Some profits at companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft derive not from physical goods but from royalties on intellectual property, like the patents on software that makes devices work. Other times, the products themselves are digital, like downloaded songs. It is much easier for businesses with royalties and digital products to move profits to low-tax countries than it is, say, for grocery stores or automakers. A downloaded application, unlike a car, can be sold from anywhere.”

Apple’s tax rates are low even among tax companies, it turns out, and “while the company has remade industries, ignited economic growth and delighted customers, it has also devised corporate strategies that take advantage of gaps in the tax code, according to former executives who helped create those strategies.”

Apple, for instance, was among the first tech companies to designate overseas salespeople in high-tax countries in a manner that allowed them to sell on behalf of low-tax subsidiaries on other continents, sidestepping income taxes, according to former executives. Apple was a pioneer of an accounting technique known as the “Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich,” which reduces taxes by routing profits through Irish subsidiaries and the Netherlands and then to the Caribbean. Today, that tactic is used by hundreds of other corporations — some of which directly imitated Apple’s methods, say accountants at those companies.

Without such tactics, Apple’s federal tax bill in the United States most likely would have been $2.4 billion higher last year, according to a recent study by a former Treasury Department economist, Martin A. Sullivan.

As Apple’s accountants have discovered ways in which to allocate over 70 percent of their profits overseas in countries with beneficial tax codes, it seems like the only one paying the famed “Apple Tax” is you, the consumer.

Especially since they are actually getting tax from some states…

Apple Avoided Billions In Taxes (Allegedly) is a post from: The Inquisitr

Despite being involved in numerous Patent disputes with Apple in courts from Australia to Germany, Korean electronics giant and smartphone manufacturer Samsung has decided that despite its reputation for (allegedly) blatantly ripping off Apple’s design aesthetic and software UI, it is going to favor its soon to be unveiled cloud service with the totally original moniker of S-Cloud. Of course, this bears no resemblance whatsoever to Apple’s iCloud suite of internet services.

The service is rumored to be announced officially at Samsung’s special event next month in which the company is set to announce the Galaxy S III, the sequel to its wildly popular Galaxy S II smartphone. With a user interface and design language eerily similar to those of Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices, the cells and tabs of the Galaxy line has been the center of a heated battle between Samsung and the folks in Cupertino for some time.

According to tech blog Engadget, Samsung will “reportedly offer an ‘unlimited service’ with less of the content or storage restrictions imposed by iCloud. It’ll also apparently come with a VOD-store, offering up audio and video content for a fee, presumably beside what’s available in Google Play.”

Other companies, even (shocker!) before Apple, have offered cloud services, some, such as Box.com and Dropbox, with similar names, but given Samsung’s history of aping Apple, it would not be surprising to see the new S-Cloud being designed along identical lines to the Cupertino cloud.

Apple’s service allows instant or near instant synchronization of data between devices in the company’s “ecosystem.” Among the features are automatic downloading of pictures taken on an iPhone onto an iPad over the internet, purchases made on one device being sent to other user owned devices without human intervention and, best for writers such as myself, the automatic synching of documents, calendar, notes, mail and tasks between devices.

iCloud has not yet replaced services such as Dropbox or Microsoft Skydrive for me, but it has certainly made customer’s livee easier and has been both a major selling point and tool for customer retention for Apple.

Samsung, which manufactures some of the world’s most popular Android handsets, evidently wants its customers to ensnare its customers in a device ecosystem just as Apple has, which, should they succeed, could help revitalize their lackluster tablet sales.

The new service, according to tech news service Tech Radar, will lack “the restrictions and limits found on Apple’s iCloud service, allowing Samsung users to store any content they wish in the cloud.”

“The rumours suggest that Samsung has teamed up with Microsoft to ensure worldwide availability of S-Cloud, which is expected to be available on various Samsung TVs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. S-Cloud users will apparently get more than 5GB of storage, but it’s not clear if that is a free or paid-for allowance. Samsung is also said to be ready to offer various HD quality TV shows and movies as well as music content through its S-Cloud service.”

Meanwhile, Blackberry users be warned, your access to Google’s cloud through the Google Sync app will be coming to an end. While the App installed on your smartphone will still work, the search giant will no longer be offering new downloads after June 1st.

Samsung’s S-Cloud: An iCloud Ripoff? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple CEO Tim Cook is coming out of Steve Jobs’ admittedly long shadow. The former Jobs subordinate and COO was named his boss’ successor last August after the legendary Apple co-founder retired just prior to his passing. Now Cook, who has made headlines by opening up his notoriously secretive company’s overseas trade practices by providing lists of suppliers and publicly discussing working conditions in Foxconn plants in which the company’s products are manufactured, has received his due in the form of inclusion in Time Magazine’s annual List of 100 Most Influential People, ”the people who inspire us, entertain us, challenge us and change our world.”

Cook was included on the most influential list together with Jobs’ biographer, Walter Isaacson, who wrote the tech visionary’s only authorized biography, published right after its subject’s death.

In explaining why he was chosen as one of the most influential men of the year, Time commissioned an essay on Cook by Apple board member and former Vice President Al Gore. According to Gore “Cook knows that his commitment to excellence is inseparable from the incredible ensemble he leads at Apple.” Many, if not most, of the higher executives and technologists from Jobs’ reign still work at Apple and Jonny Ives, the designer behind the iMac, iPhone, iPad and iPod, and one of Jobs’ most trusted subordinates, is still continuing his critical work and it seems that Cook’s success thus far has been to allow Jobs’ personnel choices and product roadmap to stay as they were.

The real test of Cook’s influence and ability to lead will come after the company begins to leave the roadmap that Jobs left behind and forges a new path independent of what Steve would have wanted.

Gore noted that:

Fiercely protective of Jobs’ legacy and deeply immersed in Apple’s culture, Cook, 51, has already led the world’s most valuable and innovative company to new heights while implementing major policy changes smoothly and brilliantly.

Only time will tell…

Out Of Steve Jobs’ Shadow: Time Cook Makes Time’s Top 100 is a post from: The Inquisitr

First-time movie producer Mark Hulme revealed on Sunday that the Steve Jobs biopic he has put together starring Ashton Kutcher will begin filming in May.

The biopic wills start filming at the beginning of the month and will follow Steve Jobs’ life from 1971 through 2000, the same period already explored in the Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley. 

Whether or not you appreciate the acting styling of Ashton Kutcher there is no denying that he really does look like a 1970′s version of Steve Jobs (comparison pictured above).

While Kutcher is no stranger to serious roles (The Butterfly Effect, The Guardian) he is more commonly known for his comedy roles (That 70s Show and Two And A Half Men) and for his producing credits (Punk’d, Beauty And The Geek).

If you’re excited to see the independent film you can find it under the name Jobs: Get Inspired. 

When speaking about the film Kutcher says he expected family and friends of Steve Jobs to enjoy the movie, noting:

“We have proposed for the movie to be an accurate and inspirational portrayal of his fascinating life and the huge impact he had on the world, so yes we expect his family and friends to appreciate it.”

The movie is expected to have of quick turn around time, releasing in the fourth quarter of 2012, likely towards the end of the year.

As a fan of Pirates of Silicon Valley I personally can’t wait to see a biopic that focuses just on the side of Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs Biopic Starring Ashton Kutcher To Begin Filming Next Month is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple Inc. has been riding the wave of success with its popular iPhone, iPad and iMac lines. However, the company’s iconic iPod MP3 music players, while still leading in the portable music player (PMP) field, have increasingly become relegated to irrelevance. While sales of the iPod line of PMPs have remained strong, they have not fared well in comparison to the tablets and smartphones for which Apple is now famous and which duplicate and build on the functionality of the lowly MP3 player.

However, in a bid to remain competitive and in a move to improve their PMP line while they still retain dominance of the field, the wizards of Cupertino have filed a patent for a new iPod that is integrated into a bluetooth headset and which does not require a hand held unit to function.

In the newly filed patent, Apple described what it termed a “Wireless headset with integrated media player” containing “additional functionality” that “allows it to be used during times that the external device with which it is wirelessly coupled is not being used, but when the headset is nevertheless being worn.”

This, Apple explains, would be achieved by

“integrating a media player into the wireless headset. The media player may be an audio player, capable, e.g., of playing audio files such as MPEG-3 (“MP3″) files. Optionally, the media player may include a recording function as well, so that a user can record voice notes. In addition, if the external device is a telephone (mobile or landline), the availability of a recording function could make it possible for the user to record all or part of a conversation. Similarly, voicemail messages received on the user’s telephone could be uploaded into the headset for later off-line playback. Media files recorded by the headset also could be downloaded to the external device.”

What this means, in short, is that instead of pairing your iPod to your bluetooth headphones, your headset would be your iPod. such a device, while most likely unable to utilize the ever popular Siri, would probably include voice commands.

While Apple has not announced plans for a roll-out of such a device, and indeed patents many ideas that it does not incorporate into finished products, such a move of Cupertino’s part would likely enable it o maintain the relevance of its MP3 line after the PMP’s functionality largely disappears as music players are relegated to apps on more versatile gadgets.

Apple last produced a bluetooth earpiece in 2007, the same year that it introduced the iPhone. It has since been discontinued.

Back when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPod (see below), he promised to revolutionize the music business, a promise that he largely kept. However, it remains to be seen if his successors can maintain the forward momentum created by a once in a lifetime visionary.

Apple’s newest iPod to fit in your ear? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ashton Kutcher is going from Two and a Half Men to the indie biopic screen when he takes on the role of Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Kutcher does bare a resemblance to Steve Jobs, especially with his longer Two and a Half men hair which is practically an ode to 1970s Steve Jobs. Come to think of it he plays a billionaire computer genius on the CBS show.

The biopic is titled Jobs and it will be filmed during the Two and a Half Men shooting off-season which means no he isn’t leaving CBS but will instead film the indie flick while on a short hiatus from the show.

The film follows Steve Jobs’ life from his time as a “hippie” to his co-founding role at Apple and eventually as one of the most powerful men in the history of the technology sector and the business world on a whole.

Jobs passed away last October and his death from Cancer was met with autobiographical stories and even a few life like Steve Jobs dolls that were shot down by Apple’s lawyers.

The Jobs indie flick is based on the authorized Steve Jobs bio written by Walter Isaacson.

Sources say Ashton Kutcher will likely sign on for another season of Two and a Half Men although he’s said to be asking for $1 million an episode, a $300,000 pay raise when compared to his current salary for the show.

Shooting on the Jobs biopic would likely start in May, that’s the time when Ashton Kutcher’s role on Two and a Half Men will go on hiatus.

Ashton Kutcher To Portray Steve Jobs In New Film is a post from: The Inquisitr

Funny how to this day Steve Jobs is an innovator and Bill Gates is the cruel capitalist. Apple is still considered the underdog even thought hey are the most valuable company in the world.

Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates is a post from: The Inquisitr

When Tim Cook took over as the permanent CEO of Apple following the death of Steve Jobs there were a lot of skeptics who simply didn’t believe Cook could fill such large shoes. Now a new employee based satisfaction survey seems to show that Apple employees actually prefer their new boss.

Conducted by job hunting and review site Glassdoor.com the anonymous survey of Apple employees gives Tim Cook a final satisfaction score of 97 percent from March 2011 to March 2012. In comparison Steve Jobs’ own ranking was 95 percent from March 2010 through March 2011.

It’s true that Tim Cook wasn’t officially named Apple’s CEO until August 2011, however he served as interim CEO since 2011 when Steve Jobs went on medical leave.

In all fairness 2 percent isn’t a huge difference, especially if we consider the chance that Tim Cook will likely alienate a few workers if he stays at Apple as long as Steve Jobs did. What the survey might provide though is good insight into how Tim Cook’s “honeymoon” period was viewed by Apple employees when his performance is judged in comparison over the coming years.

On the other hand Tim Cook deserves the praise of Apple employees, after becoming the company’s full-time CEO he implemented various programs that benefit his companies workers such as a charitable corporate matching program that is among one of the most generous in the business world.

What might be most impressive is that Glassdoor has released its top  top 25 highest-ranked CEOs in the U.S. and the top 10 ranked tech CEOs, both lists which are sat atop by Tim Cook.

Right now profits are soaring at Apple and its valuation has well exceeded half a trillion dollars. If those profits begin to shrink and the company contracts it will be interesting to see how Apple employees compare Tim Cook to Steve Jobs in the future.

Tim Cook Beats Steve Jobs In Apple Employee Satisfaction Survey is a post from: The Inquisitr

Remember a few months ago when a life-like Steve Jobs doll was announced and then quickly disposed of after Apple threatened to sue the doll’s manufacturer In Icons. Now we have a new Steve Jobs doll on the market and this one is less real looking but a whole lot more cuddly.

Named the iCEO, the plush doll was launched on Wednesday by pillow company Throwboy.

The pillow doll stands 15 inches tall and features removable rimless glasses, a black turtle neck and 100% denim jeans.

If you want to get your hands on the doll it can be pre-ordered for $60 with only 1,200 of the collector edition dollars being sold. Throwboy has also limited purchases to two per person.

The item will begin shipping in August 2012.

Speaking to Mashable the dolls designer Roberto Hoyos said:

“I’ve wanted to design something like this for about 2 years … It really comes from a place of love and it’s took a lot of hard work to get to a design that I was proud of. It was also my way to give back to someone that had a great impact on my life. 10% of the proceeds from each doll goes to the American Cancer Society.”

Throwboy believes its new creation won’t run into the same issues suffered by In Icon although it’s not clear at this point if Apple has been informed about the doll.

In any case attacking a toy that bears a resemblance to Steve Jobs when part of the proceeds will go to fight cancer would seem a bit foolish on Apple’s part.

Do you plan on buying threw Steve Jobs Throwboy doll?

New Steve Jobs Doll Emerges. Will Benefit American Cancer Society If Apple Doesn’t Sue is a post from: The Inquisitr

Making the book promotion rounds Adam Lashinsky, senior editor at Fortune, made a stop at Zillow earlier this month to talk about his “Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired and Secretive Company Really Works” with an interview that was conducted by Zillow Chief Marketing Officer Amy Bohutinsky.

The interview, which was caught on video and embedded below, gave some rather interesting looks into Apple at an especially interesting time for the company with the passing of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook becoming CEO.

One point Lashinsky made was about how Apple deals with the “message of the company” where “They are controlling down to the precise words that they use when they communicate with the outside world about the product, and they are controlling about who can do that”.

As for Apple being a ‘happy’ place to work he said this:

“Users and consumers love Apple. Apple literally has a happy shiny veneer to it. It makes you feel good. And there is nothing shiny or happy about inside the doors of Apple. And, it is true. And you don’t want to overgeneralize, and you don’t want to say there is no joy. Because there is some, particularly in the engineering corps…. But, by and large, it is a very confrontational, work-oriented place.”

Here is the video of Adam Lashinsky’s interview.

via GeekWire

Inside Apple author reveal that it isn’t such a happy place to work [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Apple Inc. has announced its intention to bring even more aspects of its best selling iPad tablet computer (soon coming in an 8″ size?) to the desktop with the sequel to its OSX Lion operating system to be called Mountain Lion.

Due to come out this summer and debuted in a video on Apple’s website, the version of OSX will contain many features culled from Apple’s iOS mobile operating system which comes on all iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches.

While Microsoft’s new Windows 8 is borrowing too heavily from their mobiles WP7 phone operating system, it seems that Apple is cherry-picking the features it believes will enhance the desktop experience.

Despite some criticism by tech bloggers regarding some features in OSX Lion, such as the lack of visible scroll bars, the OS has largely avoided the anger being directed against Microsoft’s new desktop software.

Among the features being borrowed from the iPhone and iPad are tighter Twitter integration, Notification Center, a desktop version of iOS’s Reminders app which will synch with your phone and tablet via iCloud, a messages app which will allow for free texting between all Apple mobile devices, Macbooks and iMacs and a share button that allows you to send files and “Tweet just about anything.”

A Beta preview of the new Messages app can be found on Apple’s website.

It seems that with the tighter integration with it’s cloud service iCloud Cupertino’s new OS will ensnare Apple fanboy’s even more firmly in the grip of the late Steve Jobs’ technological ecosystem.

If only the iPhone 4s’ Siri was coming to the desktop.

Apple brings more of the iPad to the Mac with OSX Mountain Lion [video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The late technology magnate (read: god) Steve Jobs apparently had himself an FBI file, thrown together back in 1991 when he was being considered by Bush the elder for appointment to public office. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, the file has been released to the Wall Street Journal, and if you want it, the 191-page document can be found here. Otherwise, stay tuned for some highlights:

- Jobs’ known use of drugs during his formative years comes up a lot in the file, but those interviewed vouched for Stevie, unanimously agreeing that those days were well behind him.

- Jobs has always been known as an uncompromising businessman, even a tad direct and a little “mean”. One man interviewed, who called himself a former “good friend” of Jobs, said that Steve-O is “basically … honest and trustworthy,” but that “his moral character is suspect.” Jobs, the man continued, “alienated a large number of people at Apple, as a result of his ambition.” Another source who apparently didn’t understand that the interview was about Steve Jobs wished to avoid talking about him entirely, due to “questions concerning his ethics and morality.”

- An attached memo summarizes the background investigation, saying: “Several individuals questioned Mr. Jobs’ honesty stating that Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals.”

- In a bit of a low blow, some interviewees said that Jobs hadn’t been the best dad to his born-out-of-wedlock daughter or her mother, until recently.

- One crowning piece of information, an interviewee described Jobs as “a deceptive individual who who is not completely forthright and honest.” Others said Jobs “has integrity as long as he gets his way.”

- It’s not all bad though! Two interviewees called Jobs “hardworking and driven,” and another complimented his studies in eastern religion, saying that they improved his life.

I think it’s pretty much assumed that if you’re going to make it to the top, you’ve got to step on some folks along the way. But what do you think of Steve Jobs’ FBI profile? Easy to believe or hard to swallow?

Secrets of Steve Jobs: Character Questioned in FBI File, Called “Deceptive” is a post from: The Inquisitr

Before Napster, musicians used to have their music stolen from a device even more devious than the computer. The dreaded radio. Legendary singer Neil Young says that he isn’t worried about digital piracy because it’s just a new version of the radio.

Speaking at a conference, Young addressed the issue of piracy saying:

“It doesn’t affect me because I look at the internet as the new radio. I look at the radio as gone…. Piracy is the new radio. That’s how music gets around… That’s the radio. If you really want to hear it, let’s make it available, let them hear it, let them hear the 95 percent of it.”

Neil Young: Piracy Is The New Radio is a post from: The Inquisitr

Virgin America, a popular flight choice for those in the US, has named a plan in honor of the late and great Steve Jobs. On October 5th, 2011, Steve passed away and left behind a wonderful legacy of innovation and passion.

Through his leadership, he led Apple from a failing company, to the most valuable company in the World. Richard Branson who runs Virgin, has always been inspired by Steve’s work and through an internal naming competition, one of the employees suggested one of his many famous quotes.

Via MSNBC:

“Your inner geek will smile the next time you board a Virgin America flight. After all, there’s a chance that you’ll be stepping onto a plane that is named in honor of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.”

“Virgin America’s Abby Lunardini explained to me that one of the airline’s jets — an Airbus A320 — has “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” stenciled on its nose as the result of an internal plane naming competition which was run in the fall of 2011. At that time, the aircraft name was submitted ”as a tribute” to Jobs by one of Virgin America’s employees. The plane entered service late last year.”

Even with the competition in the airline industry and losses, the company is still pushing forward. Higher fuel costs are attributed to the decrease in profits. Despite that, Richard Branson’s vision for the airline is to provide a great value with style, comfort, and solid customer service.

People are apparently happy as their number of passengers recently rose 38%.

Have you ever flown Virgin America or see yourself doing so?

Virgin America Remembers Steve Jobs is a post from: The Inquisitr

Adam Lashinsky, senior editor at Fortune and the author of the upcoming book, ‘Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired — and Secretive — Company Really Works’, talked about some of the things that Apple does when it comes to keeping secrets.

Now, it’s nothing new to know that the tech giant is very secretive about certain information and project details. They’ve been known to be like the CIA when it comes to keeping information under wraps and away from the public as well as tech bloggers’ eyes and ears.

Because of this secrecy, Apple is very much talked about and very buzz worthy in the blogging space because their secrets encourage rumors, reports, anonymous sources coming forward, and all of that jazz.

Via Fortune:

“Apple goes to great lengths to maintain discipline. “There were just these things that were kept very, very secret,” said a former senior executive. “There was a project we were working on where we put in special locks on one of the floors and put up a couple of extra doors to hide away a team that was working on stuff. You had to sign extra-special agreements acknowledging that you were working on a super-secret project and you wouldn’t talk about it to anyone — not your wife, not your kids.”

Steve Jobs was very serious when it came to keeping details locked away and was even reported as saying “Anything disclosed from this meeting will result not just in termination but in the prosecution to the fullest extent that our lawyers can.”

Another interesting story:

“For the most part, Apple counts on its employees to censor themselves. But in some cases it pays attention to what employees say when they are out of the office – even when they’ve only walked across the street for a beer. BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse is tucked so close to Apple’s Cupertino campus that insiders jokingly refer to it as IL‑7, for “Infinite Loop 7,” a building that doesn’t exist. Company lore holds that plainclothes Apple security agents lurk near the bar at BJ’s and that employees have been fired for loose talk there.”

Adam’s new book comes out January 25th and looks to be quite an interesting read for Apple fans and people simply interested in the company and how it operates.

Do you think Apple takes secrets too far?

Apple Almost Like The CIA When It Comes To Keeping Secrets is a post from: The Inquisitr