Book Review: Steve Jobs

by: Walter Isaacson

Unprecedented access. That’s what Walter Isaacson got from Steve Jobs and that’s what the reader gets from Steve Jobs.

Most people know his story, especially the past decade or so. But this biography has a lot of inside information that the public never had access to: behind the scenes stories and glimpses into a brilliant mind. But with that brilliance came a dark side. He was a perfectionist and therefore a very difficult and demanding boss. The fact that he was so hands as a CEO made it even more of an issue with confrontations between him and employees becoming common daily occurrences.

But people believed in his vision and would follow him anywhere. His list of successes is enviable; the original Macintosh, iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad, nevermind his co-creation and leadership of Pixar (yes, that Pixar). He was a showman first and foremost but was also a design freak. He lived by the mantra of minimalism and making things as simple as possible.

This life story is so packed with information that I can’t even write a cohesive blog post about it. Read this book for the true tale of Steve Jobs.

iPhone 5! Wait, no…

Get ready for Apple’s newest release the "S"! That’s right, much like the old iPhone 3G, the iPhone 4 was found worthy of an "S" update. WOW!!!!

Speed? Sass? Not quite. The "S" stands for Siri. Much like those hands free sync systems they have in cars now ("Call Home", "Play Radiohead", etc.) Apple managed to shrink the technology to fit inside an iPhone. But not an iPhone 5.

I’m kidding of course. Yes, everyone is disappointed that Apple didn’t release a new phone but there’s no way Steve Jobs would have left his post before a huge announcement like that. Anyway, Siri appears to be quite a tool. Through voice commands you can have her read your messages, check the weather, do online searches, add calendar appointments, set reminders, and more.

My big question is unless you’re driving, when would it be useful? The iPhone is already so simplistic that this just seems unnecessary in most situations. Am I missing something or is that exactly why Apple stock dropped 0.6% after the announcement? Let me know in the comments.

Amazon Kindle Fire

It's hard to believe that there have been no serious competitors to the iPad in the nearly 18 months since it was introduced. Today we may have the first as Amazon unveiled the Kindle Fire.

"How," you ask, "can a tablet with only 8 gigs of memory, barely 10,000 available apps, and no camera or microphone be considered competition?" Two words: Amazon and $199.

Amazon is a known and trusted brand. People will give them an opportunity just because it's them. But Amazon has even one upped that by wrapping the entire Kindle Fire around their services. Books, movies, music, cloud storage - all easily accessible through your Amazon account.

$199 is a great price; nay, a fantastic price. It's less than half the price of an iPad. Everyone knows Apple makes great products and that they are priced with that quality in mind. But this... this is a game changer. This is where families take their first foray into the tablet market; this is where it becomes more than just an item to show off; this is where the tablet becomes the next Walkman.