Technology | Scott Piggott

Working With Steve Jobs

Great article on working with Steve Jobs. By someone who actually worked with him – former Adobe, NeXT, and Apple employee Glenn Reid.

I can still remember some of those early meetings, with 3 or 4 of us in a locked room somewhere on Apple campus, with a lot of whiteboards, talking about what iMovie should be (and should not be). It was as pure as pure gets, in terms of building software. Steve would draw a quick vision on the whiteboard, we’d go work on it for a while, bring it back, find out the ways in which it sucked, and we’d iterate, again and again and again. That’s how it always went. Iteration. It’s the key to design, really. Just keep improving it until you have to ship it.

I think in many ways Apple still adheres to this philosophy of releasing an MVP and continuously iterating again and again and again until they have a polished, mature product.

Read the full article.

Wow! What a blast from the past. Check out these screenshots from the first public beta of Mac OS X (full article). I remember using this build (and the previous Developer Previews) and marveling at the stability compared to Mac OS 9 and Windows 3.1. Still, I was convinced in short order despite the dearth of available apps and began using it full-time with the release of Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah. Good times!

WiFi That Just Works?

I ran across eero the other day. It bills itself as a “the world’s first WiFi system. A set of three eeros covers the typical home. They work in unison to deliver hyper-fast, super-stable WiFi to every nook of every room.”

Very stylish, Apple-like hardware. I’ll be interested to see if the software and app deliver everything promised on their website – 60-second setup, mesh networking, one-tap guest access, high performance, automatic updates, advanced security and simplicity. If so, this could be a very welcome addition to many homes.

Pre-order pricing for a single device is $125, while a set of three will cost you $299. But those prices won’t be the same forever — the final retail pricing will be $199 for one and $499 for a three-pack. Pre-orders are now closed and their website says they will be available to order in early 2016 – presumably at the higher prices.

How Mobile is Changing Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior and expectations have forever changed. With powerful phones in our pockets, we do more than just check the time, text a spouse, or catch up with friends. We turn to our phones with intent and expect brands to deliver immediate answers. It’s in these I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-do, I-want-to-buy moments that decisions are made and preferences are shaped.

Think With Google: 4 New Moments Every Marketer Should Know

The Definitive OS X 10.10 Yosemite Review

Unbelievably-detailed look at the latest OS release from Apple by tech blogger John Siracusa.

$700

Apple’s stock price broke the $700 mark today after announcing the iPhone 5 set a record with over two million pre-orders during the first 24 hours of availability last Friday. AAPL has risen over 65% in nine months.

$500

On Monday, Apple shares hit $500 for the first time and closed today at $509.46.

Steve Jobs Has Died

At 7:32pm I got a notification from CNN on my iPad2, “Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, has died, according to the company”. And just like that, one of the most influential people in my life – and one of my heroes – is gone.

Fix for Slow iPad Sync and Backup Failure

The other day I started experiencing very slow iPad syncs which ultimately resulted in backup failures. The process would hang at “backing up” in the iTunes status bar approximately 90% through the sync/backup process. It appeared that the existing backup was corrupted. The solution that worked for me was to delete the existing backup in iTunes and completely re-sync.

Connect your iPad.
Go to iTunes Preferences > Devices.
From the list of device backups, highlight your iPad’s backup file and click on the “Delete Backup…” button.
After deleting the backup disconnect your iPad and shut it down.
Quit iTunes.
Power on your iPad and connect it to your computer.
iTunes should start up and automatically perform a sync. If it doesn’t, click on your iPad in the left-hand column of iTunes and click the “Sync” button.

Category: Technology