TRAILER: Steve Jobs

Wired recaps the new trailer:

So the first trailer for Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic didn’t really let Jobs himself speak, despite the fact that the movie contains dialogue by the ever-verbose Aaron Sorkin. Instead it focused on voiceovers from everyone else as a contemplative Steve Jobs stood on stage. This time around, however, Steve speaks. And as played by Michael Fassbender, he speaks very well. The actor was a strange choice for the Apple founder—let’s face it, they look almost nothing alike—but if this trailer shows anything, it’s that Fassbender is in this to win it. As is Seth Rogen, playing Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, and Kate Winslet as Macintosh marketing head Joanna Hoffman. It’s still hard to tell if this flick, which follows three different Apple product launches, will actually be good, but at least now we know a little more about what it looks like.

TRAILER: Steve Jobs

Via Business Insider:

Aaron Sorkin's movie "Steve Jobs" has gone through its share of iterations, with many members of the cast and the original director leaving the project, but it now appears as if the film is off the ground. Universal Studios just released the first trailer for the film, which shows star Michael Fassbender as the iconic Apple founder. Rounding out the cast are Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, Kate Winslet as Mac engineer Joanna Hoffman, and Jeff Daniels as John Sculley. The film, which was directed by Danny Boyle, is set to be released this October.

RUSSIA: Steve Jobs Memorial Torn Down Because Apple CEO Tim Cook Came Out

Via Business Insider:

Residents of Saint Petersburg have reportedly torn down a giant interactive iPhone memorial that commemorated the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs after the company's current CEO, Tim Cook, came out as gay on Thursday. Business FM Radio reports that the company that originally funded the memorial, ZEFS, decided to tear it down after Cook said he was proud to be gay. The six-foot tall memorial was erected in 2013 to celebrate Steve Jobs' life. It featured a large screen that showcased moments from Jobs' life, as well as scrolling quotations from his speeches and a QR code on the back that would take people who scanned it to a website.

The chairman of the company that installed the memorial said that it might return with a message that instructs Russians not to buy Apple products. (Tipped by JMG reader Alan)

TRAILER: Jobs

A Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher.

Thank You, Steve

I decided to read the wingut New York Post over breakfast this morning, something I very rarely do, because I was curious to see teabagger teeth-gnashing over Sarah Palin's announcement. What I found at the front of the paper was four full pages of tributes to Steve Jobs. (Plus the cover.) And way way way back in the lower right corner of page 16? One sentence about Sarah Palin. Even in death, Steve Jobs does the world good.

Obama On Steve Jobs

The White House has released a statement by the president.

Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it. By building one of the planet's most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.

Posted Via iPhone

(Source)

Open Thread Thursday

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BREAKING: Steve Jobs Has Died

Mere weeks after he stepped down as the long-running CEO of Apple due to health reasons, computer icon Steve Jobs has died. I'll add to this post when further details are available.

[Image credit: Apple.com]

Steve Jobs Resigns At Apple

Steve Jobs resigned today as CEO of Apple, spawning rumors that his health was once again declining. The company's board of directors announced that COO Tim Cook (left) will take the position. You may recall that Cook was outed in January by the gossip site Gawker. In April, Out Magazine declared that Cook was the nation's most powerful gay person.

Apple Unveils iCloud

At today's Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Steve Jobs gave up the details of the company's much-discussed cloud-based music service.

The new iCloud service replaces Apple's MobileMe document-sharing offering, which cost $99 a year. The new iCloud service is free and available now with an iOS 4.3 update, Jobs said. With iCloud, content such as music and documents is stored on large servers instead of on personal hard drives—and is accessible from anywhere through the Internet. Apple will provide 5 gigabytes of free storage for mail, documents and backup. The new iCloud service is Apple's seal of approval of what many experts believe is the next major iteration of the digital world.

Steve Jobs Unveils iPad 2

Steve Jobs' iPhone Demo Fail

Here's the video of the iPhone launch snafu that I mentioned yesterday. Jobs blames the issue on too many bloggers hogging the room's wi-fi signal.

At The New iPhone Launch

HuffPo reports from the launch of the iPhone 4....

1:45PM ET: Oops! Jobs is struggling with connectivity problems during his iPhone 4 demo. He tries to load a New York Times website--without success. He gets the error message "cannot activate cellular networks." What happened, via CNET:

[Jobs:] "I'm sorry guys, I don't know what's going on." "Got any suggestions?" he asks. Someone shouts "Verizon!" Jobs says "We're actually on Wi-Fi here."

Snork! Some of the new phone's specs are here.

Family Research Council Applauds Steve Jobs For Porn-Free iPad

The Family Research Council would like you to know that they are VERY appreciative of Steve Jobs' attempts to keep Apple devices free of nasty porn.

The new Apple iPad offers consumers plenty of things--including "freedom from porn," according to chief executive Steve Jobs. In an exchange with blogger Ryan Tate, who disagreed with the suggestion that the iPad is a revolution, Jobs said, "[This is about] freedom"--including, he wrote, "freedom from porn." Tate accused the company of "imposing...morality" on customers. "Porn is just fine!" the reporter insisted. The Apple boss disagreed. "You might care about porn when you have kids." In an era of corporate irresponsibility, it's nice to see one company taking a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, the Apple Empire has a little farther to go. For now, users can still download Playboy apps, but this is certainly a good start. While some executives try to out-sleaze their competition, we're grateful that Jobs is trying to keep the iPad from becoming an eyesore.

Steve Jobs wants freedom from porn. And Flash!

Steve Jobs: Flash Is Evil

Apple guru Steve Jobs today issued a denouncement of Adobe's popular Flash technology. Apple has been widely criticized because the iPad does not support Flash. Jobs' list of complaints about Flash is quite long and concludes with this:

Besides the fact that Flash is closed and proprietary, has major technical drawbacks, and doesn’t support touch based devices, there is an even more important reason we do not allow Flash on iPhones, iPods and iPads. We have discussed the downsides of using Flash to play video and interactive content from websites, but Adobe also wants developers to adopt Flash to create apps that run on our mobile devices. We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.

Have at it, fanboys.

Jobs Leaving Apple Due To Health

Confirming the worst fear of many Apple stockholders, yesterday Steve Jobs announced that he was taking a medical leave from the company.

Casting a pall over one of the world’s most closely watched companies, Steven P. Jobs, chief executive of Apple, said on Wednesday that he was taking a leave of absence because of health concerns. Timothy Cook, left, chief operating officer at Apple, and Philip Schiller, a senior vice president, at the Macworld conference last week. Mr. Cook will now handle day-to-day operations. Mr. Jobs wrote in a letter to Apple employees, released after the markets closed, that he had learned over the last week that his health problems were “more complex” than he originally thought. He said he planned to return to Apple at the end of June and in the meantime would hand day-to-day control of Apple over to Timothy D. Cook, its longtime chief operating officer. Mr. Jobs, 53, wrote that curiosity about his health continued “to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well.” He said he would maintain the chief executive title and stay involved in major strategic decisions. Mr. Jobs’s leave of absence is the latest twist in a story that has left the company’s shareholders, analysts and ardent fans exasperated and straining to divine any hidden meanings in the company’s vaguely worded communications.

Apple stock is diving on the news in markets worldwide.

iHormones

If you follow the tech blogs, you'll know that for weeks they've been buzzing about Apple head Steve Job's health and that he won't appear at this year's MacWorld, which begins tomorrow. Apple's PR flacks have been insisting that Jobs is fine, but Apple stock has suffered from the speculation. Today Jobs came out with the truth.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority. Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis. The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

Strangely enough, Apple's market value soared over $2B today on the news. Via Valleywag:

Investors are, perversely, happier knowing Jobs is unwell. Which means it's time for him to go. He has done incredible things for Apple in the past decade, rescuing a company that the industry viewed as certainly moribund. But the lack of clarity about his future has become an albatross for the company. The stock market hates risk. So the possibility that Apple might lose Jobs's services through death and illness gets discounted; as far as investors are concerned, Jobs is already dead to them. Which is the real reason why we're seeing Apple marketing executive Phil Schiller, Jobs's jokey demo sidekick, give Jobs's keynote speech tomorrow. Jobs may be better by the spring. But it's time for his company to act like he's gone.