Tag Archives: much
Why Steve Jobs’ Cup of Coffee Would Go for Much More Than Tim Cook’s
If you’re thirsty, you can grab a cup of Joe with Apple CEO Tim Cook and talk to him about, well, just about anything.
Right now, Cook is auctioning off the amount of time it takes to sip a cup of coffee to one lucky (and rich) fan. As of this writing, the bid stands at $ 190,000, even though its estimated value is $ 50,000. And since there are nearly three weeks left to bid, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if that figure runs much, much higher.
But as I look at the bids rising and people lining up for the opportunity to talk to Cook, I can’t help but wonder what would happen if Steve Jobs were alive and offering the same deal for charity. And if I’m right, there’s a good chance that the cup of coffee Steve Jobs would be talking over would cost a bit more than Cook’s.
“Tim Cook isn’t the most dynamic person in the world.”
Let’s face it – Tim Cook isn’t the most dynamic person in the world. He’s undoubtedly one of the most successful people in the technology industry and if anything, he knows how to run a truly massive company. But Cook is not Steve Jobs. More importantly, Cook hasn’t elevated himself to the level of Superman within the technology industry.
The issue for Tim Cook is that he’s viewed by some as simply riding the wave that Steve Jobs created. And with reports that Jobs himself left a roadmap of products for Apple before he died, there are some who believe that Cook is only doing what he was told to do a couple of years ago. In other words, he doesn’t get much respect, even though he truly deserves it.
Steve Jobs, meanwhile, had God-like status among technology enthusiasts. When he walked on stage, it didn’t take long for the standing ovation to commence and tech lovers around the world to start to drool. And when he started speaking, Jobs had the unique ability to captivate an audience and make them truly believe that whatever it was that he pulled out of his pocket was special.
“Steve Jobs, meanwhile, had God-like status among technology enthusiasts.”
More importantly, Jobs was highly respected among businesspeople – the most likely group to win the Tim Cook bid. Jobs was able to turn around a dying company and turn it into the world’s largest. Tim Cook hasn’t achieved that just yet. And among executives, he’s not at the same level as his predecessor.
So, I ask you: how much would a cup of coffee with Steve Jobs actually cost? If I were a betting man, I’d say that it would hit $ 500,000 or more. Sure, it’s high, but we’re talking about the one man in the history of the technology industry that was able to turn the head of nearly everyone around the world. And some people would have given much more than a bundle of cash to sit next to him at a table.
Of course, this is not to say that Tim Cook is not worth having a discussion with or doing a good thing by offering his time. But let’s face it: Tim Cook isn’t Steve Jobs. And despite his best efforts, he never will be.
Why Steve Jobs’ Cup of Coffee Would Go for Much More Than Tim Cook’s is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
SlashGear
Smartphone Screen Sizes Keep On Growing — But Not for Much Longer
Samsung, which believes bigger isn’t better, it’s the best, has introduced another mammoth smartphone, the appropriately named Galaxy Mega. It’s the latest handset to embrace the growing trend toward bigger, bigger and still bigger phones — but it’s a trend …
Gadget Lab
social media | Twitter’s Big Challenge: Too Much Twitter
Sometimes at night I reach over and pluck my phone from my nightstand, press a little blue icon, and suddenly the whole world is in bed with me, talking. This is deeply unhealthy, of course, for my sleep patterns, my …
Gadget Lab
Verizon now rates apps by how much data, battery life they consume
BGR
Grand Theft Auto V for next-gen consoles: not so much
This week the developers behind Grand Theft Auto V (aka GTA5) have made it clear that the delay they’re experiencing with the release of their next-generation game has nothing to do with Microsoft and Sony releasing new consoles this year. While Take-Two chief executive officer Strauss Zelnick’s words didn’t explicitly confirm nor deny the idea that the Xbox 720 or PlayStation 4 will exist in the very near future, the idea that GTA:V will be released on those mystical machines seems to have been clearly dashed.
According to Venture Beat, Zelnick today denied the idea that the GTA delay “had anything to do with the next-gen systems.” This confirmation takes the game out of the hard place that exists between the release date of either of the new console gaming systems, but it puts its own release in a new odd spot. This spot is one where GTA:V could be one of the last big-name games to be released for the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
So here’s the question for you gamers out there – if this new GTA game does indeed live up to the hype that Take-Two is issuing today, will you still feel like it’ll be worth the purchase even when a new console might be yours in the near future? Zelnick spoke up about this idea this week as well: “There is not one gamer who is going to sit out Grand Theft Auto V hoping that something down the road will be better.” Sound pretty definitive to us!
Zelnick also once again supported the idea that Grand Theft Auto V would be released inside September of 2013. This release date will keep the game as the only “major” release for the whole month unless something else comes along between here and there – we shall see! Zelnick’s assurance that GTA:V will “blow people away at a level people don’t anticipate” has us more than pumped to see it live!
Grand Theft Auto V for next-gen consoles: not so much is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
SlashGear
RIM’s BlackBerry Rebranding Is Much More Than a Name Change
It’s out with the old and in with the new as RIM rebrands itself with a new name, a new operating system and a new phone. It’s a bold step for a company that made several missteps after ruling the …
Gadget Lab
Chicago’s Matt Forte plays football much better than he sings (VIDEO)
On Sunday, Matt Forte and his Chicago Bears lost for the sixth straight time to the Green Bay Packers. Can you blame him for wanting to spend the next day surrounded with holiday cheer? Forte joined football players from Tilden High School (who he has a history with) to hand out gift cards, candy and toys courtesy of Duracell to passersby in downtown Chicago. Later, he visited a firehouse and the Lurie Children’s Hospital.
He also led the kids in song … sort of.
So, it’s a good thing the man can run with a football for a living.
RED Cameras Now Much, Much Cheaper
We’ve passed the savings on to you… 
Photo: Greg Broom/Wired
RED’s Hollywood-worthy HD video cameras just got way, way cheaper. On Friday, CEO Jim Jannard (who also founded eyewear goliath Oakley) posted in a RED users’ forum that the company would be reducing the price of many of its professional-grade cameras by up to 45 percent. According to Jannard, the price drop is the result of the company’s incredibly efficient factory in Irvine, California.
Yes, you read that right. A company managed to lower its own costs — while manufacturing in the U.S., no less — and rather than just keeping the higher margins, it passed the savings on to consumers. Nice one, Jannard.
If you’re in the market for a RED camera, here are the new prices, with some old ones in parenthesis, for reference:
– 5K EPIC-X Brain: $ 19,000 (down from $ 34,500)
– 5K EPIC-X Monochrome Brain: $ 20,000
– 5K EPIC-M Brain: $ 24,000 (down from $ 39,500)
– 5K/4K Scarlet Brain: $ 7,950 (down from $ 9,700)
– 4.5K RED ONE M-X Battle Tested: $ 4,000
Jannard posted on the same RED forum on Oct. 26 that the price cuts were coming. He wrote, “We can continue to charge the same for an EPIC (and now make an obscene amount of profit) or lower the price.” When’s the last time a CEO gave up the chance to buy an island so auteurs could afford to shoot another movie about isolation and desperation on the beach?
How much iCloud storage do you need?
Over the weekend, Apple pulled the trigger and extended existing MobileMe subscribers’ 20GB of free iCloud storage for another year. It was a nice surprise for those that have recently transitioned their accounts over to iCloud only to find that the standard free 5GB of iCloud space does not go very far. This extension of a transition period is a good thing for iCloud users as we all adjust to life in the iCloud. Depending on how you choose to use it, iCloud can take up either a lot or a little space.
When MobileMe was a paid service the only content that was automatically stored on your MobileMe account was your email, calendar, Safari bookmarks and notes. If you wanted to use your MobileMe space to also host your family photos and videos, you had to manually do so by electing to share your content from within iPhoto, iMovie or even iWeb.
But things have changed now that the transition from MobileMe to iCloud is now complete. People who have recently switched will notice that there is now even more data that is automatically stored in your iCloud account than to its predecessor. Your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch can easily be set up to automatically store all of your app’s data files and your individual device backups in addition to your email, calendar, Safari bookmarks and notes.
With OS X Mountain Lion, your Mac will also by default start storing your documents in your iCloud account — this allows your files and app data to be shared across all of your devices. With the enhancements that Apple has made with Galleries on both the OS X and iOS versions of iPhoto, you can once again host your family photos using your iCloud storage. And as photo resolutions keep getting larger, as well as the resolution of the devices that display them, the question that remains is 5GB — the free entry-level storage size for iCloud — is enough space for an individual to use?
On Macs with Mountain Lion you have the ability to decide on an individual basis what files will and will not be stored on iCloud. This level of control however has not been extended to iOS, as its only configuration is an “all-in” or “all-out” when it comes to the ability for apps to store their data on iCloud. Some third-party apps on iOS will let you choose between iCloud and other cloud based storage solutions like DropBox. With the Apple’s own apps in particular, you will find that you are storing more information via your iCloud account than you have in the past.
If you manage your backups wisely, and don’t store too many files on your Mac to your iCloud account, 5GB can successfully manage two iOS devices and a Mac. If on the other hand you rely upon iCloud backups for all of your devices, and depend on your photos being backed up to your iCloud account, and you have been opting to store more and more files from your Mac on your iCloud account, then 5GB will not get you very far.
Fortunately your Photo Stream, comprised of your most recent 1,000 photos, which only stick around for 30 days, does not count against your iCloud space quota. This also includes the additional Shared Photo Streams that you create for sharing with your family and friends: They too do not count against your iCloud storage quota.
But what takes up the most space on your iCloud storage will be your iOS device backups. This is primarily due to the fact that iOS will by default backup your entire Camera Roll to your iCloud storage. You can however take control of what apps do and what apps do not get backed up by performing the following steps:
- In your iOS Settings, tap on iCloud and select “Storage and Backup”.
- If your iCloud Backup setting is turned on for that device, tap on “Manage Storage”.
- Select the backup file for the device you are currently using.
- Selectively turn on and off which apps data you want to back up the next time you perform a backup.
All iCloud storage is shared across all of your devices, iOS and OS X alike. If you still find that’s not enough space for you, here is how you can check on how much space your stuff is taking up:
- On OS X, goto System Preferences and select your iCloud preferences.
- Click on the “Manage” button in the bottom right hand corner to see a list of apps that are storing data on your iCloud account.
- On iOS, goto the Setting app and select your iCloud settings.
- Click on the “Storage & Backup” selection, then click on the “Manage Storage” option to see a list of apps that are storing data on your iCloud account.
If you discover, as I have, that 5GB of storage space on iCloud is not enough, you can opt to purchase more. And for the same price as an individual MobileMe subscription, you can get up to 55GB of space for that same $ 99 per yr. I only hope that 55GB will be enough space for my iCloud needs by this time next year.
