Steve Jobs

A man who shaped the world has now left it behind.  Steve Jobs has passed.  He was a wizard who took technology and put it in the hands of the common man.  In 1976, he and Steve Wozniak built something called a personal computer in a garage in southern California and in doing so changed everything.  Here is an excellent piece on his life: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44794276/ns/us_news/#.To0HenJENNs.

Wikipedia mentions towards the end of Job’s article – just before the reference section that, “After his resignation as Apple's CEO, Jobs was characterized as the Thomas Edison and Henry Ford of his time.”  Yeah, that’s not a bad description.  Full article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs.  

The 1999 TV film, “The Pirates of Silicon Valley” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168122/) is in serious need of a sequel.  There is so much more to the story then the pre-iPod time period where it ends.  I would humbly implore whoever makes it to please use the same cast and put it onto BIG screens this time.  Hey, it worked for, “The Social Network” and it would work here too.  Really, it is owed to history to do it right.   

I will leave the poetry and the ponderings to better writers than I; however I will leave you with this quote from Mr. Jobs.  "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life," he said. "Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

I never owned an Apple but I wouldn’t be typing this blog on my beat-up old laptop if it weren’t for the visionary that we have just now lost; a man who changed the world and shaped the future.  Some souls make their mark on history and he was a man who helped define our time.

Godspeed, Mr. Jobs

Another County Heard From

I’ve been on an e-reader kick and I had the choice narrowed down to one of two units – the iPad or the Kobo. I showed Mother Hen the Kobo and a few hours later she presents me with this other possible e-reader option, the Aluratek Libre. It’s got a long battery life, a couple of gig for space, an easy to read 5 inch screen and a doable price (about a buck forty). It does not have wireless ordering but I don’t mind if I have to USB it into my laptop to upload books; especially when the 2 gigs will hold about a thousand books. It is a LOT cheaper than the iPad and unlike the Kobo it is available now. Now if I could only get a sleeve for it that says, “Don’t Panic!” I’d be in geek nirvana.

It may be our first e-reader.

Here’s hopin’!