Tag: Apple

Five Bullet Review: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (Book)

On By rmascardoIn Apple, Steve JobsLeave a comment

The Five Bullet Review is a condensed review format in as it states, five bullets

  • Bullet #1 — The good
  • Bullet #2 — The bad 
  • Bullet #3 — The ugly 
  • Bullet #4 — The surprising
  • Bullet #5 — Recommendation

I would definitely categorize myself as an “Apple Fan Boy”.  When I was in middle school (circa 1989-1990) I found a dial-in bulletin board system (BBS) that hosted an online stock portfolio game where folks would be given pretend $100,000 to invest in stocks.  Well, I put all my pretend $100,000 in Apple at the time because I was just caught up in Steve Jobs and that intersection of technology and the arts. It inspired me to focus on computer science and drove my passion to build great products throughout my career. I’m sure I failed the “balanced portfolio” aspect of the game but I think I would have won the long term return on investment game.  Apple stock was priced around $0.30 in 1990. My $100,000 investment in Apple in 1989 would be worth roughly $55 million today.  Not bad.

Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011. I remember where I was that day — at my desk running an engineering team for a mobile game studio in San Francisco building some of the first mobile games on the Apple iPhone. I even remember writing a brief blog post when it happened.

Cover of Apple.com on October 6, 2011

Walter Isaacson’s book Steve Jobs came out soon after on October 24, 2011. The movie based on Walter Isaacson’s book screenplay written by Aaron Sorkin and staring Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen and Seth Daniels came out in October 2015.  All right on top of each other.

I recently had an opportunity re-read the book and re-watch the movie. 

This review will be about the book, the movie and Steve. 

  • The good — the book is very well written and very detailed.  It’s a very long but reads very fast.  Steve’s personality is so complex. He followed his heart and worked his ass off.  His perseverance through adversity is amazing to witness.   The setbacks are part of our journey and I think we’re all too easy to give up when it gets hard. 
  • The bad  — the movie was entertaining but felt forced in some places.  It’s hard to believe the entire movie happened at three product launch events.   The book was much better. 
  • The ugly  — its interesting to think what would have happened if Steve Jobs didn’t die.  I bet there would have been many more years of innovation left in him. 
  • The surprising  — Steve Jobs is no Jesus.  His personality had its imperfections and those imperfections likely helped drive him towards the success he became.  Also, it’s amazing to me how detailed Steve got into the development of new products.  His name is on over 458 patents.    
  • Recommendation — If you are even a little bit an Apple fan or enjoy a story of the persistence, you will enjoy this book.  I highly recommend it.    

Bonus: If you have a moment, rewatch Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl advertisement, Apple’s Think Different advertisement and his commencement speech at Stanford University.  Very enjoyable.  I re-watched his commencement speech with my daughter.    

Leave a comment.  Thank you for reading! 

-rjm

Little Known Self Driving Car Features

On By rmascardoIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

road_ready_small.jpg

There is so much talk right now of self driving cars a la the Jetsons or Total Recall. Tesla, Apple, GE/Lyft, and Google are all piling on in the news.  It’s all very interesting — but I do imagine a bunch of slow ass cars crashing into each other in the beginning.  But more importantly, as a software programmer — I’m intrigued by features that will be built for the self driving car as the technology matures.  I wonder what those could be …

  • “Back seat driving mode” — passenger can yell criticisms about its driving and the car will then respond “Would you rather drive?”
  • “Zone out mode” — car will day dream and have absolutely no idea how it got to its destination.
  • “Filipino Mom Driving Mode” — jerky driving with frequent unplanned stops at yard sales, Walmart’s or Chinese Buffets.  Will also travel so close to the car in front of them as to be able to to invite them to dinner.
  • Preprogrammed responses to Police Officers when caught speeding — a la “I didn’t know how fast I was going.” or “My other auto driving car is pregnant.” or “My my, you are very handsome.”
  • “Teenage driving loop” – No real destination other than driving up and down the street with increased music volumes. Loop will be determined by leading car with passengers of the opposite sex.
  • “Inability to merge mode” (only available in Seattle cars and required by the state of Washington) — highway on ramps will be complete nightmares as cars will stack up as cars will just stop thinking that’s a wise way to “merge”
  • “Late for Anniversary Dinner Mode” — will run 50 mph over regulated speed limits with frequent lane changes. Optional to include stop at Jared’s for a gift.
  • “LSD Mode” — will drive on the highway at 15 mph but think it’s going 85 mph
  • “Low gas mode” — will take the car as close to possible to running out of gas and will calculate walking distances to a gas station to freak out passengers
  • “Kid mode” — devices, snacks and live clown will be deployed to the back seat with the kids. Optionally, 20 questions game will available where the computer might pick obscure items like “dirt”, “needle” and my imaginary friend “stu” who I’ve never talked to you about.
  • “Auto car lock and protection mode” — when entering a socio-economic area different from the owner, car doors will lock and an arm will secure closest available purse.
  • “Moving a mattress mode” — single arm will deploy out window to secure bulky item on roof.  Highway travel is required for this mode but at far reduced speeds.

Here’s to the future!  As scary as it might be!

Square is Cool

On By rmascardoIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Check out this new company called Square.  It turns your iPhone into a point of sale device.  iPhone’s, iTouch’s and the new iTablet (set to announce tomorrow) are natural fits for cost effective point of contact devices.  Why pay high prices for a specialized point of contact device when you can just write an app?

Can’t Get into iPhone Tech Talks

On By rmascardoIn Apple, iPhone, iphone tech talk, mobile developmentLeave a comment

I’ve been trying to get into these iPhone Tech Talks with no success.  Full!  Meanwhile, I’m forced to hack it on my own which does not bother me to too much.    If you happen to attend any of the talks, let me know what you thought of it.  I’m curious to know how good the free content is.

Dear Renato Mascardo,

Thank you for your interest in attending the iPhone Tech Talk being held in San Jose on 12 December 2008.Due to an overwhelming response, we have reached the maximum capacity for the venue and cannot confirm your registration. We will keep you informed of any future iPhone developer events scheduled in your area.

We appreciate and value your interest in developing for iPhone.

Regards,

iPhone Developer Program