– http://linuxinfo.org/the-price-fixing-email-that-steve-jobs-sent-to-james-murdoch/

What makes entrepreneurs different?

Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for new opportunities. They are watching what their competitors are doing. They learn from developments in other business sectors. They spot potential in new technologies. They pick up on ideas from overheard conversations. They do not spend their time oblivious to the world around them.

Entrepreneurs don’t whinge or at least not for long. Instead entrepreneurs look for a solution to the problem, one which will make them money. Most mothers, faced with problems getting their baby to sleep in a pram would just moan or stay home, Cara Sayer invented SnoozeShade which sells across the world. James Dyson didn’t whinge about inefficient vacuum cleaners or hand driers he invented better ones.

Not everyone was quick to see the potential. English: Apple iPad Event (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Remember when Steve Jobs launched the iPad? Journalists were quick to say that Apple had got it wrong this time. We can laugh now but whilst the journalists were rubbishing the idea entrepreneurs were spotting the potential for making money. Look at all the things you can now do with your iPad because entrepreneurs were quick to spot its potential.

Change your habits

So the next time you find yourself moaning about a problem, stop! Ask yourself,

• ‘what is the solution?’,
• ‘is this a problem enough other people would pay good money to solve?’
• ‘can I find a solution?;’

Keep a notebook to record ideas from overheard conversations or from observations made when you are out and about (or record them on your iPad!). The next time you read about some new technology or other new invention ask yourself ‘is there an opportunity here?’.

Now I wonder if I can find a way to save lives and make money from all those oblivious pedestrians who dice with death whilst they listen to music. Maybe some sensor detectors in the headphones that interrupt your listening with ‘she’s behind you’! What do you think? Would it work?

Some people think you’re special. Some people know that you’re special. They’ve seen you do wonderful things. So how come you don’t believe them? When will you start believing in yourself?

Your existence in itself is special. A space in this planet—in this life—is reserved for you. Believe it or not, you are here for a reason.

Look around you. There are people who could use your help. There are less fortunate families who could use a little donation; children who need good education; old folks who could use a little love and attention; victims of people and/or circumstances who wish for a chance at a better life.

It doesn’t even have to be people. The environment could use some saving, too.

We are all given the chance to be more than who we are. And it is through helping others that we will find the understanding that we can be special.

So, what’s keeping you from doing something that will make a difference in the world—that will change someone’s life?

Sounds too big of a responsibility, huh?

Don’t worry. Nobody is asking you to be the next great innovator. You don’t have to force yourself to be the next Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs or Mother Teresa. All it takes is for you to extend a helping hand. Do you believe that through it alone you can be extraordinary?

Remember, the smallest thing you do to someone could be the biggest thing that will ever happen to that person. It may not be as big as the world itself, but it came from the heart—a willingness to help others—and that makes it bigger than life. And that makes you anything but regular.

So, are you ready to give yourself the chance to be extraordinary?

***JHAJR***

I love technology. I’m a total twenty-first century girl: I feel naked without my cell phone, I incessantly check Facebook, and I tweet every time I think of something remotely clever. But with love comes dependence, and with dependence comes a paralyzing inability to function without the technological advances to which we have become accustomed. And here lies the problem. What happens when technology turns on you? Cause it will, one way or another. Whether it’s the power going out or your key card door malfunctioning and locking you out while you are taking out the trash, leaving you inappropriately dressed in the freezing cold without your keys, phone, money or anything useful, all while your stove is on (not like that’s happened to me). So it got me thinking, as technology increases, what are we losing? Here are a few ways our dependence on technology is crippling us:

•  We’re helpless

Case in point: We no longer memorize phone numbers. So when we lose our phones or they run out of battery (and it isn’t exactly a 911 emergency) our inclination is to assume the fetal position and wait for it all to end.

• We’re beyond impatient.

If something doesn’t happen within a tenth of a nanosecond people get their panties all in a bunch. We have become so accustomed to instant gratification that anything less is unacceptable. Patience may be a virtue but now is wow!

•  We’re getting stupider

Sometimes I think that without Google we would have the collective knowledge of a goldfish. But I mean when Kim Kardashian’s ass is growing a mile a minute who has time to pick up a book and learn something?

•  We’re insatiable

“We want more, we want more, like we really like it, we want more.” Wiser words have never been said; someone get that girl a Nobel Prize (or at least a juice box or something).

I will admit I am as guilty as the next girl. So let’s try to remember that we have brains that worked just fine for thousands of years before Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. If not, when the computer’s fail and the lights go out, at least we’ll all go up in flames together.

Joanne’s parents strongly objected to the relationship. So from the beginning things were not off to a good start. And now a baby!?

They decided their best option was to give it up for adoption. So in the days following February 24, 1955, relatively uneducated Paul and Clara became the proud parents of a precious little boy.

Now Paul was a hard working mechanic and carpenter and Clara was an accomplished accountant, a far cry from the academic circles of Steve’s biological parents. But together, they taught their young son all they knew. Paul taught Steve rudimentary electronics in the family garage where he would take apart and reassemble radios and televisions and the like. And Clara taught Steve how to read before he even attended school. Both were skills that would prove valuable.

Today, as then, many expectant parents find themselves in a similar predicament: a wild fling, young puppy love, recreational sex, and the “unwanted” consequences of their reckless choices.

Personal pleasure sought over the interests of others.

People haven’t changed all that much, but the times have.

Today those same couples have another option to consider. In 1973 the Supreme Court made abortion a legal alternative. In the wisdom of their own eyes, they paved the way for “doctors” like Kermit Gosnell. Doctors who for a small fee will dispose of a woman’s inconvenient abdominal growth. Doctors who will deliver her helpless newborn directly from the birthing bed to his deathbed with the aid of a small scissors. Doctors who will advise untrained medical assistants to overly sedate a patient, leading not only to her baby’s premature death, but also her own.

It is grotesque. Unmentionable. Abhorrent.

In light of the unspeakable horrors of this legalized murder, I’m thankful Dr. Jandali and Joanne chose to give their child an opportunity at life through adoption.

I am thankful for adoptive parents like Paul and Clara Jobs who brought to the world a man named Steve Jobs.

He challenged the world to think differently. His creative genius has affected everything from how cars are made to how you work out. He created jobs, and inspired us with his imagination.

Adopted not aborted.

I wonder what might happen if the Christian community were to band together to help mothers considering abortion. What if we were to offer adoption over abortion, to give her child a fighting chance at making the world a better place?

These are the thoughts percolating in my mind as I write this post.   What does your church or community do for these moms?  What would you like to see your church do?

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

Yeah, sure i consider myself as the richest person in the world. Do you know what that means if you are hopeless ?! it means that you really don’t know your GOAL and don’t search for it !!

The other people consider me that i am a mad girl, because i always say “I love being a Software Engineer, I love coding and it flows in my veins” … I believe in Allah, Then myself “Allah Will Guide Me In The Right Way, I TRUST Him”.

What’s the difference between us and Mr. Mark Zuckerberg ?! (Who is now not having a Facebook account ?)

What’s the difference between us and Mr. Bill Gates ?! (How much users have Microsoft products today ?)

What’s the difference between us and Mr. Steve Jobs ?! (How much users have Apple products today ?)

Actually there is a big difference between THEM and US.

Even Mr. Mark or Mr. Bill, or Mr. Steve not only has a creative idea, but also he has a self-confidence, passion and a belief that he can do it .. and “Yes He Did It” .. all of them considered as a successful persons. And our world have a lot of other successful persons too.

Why not to be one of them ?! Why we just lose hope and give up ?!

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 1,000 ways that won’t work”  Thomas Edison

He tried 1,000 times until he created the light bulb .. How much we try to give up ?

I consider that as a SHAME on us, We always have excuses for giving up !!

We need to decide with ourselves that we need to change, that we need to always try and work hard .. and no way for giving up. Let us make our REMARKABLE mark in our world. Let us IMPRESS the world with our EFFECTS, and let our skills SHINE.

“Believe in Allah, Allah will show us the RIGHT WAY .. and never lose FAITH and HOPE“

And don’t forget Keep Moving Forward ^_^

• “Hours before Google I/O kicks off, Larry Page addresses health complications via Google+ – Google CEO, Larry Page, adressed his years of health complications today via a Google+ post, letting the world know that he was diagnosed with left vocal-cord paralysis” – [9to5google.com]
• “Courtesy of a new iOS app development agency called 9:42am – coincidentally (or not) the same time the iPhone was launched by Steve Jobs more than five years ago -Limelight is the first app off its proverbial conveyor belt. It’s also worth adding here that Oliver Cameron, co-founder of private social network Everyme (see previous coverage), is at 9:42am’s helm” – [Limelight for iPhone lets you create and share lists of films you've watched and want to watch - thenextweb.com]
  

• ‘Zact’ launches customizable, no-contract data plans on Sprint, coming to IOS soon – “Surprisingly, the Zact service will be available only in the US on Sprint’s 4G network and not Verizon’s as originally expected. Although the service and ItsOn software is currently being limited to select Android (operating system) devices, we’ve noted before that plans for iOS are already believed to be underway” – [9to5mac.com]
• “Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 02:12 pm Netflix accounts for 1/3 of nightly home Internet traffic, Apple’s ITunes takes 2% Data sent from iTunes represents 1.9 percent of North American Internet traffic every night, a share beyond all other competing digital storefronts, but also well behind the bandwidth served up by Netflix” – [Netflix accounts for 1/3 of nightly home Internet traffic, Apple's iTunes takes 2% - appleinsider.com]
  
• “The sons and daughters of Google Glass – Even in the highly opinionated world of tech, there have been few products as polarizing as Google’s head mounted Google Glass computer” – [thenextweb.com]

I found this video really inspiring!

One of the most inspiring quotations of all time. This piece by Apple Inc motivates and inspires to follow your dreams, to stay crazy and to have the courage to move with being unconventional.

Congrats grads!  I’m a sucker for commencement speeches, and Steve Jobs delivered one of the best in 2005 at Stanford.  If you’ve got 15 minutes, take a listen.

LOOK AT THE BRIGHT SIDE.

The expert in anything was once a beginner.

A little consideration, a little thought for others makes all the difference.

Don’t lose hope. You never know what tomorrow will bring.

If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.

Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else. – Les Brown

Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. it means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections. – Unknown

Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. – Farrah Gray

Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. – Joshua J. Marine

Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try. – Jack Canfield

Dont be afraid to stand for what you believe in, even if that means standing alone.. – Unknown

Forget all the reasons it won’t work and believe the one reason that it will. – Unknown

Go where you are celebrated – not tolerated. If they can’t see the real value of you, it’s time for a new start. – Unknown

Good things come to those who wait… greater things come to those who get off their ass and do anything to make it happen. – Unknown

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace & gratitude. – Denis Waitley

I am thankful for all of those who said NO to me. It’s because of them I’m doing it myself. – Albert Einstein

I don’t regret the things I’ve done, I regret the things I didn’t do when I had the chance. – Unknown

In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. – Bill Cosby

It’s hard to wait around for something you know might never happen; but its harder to give up when you know its everything you want. – Unknown

Just know, when you truly want success, you’ll never give up on it. No matter how bad the situation may get. – Unknown

Just remember there is someone out there that is more than happy with less than what you have. – Unknown

Life has two rules: #1 Never quit #2 Always remember rule # 1. – Unknown

Life is like photography. You need the negatives to develop. – Unknown

Life is short, live it. Love is rare, grab it. Anger is bad, dump it. Fear is awful, face it. Memories are sweet, cherish it. – Unknown

Love what you have. Need what you want. Accept what you receive. Give what you can. Always remember, what goes around, comes around… – Unknwon

No one is going to hand me success. I must go out & get it myself. That’s why I’m here. To dominate. To conquer. Both the world, and myself. – Unknown

Nobody ever wrote down a plan to be broke, fat, lazy, or stupid. Those things are what happen when you don’t have a plan. – Larry Winget

One of the most important keys to Success is having the discipline to do what you know you should do, even when you don’t feel like doing it. – Unknown

Rule #1 of life. Do what makes YOU happy. – Unknown

Self confidence is the most attractive quality a person can have. how can anyone see how awesome you are if you can’t see it yourself? – Unknown

The best revenge is massive success. – Frank Sinatra

The biggest failure you can have in life is making the mistake of never trying at all. – Unknown

The only thing that stands between you and your dream is the will to try and the belief that it is actually possible. – Joel Brown

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. – Steve Jobs

The pain you feel today is the strength you feel tomorrow. For every challenge encountered there is opportunity for growth. – Unknown

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. – Carl Bard

Three things you cannot recover in life: the WORD after it’s said, the MOMENT after it’s missed and the TIME after it’s gone. Be Careful! – Unknown

Walk away from anything or anyone who takes away from your joy. Life is too short to put up with fools. – Unknown

We learn something from everyone who passes through our lives.. Some lessons are painful, some are painless.. but, all are priceless. – Unknown

When the past calls, let it go to voicemail, believe me, it has nothing new to say. – Unknown

When you say It’s hard, it actually means I’m not strong enough to fight for it. Stop saying its hard. Think positive! – Unknown

Hôm thứ ba vừa…

Chi tiết: http://vietf.vn/2013/05/15/10-su-that-thu-vi-ve-mark-zuckerberg.html

I recently read Nelson Mandela’s A Long Walk to Freedom. An amazing read indeed. I recommend it to everyone.

I can’t believe that it took me til the age of twenty-one to read it. He is perhaps the most well known and respected leader in the world, and yet I had never studied him in-depth, simply knowing him as ‘the guy who became president after being locked up in jail.’

Mandela dedicated his life from a young age to advocating for equal rights for all South Africans, whether they be black or white.  He finally achieved his goal, a mere fifty years later, including over half of that spent in prison, when he was elected president of the country at the ripe old age of 75. His story is one of sheer persistence and perseverance

But perhaps one of the strongest lessons which I took out of the book and which anyone can apply to life was his ability to wake up at 4:30am every morning and exercise before starting his day.

It was one of the integral ingredients which allowed him to tackle each day full on and go from one failure to another without loss of enthusiasm.

Being a recent university graduate, I have had my fair share of sleep ins over the years, many of the time nursing a severe hangover.  But recently, through the inspiration of Mandela, I have been attempting to wake up at six o’clock each morning and starting my day on a bright note.

I have noticed substantial changes in my overall energy and persona only a month in to my lifestyle change.

Not only did I used to sleep in, but I would retire to the couch by five o’clock in the evening for a night in front of the TV. Yet nowadays, despite my early wake up, I somehow still have the stamina and focus to keep going and sometimes even put in a second exercise session for the day.

I feel I have been able to get so much more done when I kick start the day with only a twenty minute exercise session.  I feel a sense of empowerment and confidence at the conclusion of it. I feel like I can tackle any challenge, given I have already faced and conquered the hardest one of simply getting out of bed.

Yes it was hard at first, and still is at times, especially on those cold dark winter mornings, but if Mandela can do it, then there’s no reason why nobody else can. I hope to eventually find the courage to work my way down to Mandela’s time.

Mandela is indeed a remarkable person, but he has only been able to bring about what he has done through his steadfastness, determination, courage and hope, qualities which anybody can undertake.

And once you have exercised first thing, you don’t feel the need to indulge in fatty foods throughout the day, preferring to maintain your healthy mindset.

It is an amazing feeling alone to look at your watch and see that it is barely seven o’clock, and that you have already completed your exercise for the day. You may even find the time on top of exercising to do some quiet reading or meditation before you begin your day’s activities or work schedule.  Mandela fitted in them as well.

I found it easy during university to just drift in to the day, waking up at the last minute, rocking up late to class, and hardly being able to keep my eyes open as the lecturer waffled on, but through waking up early it has allowed me to enter each day with full force.

It might be hard to leave your bed, being all snuggled up in your doona, but once you are up, there is no better feeling.

Mandela was not born with special powers which were unique to him, but he rather implemented basic daily rituals, such as that of waking up early, enabling him to triumph over any self doubt or fear, and thus allow him to change the world for the better.

It is no coincidence that successful people such as the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Robin Sharma, Condoleezza Rice, Thomas Edison, Howard Schultz, Serena Williams, Steve Jobs and Barack Obama have all emphasised the importance of rising early each day.

Once you persist through those first few difficult days, you’ll never look back. You’ll be addicted. You never know, it might just be the start of your journey to achieve something as great as Nelson Mandela.

Photo credit: Vince Alongi / Foter.com / CC BY

KOMPAS.com — LinkedIn dikenal sebagai jejaring sosial berorientasi bisnis yang menyasar target pengguna dari kalangan profesional. Melalui jejaring ini, para anggota bisa menjalin relasi, mengelola citra profesional mereka, serta mempromosikan diri untuk menarik perhatian para headhunter ataupun calon partner bisnis mereka.

LinkedIn didirikan pada tahun 2003 oleh Reid Hoffman dan beberapa rekannya, yakni Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Eric Ly, dan Jean-Luc Vaillant. Popularitas LinkedIn terus meningkat dari tahun ke tahun. Pada Februari 2012, LinkedIn mengumumkan telah memiliki anggota sebanyak 150 juta pengguna di tingkat global. Sementara pada Januari 2013, jumlah anggotanya telah bertambah menjadi 200 juta pengguna dari 200 negara di dunia.

Sebagai jejaring sosial yang mempertemukan para profesional di ranah maya, LinkedIn kini juga sudah diandalkan sebagai media iklan dan promosi seperti Facebook dan Twitter. Bisnis LinkedIn pun terus berkembang. Pada 11 April 2013 lalu, misalnya, LinkedIn mengumumkan akuisisinya atas Pulse, sebuah layanan aplikasi news reader, dengan nilai transaksi sebesar 90 juta dollar AS.

“The Start-Up of You”

Kesuksesan LinkedIn tidak terlepas dari peran Reid Hoffman, co-founder sekaligus chairman perusahaan itu. Pria yang lahir di Standford, California, pada 5 Agustus 1967 itu dikenal sebagai salah seorang entrepreneur dan investor andal di AS.

Pada tahun 1994, Hoffman memulai pekerjaan pertamanya di divisi pengembangan produk Apple, perusahaan yang didirikan oleh Steve Jobs dan Steve Wozniak. Baru beberapa bulan bekerja di divisi tersebut, dia merasa tidak cocok dan ingin pindah ke divisi lainnya, yakni divisi manajemen produk. Namun, ada satu kendala yang dia hadapi. Orang-orang yang bisa masuk ke divisi manajemen produk harus punya pengalaman kerja beberapa tahun di bidang tersebut.

Meskipun begitu, Hoffman tetap nekat. Dia mendekati James Isaacs, direktur manajemen produk Apple pada saat itu. Kepada Isaacs, Hoffman mengatakan ingin belajar mengenai manajemen produk. Dia juga menawarkan diri untuk membantu mengerjakan beberapa proyek yang ditangani oleh Isaacs dan timnya dengan merelakan waktu luangnya. Permintaan Hoffman disetujui oleh Isaacs. Meskipun pada akhirnya Hoffman keluar dari Apple dan sempat berpindah kerja ke beberapa perusahaan lainnya sebelum mendirikan LinkedIn, dia telah mendapatkan ilmu yang dia perlukan untuk mengembangkan kariernya di masa depan.

Pengalaman tersebut diceritakan Hoffman dalam buku berjudul The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest In Yourself and Transform Your Career yang dia tulis bersama Ben Casnocha, rekannya yang juga seorang entrepreneur. Lewat buku yang diterbitkan pada tahun 2012 itu, Hoffman dan Casnocha ingin menjangkau setiap orang dari industri mana pun yang ingin mengembangkan kariernya.

Dalam buku itu, Hoffman memaparkan cerita dan pendapatnya dari sudut pandang seorangentrepreneur dan sebagai orang internal di Silicon Valley. Dia mengajarkan pentingnya mengejar karier dan menunjukkan bahwa untuk sukses terkadang orang harus mau merelakan waktunya untuk melakukan beberapa pekerjaan yang bukan merupakan tugasnya. Contohnya, seperti yang dia lakukan ketika bekerja di Apple dulu.

Setiap orang adalah “bisnis”

Dalam buku The Start-Up of You, Hoffman menyebutkan persamaan antara perusahaan rintisan (startup) dengan pekerja profesional. Menurutnya, setiap individu sama seperti sebuah “bisnis”. Setiap orang—meski bukan pengusaha sekalipun—harus bisa berpikir layaknya entrepreneur dan membangun jejaring profesionalnya. Layaknya sebuah bisnis, kehidupan profesional setiap individu harus direncanakan.

Selain itu, untuk sukses dalam karier, seseorang tidak boleh berpuas diri. Dia harus memandang dirinya seperti sebuah “versi beta”. Ibarat sebuah software, versi beta masih harus dikembangkan dan diperbaiki hingga menjadi lebih baik bahkan sempurna. Karena itu, orang yang ingin sukses tidak boleh berhenti belajar.

Dunia bisnis bergerak dengan sangat cepat sekarang ini. Karena itu, setiap orang harus mampu beradaptasi serta terus melakukan investasi karier dan menguji kemampuan profesionalnya. Setiap orang juga perlu belajar menempatkan dirinya di luar pekerjaannya untuk memperluas jaringan profesionalnya dan mempelajari berbagai skill baru. Intinya, menurut Hoffman, setiap orang harus bisa menjadi CEO bagi kariernya sendiri.

Mental model itu pula yang membantu Hoffman hingga bisa menjadi sukses seperti saat ini. Bayangkan saja. Pada Mei 2011, saat LinkedIn go public, saham Hoffman di jejaring sosial profesional itu sudah mencapai 1,7 miliar dollar AS.

Hoffman juga dikenal sebagai investor yang cerdik. Dia bermitra dengan Greylock Partners, sebuah firma pemodal ventura di Silicon Valley, dan telah berinvestasi pada berbagai perusahaan digital terkemuka. Salah satunya adalah Facebook.

“Semua atribut bisnis kini berlaku pada setiap individu. Jika ingin menjadi lebih baik dalam pekerjaan, Anda harus menjadi anggota aktif LinkedIn. Karena LinkedIn tidak hanya bisa menghubungkan Anda dengan orang-orang baru, tetapi dengan wawasan-wawasan baru,” demikian kata Reid Hoffman.

Jadi, rasanya, langkah pertama untuk menerapkan tips sukses berkarier ala Hoffman adalah bergabung dengan jejaring sosial ciptaannya dan mengelola citra profesional kita di sana.

Sumber: http://tekno.kompas.com

God is dead. He Who Brightened Our Lives ascends to the Pantheon. But the religion lives on, in the sweaty thumbs, in the tweets and, most of all, in the wallets of his followers.

And it is a religion. The half-bitten apple has replaced the via dolorosa, “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” has supplanted the Hail Mary and the click-wheel the rosary beads, but the dogma, the unthinking devotion and the faithful masses remain.

Brands are religions: loyalties once sworn to popes are now pledged to CEOs. This much is commonplace. But the hallmarks of religiosity are not confined to our consumerist culture. We have our religions, and we also have our Saints. The death of Steve Jobs was a rare confluence of these two phenomena.

John Paul II is still dutifully waiting his turn, but celebrities are swiftly canonised upon the first news wire of their demise. Steve Jobs becomes St. Jobs. Panegyrical Facebook statuses regurgitate trite epitaphs. Any criticism not expressed in excruciating Newspeak-esque euphemism is censored. Dissent amounts to blasphemy.

Just as we were not allowed to say that Amy Winehouse was just a singer, we were again, last week, bound by lèse sainteté. Candle-lit tributes to Jobs were eagerly lapped up by the media. President Obama paid tribute to the man that “changed the way each of us sees the world”. Idiotic pseudo-aphorisms infected social media feeds: “Three Apples changed the World, the first one seduced Eve, the second fell on Newton and the Third was offered to the World half bitten by Steve Jobs.” One Guardian columnist, diligently buying his Indulgences, gushed that Jobs “transformed our lives…[and] changed the way history was headed…there seem many reasons to fear the future, but somehow I am not afraid. The dark warnings seem to melt away when you fall in love with Apple”.

But The Holy Blessed Jobs was, by all accounts, a bit of a dick. Indeed, his character flaws were infamous. He bullied his employees and mercilessly abused anyone who disagreed with him: he would, as one commentator put it, have made “an excellent King of France”. Yet we were told to mourn Jobs’ passing.

We have our religions, then, and we have our Saints. Both are remnants of antiquated cultures and ultimately pernicious. Both should be resisted. But what are religions and Saints without the Divine?

The Homeric gods have returned: they walk the earth and meddle in human affairs. We deify our elite, exalting the rich, the powerful and the gifted. Humanity will never rid itself of religion; every religion has its Saints. Faith in the ethereal is fading, but not in the Divine: our gods are real.

Nietzsche killed God but gave us gods. The Over-humans dominate the proletariat; our Lords live by a different code. Some of us are not burdened by the stultifying morality which constrains us mortals. Managing-Directors of the IMF may treat their maids as serfs, rappers can beat their partners without censure or commercial loss. The higher race must seek only Beauty and Glory: narcissistic, arrogant entrepreneurs are idolised for their creations. Multinationals are our religions, dead celebrities our Saints. These are our gods: the politician, the artist and the businessman.

The iBermensch no longer sits atop Mount Olympus. God is dead. Long live the gods.

http://oxfordstudent.com/2011/10/14/mourn-st-jobs-the-ibermensch/

Chi tiết: http://vietf.vn/2013/05/15/6-ceo-cong-nghe-va-nhung-ky-tich-khong-tuong.html

As educators, politicians, employers, technology futurists, and others debate the challenges facing education in the United States, the very basic question of what an education should provide is not often a key component of that debate. When the discussion turns to “common core” or “competency-based learning,” the terminology exposes the bias that there are subject areas or skill sets that are important for our students to master… and that, of course, implies that there are facets of human endeavor that are less important, at least from a public policy and funding standpoint.

At the Learning Impact 2013 conference in San Diego, this was one of the themes woven throughout Dr. Yong Zhao’s keynote address. His comments were provocative but very compelling along this line of reasoning: The greater specificity in education content (exercised through design control from some central, external entity accountable to societal demands), the less likely that students will be able to navigate a creative, entrepreneurial path in life. It is this premise that Dr. Zhao used to buttress his premise that the United States, despite having students that often score near the bottom in world-wide academic performance, produces inventors and innovators and entrepreneurs in much greater proportion than do countries with top test-performing students such as China, for example. While many people in the U.S. have high regard for the Chinese education system, it is instructive to know how non-Americans assess China:

“China must have entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs.”
- Wen Jiabao, Former State Premier

and

“The next Apple or Google will appear, but not in China unless it abolishes its education.”
- Kai-fu Lee, Founding President of Google China

Part of this is a cultural mindset, and in October of 2010, a Gallup poll found the entrepreneurial mindset to be much more prevalent in the U.S. than in China (or even the European Union).

The question on entrepreneurship and culture, Zhao argues, is very much related to the success-or failure-of an education system to squash creativity and independent thought. The reason our workforce is more entrepreneurial is due, at least in part, to the fact that the American education system does such a poor job of educating students in those categories that our society most values.

This is what Steve Wozniak comments about the top-ranked Singapore education system:

“Apple couldn’t emerge in societies like Singapore where ‘bad behavior is not tolerated’ and people are not taught to think for themselves.”

Author and CNN Travel contributor Alexis Ong remarks:

“Wozniak’s comments are really a scathing indictment of the Singapore education system, its strictly regimented curriculum and by-rote study techniques that sustain the city’s “formal culture.”

Consider that Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell, and Larry Ellison all dropped out of college. If we accept the metric that college completion equals education success, then these tech giants are failures by the established education standard. Certainly I’m not arguing that students cast off the repressive chains of education to have a successful and fulfilling life. However, it is extremely important that we as a society understand what we want our education system to accomplish, and if we consider the system to be broken that we understand the actual problem in order to fix the system rather than further remove the ability of creative thought from our students.

I’m not confident that we are paying adequate attention to actual challenge in our seemingly singular pursuit to improve learning outcomes at all levels of the education process. In an article titled “Laptop U” published in The New Yorker, Nathan Heller writes extensively on the topic of MOOCs (massive open online courses), and how many educators as well as legislators see MOOCs as a solution to several types of education challenges. While he acknowledges there is controversy surrounding the use of MOOCs, Heller provides the reasoning of supporters that MOOCs “are designed to insure that students are keeping up, by peppering them with comprehension and discussion tasks,” and they will have high production values (apparently to better engage students).

Yet there is discouraging data. A study cited by Inside Higher Ed concludes that the “average completion rate for massive open online courses is less than seven percent” (strongly suggesting that students are not, in fact keeping up). Early data from Coursera indicates an overall completion rate of seven to nine percent (although Coursera co-founder Daphne Koller argues that this is misleading, as most students enrolled in MOOCs have no intent to complete). Regardless of statistics, it appears that the MOOC strategy is to funnel more students through massively standardized model (whether through implementing common core curriculum or creating large-scale technology-mediated courses). Voices for customizing the education experience to fit individual students and cultivate unique talents and characteristics is a very faint part of the discussion.

The current “crisis” in American education shouldn’t come as a surprise, as Zhao points out that students in the U.S. have scored below the students of other countries over decades. This is not a new phenomenon. However, government spending on education has increased dramatically year over year since the 1960s (some data charts here), and people are demanding accountability for these expenditures. He who pays the piper calls the tune, after all. It is likely that as long as funding dollars continue to be poured into education with little evident or immediate improvement, those in charge of administering the funds will determine what the funds will buy in terms of technology, policy, and curriculum design.

Daily Star: Weekly Campus
Sun 16 Oct 2011
Post Campus XI

The Legacy of Steve Jobs: Follow Your Heart and Intuition
Asrar Chowdhury
Page 12-13 in Print
Link: http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2011/10/03/post.htm
Photo Credit: Internet

Born in 1955, Steve Jobs died on October 5, 2011 ‘having put a computer in a phone and that phone into 120 million pockets’; and retransforming the slate into a tablet changing the way people read books and magazines. If there is a single ‘i’ to define iSteve, it’s intuition. There are others who are both innovative and intelligent, but seeing beyond that almost invisible line is what makes a great mortal an iCon.

Steve Jobs had a profound ability to touch the hearts and souls of his customers in the millions and across all boundaries. A virtual and real iCon made him one of the few business leaders who were loved alongside being worshipped by loyalists and feared by competitors. The music industry can be divided into two periods- pre iTunes and post iTunes with the iPod. Smart phones is pre iPhone and post iPhone. If historical trends suggest anything there will be another classification- pre iPad and post iPad that may change the way we read books and magazines. Jobs never claimed that he invented the iProducts. They were always there. He merely connected the dots to make the whole visible to those who could not see. It did require something extraordinarily special to connect those dots that transformed Apple into a $350 billion empire in what will remain as one of the greatest business comebacks in modern history.

California in the 1970s with Silicon Valley was what Detroit was with Ford and General Motors at the beginning of the 20th Century. It was one of the greatest and lasting American hubs that have shaped and re-shaped the world. Computers had been around for ages, but they were mainly confined to the use of ‘whiz kids’ and ‘nerds’. Jobs co-founded Apple Computers in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Later Wayne left the company. In April of that year they launched Apple I- their first personal computer. Apple II was launched in 1977. Apple II was different. It had that personal ‘touch’- something that would become a buzzword years later for the iTouch and all the other iProducts. It was Jobs’ vision to make computers simple. People should be able to turn a computer on and it should work from the first click of the mouse. Jobs rightly intuited that the graphical user interface (GUI) would define personal computers for decades to come. The Apple era had dawned with the launching of Macintosh in the early 1980s. Three Apples have changed the course of history. First there was Adam’s apple. Then there was Newton’s apple. In 1984 the third apple came to redefine personal computers- the Apple Macintosh.

In 1985, Jobs went into the wilderness saying goodbye to Apple and founded NeXT Computer. In 1986 he bought what would later become Pixar. In 1995 Pixar launched Toy Story in collaboration with Disney. Over the next 15 years, Pixar launched box office hits that included A Bug’s Life; Toy Story 2; Monster’s Inc; Finding Nemo; The Incredibles; Cars; Ratatouille; Wall-E; Up and Toy Story 3. Again, Jobs’ intuition to understand that consumers would respond to animated movies laid the foundations for a new generation of Hollywood movies.

In 1996 Apple bought NeXT. Steve Jobs returned to the company he had co-founded twenty years earlier. At the turn of the new century, in 2000 Jobs became the CEO of Apple. It had to be different. Jobs became the first iCEO and probably the last. The rest is history. The comeback was unmatched and unrivalled. Jobs’ Apple defied the law of gravity of Newton’s Apple going ‘where no man has ever gone before’. The iEra had dawned. Apple launched the iPhone; iPod; iTunes; and iMac. All these products redefined the way people connect to technological gadgets in a personal way never seen before. Within a decade of his comeback, Apple had become the world’s most valuable company.

Why does Steve Jobs stand out from other CEOs? He was ruthless when it came to a business decision like any other successful CEO. But Jobs understood one thing very clearly- the psychology of consumers. This is of paramount essence in the marketing of any product. Powerful intuition is what is needed to understand and predict human psychology.

Jobs ‘knew’ what people wanted and he gave it to them with elegant products through which consumers would develop a personal iTouch with technology. He grew up in the 1970s consuming The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Apple was named after Apples Corps of The Beatles. The 1970s generation was a generation throughout the world that wanted to change the world for the better. Steve Jobs was a product of that generation who followed his dreams. There is no such thing as a genius. A genius is just a person who is above the average, but perseveres better than the average to ‘fine tune’ the frequency and get rid of the noise made from outside. Steve Jobs followed his dreams to make technology ‘user-friendly’ and for the use of consumers. Steve Jobs was just that above the average person who followed his dream- and kept on following it- nothing more and nothing less.

On June 12, 2005 Steve Jobs summed himself up to the graduates of Princeton University, USA. It was relevant for the students that day, and also for everybody who wants to change the world for the better.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary”.

Powerful words of wisdom from the most creative CEO the world has ever seen. RIP iGenius Steve Jobs!

- The iSteve Touch: Apple Products Under Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs may have been a successful businessman and an outstanding orator, but in his heart he was a designer. Designing better products is what his heart followed all his life through intuition. Three decades of designing through innovation have changed the way we look at technology today.

Apple I; Apple II; Lisa; Apple IIe; Macintosh 128K; Macintosh Portable; iMac; PowerBook G3; Cube; iPod; iBook G4; iMac G4; iMac G5; MacBook Air; iPhone; iPad

Sources: Bloomberg Business Week, Oct 10, 2011; The Guardian, Oct 6, 2011; Wikipedia

(The author teaches economic theory at Jahangirnagar University and North South University.)