Steve Jobs

Execs remember Steve Jobs as a tireless perfectionist

Two Silicon Valley executives who worked closely with Steve Jobs over the years shared some of their memories of the late Apple co-founder today, painting a picture of Jobs as a tireless perfectionist who learned from his mistakes.

"Steve would translate good ideas into a finished product unlike anyone in the industry," Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said during an onstage discussion at the D10 conference in Palos Verdes, Calif. (See live blog.) Ellison likened Jobs to Henry Ford in the way he changed the industry. "That was Steve, until it was perfect. And then once it was … Read more

Live blog: Ellison, Pixar's Catmull talk Steve Jobs

Join us later this afternoon for live coverage of Pixar's Ed Catmull and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison taking the stage at the D10 conference to talk about "the lessons of Steve Jobs."

The two are being interviewed separately this afternoon, before coming back on stage to talk about the late Apple co-founder, who frequented the D conference series in years past, and had personal and business relationships with both executives.

Jobs has been the topic of much discussion at the conference, between last night's interview with current Apple CEO Tim Cook and today's talk with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, … Read more

Sorkin: Writing about Jobs is like writing about The Beatles

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin says that writing the screenplay for the upcoming biopic of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is a lot like trying to write about The Beatles.

Speaking at the D10 Conference today, the award-winning screenwriter and producer said he's currently at the "earliest possible stage" of putting together the screenplay for the feature film, and that it's not just as simple as sitting down with the source material.

"What I'll do is go through a long period that would not look to any casual observer like writing," Sorkin jokingly told interviewer … Read more

At D10, Tim Cook speaks his mind (video)

When the CEO of Apple speaks, people's ears tend to perk up.

After all, Apple has been the dynamo of the digital world for some time now, setting the pace with products from iTunes up through the iPhone and iPad and, so rumor would have it, perhaps eventually a newfangled Apple TV. The company is also embroiled in fierce fights with heavyweights including Google and Samsung for the hearts, minds, and wallets of consumers.

Last night, Apple CEO took a turn in the spotlight at All Things Digital's D10 conference, where he weighed in on those topics and … Read more

Cook: Steve Jobs was a notorious flip-flopper

Steve Jobs was a hard man to pin down, according to Tim Cook, his successor as Apple chief executive.

"He would flip on something so fast that you would forget that he was the one taking the 180 [degree], polar position on it the day before," Cook said this evening during an onstage interview at the D10 conference in Palos Verdes, Calif. (see video below). "It was an art; he would never know that he fought the opposite. I saw it daily."

But Cook also called this tendency a "gift," pointing out that "… Read more

Tim Cook: 'I've never really felt the weight of trying to be Steve'

In a live interview at the D10 conference tonight in Palos Verdes, Calif., Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked once again what it's like to fill Steve Jobs' shoes.

"Steve was a genius and a visionary, and I've never viewed that my role was to replace him," said Cook. "Steve was an original. I've never really felt the weight of trying to be Steve. It's not my goal in life. I am who I am. I am focused on that. On being a great CEO of Apple."

He was further asked with … Read more

Steve Jobs' 1974 memo to Atari to be auctioned

Before he co-founded Apple, Steve Jobs worked briefly at Atari, helping the game maker improve design.

Sotheby's is auctioning a handwritten memo penned in 1974 by then-19-year-old Jobs that describes changes Atari could make to its World Cup Soccer arcade game to add fun and functionality.

The present report, written for his supervisor Stephen Bristow, was meant to improve the functionality and fun of World Cup, a coin arcade-game with four simple buttons and an evolution from Atari's Pong game. Job's report is stamped "All-One Farm Design," a name appropriated from the commune he frequented … Read more

Why Apple needs to settle its e-book suits

commentary Amazon.com has outmaneuvered Apple in the e-books sector. Nowhere was this made more apparent than in court documents released last week.

In antitrust lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and others, Apple stands accused of conspiring with five of the six largest U.S. book publishers to raise the price consumers paid for e-books and stifle competition in an attempt to snatch control of the e-book market away from Amazon, the sector's dominant player.

Soon after the Justice Department filed its complaint last month, Apple and two of the five publishers filed motions with … Read more

Obama, Clinton pay tribute to Steve Jobs at the Webbys

Nearly a dozen celebrities, politicians and tech luminaries paid tribute to late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs at today's annual Webby awards show.

A video featuring President Barack Obama, former president Bill Clinton and others expressing admiration for Jobs, who died last October, was shown to attendees and streamed over the Web.

Also making appearances were U2 frontman Bono, Star Wars creator George Lucas, former U.S. vice president (and current Apple board member) Al Gore, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, comedians Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Fallon, as well as Web mogul Adriana Huffington, and computer scientist Vint … Read more