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World Cup Memo Written By Steve Jobs Going Up For Auction

New submitter Dega704 writes with an excerpt from El Reg: "Before Steve Jobs came up with the iPhone or even the Apple II, he designed paddles for ball-flipping games at Atari where the scruffy 19-year-old was employed to improve game design. Sotheby's New York will auction off a document dating from Jobs's time there: a 1974 report that Jobs wrote for his boss suggesting ways to improve arcade game World Cup. According to Jobs' biography, his Atari days are most notable for his clashes with colleagues, who he considered to be 'dumb shits'. He was made to work night shifts there partly because he was in a phase of refusing to wash and so he apparently smelt bad, causing complaints from his co-workers. But Jobs obviously did some work at Atari too, with the document laying out his ideas for improving player experience. The typed four-page document includes three circuit designs in pencil and additional designs for the paddles and alignment of players defending a soccer goal."

122 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Steve WHO? by russotto · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Steve JOBS came up with the Apple II? I don't think so.

    1. Re:Steve WHO? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1, Funny

      Speaking of The Woz, I kind of wish he would install his office web cam again... One wonders if he took it down because it caught him surfing porn one too many times...

      --
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    2. Re:Steve WHO? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I was working as a sales rep in a Silicon Valley computer store in the early 80's. I knew the Woz and many other notables (I sold 3com their first 100 PC's). One day Woz's mother came into our store, looking for a joke present for the computer geek son who had everything geeky he could want. I sold her a bottle of "Bug Off" - anti-static spay for his monitor! ... :-)

    3. Re:Steve WHO? by TheWanderingHermit · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Kind of shocking the guys at Slashdot would miss something as big as this. Wonder if they're just too young and inexperienced to know about Woz.

      (Yeah, I know they're not -- which means only temporary idiocy could explain them making that mistake!)

    4. Re:Steve WHO? by TapeCutter · · Score: 2

      temporary idiocy

      Temporary? - Don't be such a tease.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    5. Re:Steve WHO? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      One day Woz's mother came into our store...

      I was worried where that was going there for a minute.

    6. Re:Steve WHO? by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 4, Informative

      Putting the thing into a plastic case and embedding the keyboard was Steve's idea. Trying to keep it simple and not suck is still kind of a revolutionary concept.

      We're all so willing to live with things that suck. I mean, even OSX sucks in many ways(I prefer it because it sucks less than Windows, and while Linux is great for stability, living with the OS is a kind of suck I can't deal with; even if it sucks less overall).

      --
      Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
    7. Re:Steve WHO? by hawk · · Score: 3, Funny

      Bah.

      Including a keyboard, case, and power supply.

      computers for sissies that can't handle a soldering iron.

      What's next--put a program in rom so you don't hae to key it in???

      humbug

      Hawk

    8. Re:Steve WHO? by tyrione · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Steve JOBS came up with the Apple II? I don't think so.

      Steve Wozniak is on record stating that Steve designed the layout of everything on the Apple II down to how to layout the ICs. Wozniak could have cared less but saw the merit in Steve's constant design critique to make things organized, minimalistic and right down to the look of the inside of cases not to be nothing but some piece of crap sheet metal cover, ala today's typical PC Clone shell.

    9. Re:Steve WHO? by mwvdlee · · Score: 1, Funny

      According to iHistory 2.0, Jobs did.
      Apple is working on remotely deleting iHistory 1.0 to improve your history experience.

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    10. Re:Steve WHO? by Wovel · · Score: 2

      Also according to Steve Wozniak.. Seriously some of you Jobs haters need to get out of the house more.

    11. Re:Steve WHO? by arikol · · Score: 2

      No, but Jobs was quite competent technically. When he referred to himself as being "not that technical" he was comparing himself to people like Woz. The two met precisely because they were building the same sort of electronics at home.

      Jobs was better at electronics than most of us here on /.
      Woz was a good amongst men when it came to electronics..

    12. Re:Steve WHO? by Swampash · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think you mean he COULDN'T have cared less.

    13. Re:Steve WHO? by jez9999 · · Score: 1, Funny

      I sold her a bottle of "Bug Off" - anti-static spay for his monitor! ... :-)

      Was his monitor at risk of getting pregnant?

    14. Re:Steve WHO? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Temporary? More like a chronic unwillingness to edit stories before they hit the front page.

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    15. Re:Steve WHO? by no+bloody+nickname · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think you mean he COULDN'T have cared less.

      No. It's part of a quote and has become mainstream because of frequent use.
      The quote is "I could care less but I honestly don't know how" - with a few variations.
      Since we are are becoming increasingly allergic to writing long sentences this one
      is used so often the original has been all but lost.

    16. Re:Steve WHO? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 2

      Key it in? Your bootstrap loader brings up a terminal? Everybody else has to toggle it in on the front panel.

    17. Re:Steve WHO? by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 1

      Dega704 is a "New Submitter", whatever that means now. Perhaps this is an echo of something taking place in the Slashdot backrooms?

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    18. Re:Steve WHO? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's a post hoc rationalization. "I could care less" has never been correct and never will be correct. The point is that if one could care less then one cares a little. But if one couldn't care less, then well one doesn't care at all, not one tiny iota.

    19. Re:Steve WHO? by f3rret · · Score: 1

      Kind of shocking the guys at Slashdot would miss something as big as this. Wonder if they're just too young and inexperienced to know about Woz.

      (Yeah, I know they're not -- which means only temporary idiocy could explain them making that mistake!)

      Revisionism, yo.

      --
      Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
    20. Re:Steve WHO? by operagost · · Score: 2

      Front panel? Luxury! I have to inscribe my programs directly onto core memory with a magnetized needle!

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    21. Re:Steve WHO? by eyrieowl · · Score: 1

      No, "could care less" is simply wrong

    22. Re:Steve WHO? by Guignol · · Score: 1

      No, this is wrong, but you are answering to a post that was also a wrong explanation
      This is a second/third degree thing, and because of that, it does not go well in written form
      The idea is to say "well, I could care less" ("now that I think about it" heavily implied by a breathing pause and a funny 'I am really thinking about it" stance)
      If you just say "this is so stupid, so irrelevant, there is absoluteley no way I could care less about it"
      Well, you made your point, but it was a cheap one, because it is always easy, and therefore ignored/unnoticed when you use absolutes ("this is the greatest thing I have ever seen in my life", "the expression [could care less] is the least interesting thing I have ever had to argue about", ... (you get the point))
      Now, when you say "I could care less", you are supposed to imply that you actually thought about it, not just giving a robotic meaningless answer, and it makes the point stronger, beacuse, of course, there are things you can, and do care less about, the fact that you are talking about it is the first proof that you actually can care less, otherwise, you wouldn't bother posting/replying at all, now would you ?
      It's a matter of style
      I usually use this kind of formula/pattern which is based on the same idea/effect:
      "I think I saw something ugglier than this once or twice... (pretend to think hard...) hmmm.. yes, err.. hmmm no.. no in fact no, this is actually ugglier"
      I just said this is the uggliest thing I have ever seen, but actually giving the feeling I was really thinking about it instead of using a cheap superlative, it makes the point stronger, and at the same time it is funny enough that it is not supposed to offend anyone.

    23. Re:Steve WHO? by Me!+Me!+42 · · Score: 1

      I think you mean he COULDN'T have cared less.

      No.
      Apparently Woz actually *could* have cared less, but on considering it, he decided that he cared so little that actually caring less would have been more trouble than it was worth.
      Later he determined that he cared enough to remember the incident and that it had definite value after all (That's so "him.")

      --
      -- My apologies if the above facts contain any opinions, or vice versa! --
    24. Re:Steve WHO? by eyrieowl · · Score: 1

      I think this is probably one of better explanations for why "could care less" is generally wrong. In short, all the fancy claims of sarcasm/irony are likely post hoc justifications, what's more important is looking at actual intent. In this case, I don't think tyrione was sarcastically saying anything, he was intending to very directly say Woz didn't give a damn about the aesthetics of the ICs. Also, just for fun, this post has a google ngrams graph for the two phrases showing how couldn't care less looks to have the earlier origin and greater historical weight, current usage notwithstanding.

    25. Re:Steve WHO? by BadPirate · · Score: 1

      Yeah... everyone knows that Tesla actually invented the Apple II.

      --
      - Holy crap, I've got MOD points! Who thought that was a good idea.
    26. Re:Steve WHO? by JBaustian · · Score: 1

      And what have you done, except to post anonymously? We know what Wozniak has accomplished? Have you done 1/100th as much?

    27. Re:Steve WHO? by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 1

      The original Apple II used a good-sized board with a lot of chips. If Jobs actually did the layout by himself, I'm surprised, and a bit more respectful of him. I'm not sure why Wozniak would have delegated it to him.

    28. Re:Steve WHO? by Guignol · · Score: 1

      There is a very common french expression that goes exactly the same way:
      "Better off hearing this than being deaf"
      This works on exactly the same angle, if you said "i'd preffer to be deaf than to hear that" of course it is "stronger" in you pretending that piece of music or whatever is the worst thing you have ever heard, but it is also a silly cheap absolute, while the other way to say it conveys the idea that you had to think about it and had to go very low in your qualifications standards if you see what I mean
      I assumed this expression/equivalent would exist in english too, but apparently (I just looked up) this is not the case, so maybe this 'style' which I was explaining actually doesn't exist in english which would be why some people seem so convinced this is a sort of logical mistake. Might be, migh not be :)

  2. "refusing to wash.." by Severus+Snape · · Score: 1, Funny

    Further proof towards geniuses are normally mad.

    1. Re:"refusing to wash.." by king+neckbeard · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What does a post about Steve Jobs have to do with geniuses?

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    2. Re:"refusing to wash.." by starworks5 · · Score: 5, Funny

      He employs them in his apple stores

    3. Re:"refusing to wash.." by jhoegl · · Score: 5, Funny

      I laughed, then I realized you might be serious... so I laughed harder.

    4. Re:"refusing to wash.." by kiwimate · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You may want to look up the definition of the word. It probably has many more meanings than you suspect.

      P.S. - why are some people never happy unless they're ripping down someone else?

    5. Re:"refusing to wash.." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Apple stores have troubleshooting areas called "Genius Bars" where employees with the designation of Genius work.

    6. Re:"refusing to wash.." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not about deriving pleasure from ripping people down. It's about treating pond scum like Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs like they did something good for society.

    7. Re:"refusing to wash.." by Severus+Snape · · Score: 1

      You win the be funny battle.

    8. Re:"refusing to wash.." by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He was a user-interaction genius, not necessarily a technical genius. He knew what people would want without them first knowing they wanted it.

    9. Re:"refusing to wash.." by king+neckbeard · · Score: 1

      I can dislike someone and still think they are a genius, and I can like someone and think they aren't a genius. Most of the time, Jobs wasn't even the best person in the room to apply the term 'genius' to.

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    10. Re:"refusing to wash.." by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Jobs was not a scientific genius, more of an organisational genius (re: Edison), so 'not a real genius' to some nerds. Geniuses are human, I know, it was a shock to me too when I first dicovered it! I'm 'smart' and I'm a nice person, so by inference geniuses are nice people, right?

      To see the same phenomena in a scientific genius just pick up any bio of Issac Newton, he was widely recognised in his own lifetime as genius of the highest caliber by the public, and a common arsehole by his collegues and relatives. "American idol" style fawning over an arsehole who happens to also be a genius is definitely not something new.

      Like him or not

      I don't go out of my way to read about Jobs, Woz, BillG, et al, but I I like Woz as a person from what I've seen of him, Jobs I'm still undecided. None of that detracts from their status as modern day geniuses.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    11. Re:"refusing to wash.." by king+neckbeard · · Score: 1

      Being memorable or important doesn't make you a genius, and being a genius doesn't make you memorable or important. Also, being a genius has nothing to do with bettering humanity. A person can be malicious and still be a genius, and if I had to throw out guesses, I'd say that geniuses as a whole are less benevolent on average than other people, either tending to have a misanthropic viewpoint or often acting in their own self interest to the detriment of others.

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    12. Re:"refusing to wash.." by king+neckbeard · · Score: 2, Informative

      Let's assume for a moment that your claim that he has not accomplished anything in his life is correct. That would make his value to humanity practically zero. That puts him above those that have had negative net effects on humanity. I don't think it is unreasonable to say that Edison and Jobs fit into that category.

      That said, Edison and Jobs being total cunts says nothing about whether or not they were actually geniuses.

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    13. Re:"refusing to wash.." by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

      He didn't design the iDevices himself; he hired well-known designers.
      He did exactly what a good business man should do; hire the right people.
      If there's any genius to Jobs, it would be to understand what the market wants.

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    14. Re:"refusing to wash.." by arikol · · Score: 2

      I don't particularly like the person I've read about, and don't think I would have liked him in person, but he was quite clever in his own right, and a genius in figuring out what was needed and assembling the right team to do it. That's possibly even rarer than technical genius..

    15. Re:"refusing to wash.." by jedwidz · · Score: 1

      why are people never happy unless they're ripping down someone else?

      FTFY. Are people any nicer in New Zealand? Please let me know.

      As a Kiwi myself, I can tell you 'cutting down tall poppies' is an antipodean tradition.

      In person, we're generally polite, honest, seldom confrontational, and almost never sycophantic. I wouldn't say nice.

    16. Re:"refusing to wash.." by DeathElk · · Score: 1

      And then we're stupid enough to give 'em drivers licenses.

    17. Re:"refusing to wash.." by balouderbaer · · Score: 1

      Oh the irony...you say that most people - but not you - only feel good if they can make others look bad. Kinda sounds like you are feeling pretty good about being "better" than others.

    18. Re:"refusing to wash.." by king+neckbeard · · Score: 1

      It doesn't put me anywhere. Where I sit on the scales of being a good person, being influential, and being a genius have nothing to do with where Jobs sits on those scales.

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    19. Re:"refusing to wash.." by king+neckbeard · · Score: 1

      I didn't say that he found many geniuses to work for him. I said that the label of genius was usually better applied to someone else around him. That doesn't mean those other peoples were geniuses, just closer to being geniuses than Jobs.

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    20. Re:"refusing to wash.." by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      He was technically smart, but not necessarily a technical genius. He had a general sense of what was possible, what it would cost, and what needed more R&D.

    21. Re:"refusing to wash.." by king+neckbeard · · Score: 1

      It means that in some contexts, although I've often seen higher numbers used as well. However, I don't think we've seen any indication of an exceptionally high IQ. His strengths were pretty much outside of what IQ tests measure.

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  3. I refuse too wash too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm going to be a billionaire!

    1. Re:I refuse too wash too! by cheater512 · · Score: 2

      Or die of cancer?

    2. Re:I refuse too wash too! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's been done. Think different.

    3. Re:I refuse too wash too! by tyrione · · Score: 1

      I'm going to be a billionaire!

      Definitely not a writer.

  4. Suitable for framing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    One of a kind! Snot rag that Steve Jobs blew his nose into at an organic food restaurant in 1979! Yours for only $200K! Suitable for framing!

    1. Re:Suitable for framing! by fatherjoecode · · Score: 1

      And thus started the deluge of sacred holy relics onto the market place.

  5. Venerated as a demi-god by stevegee58 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's venerated as a demi-god but like many high/over achievers he was also complete prick.

    Sorry Steve.

    1. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by starworks5 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Basically the bully that got to boss around and fuck over all the nerds, but doesn't actually possess much along the lines of ability, at least i had some respect for bill gates and his skills.

    2. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 3, Funny

      Steve Ballmer with better fashion sense.

      --
      "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    3. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by caitsith01 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yep, would you rather be (a) uber successful but smelly, nasty, humourless and loveless, or (b) less successful but regularly bathed, kind, funny and loved?

      Of course this is slashdot so I should offer option (c), unsuccessful, smelly, nasty, humourless and loveless.

      --
      Read Pynchon.
    4. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's ok, look around, most of the people you work with are pricks, your boss is....so are the people at the gym, in the super-market, and everywhere. So am I, and so are you, most likely.

      Fact is, most people are pricks. So what?

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    5. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, I guess that explains why Ballmer followed Jobs around like a bipolar chimpanzee, repeatedly insulting and dismissing Apple products on Monday and paying legions of engineers to try their best to copy them on Tuesday.

      Yeah, Jobs and Ballmer, two peas in a pod.

      Just one question: were you dropped on your head as a child?

    6. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by altoz · · Score: 1

      Bill Gates with better design sense.

      Fixed that for you.

    7. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Thing is, if you take all those people who are pricks, and consider them "normal", Jobs is still a prick.

    8. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by swillden · · Score: 1

      It's ok, look around, most of the people you work with are pricks, your boss is....so are the people at the gym, in the super-market, and everywhere. So am I, and so are you, most likely. Fact is, most people are pricks. So what?

      Right, because it's a boolean attribute. Frequency and degree aren't relevant.

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    9. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by kenh · · Score: 2

      I think you overestimate his limit - I suspect he hits his limit all the time.

      --
      Ken
    10. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by kenh · · Score: 1

      This is slashdot - what's a gym?

      --
      Ken
    11. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      There are fitness geeks too, you prick!! I mean, you insensitive clod!

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by daktari · · Score: 1, Insightful

      right now I'm too busy fucking your mom.......

      I guess that answers the question whether or not you were dropped on your head as a child.

      --
      A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. -- Willam Blake
    13. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      The answer is yes, because the mother in question is dead.

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    14. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      Basically the bully that got to boss around and fuck over all the nerds, but doesn't actually possess much along the lines of ability, at least i had some respect for bill gates and his skills.

      Really? What skills? BASIC? MS BASIC sucked so bad they replaced it with GW Basic in MS DOS 3.x (3.3 came with GW Basic, don't recall if it was put in earlier than that). After that, I'm kinda hazy on what he may have worked on that required technical skills. Conning skills - definitely.

      --
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    15. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by Bacon+Bits · · Score: 4, Funny

      Of course this is slashdot so I should offer option (c), unsuccessful, smelly, nasty, humourless and loveless.

      I have a perfectly good sense of humor, thank you very much.

      --
      The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
    16. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by hawk · · Score: 2

      It's where your lunch money went . .v. :)

      hawk

    17. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Lunch money!....in my day, we didn't have lunch money, we had to catch and eat the holes from the punch cards!! And we were grateful!!

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    18. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by Wovel · · Score: 1

      None of them are as smart as I am either.

    19. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      That does seem to happen somehow. If it makes you feel better, you are less smart than I.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    20. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by arikol · · Score: 1

      Well, he was building and designing his own electronics by the age of ten (before he met Woz. This is the reason he and Woz met) so I wouldn't say that he had no ability (in the realm of tech). As a design chief and a business manager he was a genius (otherwise all the other companies would be as successful as Apple)

    21. Re:Venerated as a demi-god by Swampash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As a previous poster has observed, Jobs was probably a better computer technician in the pure "here's a bucket of ICs and a board and a soldering iron, build a computer" sense than most people here. It's just that his partner was Steve Wozniak, who took that shit to a whole different level.

  6. Industrial designer by k(wi)r(kipedia) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, he may have come up with the design for the thing. After all, if a computer or a smartphone is simply a bunch of chips soldered, screwed or superglued together, then Apple would be selling iBoards and the iBerry Pi, instead of selling the iMac and the iPhone.

    1. Re:Industrial designer by shiftless · · Score: 2

      Yeah? Maybe? Your point is? Every person who achieves success, is sure to fail a few times along the way.

    2. Re:Industrial designer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah he designed the case. But do you really think if somebody else designed the case and it wasn't quite as slick it wouldn't of sold? i doubt it. What if woz hadn't of made a great computer (hardware wise for the time) affordable? Then it defiantly wouldn't of sold.

    3. Re:Industrial designer by Raenex · · Score: 1

      Then it defiantly wouldn't of sold.

      Defiantly not, ya blimey bloke!

    4. Re:Industrial designer by Guignol · · Score: 1

      Have course ! defiantly !

    5. Re:Industrial designer by milkmage · · Score: 2

      Jobs came back right around the time that thing was killed.. as for who ok'd it.. Spindler or Amelio.. and Apple was only in it for the licensing. Bandai actually built and shipped.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Bandai_Pippin
      Apple never intended to release Pippin on its own. Instead, it intended to license the technology to third parties; Bandai was looking at entering the console video game market, and chose the Pippin as its platform. Much later Katz Media also entered production, planning to use the platform as a low cost PC with web ability.

      you could probably CREDIT Jobs with killing it..
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
      On July 9, 1997, Gil Amelio was ousted by the board of directors after overseeing a three-year record-low stock price and crippling financial losses. Jobs became the interim CEO and began restructuring the company's product line.

    6. Re:Industrial designer by muon-catalyzed · · Score: 1

      This whole "Apple game console" thing is really getting funnier.., Jobs biography says (as the other guy in this thread is pointing out) that Jobs he was responsible for coming up with the molded plastic case of the Apple Pippin game console.

      You can't probably get any closer to some "hands on" industrial design then that.

    7. Re:Industrial designer by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      The Apple I and Apple ][ were Woz's design. All Jobs did was the marketing- the boxes, the rainbow Apple sticker, and the brochures.

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  7. Only a video game? by gmhowell · · Score: 1, Troll

    Damn, it's only a memo about improving a video game? I thought it was going to be a memo about how to improve the snoozefest that is soccer/futbol. (Yeah, and here come all the non-Americans to talk about how superior it is to basketball/baseball/football. I don't care. Any game that ends in a 0-0 tie is not entertaining to watch.)

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    1. Re:Only a video game? by Kittenman · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Damn, it's only a memo about improving a video game? I thought it was going to be a memo about how to improve the snoozefest that is soccer/futbol. (Yeah, and here come all the non-Americans to talk about how superior it is to basketball/baseball/football. I don't care. Any game that ends in a 0-0 tie is not entertaining to watch.)

      You mean, the majority of the world's population?

      --
      "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
    2. Re:Only a video game? by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought it was going to be a memo about how to improve the snoozefest that is soccer/futbol.

      Let's see...

      1.1.14.a: All players will be issued 9mm handguns with one cartridge each, except that the goalkeeper shall receive three cartridges. Players are allowed to handle the ball with their elbows, heads, feet, or rackets. All horses, except for those participating in the game, must be tied securely on the sidelines with sponsors' logos removed or covered. Matches will continue for 25 minutes or until no players remain awake. Players may purchase supplementary PCP at the on-field concession stand. Broadcasts, recordings, and retransmissions in any form are prohibited without the express written consent of Batman. The use of polearms in excess of 3 meters in length is prohibited except during league play.

      Nope, still not worth watching.

    3. Re:Only a video game? by mixmasta · · Score: 1

      It's not the most action packed sport for sure ... but it is accessible. You only need one ball and some empty space. Of course baseball's a bit dull to watch as well, though I do enjoy playing it.

      --
      #6495ED - cornflower blue
    4. Re:Only a video game? by Faluzeer · · Score: 1

      Damn, it's only a memo about improving a video game? I thought it was going to be a memo about how to improve the snoozefest that is soccer/futbol. (Yeah, and here come all the non-Americans to talk about how superior it is to basketball/baseball/football. I don't care. Any game that ends in a 0-0 tie is not entertaining to watch.)

      Hmmm

      So it is the act of scoring that makes a game exciting? Personally I don't think so, certainly not in regards to basketball, where I believe the opposite is true... As a Brit I have seen many scoreless football matches, yes, quite a few of them have been dire, however a fair number of them have been very tense and exciting. The best have been those matches where one side has dominated the match but have been denied victory by a perfect performance from the other team's goalkeeper.

    5. Re:Only a video game? by GrahamCox · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Any game that ends in a 0-0 tie is not entertaining to watch

      Not always, but it often is. It's not always about the score, or winners and losers but how the game is played.

      No doubt though, you also only watch car racing for the crashes.

    6. Re:Only a video game? by gmhowell · · Score: 1

      I actually prefer to watch baseball.

      But yes, there is no more accessible sport than soccer. To play.

      To watch? Not so much. It's better than golf, but not by much.

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    7. Re:Only a video game? by tnk1 · · Score: 1

      Of course, your mileage will vary. The one nice thing about a game that scores is that it usually means that very good plays are rewarded with a score at the end of them, so it is easier to follow who is making good plays and when they are doing it.

      In soccer it also means that a 1-0 score is a much larger deficit to overcome than the goal would lead watchers of other games to believe. If the game ends on a 1-0, that zero can mean anything from no offense on the loser's side to good, but not quite good enough offense. It could make some people feel like the losing team accomplished nothing, when they may have played very well indeed.

      It's all psychological and what you are used to, of course. If you are used to high scoring games, it will be strange for you. Going from basketball to soccer is an interesting change of perspective.

    8. Re:Only a video game? by Wovel · · Score: 1

      No it's not, not ever. Nothing happened.

    9. Re:Only a video game? by Wovel · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Be real. If you have seen 100 0-0 matches, only two of them were remotely interesting. Only one of them would be interesting to someone who is not a fanatic.

    10. Re:Only a video game? by Inda · · Score: 1

      Both teams had a "clean sheet". The goalkeepers will be pleased. The four defenders, if that formation is used, will be just as pleased. In the professional game, bonuses will be issued.

      Tactically, both managers stopped the other team playing. I'm not fond of this tactic, but I respect the reason it's used.

      There may have been 20 shots on goal by each team. Some were on target, which the goalkeeper saved. Some were nearly on target forcing the crowd to go "Ooooooooooooh". Some were wide of the target and everyone laughed.

      Crowd precipitation. It's the reason I go. There's nothing like a good tribal chant with your peers on a Saturday afternoon. It can make you weekend if you start the sing-song. "You're shit and you know you are".

      Maybe someone was sent off for elbowing, kneeing and then headbutting (Barton). Maybe there other incidents like racism (Terry - you know what you are). Maybe someone died and was brought back to life on the pitch (Muamba).

      If the referee was a Wanker, it's another talking point for the week ahead. Threads and threads of talking points.

      It's all part of the experience known as football.

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    11. Re:Only a video game? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What? No saves? No defending? No fouls? No near misses? No controversy? No missed penalties?

      You really don't get football, sure goals are exciting and the point of the game (as scoring them is so hard), but so is all the above. You can get 0-0 bore draws, but that doesn't mean that you can't have exciting 0-0 games. And the majority of the world's population understands that. Football is a balance of attack and defence. Sports where the score racks up too easily are boring.

    12. Re:Only a video game? by Norwell+Bob · · Score: 1

      Crowd precipitation. It's the reason I go.

      It's rainin' men... Halleluja!!

      Methinks perhaps you meant 'participation'. :^)

  8. Mantra FTA by vencs · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    An insightful Buddhist Mantra:

    gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha

    "gone gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening (end)!"

    1. Re:Mantra FTA by Swave+An+deBwoner · · Score: 1

      The parent comment is curiously modded "off-topic".

      This "mantra" is reportedly stamped at the bottom of the holy manuscript / World Cup Memo.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Sutra

  9. ironic? by Cyko_01 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I find it odd that, with his background is video games, the mac is not a more successful gaming platform.

    1. Re:ironic? by westlake · · Score: 1

      I find it odd that, with his background is video games, the mac is not a more successful gaming platform.

      The Mac entered the market in 1984 with a nine inch 512x342 black and white screen, 128 KB RAM and a $5200 price tag, adjusted for inflation. It would be three years before the Mac supported color with the introduction of the Mac II. MacIntosh

    2. Re:ironic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      only took him 30 years and death to accomplish a fraction of nintendo's gameboy sales in a single year

      all hail jobs, the glory god of gaming, nevermind he did nothing else cept sign off on the approval and let others write games for it

    3. Re:ironic? by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      what was the graphical resolution of MDA?

      thats right jack fucking shit, it couldn't do graphics

      what about CGA?
      320×200 color 640×200 mono

      still lower than mac, and yet many many more games ..

    4. Re:ironic? by Swampash · · Score: 1

      Nintendo reports first-ever operating loss in 2011
      http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/26/nintendo-annual-financials-2011/

      Sony reports record loss in 2011
      http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/10/3011264/sony-record-loss-5-7-billion-fy-2011

      Apple reports record revenue, record sales of iPad and iPhone in 2011
      http://www.macworld.com/article/1164973/apple_reports_record_revenue_profit_for_fiscal_first_quarter.html

      But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

    5. Re:ironic? by shadowrat · · Score: 1

      Maybe he was burnt out or disgruntled or something. He certainly seemed to have a fanatical opposition to games for a long time. These stories about how he was treated at atari as a 19 year old seem like just the thing to create some weird brooding hatred of the game industry.

    6. Re:ironic? by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      I find it odd that, with his background is video games, the mac is not a more successful gaming platform.

      Actually, Steve Jobs HATED games. If he had his way he wouldn't have it on his Mac platform (he wanted people to think of the Mac as a tool, not a toy).

      Of course, over the years he softened his stance which basically led to iOS being one of the top portable gaming consoles around. (And yes, an iDevice IS a console - completely with console-like development mentality and approvals. The only thing it lacks are the demands for secure office space separate from residential accommodations [though some exist if you want the latest iDevice prototypes], company approval [Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony will not talk to you unless your well known], and cost [a Mac+iDevice will cost less than just a single developer platform (Nintendo - $5k, Microsoft/Sony - $10k, leased, not owned)]0.

      It's an interesting experiment and I'm not sure if Apple really intended to be in the console game business...

  10. It always breaks my heart... by Genda · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To hear about a young man on a path to providing joy and happiness to millions, only to lose his way and become a business executive. Where did we fail you Steve. You clearly had the potential. Antisocial, poor hygiene, you had all the traits of a budding young geek. Then somewhere a terrible turn south. Perhaps we'll never know.

    1. Re:It always breaks my heart... by tyrione · · Score: 2

      To hear about a young man on a path to providing joy and happiness to millions, only to lose his way and become a business executive. Where did we fail you Steve. You clearly had the potential. Antisocial, poor hygiene, you had all the traits of a budding young geek. Then somewhere a terrible turn south. Perhaps we'll never know.

      Every one of those bohemians from his early days all became wealthy, yet he was one of the only ones who actually lived as minimal a lifestyle as possible with all of his wealth. Steve was all about cutting edge style even when he was managing an Apple orchard for a hedonist later turned Copper Mogul and Conservative dick head, while up in Oregon.

    2. Re:It always breaks my heart... by Raenex · · Score: 1

      It always breaks my heart... To hear about a young man on a path to providing joy and happiness to millions, only to lose his way and become a business executive.

      2013, Year of the Linux Desktop!

    3. Re:It always breaks my heart... by maztuhblastah · · Score: 1

      Every one of those bohemians from his early days all became wealthy, yet he was one of the only ones who actually lived as minimal a lifestyle as possible with all of his wealth.

      Yeah, as minimal as possible.

      Note the minimal, bohemian lifestyle demonstrated in the linked picture.

      He also purchased 20,000+ square feet of house in what I assume must have been a demonstration against the evils of capitalism, right?

    4. Re:It always breaks my heart... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And he also did this. Previous poster definitely enjoying the reality distortion field.

  11. Re:no one fucking cares by Genda · · Score: 1

    how much can i get for a magazine he farted on once

    A breath mint and some hand sanitizer. Ewwww.

  12. Re:I found this memo, auctioning it off by Genda · · Score: 1

    Hey Beavis... he said Wang... Huh,huh,huh,huhuhuhuh.

  13. A fool and his money are soon parted. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    A fool and his money are soon parted.

  14. Re:High bidders only by mikkelm · · Score: 1

    Is that really the only plausible explanation that you can come up with?

  15. Re:I wish he was still alive. by tnk1 · · Score: 2

    Generally only people who other people care about end up on magazine covers. Magazines don't make these people up. That's what Reality TV is for.

    Seriously, though, unless you're reading the Entertainment/Tabloid rags, you're reading about people who attained notoriety independently of being on some cover because magazines are not going to be bought if there is a Nobody on the cover. Perhaps their achievements get blown out of proportion or amplified by later coverage, but in general there's a reason they are there and people are writing about them.

    Note that Apple became the behemoth that it is now when Jobs came back. That's worthy of note. Perhaps he rode on others' shoulders while being a dick to them, but it is an open and valid question to ask whether those same people would have combined in the way they did to achieve without Jobs being there and being an asshole to them. I'd say its a safe bet he made things happen, even if he couldn't actually create the hardware himself like Woz might have been able to.

    I mean, who would Woz be without Steve Jobs? A really good engineer that very few people had ever heard of. There are probably engineers who have 10x the considerable skill of a Woz who will never do shit with their ability because they couldn't find opportunities to make their stuff count. There are a lot of bullshit artists in the world, but few have the capability to actually turn that into something that delivers.

  16. "refusing to wash and smelt bad" by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 1

    "because he was in a phase of refusing to wash and so he apparently smelt bad"

    Hmmm... Somehow that lessens my previous critique of his persona.

    Still, he was greedy smelly. So he wasn't all good after all!

  17. Typical Jobs by Digital+Vomit · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you look closely at the document, you can see where he erased "Wozniak" and wrote "Jobs"...

    --
    Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.