Tag: Steve Jobs

bookmark_borderCry for Pixar

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No doubt this will be covered in further detail elsewhere (and to my shame I can’t remember which blog I spotted it on) but this story, buried in the comments on a thread on Metafilter is amazing.

The short version is that, opening viewing one of the first trailers for Wall-E, a girl found herself bursting into tears as she was so moved. She video’d herself doing this, posted it on YouTube, and some Pixar staff found it and emailed her (this was all on a personal basis, not driven through the company at this point). Apparently word got round Pixar and ultimately ends up with the girl and her boyfriend being invited to the staff premiere screening, flown out and put up in a hotel, and then, before they showed the movie, being introduced to the staff as, by that point, everyone knew her story.

Schmaltzy? Yes. But to me it demonstrates the passion Pixar have for their movies.

Having read To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios the story certainly fits with the ethos that powers the studio and is a touching insight into how Pixar operates. Yes, of course they have a cold, heartless, business side, but there is no real reason why they did all of that other than because watching the girl’s video touched THEM. Pixar have given this story zero publicity (and yes you cynics, I’m sure they are happy it’s been revealed but they aren’t making a play on this I don’t think).

I never did write up my thoughts about that Pixar book but suffice to say if you enjoy their movies, and are a bit of a geek like me, you’ll LOVE it. It covers everything from business decisions (including why Steve Jobs got involved) through to their commitment to make good movies, regardless of technological barriers.

They are a unique company in many ways, as this story only goes to show.

bookmark_borderSmall things matter

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I’ve been pretty good about not fawning over my Mac too much, right? I mean this hasn’t turned into a fanboy style homage to Steve Jobs and all things Apple. Well, no more so than usual… I don’t think.

This does mean that I’ve had to fit the strong urge to blog about the myriad of small things that I’ve noticed when using the Mac, the myriad of things which go to show that attention to detail and spending time on small issues IS important. Of course the fact that the Mac software is pretty robust in the first place allows the developers at Apple a little more time to worry about such things but that just means that it’s good for the user.

There are many little things that make using a Mac fun. They are all simple and some would say pointless, but watching the screen rotate like it is on the side of a cube, spin round and stop at another desktop (when switching users) may not be necessary but does add to the overall experience.

As I say, I’ve not mentioned most of these as many other people have waffled on about them at great length.

But last night was the straw that broke the dromedaries back.

There are two user accounts on our MacBook, one for me, one for Louise. Similar to Windows XP you get a login screen when you first startup the Mac and as it is a laptop we have passwords on the logins.

Last night I was half watching the football, whilst the laptop started up, so wasn’t really paying attention when I typed in my password. It was then, with a sense of some disbelief that I saw the login screen shake its head at me.

Yes, that’s right. When you enter an incorrect password, the login screen shakes from side to side briefly, just like it is shaking its head.

Intrigued I entered another wrong password, and watched it again, and after the third try was even more impressed when the password reminder I had entered when I created the user account slide into view under the login screen.

THAT is attention to detail.

Yes a simple “sorry that’s the wrong password” message would do the same but that’s what makes using the Mac much more fun, much more engaging. I know the naysayers will say “but it’s a computer, it needs to be functional” and as I’ve said before, if that’s the way your mind works then fine. But you are missing the point, and no amount of explanation is going to convince you. Am I right?

bookmark_borderFast Forward

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It’s Sept 2006 and Steve Jobs launches the new iPhone after succesfully testing iTunes in a mobile phone (Rokr) and a new “phone size” iPod (Nano) … No?

Note: I’m only posting this as I’ve had similar thoughts in the past but have not been able to point back at a post and say “See!! I told ya!!”.