25
Aug 11
It’s 2041 and Steve Jobs 2.0 just became CEO of Apple
Cupertino, August 25 2041
As was widely anticipated, Steve Jobs 2.0 was just named the new CEO of Apple, Inc. The 30-year old executive, who had been groomed since birth for this post, was ambivalent about his promotion: "This is what my genetic predecessor wanted of course, and I’m thankful for his provisions for me over the last three decades – I think I’m ready for this, and I’m obviously well suited. It is my destiny, whether I like it or not."
Upon his 2011 resignation as CEO of Apple, the first Steve Jobs secretly established Malum LLC, a corporation whose sole purpose was to raise a set of identical clones based on his own DNA, for the purpose of maintaining the Jobs legacy at Apple. Each of the ten clones was placed in a different host family for fifteen years, and upon reaching that age three clones were chosen for continued education and preparation. After the tragic death of SJ Clone II in 2020, SJ Clone V was placed at Reed College and briefed on his destiny. Upon dropping out from Reed, he was hired at Apple in the design department under an assumed name. On April 1, 2035, Apple Inc. acquired Malum LLC and revealed the whole scheme to incredulous shareholders and customers. The company’s share price immediately doubled on that day.
In the following year, the plan’s success was endangered by a lawsuit brought by SJ Clone X, the third pre-selected clone, who challenged Malum’s selection process and threatened to establish a competitor to Apple. The case was settled out of court.
To this day, the remaining SJ clones are unaware of their origin, and generous scholarships and trust funds were discreetly established for each. It is widely assumed that a SJ 3.0 class is in preparation.
© 2011, Manu Schmitt
23
Dec 10
Joyeux Noel word lovers
A merry Christmas to all, and I wanted to share with you the Wordle analysis of the Christmas Carol. This is a great tool for business use also if you have to visualize a lot of text for a slide.
07
Dec 10
A story about telling stories with presentations
For those of you who took my class on presentations and PPT, here’s a new resources to refresh some of the ideas we covered: The Presentation (the book).
12
May 10
Are you a Kindle? Or an iPad?
As of today, I’m a Kindle. But if you don’t know yet, how do you choose? How do you pick between two great, different devices?
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or |
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Here’s how to choose: Picture a quiet Sunday evening. Would you rather spend an hour reading a book, or watching TV?
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or |
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If you answered "TV", then you’re an iPad. If you chose the book, then you’re a Kindle.
29
Apr 10
Lenovo Supply Chain
How flat the world is. Just got an international shipment from Lenovo, mapped courtesy of UPS, Google and Boxoh:
22
Mar 10
Waiting for ebooks
Let’s count the ways we have to wait for a better tomorrow on ebooks:
1. First the iPad, of course. But the wait is almost over, they tell us.
2. Then there’s Blio Reader (software), which went into radio silence after CES. They’ve been “coming soon” since then… we’re still waiting.
3. Barnes & Noble, not to be outdone, let us and their investors know that they wouldn’t miss the iPad train and would launch their app. Soon.
4. Finally, Amazon pre-announced their Kindle for Tablet, any tablet as long as you can touch it. Very soon.
B&N, Blio and Amazon have found themselves forced to react to the iPad ebook business model, and demonstrate how their own business model would survive the iPad onslaught. But for the moment, all these announcements feel a lot like vaporware – or is it ebookware?
16
Feb 10
Plunge into history – online
Microsoft has released a technical preview of streetside photos, a Bing service which will overlay Flickr photos into Bing Streetview – including historical photos.
For all lovers of history, this means that you’ll soon be able to enter 3D renditions of historical landscapes, and walk through them – like a Star Trek holodeck without the characters (yet).
Try it: visit Seattle’s Pioneer Square
Think of the possibilities: Stroll through the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris; visit Dresden before the bombing; follow Allied troops landing on Omaha Beach. This will be yet another way to make history relevant.
03
Feb 10
The other way ebooks prices are changing
Amazon’s troubles with publishers have focused mostly on how the publishers want Amazon to charge more for ebooks. But what about when the $9.99 price is too high?
Take a recent bestseller for instance: The Da Vinci Code
I foresee Amazon increasingly tweaking prices in this way – in the meantime it’s you can find other $9.99 Kindle versions competing with a cheap used copy, and look for more used book price arbitrage opportunities.