I’m sure by now you’ve heard that Steve Jobs passed away yesterday of cancer at the age of 56. This was shocking and sad news to many people, myself included. For those who do not know Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computers with Steve Wozniak in 1976. Over the years he has been the visionary behind many of Apple’s greatest products and really changed the way many people view technology. Being that I work in technology I have followed Apple products over the years.
You know growing up you read about people like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and George Westinghouse. These were all visionaries and people who really thought outside of the box. For our generation Steve is one of those visionaries. Obviously I was really too young to follow the early Apple Computers, but since Steve returned to Apple in 1997 I think most of us in the technology field really followed Apple closely. If you think about it personal computers might not be what they are today without Steve Jobs.
All innovators have to take chances and of the first one that really shocked many of us with the introduction of the iPod in 2001. MP3′s were not that popular back then and many people did not think the device would be successful, but as you know it was a huge success. There were MP3 players out there, but no company really made one that caught on. I’m sure many of you reading this currently own or have owned an iPod. This was a step away from Computers for Apple and gave them what they needed to continue as a successful company.
Just 2 years later Apple introduced the iTunes Music Store, which allowed you to purchase music online and download it. This completely changed the music industry and is revolutionary. Before the iTunes music store most people were still going out and purchasing CD’s or buying MP3′s online and websites that most likely do not exist anymore.
In 2005 Steve gave a great commencement speech at Stanford in which he talks about life, start Apple, getting fired from Apple and much more. Instead of me talking about it you can watch it below.
In 2007 Apple introduced the iPhone, which as you know completely changed how we view mobile phones. Before the iPhone I really cannot think of a mobile touchscreen phone that was popular and worked well. It completely changed the way people see phones and really pushed them to become all in one devices. Now the iPhone is one on its 4th generation and is one of the most popular mobile devices of all time. Here is a video of the unveiling of the original iPhone.
After the iPhone other great accomplishments where the iTunes App Store and of course the iPad and iPad 2.
I am in now way an Apple Fanboy, I run all PC’s at home, although I do own an iPhone. Whether you like Apple products or not you have to think about what Steve did in his life and how his vision changed the way we view personal computers, phones and the music industry. He was a true pioneer and visionary. We are quite lucky to have a person like him in our lifetime, there are not many like him. He has given many people, including myself inspiration to do what we love and to “Think Different”.
Back when I was in high school I was really in to skateboarding and snowboard, actually one of my first websites was a skateboarding website! After high school though I really lost interest in both skateboarding and snowboarding. I think the main reason was that I did not have that many people to go with and I was just so busy with college and starting to build ThinkComputers. A while ago I saw the trailer for The Art of Flight and it looked awesome. Check it out below…
What really surprised me about this movie was how much publicity it was receiving. The first time I saw the trailer was during the previews at a movie theater. That is pretty much unheard of for an action-sports movie. It was also all over the internet, on YouTube etc. This weekend I decided to check it out and I was not disappointed at all.
The movie follows professional snowboarder Travis Rice and his friends to some of the craziest places in the world. Watching this movie I just thought to myself, “They can’t be serious!?!?!”. Some of the mountains they go down are just insane, like straight down, tons of rocks etc. It really shows the courage and skill level of these guys. The movie is really about going places people have never been before.
The visuals in the movie are epic. I watched the HD version of this movie and you should if you get the chance. You can really get a sense of the scale of things and that really makes you go…WOW. The visuals also show you how beautiful and scenic the places they go are. This has to be the most well put together action-sports movie I have ever seen. Not only with the amazing visuals, but the soundtrack and the way the story is told. It is not all snowboarding, but also the adventure of getting to these amazing destinations that they visit.
Also there are some great quotes from the film, here are a couple…
“Experiencing the world through endless second-hand information isn’t enough, if we want authenticity we have to initiate it.”
“We’ll never know our full positional unless we push ourselves to find it. It’s this self-discovery that takes us to the wildest places on earth.”
“It’s not the destination, but the adventure along the way.”
The movie really made me want to get back in to snowboarding. If you have ever been snowboarding you know the feeling of going down a slope and just feeling alone and peaceful. This movie brings back that feeling. Definitely check out this movie if you get a chance, even if you are not into action-sports you will enjoy it. Here is another trailer!
I think just about everyone has at least one hater. You know someone that has to say something negative about everything that you do, that takes the time out of their day to try and bring you down. We all know one person in our life that does this and if you are in any way successful you have a good amount of haters.
I’ve had quite a few haters over the years. First it started with people who said I couldn’t make ThinkComputers a real business. They would say I could never make money off of a website or that it would never work out. I just look at them and laugh and ask them how their 9 to 5 that they complain about so much is going. I also remind them that ThinkComputers has been my main business for almost 10 years now!
Another type of hater that I have come across is people who don’t like me because I am successful and I am well liked. That is probably about the dumbest thing I have ever heard of. Why would you hate me for being successful? Shouldn’t you want to learn so maybe you can become successful too? They just waste their time hating instead of seeing what I am doing to become successful and learning from it. Yes I have a good amount of friends, but is that a reason to hate on me? Maybe you don’t have any friends because you are negative all the time?
Talking about being negative all the time I was dating this girl not that long ago and I was telling her about launching the ThinkComputers YouTube channel and her response was, “Who wants to watch you?” Then I also told her about getting a national client for my new company and her response was, “Who would want to hire you?” Well as you can guess I am no longer dating that girl. No one wants to be around someone who is negative all the time!
You may think that having haters is a bad thing, but honestly it serves as great motivation. I love it when someone says something I do will never succeed. It makes me strive even harder to make it successful. You know you are doing something right when people are hating on you. Sorry if this post was a little out of left field, just something I have been thinking about lately. And on the subject of haters…
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