Death, and Steve Jobs

It was a bit anti-climatic. Those of us who are familiar with the situation knew it was only a matter of time before the day would come. Major news publications were already waxing on endlessly about Steve Jobs’ legacy on the day he stepped down from the CEO position in Apple, as if the world was not going to see him for much longer. Indeed, Jobs’ passing last week did not come as a surprise to me. It has been known for a while now that despite the marvels of medicinal technology, Jobs’ battle with pancreatic cancer was going to end soon.

On the day of the announcement of Job’s resignation as CEO, I knew then that it meant bad news for his health (Jobs is a notorious hard worker, spending late nights at the Apple Campus regularly). Jobs has been losing weight and ghoulish looking for the past couple of years now, and pictures of him in the past month looked absolutely terrible. The consensus amongst Apple fans was that this was the look of a guy about to lose his battle with cancer. It was only time. 

Of course, even though the element of surprise was lacking, the news of Jobs’ death still hit with much enormity. Avid fans of the Apple was just as devastated with the news as Beatle fans were upon hearing about the assassination of john Lennon. The news hit me harder than I thought it would, even though I was as big an Apple fan as they come. After all, it is just one man’s passing - and a man I have never met at that. In a weird and cliche sort of way, the death of Steve Jobs has become one of those events you will remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news.

Thanks to the wonder of Internet and social media, news travels faster than even proper news agency can report them. I had just came home from work and was busy doing the great American past time of checking my Facebook when a post from a friend said that Steve Jobs is dead. My auto reflex was to check the major new sites to substantiate the claim (you know, not like I do not trust my friends or anything). To my surprise, nothing of the news was to be found for another 15 minutes. After that, all hell figuratively broke loose. news outlets of all kinds was reporting it, Twitter was over run (there was ~4.5 million tweets trending #thankyousteve in just a few hours), and posts with rest in peace wishes to Jobs started flooding my Facebook timeline. 

For the rest of that day and the day after, I soaked in all the tributes to Jobs, whether it be in pictures, the written word, or video. You have truly done something great when even the competitors of the company you created offers you respect at the time of your death. Clearly what Jobs has done with his short life has managed to touch just about everyone in a positive way, the world over.

ME, AND APPLE

I was relatively late to the party - I’ve only began being a fan of Apple products with the introduction of the iPod in the early 2000’s. It was during what was the early stage of the Apple renaissance, with Steve’s second go around with the company. Of course I have used Apple Mac products before, but that was only in the academic arena, as most educational institutions used prefer the Macintosh system over Windows PC. Back then I was still very much a PC user, as the gaming possibilities on that platform was many miles ahead of what Mac’s were capable of. Not to mention, you can build your own PC. 

For many of my generation, the iPod changed everything. Not only in the way we listen to music, but our perception of Apple - it was no longer that funky computer you only use at school. For many, the iPod was the gateway drug for Apple products. Never before had I use something so technologically advanced (slogan or not, 1,000 songs in your pocket at that time was simply amazing), simple to use, and most importantly, beautiful. Before the current state of Apple, the leader in consumer electronics design in the late 90’s was Sony. Their line of computers, CD players, Televisions, and other products all had an additional design quality that no other competitor can match (there is a reason Chinese people, a culture very conscious about image, have preferred Sony products for the longest time.)

Attention to beautiful design and aesthetics in practically everything is the biggest attribute of Steve Jobs I admire. All the products he put out since his return to Apple in 1997 all looked as beautiful as they are simple and powerful. With him it was paying attention to all the details and a perfectionism attitude. Jobs was so meticulous with the overall presentation of everything that he even had a strong part in how Apple retail stores should look. His belief that just because something is a mere “tool’ or "appliance” does not mean that it should look terrible revolutionized an industry that was once filled with much beige and plastic. It was due to Apple’s design philosophies that other companies in the tech world follow suit, realizing that consumers want things that work but look good doing it as well. 

As a person who always had a quirk for how things appeals to the eyes (I am a photographer, after all), Apple products was the natural fit. The first iPod (3rd generation) snowballed into a second iPod (5th generation), and eventually to my first Macintosh computer (2008 Macbook) when I started my collegiate undergrad career. I chose it because nothing in the PC world came close to the aesthetics of a Macbook laptop. The Macbook became my full time computer, and hence forth never looked back at the PC platform. From an everyday usage point of view, the Mac operating system is much more simple and intuitive. Not to mention, for photography and digital design work Mac it is the de-facto platform of choice.

In additional to the products looking great, Jobs also required them to perform its function in the most elegant and simplistic fashion. Keeping things to its absolute simplest form is something I also come to admire about him. Being once the minimalist hippy (there is a famous picture of him sitting on the wooden floor of his living room with nothing but a lamp), Jobs hated clutter and anything that is unnecessary. He also famously required things to “just work”. It made perfect sense: all consumers ever want from the products they buy is it functioning correctly in the least amount of time and hassle possible. 

STEVE JOBS, AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

It was not until I started the business entrepreneurship part of college that I took to Steve Jobs as role model figure. He and Apple together was so successful that it was something to be studied and emulated. Questions like “what would Jobs/Apple do?” came up frequently in the process applying Steve’s entrepreneurial philosophy into planning my own entrepreneurial exploits. For example, the Apple design language has been so well received and universally acclaimed that everybody and the mother in the design world wants to to copy the “Apple look” into everything they make. You really can’t study entrepreneurship without looking at what Steve has done so brilliantly with two companies (the other being Pixar) 

A big part of any business is selling. While being the tech product genius that he was, Jobs also did one thing extremely well - the ability to sell. The so called “reality distortion field” and the keynote address Jobs is famous for was some of the finest examples on how to drive up demand and make consumers want a product so badly that they will line up by the droves at ungodly hours to get their hands on it. Having a beautiful product that can do the equivalent of a swiss army knife will do a company no good if they do zero marketing. As I have learn from business school, the mantra of “build it and they will come” is patently false. Jobs’ style of selling was very effective for the kind of products Apple was making; the company’s stock prices and record profits quarter after quarter reflect this.  

One way to increase revenue and profits for any company is to introduce new products, and almost no one does it better than Jobs and his team at Apple. In a tech industry where product innovation was the inverse of the speed that computing power is progressing, Apple bucked the trend by coming out with one product revolution after another. The iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Macbook Air took a product segments that already existed and yet so completely changed the paradigm that it practically evolved into a new segment. There were mp3 players before the iPod, smartphones before the iPhone, tablets before the iPad, and ultra portable computers before the Macbook Air, but those product segments were forever changed after the introduction of those products by Apple.  

It was Wayne Gretzky who famously said: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” Steve Jobs took this notion with him at Apple and made products that consumers did not even think they needed until it came out. The innovations that came from this kind of thinking has been astounding, and it is something that entrepreneurs and business should strive to do.

ME, AND STEVE JOBS

It is hard to predict what Apple and the rest of the computer tech industry will be like now that Jobs is gone. There is a bit of fear inside me that wonders if the kind of product innovation and pushing the bar will now be gone along with Jobs. Apple is supposedly in very good hands, and Steve even outline the product strategy for the next four years before he left. As a fan of Apple, I hope for nothing but the best in Apple continuing to its upward trend. It would do Jobs proud.

As for me, aside from the attention to detail, keeping things simple, and the entrepreneurial arts, the thing from Jobs’ legacy I will take with me is summed up in his 2005 Stanford Commencement speech:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. … Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

9/11: never forget. But then what?

I was in middle school when it happened (which gives me a slight comfort in my feelings about my current age), and the memory of that day is still very much fresh in my mind. Being situated in the west coast meant that when the 9/11 attacks happened on the World Trade Center twin towers in New York, us teenagers with school obligations had merely started our dreary day. 

Honestly I thought it was a joke when upon arriving on school grounds there was whispers of an airplane being flown into the World Trade Center in New York (had a the faintest idea of what it even was). Once news sunk in that indeed it was not a joke and a plane did struck one of the towers, we all amongst ourselves chalked it up to an accident, because acts of terrorism was such a foreign concept in our modern society (to us teenagers anyway - we were all peanuts when the Oklahoma City bombings happened). 

Things quickly turned serious when we got locked in our homerooms and was refused to be let to our first period classes. We were told that what was happening in New York was no accident, and was very much premeditated. Students was to stay in homerun until the adults figured out what to do with us next. Hysteria sinked in with those without the stomach to bear the horror that was supposedly unfolding (haven't got televisions in our classrooms). Tears started flying, mongering about the end of the world, World War III, and general disbelieve that how a mundane monday in September can turn so upside down. Remember, we were still kids. 

Slowly but surely the administration allowed kids to be sent home with our parents, for the school district mandated that school session was cancelled for the rest of the day. Unfortunately for me that means taking the bus home (neighborhood school, like a boss) because I had a little brother who was only four and priority with the parental was infinitely higher than mine. Nonetheless, upon arriving at the comforts of home (a sentiment not shared by any New Yorker at that time) I was glued to the TV for the rest of the day, shellshocked, half believing and half not believing (saw both towers come crashing down). 

Nothing gel the American people together like our nation under attack (thanks FDR). The outpouring of support and pride for this country of ours in the months that followed was something never seen since the second World War. Heck even me, then still a citizen of the great communist nation of The People's Republic of China, was cognizant enough of the atmosphere at the time and proudly displayed a poorly made plastic replica of the American flag. 

Of course to best emulate the events of World War II, what do we do when our sovereignty is attacked by a foreign regime (only this time in the Middle East)? We go invade another country! Because the best reaction to thousands of lives lost is eye for an eye. Oh and we have some unfinished business at another country from a decade ago? Perfect alibi to invade that country to finish the job (well sort of, country still in shambles for all accounts)! 

Let's face it, the legacy of the 9/11 attacks for the past 10 years have been the (still ongoing) meddling in the affairs of two countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, the original goal was to find, eradicate, and bring to justice those that were responsible fo the attacks on our soil. The numbers don't lie however, the colateral damage on both sides have been far too great for what little ounce of closure the death of Osama Bin Laden has given us. America spent trillions on the war machine while the situation in the homefront saw a decline in educational prowess, crumbling infrastructure, a financial meltdown of historic proportions, and a legislature so inept that the only thing they can agree on is that our troops are worth supporting (even though democrats and republicans sit on either side of the fence regarding the war.)

It is sad to see the only outcome from the togetherness of the American people brought on by the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks is the general hubris of the United States foreign policy. We are more interested in bandying around our might on the world stage rather than fixing and improving our status at home. For sure the world looks upon America as the bastion of the free democratic world, and the question of whether to get involved into other foreign affairs is a damn if you do, damn if you don't situation.

At what point do we toss aside our ego and (false) sense of superiority and look without a blind eye at the problems our country currently face? At this 10 year anniversary of 9/11 attacks, America is at a crossroads - the decisions we and our legislature make in the next year and half will determine plenty of this nation's future. 

Today and every September 11th since 2001, we do well to remember those who perished, sacrificed, and those that fought and continue to fight for our freedom overseas. Necessary as it is, but it leaves out many others: the countless American muslims (and persons that look Middle Eastern) that are still on the receiving end of the much hate and discrimination, and the innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan that are unfairly and collaterally affected by America's "war on Terror".

The post-pc era

Earlier this year when Apple introduced the second generation iPad, it trumpeted itself as the leaders in the push for this so called "post-PC era". It was the transition of our computing digital life away from the personal computer to portable mobile devices like mobile phones and tablets. No longer will you be tied to the big hunk of PC tower and monitor setup at home to process word documents or surf the web. Everything digital will be assessable everywhere you go.

WHY POST-PC

The post-PC era is clearly the next logical big leap in our computing lives. The majority of of things we use the computer for are content enjoyment and social networking. Surfing the web, reading books, watching videos, listening to music, and viewing photos are examples of the kind of mass media content that consumes the most of our computing time. Social networking of course is the other big part, with websites such as Facebook, and the myriad of instant messaging apps. For the majority of people, the PC in essence is only a place to peruse the Internet, store/view digital media, and network with friends.

Nowadays, people want to do all of that anytime, anywhere. Not because it is an indulgence (that teenage with paid mobile broadband might be), but it is to save people time, and enrich their lives. Think of the first smartphone you have ever owned. Before that you not ever think you need mobile internet or emailing capabilities on phone, but once you have used the smartphone for a period you wonder how the heck did you ever lived without it. Another example: for people saddled with the indemnity of a torturous work commute, how much better would it make if they can have access to their music collection on their mobile devices (as opposed to 1000 CDs).  

HIGHLY MOBILE DEVICES

Certainly, the big hunk of steel that traditionally house the guts of PCs are not at all portable (even all-in-one PCs like the iMac are not at that portable - easier to carry, yes). But you say the majority of people have laptops, are they not mobile? That may be true, but once you have used a tablet device, you are going to find that even the average laptops are quite heavy. Or let's put it his way: you are on the road, and need to check email quickly. What would you rather use - A mobile phone or a laptop? Laptops can be seen as the first wave in the transition of the post-PC era, but with today's available technology, even it is categorized in the same camp as traditional PCs.

The computing future for the majority will lie in mobile phones, tablets, and ultra portable laptops. Mobile phones has had the most advance stage of transition in that smart phones with browsers, email, and thousands of apps are already outselling "dumb phones". It has taken over our digital lives, as evident in all the people walking around staring into their phones, invariably running into objects. Tablets such as the iPad offers the same function of smart phones but with a larger canvas that primarily aids in a better enjoyment of digital content and web (I am certainly not watching a movie on my phone). 

Ultra portable laptops are the most interesting. As proposed by chipmaker Intel earlier this year, they are a new breed of laptops that undercuts the weight of the average laptop by half (2.5 pounds and under). These are not just underpowered net books however, because ultra portable laptops have low wattage mobile versions of full featured, consumer class processors. They don't skimp on screen size either, as it varies between 11"-13". What this class of mobile device aim to do is replicate the lightweight and batter life of tablets, but offer some things tablet could not - TRUE multitasking, and an actual keyboard for better long form word processing. An example of ultra portable laptops out in the market right now is the Apple Macbook Air.

LIVING WITHOUT THE PC

No matter device, the aim of the post-PC era movement is to rid the majority of consumers of their PCs at home. The devices aforementioned have made the abilities of the PC redundant. Having both a PC and mobile devices is simply a waste (electricity!), when the latter can perform the tasks of the former equality well.

There is one thing that mobiles devices lack - massive amounts of storage. Just when we are starting to talk in the realm of terabytes, mobiles devices have knocked us back down to gigabytes (of course, this simply due to space and cost constraints). So if where will consumers store all their digital content? The answer involve networking on the intra and inter levels. The krux of the problem is the lack of storage space correct? The easiest way to solve the problem is to off shore the storage off the device, either by an external hard/flash drive (either plugging it in directly to the device or accessed via wifi by plugging it to a router), or storing it on the internet cloud (where the content can be accessed anywhere). 

Being mobile is great, but what about the home? Indeed, people don't really want to stare at tiny screens the whole day (though a 10 in tablet is surprising comfortable to use). The solution is simple - docking stations. Have a way to "plug in" your mobile device and the use it off an external monitor and wireless connected keyboard and mouse. This will please the people that simply prefer a larger screen (like a traditional PC) and actual keyboard do computing at their home. 

Another solution is connected TVs. If you want to show or enjoy your digital content on a larger canvas, one should be able to simply and wireless beam the signal over from their mobile device to the TV (a la Apple Airplay technology). Television is just about the last major tech appliance to still not be connected to the web, and that is rapidly changing. Soon TVs will have small computers in them to allow them to connect to devices, the web, and run computer apps. 

THE POST-PC ERA

In the post-PC era, traditional PCs will only be sold to people that requires it, namely content creators, digital art professionals, and hardcore PC gamers. Even then, it will only be for the serious ones that really need the horsepower of traditional PCs. Apps for mobile devices are plenty varied and plenty robust that even photographers can edit photos on tablets. Those apps will only get better and more technical when the technology behind mobile devices grow powerful (there is no reason to not assume that mobiles devices will someday be just as powerful as PCs). 

Clearly, the technological foundation is clearly set for the transition to the post-PC era, and it is nice to see tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft (Windows 8 is completely mobile device focused), and Intel be the innovators and pushers of the movement. 

State of the team - 2011 SF Giants midseason review

The baseball season is now at a third of its way through. The Giants sit comfortably (?) with a 39-33 record, six games above 500. The team is leading the surprising Arizona Diamondbacks by half a game in the NL West. By these statistics alone, the team should consider ourselves extremely lucky to be where they are.

Coming off an incredible world championship run last year, the start of this baseball season was very promising. Practically everybody that was on the championship winning team was back. The great pitching staff that posted historic numbers last September and October was still here. The clutch hitting band of misfits that made up the team last year was back. Rookie of Year winner Buster Posey was ready to stake his claim as the perennial NL all star catcher for the next decade. Miguel Tejada joined the team to rejuvenate himself by returning to the Bay Area. Super rookie first basemen Brandon Belt was ready to be the second coming of Will Clark. All the ingredients was there for a proper title defense.

Oh what a difference two and a half months make. 

The magic is still definitely there with the team. The Giants leads the entire world of baseball with their record in one run games, come from behind wins, and walk-off wins. In fact it is rare to see the Giants win a game where they have led from the start. The constant formula is the team will get behind by a couple of runs, the starting pitcher then will hold it to only a couple of runs, then in the late innings the hitters will finally comeback to tie and take the lead, lastly the bullpen shuts down the opposing team. This has been the formula for the Giant’s success so far this season. 

The pitching staff that looked absolutely rock solid last post season is still present. They are up top in all pitching categories such as ERA and opponent’s batting average. A huge amount of credit goes to the feel good story of the team, Ryan Vogelsong. Barry Zito (our 17 million dollar guy!) was pitching around ineffectively with his 83mph fastball. It was a blessing in disguise when Zito injured himself while fielding. Going to the DL allowed Vogelsong to take his spot and arguably (by stats) became the best pitcher on the team. Needless to say if it is not for the pitching staff, the current Giants team will be only as good as the Houston Astros (yes Houston, they got problem). 

Because the position players that looked so good to augment the great pitching for another title run is now a shamble of what the team started with at the beginning of the season. The beloved Buster Posey (along with defense, handling of the pitching staff, and bat) is done for the season with an ankle blown to pieces at the hands of a dirty play by Marlin’s Scott Cousins. Call me a biased homer, but Cousin had a lane to the plate. He decided instead to just pile drive right into Posey. It was nothing but dirty. It is then only justice then that since that night back in late May, the Marlins have gone 3-22, manager resigned, and Cousins is on the DL with a bad back. 

Another guy lost for the season (more likely than not, let’s be honest) was by far the second best hitter (and likely on his way to a gold glove) on the team in Freddy Sanchez. All due to a freak accident in which his hand slipped while diving for a ball, causing his entire weight to be put on his shoulder socket. What happened after that was not pretty, and all too painful.

The guy that was absolutely raking the ball, the 40 pounds lighter Pablo Sandoval, was lost due to a broken hamate bone (raise your hand if you knew what a hamate bone was before) for some 40 games. Only this past week has he come back to the join the team after surgery and rehab. It looks like it will take a bit for him to acclimate back to the big leagues and resume hitting like he was before he got injured.

Brandon Belt fizzled under pressure at the beginning of the season, and was sent down back to the minors when Cody Ross came back from his injury during spring training. As luck would have it, when Belt was ready again and called up to the team he got beaned by a pitch right on his wrist, causing a micro fracture. He promptly joins his fellow Giants on the disabled list. A list that also includes the clutch Mike Fontenot (pulled his groin.. TWICE) and speedy Darren Ford (pulled his ankle while scoring the game winning run against Oakland)

Being riddled with the injury bug is not an excuse (unless you are the Boston Red Soxs), because the rest of the guys needs to step up. Unfortunately by and large this has not happened. Miguel Tejada did not find his fountain of youth in his bat (take a pitch! try to walk! don’t be an automatic out!), though to give him credit his defense has been stellar at third. Aubrey Huff seems complacent this year after winning the world series, with numbers all around that were much lower than last year’s. Pat Burrell became the king of the useless homeruns (only hitting them during times when it did not matter). With Posey out for the season, the backup catcher Eli Whiteside not only cannot hit, but his fielding is below average.

With Tejada ineffective at short, the Giants fast tracked their promising short stop Brandon Crawford to fill in. While he had some early heroics and plays a terrific short stop, his bat has silenced these past weeks. Can’t really blame the guy as he essentially did not even play AAA ball. The platoon filling in for Freddy Sanchez in the form of Manny Burriss and Bill Hall has so far yield negligible results in the hitting department. 

That being said, there are a couple of bright spots on the team with the hitting. Nate “The Great” Schierholtz seems to come through every time in the clutch, Cody Ross has so far been consistent every since he shaken off the cob webs after coming back form the DL, and Andres Torres is still getting on base and setting the table up for the guys behind him. 

But let’s not kid our selves. The teams’ only weakness, and it is a massive one, is that it cannot hit (and score). The team has an absurd record in its favor when it scores four or more runs. Unfortunately that does not happen all too often. The team has lost plenty of games that was winnable if they could just eke out a few runs. You just cannot ask the pitching to pitch shutouts every time out, because the law of averages in baseball dictates that it is just impossible. 

The current team cannot afford a pitching or defensive mistake, otherwise they have almost no chance of winning the game. Kudos to the pitching staff for not threatening mutiny against the hitters for the ineptitude. 

So what happens going forward? First of all the team needs to be completely healthy. Posey and Sanchez is gone for the season, so forget about them (harsh). Fontenot, Belt, and Ford needs to recover and come back ready to contribute. Especially Belt, since he is the lone backup first baseman on the team, and can spell Huff when he is tired (which is often). Not to mention Belt can play solid defense.

After that, the team needs to start hitting and scoring with some regularity. The main reason the team had its run last year was because the hitting picked up. From June on last year the Giants were definitely not at the bottom of the barrel in terms of hitting (and we smacked quite a few homeruns as well). The team will need that kind of production increase again this year if we are to make the playoffs again. Do you know why the Padres faded last year and Giants took the division? They STOPPED hitting (and a 10 game losing streak in September did not hurt). Giants are in first place now, but if the hitting continues to be lethargic, Arizona will clip us. 

Another thing is the Giants need to find another catcher. There is a reason Eli Whiteside was never a full time starter in ANY level of baseball. His hitting prowess is below the average of major league catchers. On top of that his defense is not all that great to compensate for a limp bat (think I have ran out of fingers to count how many passed balls he had these past weeks). The backup catcher Chris Stewart is not the option either. His defense is much more solid than Whiteside, but his hitting is worse (if that is even possible). There is a reason Stewart has been bounced around from team to team. The team just need a defensively sound catcher that can competitively handle the bat that is on par with the league average. In the NL with no DH, a team just can’t afford to give another automatic out. 

Fans better thank the heavens that the pitching staff has been relatively untouched by the injury bug (discounting Zito). And they will have to remain rock solid not only in the health department but the pitching as well for the team to have any chance. Even if the offense improves, the team is still not going to blow out people on a every night basis.

And of course the magic. It may not be the way the team wants to win all the time, but the whole keep it close and we will come back late to win mentality can carry the team for the rest of the season. It has to give the team confidence (and scare the opposing team to death) knowing that they can comeback and win any game that is close because the pitching staff more often than not will keep it that way. Other than the pitching, it is the strongest notion the team can hang their hopes (and hats) on. 

Here’s to a great remaining 2/3s of the season for the beloved Giants.