Unlike other hobbyist computers of its day, which were sold as kits, the Apple I was a fully assembled circuit board containing about 30 chips. However, to make a working computer, users still had to add a case, power supply, keyboard, and display. An optional board providing a cassette interface for storage was later released at a cost of $75.

Sometimes a first attempt can be a hit. But ask yourself: do you want to get lucky, or do you want to be sustainably great?

My mom has never shared my affinity for technology, but she loves her MacBook Air, her iPad, and her iPhone. And she understands the impact that Steve Jobs has had on her son’s life and career. When I told her the news, she cried.

A few minutes ago, she called to tell me that she saw a news report that people on Twitter were posting the Apple logo. She asked me why so many people would be tweeting the logo if they didn’t work there. I offered the best answer I could come up with.

“Even if we’re not a part of Apple, Apple is a part of us.”

She thinks for a moment and says, “my guess is that at this moment he’s showing God all the new features of the iPhone 4S.”

Summary:

Users currently have to click on a support link within a product’s iTunes page, which may or may not go anywhere useful. In the best of cases, these support systems require the user to navigate a foreign UI to have their problem resolved.

Many users skip this option entirely and instead use ratings and reviews to voice their issues, polluting an app’s user reviews and possibly unfairly diminishing its rating (especially in the case of enhancement requests). Worst of all, developers have no way to contact these users.

Instead, I request that bug reporting and feature requesting be made part of the iTunes App Store and Mac App Store experiences, allowing users to communicate directly with developers about their troubles and wish lists without requiring a new set of credentials or learning new UI on third-party sites. All bugs should be sent to individual developers, with the option to have the user’s ID be hidden (and emails sent on their behalf by Apple) for the sake of privacy.

Thank you.

rdar://9596018

The short version is that a guy walks up to the author and her assistant at a party and says hello. Because he acknowledges their gender, they decide to spend the conversation mocking and trolling him.

He asks me, “What do you girls do?”

Juliette replies, “We’re models.” I add, “That’s actually how we met!”

My PA answers his questions about what kind of modeling we do – we are apparently not with an agency. Mind you, my PA actually is a model, one that flies out of town for shoots more than I’d like to have her away from me.

She is also an Objective-C programmer that can code circles around most of them – with her outrageous fingernails somehow always intact.

Right. She’s a supermodel and a genius developer. She just does the personal assistant thing because the money is so good.

His shirt read Bottlerocket; he explained that it was his company and he made major Apple applications for a list of companies, which he rattled off in succession, beginning with Spin and ending with Disney.

Here’s where I get pissed off. It’s one thing to be mean to the guy at the party, but did he really do something so unspeakably offensive that you have to out him in the article? The only possible outcome is damage to his reputation. The reader gains nothing. There’s no journalism here, just a jerk with a chip on her shoulder.

“So,” I pointed to his buddy’s Daring Fireball shirt and said, “is that your company?”

No, he said. Unprompted, he mansplained who John Gruber is to Juliette and I, a full-on name drop on meeting Wil Shipley at this very party, (this apparently required more mansplains), and then I was told that Bottlerocket boy was from Dallas where it is much hotter than San Francisco.

“Mansplains”? This guy assumes you’re a much nicer person than you are. He takes the time to answer your questions politely. He actually seems like kind of a stand-up dude. So what do you do? You make up new words to mock him, of course.

At which point Juliette cut in saying, “Wait. Don’t computers… Need to be kept cool or something?”

He agreed in seriousness, while I spilled my drink – out of my mouth with an uncontrolled laugh.

No, they never got it. And no, we were not dressed they way you probably think we were.

Act stupid and people will assume you’re stupid. Kudos to this guy for his kindness.

Immediately following that story, she shares this anecdote:

I attended the SmileOnMyMac/Smile Software party, and that was another fun one. Really great people, gracious host. A much more typical WWDC tech party: three or four women, around 40-50 men. It was just fine, I didn’t feel too out of place. Until I went to call up an Uber Cab.

Phone in my hand, a gentleman named Jim Dalrymple turned to me and says loudly, “Hey, what phone is that?”

I respond, It’s an Android, Samsung-

Before I finish he shouts at me, “Sucks for you!” Laughing, he turns, and then walks away as I’m saying to the men looking embarrassed in his stead, “Yes, but I have reception.”

Girl, humiliated.

Someone made you feel stupid in public? How awful.

When people ask me about getting into this community, I usually tell them that the first rule is “don’t be a dick”. Whatever you may think of developers, the iOS and Mac community is pretty stellar, full of genuinely nice people who want to make great things and spend time with great people. Male or female, don’t be surprised if your shitty attitude gets an angry response.

Deservedly, this article is catching a lot of heat on Twitter and from outspoken developers.

The fact is that it is unusual to see women at a developer conference. And yes, sometimes developers are a little socially awkward. That’s just how this works. If you can’t respect that, or work to improve matters, just stay home. By adopting this attitude at something called “Worldwide Developer Conference”, the joke is on you. The Bottlerocket guy will probably get a few messages of solidarity, while nobody worth talking to will want to go anywhere near you.

It would be great to have more women in the industry. But you know what would be even better? To have more nice people, regardless of gender.

So don’t be a dick.

…Ladies.

The problem isn’t that they’re not handy (zing), rather that they break what I feel is one of the key wonders of iPad — it becomes the application that is running. These multitasking gestures add a set of interactions that relate not to what is on the screen but to an abstract higher-level of functionality. The touch screen is now an input into two systems: the application and the operating system.

“And the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it… I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: ‘What happened?’ Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business.”

You know who never complains about the shift to digital music? People who buy and listen to music.

While I haven’t seen them yet, I suspect that the white bezel is more likely to be distracting. You’re not supposed to notice the hardware while using it, and I bet the black will be easier to ignore than the white.

Nailed it.

Strangely, I’m in nearly every shot. I’m considering a restraining order.