Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple

Jobs

A major development out of Cupertino: Apple CEO Steve Jobs has stepped down, the board naming Tim Cook as his replacement. The company said “Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company.”

Steve himself published the following letter:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Apple has confirmed that Jobs will stay on as Chairman. Full details in the PR after the break.

Continue reading Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple

Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Getting to know you: Comex, the boy behind iOS’ JailbreakMe

See that kid above? That’s Nicholas Allegra. He’s the hackdom Harry Potter to Apple’s Ye-Who-Shall-Not-Jailbreak-Our-Wares, and Forbes managed to sniff him out for a little bold-faced exposé. The 19-year old hero of the iOS community, better known as Comex, got his self-taught start with Visual Basic when he was still in single digits. After graduating through a venerable online forum education, the precocious coding lad set his smarts to homebrew Wii development, and the rest is JailbreakMe history. The self-described Apple fanboy admits his background is atyipcal of the cybersecurity industry, but with a former National Security Agency analyst praising his work as years ahead of his time, we don’t think he should worry. For all the trouble his code has caused Cupertino, Allegra’s not trying to be the embedded thorn in Jobs’ side. Rather, the iPhone hacker claims “it’s just about the challenge” and plans to keep on keeping ol’ Steve on his billion dollar toes.

Getting to know you: Comex, the boy behind iOS’ JailbreakMe originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple patent application takes the hard keys out of the keyboard, promises a flat surface solution

Apple’s giving us a patent application peek into its post-PC future, and it looks like hard keys will be so 2008. The recently revealed filing shows off a virtual, flat keyboard concept for Cupertino’s line of non-iOS products that flirts with metal, plastic and glass form factors. Using a combination of piezoelectrics, haptic feedback and acoustic pulse recognition, these prospective designs will be able to detect your finger-pounding surface input. If you’re the fast-typing kind, you’re probably wondering how your digits will recognize the keys sight unseen. Well, there’s a few workarounds for that. In its metal and plastic iterations, Jobs and co. plan to stamp or micro-perforate the layout into place, while their glass counterpart would receive a graphical overlay. The application also promises an LED-lit display for hard to see conditions and the inclusion of capactive sensors to enable multi-touch functions, so you avoid e.e. cummings-style emails. Of course, applications aren’t necessarily indicative of a surefire product, but those interested in tickling their imagination can give the source link a look.

Apple patent application takes the hard keys out of the keyboard, promises a flat surface solution originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Jobs impersonator officiates mock keynote, hawks Taiwanese tea (video)

Well, there’s clearly no better way to legitimize any new product than to have a faux Steve Jobs hawking it on-stage, in front of dozens of applauding mock journalists, with a 20-foot iPad 2 projected behind. The Jobs / John Stamos hybrid dropped by to pitch a Taiwanese company’s vast selection of tea, of all things, for a TV advertisement that’s apparently currently airing in Taiwan. Decked out in light jeans, a black mock turtleneck and sneakers, the impersonator even matched Steve’s hair color, rimless glasses, and current weight. The only thing missing was an actual Apple product — and months of media speculation. The “keynote” even ended with “one more thing,” as they often do: Tea drinkers will have a shot at winning a bonafide iPad 2 with each purchase of oolong, milk, or Apple-infused Tong Yi Cha.

Continue reading Steve Jobs impersonator officiates mock keynote, hawks Taiwanese tea (video)

Steve Jobs impersonator officiates mock keynote, hawks Taiwanese tea (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iOS 5 imposes minor feature limitations on iPhone 3GS, 3G owners still bitter

The unveiling of iOS 5 at this year’s WWDC keynote brought a wonderful feast of features, but it left us wondering if the iPhone 3GS would be updated with a few cards short of a full deck — the same way the 3G was treated last year. Reports are starting to flow in from folks who’ve tested it, so let’s get the bad news out of the way first: yes, some features are being withheld from the 3GS. The good news? They’re much more minor than we feared. So far, it appears that full Twitter integration and notifications are included; the newsstand and App Store are also intact, as well as the Safari reading list and grid lines in the camera. The only things we see missing so far are the photo editing features in the camera and the tab bar in Safari. So breathe a deep and well-deserved sigh of relief, fans, because your iPhone 3GS isn’t obsolete — at least, not yet. The full walkthrough of iOS 5 on the 3GS is right after the break.

Continue reading iOS 5 imposes minor feature limitations on iPhone 3GS, 3G owners still bitter

iOS 5 imposes minor feature limitations on iPhone 3GS, 3G owners still bitter originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Jun 2011 05:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Jobs reveals Apple’s new spaceship campus, calls it the ‘best office building in the world’ (video)

Shortly after taking the stage at WWDC, Steve Jobs made an appearance before the Cupertino City Council to pitch the local governing body on Apple’s ambition to build a new campus. The site for the curvaceous, four-story, “human-scale” building to house 13,000 employees is the original home of HP’s computer systems division, land that was recently sold to Apple. The property is currently covered by a series of big asphalt parking lots. Apple’s plan would increase the landscape coverage from 20 to 80 percent with the help of a senior arborist from Stanford who will help restore some of the indigenous plant life to the property, including the apricot orchards. Apple plans to make the campus’ energy center the facility’s primary power generator using natural gas and other “clean energy” sources — the city would simply provide backup power when needed. Of course, what would a Jobs presentation be without a few choice superlatives? In this case, Jobs claims that the new curved-glass facility will be the “best office building in the world,” luring in students of architecture anxious for a peek. Apple plans to break ground in 2012 with a 2015 move-in date.

As an aside, it’s fascinating (and yes, troubling) to observe Gilbert Wong, Mayor of Cupertino, guffaw at Steve’s “jokes” like a smitten schoolgirl, going so far as to fawn over his own iPad 2 in front of the assembly. For his part, Jobs seems to bite his tongue during several exchanges particularly when one city council member tries to extort free WiFi from Apple in an apparent quid pro quo. Click through to see what we mean.

[Thanks, GB]

Continue reading Steve Jobs reveals Apple’s new spaceship campus, calls it the ‘best office building in the world’ (video)

Steve Jobs reveals Apple’s new spaceship campus, calls it the ‘best office building in the world’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Jun 2011 03:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore kicks off iOS5 ‘we did it first’ contest, sarcasm meter hits 11

Joe Belfiore is hardly average, you know — he’s Windows Phone Program Director at Microsoft. And you don’t scale those heights by being the kind of wimp who would just lie down and be trampled over by a herd of new iOS 5 features. No sir. While more timid men might have distracted themselves with minor problems like disappointing sales, Belfiore instead reached deep into that strong place we all discover when we’re backed into a corner and pulled out his Twitter login. What ensued was a list of WP features that he feels “flattered” to see imitated by Apple, starting off with that most original of originals: a dedicated camera button. We’re guessing it’s just a matter of time before Andy Rubin follows suit.

Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore kicks off iOS5 ‘we did it first’ contest, sarcasm meter hits 11 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 22:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WWDC 2011 liveblog: Steve Jobs talks iOS 5, OS X Lion, iCloud and more!

You’re in the right place! Bookmark this page and return on Monday at the times listed below to see Steve Jobs take the stage at Moscone West. WWDC 2011 promises a peek at iOS 5, OS X Lion, the iCloud music storage offering and who knows what else. The iPhone 5? Don’t count on it, but also, don’t count it out. Your town not listed? Shout your time in comments below!

07:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
02:00AM – Tokyo (June 7th)

Continue reading WWDC 2011 liveblog: Steve Jobs talks iOS 5, OS X Lion, iCloud and more!

WWDC 2011 liveblog: Steve Jobs talks iOS 5, OS X Lion, iCloud and more! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iTunes leak suggests ‘Automatic Download’ over-the-air updates are coming in iOS 5

In the lead-up to this year’s WWDC, we so far know three things for sure: Apple will unveil OS X Lion, iCloud, and… automatic, over-the-air app updates for iOS 5, apparently. While searching for updates in iTunes, a MacRumors reader stumbled upon this page, which alludes to an “Automatic Download” feature that allows for wireless syncing. Also, the fact that Apple went out of its way to say “…if your device has Automatic Download enabled for apps” makes us wonder what else we’ll soon be able to update over the air. The company has since pulled the tattletale page in iTunes, but MacRumors grabbed a screenshot while it was still live. Looks like the cat’s out of the bag, but we’ll let you know when Jobs & Co. make it official on Monday.

iTunes leak suggests ‘Automatic Download’ over-the-air updates are coming in iOS 5 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Steve Jobs talks iCloud, iOS 5, OS X Lion and more at WWDC, liveblog starts at 10AM PT on June 6th!

Do you love music? Do you love it in the cloud? Are you still trying to figure out if “the cloud” is “your bag?” Regardless of your mixed emotions regarding the impending iCloud service, that’s just a third (based on rough calculations) of what Steve Jobs will talk about on Monday, when WWDC 2011 kicks off in San Francisco. iOS 5 and OS X Lion will also be major topics of conversation, and while we’ve no evidence that new hardware will be kicking around backstage, we’ve got history at our backs giving us a sliver of hope. Naturally, we’ll be there kicking out the facts as they happen, and you’re encouraged to join us at this very link.

Bookmark that and return at the times listed below, and if your neck of the woods ain’t listed, shout it out in comments. Oh, and any predictions? Anything somewhat sane is welcome below.

07:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
02:00AM – Tokyo (June 7th)

Take a look through the archives with our past WWDC liveblogs!

Steve Jobs talks iCloud, iOS 5, OS X Lion and more at WWDC, liveblog starts at 10AM PT on June 6th! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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