Last posts on Web

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

2007-08-05T09:54:31+02:00

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.The first story is about connecting the dots.I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.My second story is about love and loss.I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.My third story is about death.When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.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.About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.Thank you all very much.

IFP-900 serien

2005-04-16T12:10:00+02:00

iriver iFP-900 serien, när inget annat än det absolut bästa är gott nog. 1.2” färgdisplay, 18mW uteffekt, FM Radio, 40 timmars speltid. Mycket funktioner i ett mycket litet format! Dessutom förpackat i ett smakfullt och tåligt magnesiumchassi. iFP-900 serien är inget annat än ett mästerverk.

Huvudfunktioner 1.2” Färgdisplay Magnesium chassi Line-in 40 Timmars Speltid Stöder MP3, WMA, ASF och Ogg Vorbis USB2.0 Realtids Klocka Extreme EQ och Extreme 3D 18mW Uteffekt (vid 16 Ohm) FM Radio Stereo/Mono Mikrofon/Diktafon Spela in direkt från Radio och Mikrofon/Diktafon till MP3 Transportera Filer; .txt, .doc, .jpg, .avi etc. Firmware Uppgraderbar Stöder Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP och Mac Medföljande tillbehör Skyddsfodral med armband Halsrem USBkabel Sennheiser MX400 öronsnäckor Line-in kabel AC Adapter Installations CD Manualer - Quick Start Guide (Scandinavian Language) - Hardware Instruction Manual (Engelska) - Software Instruction Manual för iriver Manager (Engelska)Minneskapacitet 512MB-1GB (innbyggt flashminne ej expansionsbart) Filtyper MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3 (MP3), WMA, ASF och Ogg Vorbis Bit rate (MP3) 8Kbps~320Kbps och VBR (Variable Bit Rate) Bit rate (Ogg Vorbis) 96Kbps~225Kbps Info tags ID3 V1. ID3 V2 2.0, 3.0 och 4.0 Filtransport USB2.0 Överföringshastighet ca 14.4Megabit/sek Max speltid ca 40h (128kbps, MP3, volume 20, EQ normal) Encoding MP3 11.025~44.1KHz, 8kbps~320kbps (upp till 96kbps med UMS firmware) - - S/N Ratio 90dB Frekvensomfång 20Hz~20KHz Hörlursuteffekt 18mW+18mW vid 16 Ohm - - FM radio 87.5 MHz-108 MHz (20 snabbval, stereo/mono) S/N Ratio 60dB Antenn Hörlurar/Öronsnäckor-sladd - - Drivs med Inbyggt Li-Ion batteri Mått 64x51x20mm Vikt 62g iFP-900 iRM Firmware 1.20 1.81 MB iFP-900 UMS Firmware 1.30 1.82 MB Device Drivers 0.14 MB UMS Drivers 33 KB iriver Manager 1.18 till OS9 0.58 MB iriver Music Manager 3.16 31.37 MB iriver Manager 1.18 till OSX 0.53 MB

Blogjet

2005-04-16T11:57:24+02:00

BlogJet is a weblog client for Windows that allows you to manage your blog without opening a browser. Those who are seriously concerned with blogging, cannot imagine their work without using this wonderful tool with elegant interface. Easy to setup, easy to use. Intuitive Account Wizard helps you to create a new blog or use an existing one with BlogJet (it supports almost all leading blog services). Furthermore, the intuitive smart interface of BlogJet will help you to start using the program right away.The rich word processor allows you to format your posts according to your tastes and needs; it does not require any special skills. Changing colors and fonts, underlining, italicizing or making a text bold — all these procedures are performed with just one click or by pressing a hotkeys combination. You will instantly see the changes as if you were using Microsoft Word. If you would like to hack your HTML code, all you need is to switch to Code editor, which has such features as syntax highlighting and intelligent code completion.

Podcasting

2005-04-16T11:47:19+02:00

The word Podcasting describes the technology used to push audio content from websites down to consumers, who then listen on their iPod (hence the "pod") or other mp3 player. Podcasting is not unlike time-shifted video software and devices like TiVo, which let you watch what you want when you want by recording and storing video, except that podcasting is used for audio. I should note, however, that the technology can be used to push any kind of file including software updates, pictures, videos, etc. Podcasting uses an XML-based technology called RSS, or Real Simple Syndication. Content publishers describe new content in an XML RSS file which includes dates, titles, descriptions, and links to MP3 files. This auto-generated file is called an RSS feed. RSS was invented by Dave Winer, a pioneer in the world of applied XML. The key to making podcasting work with RSS is enclosures, a feature supported by RSS 2.0.As a consumer, you run an aggregator program like iPodder on your computer, which lets you subscribe to RSS feeds. These programs will periodically download the RSS files, and check to see if new content is available. If so, the audio files are automatically downloaded to a folder on your hard disk or directly to your mp3 player. Pwop CEO, Carl Franklin has been publishing .NET Rocks! , an Internet audio talk-show since August 2002, and immediately got on the podcasting bandwagon .NET Rocks! is listed in Adam Curry's list of podcasting pioneers. Read this story from Wired Magazine in which Franklin was quoted about the future of podcasting. In early October, 2004 Doc Searls posted a succinct guide to podcasting on his weblog, an excellent read if you're looking for more information on podcasting. Here is an interview from October, 2004 with Dave Winer on Future Tense, a public radio show with Jon Gordon.

MP 3 inspelning

2005-04-16T11:00:00+02:00

Finns det någon som har provat att spela in musik från konsert eller från körsång med inbyggda mikrofonen? Skall man använda AGC eller inte ? Överstyrs ingången vid starka ljudtoppar ? Tacksam för alla tips. Skall använda spelaren som hjälp vid körsångsövningar... Även tacksam för andra lösningar tex inspelning via extern mikrofon. Diskussioner kring en modell:

Jag spelade in en föreläsning i ett konserthus med den inbyggda mikrofonen. Vid tillfällen när det spelades upp musik eller om personen som höll i föreläsningen höjde rösten för att tillkalla uppmärksamhet distar ljudet. Antar att det beror på att ljudtopparna kommer för högt över. Har dock inte testat någon speciell inställning som möjligtvis skulle kunnat förhindra det.

Jag anser att det borde finnas en rec-level på voice-recording mode på 899. Jag spelar i band och behöver stundom spela in när vi repar utan att rigga extern micrfon. MEN, ljudet är för starkt för det, det blir bara distortion. Det går alltså inte att spela in t.ex konserter via inbyggda mikrofonen. Den fungerar däremot perfekt för tal.

Skulle det inte funka bättre att använda en extern mik vid inspelning av konserter, i replokalen o dyl? Line in record volume går att ställa in. Frågan är bara om en extern mikrofon minimerar risken för överslag.. säkert nåt shosan inprogramerat i iriver för att man inte ska tillåtas kunna spela in med starkare ljudkällor.

Jag håller verkligen med. Väldigt tråkigt att man inte kan sänka inspelningsvolymen. Själv har jag en 795:a som jag i övrigt är grymt nöjd med. Troligtvis funkar det mycket bättre med en extern mic. Mitt tips är att kolla hos din lokala handlare, dvs. prova att koppla en extern mic inne i affären och kör lite ljudtester. Naturligtvis har inte iriver lagt in någon spärr för att man inte skall kunna spela in konserer.

PWOP Podcasting kit

2005-04-16T10:50:00+02:00

We've spent a lot of time looking for high-quality gear that is also compact and affordable. This is our currently suggested podcasting kit. Note that you don't need a computer in order to record your voice. The mic plugs into the preamp. The preamp plugs into the recording device's line input, and the headphones plug into the recording device's headphone jack. Only the preamp requires AC power. The recording device uses a single AA battery which lasts a long time. Check out our videos on how to use the podcasting kit. iRiver IFP-795 Portable 512Mb MP3 Player -RETAIL Model# IFP795 Item # N82E16855150028 SpecificationCapacity: 512MbInterface: USB 2.0File Support:MP3, WMA & OGG music files Battery Life:Up to 40 hours of battery lifeOther Features: FM Tuner & Recorder Voice Recorder, Store or transfer any file type. Plays up to 17 hours of music

Podcasting

2005-04-16T10:10:00+02:00

This should be a tool for doing audio recordings and podcastings. I din't look at the details, but there should be a wireless feature as well.http://live.curry.com/http://www.iriver.com/http://www.ipodder.org/Exceeding expectations for MP3 players, this luxurious necklace-type product complements your sense of style. OLED display combined with a jewelry concept differentiates N10 from other MP3 players in the market, satisfying the sensibility of fashion leaders. Rechargeable through a USB cable connection to a PC, N10 is easier than ever to use.

- Jewelry Style and miniature size, 16 gray OEL - 128MB/256MB/512MB built-in flash memory for skip-free audio playback - Up to 11 hours of playback with internal Li-poly rechargeable battery - Plays MPEG 1/2/2.5 Layer 3, WMA, ASF - Transfers files through IMM (iriver Music Manager) and recordings (voice) - Connects to USB 1.1 port for full speed data transfer and recharging - Supports not only Windows OS but also MAC OS through iriver Music- Manager program

Market in Lovisa

2005-04-05T09:00:00+02:00

We have a market day in Lovisa and I intend to go out for shopping. While waiting my collegue to get ready, I searched for new fresh photoblogs and did find this one: Candid Russia. It's a sunny day in Lovisa, the snow is gone and I should change to summer tires latest next weekend. I did find two excellent French photoblogs

http://www.troisiemeoeil.org/

http://www.ipixel.net/

A search engine on your blog.

2005-01-23T02:15:00+01:00

Searching for information is the real problem on the internet. This rule also applies to the Blog-o-sphere and even your own blog !

Here is a way to insert a Google search engine on your blog at Blogspirit.

First let's insert the html code in your blog with the help of the "link-note" box.

<div class="link-note">
<form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/search">
<input type="text" name="q" size="5" maxlength="255" style="width:95px;" />
<input type="submit" name="btnG" value="Go" style="width:25px;" />
<input type="hidden" name="domains" value="http://YOURBLOG.blogspirit.com" />
<input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="http://YOURBLOG.blogspirit.com" />
</form>
</div>

Now we will try to modify the text box. You can edit the width but also the background and the text color :

<div class="link-note">
<form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/search">
<input type="text" name="q" size="5" maxlength="255" style="width:95px; background-color: #addfe8; color: #01717f;" />
<input type="submit" name="btnG" value="Go" style="width:25px;" />
<input type="hidden" name="domains" value="http://YOURBLOG.blogspirit.com" />
<input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="http://YOURBLOG.blogspirit.com" />
</form>
</div>

The "valid" button can be changed the same way :

<div class="link-note">
<form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/search">
<input type="text" name="q" size="5" maxlength="255" style="width:95px; background-color: #addfe8; color: #01717f;" />
<input type="submit" name="btnG" value="Go" style="width:25px; background-color: #addfe8; border: 2px solid #000; color: #000;" />
<input type="hidden" name="domains" value="http://YOURBLOG.blogspirit.com" />
<input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="http://YOURBLOG.blogspirit.com" />
</form>
</div>

Before this search engine works, Google needs to know your blog. If you have just created your blog, this can take some days but as your blog is visible on Blogspirit home page, on communities, on Blogspirit search engine or on friends blogs, Google robots will be interested in your blog very soon !

Let's talk about a new design for your blog.

2005-01-14T15:20:00+01:00

Blogspirit blogs are set for a 800*600 resolution by default. Why ? Because we are 25% to have this configuration. Of course we never want to get rid of 25% of our blog visits !The problem is you may not have enough width for your posts...Now "Tips & Tools" has a solution :A 100% blog for any resolution with a width set to "auto". Let's try with this blog, if you reduce or increase your window, you will see that Tip & Tools act like a rubber band !Now let's check the code, only CSS no HTML...Before we start, you have to choose design n°1 or n°2 in "Design"->"Template sets". The 100% mode is only available with these two designs :

Now we have to go in "Design" -> "Advanced Design" then edit the "Stylesheet" file (aka CSS file).Only changing styles are written, any update is wrote in bold :#container { width: auto;border: 1px solid #cc6600;line-height: 140%;margin-right: 17px;margin-left: 17px;text-align: left;background-color: #fff;}#left {overflow: hidden;float: none;width: 180px;background-color: #fff;margin-left: 18px;left: 0px;top: 120px;position: absolute;}#right {overflow: hidden;float: none;width: 180px;background-color: #fff;margin-right: 18px;right: 0px;top: 120px;position: absolute;}#center {overflow: hidden;float: none;width: auto;background-color: #fff;margin-right: 163px;margin-left: 181px;}....content {float: none;overflow: visible;padding: 20px 15px 8px 5px;width: auto;font-size: 70%;line-height: 150%;}Here it comes ! You have a 100% resolution blog : anyone can enjoy visiting your blog and you have more space for editing your posts !NB :Tested with :Win : IE 5.01 IE 5.5 IE 6 Firefox / Mozilla 1.7 Opera 7.3Mac : IE 5.1 IE 5.23 Firefox / Mozilla 1.3