Better wages

“Apple is pushing for Chinese worker reform now because with its huge margins, better worker wages & fewer hours hurts Apple competitors.”

Glenn Fleishman

I’m not sure if the Apple Board / Tim Cook would actually go for this maquiavelic strategy, it really doesn’t seem their thing. Apple has, since 1997, pretty much did their thing and let the rest of the world follow their own path. In fact, it seems something more out of Bill Gates book of strategy.

But if true, it will work. Boy, how it will work… And pretty much nobody will withstand it. It will drive the prices of competing laptops right into the Mac(s) price range. And if that happens around the time of Windows 8 spectacular launch and an even spectacular crash, Apple’s share of the PC market will sky rocket, and a giant turmoil will follow in the “PC world”.

As a secondary outcome, it’s a step further for the factories coming back to the western world. Or moving to other less developed countries, spreading richness and well-fare around, improving life conditions and reducing the wind behind China’s sails.

Now that i think of it i can only see positive outcomes on this…

Death of a data haven: cypherpunks, WikiLeaks, and the world’s smallest nation

“Sealand was an inspired choice for the data haven project. Roy Bates’s son, Michael, was running Sealand on a day-to-day basis as the Prince Regent by the 1990s. Michael inherited his father’s distaste for authority and his fondness for swashbuckling antics. A professional fisherman, he was hardly a computer geek. But he recognized in Hastings and Lackey the same cheeky outlaw spirit that had brought his own family to Sealand and kept it there for decades. Hastings and his wife flew out to visit Sealand, and a mutual love-in quickly followed.

Like any good dot-com-trepreneurs, Hastings and Lackey incorporated. They called the new venture HavenCo, for “Haven Co-location.” The pitch was simple. HavenCo would offer secure, anonymous hosting from Sealand. Microwave, fiber, and satellite links would provide fast and redundant bandwidth. Sealand’s concrete legs would be kitted out with server racks and uninterruptible power supplies—and then, for additional security, flooded with nitrogen, so that only authorized techies wearing scuba gear could would have physical access.”

Ars Technica

Sealand has one of the world’s strangest stories. And each time i read an article about it, it doesn’t get any duller.

The power of Keynote

“Many resources/libraries are available (often for free) to make visualization and mock ups even faster (e.g. Keynote KungFu, Keynotopia). Also when you combine this with tools like Glyphish you can have testable solutions quickly rather than getting bogged down in details.”

ESPI at work

(Via Daring Fireball)

I don’t think Pages or Number are serious competition for Microsoft Office or Libre/Open-Office when it comes to complex documents or models, but Apple’s Keynote is a colossus of good presentation software and seriously kicks PowerPoint’s ass.

You should read the full article to understand how Keynote can be used for things you would never think using it, but see also the links on the segment above, there’s a lot of good resources for keynote there if you’re into designing.

The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs

“When Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, it was producing a random array of computers and peripherals, including a dozen different versions of the Macintosh. After a few weeks of product review sessions, he’d finally had enough. “Stop!” he shouted. “This is crazy.” He grabbed a Magic Marker, padded in his bare feet to a whiteboard, and drew a two-by-two grid. “Here’s what we need,” he declared. Atop the two columns, he wrote “Consumer” and “Pro.” He labeled the two rows “Desktop” and “Portable.” Their job, he told his team members, was to focus on four great products, one for each quadrant. All other products should be canceled. There was a stunned silence. “

Walter Isaacson – Harvard Business Review

Focus is one of the most underrated things in modern world/business.

Windows 8: New UI, but old-school Microsoft

“”Now, put the mouse pointer in the left corner of the computer screen. Now click. No, don’t click on the icon. Wait you launched what? What’s on your screen? Ok, wait, try again, go all the way to the left. Now down. Now click. No, don’t move the mouse. AAARGGH…”

But what’s even more frustrating? There’s simply no reason for this stupidity.”

Russell Beattie

I mentally pictured exactly the same thing… I wholeheartedly agree with the rest of Russel’s post.