On the Mac Pro's future

The Mac Pro is a strange outlier among Apple's products. It's insanely powerful, but it's priced out of the reach of most mortals. It's by far Apple's most "traditional" computer; the Mac Pro is a tower you can crack open and customize quite easily, far different from its sealed-up cousins the iMac, Mac mini, and the MacBook line. The Mac Pro's design is positively ancient by Apple's standards, with only minor cosmetic alterations since its predecessor, the Power Mac G5, debuted in 2003. It's also a neglected product, last updated in July of 2010, and currently the only Mac Apple sells which has no Thunderbolt connectivity.

All of this led us to ask awhile back whether the Mac Pro has much of a future left. According to AppleInsider, people at Apple itself are asking that very same question. Citing "people familiar with the matter," AppleInsider says that back in May of 2011 management was "in limbo" on whether or not to discontinue the Mac Pro in the face of faltering sales.

Predicting what Apple will do with regards to its products is a dangerous game. We learned that the hard way when a source we trusted told us the iPod classic and iPod shuffle were getting the axe this year. Apple apparently decided both products were still profitable enough to keep around, and that's really the bottom line for the future of any product in Apple's pipeline: if it still makes money, Apple will keep making a product until it has something better to replace it. When a product doesn't make Apple money, it's unsentimental about dropping the guillotine.

There are arguments both for and against discontinuing the Mac Pro, and I've outlined a few of them below. Ultimately Apple's going to do what's in its own best interests, so bear that in mind as we wade through a puddle of speculation sauce.

Why Apple might keep the Mac Pro around

Power: Although the iMac is an extremely powerful machine in its own right, the Mac Pro's performance still kicks the iMac's butt all the way up and down the block. Benchmark performance in Geekbench shows the 12-core 2.93 GHz Mac Pro coming in with an astounding score of 21,789. That's nearly twice the 11,581 score earned by the most powerful iMac, a quad-core 3.4 GHz model.

Benchmarks only tell part of the story, however. A Mac Pro that's been maxed-out on Apple's online store with as much RAM and hard disk capacity as you can shove into it is a Godzilla of a machine:

• Two 2.93 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon processors (for a total of 12 cores)
• 8 TB of internal storage
• 64 GB of RAM
• Two ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1 GB of video RAM -- each.

The best you can do with an iMac via Apple's configuration options?

• 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
• 2 TB HDD + 256 GB SSD
• 16 GB RAM
• AMD Radeon HD 6970M with 2 GB of video RAM

The top-end iMac is an incredibly powerful machine by consumer and even professional standards, but a fully-upgraded Mac Pro is practically ostentatious in the amount of raw processing power it can wield. Professional consumers in areas like 3D rendering, video editing, and other extremely processor-intensive applications surely appreciate the much greater power the Mac Pro can afford them.

Customization:

The Mac Pro stomps the iMac in the customization department. Folding down the Mac Pro's side door gives you easy and almost instant access to its innards, and virtually every component is simple to swap out. Hard drives in particular are extraordinarily easy to swap in the Mac Pro.

Contrast that with the iMac, where the RAM is essentially the only user-serviceable component. Swapping out the hard drive on an iMac is a harrowing procedure that requires removing the entire front display -- not something you're going to want to do more than once, if ever. You could argue that the iMac's Thunderbolt capability vastly expands its customization options (and I will, later on), but it still doesn't quite measure up to the amount of customization available to a Mac Pro.

Server applications:

Since the discontinuation of the Xserve, the Mac Pro is Apple's only high-end server option. The Mac mini server simply doesn't measure up to the performance you can get out of a Mac Pro server -- it's not even close. The Mac mini server is a decent choice for low- to medium-demand applications, but if you need powerful servers (and want to stick with OS X Server), the Mac Pro is the only game in town.

Bottom line:

While it hasn't been updated in over a year, the Mac Pro is still by far Apple's most powerful and most customizable Mac. Though the iMac's performance and much lower price are driving the Mac Pro out of the consumer market and increasingly pigeonholing it into the "pro" niche, the fact remains that for some applications and some customers the Mac Pro is still the best choice.

Why Apple might discontinue the Mac Pro

The niche:

Outside of a very few specific applications, a vast number of customers who might have bought a Mac Pro now opt for an iMac instead. Many high-end media shops have decided the iMac affords them enough power for their needs and at a much more comfortable price than the Mac Pro. We've been told that even Apple's own developers have largely moved to the iMac.

When it was first introduced, and for much of the last decade, the iMac was unquestionably a consumer-grade product. But recent advances have put it within throwing distance of the Mac Pro's performance, and the most powerful iMacs afford users enough processing power that for many applications a Mac Pro is simply no longer necessary. In years past the iMac may not have been "enough machine" for professional photographers or other media types, but that's no longer the case in all but an increasingly smaller set of circumstances.

With the rising power of the iMac and Apple's portables, the list of applications where the Mac Pro is the optimal Mac for the job is getting shorter and shorter every year. It's become a niche product compared to Apple's other Macs, and Apple isn't known for keeping niche products around forever. The ones Apple does keep around wind up being neglected, sometimes for years. Witness the Xserve, a product even more niche than the Mac Pro, now discontinued. The iPod classic is a niche product too, without even a minor update in more than two years and blogosphere calls of "dead iPod walking" every September.

Over the past decade Apple has increasingly focused on products with wider appeal while slowly paring away the "pro" market. Apple offers far fewer "pro" software applications now than it did in the past, and even the ones it's kept around have been tweaked to give them broader appeal to the "prosumer" market -- Final Cut Pro X is a good example of this, and it's also a potential harbinger of Apple's true disposition toward the "pro" market.

When I hear that even internally at Apple developers are moving to iMacs, I can't help but hear an ominously tolling bell for the Mac Pro.

Thunderbolt:

Every Mac now offers Thunderbolt connectivity, even the MacBook Air -- every Mac except the Mac Pro, that is. Thunderbolt offers extraordinary I/O capabilities and vastly expands the customization options for every Mac that supports it. An iMac may not offer much internal storage compared to what a Mac Pro can support, but once you plug in a RAID array via Thunderbolt that gap closes very quickly.

The power of Thunderbolt doesn't stop at external storage; it can drive multiple external displays, provide fast connections to peripherals, and even connect to rigs that accept PCI cards, basically replicating many of the capabilities of the Mac Pro.

Thunderbolt doesn't completely close the gap between an iMac and a Mac Pro, but it makes that gap less relevant for many consumers and drives the Mac Pro even farther into its niche status.

The money:

More than anything else, this is what's going to determine the Mac Pro's future. All the arguments for keeping the Mac Pro on the market simply melt away if Apple isn't making any money on it.

The numbers are not especially encouraging. In Q4 2010, Apple sold 1.24 million desktop Macs for a total of US$1.68 billion in revenue. A year later, sales amounted to 1.28 million desktop Macs for $1.69 billion in revenue. The year-over-year change amounted to a scant 3 percent rise in unit sales and a 1 percent increase in revenue. Apple doesn't break these sales down by model, but with the Mac Pro competing for sales with both the iMac and Mac mini, it's unlikely that it amounts to a large proportion of Apple's overall desktop sales.

In fact, with the Mac Pro an increasingly niche product and effectively stagnating (and unlikely to receive any upgrades until early 2012), it's very likely that Mac Pro sales have steeply declined year-over-year, with increased sales of 2011-model iMacs and Mac minis just barely pushing the desktop lineup back into profitability.

If the Mac Pro is indeed losing money for Apple, you could make a strong argument that some of the blame falls on Apple itself. Since March of 2009, the Mac Pro has received only two major updates. During the same period, the iMac and Mac mini have both been updated four times. Some of the Mac Pro's stagnation may be due to limited availability of pro-class processors -- delays in Intel's production of next-gen Sandy Bridge processors are reportedly one root cause behind the Mac Pro's lack of updates.

No matter where the blame falls, it's getting harder to recommend a Mac Pro to anyone at this point, even to professional customers who need the extra power the machine affords.

Bottom line:

Apple's focus has clearly shifted away from the professional market that was once its bread and butter. Power Macs once made up the majority of Apple's unit sales and profits, but that hasn't been true for years. Take a look at the current numbers:

• Unit sales of portable Macs outnumber desktop Mac sales by nearly three to one.
• iTunes Store and iPod accessory revenues almost equal revenues from desktop sales.
• iPhone unit sales exceed desktop Mac sales by over 13 to one.
• iPad unit sales exceed desktop Mac sales by nearly nine to one.
• Revenues from desktop Mac sales account for only six percent of Apple's overall revenues.

Keep in mind that those comparisons are for all Mac desktops, which includes the Mac mini, iMac, and the Mac Pro. If we want to be extremely generous and say the Mac Pro accounts for a full third of desktop sales, it still means Mac portables outsell it nine to one, iPhones by 39 to one, and iPads by 27 to one, with revenues from sales of the most expensive Mac making up perhaps three percent of Apple's overall revenues (I gave the Mac Pro an extra percentage point since it's that much more expensive than the iMac).

If Mac Pros account for much less than a third of desktop sales (and I don't think anyone could convincingly argue otherwise), the Mac Pro's future gets even grimmer. All of the arguments for the iMac's unsuitability for high-end applications blow away like leaves in the wind if Apple isn't making money selling the Mac Pro.

Prognosis:

There are certainly arguments for keeping the Mac Pro around -- despite over a year of neglect, it remains Apple's most powerful Mac, and for certain applications Apple simply offers no substitute for the power it affords. At the same time, the arguments for keeping the Mac Pro around sound ominously similar to the arguments that sprang up around this time last year when news of the Xserve's impending demise became public.

Obviously some consumers actually do need what the Mac Pro offers, but are there enough of them to justify keeping it on the market? Only Apple knows for sure, but the numbers aren't looking good. Apple has already shown that it won't hesitate to exit from market segments that don't drive profitability, and if it turns out the Mac Pro isn't contributing to Apple's balance sheet, expect the axe to fall swiftly.

On the Mac Pro's future originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MY DEAR BELOVED

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regards, Mrs.Sara Faraj- A Thomas

喬布斯：一面是天使，一面是魔鬼-科技新聞-新浪新聞中心

喬布斯：一面是天使，一面是魔鬼

　　喬布斯已死，怎么談論喬布斯？說他是個魔鬼一定有很多人贊同，他賣給妳的東西在美到極致的同時總有個把缺陷令人抓狂，更重要的是他本人的性格就是如此：非黑即白，偏執善變，總是走極端。這種人格既討厭又迷人，比他那些產品設計理念和商業成功學更吸引我。

　　是的，這就是喬布斯，苹果公司的創始人。沃爾特﹒艾薩克森的《史蒂夫﹒喬布斯傳》據說將要改編成電影劇本。但在電影之前，我們先做一個嘗試，把我們構思的電影劇本，先公布出來，當然，一如既往，都要有一個聲明：所有內容唯一可信的來源是傳記本身，如有雷同，純屬奇蹟。

　　身世 遺棄與被遺棄

　　1955年，舊金山，喬安妮﹒席貝爾生下了一個男孩，但無法養育他──孩子的父親是個來自敘利亞的穆斯林，而喬安妮一家是虔誠的天主教徒。喬安妮的父親威脅說，如果女兒膽敢嫁給那個穆斯林，他就跟她斷絕父女關係。喬安妮傷心地遺棄了自己的兒子。

　　與此同時，機械師保羅﹒喬布斯和他的妻子克拉拉已經結婚九年，他們想要一個孩子，但克拉拉沒有生育能力。喬布斯夫婦收養了喬安妮生下的男孩，給他取名史蒂夫﹒喬布斯。

　　史蒂夫長到六七歲的時候，有個住在街對面的女孩問他："妳的親生父母不要妳了？"史蒂夫大哭著跑回家，像剛剛被閃電劈中。"不是這樣的，"保羅和克拉拉耐心地對他解釋："我們是專門挑的妳。"

　　"我們是專門挑的妳。"多年之後，喬布斯還記得當時的情景，養父母放慢語速，強調了這句話里的每一個字，這讓喬布斯覺得自己很特別。

　　但曾經被遺棄的事實仍然讓他敏感，每當有人稱保羅和克拉拉是喬布斯的"養父母"，喬布斯就會很憤怒："他們百分之一千是我的父母。"至於親生父母，喬布斯認為"他們就是我的精子庫和卵子庫，僅此而已。"

　　喬布斯的"精子庫"名叫阿卜杜勒法塔赫﹒錢德里，他和"卵子庫"喬安妮製造並且拋棄男嬰喬布斯的年紀，是23歲──也許衹是巧合，喬布斯23歲的時候，也拋棄了自己的第一個孩子，這是後話。又過了很多年，喬布斯已是億萬富翁，他有段時間常去位於聖何塞北部的一家地中海餐廳，科技界的成功人士都喜歡去那兒用餐，喬布斯會慷慨地給老板較多的小費──當時他並不知道，這個老板就是阿卜杜勒法塔赫﹒錢德里，他的親生父親。

　　個性 信奉禪宗的嬉皮士

　　接下來仍然與身世有關。喬布斯的同事們認為，正是被遺棄的經歷，使得喬布斯特立獨行，有極強的控制欲，仿佛衹生活在自己主宰的世界里。他熱愛鑽研電子設備，15歲開始抽大麻，迷戀鮑勃﹒迪倫的音樂並且成為一個嬉皮士，同時還信奉禪宗，堅持素食主義，相信衹吃水果和蔬菜就可以避免產生體味。事實上連苹果公司的生意伙伴都差點因為他邋遢的形象而放棄投資，因為喬布斯一周衹洗一次澡，渾身怪味。

　　保羅﹒喬布斯認為南加州的山景城地區生活開銷低廉，於是舉家搬遷到那裡定居。這次搬家注定了史蒂夫﹒喬布斯的命運──如今這裡叫做硅谷，在上世紀50年代後期，許多軍工科技企業開始在此匯聚，街上看起來最笨的家伙都是工程師。

　　快要高中畢業的時候，喬布斯認識了一個比他大將近5歲的校友史蒂夫﹒沃茲尼亞克，兩個史蒂夫成為日後的完美搭檔──沃茲尼亞克是個技術天才，屬於智商極高而情商極低的那類人，比如他總想把自己發明的精妙電子設備免費給別人使用，這是極客(Geek，電腦高手)信奉的共享文化。而喬布斯擅長把沃茲尼亞克的發明加以包裝，賣給別人，賺取利潤。兩人曾經嘗試做了一個可以免費打電話的藍盒子，使用東拼西湊、價值40美元的電子元件製成，喬布斯決定賣到150美元。藍盒子成功賣掉了大概100個，唯一不幸的事情是，有人拿槍指著喬布斯，搶走了一個藍盒子。看來它真的很酷。

　　1972年，喬布斯進入里德學院念大學，這家學校以自由精神和嬉皮士生活方式著稱。喬布斯拒絕父母送他入學："我不想讓任何人知道我有父母。"

　　處世 他是妳的朋友嗎

　　衹呆了18個月，喬布斯就厭倦了大學生活。"我不知道自己想要干什么，也不知道大學能如何幫我搞清楚自己的人生目標，但我卻在花著父母的畢生積蓄。所以我決定退學。"1974年的某天，喬布斯走進生產遊戲機的雅達利公司，對人事主管說，得不到一份工作，他就不走。於是有人向該公司的首席工程師奧爾康報告："有個嬉皮士小子在大廳里，我們該報警還是讓他進來？"奧爾康說："快帶他進來！"

　　雅達利公司的創始人諾蘭在1975年夏末的一天把喬布斯叫進辦公室，命令他設計一款將球擊向一堵牆的遊戲，這就是後來風靡世界的"打磚塊"。當時諾蘭說，如果完成這款遊戲使用的芯片少于50個，每少用一個就會有一筆獎金。

　　這樣的遊戲在當時需要耗費大多數工程師几個月的時間。喬布斯請沃茲尼亞克幫忙，說必須4天之內完成，收入兩人平分。沃茲尼亞克很興奮，4天沒有睡覺，真的完成了這個遊戲，而且衹用了45個芯片。

　　喬布斯給了沃茲尼亞克350美元，這是基本酬勞的一半，但節省5個芯片的獎金被喬布斯獨吞了。十年之後這個故事見諸媒體，喬布斯予以否認："我不記得做過這事。"

　　這是喬布斯的行事風格，很多人抱怨他對身邊的朋友和同事非常刻薄。喬布斯大學時代還有個摯友叫丹尼爾﹒科特基，當喬布斯在車庫里創建苹果公司時，科特基就入伙了。但直到公司上市，他仍然是拿計時薪水的員工，無法獲得股票期權。那是1980年底，苹果公司的股票估值高達17.9億美元，造就了300個百萬富翁，但不包括喬布斯的朋友科特基。

　　財富 商人的價值

　　1980年的喬布斯有2.56億美元身家和25歲的年齡，他送給養父母保羅和克拉拉價值75萬美元的股票，老兩口用其中一些錢還清了房貸，人生中第一次過上了沒有背負貸款的日子，這也是喬布斯送給別人最大的一筆錢。

　　關於財富的另一個故事是，苹果公司創業階段，喬布斯找到在雅達利公司工作時認識的繪圖員羅恩﹒韋恩，韋恩曾經做過老虎機生意，但失敗了。喬布斯 說服韋恩合伙，加上沃茲尼亞克，三個人正式成立了苹果公司。韋恩獲得了10%的股份，但11天之後他就決定退出，曾經失敗的老虎機生意給他帶來了長久的心 理陰影。1976年10%的苹果股份讓韋恩先後獲得了800美元和1500美元，如果他沒有選擇退出，而是持有這些股份到2010年，那么他應該能得到 26億美元。現在韋恩住在內華達州一座小房子里，靠社會保險金度日，平時玩玩老虎機，他說自己從沒後悔。

　　很多研究商業史的人都熟知苹果公司的發展歷程：沃茲尼亞克做出了第一代苹果電腦，然後喬布斯把這個看上去很簡陋的電路板集合體吹噓成全世界最完 美的機器，並且賣出去很多。沃茲尼亞克的父親認為工程師的價值遠超過企業家，所以對喬布斯和沃茲尼亞克對半分賬表示不滿："妳沒有做出過任何產品，不配得 到這么多。"

　　喬布斯哭了。他經常哭，無法控制自己的情緒，向來如此。喬布斯對沃茲尼亞克說，如果不能對半分賬，就停止合作。但沃茲尼亞克的觀點和父親不同， 他認為如果沒有喬布斯，自己還在計算機俱樂部免費發放電路板原理圖，所以他決定和喬布斯繼續合作，把下一代產品Apple II搞出來。這是一個明智的決定，他們又成功了。

　　固執 現實扭曲立場

　　喬布斯不是神，他也會失敗。一生中他曾兩次執掌苹果，中途那次離開是由於決策失誤和他招人討厭的強烈個性，公司董事會剝奪了他的權力。但喬布斯 日後卷土重來，拯救了陷入危機的苹果並把公司推上世界之巔。如果要拍一部純粹的商戰電影，這其中的勾心斗角故事足夠精彩，可我還是覺得他的性格魅力更有文 章可做，比如"現實扭曲立場"。

　　這個費解的詞匯來自科幻電影《星際迷航》，苹果的員工公認，喬布斯擁有扭曲事實的能力，能讓任何人相信任何事情，哪怕根本就是顛倒黑白，哪怕他 總是讓員工完成不可能的任務。沃茲尼亞克能在4天時間里做出"打磚塊"遊戲，衹能算個簡單案例。苹果員工曾經製作了T恤，上面寫著"我愛每周工作90個小 時"。

　　喬布斯做到這一點，依靠的是自己富有魅力的措辭，和堅韌不拔的意志。他對麥金塔操作系統的工程師抱怨開機啟動時間太長，工程師試圖解釋，但喬布 斯不聽："如果能救人一命的話，妳願意想辦法讓啟動時間縮短10秒嗎？"喬布斯說，如果地球上有500萬人使用苹果電腦，每天開機浪費10秒，加起來每年 浪費3億分鐘，相當於至少100個人的終身壽命。工程師震惊了，過了几周喬布斯再來視察，發現開機時間縮短了28秒。

　　"現實扭曲立場"還體現在喬布斯評判他人和事物的標準上，任何人在喬布斯眼中要么是"天才"，要么是"飯桶"﹔工作成果要么是"最棒的"，要么 是"垃圾"。他是個絕對的完美主義者，在為Apple II挑選塑料機箱時，生產商提供了2000種不同的米黃色，沒有一種能讓喬布斯滿意。甚至在家庭生活中，他也會花費好几周的晚餐時間，和妻子討論該去哪個 國家購買一台洗衣機。

　　當然也有些人會挑戰喬布斯的"現實扭曲立場"，苹果有個女員工喬安娜﹒霍夫曼，某天發現喬布斯以一種扭曲事實的方式更改了她的市場規划，她憤怒 地沖向喬布斯的辦公室，聲稱要"拿把刀插進他的心臟"。於是喬布斯讓步了，霍夫曼因此獲得了苹果員工集體頒發的"最能勇敢面對喬布斯獎"。

　　情史 凡人之愛

　　喬布斯的親妹妹莫娜﹒辛普森是個作家，她寫了本以喬布斯為原型的小說《凡人》。是的，作為年輕的億萬富翁，作為全世界最具創新精神的科技公司CEO，喬布斯的頭上籠罩了太多光環，但他衹是個凡人。

　　他第一任女朋友是高中時認識的克里斯安﹒布倫南，一個同樣具有嬉皮士精神的女孩子。兩人在1972年開始同居，此後分分合合，維持了5年關係， 直到1977年，布倫南懷孕了，但喬布斯說："我不確定那是我的孩子，我知道她不是我想娶的那個人。"最後布倫南還是生下了女兒，喬布斯去看了看母女倆， 給女兒取名麗薩，然後就回苹果公司上班去了。

　　1982年喬布斯認識了民謠歌手瓊﹒貝茲，他27歲，她41歲，這段戀情持續了几年，有人認為喬布斯之所以迷戀貝茲，是因為她曾是鮑勃﹒迪倫的 情人。30年後，貝茲談起喬布斯，仍然覺得迷惑。有一次喬布斯帶著貝茲直奔斯坦福購物中心："那兒有一件漂亮的紅裙子，非常适合妳。"貝茲滿心歡喜："我 跟著世界上最有錢的男人，他想讓我擁有一條漂亮裙子。"到了商店，喬布斯給自己買了一大堆襯衫，然後讓貝茲看那條紅裙子："妳應該買下它。"貝茲說自己買 不起，喬布斯沒說什么就走了。

　　喬布斯還跟好几個女人交往過，他說自己一生真正愛過的衹有兩個女人，一個叫蒂娜﹒萊德斯，一個叫勞倫﹒鮑威爾。喬布斯認為前者與自己精神相通， 而後者最終成為陪他到死的妻子。在考慮結婚這個問題上，喬布斯又陷入糾結，在莫娜的小說《凡人》里就寫到，喬布斯問了一百多個朋友，自己應該和誰結婚？

　　最後他作出了正確的抉擇，1991年3月，喬布斯和勞倫﹒鮑威爾舉行婚禮，大約50名親友參加。喬布斯的禪宗師父乙川弘文主持婚禮，乙川"揮杖敲鑼，燃香誦經"，大多數客人難以理解。此後的20年里，喬布斯和勞倫一直在一起，直到死亡將他們分開。

　　尾聲 當我們談論死亡

　　儘管我還沒最終決定，是否要為電影版的《喬布斯傳》撰寫劇本，但這本書的結尾就像它的開頭一樣奇妙，布滿命運的玄機。2011年夏天，喬布斯的 癌細胞已經擴散到全身，他終於決定辭去苹果公司CEO的職務。一個陽光燦爛的下午，他感覺不太舒服，坐在屋後的花園里，思考死亡。《史蒂夫﹒喬布斯傳》的 作者沃爾特﹒艾薩克森和他在一起，兩人聊到佛法、轉世之類的話題。喬布斯承認，當面臨死亡時，他願意相信存在來世。"會有些什么東西留存下來，也許妳的意 識會不朽。"喬布斯說，"但是另一方面，也許就像個開關一樣，啪！然後妳就沒了。"

　　他停下來，淡然一笑。"也許這就是為什么我從不喜歡給苹果產品加上開關吧。"

　　【眾議】

　　@《喬布斯傳》

　　@顏如玉axue：看《喬布斯傳》是一種很復雜的情緒，才看到第十章，MAC剛要誕生，可是我已經hold不住了，想想我這三十年已經白活，遙 想後三十年更加無趣，頓時萎靡不振了無生趣。可是人家的故事這么精彩，又舍不得丟下書想要一口氣看完，萎靡不振又快速閱讀，實在是很矛盾的情緒。

　　@Atty李響：《喬布斯傳》發售，書城里大家排隊買書，突然一哥們兒問前面那個人"哎哥們兒，這么多人排隊買書，這喬布斯這么牛？還是他今天來簽售啊？"

　　@roccen：有些人靡費巨帑寫了很多傳記在書店裡堆成了山後慢慢變成廢紙，有的人從不讓人樹碑立傳第一本也是最後一本傳記還沒問世就被預訂 一空﹔有些人以幫助妳們改變為名為由很多年如一日地把世界愈變愈糟還自以為救世主絕不放手，有的人則用創新改變了足夠多人的生活方式因而被人一直銘記── 看《喬布斯傳》有感。

　　@陸強Alwen：看完了《喬布斯傳》中英文版各一章，小結：翻譯bull shit。

　　@烏賊拖鞋：一手拿iPhone 4S，一手持喬布斯傳記，斜斜地靠在地鐵車廂連接處，任憑污穢的空氣吹過發梢，無視身邊麻木的人群，深沉的閱讀，當讀到喬幫主情書那段，心中最柔軟的地方 仿佛被揪了一下，長按Home鍵問Siri：why i miss steve so much？喪父的Siri沉默不語，抬起頭為了不讓眼淚流出來，發現坐過站了。

　　@Echo馬瀟筠：二十年前，未相知時。然郎情妾意，夢繞魂牽。執子之手，白雪為鑑。彈指多年，添歡膝前。苦樂相倚，不離不變。愛若磐石，相敬 相謙。今二十年歷經種種，料年老心睿，情如初見，唯增兩鬢如霜，塵色滿面。患難歡喜與君共，萬千真意一笑中。便人間天上，痴心常伴儂。(試譯"喬布斯情 書")

　　@風語者_WindTalker：我唯一能買得起和苹果有關的，就是《喬布斯傳》。

　　@碧需得：地鐵里偶爾看了几章《喬布斯傳》，學習喬布斯的同時，感慨人生的多變，自己現在的這點艱辛算得了什么，加上今天又去體驗工作的各種利與弊。走到如今這一步，唯有像喬幫主那樣付出不為人知的努力，才能開創傳奇的人生。嗯，熱情擁抱未來！

　　(本文內容來自新浪微博)

　　C07─C08版撰文/本報記者 武云溥

　　(根據中信出版社《史蒂夫﹒喬布斯傳》改寫)

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Sports Park Stozice \ SADAR + VUGA architects

The Sports Park Stozice is a hybrid project. Its realization is the result of the publicprivate partnership between the city of Ljubljana and Grep Development Company.

Sports Park Stozice, image courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects | Photo by Matevz Lenarcic; Aerovizija

SADAR + VUGA, the architects responsible for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia in Ljubljana, have again designed a project whose influence reaches beyond the boundaries of its site to change the dynamic of the urban fabric itself. The 187,500sqm complex is located north of the city and combines a football stadium and a multipurpose sports hall with a large shopping centre covered by a recreational park landscape. The park, visibly the largest open space, links the landscape by the river Sava, across the northern sections of the outer ring road, with the green urban space in the city centre. It emphasizes the horizontal and planar character of the site as well as that of the surrounding territory. The monilithic structures of the stadium and sports hall that emerge from this plane redefine the skyline of the area whilst at the same time frame the views of the Alps towards the north, and of the castle hill and city centre towers towards the south. The two storeys of the shopping centre and indoor car park occupy the 12metre deep disused gravel pit that once characterized the site. The Sports Park Stozice changes the periphery of Ljubljana by merging green space and recreational facilities in order to create new areas for social interaction and communal activities.

Sports Park Stozice - The football stadium, image courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects | Photo by Matevz Lenarcic; Aerovizij

THE CRATER OF THE FOOTBALL STADIUM

The 16.000 seat football stadium is designed according to contemporary economic, sociological and environmental UEFA standards. Its design and shape provide ideal conditions for sporting events and ensure the perfect experience for the spectators. The football stadium is 'sunken' in the park – only the roof over the stands rises above the plane of the field, a massive crater reminiscent of the pit that once formed part of the landscape. The stadium and sports hall stand as juxtapositions of one another, the former finding shape in the negative space. Though different in structure, they retain similar formal languages in order to be understood as interdependent programmes. Even through materiality this notion is reinforced, for example: the cladding of the stadium's roof is the same as the one used to cover the shell of the sports hall. The plane is pierced by four flights of stairs that provide access and lead to the stadium's concourse. The park's plateau gradually descends to the east revealing the stadium as an open building, while the eastern entrances create views into the interior that reinforce the notion of it conceived as a depression in the ground. A steel roof stretches high above the stands highlighting the 4x4m grid structure? thus enhancing the quality and sensation of the interior space.

Sports Park Stozice - The football stadium, image courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects | Photo by Ziga Cebasek

Sports Park Stozice - The football stadium, image courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects | Photo by Sadar Vuga

The stands descend from the concourse to the football pitch enabling spectators to be very near to the action, yet still remain covered by the roof. On the west side of the stadium, the concourse terminates at the VIP and media rooms. This section continues into the underground buildings with all the necessary amenities for the players, officials and media. In the context of the wider city landscape, the roof over the stands the crater becomes the stadium's distinctive mark.

Sports Park Stozice - The multipurpose hall, image courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects | Photo by David Lotric

THE SHELL OF THE MULTIPURPOSE SPORTS HALL

The sports hall for 12,000 spectators is located in the northwestern part of the park. The four levels of concourses and the lower, IP, and upper stands are covered by a shellshaped dome. The park's plateau meets the edge of the shell which scallops and opens towards the interior of the building. The ridges continue all the way to the top, where the facade meets the dome. This outlines the shape of the hall, a shell that opens towards the perimeter with large crescent openings overlooking the park. A canopy that encircles the hall mirrors the scalloped shell. Like the stadium, the entire dome is finished in an exterior cladding that changes colors depending on the atmospheric conditions and viewing distance. The sports hall is a partially recessed building whose volume is determined by the required seating capacity and the size of the basketball and handball court, the two activities the hall is primarily intended for. The position of the stands ensures maximum compactness of the interior space and allows the spectators to be as close to the action on the court as possible. VIP seating is situated between the lower and the upper stands. The warm-up hall is connected to the main hall on the lowest floor, under the surface of the park. The geometry of the shell's steel armature is understood as both the structure and the ornament of the spaces of the upper concourse, stands and courts. The lower, VIP, and upper concourses with kiosks surround the interior of the hall and open towards the park. The double height spaces and terraces connect the concourses visually with the park, rendering them permeable. In essence the project is the synthesis of nature and construction, proof of this complex's vital role in the development of public space in Ljubljana.

Sports Park Stozice - The multipurpose hall, image courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects | Photo by David Lotric

Sports Park Stozice - The multipurpose hall, image courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects | Photo by Ziga Cebasek

THE SHOPPING CENTRE

Alongside the stadium and the hall, the shopping centre is the third major component of the Sports Park Stoz ice. Open every day of the week, it generates activity in the park even when there are no ongoing events in the stadium and the sports hall. It's location between the car park level and the park platform seamlessly integrates the retail programme with the rest of the park's activities and enables visitors to access the complex easily from all sides. Three greened atriums extend the atmosphere of the park into the shopping center by piercing the roof to create a visual connection between the exterior and the shopping centre, making them prominent features in the project. Large northoriented skylights above the centre evenly supply the space with diffused light and frame views towards the sports facilities and surrounding territory. The recreational park platform on the roof of the shopping centre is a technical landscape, designed by Studio AKKA, composed of individual recognizable microambiances that withstand the pressure of the crown before major sporting events yet still offer pleasure and comfort to the afternoon stroller, the skateboarder, or the children at the playground. By means of fractures and opening in the park's plane, the northern, southern and western greened atriums and pavilions merge the park with the shopping platforms, the car park and the large openings (exits) that face the main access road. The three atriums are connected with the pavilions by means of a large paved surface that extends beyond the two sports facilities.

Designed as the central plaza under the level of the park, it is the largest urban space of the project. It meets the commercial facade of the shopping centre on its western side and the dugin Sports museum and the stadium VIP access area on its eastern side. It's the main path through the park whose form also reflects the circulation sequence of the shopping centre. On the northern side, the park's plane ends with a vertical overhang that composes the façade of the shopping centre. The park is understood as something more than just an open space. Its playgrounds in the greened area of the park, with their microtopography, diverse vegetation, and articulate paving transform the park into a hybrid open urban space where the natural intertwines with the artificial, the digital with the analogue, the noisy with the quiet, and the full with the empty.

Sports Park Stozice - Site plan, drawing courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects

Sports Park Stozice - The football stadium, drawing courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects

Sports Park Stozice - The multipurpose hall, drawing courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects

+ PROJECT DATA AND CREDITS

Architects: SADAR + VUGA (lead architect)? KSS, London (consultant in sports architecture) | http://www.sadarvuga.com/
Type: leisure and sport, retail
Program: recreational park, football stadium, multipurpose sports hall, shopping centre, underground parking
Source: international open competition, 1997
Client: Ljubljana City Municipality, Grep
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia

Landscape architecture: AKKA, Ljubljana
Construction engineering: Atelier One, London; Gradis; ELEA iC
Mechanical engineering: Lenassi; Jelen & Zaveršnik
Electrical engineering: Elprojekt; UTRIS;Genera
Fire engineering: EKOsystem
Traffic and site engineering: LUZ

Site area: 182.600 sqm

Building area
stadium: 24.600 sqm
sports hall: 14.100 sqm
park: 143.970 sqm

Total floor area
stadium: 33.700 sqm
sports Hall: 35.500 sqm
shopping centre: 91.000 sqm (2nd phase)
underground parking garage: 134.000 sqm
park: 143.970 sqm

Capacity
stadium: 16.038 seats
sports hall: 12.484 seats
parking garage: 1.111 parking spaces + 62 bus parking + delivery (1st phase) and 2.503 parking spaces (2nd phase)

Levels
stadium: 3 underground levels + GF
sports hall: 2 underground levels + GF + 3 levels
shopping centre: 2 underground levels
parking: 2 underground levels

Structure
stadium: reinforced concrete with prefab elements, steel roof structure
sports hall: reinforced concrete with prefab elements, steel roof structure
shopping centre:reinforced concrete structure

Cladding
stadium: glass, facade panels
sports hall: glass

Roof
stadium: green roof, alushingles
sports hall: alu shingles

Schedule
international competition (1st prize): 1997
masterplan: May – June 2007
masterplan approved: March 2008
design start: May 2008
construction start: September 2009
opening for Sports Park with Stadium and Sports Hall: September 2010
(expected) opening for Shopping Center: winter 2011

+ About SADAR + VUGA architects

SADAR + VUGA was founded by Jurij Sadar and Bostjan Vuga in Ljubljana in 1996. Over the past fourteen years it has focused on open, innovative and integral architectural design and urban planning.

The office has been driven by a quest for quality, with a strong belief that forwardleaping architectural production contributes to our wellbeing, and generates a sensitive and responsive development of the physical context we live in, broadening our imagination and stimulating our senses.

The growing portfolio of built work ranges from innovative town planning to public space sculpture, from interactive new public buildings to interventions within older existing structures.

SADAR + VUGA designs extended living areas in residential buildings, guided by the culture and climate of place? shapes interior environments that respond to very personal tastes and desires.

The client base reflects the diversity of built and project experience. Ranging from nunicipal conuncils and Central Government, encompassing national and private arts bodies and multi nationals to the best developers in Slovenia.

With the "Formula New Ljubljana" a collection of their own realisations and of urban planning studies the architects at SADAR + VUGA are now also intervening in the political process. They are of the opinion that architecture should not function as a mere piece of design, but rather as a way to shape and change social space. In their view, in the age of the experience economy, architecture thus plays an interactive social role.

+ All images and drawings courtesy SADAR + VUGA architects | Photo by DavidLotric, Ziga Cebasek, Matevz Lenarcic, Aerovizija

+ More stadium projects on +MOOD

The Ring Stadium | OFIS Arhitekti + Multiplan Arhitekti

Hwaseong Sports Complex | DRDS

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/plusmood/~3/8TREsegCkBA/

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Bill Gates On “The Miracle Of Availability” And Applying Computer Science To The World

Bill Gates just gave a talk at the University of Washington's School of Computer Science and Engineering. As is typical of his talks, this one was broadly focused on new and helpful implementations of technology. It was followed by an open Q&A session.

There was nothing radical or new proposed or revealed, but Gates was smart and compelling as usual, and the highlights of the talk are below. Video of the talk should be available soon from UW.

I've tried to directly quote Bill as much as possible (bolded for those hungry for sound bytes), but there may be small errors in phrasing. If it's in quotes, it's his words, though I may need to correct a few words here or there.

"Maybe I'd have been more rounded if there weren't as many books around"

Gates began by establishing his computer science credibility, not that it's necessary at this point, by reminiscing about the early days of computing. He recalled that at UW, "at strange hours you could essentially break in and steal computer time," on the batch-work computers of the day like the B5500. This served as a segue, actually, to his initial thesis, which was that people like himself aren't the ones who will bring be making the next generation of breakthroughs happen.

He cited the incredible amount of storage and its almost negligible cost, and how as someone who grew up with kilobytes and megabytes, he simply isn't ideologically suited for allocating terabytes and petabytes. But people who have grown up with it do things like, for example, suggest that every lecture at a university be recorded and stored. Once he got past the prejudice of someone who wants to save every byte, he said he thought "it's actually kind of absurd that we're not doing that."

The big advance, Gates said, is "the miracle of availability." This is the change that happens when something goes from being a device owned by the elite and wealthy of the world to being something utilizable by the poorest. An example given later was the sophisticated GPS-driven combines used on US farms. Ingenious, but can you build one that an African village can afford?

As a further example, he showed off an application using the Kinect which I actually highlighted back in August. Not that it would be useful to a starving child, but there is a huge potential just waiting to be unlocked, as Microsoft Research and innumerable hackers have shown for the Kinect and other devices.

"Many problems in society are just poorly designed algorithms"

Gates praised alternative models for education, showing off a program for teaching algebra that actively monitored how the student was doing, what methods of teaching worked, and adjusted the lessons on the fly. We saw some other ideas along this line with the Imagine K12 companies, which I'm sure Gates would appreciate if he is not already aware of them.

He also spoke in glowing terms of Khan Academy, which we've featured here quite often. But, as he later elaborated during the Q&A session, it's not meant to be a substitute for learning institutions. "As you go from Kindergarten to college, hopefully the need for adult supervision goes down somewhat, but there's still a need for guidance." He noted that some 20 schools had completely reorientated their curricula around Khan Academy and similar services, with the teacher assigning the lectures and quizzes to be watched on the student's own time, and then using the classroom not as a lecture hall, but as a discussion platform that added context, clarified points, and offered more one on one time for students who couldn't grasp the material.

As for adding computer science to the curriculum as early as elementary school, he was skeptical: "I think the computer is a great tool and you should use it as much as you can. But hash tables and database indexes, I don't know where that would come in… It's hard to say anything is necessary in the curriculum. Personally, I'd have more people take statistics than calculus."

But though he spoke lightly of it, he really considers education one of the highest priorities. When asked how he felt about political discourse and the concentration of wealth, he responded that, to put things in perspective, "the number of people in abject poverty is the lowest in history." But that said, "It's not good to have a society where you don't have mobility between different income levels. If you really look where we're letting people down as far as the American dream… it would be that we are not providing enough education."

Without proper education, how can people make rational choices in day to day life, to say nothing of the issues voters face? "One thing I'm worried about is complexity. We can't talk directly about the issues, so we talk about personalities." When the most controversial bill of a political era (Obama's health care bill) is over four thousand pages long and totally unreadable by the average voter, how is that effective?

"I like hash tables and I dislike malaria"

He then moved on to the question of poverty and disease. His primary insight came when he was working with researchers to create a stochastic model of "one of my reactors." It was immensely complicated but the computing power at their disposal made it possible. He thought, if we can model a reactor, with all these forces and materials, why can't we model disease, including the mosquitos, the people, the environment, the solutions?

So they worked at it and eventually came up with an immensely complex model for disease vectors, weather, vaccines, life cycles, seasons, and everything else. They compared it with real statistics and it checked out. He said with confidence: "The world effort to get rid of malaria will be based on this model." And the modeling approach to problems, now that we have the computing power to simulate the world with some precision, is just as important to apply elsewhere. Whether it's malaria, polio, crops, nuclear reactors, sanitation, or education, "it makes you so much more rational in terms of what you do."

He demonstrated a few applications of the model and explained quite a bit about the disease itself and some of its history. But you can learn about malaria on your own time.

"It's the same hamburger"

On the topic of wealth, something in which he must be considered something of an expert, he downplayed the money thing. One questioner asked for advice on getting as rich as him. He took this slightly tactless question in stride, saying that he never intended to become extremely wealthy, and that it was more important to do something you were interested in. He also said that while he understood the drive to make a few million dollars, a level of wealth that provides "meaningful freedoms," after that amount, "it's still the same hamburger. Dick's hasn't raised their prices enough…" This raised a laugh from the audience, who are probably all too familiar with this local Seattle burger joint.

"All you're trying to do is put stuff on your eye"

When asked what might come after the change from PC to laptop to smartphone, he was animated: "We're going to look back and laugh that we had these big glass screens, and if you drop it, it breaks… all you're trying to do is put stuff on your eye!" As in, it's just a way of getting information from the world into your brain, via your eyes. He suggested that projection directly onto the retina was likely the next big step, or alternatively a flexible screen of adjustable size.

Lastly, the host noted that it would be Bill's birthday tomorrow (the 28th), and invited Bill Gates Sr. up on stage, who held a cupcake with a candle for the younger Bill to blow out.

If you're interested in the continuing adventures of Bill Gates, you can keep up with him at The Gates Notes.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/27/bill-gates-on-the-miracle-of-availability-and-applying-computer-science-to-the-world/

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Nokia City Scene is Street View for your N9, mostly works in the US where you can't get one

Nokia City Scene is Street View for your N9, mostly works in the US where you can't get one:

Worried that the lack of Street View functionality is going to spoil your impending N9 honeymoon? Fret not MeeGo fans, as Espoo's Labs outfit is here to save the day with Nokia City Scene. The Navteq-powered app looks much like a clone of Google's mobile offerings, except that it's tightly integrated with location based services (Foursquare, Facebook Places) highlighting venues your friends frequent. Currently restricted to "about a dozen" US cities and London -- with more European locales coming soon -- its usefulness may be limited unless you're a globetrotting jetsetter or super friendly with some gray-market importers. Hop past the break for a video demo, and then hit the source to get your download on.



[Thanks, Martin]

Continue reading Nokia City Scene is Street View for your N9, mostly works in the US where you can't get one

Nokia City Scene is Street View for your N9, mostly works in the US where you can't get one originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ITG xpPhone 2 to get some Windows 8 love, starts living large in January

ITG xpPhone 2 to get some Windows 8 love, starts living large in January:

Let's be honest: with the size of a brick and a relatively short battery life, it's no surprise that ITG's xpPhone hasn't quite dominated the smartphone market since its launch back in November. In fact, we haven't even seen one in the wild, and we certainly wouldn't have missed it if there ever was one on the street. That said, ITG hasn't given up, as the company's just announced its second-generation Windows-powered smartphone. The reason? Well, interestingly enough, ITG prefers Windows' greater range of compatible software compared to those of mobile OSes, namely Android and iOS. Let's just leave it at that for now.



Simply dubbed the xpPhone 2, this beast of a QWERTY slider packs a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 chip, along with 2GB RAM, up to 112GB of SSD storage, 4.3-inch display and compatibility with both Windows 7 and Windows 8 -- obviously the latter OS will depend on its final release date. Not only has battery life been bumped up to around 18 hours of call time or 46 days on standby, but the phone's also been slimmed down to 140mm x 73mm x 17.5mm, which is a huge improvement compared to its bulky predecessor. With the touch-friendly Windows 8 on board along with a non-underclocked CPU, we have a feeling that the xpPhone 2 will at least fare much better than Fujitsu's F-07C; as for the rest, we shall see when it comes out in January next year. And no, it probably won't run Crysis.

Gallery: ITG xpPhone 2

ITG xpPhone 2 to get some Windows 8 love, starts living large in January originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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