Inside Steve's Brain
Author: Leander Kahney
An insider's guide to the unique leadership style of Steve Jobs, the driving force behind the success of Apple and Pixar
Steve Jobs is technology's most famous CEO, the man who revolutionized computers in the 1970s and 80s (with the Apple II and the Mac), animated movies in the 1990s (with Pixar), and digital music in the 2000s (with the iPod and iTunes). He's also one of the most controversial CEOs in history, allegedly throwing epic tantrums, firing staff in elevators, and taking credit for other people's achievements.
So what's the real story? According to Leander Kahney, who has covered Jobs since the early 1990s as a reporter, editor, and book author, he's a fascinating bundle of contradictions.
He's an elitist who thinks most people are bozos—but he makes gadgets so easy to use, a bozo can master them.
He's a mercurial obsessive with a filthy temper—but he forges deep partnerships with creative geniuses like Steve Wozniak, Jonathan Ive, and John Lasseter.
He's a Buddhist and antimaterialist—but he produces mass-market products in Asian factories, and he promotes them with absolute mastery of the crassest medium, advertising.
In short, Jobs has embraced the personality traits that some consider flaws—narcissism, perfectionism, total faith in his intuition—to lead Apple and Pixar to triumph against steep odds. And in the process, he has become a self-made billionaire.
After interviewing more Apple insiders than any previous author, Kahney has distilled the principles that guide Jobs as he launches killer products, attracts fanatically loyal customers, and manages some of the world's most powerful brands.
Publishers Weekly
Throughout his storied Silicon Valley career, Apple CEO and Pixar Studios founder Steve Jobs has been labeled, among other things, an egomaniac, a Zen Buddhist, a business mastermind, a sociopath and a music mogul. Blogger, author and Wired News editor Kahney, who has chronicled Apple in previous books (The Cult of Mac), attempts to plumb the depths of Jobs's prodigious mind in this engrossing biography. The author devotes much time to the sensational aspects of Jobs' life, including his demeaning and ferocious interactions with employees, his relentless high-mindedness and fanatical attention to detail, clearly demonstrating how his tyrannical and perfectionist impulses have have shaped the award-winning designs and consumer-friendly products that have made Apple a juggernaut. Though it doesn't penetrate the Mac man's psyche too deeply, and sections on tangential figures like Apple design guru Jonathan Ive and Apple Store visionary Ron Johnson can meander, those searching for a telling portrait of Jobs's management style and its impact on Apple will not be left wanting.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents:
Introduction 1
1 Focus: How Saying "No" Saved Apple 15
2 Despotism: Apple's One-Man Focus Group 45
3 Perfectionism: Product Design and the Pursuit of Excellence 68
4 Elitism: Hire Only A Players, Fire the Bozos 107
5 Passion: Putting a Ding in the Universe 150
6 Inventive Spirit: Where Does the Innovation Come From? 174
7 Case Study: How It All Came Together with the iPod 221
8 Total Control: The Whole Widget 240
Acknowledgments 269
Notes 271
Index 285
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Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac
Author: Barbara Brundag
After more than two years, Adobe has finally released a new version of Photoshop Elements for the Mac. Version 6 packs a lot more editing firepower than iPhoto, and this Missing Manual puts every feature into a clear, easy-to-understand context -- something that no other book on Elements does! Photoshop Elements 6 is perfect for scrapbooking, making fancy photo collages, and creating Web galleries. It has lots of new features such as Guided Edit for performing basic editing tasks, an improved Photomerge feature, a handy Quick Selection Tool, and much more. But knowing what to do and when is tricky. Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual explains not only how the tools and commands work, but when to use them. With it, you will: Learn to import, organize, and fix photos quickly and easily. Repair and restore old and damaged photos, and retouch any image. Jazz up your pictures with dozens of filters, frames, and special effects. Learn which tools the pros use -- you'll finally understand how layers work! Create collages and photo layout pages for greeting cards and other projects. Get downloadable practice images and try new tricks right away. This full-color guide starts with the simplest functions and progresses to increasingly complex features of Elements. If you're ready for the more sophisticated tools, you can easily jump around to learn specific techniques. As always, author Barbara Brundage lets you know which Elements features work well, which don't, and why -- all with a bit of wit and humor. Don't hesitate: Now that Adobe's outstanding photo editor has been updated for the Mac, dive in with Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual right away.
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