Apple Confidential – Steve Jobs on “Think Different” – Internal Meeting Sept. 23, 1997

Video of internal 1997 meeting 2-months after Jobs returned to Apple. Sets the vision as something other than speeds and feeds. Launches the brand for the next 15-years, which you can see even today. The 1997 ‘Think Different’ billboards are reminiscent of the 2015 ‘Shot on Iphone 6’ billboards. Worth the 16 minutes if you’re interested in product strategy. [via Mi... Read More

When in Iceland

When in Iceland I recommend renting a vehicle. It’s a round island with a single ring road. When renting a vehicle I recommend a 4×4. There are no trees, so you can drive anywhere. When renting a 4×4 I recommend renting a Land Rover. The British were an adventurous lot. When renting a Land Rover, get a Defender. It protected the King of England well enough now didn’t it.... Read More

Appreciating Willard Brinton’s data visualization

Excerpt from 100 years of Brinton, a website devoted to appreciating data visualization author Willard Brinton. I passionately believe Brinton should be as well known as other pioneers of data visualisation (Playfair,Priestley, Minard) and modern authors (Few, Tufte, Cairo) I agree. Below is an image from Brinton’s book, which is more about data visualization than about ocean liners, but I ... Read More

Requests for Startups

Excerpt from Y-Combinator article on ideas for new startups. [source: YCombinator Blog] —- Enterprise Software – Software used by large companies is still awful and still very lucrative. Category-defining enterprise software companies will emerge to solve problems for every vertical, every business size, and every job function. Here are 3 specific areas we think are particularly interesti... Read More

Deaths and Fairness on Mount Everest

More people died on Everest this year than any other year. The cause of 16 of the 17 deaths on the mountain this year was an avalanche, that occurred between basecamp and camp 1 on 4/18/2014, in an area known as the Popcorn Field. This is around 18,000 or 19,000 feet at the top of the Khumbu Ice Fall, the most dangerous part of the Mount Everest climb. An overhanging wedge of ice the size of a ... Read More