From JailbreakMe To An Internship at Apple

Through a series of tweets posted last night on his personal account, jailbreak hacker and developer comex, best known for his work on JailbreakMe, has announced that he will be joining Apple as an intern in two weeks. Whilst it’s common practice for Apple to hire interns for a limited period of time – this happens to both designers and developers all the time – this internship is worth noting as comex has been for years the brain behind various jailbreak tools that allowed users to install Cydia, the alternative App Store, on their devices, updating these tools multiple tools in a “cat & mouse” game against Apple’s patches and software updates.

Less than a month ago, Forbes profiled comex as 19-year old Nicholas Allegra on a leave from Brown University, who’s been interested in hacking and coding since the age of nine. Among comex’s most notable accomplishments in the jailbreak community, the latest version of JailbreakMe gained popularity thanks to a simple web-based interface to install Cydia on iOS 4.3 devices including the iPad 2. JailbreakMe 3.0 has been used over a million times, becoming the most successful jailbreak tool every released to the public. The hack used a vulnerability in Apple’s PDF library to run JailbreakMe’s code and install Cydia, a security hole that Apple fixed after 9 days.

In their article, Forbes concluded:

But at least in the case of JailbreakMe 3, Allegra also created a patch for the PDF vulnerability he exploited, allowing users to cover their tracks so that other hackers couldn’t exploit the same bug. In the period before Apple released an official patch, users who had jailbroken their iPads and iPhones were in some sense more secure than those who hadn’t.

A postscript to Apple: Perhaps your security team could use another intern.

It’s not clear whether the security team actually hired comex, but it sure looks like his jailbreak skills attracted Apple’s attention.

Flipboard Considering TV Shows and Movies, iPhone Version Launching “In A Few Weeks”

According to a report by Reuters, the iPad app of the Year 2010, Flipboard, might add support for movies and TV shows by the end of the year. If the company and its CEO, Mike McCue, will manage to cut deals with studios and other content providers, Flipboard will expand beyond aggregating articles from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook or RSS services like Google Reader, becoming an all-in one solution to read, share, and watch.

Flipboard mixes articles from a growing list of brands like Oprah.com and the Economist with social media feeds from sites like Facebook into a personalized online magazine. It has received $60.5 million in venture capital funding and its app has been downloaded 3 million times.

Chairman and Chief Executive Mike McCue said he will tackle the video project at the end of the year. He declined to say which studio partners he has approached. He also hopes eventually to cut deals with publishers to sell electronic books through Flipboard.

Just when the concept of “consuming content” starts making less sense now that the iPad has turned into a full-featured platform and device capable of doing things like reading, writing, sharing news, and watching movies, the evolution of Flipboard towards broader audiences and media seems appropriate. The app was launched in 2010 featuring direct Twitter and Facebook integration to display stories from these networks, visualized through an elegant layout with beautiful typography that made great use of the iPad’s screen to present multiple stories at once, and allow readers to re-share them or comment of them without opening a separate client. The app went through a series of updates to further refine the interface, add more services like Google Reader for RSS feeds and Instagram for photos, recently receiving another major revamp to introduce visual search, a popular section, and a completely new UI to browse popular articles and get recommendations from the Flipboard team’s curated list of stories and sources.

We’re big fans of Flipboard here at MacStories, and I believe choosing to diversify the app’s offerings to include more content is step in the right direction. Obviously, as Reuters says, this may never materialize if deals aren’t reached with studios, but it’s reassuring to know Flipboard has been considering video as the next major addition to their social magazine. In the same report, Reuters also says the iPhone version of Flipboard is expected to hit the App Store in a few weeks, although no further details are available.

You can read more about Flipboard and our thoughts on it in our previous coverage, and check out the fantastic original promo video featuring Adam Lisagor below.
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CEO Tim Cook to Employees: “Apple Is Not Going to Change”→

CEO Tim Cook to Employees: “Apple Is Not Going to Change”

Following Steve Jobs’ resignation as Apple CEO, Ars Technica has obtained a copy of an internal email sent this morning by the company’s new CEO, Tim Cook, to all Apple employees. The full text of the letter is available here, however we’d like to highlight a section in which Cook explains and reassures how Apple is not going to change, and Steve’s inspiration and vision will live on under his “ongoing guidance”:

Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.

I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.

The letter echoes Steve Jobs’ sentiments on Apple and its future:

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

Tim Cook will execute Apple’s vision and goal to make great products, in spite of the different kind of charisma that differentiates him from Steve Jobs. Titles change, but as Cook seems to confirm, ideals live on.

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Tim Cook, Apple CEO

Yesterday afternoon brought the big news that Steve Jobs had resigned from the position of Apple CEO (he is now Chairman of Apple’s Board), along with that came the news that Tim Cook will now permanently take over as Apple CEO. Cook had been acting CEO since January this year when Jobs went on medical leave – Cook now has to step up and officially lead Apple, which recently became the most valuable company in the world.

But unlike Jobs who is known to a sizeable proportion of general society and has quite a reputation, Cook is fairly unknown. As Cook today begins his first official day as the CEO of Apple we’ve written this post to give you, our readers, a little bit of background of Tim Cook and what he is like. Be sure to jump the break to read our succinct biography of him along with some fascinating additional reading and videos.

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Steve Jobs, Google’s Vic Gundotra, And “Icon Ambulance” On A Sunday→

Steve Jobs, Google’s Vic Gundotra, And “Icon Ambulance” On A Sunday

Amidst all the speculation and conjectures surrounding Steve Jobs’ resignation as Apple CEO last night, Google’s Vic Gundotra has shared a great little anecdote about the former CEO’s proverbial attention to detail and willingness to get even the smallest wrong piece of interface fixed in order to provide users with a great experience when using Apple devices.

Gundotra recalls an episode from 2008, when he got a phone call from Steve Jobs – Gundotra was head of mobile applications at Google at the time – but he didn’t pick up. Vic was attending religious services when “Caller ID unknown” called, so he chose to ignore the call. The call was from Steve Jobs, who left a message asking to be called back because it was urgent.

The problem Steve Jobs needed to get fixed was a wrong shade of yellow in Google’s webclip icon for the iPhone:

So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I’ve already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow” said Steve.

“I’ve been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I’m not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn’t have the right yellow gradient. It’s just wrong and I’m going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”

Of course this was okay with me. A few minutes later on that Sunday I received an email from Steve with the subject “Icon Ambulance”. The email directed me to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon.

You can find Gundotra’s full post over at Google+ – Gundotra eventually became Google’s public face in the iOS/Android clash for the mobile space, but he says that episode taught him a lesson about how CEOs should always care about details. Even shades of yellow, on a Sunday. That’s symbolic of Jobs’ career as a CEO, and a message that will live on as Apple continues down its road with a different chief executive officer.

[2008 Macworld keynote image via Arnold Kim]

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Times and Titles

[image via]

We all knew today’s news of Steve Jobs resigning as CEO of Apple was coming. Sooner or later, we – geeks, Apple watchers, fans, journalists, the Apple community as a whole – knew that Apple would announce a change of roles that would see Jobs go, initiating the execution plan that has been carefully planned internally for a long time. And that day has come. But it shouldn’t be seen for what it’s not: a change within the company. It is a change, technically, with Steve Jobs becoming Chairman of the Board, director, and Apple employee, and Tim Cook elected as new CEO. But it’s not a change in perspective – the spirit that has driven Apple’s innovation, attention to detail and need for great products won’t disappear as Tim Cook takes the reins.

There’s no denying reading the initial Reuters Twitter headline about Jobs resigning brought my heart to a full stop. But as I quickly rationalized and processed the news, later confirmed by a series of press releases, I realized that was the turning point I was expecting all along. The change that we, the community, feared and filed away in the imaginary drawer of things that are too far away to even consider as a fact. Yet, in spite of many people’s best hopes, it is a fact. And I’ll say this again – it is sad to see a man slowly taking steps back from the company he built because he’s no longer capable of meeting others’ expectations.

So let’s look at history in the eyes. Steve Jobs won’t be replaced iconically, he will be replaced as a company executive. Steve Jobs’ vision, charisma, stubbornness, willingness to build products people love and engage with on a personal level – these things will live on within Apple no matter the title the Board gives him. Steve is not Apple, but Apple stems from Steve’s ideals. And ideals, history has taught us, don’t die. No matter the bureaucracy, the speculation, the market strategies, the corporate espionage – no matter from what angle you look at it, true ideals live on. They are symbols of evolution, but they survive change.

This is what we believe. Technology alone is not enough. And from my personal angle, this is the mantra that CEO Steve Jobs has best implanted since 1997 in Apple as a company, a team of executives and designers and engineers and employees – Apple as a vision and a statement. A hundred years from now, people will look back at Jobs’ career as CEO of Apple, and wonder how he did. In this very moment of time, we do know how he did. And we applaud Steve Jobs for his achievements in the past decade.

But at the same time, we also applaud his team and we look forward to more great products born under and developed with Steve Jobs’ taste as a Chairman, and Apple employee. Once again, let’s look at the facts – Jobs is still there, only taking a different role and executing the “succession plan” any respectable company that operates at Apple’s levels has. Those who predict the premature demise of Apple and speculate on the failures of future products due to Jobs’ change of title clearly don’t understand how Apple works. I don’t either, but at least I’m not looking into a crystal ball. It will be interesting to keep an eye on Apple’s operations in the next two years for sure, but saying the company without Jobs the CEO is now doomed is a long stretch.

A change of titles – a new Chairman here, a CEO there – won’t transform the way today’s Apple works and makes money. Yet we, the community, are inclined to taking this on a personal level, because let’s face it – a little part of the Apple fan in us died today. Not because of the sadness, the desperation, or the aforementioned predictions of Apple’s upcoming “problems”. Not even strictly because Steve Jobs is a geek’s favorite hero and it’s sad to see him “go”. It’s a much more subtle feeling running through the veins of the Apple community. It’s that feeling of times changing, of you and your friends growing older and perhaps with a better understanding of things – it’s watching what you took for granted be upgraded to something new you think will be fine eventually, but you’re still not completely used to.

Steve Jobs’ greatest accomplishment is not the iPad, the App Store, the iPhone 4 and the device coming out next year. It’s not even the company taken as a bunch of executives and employees around the world, for as much as that’s an impressive work of management and planning. Rather, Steve Jobs the CEO should be proud of the philosophy he’s instilled in Apple’s vision of a product maker for all kinds of people. Because, really, that’s what Steve Jobs the CEO set as a goal for Apple: making people happy using their products.

In these past 14 years, Apple’s former CEO turned around an industry, changed its face, and taught us that technology alone is not enough.

And we thank you for that, Steve.

TV Show Tracker 2.1 Giveaway: You’re Gonna Need More Shows to Watch

If you watch a lot of TV, live on the Internet, and can’t remember when House airs, then you’re probably already using TV Show Tracker right? We’ve been covering the big updates all along, and I gotta say that there’s lots of new goodies to chew on. Take the Watch List for example. Everything you missed watching will be stored in one convenient place so you can check it off once you get down mowing down the bag of half baked doritos in front of the TiVo. Those unwatched episodes will also show up as application badges (because it’s pretty critical if you miss out on the first episode of The Office). Tapping on a show in your favorites list now takes you directly to their show page, and in the preferences you have the app open into the schedule so you don’t miss a thing. Combine that with a new icon, and the latest update to TV Show Tracker just makes finding dramas on the boob tube pretty easy.

So how much does it cost? It’s on sale for $0.99 until Saturday evening — it’s super useful to see when your favorite two political comedians are coming back from vacation as well.

But we’re giving away five copies to you delightful, handsome (beautiful for the lady-girls out there) MacStorians, so you’ll want click past the break for the full rundown.

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Steve Jobs Resigns, Tim Cook Named New CEO of Apple

With a press release that just went out, Steve Jobs has announced he’s stepping down as CEO of Apple. Former COO Tim Cook will take the role of new CEO. Steve Jobs will stay involved as Chairman of the Board, and Tim Cook will obviously join the Board, too, effective immediately. In a letter to the Board and the Apple community, Steve Jobs explains he’s no longer capable of meeting his duties and expectations as Apple CEO, strongly recommending the Board to name Tim Cook as new CEO. Jobs also states “Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it”.

On January 17, Apple’s Board granted Steve Jobs a medical leave of absence, and the former CEO said he would remain involved with major strategic decisions, with Tim Cook filling in for day-to-day operations at Apple. Since then, Steve Jobs made two appearances at a media event in March and the WWDC ‘11 keynote to announce the iPad 2, iOS 5 and new iCloud features. Speculation has surrounded Steve Jobs’ health conditions since January, although the company preferred to keep such conditions private and out of the community and press daily rumors.

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. He left the company in 1985, only to return from NeXT (another company he started) to Apple in 1997 and ignite the digital revolution by laying the groundwork of modern Mac OS X, iTunes and the iLife suite, and later the iPhone in 2007, and the iPad in 2010. From Apple’s official bio of the Steve Jobs (which hasn’t been updated to reflect the new Chairman role yet):

Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, which he co-founded in 1976. Apple is leading the consumer technology world with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, its family of iPod media players and iTunes media store, and its Mac computers and iLife and iWork application suites. Apple recently introduced the iPad, a breakthrough Internet and digital media device, plus the iBookstore, alongside iTunes and the App Store.

Steve also co-founded and was the CEO of Pixar Animation Studios, which created some of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time including Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. Pixar merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006 and Steve now serves on Disney’s board of directors.

Steve grew up in the apricot orchards which later became known as Silicon Valley, and still lives there with his family.

Tim Cook, former COO of Apple, was responsible for the company’s worldwide sales and operations, reporting directly to Steve Jobs and managing Apple’s supply chain overseas. He’s regarded as the man who made possible building and shipping millions of iOS devices in four years thanks to exclusive supplier agreements and deals, including pre-payments to get stable access to important components such as the LCD displays used in Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Before joining Apple, Cook was vice president of Corporate Materials for Compaq and was responsible for procuring and managing all of Compaq’s product inventory. Previous to his work at Compaq, Cook was the chief operating officer of the Reseller Division at Intelligent Electronics.

Wikipedia provides a brief timeline of Cook’s roles at Apple:

  • He initially served as Senior Vice President for Worldwide Operations
  • In January 2007, Cook was promoted to COO.
  • Cook served as Apple CEO for two months in 2004, when Steve Jobs was recovering from pancreatic cancer surgery. Cook also serves on the Board of directors of Nike.
  • In 2009 Cook again served as Apple CEO for several months while Steve Jobs took a leave of absence for a liver transplant.
  • In January 2011, Apple’s Board of Directors approved a third medical leave of absence, requested by Steve Jobs. During that time, Tim Cook was responsible for most of Apple’s day-to-day operations while CEO Steve Jobs made most major decisions.

Steve Jobs is widely regarded as the “visionary genius” behind many of Apple’s best inventions and innovations such as the refined graphical user interface, the Mac’s attention to detail and beautiful typography, and iOS’ focus on multitouch and natural user experience. To get an idea of the man behind the company, check out this collection of Steve Jobs quotes we collected two years ago.

Below, you’ll find the press releases from Apple, Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, and the video of the official “iCEO” announcement in 2000. As for our thoughts on Apple without Steve Jobs, we’ll take our time to elaborate on today’s (huge) news for the company, but overall, this article from January 2011 still holds true: During Steve’s Absence, Apple Will Be Just Fine. Read more

iPad Getting Exclusive 9/11 Memorial App on September 1st

Author/Filmmaker Steve Rosenbaum has created and curated a documentary and transformed it into an iPad app called The 9/11 Memorial: Past, Present and Future. The 9/11 Memorial App is the first multi-media app that allows users to explore the history of the site, the day of the attacks, and the opening of The National Memorial. The app is a journey that you can take at your own pace; a rich tapestry of more than 40 original videos and 400 powerful still images. This app provides an intimate, personal, self-directed exploration.

The app features:

  • An interactive timeline from 2001 - present and will be updated as construction continues.
  • Never before seen video of the attacks on The World Trade Center.
  • Exclusive interview with the creator of the Memorial, along with his sketches and photographs.
  • More than 40 videos, over an hour of original content, site tours, museum updates, and animations.
  • Over 400 high-resolution photographs, including large artifacts at Hanger 17, rare site construction images, and the landscaping of an urban forest with 400 white swamp oak trees.
  • Links to share, post, and connect with the National September 11th Memorial Museum site.
  • Scenes from Rosenbaum’s award-winning documentary “7 Days in September” are included as well.

Rosenbaum decided to make this project iPad-only because it is the best device to display it. “I wanted it to be more of an immersive experience,” he said. “The nature of the photographs are so powerful, so to render them in anything but full color seemed wrong to me. And I didn’t want it to be viewed on a phone. I wanted it to be big and glossy.” Apple loved the idea, and it was approved in only a day and a half, which is very fast. He was expecting a few weeks so he submitted it early.

Rosenbaum is looking for app promotion and since the App Store has so many apps, it could easily be overlooked but we at MacStories think it’s an app worthy to promote and something like this means so much to people as well. The free introductory price is nice but we hope people will also consider buying it for $9.99 once it increases to give Steve a little something back for all his hard work and dedication. Here’s what he said about iPad exclusivity for The 9/11 Memorial - “The iPad is the single fastest selling consumer device in the history of consumer electronics,” he said. “There are 30 million now on the market. What’s more limited? A beautiful glossy photo book that sits in Barnes & Noble, or something that’s free and on a device that lots of people have?” I don’t think Steve Jobs could have said it better himself.

The 9/11 Memorial App will be available and free between September 1 and September 12 and thereafter the price will be for $9.99. You can check out more info on the app’s official site to see more screens, read more about the app and learn about the author.

[via The Observer via Daring Fireball]