Steve Jobs' Resignation Letter ...

Steve Jobs has officially resigned as CEO of Apple, and here is his resignation letter (- one of the most touching and direct communications I have ever had the "good fortune" to read -) to Apple and you, the Apple community (quote marks and formatting are mine.)


``To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

``I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

``I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

``As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

``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.

``I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve''

On a sombre note ...

Well, I guess today's one of my off-days ... I've been feeling blue from early this morning -- right from the moment, on my way to work on my 2-wheeler, that I saw this dog ... if that's what it was!

The poor creature had recently been run over by some heartless beast of a driver and three and a half legs were badly maimed and absolutely non-functional. In fact, "legs" is a term one would hesitate to use, in this particular case!

And yet ... the will to survive; the will to keep on moving was so strong, the poor creature "crabbed" (no other word will do) it's way along the extreme edge of the pavement-less street.

It heard me approaching from a long way away and I'll never forget the look in its eyes. Fear; apprehension; desperation ... all that and more was in the pleading look it gave me. As if to say, "Please don't hurt me anymore!" Tears welled up in my eyes as I slowed down and let it move along.

I don't know what happened as I couldn't bear to stop and watch any more. But, as I drove off, I hit a couple of pot-holes because my eyes were still all blurry. And I couldn't help thinking, "there, but for the Grace of God, (and some very good friends who helped me up when I was down) go I!"

M S Dhoni and Prakash Poddar

``... while Dhoni went from strength to strength, Poddar saw his career with the BCCI come to an abrupt end. He was in TRDO for just one year, after that the BCCI never came calling. The man who discovered Dhoni now spends his time shuttling between Kolkata and Pune, where his son resides. Ask him if he is sad to have been shunted out the way he was, and he breaks into the sordid laugh that old-timers reserve for such moments.
“Well, at least I managed to give Indian cricket Dhoni. That’s something and that’s my salvation.”''

I just had to post the above text before giving you the link

Amazing isn't it? Contrast the success of one person with the "not-so-successfulness" of the one who made it possible. Well ... what more can I say? Does this "happen only in India?"

What do _you_ think?

Helmets in Chennai!

As I write this, the deadline (yes, another one!) nears -- May 28 -- for all us poor, hot, sweaty two-wheeler riders in Chennai to beware (again!) because the "compulsory helmet" law is being enforced (again!) This means that the righteous and incorruptible traffic police will have their already-enormous workload increased, apprehending and spot-fining (receipt?) guilty and criminal-like two-wheeler riders who dare to flout this law!

Now here's what I think ... for what it's worth. While I agree that wearing a helmet is a good idea (and I have always worn one from the time I began worrying about my personal safety on our clean, well-managed, well-regulated and politely-used roads) I do believe this should be a matter of personal choice and not ENFORCED! Riders of two-wheelers are not children and can surely decide for themselves. How can this guarantee to bring down the number of fatalities? My thinking is that, if traffic rules are strictly enforced (with emphasis being on EDUCATING riders and drivers, rather than APPREHENDING them), and offenders officially punished, rather than being let off for whatever reason, fatalities will come down.

If, however, the law-makers in Chennai are determined to ENFORCE the "helmets-for-two-wheeler-riders" law -- citing personal safety and bringing down fatalities as reasons -- then they should, for the same reasons, ENFORCE the following safety rules as well:-

• Seat-belts to be made compulsory for all drivers and passengers of all motorized three- and four-wheeler modes of transportation, including
• auto-rickshaws
• pick-up 3-wheelers
• taxis
• buses
• lorries, and
• private cars - no matter how influential the driver or owner may be.

• Passengers of buses may be exempt from wearing any headgear or seat-belts, of course.

• NO overloading and over-crowing of all three- and four-wheelers modes of transportation, including
• cycle-rickshaws
• auto-rickshaws (especially the school-pick-up ones)
• taxis
• lorries, and
• private cars - no matter how influential the driver or owner may be.

•  NO stopping beyond the demarcated areas at signal lights by any transport, including
• cycles
• cycle-rickshaws
• non-motorized three-wheelers (e.g., those used for transporting water bottles ...)
• bullock carts
• motorized two-wheelers
• auto-rickshaws
• taxis
• buses
• lorries, and
• private cars - no matter how influential the driver or owner may be.

•  NO illegal cutting across demarcated lanes by ANY transport, including
• cycles
• cycle-rickshaws
• non-motorized three-wheelers (e.g., those used for transporting water, etc.)
• bullock carts
• motorized two-wheelers
• auto-rickshaws!
• taxis
• buses!!
• lorries, and
• private cars - no matter how influential the driver or owner may be.

• NO illegal parking anywhere, especially on main, arterial roads by ANY transport.
• NO speeding.
• NO jay-walking by pedestrians ... especially if pavements exist.
• Pavements NOT to be used for any purpose other than for pedestrians.
• Where no pavements exist, these MUST be built.

 There are a lot more we can look at but the above will do for a start. (And hopefully signal lights will be allowed to work automatically and NOT by some trigger-happy traffic constable who sees it as his duty to manually operate some hidden switch at signals.)

Will we ever see all of this happening?

What do _you_ think?

Personal HotSpot on iPhone 4

Personal Hotspot on iPhone 4 on 3G is awesome! I'm posting this from my MacBook, connected to the internet via my iPhone's Personal Hotspot! How cool is that?!!!

The connexion between my iPhone 4 and my MacBook is via Bluetooth and the speed is better than i get back home on any wifi dongle connexion!

Apple Updates iTunes again

Apple's iTunes 10.2.2 release fixes a few 'response' issues. Apple support has all details.

New Apple updates

In addition to the iOS 4.3.2 software update (which I wrote about on Friday, 15 Apr 2011,) Apple released Safari 5.0.5 (which applies to Windows and OS X versions) plus a new Security Update 2011-002 for Mac OS X. All available through Apple's download pages as well as the Software Update.

The size of the Leopard download at around 240+MB is considerably larger than that of Snow Leopard.

iPhone iOS 4.3.2

Today Apple released iOS 4.3.2.

This build claims to fix a bug which caused video to go blank or 'freeze' during Facetime calls. Also, an iPad bug that kept a few international 3G users from connecting to their local networks. 

The new release also contains security updates.

On my iPhone 4 the battery drain issue which began with the last build (iOS 4.3.1) appears to have gone away. However, as I updated just this morning, its early days yet.

Office for Mac 2011 SP1 Coming ...

Microsoft will release Office for Mac 2011 service pack 1 (SP1) today/tomorrow, so say Office for Mac.

The aim is "increased stability, security, and some new features to the suite—including improved Outlook syncing support—as well as some performance enhancements."

SP1 should enable calendar syncing between Outlook for Mac and Apple's iCal, iPhone, etc., although syncing with our Google calendar may still not be an added feature. The latest MobileMe, too, will not be able to be synced.

A few additional Outlook updates possibly included in SP1: Support for Exchange based server-side rules; Redirect button; Resend button; and Enabled editing of existing messages.

Anti-corruption

I am against corruption --- anywhere in the world, in any sphere --- not just in India, not just in politics, not just in the police force, the army, the navy, the airforce, the commercial pilot licensing authorities, the academies, the passport offices, the regional transport authorities, the autorickshaw powers that be, television, real-estate, electricity, telecomm ... 

And my support will always be with those who are also against corruption.

Long live those with the courage to stand up, sit down, go on hunger strikes - whatever - in support of their beliefs!

Pl share this as well ...

A few private moments … but ‘ware of peeping ‘toms’ :)

“I think the kids have left for the day.”

Meanwhile, a couple of peeping ‘toms’ … “Wonder if they gonna go upstairs today as well…”

More peeping ‘toms’ … “Naaw… too many people about."

"What's happening?"

Meanwhile … “So, no one’s looking… Let’s hop upstairs for a bit."

*(One early morning while waiting for the bus. Caught the above on my iPhone…)

Appendix

Well, the good news is that Sheryl’s come through her surgery and is now at home recovering. She should be “back to the grind” from Monday, I guess. The bad news is that they couldn’t remove her appendix because of some internal complication and infection. This was cleaned out thoroughly and they’ll review her case again after 3 months when, if the appendix is still infected, they’ll perform the “true” appendectomy!

As for me, my life reminds me of the old saying which ends, “… some folks have greatness thrust upon them.” Well at work, I constantly find things being thrust on me and – not wanting to appear incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial – I agree to try my hand. Right now, I’m one of the video-graphers, video-editors, presentation-makers and, though I have some skills in all three, I feel this is not entirely what I’m cut out to be. I would prefer to contribute more in terms of thinking, strategies, guiding, training … rather than physically doing things. I feel I’ve outgrown the doing stage. Ahh well, ce la vie, ce la vie!

So now I’m off to a video-shoot. This should be followed by an all-night editing session to home on my time (sigh) and then building the edited clips into our presentation. On Tuesday, another similar session is threatened. Will try to continue the saga…

Moving on … or catching up?

Just downloaded (a couple of nights ago) Windows7 Beta and am currently test-driving it on my personal ‘puter. I must say it is quite good. Recognized everything – wi-fi, printer, etc and works just fine. Display of certain websites in IE8 can be improved but the Windows Engg Team have thought of this. They’ve provided a “Compatibility View” button to click so that the page is properly displayed in what I think is IE7.

All in all, a great experience for me. Hope they let me keep the product after the beta testing is over :-) (hint, hint!!)