awesome

It's interesting to see that the Steve Jobs in the video is not the shouty, abuse-throwing, slave-driving, intimidating person as described and depicted by countless publications, books and even movies about him. That is not to say he isn't, but he was most probably certainly not like that most of the time. And in fact, his opinions I agree much in the video - if you set a target, and you try to stick with it as much as possible without changing plans. If you read the biography, this attribute, also know as the "Reality Distortion Field" coined by his co-workers, allows people to create and do things initially not thought possible - be it to complete something in a time frame, or to make something work when previously thought not possible. In fact, you can see how he is correct in that if they don't ship by a certain time frame computers will be all expected to be in color (remember that this is 1985) and they would have to make major changes soon thereafter.

Since people that had to work with him were generally either genius or shit to him, then as long as they are the person on the correct side or show that they can flip to the correct side, they would be fine. With people like him, the need to show that you can change, have the drive & will to do something proper or generally, just being an "A player" instead of a "B player". People that get results. Attributes that most bosses want in an employee anyway.

But people who don't work with him see a very different side.

This other side of Steve Jobs was also documented in an article by one of his neighbors in which he described as just is the typical neighborhood parent in the neighborhood, again, a far cry from what was depicted. Also as described here, this is a man who would respond to emails - although very short ones, even if outrageous, or answer questions from a boy in a shareholders meeting with "rapt personal attention".

Or the time a guy and his buddy decided to drive miles away for an Apple Store experience, he sent an email to The Steve, which although he didn't receive any reply, but got a call from the vice president of Apple, and subsequently got a nice treatment from the Apple Store. When asked about what Steve wrote to them, they reply that Steve told them "This guy is driving 100 miles for a Mac; let's take care of him." Would any CEO have done this? Or even any other person for that matter, most likely they'd pass this to some PR guy for the Q&A.

I have his biography. I mean, who doesn't, nowadays? It's an interesting read of one of the greatest icons of our times. He's inspired me just as he had inspired countless others on many, many areas, many times over. Rest in peace, Steve.

Well as some of you might have known, after my last car died in an accident (Rest In Peace), after much scouting around I settled on a new Honda City I tested some time earlier, because it's a pretty awesome car for its price.

I actually wanted a hybrid Insight, and shopped around for some trucks but alas the Insight wasn't available at the time in early 2011 - as that was launched only around March 2011, and trucks are just horrible things anyway and I needed a car badly and couldn't wait. Plus this one is still pretty good anyway since the loan payment isn't that much more different for the fuel alone for my last car, and it's much more roomy than the Insight (or all of the cars I've ever driven, for that matter)

..and fast forward to today:

I discovered a pretty nifty trick to turn my radio display on my car into a speedometer, much like that found on a more expensive Civic. Take that, Civic. Ha!

First, switch off the radio. Then, hold down both the up and down arrow on the radio controls, like so:

While still holding down on the up/down arrow, switch on your radio. The display will have the word DIAG on it. This is the diagnostics mode. Press on the right arrow to initiate the speedometer mode:

If done right, it should look like this:

To reset, simply turn it off and on again. It's a novelty at best or provides more accurate digital readout for whatever reason that is need.

However, there is a downside to this, you can’t listen to radio when this is active, and it isn't in the best position while driving (it's plop dead in the middle of the dash, like some Toyotas).

Here's the surprise - not only does the tiny little thing read out songs in English, it reads out chinese & japanese characters on the songs accurately too.

Honda Develops New Personal Mobility Device

..Honda has developed a new personal mobility technology and unveiled U3-X, a compact experimental device that fits comfortably between the rider's legs, to provide free movement in all directions just as in human walking - forward, backward, side-to-side, and diagonally. Honda will continue research and development of the device including experiments in a real-world environment to verify the practicality of the device.

This new personal mobility device makes it possible to adjust speed and move, turn and stop in all directions when the rider leans the upper body to shift body weight.
Key features of U3-X
{Free movement just as in human walking}
Device control featuring application of balance control technology cultivated through ASIMO research:
The incline sensor detects the incline of the device based on the weight shift of the rider and determines the rider's intention in terms of the direction and speed. Based on the data, precise control is applied to return the device to an upright position, which achieves smooth and agile movements and simple operation by weight shift only.

Compact and innovative package:
The combination of the balance control technology and the HOT Drive System enabled the one-wheel style compact and innovative package of the device. In addition, the device adopts a light-weight monocoque body in which the foldable seat, footrests and body cover that also function as the frame are stored in the body of the device, achieving highly portable convenience.

That really reminds me of the movie WALL-E so much, it's scary. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you should watch Pixar's WALL-E and see how humans can be lazy bums in the future (even more so than now).