Hello, I’m Michael Sliwinski, founder of Nozbe - to-do app for business owners and their teams. I write essays, books, work on projects and I podcast for you using #iPadOnly in #NoOffice as I believe that work is not a place you go to, it’s a thing you do. More…
Commentary on Apple Inc. and their late CEO Steve Jobs. I’m both inspired by their products (see: iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch) and their practices. As a true fan, sometimes I’m also critisizing Apple to hold them accountable.
I recently watched an interview (embedded below) with key Apple execs - Craig Federighi and Greg Jozwiak - done by the Wall Street Journal and the part that really interested me was their stance on #NoOffice work. Well, it hasn’t changed much since I wrote about it a few months back (the action starts at 23 min 45 sec in):
It’s been a little over 11 years since Steve Jobs died and to commemorate this anniversary I’m posting here my short review of the new book by Tripp Mickle: After Steve - how Apple became a trillion-dollar company and lost its soul.
When Apple launched AirTags to help us “Lose your knack for losing things.”, many people were skeptical. Some didn’t know why Apple needed to enter this category of devices. Others saw a potential for abuse and stalking. People like me, who were already using similar devices from a competing company of Tile, embraced AirTags quickly. In this post I’d like to explain why I’m a fan of AirTags, why I have so many of them and what I use them for.
As it happens, I was invited again to my favorite geeky podcast - Anything But Idle where with my friends - Augusto and Ray - I could geek out and chat about new stuff that’s coming from Apple in the months to come - new iOS, iPadOS, macOS and the new MacBook Air laptop. If you’re into this sort of things, listen up! More info ℹ️
I already wrote about Apple’s not-so-good approach to working form home in the past (I also recorded a short video on that), but now as COVID-19 cases are declining Apple is really shooting itself in the foot. On one hand, it’s telling them to go back to the office (or else!) while at the same time it’s producing an ad that they’d better quit:
On the last episode of No Office FM podcast my co-host, Rafal, asked me about a lonely display hanging on the wall behind me. He didn’t know why I had this display there. I had no good answer, until the weekend came and I figured it out. I gave my good old trusty, 10-year-old Apple Thunderbolt Display another, actually seventh, life! Just check out its history:
One of our strategies for promoting Nozbe indirectly is by promoting our Nozbe.Com YouTube Channel - where we post Nozbe product videos, No Office podcast episodes and shorter productivity videos. We have above 4000 subscribers there (and you should totally subscribe!). Last week we decided to try the new YouTube feature - shorts, and here’s my first short commenting on Apple’s MacBook Pro event and my essay on Apple’s reluctance to embrace #NoOffice work:
As a business owner of Nozbe I look up to many bigger and more successful companies for guidance, examples and inspiration when running my company. Recently however, leadership of some of them is making decisions I cannot agree with. First it was Basecamp with their “no politics at work” policy that drove 1/3 of their talented employees away. Now it’s Apple, with their questionable attitude towards us, developers on their platforms. And to add insult to injury, recently Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, told their employees to come back to their office, or else! There are fundamentally two things I cannot agree with here:
Apple discontinued the HomePod and was selling them “until supplies last”. Instead of getting rid of the HomePod I had in the kitchen, I did something completely different. I listened to Marco Arment praise HomePods on ATP here and then here, especially recommending a stereo pair. So I hunted down two white HomePods for my living room and hooked them up:
Recently I wrote this post on Twitter, in reply to Tim Cook visiting Alabama:
Yes, Rosa stood for something. Yet Apple, the company I used to so highly admire… Recently stands for nothing. Videos promoting Trump campaign? Removing Taiwanese emoji? Removing Hong-Kong apps? Putting Crimea in Apple Maps as “Russia”? Yes please, Tim, do learn from Ms Parks
I’m an Apple user myself. I’m #iPadOnly, I buy a new iPhone every year, I love my Apple Watch and I own lots of Apple shares as well… and I’m so invested in this fruit company not just because of the “design is how it works” thing, but mostly because of their values. Here’s why I’m so disappointed in Apple so much recently:
