Steve Jobs: Tributes and memories

Inevitably there are hundreds of tributes to Steve Jobs kicking around  this week. Here are some that caught my eye.

The Sydney Morning Herald uses an iPad frame


There have been lots of adaptations of the logo. This is one of the best.

Sums up one of the issues nicely

Here is PA's interactive timeline on Apple's history from its inception in 1984 to this week - with a close look at what happened to its share prices.

I can't claim to be a Mac User since 1984. I first dabbled in 1988 when I used to stand in for Mike Brough, the graphic artist at The Northern Echo, on his day off to change the weather map and football chalk boards. This video on how it all started brings it all back. And if you never tire of hearing the Jobs' philosophy this is worth a watch (and not just because it's a CEO delivering a keynote lecture in shorts). The advert on the crazy ones is particularly pertinent. 

And finally, here's the cover of Time, simple but effective.

Hat tips to @K1989B @charlesapple and @parkgraeme
Selection of quotes and tributes also on @TomDavenport website  

The sans and the fury

A couple of issues have the typographical world hot under its collective collar this week. The purists are particularly upset at the poor typography on the iPad ... just four fonts in iBooks and full justification with hyphenation the only option. The fonts on the iPhone 4G, Helvetica and Arial, have also come in for a pasting with some commentators even arguing (gasp) that Microsoft is better than Apple. A huge debate has grown up from the initial posting on The Font Feed and a piece entitled Better Screen, Same typography. It's all a bit surprising that Apple should be criticised for typography, given that it was the Mac that pioneered desktop publishing and turned everyone into a potential typographers. Hopefully, given that the type types, have been doing their best to crash Twitter with their outrage, Apple will be stung into action in time for the next generation of gizmos. 

Equally alarming, though, is the Wall Street Journal's decision to use Comic Sans on a news headline this week (albeit on a story about a cartoonist). As you probably know Comic Sans is the most vilified of fonts. There is even a Ban Comic Sans campaign and, should you be minded, you can buy t-shirts declaring your hatred for the Microsoft font. The comments on Typophile about the WSJ's lapse include 'the barbarians have breached the gates and made it inside the walls of the city' and 'heads should roll'. Microsoft better than Apple? Comic Sans in the WSJ? Sounds like Armageddon to me.

The iPad and Tracy Island - same old ploy

Christmas 1992: My kids and the rare Tracy Island. Now where's my iPad lads?

Arggh! The iPad is delayed by a further month - until the end of May. Apple says it is because it can't keep up with the mad rush but I wonder if this is just that old marketing tactic - create the illusion of scarcity and accelerate demand. As a father-of-four I have been through this most Christmases - from Tracy Island, through to the Furby and on to the Wii. I am sure there were many others. What's the betting pre-orders, being taken from May 10, will now soar? Note to kids (and wife), having done my bit to search high and low to deliver Tracy Island etc, thought I would point out that the new pre-order date is just in time for my birthday.