Steve rehearses for a keynote, while I stand by.

Back in the fall of 2000, my boss at Apple (David Moody) asked me to step in as temporary product marketing manager for a forthcoming product code-named ‘Trumpet’. We were already interviewing candidates to take on the role full-time, but there was stuff that needed doing, which couldn’t wait. First up, draft the product briefing document which would form the basis for much of the internal and external communications about the product.

Looking back at that first document recently I was reminded that Trumpet had rather modest aspirations at the time, basically to fill in an obvious competitive gap. Windows had a head start in this niche, and we needed to do something. What the future held for this minor product was not imagined in -anyone’s- wildest dreams.

It’s a product you all know – it’s now called iTunes,

And as I sit here tonight, using this tiny brushed aluminum remote control to instantly access over 25,000 songs in my home iTunes library, I’m astonished what it has become. Indistinguishable from magic, to borrow a phrase.

I had very little to do with what happened, but it sure has been exhilarating to watch it from a good seat.

The blog is named in honor of our favorite question from our favorite book (which also inspired the name of the company, for those who don’t get the ‘42′ reference.)

But that’s all behind me now!

I’ve always loved being involved with helping products and companies grow, and at Code 42 I get that in abundance. Being immersed in the creative process again has helped to clear some cobwebs and brought me back to thinking about this book I’m supposedly writing. Further, thanks to some prodding from a few esteemed friends, my confidence is returning and I’m starting to feel like I can get back to work on it.

This feeling is not without counterpoints. Given Steve Job’s poor health, I don’t want to be seen as engaging in the rumor-mongering and uninformed speculation that has become so commonplace. My intention for the book was always to make it about my personal journey from admiring Apple from afar to being unexpectedly in the middle of the action, and continuing on to my more recent adventures. I didn’t want to write a book just about Apple or just about Steve Jobs. (I never felt I had enough ‘hard data’ about either to fill an entire book in any case.) And the closer we get to a world without Steve Jobs, the less interested I am in sensationalizing any part of my related experiences. And all along, I wondered if my meager writing skills are up to the task of describing how Steve or Apple do their respective magic.*

Which brings me to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything: will I ever finish this damn book?

The answer is a most-definite probably.

*a good friend, who happens to be a writer, pointed out that entire -good- books have been created by basically padding a one paragraph story. He humbly suggested that maybe I was demanding a bit too much journalistic rigor for a project that doesn’t require it.

The past few years have been among the most tumultuous of my life. Personal and business challenges have stressed me nearly to the breaking point, and amazing events have rocked my world and the world at large.

I’ve questioned (literally) the mental health of my fellow Americans who re-elected the most corrupt government we’ve ever had. My disgust with the whole thing crushed my spirit and clouded my view of the future. Closer to home, I faced a tremendous crisis of confidence regarding my worth as a person, my ability to provide for myself and my family, and my ability (and desire) to continue writing my book.

The world around me seemed to have gone mad; or maybe it was me?

20% Annual Return – Guaranteed!
The absolute stupid excesses of the housing market finally hit the wall of reality, and in spite of the pain this caused many (me included) I’m glad it happened. The fraud of the whole system has been obvious to me for years, and I’m hopeful that the crash will restore some small semblance of sanity. Of course, before we get the benefits from our more prudent outlook, we have to bear the consequences of our collective folly.

Change or Die
For me, these consequences piled on top of the already difficult conditions at my company, Wired Inc. For years we had designed and manufactured professional MPEG encoders for video professionals. They enjoyed a great reputation and became the best selling product of their kind. But starting about three years ago, the market began to change; we were hit by the double-whammy of the increasing speed & quality of cheap software-based systems and the saturation of the market for DVD creation tools. Realizing that the end was near for hardware-based MPEG encoders, we began work on an ambitious new product, to be called the Mason IP. It would be a revolutionary tool for companies involved in the creation of DVD and Bluray discs. We estimated it would take a year to develop and that the sales of our traditional products should last long enough to fund its development.

Unfortunately, our estimates were off by a factor of three and sales dried up much faster than anticipated. Still, we were not deterred. We believed in the product and kept pouring money into its development. When cash stopped flowing, we cut salaries; first by half, then by three quarters and then to zero. My partner and I burned through our reserves and still it wasn’t enough. We kept it up as long as possible, but after more than two years of no income, with the mortgage due and no products to sell, we realized something had to give.

For the first time in many years, we each had to find an alternative source of income, commonly known as a job.

Getting Out the Rolodex
As I often did in my years as a consultant, I turned to my contact database and started calling and emailing everyone I knew. Typically I am a very optimistic person, but the past couple years had taken their toll, and I was filled with doubts. Who out there could possibly use my odd blend of marketing genius* and technical skills? Was there really anyone out there who would find my experiences from Astarte and Apple and Wired a good fit for their business? Could I find something that would solve the short term problem and hopefully develop into something with a future? I called and wrote and waited and worried. Day and night the hollow sound of my empty bank account rang in my ears.

Impressive German Engineering
But then, there came a much more pleasant ringing sound: a phone call from an old friend and former client who just happen to need some help with a project that just happen to match my qualifications. The caller was Dr Markus Fest of Elgato. Markus is the original creator of Toast, the best-selling disc burning software, now sold by Roxio. In the early days, Toast was marketed by Astarte and I managed the US portion of that arrangement. Later, when Markus sold Toast to Adaptec, I worked for him again, writing user manuals and managing production. And again when Markus’s company was busy creating drivers for USB floppy drives and for the first FireWire hardrives, we worked together.

Suffice it to say, Markus knew my work (and my limitations) and I knew his. It took only a few days for us to agree to a trial engagement. It was a small project, managing the launch of a minor product, but it helped to reverse my negative cash flow and left me some time to continue to work on my Wired project.

This was about two and a half years ago, about the same time I pretty much vanished from this website and most other non-essential pursuits. There was so much to do, and Elgato had so many interesting projects underway, that it wasn’t too long before Markus and I agreed it should be a full-time deal.

And so it has been. I am officially the EyeTV Evangelist, helping to spread the word about one of the coolest Mac-related product lines on the planet. I work on the user forum, handle training for the Apple retails stores and am part of the marketing team. It’s an awesome company, and I feel privileged to work with such a talented group of people.

Jumpin’ Jack Flash
Three months before I hooked up with Elgato, I had another life-altering experience: I became a grandfather! My eldest son had a son, named Jack. Unlike turning fifty and other recent ‘mileposts’ of getting older, which tend to get me down, becoming a grandpa is a totally wonderful and amazing thing. Whenever I get to spend time with Jack I feel completely recharged. For those of you who have yet to be grandparents, I can recommend it without reservation.

The Book Really Stalls
As you might expect, my new-found work with Elgato and being a grandpa keeps me very busy; finding time to work on the book is difficult. But there was another much larger factor that basically stopped it in its tracks: Steve Job’s life-threatening illness. Once it became public that he was sick, and the morbid curiosities of every hack on the planet were played out on the world wide web stage, I felt very uncomfortable with the idea of working on my fluffy little pamphlet. And what if he died? From a business point of view, I knew it would be the perfect time to have a book ready, but the thought of it disgusted me.

It seemed the less real news there was about Steve’s condition, the worse it got. People who had obviously never worked with him, or even met him, were writing stories about every aspect of his existence. Much of it was heartless, some if it appeared to be fabricated (or at best highly embellished), and almost none of it actually added anything to the world’s understanding of this unique person. I just didn’t want to be part of that.

What’s This Thing All About?
Besides those reservations, I found myself struggling with the basic concept of the book. I named it ‘Jobs I’ve Known’ because I intended the book be about my whole career, and how my many jobs and seemingly random decisions over the course of many years resulted in my working at Apple and getting to work with Mr Jobs. But it became pretty clear from my work on this blog that all anyone really wanted to know about was Steve Jobs. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I have enough real experience with him to make a whole book out of just that.

Inspiration Returns
Three things happened recently that make be want to get back to work on the book. First, the fascists were run out of Washington. Hope has been restored.

Second, I bought an ebook reader (the Sony, in case you wonder). It has brought me back to reading again, after far too long an absence. This joy of reading seems to be sort of spilling over and motivating me to write again.

Third, Steve Jobs returned to Apple. While it’s clear from his appearance that he’s not out of the woods yet, his reemergence into the public eye makes me a little more comfortable writing about him again.

I Get a Hat
As part of my newly invigorated self-image, brought on by my fantastic family and matchless colleagues, I’ve decided to start a campaign to bring back hats. If you’ve ever watched a classic movie from the forties or fifties or flipped through an old magazine, you’ll realize the world was a much more civilized place when everyone wore hats.

To kick off the campaign, I bought a nifty Panama hat from a street vendor in New Orleans. Then last month in Munich, I picked up a classic felt Fedora to wear to Oktoberfest. Now it’s your turn to go out and get a hat. I’ll wait here.

*Your opinion may vary.

I finally got around to updating the site to the latest WordPress and updated the special iPhone-friendly format as well.

This, in turn, allowed me to install a user verification plug-in, which will make it practical to (finally) reopen the site for new users, while hopefully keeping the spammers to a minimum.

I’ve also been testing the WordPress app on my iPhone, thinking it might enable me to take advantage of downtime (in airports, etc) to get this project back on track. Now I just have to think of something to write!

Somewhat surprisingly, it continues to work, and using it reminds me of how far this little device has come in such a short time.

Damn

Well, that’s interesting. I just got an email from eBay saying they had taken the auction down. Here’s what they said:

The rights owner, Apple, Inc., notified eBay that this listing violates intellectual property rights. When eBay receives a report of this type of violation, we remove the listing to comply with the law.

I don’t know how selling an old iPod can violate their rights, but you can’t fight city hall (or eBay or Apple either, apparently).

For the curious, here’s the details

A rare opportunity to own a piece of Apple history – one of the first iPods ever made

How I came to own this

When the iPod was about to be introduced, the engineering team recruited a number of Apple employees for last minute testing of the new ultra-secret device. Each tester was given an iPod; I was one of them. After the official release, everyone had the chance to trade in their pre-release (aka PVT) iPod for a new ‘real’ one if they wanted. But I never got around to exchanging mine, so I still have it.

Most of these early units were turned in to Apple and recycled, so very few exist anymore. I don’t have any way to know precisely, but this is certainly one of the first hundred or so iPods ever built.

Details

• The iPod still works, and the battery holds a charge very well. But it is being sold as a collectible, not a usable iPod.
• Includes the pre-release 5GB iPod, FireWire cable, charger and earphones.
• The included original earphones are somewhat interesting too. The first batch of iPod earphones were bigger (approximately 18mm in diameter). But the testers and others early users complained that they were too large and uncomfortable. So all subsequent batches of the iPod’s earphones were somewhat smaller (about 16mm).
• It can be sync’d with current versions of iTunes.
• The back of the case is somewhat scuffed and the plastic is slightly discolored in places. See photos.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
There were hardware changes made before the actual release, which mean the firmware in this unit cannot be updated using the standard update mechanism built into iTunes. If the unit ever needs to be reset/restored, there’s a special utility, which I’ll include. If you were to update it with a current iPod updater, it would be damaged and probably not work any more.

A few month later when OS X rolled out (March 2001), Steve spoke to a gathering of Apple employees in Cafe Mac. A lot less gray hair and a lot more of him. That almost looks like a bit of a gut hanging out.

We’ve Added a Special Look for iPhones

If you’re using an iPhone or iPod Touch to visit WritersBlockLive, you’ll now see a new layout just for those devices.

All the possible scenarios have already been morbidly analyzed by every news organization, analyst and blogger on earth, so I won’t bother.

All I’ll say is this…

I hope Steve bundles his lovely family into that Gulfstream and jets away to their most favorite place in the world to fully enjoy whatever time they have left together. And not think about Apple for one second.