Random Thoughts and upcoming speaking engagements

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We lost a titan of the tech industry this month.   We lost a visionary and one of the geniuses of our century in my opinion.

Most of us have yet to realize how much of a lasting imprint Steve Jobs has had on the world at large…  I crossed paths with Steve three times while on Apple’s Cupertino campus.

The first time I crossed path with him was at the entrance to 1 Infinite Loop where we exchanged a nod and smile.   

I can unequivocably say that if Steve Jobs hadn’t created the Mac – you would not be reading this blog today.  Steve transformed the path of my life with the Mac.  Period.  

I also shared an elevator ride with him to the executive level once –  an experience that many Apple employees feared most (I know a few engineers/managers who literally NEVER rode the elevator EVER for fear of having a verbal exchange w/ Steve.. Apparently, not being able to give a satisfactory answer to Steve’s question of "What do you do here" could result in dire results…)

The last time I crossed paths with him, was when he walked past me an into Jon Ive’s car – weeks before his illness was publicly announced.  I remember being terribly startled by his emaciated appearance.  I dared not even speak with my friends at Apple about it – as I knew if was not to be a topic of public, let alone internal discussion.  It was far too touchy to discuss at all for all of us.  Anyone who understood Apple’s culture, knew better than to even bring the topic up… we just internalized our fears and hoped for a miracle privately.

While Steve was far from perfect – he strove for perfection every day.  And I admire that very much.

I think Steve Jobs left us with a special gift in the end (amongst many others) – perhaps a little piece of him that will stay for us for years to come:  Siri ….

While "Siri" was admittedly an acquired company – Apple has worked on perfecting it…   With that said:  Steve contributed to me spending 3 hours talking w/ a machine (my iPhone 4s) for the first time in my life for more than a few minutes…

I found myself speaking to my phone for 3 hours last Friday and asking it silly questions…

To Steve:  Thank you.  

For everything you have done and will do for years…

You have changed the way the world interacts with technology – FOR THE BETTER.   To Siri/Apple – thanks for having a sense of humor (I suggest you ask Siri:  "Where I can buy drugs" and "Are you HAL?"  in honor of Stanley Kubrick… (trivia:  HAL is one letter back from IBM…)

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I predict that November 3rd will be a big day in cinema history.  

Canon is inviting all of the Hollywood elite to a "historic event" at the Paramount theater, and Jim Jannard or RED is promising a "most watched day in Reduser history."  

Two titans making big claims.  

I think the gauntlet has been thrown – and I’m not sure the media at large has yet to pick up on it…

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Canon announced the EOS 1Dx a little over a day ago.  

Looks like an amazing still camera with exciting high ISO performance and new video features…  I have yet to see it but am excited to play with the camera next week when I speak at Photo Plus Expo in NYC.  

What will their November 3rd announcement in Hollywood bring?

As I mentioned above – I think we’ll see two very relevant announcements from to titans of the imaging industry…

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Lastly:

I spoke at the College of Southern Nevada today and asked the following question to an audience of around 200 people.

"How many of you still read newspapers in the printed form?"

A dozen people or so raised their hands…

I then asked:

"How many of you (who still read the newspaper in printed form) are under 30?"

Only one person amongst 200 had their hand up…

I used to remember when more than 1/3 of the audience (under 30)  had their hand up in response to that last question when I was in college… times have changed…

I also asked how many of those same people got their news from online versions of those same newspapers – and a healthy amount raised their hands…  that was nice to see!

Then I asked two other questions:

"How many of you expect to make your living from creating or providing content?"

Close to half of the audience responded by raising their hands up.

When I asked the same audience:

"How many of you believe that you should pay for content?"

Less than a dozen people kept their hands up… 

We need to do better.

More TK.

I will be at Photo Plus Expo next week in NYC, teaching a workshop, and speaking for Canon and Lexar from Thursday through Saturday.  I look forward to seeing some of you there!

I will also be speaking at the Apple Store in Chicago on November 7th.