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Steve Wozniak Says Apple Is Turning Into Microsoft - Fortune

Steve Wozniak Says Apple Is Turning Into Microsoft Posted: 21 Apr 2017 06:38 AM PDT There would be no Apple without Steve Wozniak. Wozniak, who co-founded Apple over 40 years ago with the late Steve Jobs, remains a revered figure in Silicon Valley. Although he is no longer connected with Apple, he keeps busy making appearances at big tech conferences to inspire inventors, serves as chief scientist for the enterprise data storage startup Primary Data, and even found time to cha-cha-cha on the TV show Dancing With The Stars a few years ago. On Friday, Wozniak returns to the upcoming Silicon Valley Comic Con event where pop culture fans, celebrities, and technologists will celebrate “the nerd side of things,” as he put it. In this edited interview with Fortune, Wozniak discusses how his former company is acting like Microsoft, the influence of money in Silicon Valley, and being an introvert in the social networking era. Fortune: How has the tech landscape changed over the years? Wozniak: When Steve and I started Apple we were so naïve and young. We didn’t know anything about business. We didn’t know that it’s often the case that you start a company and then you get bought out as an exit strategy. We thought that you start at home, you make a product, and become profitable so you have your company forever. As long as it makes a profit, it never goes away. That’s how I thought companies worked. Boy, it’s a different story now in Silicon Valley. I think there are an awful lot of people who have a quick exit plan like selling the business to another big company to get enough money to buy a house in San Francisco. Then they move on to the next one. There are many companies that are started by business people and not engineers. Engineers say, “What would be a cool product? What would make the world greater and better?” That’s where I come from. Engineering is your line of work. I do not invest. I don’t do that stuff. I didn’t want to be near money, because it could corrupt your values. What are your thoughts on the rise of engineers as rock stars in Silicon Valley? Mostly it’s because of how much money they have—and I went the other way. I did not want to be one of them. I invested early in things like museums in the city I love, San Jose. I was born there, and I have a street named after me there because of it. I really didn’t want to be in that super “more than you could ever need” category. Did you ever think when you were starting Apple that software companies like Facebook would become so dominant? Well, there was Microsoft. I was just on CNBC and they were asking, “Oh, my gosh. Apple wants to make this software and license it for self-driving cars.” Well, Apple’s becoming Microsoft. Microsoft had an operating system that was their crown jewel and they licensed it to everybody. Apple said no—they had to make the hardware. Hardware and software have to go together [in computers], but not so in cars. What is your take on commercial space travel and people like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk getting involved? Nobody expected the iPhone. Nobody expected Google. Nobody expected Facebook and Twitter would be these great things. It is really hard to predict with a spreadsheet what makes sense, otherwise big companies that already existed would have created those things. Of course SpaceX [Musk’s space startup] and Blue Origin [Bezos’ space startup], they’re not coming out of nowhere, but they’re coming out of individuals trying to do something very risky. It is very risky, but it is fascinating to watch what these companies are doing. Yeah, space exploration comes down to engineering and scientific knowledge. It does take a certain amount of funding, but NASA’s budget seems so small for what they bring us. It just seems so small that I’m not surprised that large private players can make a difference too. You recently said that companies like Apple and Google would be even bigger in 2075 than they are now. Do you think these companies will do so by expanding into other areas, like how Google and Apple are moving into healthcare? I don’t know. Every company should do what they’re good at. There are actors who are just good at acting. Everyone shouldn’t try to do every single thing in the world, and Apple’s big thing, really, is more about protecting the brand. Making products a certain way that protects your brand. That’s one role. That’s one key role in the world, and it doesn’t mean making every single product. Everyone who owns Apple shares just says, “No, no, no, you gotta have something new now.” Well that’s Silicon Valley in that you’re always chasing the next new thing and you never get to stop. I mean unless you’re somewhat smart. Why is your Twitter feed essentially a timeline of places you’ve visited and restaurants you’ve eaten at? I am not the right person for social networks. I was never social in my life. I am not good at socializing in person. I skipped Facebook and I skipped Twitter when it came out, because I’d wind up with everybody asking me to be a friend. I have 5,000 Facebook friends I don’t know, and I’m going to scan what they’re doing in their lives everyday? It doesn’t work well for me because I won’t just cut it down to the only 100 people I really know. But I found Foursquare. I was actually in Spain and some young kids introduced me to Foursquare, so I started checking in. I thought, “My wife will be able to see where I am.” But if I check into a restaurant and somebody comments on it, I get that comment in an email from Facebook. So I typically have 100 to 200 Facebook inquires a day, and some of those I go in and answer when I feel my answer’s important. It’s interesting that you prefer Foursquare over other social networks. It’s kind of one directional, and Twitter can be one-directional. To tell you the truth, I admire what Twitter is and what it’s done for the world. And I admire Facebook, but I’m a little scared of the power Facebook and Google get and I avoid them more than most people. My calendar is on Google and about nothing else of me wants to touch Google. When I get these advertisements all over the place and they’re exactly what I’ve been looking at recently, you’re living in my world. You’re making it stale. That’s not the adventurous world of going and watching a new movie with superheroes achieving victory. Well, that’s a realistic application of artificial intelligence today. That’s today’s level of simulated intelligence to kind of knowing you. The funny thing is, everyone in popular culture movies has to be an individual—to be above the others, to be super. And that’s how we think of ourselves as human beings. Well what am I? I’m what’s in my brain. I have my memories, my feelings, my way of thinking of the world. And that’s who I am. This article originally appeared on Fortune.com

Donald Trump Now Agrees With Majority Of Americans: He Wasn't Ready To Be President - Washington Post

Donald Trump Now Agrees With Majority Of Americans: He Wasn't Ready To Be President

World | © 2017 The Washington Post | Philip Bump, The Washington Post | Updated: April 28, 2017 18:08 IST

Donald Trump Now Agrees With Majority Of Americans: He Wasn't Ready To Be President

"I love my previous life. I had so many things going," Trump said on being President.

Donald Trump spent a great portion of 2016 insisting that being president would be easy - at least for him. HuffPost compiled a number of examples of him dismissing the problems that accompany the job as being easily dispatched. Building a wall on the border with Mexico is easy. Beating Hillary Clinton would be easy. Renegotiating the Iran deal would be easy. Paying down the national debt would be easy. Acting presidential? Easy.

To a reporter from Reuters this week, though, Trump had a slightly different assessment of the presidency.

"I love my previous life. I had so many things going. This is more work than in my previous life," Trump said. "I thought it would be easier. I thought it was more of a . . . I'm a details-oriented person. I think you'd say that, but I do miss my old life. I like to work so that's not a problem but this is actually more work."

It wasn't the first time that Trump copped to the job being trickier than he anticipated. In November, NBC News reported that Trump had told former House speaker Newt Gingrich that "This is really a bigger job than I thought." (Gingrich's response? ". . .good. He should think that.") Then there are individual issues. "Nobody knew health care could be so complicated," he said at one point. At another, he revealed that it took a conversation with the president of China to realize that the situation on the Korean peninsula was "not so easy."

There's an element of surprise in Trump's comments, a hint of bafflement that having responsibility for the welfare of 320 million people entwined in a global economy and international relationships might end up being trickier than running a real estate and branding shop from midtown Manhattan. One group that probably wasn't surprised that Trump wasn't prepared? The majority of Americans.

At no point over the course of the 2016 campaign did a majority of Americans think that Trump was qualified for the job of the presidency. Polling from The Post and ABC News shows that views of Trump as unqualified dominated throughout the campaign. The only group that consistently viewed him as qualified to hold the position were the working-class white voters that constituted the core of his support from early in his candidacy.

More to the point, polling from CBS News showed that, consistently, Trump was viewed as unprepared for the job. In June, July and September - before, during and after Trump began making his general election case - the majority of Americans thought he wasn't ready to hold the nation's highest position.

Asked by CNN and its polling partner ORC, most Americans viewed Clinton as more prepared than Trump by a wide margin, including among Democrats and independents. A much greater number of Republicans were willing to call Clinton more qualified than Democrats were Trump.

Put simply: The majority of Americans didn't think Trump was ready to be president of the United States. Based on his comments about the job being bigger or harder than he thought, that it is more work, it seems safe to say that Trump has also now come to believe that he wasn't prepared for the office.

On at least one point, though, he continues to be convincing himself that he's up to the task. In the middle of his interview with Reuters, Trump paused to pass out copies of a map he had on hand. The map showed the United States, colored with the results of the 2016 election. "It's pretty good, right?" he asked the Reuters team.

Beating Clinton, as it turned out, was indeed easier than most people had expected.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Trump’s First 100 Days: 5 Money Managers Grade the President’s Performance - TIME Business

Trump’s First 100 Days: 5 Money Managers Grade the President’s Performance

Posted: 24 Apr 2017 03:00 AM PDT

Perhaps the only event more surprising than President Donald Trump’s unexpected victory last November was how investors have reacted. Prior to the election, analysts had predicted a huge sell-off on Wall Street in the event of a Trump win—one memorable prognostication foresaw a 50% drop in the stock market.

But the narrative changed overnight. Stocks quickly rose in the aftermath of Trump’s victory and have surged 10% since Election Day thanks to what’s been called the “Trump Bump.” Investors, buoyed by the prospect of total Republican control of the federal government, began pricing in the prospects of many of Trump’s promises—including infrastructure and defense spending; tax cuts for corporations; deregulation; and the first real effort at comprehensive tax reform in a generation.

Again, though, the narrative is changing. Stocks are down more than 2% over the past months as the Trump administration failed to deliver on its promise to repeal and replace Obamacare, raising questions about its ability to deliver on other promises. Now, investors don’t quite know how to react.

MONEY spoke with five different people in the investment banking world, for their perspectives on the President’s first 100 days. Here’s what they said.

Name: Jeannette BajaliaAge: 65Title: President of Petros Estate & Retirement PlanningGrade: C+Voted for: Trump

“I’d give the president a C+ as the jury is still out in terms of getting results. While his presidency has actually boosted consumer confidence, spending, market performance, etc., we haven’t seen any traction on lowering taxes or on the ACA (Affordable Care Act), which were two items his platform ran on. As a business owner, I’m looking for tax relief as well as affordable healthcare I can provide my employees.

I personally believe the market performance is simply an emotional reaction to change in general, and the possibility of hope for a new and more positive future than we’ve experienced in the past. The economy was improving even under the previous administration, which perhaps laid a good foundation for President Trump. So I’m not convinced the markets are performing because of his influence during the first 100 days.”

Name: Eric HutchinsonAge: 64Title: Managing Director of United Capital Financial AdvisersGrade: B+Voted for: Trump

“President Trump gets a B+. Since his election, the financial markets have responded favorably with record setting highs. Not everything has gone as smoothly as many might have wanted, but even the failure to repeal Obamacare was not enough to derail the positive trends in financial markets. For all the media frenzy on both sides, so far it appears that President Trump is attempting to deliver on his campaign promises, something not all politicians can boast.

President Trump is not a career politician. Many of the advisors and key appointees selected to serve in his administration are also not experienced politicians. They are however experienced in business, achieving levels of financial success that place many of them among America’s wealthiest individuals. They are doing things in government in a not-so-conventional way that appears to be disconcerting at times to some professional politicians. (But) shaking up the status quo does not appear to be such a bad thing after all.”

Name: Alex MerkAge: 47Title: Manager of the Merk FundsGrade: DVoted for: No comment

“Trump gets a D for bullying specific companies to keep jobs in the U.S. He gets a failing grade on this because interfering in specific business decisions rather than setting broad policy strokes is counter-productive, as any other business observing Trump’s behavior will be reluctant to invest, as they fear they might become victim of a Twitter attack.

Trump gets an F on his immigration policy. By threatening actions such as extreme vetting (including the inspection of laptops, mobile phones), potential entrepreneurs and other skilled employees may be sufficiently turned off that they may opt to deploy their skills in other countries. From an investor’s point of view, the U.S. needs to compete for the best talent in the world, not alienate it.

On defense, he gets a C. Increasing defense spending might be good for defense contractors. The reason he only gets a C is because — like his predecessors — he misses the point that the biggest threat to national security may well be the deficit. If entitlement spending is not brought under control, in a few years, we won’t be talking about killing Sesame Street’s Big Bird. It might be difficult to fund important priorities for the military. 

On trade, it’s all but impossible to gauge what policy will be, as Trump’s rhetoric may not translate to policy. That said, we think a trade war could break out as a result of foreign policy. As a result, Trump gets a C on trade.”

Name: Brent M. WilseyAge: 60Title: Owner of Wilsey Asset Management in San DiegoGrade: BVoted for: No comment

“While Trump makes controversial statements and has weak approval ratings, he has put forth strategies that should benefit the economy. The two-main standout areas are deregulation and the corporate tax rate. While these topics have yet to be fully addressed, everyone needs to remember processes in D.C. can take some time. Deregulation and cutting the corporate tax would allow businesses time and capital to focus on improving their companies and help spur job growth.

One reason businesses are encouraged by Trump is his willingness to meet and discuss various matters. He has met with a number of business leaders across a variety of both size and industry to get their opinions on what needs to be done to create jobs and grow the economy. Their input is important since these are the individuals with the capabilities to create jobs. While Trump’s approval ratings remain weak, consumer sentiment and confidence have soared along with small business optimism.”

Name: Chris OrestisAge: 51Title: CEO of Life Care FundingGrade: FVoted for: Not Trump

“Grade F for the failed attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Inattention to details and lack of understanding of the plan, reliance on others to do the work, underestimating the amount of work and time for completion, quitting on the assignment after one attempt, and not getting along with the other kids on the playground.”