MORSi ROAStS IRAN - Kuwait Times

FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2012
Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive of Apple on
the evening of August 24, 2011, six weeks before
he lost his long battle against pancreatic cancer.
But his ideas live on in the iconic technology company
he co-founded in a garage.
“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days
are ahead of it,” Jobs wrote in his open resignation letter
as, with a heavy heart, he was forced by ill-health to relinquish
his leadership of Apple. Debilitated by the long
fight with cancer, his body was no longer able to cope
with the daily stress of running a multi-national that had
just eclipsed oil giant Exxon Mobil as the publicly traded
company with the world’s biggest market valuation.
Spurred by the success of the iPhone, Apple has gone
on to become the most valuable company in the history
of stock markets. This week, Apple’s surging sales and
new products on the horizon propelled the company’s
value to 624 billion dollars, topping Microsoft’s 1999
record market capitalization at the height of the internet
bubble. Hollywood could not have scripted Apple’s history
better.
The college dropout Jobs builds one of the first
home computers in a garage with friend Steve Wozniak.
The company grows quickly, but a rift in management
leads to Jobs’ ouster from his own company in 1985. In
1997, with Apple facing oblivion in the face of rival
Microsoft’s dominant Windows operating system, Jobs
returns as the saviour, redesigning the once-revolutionary
Macintosh computer as the iMac and making it cool
once again.
The first glimpse of Jobs’ greater goal emerges with
the success of the iPod digital music players, and Apple’s
iTimes ushers the company into the business of marketing
music and later films and books. Apple is now more
than a simple computer manufacturer. The first iPhone
was introduced in 2007. Initially laughed at by competitors
such as Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer, Apple turned
the entire mobile-phone market upside down with its
smartphone.
The iPhone’s touch screen quickly became standard,
and industry giants such as Nokia and Blackberry-maker
Technology
Steve Jobs’ legacy: Best still to come from Apple
As people migrate to laptops, desktops
are fading in importance and
many are wondering what one does
with an old monitor. There are all kinds of
options... from a backup display for a laptop
to a replacement for your TV.
As an extra display for a laptop, a monitor
delivers some clear health benefits. One
no longer has to look down at a laptop
screen, meaning, in the long run, benefits
both for the back and eyes. This is especially
important for people who have to spend
long hours in front of their laptops. Those
with original monitors that have small displays,
or those wanting to upgrade to a flat
screen monitor, could also benefit.
“The prices have, on average, sunk to
about 170 euros (210 dollars),” says Roland
Stehle of the German Society for
Entertainment and Communications
Technology (gfu). Most new models usually
have high-definition (HD) resolution. full
HD - 1,920 X 1,080 pixels - is almost standard.
There is a choice between TN, IPS and
PVA/MVA models.
Twisted Nematic (TN) is the oldest technology,
offering fast reactions and only limited
blurring during movement. But contrast
can be a problem, especially with a
limited viewing angle. In-Plane-Switching
(IPS) models are more expensive, but offer
solid contrast and colour. An updated S-IPS
version provides reaction times that are
good for gaming, as well as good visibility
at angles. MVA (multi-domain vertical)
models offer the best contrast from all
viewing angles, an aspect that’s even
improved upon with patterned vertical
alignment (PVA). However, neither has
reaction times that match TN models.
Always consider what you plan to use the
monitor for before making a purchase. “If
you just want a monitor for data crunching,
then you don’t need to worry so much
about reaction time,” says Stehle.
But for gamers and those who want to
watch HD films reaction times of more than
three or four milliseconds are important.
These models will come with higher resolutions,
which, in turn, means they need a
more powerful graphics card. And bear in
mind that not every game can manage
these resolutions.
Make sure to get a monitor that fits on
your desk. You should also be able to rotate
it and set its height. “Anyone who can’t set
the display optimally is going to be dealing
with neck pain before long,” according to a
test in the German computer magazine
Chip Test & Kauf. HDMI, a standard port for
televisions, is becoming the way to go with
monitors, and more common than other
ports like DVI and DisplayPort. But most
manufacturers do not deliver an HDMI
cable along with the monitor.
Some come with two HDMI ports, while
others offer a variety to make sure users
won’t need an adapter to hook up their
monitor. The differences continue to melt
away between monitors and televisions.
Some flat screens already come with a
Research In Motion began to shudder at the market
power of Apple. PC manufacturers learned to fear Apple
in 2010 when the company launched the iPad. Rather
than trying to claw back long-lost market share in the
computer industry that he helped pioneer, Jobs innovated
PCs into obsolescence and positioned Apple to dominate
the next big thing: mobile computing.
Apple is still reaping the profits from the ideas and
decisions of its founder, with the iPhone raking in profits
while the iPad is the growth engine. Yet new Apple chief
Tim Cook has managed to step out of the shadow of his
long-time mentor. While Jobs often ruled like an emperor
in his kingdom, Cook has made the company more
transparent.
Cook heeded criticism of work conditions for employees
of Apple’s Chinese suppliers, putting in place reforms
at the company’s manufacturing contractors. He has listened
to calls from shareholders for the payment of a
dividend and did a u-turn after coming under fire for
dropping out of an environmental rating system. By
comparison, Jobs was famous for letting such pressure
simply bounce off him.
Since Cook took the helm at Apple, the company’s
value has doubled to more than 600 million dollars.
Investors will speculate over the coming months about
the new iPhone, a smaller iPad and a broader entry by
Apple into the television business. “We simply remain
true to our basic principles and build the best products,”
Cook said recently. “And because we are doing that, we
are convinced that good times lie ahead for us.” — dpa
Your old monitor
might have some life in it
tuner for digital television or a built-in
media player. That lets them pick up video
from external hard drives without a computer.
Of course, such features mean more
energy consumption. — dpa