People who inspire me: Steve Jobs

I've long admired Steve Jobs, not just because he built one of the world's great companies, but because his ideas have influenced the way I think. I use Apple products every day, especially my MacBook Pro and iPhone, and I continue to be impressed by how intuitive, elegant and thoughtfully designed they are. Jobs understood that great technology isn't just about powerful features—it's about creating products that people genuinely enjoy using.

One of the lessons I value most from Steve Jobs is the power of focus. He believed that saying "no" to hundreds of good ideas was often more important than saying "yes" to a few great ones. In a world full of distractions, that's a principle I try to keep coming back to. I also admire his relentless pursuit of simplicity. He showed that making something simple is often much harder than making it complicated, and that great design begins with understanding the user's experience.

His life story is inspiring in its own right. Being forced out of the company he founded could have been the end of the story, but instead it became the beginning of one of the greatest comebacks in business history. He returned to Apple, transformed it from a struggling company into one of the most valuable businesses on Earth, and changed the way millions of people interact with technology. His vision, resilience and insistence on excellence continue to inspire me.

Edit

I loved this biography about Steve jobs which I read in 2012.

Favourite quotes

• Don’t just live a life; build one.
• None of us are as creative as all of us.
• I’d rather be a Pirate than join the Navy.
• Do not try to do everything. Do one thing well.
• Follow your heart, but check it with your head.
• Innovation means saying ‘no’ to a thousand things.
• If you’re afraid of failing you won’t get very far.
• It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want.
• Focus does not mean saying yes, it means saying no.
• Details matter, it’s worth waiting to get it right.
• It takes a lot of hard work to make something simple.
• Our job is to read things that are not yet on the page.
• I hate the way people use PowerPoints instead of thinking.
• Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.
• Focus and simplicity…once you get there, you can move mountains.
• Don’t just follow your passion but something larger than yourself.
• If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution.
• Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
• Let’s go invent tomorrow instead of worrying about what happened yesterday.
• The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
• Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
• If you live each day as it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.
• Quality is much better than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.
• Listen to me. We’re here to make a dent in the universe. Otherwise why even be here?
• Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.
• You cannot mandate productivity, you must provide the tools to let people become their best.
• You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.
• Do you want to sell sugar water all your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?
• It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much.
• If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.
• It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.
• The greatest thing is when you do put your heart and soul into something over an extended period of time, and it is worth it.
• Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.
• What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.
• Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me.
• That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.
• You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where you’re going to sell it.
• We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we’ve chosen to do with our life.
• Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.
• You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
• Quotes on Wisdom Trove
• Life lessons

Technology

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.  Arthur C. Clarke 

I love technology and feel extremely blessed to have lived through the digital revolution and to have experienced all the incredible technological devices that have been invented during my life time including the personal computer, Internet, smart phone and AI.  

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Memorable moments: The mile-high monologue

On a long-haul flight from Sydney to Cape Town, I settled in for some spiritual growth. I’d recently bought a book by an author I admire and was tucked into a middle seat, ready to dive deep into the text on my Kindle.

I hit the power button.

Immediately, a loud, authoritative, and terrifyingly clear robotic voice—not unlike the one used by David Hawkins—bellowed from the device:

"THE ENLIGHTENED SEX MANUAL—BY DAVID DEIDA—PAGE FOUR."

Somehow, the text-to-speech mode had been triggered. In the sudden silence of the cabin, it sounded less like a private reading and more like a public service announcement for the entire row.

I fumbled madly, my fingers turning into useless sausages as I clawed at the screen, desperate to kill the power before the "Enlightened" details of page five began broadcasting to my captive neighbors.

I went into that flight looking for spiritual transcendence; I left it wishing for physical disappearance.

Memorable moments: The pocket saboteur

I headed to the Apple Store with my MacBook Pro to solve a nagging technical glitch—the kind that makes you feel like an expert just for booking the appointment. I stood before the "Genius," ready to demonstrate the issue, only to hit a literal wall.

The trackpad was dead. The cursor wouldn't budge. I couldn't even log in.

The Genius was stymied. We tried every reset, every key command, and every diagnostic trick in the book. For twenty minutes, we stared at a frozen screen in a state of high-tech consternation. The mystery was absolute.

Then, my hand brushed against my trousers.

I felt a familiar, rounded bulge in my pocket. A memory flickered: “Oh yes, I brought my Bluetooth Apple Mouse.”

I reached in and pulled it out. Not only was it in my pocket, it was switched on. My thigh had been "clicking" and "scrolling" the entire time, effectively hijacking the computer and locking out the trackpad.

I looked at the mouse. I looked at the Genius. The "problem" was solved, but my dignity was officially beyond repair.

Memorable moments: Waverton to Cremorne via the scenic route from hell

There I was, gliding from Waverton toward Cremorne on a Lime e-bike like a silent, motorized god of the asphalt. I had a date with a cinema screen and the smug satisfaction of someone who wouldn't have to find parking. But then, I hit the invisible border of Mosman.

Suddenly, my high-tech steed didn’t just slow down; it went on strike. I glanced at my phone, expecting a low-battery warning, only to be greeted by a digital shrug: "E-bikes are prohibited in Mosman. Also, you cannot park here." The logic was staggering. I couldn’t ride it, but I couldn’t leave it. It had become a 25 kg paperweight that I was now legally obligated to escort. I spent the next kilometer performing a very sweaty, very loud "walk of shame" across the suburb, providing the local residents with a comprehensive masterclass in creative swearing. Why the GPS waited until I was deep in the "Forbidden Zone" to shut down is a mystery known only to God and cruel software engineers. By the time the motor finally hummed back to life, I’d missed the trailers, the opening scene, and any shred of my dignity.

Life Trove slideshow and deep dive discussion

I love Notebook LM from Google. It is AI at its best. I gave it the link to Life Trove and here is what it had to say. Wonderfully insightful!

Slide Show

Deep dive discussion

Deep dive discussion: An older version from several months back

My first song: A song I created for mum with help from Suno

I've always wanted to be able to create special songs for people I love. Now it's possible. I'm so excited about it.

     

Thank You, Mum

Verse 1

Thank you for the gift of life,

For saying I was the cutest child alive.

For midnight cries and sleepless nights,

And for flying through my endless whines.

You gave me Jo, the best of friends,

A sister whose love will never end.

For crayon walls and sticky hands,

You still believed I’d do great things someday.

Chorus

Thank you, Mum — for everything and more,

For love that built the man I’ve become.

For the laughter, the care, the open door,

You’re my heart, my home — my mum.

Oh, thank you, Mum — for all you’ve done,

For the light you are, my only one.

Verse 2

For the ice creams, camping nights, and sea,

For every photo, memory, and melody.

For every toy, from Lego dreams

To roller skates and old machines.

For Sunday mornings under the sheets,

Your warmth was home, your smile complete.

For gentle words when I lost my way,

You helped me find my brighter day.

Bridge

For poems, pets, and birthdays bright,

For feeding hearts and appetites.

For roast beef, trifle, chocolate cold,

For teaching joy that never grows old.

For typing essays late at night,

And saying, “You’ll be fine, all right.”

For courage when Dad had gone away,

You held the sky and faced each day.

Verse 3

For Christmas smells and Easter treats,

For gentle talks and steady beats.

For all your love through highs and lows,

For giving space so I could grow.

For photos, calls, and midnight chats,

And every laugh we’ve shared like that.

For being you — so true, so kind,

The best mum any soul could find.

Final Chorus

Thank you, Mum — for everything and more,

For love that built the man I’ve become.

For the laughter, the care, the open door,

You’re my heart, my home — my mum.

Oh, thank you, Mum — for all you’ve done,

For the light you are, my only one.

Tag

Thank you for being exactly you,

I love you — always, and a day too.

Suno

There’s something quietly magical about using Suno—like being handed a doorway into a lifelong dream. I’ve always wanted to create songs, but never had the musical training or tools to do it. Now, with just a few words, melodies begin to form, voices emerge, and fully realised songs take shape out of thin air.

My first experience of riding an e-bike

There are an unusual number of e-bikes around Waverton at the moment. You activate and rent them with your phone. As an experiment, I cycled from my home to Woolworths, a 15 minute walk but a very fast cycle. It cost $5. I was amazed by the power of the motor, it makes going up hills an absolute breeze.

I won't be using these bikes much as I love to walk and why pay?  But a great experience, and nice to know I have this option if I am ever running late!

iPhone 16 Pro with 5x zoom

The camera now is effectively optically 0.5x to 5x zoom.  I love it. 

Airpods Pro 2nd generation

The sound on these is out of this world.  They are noise cancelling and a delight on plane flights or wanting to immerse myself in music. The catalyst to buying them was my long flight to Antarctica.

Chat GPT and the explosion of AI

Utterly ground breaking.  Ever since Gavin alerted me to this, I've been utterly hooked. It's become my 2nd brain to which my real brain plays second fiddle!  It's power to generate new ideas as part of the creative process is phenomenal. So useful for my writing. 90% of the time I now use ChatGPT to find out information rather than Google. Prompting, not searching, has become the new art.

iPhone 14 Pro

I took this phone with its 0.5x - 3x optical zoom and 48-megapixel main sensor with me to Antarctica and Nepal. 

Getting my first mirrorless camera: A Canon R5

I bought this amazing camera to take with me to The Arctic thanks to the generosity of a cash gift from Michael in tribute to Sue.  I was absolutely blown away by the camera, especially by it's incredible face recognition and eye tracking. It automatically focuses in on the eye of an animal or bird, allowing you to concentrate on the composure of the shot instead. It allowed me to get amazing photos of polar bears and birds in flight. It really is ground break technology that allows you to take wildlife photography to a new level.

I bought a series of lenses to go with the camera. My favourite is the 100 - 500 mm lens which is an incredible wildlife lens. It focuses really quickly and is wonderfully sharp.

Topaz Photo AI

This amazing software allows one to sharpen images, remove noise and increase the resolution of an image. It has proven invaluable, especially on my trips to Antarctica, The Arctic and Iceland to really make my images pop. 

Apple Airtags

I bought 4 Airtags which allow me to find things if I lose them. I put on in my wallet, keys, backpack and suitcase.

They have proved invaluable. They helped me find my wallet 3 times: In Argentina in the mountains, in The Falklands and when I dropped it when taking Pickleball photos for Chris.

They also put my mind at rest when flying because I put one in my luggage and know, before it appears, that the luggage has arrived ok.

Using Scrivener for writing a book

 I've discovered some wonderful software for writing my book "Life is a Movie" called Scrivener.

Benefits

• Organized Writing: Combines drafting, research, and notes in one place.
• Flexible Structure: Rearrange sections easily with drag-and-drop.
• Outline view: See outline and book structure clearly.

Using Google Sheet and Google Docs

For some time now, I have been using Google Sheets and Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word and Excel.

There are a number of reasons:

• Google Docs can be setup so there are no page breaks; just continuous scrolling. This makes so much sense if you are planning to read the doc online and not print it out.
• Easier to share content with others and collaborate if required.
• Easier to provide a link in Evernote than attach a file.
• No need to remember to save; it automatically saves for you.
• Past versions automatically archived.
• Easier to embed onto Life Trove if I want to share the contents.
  
  

All in all, I much prefer it. I have migrated all my documents now to Google.

Google Sheet

Google Docs

iPhone 13 Pro with 3x lens

The iPhone 13 has a 3x lens which makes it possible to zoom in more on an object. It now provides an effective range of 0.5x - 3x making it a versatile camera. I took this phone with me to The Arctic. 

Macbook Pro 14 inch with M1 Max chip

Apple has started creating it's own chips and they are incredibly powerful in terms of speed and battery life.  This felt like the perfect opportunity to upgrade my laptop. With its 64gb of Ram, it's lightning fast. I'm so happy with it.  I gave my old Macbook Pro that I bought in 2015 to Chris. He was delighted.

Canon 90D

I upgraded to the 90D from my 70D. I retrospect I shouldn't have. I should have invested in a mirrorless camera.