Year: 2012

More on the Family Room Specialist Position

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After my post the other day about the “Family Room Specialist” role in Apple retail, I got a bunch of email from people explaining the job to me. Here are the details:

  • It was designed to be a temporary position for people wanting to become a Creative or a Genius.
  • If an employee remains in the role for 18 months or so, HR looks at why. Sometimes, people just get stuck without a path to a better role.
  • The position is a busy one, and most people feel the pay isn’t what it should be.

You kids and your fancy Apple Store jobs.

On Typos & Errors

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George Angus:

I tend to be more forgiving to the average person screwing up a loose/lose proposition. Writers, however, do not get a free pass on this one. It’s like an accountant not knowing the difference between subtraction and division. It’s like a pilot not knowing the landing gear should be down for landing. And while the consequences of poor grammar cannot be equated to a pile of aluminum on the runway, in terms of professionalism and advancing a writing career the implications are the same.

It bugs me any time I have to fix a typo here on 512 Pixels. When I have to correct a grammatical mistake, however, it kills me.

via @iainbroome

‘Very Conservative’

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Emily Schultheis:

Gingrich took a full 45 percent of those who described themselves as “very conservative,” compared with 23 percent for Santorum, 20 percent for Romney and 10 percent for Paul. Gingrich also won among voters who said they were “somewhat conservative,” while Mitt Romney came in first with “moderate or liberal” voters.

Gerben Wierda’s NeXT Collection

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Here’s the description of this amazing Flickr set:

When Steve Jobs left Apple in the eighties, he started NeXT with the plan to create the software innovations Apple did not want to do. Then he found out no computer was available to support those innovations, so NeXT also created stunning and innovative hardware. NeXT was a technological marvel, but not a commercial success for several reasons. But when Apple bought NeXT in 1996 and the NeXT innovators took over parts of Apple from the inside, the result was Mac OS X and all that made that possible, including today’s iPhone, iPod and iPad.

This is a stunning set of photos.

The NeXT App Store

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During the NeXT era, there was a product named Electronic AppWrapper:

The Electronic AppWrapper was a valuable source of products and services for NEXTSTEP users. This electronic catalog offered software, hardware, fonts, clip art, technical books, recreational books and more.

One could order products via e-mail, fax, or phone. A corporate purchasing program was available.

I wasn’t aware of this until Jesse Tayler, who worked as an engineer on the project dropped me an email. In it, he wrote:

I got to demo to Steve Jobs personally, he said only three words: “I like it.” I guess he did.

Crazy.

512 Pixels at Macworld | iWorld

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Thanks to the unbelievable generosity of Mr. Matt Alexander, I will be flying out to Macworld | iWorld next week, as long as FedEx doesn’t goof up my package between now and Monday.

I’m looking forward to meeting fellow online writers, Apple nerds and readers. If you want to meet up, get in touch.

I don’t expect to be posting much during the trip, but I am going to try to post audio updates as I go.