Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Steve Jobs in Kyoto

www3.nhk.or.jp

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 150 posts

Re: Steve Jobs in Kyoto

#71

Post by flitzofolov »

johnwheeler wrote: post #69
bcantrill wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appreciate your frustration, but you should appreciate something else in turn: Steve Jobs was an asshole to many, many people for many, many years -- and "Steve stories" abound among the veterans in our industry. Speaking personally, my own introduction to Jobs was being at a friend's house as a kid, and overhearing her father being absolutely screamed at by someone on a speaker phone in his office. I looked at her,…

I know I’ll get downvoted, but who cares. I know that’s callous but people have too much an aversion of getting yelled at by their bosses nowadays. That’s ego and vanity.

Your response is sad.

Re: Steve Jobs in Kyoto

#72

Post by simonh »

smoldesu wrote: post #62
GuB-42 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I may be wrong but I don't think that HN deifies Steve Jobs. He has a reputation as a visionary but also as an asshole. He also is the anti-hacker and this is a website with "hacker" in its name. Apple makes perfect products, don't dare touch anything was the name of the game.

Hacker News absolutely deifies Steve Jobs. Maybe you're forgetting that YCombinator runs this whole gig.

Just read this page of comments, it’s pretty typical. Dozens of people saying he was a nutty asshole and dozens of people saying he was a complex visionary. That’s par for the course.

Re: Steve Jobs in Kyoto

#73

Post by johnwheeler »

flitzofolov wrote: post #71
johnwheeler wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know I’ll get downvoted, but who cares. I know that’s callous but people have too much an aversion of getting yelled at by their bosses nowadays. That’s ego and vanity.

Your response is sad.

Why? Would you rather know where you stand or have your boss put on on a performance improvement plan and marginalize you until you quit? Which is worse?

Re: Steve Jobs in Kyoto

#75

Post by Marciplan »

timr wrote: post #25
neom wrote: post #3

The Ryokan that they mention he always stayed at is apparently very good: https://www.annees-de-pelerinage.com/tawaraya-ryokan-review-... "Concierge service at the breakfast table is good, but the story goes on. On my way out one of the porters silently approached me and said: “Schwarze-sama, we checked the weather forecast and there will be rain this evening. So here is an umbrella to take along. Also, we took the l…

That article is a bit silly. While I'm sure it's nice, this is not one of the high-end ryokans in Kyoto, and by no means is it "the best hotel in Japan" (I lived in Kyoto, and have been there many times). Reading the reviews, it mainly sounds small and difficult to book, and it has a cult reputation. I was actually a little surprised Jobs stayed there, given that there are really high-end places where dignitaries and…

What makes you think SJ would appreciate what the ultra-billionaire appreciates, though? :)

Re: Steve Jobs in Kyoto

#76

Post by bradlys »

johnwheeler wrote: post #73
flitzofolov wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your response is sad.

Why? Would you rather know where you stand or have your boss put on on a performance improvement plan and marginalize you until you quit? Which is worse?

Who says you have to be belittled and yelled at to know where you stand and what you could do to perform better?

Re: Steve Jobs in Kyoto

#77

Post by blimplab »

sneak wrote: post #64

> "I told him it would be impossible to enter but he said he might have a way," says Oshima. "He called his secretary in the US and ten minutes later, I got a call from the Nomura headquarters saying that we had a reservation for a personal viewing the following day." My favorite casual Apple flex like this is the aerial screensaver on the Apple TV that was very obviously shot in 120fps in 4 or 8K (the published vide…

I'm having a difficulty fathoming (or believing) how this anecdote would be possible. When Steve Jobs' secretary picked up the phone, was it working hours? Brushing that aside, how could the secretary have called Nomura headquarters, reach the person who can grant access to the site, then have that person call the chauffeur within 10 minutes?

Re: Steve Jobs in Kyoto

#78

Post by sneak »

blimplab wrote: post #77
sneak wrote: post #64

> "I told him it would be impossible to enter but he said he might have a way," says Oshima. "He called his secretary in the US and ten minutes later, I got a call from the Nomura headquarters saying that we had a reservation for a personal viewing the following day." My favorite casual Apple flex like this is the aerial screensaver on the Apple TV that was very obviously shot in 120fps in 4 or 8K (the published vide…

I'm having a difficulty fathoming (or believing) how this anecdote would be possible. When Steve Jobs' secretary picked up the phone, was it working hours? Brushing that aside, how could the secretary have called Nomura headquarters, reach the person who can grant access to the site, then have that person call the chauffeur within 10 minutes?

His personal secretarial staff was probably at least 5-10 people in total, with three shifts. Just having a megayacht[3] in a different time zone (e.g. in Europe) means you have to have three shift coverage to do management logistics for fueling/supply/HR/etc as it moves around between ports. They would already have his chauffeur’s number, and would be able to provide it to the people at the site (to enable a jp-jp conversation without sleepy California translators in the loop).

The personal (not even professional) staff of people that rich/busy are frequently larger than most small startups. If you add in managing their security detail, that of their family members, travel, yachts, 3-10 different residential properties, all the associated vendors, et c, it adds up fast. It’s a full time job for at least a half-dozen people if you have enough property and helicopters.

They’d also have private, direct numbers for a whole lot of extremely well-connected people who make it their business to pick up the phone when the three comma club calls them. He was running one of the largest and most important companies in the US at that time (separately from the fact that his personal fortune was immense), which means his staff would likely have access to many in government, military, diplomats, et c.

Recall that Apple built a special spy iPod firmware for a classified project for the DOE to do espionage[1]. Google’s LSE used to park and fill up their private (not Google - personal) jet at Moffet, a military airfield next to the Googleplex. (They even got the reduced, government-internal-only tax subsidized price for jet fuel.[2]) They’re connected.

The CEO of Apple (or Google, or Microsoft, et c) can, presumably, if necessary, speak to the POTUS same-day. Pulling some diplomatic strings to get a garden tour is entirely within the realm of believable.

Billionaires inhabit a different world.

[1]: https://tidbits.com/2020/08/17/the-case-of-the-top-secret-ip...

[2]: https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/12/13/inspector-gen...

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(yacht)

Re: Steve Jobs in Kyoto

#79

Post by bcantrill »

johnwheeler wrote: post #69
bcantrill wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appreciate your frustration, but you should appreciate something else in turn: Steve Jobs was an asshole to many, many people for many, many years -- and "Steve stories" abound among the veterans in our industry. Speaking personally, my own introduction to Jobs was being at a friend's house as a kid, and overhearing her father being absolutely screamed at by someone on a speaker phone in his office. I looked at her,…

I know I’ll get downvoted, but who cares. I know that’s callous but people have too much an aversion of getting yelled at by their bosses nowadays. That’s ego and vanity.

I regret I have but one downvote to give; not only is it wrong (and ineffective!) to yell at one's employees, that's also not what happened here: Ebrahimi was the CEO or a partner that Jobs sorely needed, not a report. As it happened, Quark didn't port their software -- and NeXT suffered as a result.

Re: Steve Jobs in Kyoto

#80

Post by m4rtink »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #55
neom wrote: post #3

The Ryokan that they mention he always stayed at is apparently very good: https://www.annees-de-pelerinage.com/tawaraya-ryokan-review-... "Concierge service at the breakfast table is good, but the story goes on. On my way out one of the porters silently approached me and said: “Schwarze-sama, we checked the weather forecast and there will be rain this evening. So here is an umbrella to take along. Also, we took the l…

I was amazed by service in Ryokan too - by the time we checked in our suitcases were in our rooms. By the time we had breakfast (with lady getting on her knees and explaining everything) our futons were done (we felt a bit embarrassed leaving mess and personal items everywhere). Ryokan is one of the best experiences in travel!

The Ryokan futon we got in Kinosaki are the best ones I've ever slept in, super comfy! :)

And of course they magically spawned in our rooms after we returned from our last tour of the towns famous onsen for that day, perfect! :)

Post reply on HN