Specifically, Jobs said that he admired Zuckerberg “for not selling out, for wanting to make a company,” statements which resonate with Jobs’ own history of wanting to build something at Apple that achieved the same kind of lasting success as Disney or HP. Zuckerberg says in his interview with Rose that the two Silicon Valley executives discussed things like “how to build a team around you that’s focused on building as high quality and good things as you are,” according to Bloomberg.

The two also discussed “the aesthetics and kind of mission orientation of companies,” according to Zuckerberg, which is a subject close to Jobs’ heart. Jobs maintained a degree of focused control over Apple that managed to stay away from catering to populist thinking and market research groups, something Forbes  has said Zuckerberg also manages to accomplish at Facebook.

The funny thing is, despite their mutual respect and Jobs’ role as something of a mentor for Zuckerberg, the two companies haven’t always seen eye-to-eye. Facebook integration in Apple’s social music service Ping was cut early on after Facebook and Apple couldn’t come to agreeable terms regarding a partnership, and has never been reintroduced.

Facebook was also rumored to have been intended for deep integration in iOS like Twitter, but so far, nothing has come of those reports. One has to wonder whether those things never came to pass because the two Silicon Valley icons didn’t share an obstinate streak as well as healthy professional opinions of each other.

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(Click to enlarge)

Update: This infographic has been updated to fix the errors in the original version.

Infographic courtesy of Column Five Media. This graphic originally appeared at

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Sutton doesn’t mention whether his yells went unnoticed by His Steveness, but he posted a fantastic snapshot of the event to his blog — take a look and see if you can spot El Jobso for yourself (it’s not immediately easy to find him in the crowd, but once you see him, he’s hard to miss!)

Image courtesy of Wayne Sutton

The Theme Begins (Prequel to The Oscar Theme)

Now why would the normally shy and retiring Steve Jobs be at the Academy Awards Oscar ceremony? Well, he is the largest individual shareholder in the Walt Disney Company, to whom he sold Pixar Animation Studios in 2006. Pixar is the legendary computer animation studio responsible for the box office hits Toy Story and Finding Nemo (to name only two of many others) and its latest CG offering, Up, was nominated for an impressive five Academy Awards (and was the first Pixar film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture).

On the night, Up received two of those Oscars; Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score. Steve didn’t take to the stage to receive the awards, but I’m sure he was grinning from ear to ear like a proud father at his child’s first music recital.

The Oscar Theme

If you’re interested in the mechanics of modern movie making, you’ll find this fascinating; Macworld UK reports that a staggering nine out of ten of the Oscar-nominated Documentaries (across both the Short and Feature Documentary categories) were edited on Macs using Final Cut Pro.

If you’re not a movie maker, you might not know that Final Cut Pro is Apple’s pro-level film editing software. Speaking from personal experience of many hours spent in many darkened editing suites all around the world, there are (broadly speaking) three dominant software editing tools; Avid, Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro. (There are others, of course, but they’re far less commonly used in the film and TV industry.)

Avid has traditionally been the editing platform of choice and still reigns supreme, though mostly because it has been around since the Stone Age and many long-established editing facilities using Avid suites have long-term service contracts tying them to that platform. But Final Cut Pro (and the Final Cut Studio suite of film making tools) has been gaining ground in recent years, due in part to its relative affordability and Apple’s amazingly progressive efforts to develop and promote new HD codecs and standards, such as the ProRes family. (For more on this, you can watch a video on Apple’s Final Cut product pages.)

That almost all the Award-nominated Short and Feature Documentaries were edited using Final Cut (and, therefore, made on Macs) speaks volumes about filmmakers’ faith in, and trust for, Apple’s technologies.

The Oscar Theme Part 2: The Theme Continues

The impressive numbers continue. I almost missed this one, but last week The Awl’s Abe Sauer penned Why Apple Deserves and Oscar Too, which started with this remarkable tidbit;

In the 44 films in 2009 that topped the box office for at least one weekend, an Apple logo or device could be seen in at least 18 of them. (That’s almost 41%.) In some, Apple products even eclipsed their human scene partners. This high appearance rate does not include the heap of mass-market films from 2009 that did not own a weekend but also featured Apple product placement.

Sauer has done his homework. He goes on to list a fair number of those movies (you can read the list for yourself here) and, if you’ve got the time to spare, (7 minutes and 25 seconds, to be precise) there’s even a Ken Burns-tastic video slideshow of screenshots from movies and TV shows through the years featuring Apple products. Sauer adds;

…Brandcameo shows that Apple has appeared in 102 of the 302 weekly number one U.S. box office films from 2001 to 2009—more than 33% of them. Apple’s number is actually higher when period and fantasy/scifi films, in which Apple could not appear, are removed (the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars prequels 3:10 to Yuma, etc.).

Right then, don’t let it be said that Apple’s brand managers aren’t doing good work.

The Oscar Theme Part 3: Oscar’s Revenge

During the ad break (presumably while Oscar winners were busy phoning their Moms with the good news) the first ever iPad television commercial was broadcast. The ad itself is a bit “meh,” to be honest; it didn’t light the world on fire and teach us anything we didn’t already know. But that’s OK, because what really matters, I suppose, is that a very large audience not normally exposed to tech/gadget news saw the iPad for the first time. You can watch the ad on Apple’s website here.

I’m still wondering what Apple was up to in that diner back in August last year. At this rate, I think we’ll have to wait for next year’s Oscars to find out.

There’s a lot of information to digest, so I’ve condensed the juiciest morsels into what I hope is a more accessible short-form. Here goes!

All seven board members were re-elected; there was an advisory vote on executive compensation and Apple’s public accounting firm was chosen (it’s Ernst & Young, by the way.) Votes also were cast on two shareholder proposals. The first called for a published “sustainability report” detailing the company’s environmental policies and its contingency planning in the face of climate change. The second proposal was for the creation of a second board of directors, tasked with overseeing Apple’s environmental policies and business strategy in the face of climate change. The board felt they were already doing a fine job in both these areas, and recommended voting against the new proposals. Votes were counted and, unsurprisingly, neither proposal was successful.

Green

According to Macworld, Jobs claimed that Apple is the first company to work directly with suppliers on issues ranging from environmental impact to worker protection and education. Macworld’s Dan Frakes writes;

Taking a jab at other companies, as well as organizations such as Greenpeace, [Jobs] noted that “other companies just make promises” and attend conferences and events to “schmooze with [environmental groups], but the work ain’t getting done,” whereas Apple is actually taking steps to improve the company’s real-world green credentials and treatment of workers.

Jobs also noted that the smaller packaging used across Apple’s product line has reduced the number of annual cargo flights “by the hundreds”;

“It’s the right thing to do from an environmental point of view; it’s the right thing to do from a business point of view.”

Money

In its first quarter 2010 investor conference call, Apple announced it had $39.8 billion in the bank at the end of December 2009. The question now is, what on earth should it do with it? Spend it? Save it for the next recession? Perhaps pay dividends to shareholders — something BusinessWeek says the company has not done since 1995? Jobs said;

We know if we need to acquire something – a piece of the puzzle to make something big and bold – we can write a check for it and not borrow a lot of money and put our whole company at risk. The cash in the bank gives us tremendous security and flexibility.

You never know what opportunities are going to be around the next corner. We are a large enough business now that, in order to really move the needle, we have to be thinking pretty bold – pretty large.

New Role

On the matter of Apple’s new role as a ‘mobile devices’ company (first announced by Jobs in January and reiterated by Tim Cook in last month’s earnings call) Jobs said;

This is not something that we’re ordaining from the top. This is something our customers are saying with their dollars, if you just look at the products that we’re selling. They’re telling us what they think is important and we’re reflecting that.

But specifically, what does this mean about the future of Apple’s desktop Macs, the iMac and Mac Pro? “We love desktop computers,” El Jobso assured the shareholders, “And plan to continue making them.” So, that’s alright then.

Asia

When asked about Apple’s efforts to increase international sales, Jobs turned to (VP of Retail) Ron Johnson, who announced that Apple is looking to open 24 more stores in China to join the existing store in Beijing. This is to be expected, given how important (and lucrative) China is to Apple. DigitalDaily’s John Paczkowski writes, “Mac sales in China increased nearly 100 percent year over year in the first financial quarter of 2010… while iPhone sales [are] ramping up.”

Apple's Beijing Store

Beyond the Mac, Paczkowski quotes Tim Cook on Apple’s overall revenue in that market;

“…if you look at greater China last quarter, which is China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, our revenues tripled year-over-year… We have a tremendous focus on it.”

I guess it’s only right China should get a little Apple-love… after all, they make most of Apple’s gear in the first place!

Stability

Finally, there was a moment of fun, Jobs-style; a shareholder wanted to know of Jobs, “What keeps you up at night?”

“Shareholder meetings,” Jobs immediately shot back, before getting very serious and adding, thoughtfully;

“Apple requires stability in the world. People aren’t going to worry about which laptop to buy if they can’t afford dinner, can’t afford to send their kids to school, can’t afford textbooks. There are things much bigger than us that are out of our control. So we try to just do the best we can.”

Bravo, Steve. And bravo, Apple.

You know how Michael Jackson won so many awards in his lifetime that they had to start inventing new ones to justify dragging him onstage? Entertainer of the Universe and Best Selling Artist in the New Galactic Empire spring to mind. Hey, that’s the price of über-success.

Apple’s getting a taste of that very same medicine now, as it is named recipient of a boatload of “Best…” titles in AdweekMedia’s “Best of the 2000s” Awards. Described by AdweekMedia as “Our picks, and yours, for the decade’s best in the marketing, media and agency world” the awards include yawn-inducing categories such as “Agency executives of the Decade” and “Small Agency of the Decade” but thankfully all the best stuff is hugely more accessible — and interesting — to non-marketing-types (which, thankfully, describes most of us).

Here’s the opening paragraph from AdweekMedia’s dedicated awards website:

Steve Jobs and the iPod reinvented the music business. Sergey Brin and Larry Page tamed the Web. Ad shop Goodby, Silverstein & Partners rewrote the creativity book. And this thing called social media put amateurs in charge of just about everything else.

They definitely start as they mean to go on, since Apple, its products, campaigns and personalities bag a good number of the awards. AdweekMedia say they spent a month working out a list of “…the best and brightest in the branding, marketing, media and agency world in 33 categories over the past 10 years.” I’m glad to see they’re mindful of the criticisms leveled at industry awards that never seek the opinions of the actual, product-buying public; “As a reality check, we sought your input here on this site over the past month.”  They add, “Those results are presented here, next to our selections. Much of the time, we agree. Other times it’s not even close.”

Here’s the breakdown of the awards (images from the AdweekMedia awards website).

Marketer of the Decade – Steve Jobs

Good old Steve. Last month Fortune named him CEO of the Decade, and he’s a finalist for TIME’s Person of the Year 2009. Another award can’t hurt, right? Here’s a brief excerpt from AdWeekMedia’s positively glowing review of El Jobso:

Visionary, iconoclastic and fearless, Steve Jobs the marketer is inseparable from Steve Jobs the personality. His inimitable blend of competitive skill and design savvy hasn’t just saved a fading brand, it’s recast two businesses that used to have nothing to do with computers: music and mobile phones. Over the past decade, Apple’s iPod and iPhone have redefined popular culture, and returned the company to its roots in innovation and just-plain coolness.

Campaign of the Decade – Apple, “Get a Mac”

The genius is in the casting. For Apple, the campaign managed the neat trick of making the brand look laid back and cool while it mercilessly skewered its rival.

Out-of-Home Ad of the Decade – Apple, “Silhouettes”

You’d have thought Andy Warhol did them—and why not? In the end, the work was nearly as iconic. The treatment [...] achieved what in branding is the nearly impossible: defining a product without showing what it even looked like up close.

Brand of the Decade – Apple

Though the brand almost petered out in the ’90s, last year consumers told Interbrand that Apple was the thing they couldn’t live without and the one they found most inspiring.

There wasn’t always consensus between AdweekMedia’s nominations and the opinions of their readers. The Marketing Innovation of the Decade award was won by “Viral Videos” while their Reader’s Choice had it go to Apple for “iPhone Apps.” The Reader’s Choice award for Digital Device/Platform of the Decade was the iPhone, while AdweekMedia preferred to give it to Facebook, instead.

In a nice twist where, again, readers didn’t agree with AdWeekMedia’s choice, at least they were in disagreement over which Apple product to laud; both the iPod and the iPhone won Product of the Decade, depending on your point of view. And while the readers voted Steve Jobs Media Executive of the Decade, it went instead to Rupert “Google is Stealing My Stuff” Murdoch. Other big names receiving awards include Google, television show The Sopranos, the Disney Channel and WIRED magazine.

Despite the disagreements (there are many more instances in which Apple and Apple products feature prominently in the reader’s votes, check out the awards website to view the numbers) it’s still inspiring to see Apple take so many of the top awards. Of particular note is the Brand of the Decade award; coming from a company of professional advertisers and marketers, it’s obvious how much respect and admiration the world of marketing has for Mr Jobs’ company. Remarkable, too, given how much trouble that company was in last decade.

I recommend taking the time to view the awards website and read the full descriptions for each winner; you’ll get an insight into a world we otherwise try very hard to avoid (after all, who likes Marketing?) but be warned — it’s often a polarizing experience! And when you’re done, come back and tell us whether you agree with the choice in winners.

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The AT&T Jobs App (iTunes link) is the first app of its kind, one designed by a company to promote only its specific job listings. Job seekers will find updated info on openings, career-related events, and even company information, so you can take it with you to the interview and do a little last minute cramming while you’re waiting to see HR staff.

Scott Smith, AT&T’s Vice President of Staffing, had this to say about the app and the reasoning behind its creation to mobile site Mobiletor.com:

The AT&T Jobs App combines greater accessibility with up-to-date information on career advancement at AT&T on one of the world’s most popular devices. This app provides a mobile and interactive way for applicants to network and identify employment opportunities, while expanding the reach of our AT&T career portal to even more people.

You can also use the app to suggest jobs to qualified people in your network of friends and family, thanks to a job post sharing feature, or forward it to your email address so you can give more detailed attention at home on your primary computer.

Finding jobs is as simple as performing a fully customizable search, or by browsing the available positions via categories like broadband, retail, and wireless. You can also search using criteria like geographic area and qualifications required, which should expedite the process of finding a suitable listing somewhat.

If you’re interested in doing something in person, you can browse a list of all the events AT&T is holding or participating in relating to job seeking. Many are college-based job fairs, but there are also info sessions and teleconferences listed. Finally, the Media section provides potential employees with plenty of information about the company and the industry so that they can study up.

It may not be perfectly executed (job listings load in an in-app web view, for example, instead of as properly integrated components of the app), you can’t apply to any job directly from your device (though would you want to?), and there’s no feature to take advantage of your phone’s location services to find jobs or events in your immediate area.

Still, it’s a step in the right direction for major employers, and others would do well to follow AT&T’s example. If you want to reach as wide an audience as possible, which should theoretically net you the best job candidates, what better way to do so than to offer iPhone accessibility, which most people probably have on them even when there isn’t a computer in reach.

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“Since his return in late June, the 54-year-old has been pouring almost all of his attention into a new touch-screen gadget that Apple is developing, said people familiar with the situation.”

Kane adds that in an email (presumably to the WSJ, but the reporter doesn’t make it clear) Jobs says that “much of your information is incorrect” but didn’t explain which information was correct. Predictably enough, an Apple spokesperson “declined to comment.”

If there’s any truth to the rumors of a late 2009 release, it would make perfect sense that Jobs is obsessing over tiny details, such as how curvy the back of the tablet is or whether the glass touchscreen has windscreen wipers, etc.

What’s really telling about this is how easy it is to write an article that tells us nothing, yet feeds the rumor mill while further whetting our appetites for an as-yet-mythical device. And all this, despite being told by Jobs that the information is incorrect. It’s astonishing, really.

Frankly, there are other important matters requiring Steve’s close attention right now — matters that should easily consume his three days a week at the office.

First and foremost, there’s an impending formal investigation by the FCC to contend with. That’s serious business, and can see Apple in a lot of hot water. For a company that is so committed to its culture of secrecy, an investigation will expose much of Apple’s inner workings to the world. Oh, and not to mention all the legal wrangling that will ensue — and all those predictably dramatic commentaries from Arrington and Calacanis to stoke the fire. In short, it’s a very big deal. Everything else should take a backseat.

There’s also that rumored special event next month that might just see The Beatles getting into iTunes (finally!). Given the decades of law suits and expensive settlements between Apple Inc. and Apple Corps Ltd., this development, if true, would be a very big deal not only for fans of the lads from Liverpool, but also for the two companies. Getting The Beatles’ music into iTunes could be the start of a very valuable content publishing/distribution partnership. If it’s true.

Failing the above, there’s always that beleaguered team of 40 staff whose only purpose in life is to review and reject iPhone apps. Given they have only a few scant minutes to review each app (a little over six, according to Mike Ash’s calculations) they surely could use a hand. Phil Schiller would probably do it but he’s too busy writing to developers.

But yeah, it’s a crazy world. Maybe Steve’s ignoring everything else and spending his days locked in a room with Johnny Ive, debating whether the logo on the back of the tablet should be muted gray or metallic silver. Time will tell.

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Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple’s Board of Directors. Given the conflicts of interest, this is not unexpected — Schmidt had already recused himself from any iPhone discussion, and now that Google is getting into the OS business, I guess that would leave Schmidt free to talk about hardware.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs issued a statement confirming Schmidt’s departure as well as offering praise for Schmidt’s past work on the board:

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful,” Jobs said. “Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s board.”

While we are now free to discuss how “mutual” the decision was — it’s been my experience any “mutual decision” for a separation is a “mutually decided upon bundle of cash as we kick your sorry butt out the door” — I much prefer Fake Steve Jobs’ take on the situation.

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If you happen to be looking for work at the moment, Apple has a pretty nice offer. You can have all the glory of being an Apple employee without leaving the comfort of your own home. Actually, that’s probably not so tempting, since part of the appeal of working for Apple is being able to get a peak behind the veil, and maybe sneak into Johnny Ive’s design studio after-hours. Also, you need to have the patience and know-how to deal with hundreds of calls from irate recent switchers who don’t have the first clue about OS X.

Recent job postings, which can be seen at MySpace Jobs and Monster.com, among other places, call for “At Home” tech support staff. Cult of Mac puts the total number of hires Apple is looking to make at 450, according to a document they claim to have seen. The postings specify at least six different cities in the U.S., though employees will indeed work from home, instead of from a traditional call center.

This sort of decentralized approach is gaining a lot of steam in the tech industry, because it saves on overhead and allows companies to recruit the most qualified individuals without worrying about geographic restrictions or relocation issues. Apple wouldn’t be the first to try this approach, and some companies, like Sears, use it for all of their customer service staffing.

Response to the job ads must’ve been considerable; the postings are no longer live (here’s a cached version of one) either on Apple’s site or on any of the career sites. Considering the timing, this hire could be an effort on Apple’s part to anticipate a spike in demand for customer support services following the rumored launch of new iPhone hardware in June at WWDC. Keep your eyes peeled, because if this works out, Apple might continue to build its help desk infrastructure along these lines, which means a future of eating Cheetos in your underwear while drawing a paycheck from your favorite tech company could be just around the corner.

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It may not have the charitable underpinnings of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, but Ivan Kristic couldn’t have asked for a better follow-up job than at Apple. Cupertino just snatched up Kristic following his time at OLPC, where he was the architect behind the Bitfrost security specification. He wrote about his new job in a post on his personal blog Monday, and began work at Apple on the same day.

Bitfrost was responsible for password protection, prevention of data loss, hard drive encryption and security updates for the OLPC, which, while not a specific target for hackers, did take an innovative approach to security that Apple could be very interested in learning more about. Somewhat like Google’s Chrome browser, Bitfrost runs every active program on a computer in its own virtual OS instance. As a result, a virus or malware in one program can’t hop to another, or infect the computer’s core files and spy on sensitive data.

The new hire could mean that Apple is looking for ways to safeguard its reputation for better security not just now, but in the future, too. Recent advertising efforts show that it considers its lack of security issues one of its primary selling points. At the same time, Apple must be aware that if its user base continues to grow, hackers will become more and more likely to target OS X vulnerabilities, and that reputation could quickly evaporate.

An innovative, compartmentalized approach to security like the one used by Bitfrost could go a long way to making sure Apple is perceived as a security leader even if user numbers shift in their favor. Don’t expect new measures to be implemented anytime soon, though. Kristic is probably coming on board now in order to work on solutions that will be implemented in whatever OS installment takes shape after Snow Leopard, which is probably at least another couple years off.

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News of the new direction for Mac hardware comes from job postings, which have been garnering quite a bit of attention for Apple lately, considering the recent buzz about chip-making related positions. Now Cupertino seems to be looking for a few good 3G QA, design, and testing engineers to join their camp. The job descriptions, listed on their Hardware Engineering jobs site, list a variety of wireless specifications, with 3G among them, and the jobs in question talk about Mac applications specifically, so this isn’t just an iPhone-oriented position, as I initially suspected.

There’s already been all kinds of buzz about AT&T or other telcos offering bundles, including both 3G wireless plans and subsidized MacBooks, but so far nothing’s come of it. It’s very possible that either AT&T or Apple floated the rumor in order to try to gauge customer interest in such a package, and are only now moving to build the tech into their hardware because the response they received indicated that it would be worth their while. Question is, how much of a premium will Apple be charging for the new hardware addition, if any, and what kind of plans will the cell phone companies be able to offer?

Even if Apple is going forward with this, and the deal is good, there’s also the fact that tethering is apparently included in iPhone OS 3.0 to consider. Why would they shoot themselves in the foot, so to speak, by offering iPhone users a way to use 3G mobile broadband with their MacBooks without taking advantage of a built-in in antenna? There’d be no incentive for owners of those devices to sign up for an additional plan to take advantage of built-in MacBook 3G access.

It’s possible that the price of purchasing 3G antennas has become so affordable that Apple is willing to put them in as just one more incentive for prospective buyers, rather than as a significant selling point. Personally, I know I’d rather have it than not, even if my iPhone is able to tether on my existing wireless plan. We’ll just have to wait and see what develops, which will likely take at least a year, considering the types of positions Apple is hiring for.

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The SDK and the success of the App Store have combined to create an emerging professional category, that of iPhone application developer.

According to oDesk, a technology outsourcer billing itself as the “leading marketplace and global IT platform for outsourcing technology jobs to certified, freelance, Apple iPhone developers”, demand has risen for iPhone-related positions from 30 to upwards of 140 jobs per month over the past six months.

While the numbers are drawn from internal oDesk records only, such a steep increase is unlikely to be an isolated phenomenon. Nor is oDesk’s sample pool a limited one, since they have representation in over 100 countries worldwide, including major markets like the U.S. and China.

Though some of the growth followed immediately after the announcement of the iPhone SDK availability, the most significant growth came after last July, when the App Store officially opened for business. No doubt the impressive download numbers that continue to come out of Cupertino are beginning to catch the attention of the wait-and-see corporate crowd.

If the numbers are a good representation of a wider trend, then there are a few things to take away from this rapid growth.

First, it might indicate the specific nature of Apple’s recent educational initiatives. As the marketplace becomes more discerning, accreditation will be more important to potential employers. Considering Apple’s pick for the Apple U job, they are clearly getting serious about academic laurels, and a new field hungry for certification is a good reason to do so.

Second, expect to see a lot more movie and product tie-ins like the Dark Knight’s Jokering-app, and the recently released Bolt-related game from Disney. For companies, hiring freelancers to develop a quick iPhone application is a cheap way to heighten brand awareness.

Finally, expect more conflict over intellectual property. Stringers and freelancers always bring in issues of confidentiatility and proprietary information, and with so many in the fray, the iPint/iBeer situation is unlikely to be just a one-off.

The question now is whether the demand for developers continues to grow, or plateaus and shrinks once the App Store loses its novelty value or competitors like BlackBerry and Google gain ground.

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This time we’re casting a big thoughtful eye over Jobs, TeeDroid 3G and PuzzleManiak.

Jobs 1.0 ($4.99) – There’s been a panoply of freelancer time-tracking tools arriving at the App Store of late, many of which seem a tad on the rushed side. Jobs 1.0, though, looks to have a well-considered feature-set and a clear, concise interface.

The problem is that there are already several sites (with integrated iPhone web apps) that do the job much better and are rich in exactly the kind of features freelancers need. To name but two, Tempo and Harvest are incredibly accomplished time-trackers and in the case of the latter, handles expenses, invoices and even an OS X widget. Despite the solid feature-set, including CSV export of time-sheets, Jobs 1.0 may not be a prudent investment for the savvy freelancer looking to track time more efficiently.

TeeDroid 3G ($19.99) – Notice anything familiar about the TeeDroid logo? It’s nabbed from Android, Google’s iPhone competitor (apparently though, the Droid bit of the logo is available under a Creative Commons license). Questionable logo choice aside, TeeDroid is intended to be the Nike+ of iPhone golf trackers. The app handles score keeping, distances and even integrates with Google Maps. At twenty dollars, it may not be worth a punt for everyone, but affluent golf-enthusiasts may certainly want to take this golf companion out for a few rounds.

PuzzleManiak ($4.99) – Harking back to the homebrew scene on the Nintendo DS, and more recently available via jailbroken touches and iPhones, a proper PuzzleManiak compendium has finally made it to the store. There are 15 different puzzlers within this app and, if the original compendium is anything to go by, some of these are deliciously devious. The app also includes stats, randomly generated unique puzzles, several difficulty levels and a daily web challenge for everybody to compete in.  This is brain-twisting fun at a bargain price, grab it now if you’re a puzzle fan.

Before toddling away with iPhone in hand for another week’s App Store gazing, there’s one app worth mentioning, not strictly a new release but certainly a release of note.  A few weeks back Phone Saber returned to the App Store, it had originally been removed after being flagged for IP infringement. The new version is from the same developers but, this time, the app has a different name — the Star Wars light saber toy has returned as Light Saber Unleashed and is now an official Star Wars product.

The new release incorporates dramatic duelling music, multiple sabers and a range of characters too (including ol’ cheese grater face with the sore throat).  Light Saber Unleashed is totally free and, for fans of Star Wars, a must-have.

With a few interesting apps rounded up and broken down in to tasty bite-size chunks of information, that’s all for another seven days. Let us know what apps you’ve tried out this week in the comments.

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Six issue areas were corrected or improved in Word 2008 specifically, many of which are conversion-related (between various Word versions) and one involved a macro-glitch may have had a nasty impact in a multi-platform shop (as it lay waste to VBA macros in some circumstances).

Eight groups of issues in Excel 2008 have been addressed including a formula bug that you may not have even noticed (formulas were not executed properly under a few scenarios). PowerPoint 2008 is not nearly as sluggish as it has been and you can more confidently sleep/wake your Mac with Entourage 2008 running.

The Microsoft Office 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Update (12.1.0) must be installed on the computer before you install the Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.1 Update. The 153 MB installer is available now from Microsoft via direct download or through their local software update service (that is installed with Office 2008).

I have downloaded and installed the update with no ill after effects and can confirm that PowerPoint is noticeably speedier.

Looking For A Few Good Macophiles

Microsoft is also expanding its commitment to Mac products and is on a hiring frenzy. They are in search of candidates for multiple roles including Program Managers, Developers, Testers, User Experience, and Marketing, primarily in Redmond and Silicon Valley. You can send your resume to macjobs@microsoft.com if you are interested.

This is your chance to make a difference if you are a fit for any of the open positions.

If you have loaded the update, let us know your experience in the comments and if you successfully land a job, definitely drop us a note!

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The picture above shows AAPL stock since just before the Stevenote Monday. It has only dropped 13 dollars since then, but rumors of Steve’s poor health, and the impossibility of living up to the hype has caused it to drop all the same.

Historically, Apple takes a bit of a dive after each Keynote by Jobs, but they still rise all the same higher than they were before. Although everyone seems to be making a big fuss about Jobs’ health, the fact of the matter is that Apple continually performs.

That does raise the concern about Steve Jobs: at some point, he is going to leave Apple, and what is that going to do to the company? Has Apple created a culture that is sufficient for Jobs’ will to be carried out long after he retires, or will Apple go the way it did the last time Jobs left?

That is a worrisome question. I sure would hate to have Apple lose all the ground it has gained. What do you think?

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Apple always has job openings, but it’s a bit rarer that they post one at mediabistro.com: Senior Human Interface Designer (free account required)

Maybe they’re just having a hard time finding enough candidates who not only possess “complete mastery of the Mac OS X platform,” but also have:

• Minimum 5 years of experience creating innovative and visually stunning user experiences. 
• Degree in interaction design, human factor and/or visual design (or equivalent). 
• An outstanding body of work demonstrating the successful delivery of innovative application interface design solutions. 
• Deep understanding of Apple’s human interface design language and the ability to translate it into future designs of Apple’s professional applications.
• Exceptional understanding of fundamental design disciplines (typography, composition, information architecture, color and animation) and principals (affordance, clustering, consistency, usability, etc.) 
• Ability to create final graphic assets for flawless design implementation 

Upon further reflection, that list could almost be Steve Jobs’ résumé. Oh, but “the candidate must be a natural collaborator who prefers developing designs in a team environment.” Sorry Steve. To apply for this position, go to jobs.apple.com 

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