Apple's Innovations and Steve Jobs

ABC World News made Steve Jobs their person of the week this week.  Starting out of his garage in 1976, Steve Jobs has seen Apple grow and its innovations pervade the marketplace of ideas and technology.

My first PC was an Apple--shortly after it was invented.  In 1990 I wrote my dissertation on a Macintosh at the university computer lab and purchased my first Apple in 1991.  I have been using Apple and Macintosh computers for years--then had to convert to Windows-based computers for business and later for schools.  (I am still a Mac-fanatic at heart.)

I have fallen in love with my iPod Touch (32Gs) and use it in the wifi mode for everything from surfing the web to e-mail to listening to audio books and more.  The iPad (Apple Tablet by whatever name it may end up with) appears to be a larger version of the iPod Touch--just with updated software and some Macintosh capabilities built in.  (Of course I want an iPad and an iPhone.  I'd be an early adapter except for the new economy.)

A suggestion to Steve and Apple based on my research on improving reading and academic performance, get the iPad to synchronize unabridged eBooks and eAudioBooks so that students can read and listen at the same time.  I've done that with students, especially English language learners, with good results.  In practicing Spanish, I've also listened to a book in English and read the unabridged book in Spanish simultaneously.

I hope that the app process for the iPod Touch and the iPhone will work for the new iPad as well.

Thanks, Charlie, You've Made a Difference in My Life and Mom's 95th Birthday

Tonight is "offically" Charles Gibson's final night on ABC World News.  I have been watching Charlie on ABC for more than 20 years--he's been in the business for 34 years and I'm sure I saw some of his earlier programs as well.

Somehow I felt I could trust Charlie Gibson and felt good having him in my living room (or wherever) on Good Morning America, ABC World News, and the many other programs.  He has made me an observer with him at turning points in U.S. history--such as the inaguration of President Barack Obama.

He has felt like a real friend, though I have never met nor spoken to him in person.  I will miss him.  I especially liked the team of Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer on ABC--for several years on Good Morning America.  It's interesting that Charlie left Good Morning America to take over ABC World News after the death of Peter Jennings.  Now Diane has left Good Morning America to take over ABC World News as Charlie retires.  I wish him well in his retirement and hope to see him doing what he loves.

Thanks, Charlie,
You have made a difference in my life and I appreciate you.

Speaking of Making a Difference in My Life,

Today is my mother's 95th birthday, born December 18, 1914.  Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Constructive and Destructive Focus for Action--Building Positive Habits and Attitudes

As I reflect on what I hear and see in news media from around the world and in conversations of the people around me, I am reminded that people develop habits in their focus for action.  Largely these habits can be grouped into one of two areas, constructive or destructive.

It is much easier in video games to create "war" games with a destructive focus.  Taking away an opponent is easier than being able to construct something out of an idea.  Constructive video games are few and far between (at least in today's state of technology).  Movies may have more of a constructive focus, though many of those also focus on some kind of combat--in the old western movies the "good guys wear white hats."

In sports, people are looking for winners and losers with scores as the focus for winning.  In life pursuits it may be more challenging and many people are still looking for "winners" and "losers."

Today's economy in the USA looks at the housing market in terms of winners and losers.  Those who are being forced out of foreclosed homes are looked at as "losers."  While President Obama has several initiatives to help the U.S. economy, one of the initiatives is focused on giving tax credit of up to US$8,000 for first-time home buyers.  In recent news coverage on ABC World News, it showed new home owners closing on a foreclosed home.  The new home buyer is the "winner" and the "loser" is not even on the scene any more.

President Carter and the Habitat for Humanity movement focused on volunteers coming together to build homes for people who could not otherwise afford them.  This is an example of a constructive focus for action.  Volunteers in that movement leave the world a better place than it was before they started.  They are also taking into account "green-initiatives" so that the houses they build are better and safer than the requirements of existing building codes.  I lived in Hollywood, Florida, when Hurricane Andrew blew through in 1992.  Habitat for Humanity homes survived the hurricanes where many of the developed houses did not due to shoddy workmanship of people who didn't think their shortcuts would be discovered.

Another organization with a constructive focus for action is the American Red Cross.  As a volunteer with that organization for 33 years, I can safely say that the focus of the American Red Cross is constructive, helping people in times of disaster and in activities of daily living--teaching swimming and lifesaving and preventing drowning, teaching first aid and CPR and preventing accidents and accidental death. 

As I observe business opportunities and look at the job market in today's economy, I look for opportunities and jobs that have a constructive focus for action.  Our habits and focus will create our attitudes--in the form of a cycle.  If any one of these is destructive, we need to begin to change the other two and our attitudes will change as well.

We build habits as we make our daily choices.  It is up to us to take responsibility for our daily choices and decide to pursue a constructive focus for action rather than to take the "easy way" and choose a destructive one.