Regular readers have probably noticed my obsession with the colour white. This started many years ago when I came across minimalist interior design. Later Apple adopted white as a prime colour for it’s products.

If I needed any further confirmation that everything in life should be white I got it when I saw the recent picture of Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive. As you can see Ive is wearing a completely white outfit. Admittedly the Californian sunshine makes this more of an option than the British summer rain.

Now if I can only loose some weight so a white wardrobe would look good.

Statement One: Steve Jobs chose his University based on the fact that one of the professors had been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize despite the fact that this was both expensive for his parents and miles away from home.

Statement Two: At Berkley Steve Jobs had a tent erected in his dorm room. When Steve Wozniak visited Jobs at university he noticed this and that Jobs had his girlfriend ‘living in’ with him.

Statement Three: Jobs would get enthusiastic about healthy food. The Woz stated that one time Jobs ‘banged’ on about some edible seeds.

Statement Four: Even back then Jobs was convincing. He was able, time and time again, to convince others to support Apple. With the supply of new chips, with information, etc. In other words he would ‘punch above his weight’ by making out that Apple was a bigger and more successful organisation than it was at the time.

A while ago I wrote about the talk that Steve Wozniak gave here in England and in the last month or so I have finished the book that was the basis of his speech.

The book, as did the speech, focuses on the events that led Steve Wozniak to design and engineer the Apple ][ computer. It discusses how he got interested in electronics, how he learned to design, and how he got components.His biggest influence seems to have been his father who himself worked in the aircraft industry. His father explained how things worked and provided Steve with access to printed material and certain components during his formative years.

Steve Jobs was also an influence on the Woz. The book touches on their relationship and how it developed. Steve Jobs seemed to be the salesman always interested in the latest developments whereas the Woz worked out how to get them to work together.

One interesting fact that lead to the elegant Apple ][ design was that back then the price of 'chips' meant that the fewer used the cheaper the product could be.

Now, because chips are cheap, inelegant designs are common.

This book is a good read for anyone interested in Apple or engineering based autobiographies.

I went to the SAID business school in Oxford, England today to hear Steve Wozniak [the WOZ] give an account of how he came to design the Apple 1 and Apple ][ computers.

Steve gave passionate speech that lasted an hour followed by questions and answers.

During his speech he let out some interesting details about Steve Jobs but he, obviously, focused on his own career the most.

My view is that WOZ was a big influence on Jobs. WOZ spoke about how he would devise and refine his inventions so that they were as simple as possible and used as few components as he could. This approach - a minimalist approach - seems to have influenced Jobs in his outlook on life.

In this way I feel that the WOZ is present in every Apple product. Even today their products are simplified as much as possible.

I got a signed copy of the book iWoz and hope to find out some more fascinating facts. The signature inside just says 'Woz'.

[Picture taken with a V3 RAZR and cropped - Hence the poor quality]