LOL !!
I love my hob with the Schott Ceran® German - oops, I mean Chinese - glass surface.
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Steve Jobs' Requirements for 'Fit and Finish' Leading to Massive Cost Overruns for Apple's New Campus
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LOL !!
I love my hob with the Schott Ceran® German - oops, I mean Chinese - glass surface.
Spending Money Because You Have It
Just because you have the money does not mean you should spend it. Everything, from the janitorial closet to the 1/32 gaps should help you sell your core products and services. This building plan does not. it is understandable that there will be people who say "It was what Steve wanted." Steve's legacy is the company not the building. Haven't we seen the story of the entity that believe that just because they have money, they should spend money too often (GM, Greece, the United States)? If you keep spending money like you have money, soon enough, you won't. Pour $2 billion into R&D for OS 11 and 12, iOS X, any updates for iWork and iLife, and salary and bonuses for those that you put in charge to correct the Maps shipwreck. Some people like it, but a CEO does not issue public apologies for products that are working as designed. Finally, with the money left over, buy Alfred (good things happening especially with the power pack option) and Spotify (would be good for iRadio).
Just because you have the money does not mean you should spend it. Everything, from the janitorial closet to the 1/32 gaps should help you sell your core products and services. This building plan does not. it is understandable that there will be people who say "It was what Steve wanted." Steve's legacy is the company not the building. Haven't we seen the story of the entity that believe that just because they have money, they should spend money too often (GM, Greece, the United States)? If you keep spending money like you have money, soon enough, you won't. Pour $2 billion into R&D for OS 11 and 12, iOS X, any updates for iWork and iLife, and salary and bonuses for those that you put in charge to correct the Maps shipwreck. Some people like it, but a CEO does not issue public apologies for products that are working as designed. Finally, with the money left over, buy Alfred (good things happening especially with the power pack option) and Spotify (would be good for iRadio).
Demand Higher Standards for Campus Plan and Fit and Finish
Apple should execute the building to its high standards, but it should make sure the campus plan itself adheres to those high standards instead of this campus plan that copies the mistakes of the 1970's. They can afford it. See:
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681412/the-apple-city-that-could-have-been#1
Apple should execute the building to its high standards, but it should make sure the campus plan itself adheres to those high standards instead of this campus plan that copies the mistakes of the 1970's. They can afford it. See:
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1681412/the-apple-city-that-could-have-been#1
Combine massive glass manufacturing breakthroughs with the current breakthroughs in solar panels and the world's dire need for renewable energy and yes, I do see the industry break out into a whole new paradigm. Apple's project is helping to ramp up both the production of large manufactured glass and drive prices lower, so excuse me if I seem a bit excited for a solid step into the future.
You think more glass helps with solar panels? The beer bottle industry already had that covered with much more glass in production.
Totally overlooking the complexity of what is going on at companies such as Corning. Glass is changing.
Also, beer bottle glass is nothing like architectural glass. There are amazing things you can do with glass, it can be as strong as steel or flexible enough to wrap around a soda can. You're completely dismissing an entire industry that you clearly have no knowledge of.
And yes, glass is the surface which most conventional solar panels are fused with, both the solar voltaic circuit industry and glass industry are going through paradigm shifts. The interaction of the two is going to help us transform energy production, and with it society itself (freedom of energy). These are exciting times.
Keep in mind I view this being a massive transformation over the next 30 years when I say "these".
Flexibility, combined with ramping up with manufacturing (meaning driving prices lower) is a game changer. Solar glass will be ubiquitous in 30 years time.
Solar panels are already decently close to being at a price parity with fossil fuels once the entire pipeline of production to power delivery are factored in. Solar panels are going to change the way we generate electricity on the planet once that parity is shattered into solars favor. You only need to get conventional panels to be 40% efficient to do that (todays mass manufactured panels are still in the high 20-low 30% range), recent advancements in glass etching, graphene, and super capacitors are going to allow that number to jump to 60+% , which changes the ballgame entirely. In 50 years time we have the means to look back at the caveman like sophistication of todays energy industry in the same way we consider relics like steam power to be primitive by the standards today.
Big picture.
Isn't that what environmental fanatics have promised for decades? Seems to me to be more a pipe dream than anything rooted in reality of the poor economics of solar, massive land requirement, and the environmental pollution from making solar panels in the first place.
I have an 8.5 Kw solar array on the roof of the bedroom wing of my home. My yearly payment for electricity is $0. (I do pay $12/month for the grid connection, but nothing for consumption.)
For me, the economics are good. The roof over the bedroom wing of the house wasn't doing anything (and the solar panels are a shield against heat during the day, lessening the need for ventilating the house). And the net benefit of reducing my carbon footprint for decades vs the carbon costs of producing the panels is an open question.
And that solar array costed you how much to buy, install, and maintain? And how about all those batteries you have in your basement along with the specialized electrical equipment down their to support the solar panels? Factored in how much new batteries will cost?
The batteries cost nothing - there are no batteries.
There is almost no maintenance - just hose them off twice a year.
The payoff is about 6 years - in other words, the complete cost for panels, inverters and installation was about 6 years of my previous electric bills. If electric rates increase, the payoff period will be shorter.
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Think Different
"Here's to the Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. Theyre not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you cant do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. - Apple Inc."
The money is there, so do it! Apple would be a relic of the past if it wasn't for Job's coming back to Apple with a lack of respect for the status quo.
That building is a brilliant man's legacy. Build it. Think Different
"Here's to the Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. Theyre not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing you cant do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. - Apple Inc."
The money is there, so do it! Apple would be a relic of the past if it wasn't for Job's coming back to Apple with a lack of respect for the status quo.
That building is a brilliant man's legacy. Build it. Think Different
So you have no batteries for your solar panels? Does this mean you have no electricity at night? Seems like a bad way to live.
So you still use electricity from the grid like regular people and don't actually have a self contained solar array. You still use electricity from fossil fuels and depend on all the infrastructure behind that.
Yes, just like almost all residential solar systems, and commercial systems like Apple's in Maiden.
I've reduced my net yearly consumption by about 92% - and most of the remaining 8% is in December and January.
But more important, on a midsummer afternoon when the grid is straining under the air conditioning load - I am pumping about 50A (120v) back into the grid. That's the biggest benefit to the utility - the grid-connected solar systems are leveling the mid-day peak demands. My neighbors' air conditioners are running off my panels, and the utility pays me for the power.
/endtangent
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Just don't like the space ship design. Looks like something out of a 1939 Popular Science magazine, "Buildings of the future". More Jetsons than beautiful and really not modern in concept.
Steve was proud of his LSD use. Just saying...
Going into an abandoned industrial area and renewing those beautiful brick factory buildings, modernizing them and revitalizing the area would be better in every way.
The glass is made in China?!!. Put the two or three billion saved from this silly monument into some domestic production.
Steve was proud of his LSD use. Just saying...
Going into an abandoned industrial area and renewing those beautiful brick factory buildings, modernizing them and revitalizing the area would be better in every way.
The glass is made in China?!!. Put the two or three billion saved from this silly monument into some domestic production.
I would like to visit the campus in person if possible, that will be amazing. Hope they will stick to Jobs' original design, at least not too far away.
Being a long time Silicon Valley worker, there's historical precedent for a company reaching its zenith and going downhill right after they plan on a grandiose, over the top palace to house their workers.
Cisco with their Coyote Creek project in the late 90s and Sun with their "Sun Quentin" project in Menlo Park. That same campus is now being occupated by Facebook interestingly.
Cisco with their Coyote Creek project in the late 90s and Sun with their "Sun Quentin" project in Menlo Park. That same campus is now being occupated by Facebook interestingly.
One more piece of info to think about.
The first attached jpg is a screen capture from http://www.caiso.com/Pages/TodaysOutlook.aspx#SupplyandDemand, which gives real-time statistics on the California electrical grid.
What you can read is that:
- Current CA electrical use is 23,285 Mw
- Renewable sources are providing 6,031 Mw (26%)
- Solar is providing slightly over 1,500 Mw (6.4%)
This is a bit misleading, though, because some of the renewable (especially solar and small hydro) represents the excess capacity sent to the grid after on-site usage is fed.
For example, at the moment my panels are producing 6.4 Kw of power. I'm pushing 4.25 Kw into the grid, because the washing machine and dishwasher are running (as well as the XM radio and the sound system, the TiVo, the Windows Home Server, my PC and my husband's PC,....) and using about 2.2 Kw. (All components of the system provide real-time and web reports of usage. The second jpeg is the last 24 hours of production for my panels.)
Congrats to Apple for adding rooftop solar to the spaceship.
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Obsess about software not buildings
If only Apple would return to making stable, agile, cutting edge software, rather than focusing so much on buildings, hardware, and iOS.
iCloud still doesn't work well (to be generous). Snow Leopard was better than Lion and Mt. Lion. And iTunes 11 yuck.
If only Apple would return to making stable, agile, cutting edge software, rather than focusing so much on buildings, hardware, and iOS.
iCloud still doesn't work well (to be generous). Snow Leopard was better than Lion and Mt. Lion. And iTunes 11 yuck.