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In his touching tribute to Steve Jobs, Walt Mossberg compares Steve to Thomas Edison or Henry Ford. To me, he always struck me as our generation's Walt Disney. They were both men who built multi-disciplined empires from the ground up. Their willingness to dream big, even if it risked collosal failure, inspired millions around the world. And thier work ethic, their attention to detail and refusal to compromise seperated them from their peers and competitors. Ironically, Steve helped found PIXAR, which may have creatively revived Walt's legacy in 1995, when Disney released Toy Story. After setting a new benchmark for storytelling (and seven #1 openings), Disney agreed to buy Pixar. The transaction left Steve, who was CEO and the majority shareholder of Pixar, to Disney's largest individual shareholder and a new seat on its board of directors.

Like Walt, Steve died before his time, perhaps just before his greatest dreams were about the realized. But not before he left an incredible legacy for us to follow. Like Obi Wan sensing the destrucion of Alderaan, I can't help but feel this loss in the creative energy around me.

So, to quote Walter Sobchak from The Big Leboswki, "Good night, sweet prince".

That will come as a big blow to Adobe, which was pinning its hopes on its upcoming Packager for iPhone — an important piece of its Creative Suite 5 that was meant to allow developers to create apps in Flash which could then be re-compiled for use on the iPhone. Since the iPhone and the iPad don’t support Flash, Adobe saw this as a way to keep its developers coding for Flash while still being able to reach Apple’s mobile devices.

Wow. This is not going to end well. Another reason to not get an iPad.

Not sure if this vid is legit, but hell, it's the internet, right? The only thing less reliable on the net than Apple rumors are trade rumors from ESPN.

I admit, i've become pretty jaded in my old age when it comes to "revolutionizing" user experience. This video, however, made me feel like a kid again. It's a really exciting time for folks in our industry. Can't wait to get in the sandbox with this thing!

Apple hopes to circumvent lack of Flash support with the App Store, which would enable content companies to build and monetize video apps for the iPad much like they did for the iPhone, and of course, through iTunes, which would enable them to sell their videos directly onto the new device. And by tying video viewing to a download marketplace, Apple could (arguably) be providing TV networks with a better way to cash in on their video assets than through Flash-based advertising.

We’ve already argued that the iPad was designed to change the way consumers watch digital video, and lower prices on TV shows is just an extension of that. By cutting prices to 99 cents, Apple hopes that it can capture the online video marketplace in the same way that it cornered the market for sales of online music.

I've got a baaaad feeling about this. I'm curious to know who the TV networks that have signed up for this are. I'd be surprised if it was any major players beyond ABC/Disney.

Steve [Jobs]’s a great guy, and the love affair has been wonderful, but I’m starting to look past him and back to Microsoft for a more healthy relationship that is less–wait for it–anti-competitive in nature.

Years and years after Microsoft’s antitrust headlines, Apple is now the anti-competitive monster that Jobs rallied us against in the infamous 1984 commercial. Steve Jobs is the oppressive man on the jumbotron and the Olympian carrying the hammer is the open-source movement

For folks in the tech industry, this is not a new discussion. Another radical visionary, Steve Gillmor, has been hosting this discussion since Apple’s draconian iTunes updates led smart people to *downgrade* their software. Think about that mind bomb for a second: people downgrading their software to maintain their freedoms–is this a William Gibson novel?

Steve Jobs is on the cusp of devolving from the visionary radical we all love to a sad, old hypocrite and control freak–a sellout of epic proportions.

The article above taps in to a fear I've been struggling with since the iPad launched without a full Mac OS. Apple has added another product to it's lineup that it can maintain full control over. Slowly, but surely, they are trying to dominate all digital media the same way they dominate digital music.

With the iTV, iTunes, iPhoto, the App Store, the iPhone, and now the iPad, Apple is close to creating an ecosystem that will make it very difficult for a user to leave. They also have the power to freeze out competitors and others who do not bend to their terms, like how it has locked Flash (and by extension most online video) out of it's ecosystem.

Why does Apple get a free ride? Is it because we all are smitten by the pretty girl in the media room?

Finally, someone who gets what the iPad represents. It's not for the people who have to get a laptop. It's not even meant to be ultramobile. It's the 2nd, 3rd device in a household who's users need to surf the web, email/tweet/blog, and manage media.