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Steve Wozniak

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Stephan Gary "Woz" Wozniak
File:Stevewozniak.jpg
Born (1950-08-11) August 11, 1950 (age 74)
California San Jose, California
OccupationComputer engineer
Spouse(s)Alice Robertson (1976-1977)
Candice Clark (1981-1987)
Suzanne Mulkern (1990-2004)
Children3
Websitewoz.org

Stephan Gary "Woz" Wozniak (born August 11 1950 in San Jose, California) is an American computer engineer and the co-founder of Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.), with Steve Jobs. His inventions and machines are credited with contributing greatly to the personal computer revolution of the 1970s. Wozniak created the Apple I and Apple II computers in the mid-1970s. The Apple II gained a sizable amount of popularity, eventually becoming one of the best selling personal computers of the 1970s and early 1980s.

Wozniak has several nicknames, including "The Woz", "Wizard of Woz" and "iWoz" (a pun on iPod). "WoZ" (short for "Wheels of Zeus") is also the name of a company Wozniak founded. He is known for his introverted character, and he finds his level of celebrity somewhat annoying. He is also known as the "Other Steve" of Apple Computer, the more prominent Steve being co-founder and current CEO Steve Jobs. He is referred to as "Woz" to distinguish him from Steve Jobs, although Wozniak and Jobs have the first birth names Stephan and Steven, respectively.

Origins of Apple

By 1975, Wozniak withdrew from the University of California, Berkeley (he would later return to finish his B.S. degree in E.E.C.S., which he received in 1986 enrolled under the alias Rocky Clark) and came up with the computer that eventually made him famous. However, he was largely working to impress other members of the Palo Alto-based Homebrew Computer Club, a local group of electronics hobbyists. His project had no wider ambition.

In 1970 Wozniak had become friends with Steve Jobs, 4½ years his junior, when Jobs had a summer job at the same business where Wozniak was working on a mainframe computer [1]. Jobs had the idea to sell the computer as a fully assembled P.C. board. Wozniak, at first skeptical, was later convinced by Jobs that even if they were not a success they could at least say to their grandkids they had their own company. Together they sold some of their prized possessions (e.g. Wozniak's H.P. scientific calculator and Jobs' Volkswagen van), raised USD $1,300, and assembled the first prototypes in Jobs' bedroom and later (when there was no space left) in Jobs' garage. Their first computer was quite an engineering marvel within the context of 1975 computing. In simplicity of use it was years ahead of the Altair 8800, which was introduced earlier in 1975. The Altair had no display and no true storage. It received commands via a series of switches (a single program would require thousands of toggles without an error), and its output was presented in the form of flashing lights. The Altair was great for hobbyists, for whom its assembly-required nature was actually considered a feature, but it was not suitable for the wider public. Wozniak's computer, on the other hand, which he named Apple I, was a fully assembled and functional unit that contained a $20 microprocessor (M.O.S. 6502) on a single-circuit board with ROM. All that was needed was some RAM, a keyboard, and a monitor to make a fully functional microcomputer. (The Apple is not necessarily the first microcomputer to use monitors and cassette storage. There were several projects and experiments around the same time which could claim the first.)

On April 1, 1976, Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer. Wozniak quit his job at H.P. and became the vice president in charge of research and development at Apple. The Apple I was priced at $666.66. Jobs and Wozniak sold their first 100 computers to a local dealer [2].

Wozniak could now focus full-time on fixing the shortcomings of the Apple I and adding new functionality. His new design was to retain the most important characteristics: simplicity and usability. Wozniak introduced high-resolution graphics in the Apple II [2]. His computer could now display pictures instead of just letters: "I threw in high-res. It was only two chips. I didn't know if people would use it". By 1978, he also designed an inexpensive floppy-disk drive controller. He and Randy Wigginton wrote a simple disk operating system and file system. Shepardson Microsystems was contracted to build a simple command line interface for the disk operating system.

In addition to designing the hardware, Wozniak wrote most of the software initially provided with the Apple. He wrote a programming language interpreter, a set of virtual 16-bit processor instructions known as SWEET 16, a Breakout game (which was also a reason to add sound to the computer), the code needed to control the disk drive, and more.

In 1980, Apple went public and made Jobs and Wozniak multimillionaires.

Beyond the Apple II

For years, the Apple II was the main source of profit at Apple, and it assured the company's survival when its management undertook much less profitable ventures like the ill-fated Apple III and the short-lived Lisa. It was because of the reliable profits from the Apple II that Apple was able to develop the Macintosh, bring it to market, and evolve it into Apple's primary technology, eventually replacing the machine that paid for it. In this sense, Wozniak can be considered the financial grandfather of the Mac.

Aircraft accident

In February 1981, Steve Wozniak crashed his Beech Bonanza while taking off from Santa Cruz Sky Park. The NTSB investigation revealed that Wozniak was not rated in the type of airplane, did not have a "high performance" endorsement on his pilot's license (making him unqualified to operate the airplane), and had a "lack of familiarity with [the] aircraft." The cause of the crash was determined to be a premature liftoff, followed by a stall and "mush" into a 12 foot embankment. As a result of the accident, he had retrograde amnesia and temporary anterograde amnesia. He had no recollection of the accident and, for a while, did not even know he had been involved in a crash. He also did not remember his hospital stays or the things he did after he was released: he followed his previous routine (except for flying), but could not recall what had happened. He would walk into rooms and forget why he was there and couldn't even remember the current day of the week. For example, he would go to work on Sunday, or stay home on a Wednesday, thinking it was the weekend.[2] He began to piece together clues from what people told him. He asked his girlfriend, Candi Clark (an early Apple employee who worked in the accounting department) whether he had been involved in an accident of some kind. When she told him about the event, his short-term memory was restored.

Wozniak and Clark got engaged later that year, ordered their wedding rings from a San Diego jeweler, and flew to San Diego to pick them up.[2] Wozniak also credits Apple II computer games for aiding him in restoring those "lost" memories.

Beyond Apple

Wozniak did not return to Apple after recovering from the plane crash. Instead, he married Clark (he called her "Superwoman", possibly because of her accomplishments as an Olympic kayaker in 1976 [3]) and returned to U.C. Berkeley under the name "Rocky Raccoon Clark" (Rocky was his dog's name and Clark his wife's maiden name), finally earning his undergraduate degree in 1986. In 1983 he decided to return to Apple product development, but he wanted no more of a role than that of an engineer and a motivational factor for the Apple workforce [2].

In 1982 and 1983, Wozniak also sponsored two US Festivals to celebrate evolving technologies; they ended up as a technology exposition and a rock festival as a combination music, computers, television and people. They differed from previous rock festivals, notably Woodstock, by shorter lines for the Portable toilets: Woz is an engineer, and simply computed the number of Port-a-Potties that would be needed, using less optimistic assumptions than previous concert organizers. (This experience would help him when the time came to build Shoreline Amphitheatre).

Woz and Candi divorced in 1987. They had three children together: two boys and a girl. At his high school reunion, he reconnected with Suzanne Mulkern, former head cheerleader and homecoming queen, and the two were married in 1990 and divorced in 2004.

Post-Apple career

File:IWoz.jpg
Cover of Wozniak's autobiography, iWoz

Wozniak ended his full time employment with Apple for good on February 6 1987, twelve years after setting up the company. However he still remains an employee (and receives a paycheck) [4] [2] and a shareholder [5]. He also maintains connections with Steve Jobs.

Wozniak founded a new venture called C.L. 9, which developed home remote control switches, bringing the first universal remote control to market in 1987 [2].

Wozniak was able to find suppliers other than the ones he had worked with for years, but was disappointed in his friend's bitterness [2].

About this time, Wozniak became a non-religious member of the Freemasons in order to spend more time with his first wife, Alice, who was a member of the equivalent women's group, the Order of the Eastern Star [2].

Wozniak went into teaching (he taught fifth grade students) and charitable activities in the field of education. Since leaving Apple Computer, Woz has provided all the money, as well as a good amount of on-site technical support, for the technology program for his local school district [2] Un.U.Son. (Unite Us In Song), an organization Wozniak formed to organize the two U.S. Festivals, is now primarily tasked with supporting his educational and philanthropic projects [2].

Wozniak received the National Medal of Technology in 1985 from Ronald Reagan, then President of the U.S. [2].

In December 1989, he received an honorary Doctor of Engineering from the University of Colorado. [6]

In 1997, he was named a Fellow of the Computer History Museum. Wozniak was a key contributor and benefactor to San Jose's Children's Discovery Museum (the street in front of the museum has been renamed Woz Way in his honor).[1]

In September 2000, Steve Wozniak was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

In 2001, Wozniak co-founded Wheels Of Zeus (note the acronym, "WoZ"), to create wireless GPS technology to "help everyday people find everyday things". In 2002, he joined the Board of Directors of Ripcord Networks, Inc., joining Ellen Hancock, Gil Amelio, Mike Connor, and Wheels of Zeus co-founder Alex Fielding, all Apple alumni, in a new telecommunications venture. Later the same year he joined the Board of Directors of Danger, Inc., the maker of the Hip Top (a.k.a. Side Kick from T-Mobile). In May of 2004, upon nomination by Dr. Tom Miller, Wozniak received an honorary S.D. degree from North Carolina State University for his contribution to the field of personal computing.

In May 2004, Wozniak was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Kettering University, in Flint, Michigan. He also received an honorary S.D. from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology.

In 2006 Wheels of Zeus was closed, and Wozniak co-founded Acquicor Technology, a shell company for acquiring technology companies and developing them, with Apple alumni, Ellen Hancock and Gil Amelio.

In September 2006, Wozniak published his autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It. It was co-authored by writer Gina Smith.

  • An aphorism attributed to Wozniak, "Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window", is quoted in the game, Civ. IV, when players discover the "Computers" technology during single player games.
  • In the movie Camp Nowhere, Christopher Lloyd's character scams parents into sending their kids to a computer camp under the fake name of Dennis Wozniak.
  • In the anime show, Eureka 7, the ship's hacker is named Woz in homage to Steve.
  • M.C. Lars refers to Wozniak in his song "Ahab."
  • In the Sam & Max "Reality 2.0" episode, when they first encounter the C.O.P.S., Max comments that he thinks they have just stumbled upon the warehouse where Steve Wozniak makes erotic movies.
  • Wozniak stars as a parody of himself in the first episode of the TV series Code Monkeys when he is the owner of Gameavision before selling it to help fund Apple. He later appears agian in the 12th episode when he is at the Las Vegas at the annual Video Game Convention and sees Dave and Jerry.

Current activities

Wozniak is a member of a Segway Polo team, the Silicon Valley Aftershocks. They were challenged to a game by the newly formed New Zealand Pole Blacks; the match ended in a 2-2 tie, with the Woz Challenge Cup staying in Auckland. The Pole Blacks will visit the U.S. in 2007 to defend the cup.[citation needed]

Recently, he attended the FIRST National Competition in Atlanta to show off LEGO robots. [7]

Wozniak, after hearing a podcast of an interview on the Larry King Show, began dating Emmy-winning comedienne Kathy Griffin.[8] Together, they attended the 2007 Emmy Awards.[9]

Trivia

  • In 1973, Wozniak started a Dial-A-Joke line, which he says was the first in the San Francisco area, running it from his home. As he is Polish-American, he figured no one would object if he told Polish jokes, but legal threats from the Polish American Congress (P.A.C.) caused him to switch to Italian jokes for a while. He switched back only after the Polish American Congress sued Steve Allen for telling Polish jokes and lost [2].
  • He met his first wife by responding to a Dial-a-Joke call "live", as he often did for fun, saying, "I bet I can hang up faster than you" and then hanging up. She called back, they chatted, and he asked her out [10] [2].
  • Wozniak is also known as a prankster. He has been known to pay for services using a $2 note from a "pad" of money— he buys uncut sheets of bills from the U.S. Treasury and has them bound into booklets; they are fully legal tender despite their perforated edges. On one occasion, this got him into a spot of trouble at a casino in Las Vegas [11]. He also revealed in an interview with Stephen Colbert that he uses a thin/sharp metal 'business card' on airplanes (to cut food) to scare the flight attendants.[12].
  • Wozniak took an interest in laser pointers, essentially starting a nationwide trend by giving them to his friends and students, and is accordingly very knowledgeable on the subject (he possesses, quite literally, "all the colors of the rainbow") [13].
  • Wozniak often signs mail with "TV is Wakezone" or "OK a new size TV", which are anagrams of his name [14].
  • Wozniak has had a number of interesting cars. He once bought a Porsche 924 and added an aftermarket turbocharger: the installation was performed by a shop in Southern California. The car, like many modified exotic cars, was unreliable, so Wozniak gave it to Randy Wigginton and bought a Porsche 928. About that time, Porsche announced a new 924 model with a factory-installed turbocharger: the whole engine was designed to work with the turbo, and the whole car was designed to handle the increased power. Later, he bought an Acura NSX.
  • Wozniak now drives a Toyota Prius and a Hummer. He says that the two vehicles cancel each other out on an environmental level.
  • On his birth certificate, Steve's name appears as "Stephan Wozniak" due to a typographical error. His parents intended to name him "Stephen", so that is the name he uses now [2].
  • Wozniak also claims to carry $20,000 with him at all times [16].
  • Steve Wozniak appeared on the Datsun 280 Z.X. car commercial, saying what he liked about the car. [17]
  • In his book, Wozniak describes his prankster side, playing with a device called a "Blue Box" that allowed a person to make free telephone calls. He once called the Vatican introducing himself as Henry Kissinger calling on behalf of President Nixon. He said "Ve are at de summit meeting in Moscow, and we need to talk to de pope". The Vatican asked him to call back after an hour since the pope was sleeping. An hour later, he was transferred to a bishop who said "Listen, I just spoke to Mr. Kissinger an hour ago". The Vatican had checked his story and had called the real Kissinger in Moscow [18]. Another version of the story said that the Pope had insisted on speaking to Kissinger in Polish, which Wozniak did not know. This resulted in a short conversation. (In fact, the Pope spoke English) [citation needed].
  • U.C. Berkeley's Wozniak Lounge in Soda Hall is named after him.
  • Wozniak developed the initial prototype of the classic Atari game, "Breakout" in four days [2].
  • When he was 11 years old he built his own amateur radio station and got an amateur radio license.

See also

References

  1. ^ "In mid-1970, at the end of his sophomore year in high school, when he finished McCollum's electronics class, Steve was also finished with formal training in electronics. That summer he worked at Haltek and became close friends with both Wozniak and Baum, who were working as systems programmers on a nearby mainframe computer. Much of his advanced training in electronics would come at Wozniak's elbow, and the two older boys, who were both deeply involved in improving the design of the Flair pen computer of the previous year, allowed Steve to tag along as they conducted research into the stacks at the Stanford library and pored over the product literature and specifications that arrived daily at Woz's house" Steve Jobs - The Journey Is The Reward
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Wozniak, S. G.; Smith, G. (2006), iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It. W. W. Norton & Company
  3. ^ "This Week in Apple History" from The Mac Observer
  4. ^ http://www.woz.org/letters/general/53.html
  5. ^ http://www.fool.com/research/2000/features000302.htm
  6. ^ Seibold, Chris, This Day in Apple History December 28, 1989: Woz Gets Honorary Doctorate, Dish Incident Forgotten, retrieved 2007-07-31
  7. ^ Weisman, Robert. "A star who aims to spark innovation by students". Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  8. ^ Collins, Michelle. "VH1 Best Week Ever - Off The Market: Kathy Griffin Finds a New Man!". Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  9. ^ "Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Escorted Comedian Kathy Griffin & Her Potty Mouth To The Emmy's". Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  10. ^ http://www.woz.org/letters/general/04.html
  11. ^ http://www.woz.org/letters/general/78.html
  12. ^ ""Steve Wozniak vs. Stephen Colbert - and Other Pranks"". Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  13. ^ http://www.twit.tv/40
  14. ^ http://www.twit.tv/40
  15. ^ Statement made by Wozniak in an interview on Buzz Out Loud, September 15, 2006
  16. ^ Diggnation Podcast, November 09, 2006
  17. ^ Wozniak in Datsun 280z Commercial from Google Video
  18. ^ http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/15598053.htm
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