iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

If you only have time for one source that gets Tech, AI, Apple, Gadgets, Douchebags and 'branding' click here -> tinyurl.com/4p89p8vh and get unlimited access to the biggest stories plus premium newsletters but TBH they had me at ad-free podcasts. @reckless.bsky.social @davidpierce.xyz

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The Apple App Store in 1979 was called the Software Bank and required buyers to provide their own blank diskette or cassette tape and pay $20 (now $92!). Reviews were published in Peelings II magazine. tinyurl.com/56zfn3um

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

OMG Jack Smith's optimism is infectious. Great interview Nicolle Wallace. @deadlinewh.bsky.social @msnowreports.bsky.social

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

@reckless.bsky.social the latest Decoder about Paramount-Warner Bros. merger was compelling and enlightening. @richgreenfield.bsky.social more like this pls.

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Gary Starkweather, inventor of the laser printer: ‘I’ll never forget Einstein’s quote “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” I think that it’s interesting because many of the failures I later saw in Xerox was a failure of imagination, not a failure of knowledge.’ books.by/john-buck/in...

John Buck Inventing the Future book Xerox PARC building

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Really enjoyed first three eps of Star City. I'm good with the decision not to speak as Russians with clipped English accents. The story telling is strong enough to make straight-up English accents dissolve away.

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

In 1989 NYT's John Markoff quoted analyst Charles Wolf - "Moses went to the mountain for the Ten Commandments, Steve Jobs went to the mountain and came back with the Macintosh. But can John Sculley go to the mountain and come back with something unique?" Did Tim Cook come back with Neo?

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

“I just read, start to finish. Could not stop once I started. Many of the stories I was familiar with from my day to day workings at Apple, but did not know how and why they ended up at Apple. All in all a very interesting read. Well done”. Don North ex-Advanced Technology Group books.by/john-buck

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Hey Canada. It’s but one game. As you know, we’re with you for the long haul. Always got your back. Regards, all Australians. @mark-carney.bsky.social

Members of the "Elope" Force sent into Northern Russia, including Australian and Canadian servicemen.

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

@cdeccleshare.bsky.social Is the Whoop vs Slams controversy more about Whoop not paying enough to Tennis Australia et al Are the "ongoing discussions" just about what number to write on the checks?

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

@mattfutterman.bsky.social I really enjoyed the AO Men's Final piece. "Which one was it?" It was the "Which one was it?"

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Rev Al Sharpton on Trump being a hollow puppet to donors. "He's not an ideologue, he's an entertainer. If he loses popularity, Trump will switch in a minute and change the concert from folk to rock. Don't give him any credit, he's Elvis not Colonel Tom Parker." @nicollewallace.bsky.social @ms.now

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

The Rev on Trump being a hollow puppet to donors. "He's not an ideologue, he's an entertainer. If he loses popularity Trump will switch in a minute and change the concert from folk to rock. Don't give him any credit, he's Elvis not Colonel Tom Parker." @karaswisher.bsky.social

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Single shots of contributors rather than 3 or 4 staring faces. Noted. Liked. Thumbs up 👍🏻 @nicollewallace.bsky.social team

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

No two Apple job interviews were the same. inventingthefuture.ghost.io/apple-interv...

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Sure the guests are great but I stay for the @nicollewallace.bsky.social one-liners like this ->aimed at the Republicans - "I don’t think they’re bending a knee (to Trump) they live on their knees." @kristygreenberg.bsky.social @repdangoldman.bsky.social

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Our Prime Minister has offered "thoughts and prayers” in the first 12 hours. Now he has brought all state governments together- 24 hours after the atrocity. They will tighten gun ownership and act on antisemitism. And drop that - “it’s the wrong time to talk about this." @maddow.bsky.social

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

If you’re into Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order, you need to listen to Billy Bragg’s Everywhere. #burnorder @maddow.bsky.social

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Larry Tesler says, “You don’t have a degree, and we don’t know where to put you” So Larry was a no, but Harry Vertelney says, 'No, no, no, he's great. He's going to do exactly what we need him to do. inventingthefuture.ghost.io/l/

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

So insightful, considered and fun. All done in the moment. Great live television. Thanks @nicollewallace.bsky.social @mollyjongfast.bsky.social 'The Rev' and @jheil.bsky.social and the Deadline WH team.

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Bring Back Bix. inventingthefuture.ghost.io/apple-connec...

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Former Head of Software Engineering at Apple, Mike Potel: "For so many of the people named in this book, Steve Jobs's leaving was a breath of fresh air. The skunkworks projects and next-generation technology efforts that were hidden away and kept secret from Steve, were now out in the open."

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Beat perfect edit by Andy Jurgensen

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

This feels like @gruber.foo take on Days of Thunder aka Days of Silence. #apple #cupertino

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Apple engineer Steve Milne recalls. Which chord to use for the Mac II boot chime. A major chord (tonic, major 3rd, fifth) has a positive, perhaps corny sound. A minor chord (tonic, minor 3rd, fifth) sounds sad. We settled on a power chord (tonic, fifth) - the most neutral. books.by/john-buck

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Bob McNinch recalls. Jobs said, 'If there's anything I can do for you, come to my office'. I did 'To make more sales in Europe we need a localized Lisa keyboard with characters like Å and Ö. "Don't worry. We're going to fix it in software". And walked away. books.by/john-buck #apple #jobs #design

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Tom Erickson notes: This was before Apple turned into a vampire ecosystem where everything tries to suck money out of people. We were on a mission. Whatever you could do to make something attractive, engaging, and understandable for people. And nothing else. books.by/john-buck #apple #HIG #design

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Jim Reekes recalls: I had a music background, and was put in Apple tech support to fix sound problems. Developers contacted us with very technical programming questions. If we couldn't answer, we'd go to the actual engineers working on the OS to find the answers. books.by/john-buck #apple

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

"Apple is in danger of looking like a laggard, not a leader. It must prove that it can introduce new technology, get it to market in a reasonable timeframe, and at a reasonable price. It has to continue to attract good work from third-party developers. We'll be waiting." InfoWorld, Oct 1990

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Jeremy Jones recalls: "What Steve Hain and I had written in a basement, was now good enough for former Xerox PARC scientists, Larry Tesler and Alan Kay, as well as Newton's Steve Capps and Steve Sakoman to tell John Sculley to buy Coral Software and create Dylan." books.by/john-buck #apple #dylan

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

Vicki Brown recalls Project Oreo: Our building was off campus and there wasn't any of the Tech-Bro culture. This was Apple, and this was Unix. And between the two of those, if you knew what you were doing, you were a member of the team, and that's all that mattered. books.by/john-buck #apple #unix

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Rod Perkins recalls ATG in '87 "We laid out what users would want from ‘Spider’, adding live audio capability gave rise to voice calls between Macs, like what we have now with Teams and FaceTime, and we saw the need to leave a Voice Message if the respondent was busy or away." books.by/john-buck

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Chris Crawford, pioneer game designer: "With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to see the Apple II's success but that wasn't clear in 79. Computer junkies bought the less expensive TRS-80 and PET. The II's color display advantage was shattered by the Atari 800's debut" books.by/john-buck

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

SuperMac’s Steve Edelman recalls Apple in 87: That Steve (Jobs) was in exile and not able to resist or even kill an expandable platform was crucial. It allowed the development of products allowing functionality over costs, coming from individuals, inside the company and outside. books.by/john-buck

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Rumor is Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig have a new book in the works. “Sharpest Bulb aka Trump 2” 😵‍💫 @carolleonnig.bsky.social

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

If the Mac was to get millions of colors, it meant someone had to turn Atkinson's QuickDraw into Color QuickDraw. @geprgec.bsky.social recalls: "Steve Jobs told me I must consult Bill Atkinson on any changes I had planned for QuickDraw. Steve held Bill in extremely high regard." Vale Bill Atkinson

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

HyperCard was ahead of its time. “I grew up in a box-centric culture at Apple. If I'd grown up in a network-centric culture, like Sun, HyperCard might have been the first Web browser. I thought everyone being connected was a pipe dream. Boy was I wrong." Vale Bill Atkinson @karaswisher.bsky.social

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Cal Hewitt recalls his start at Apple. "Steve (Jobs) was a visionary.There was a lot of ‘It's too bad that he left, what are we going to do?’ But that dissipated. It allowed a bunch of smart people to try ideas that they may not otherwise have been able to try - and flourish." books.by/john-buck

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 01/06/2025

If Mark Gurman's OS26 "scoop" turns out to be b/s, I think Apple will have a decent idea who his sources are.

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Former Apple scientist David Gessell: "The Advanced Technology group was the perihelion of pure research when so much was invented that still makes our lives work. The DNA of those inventions persists in today’s computers, UX models, and even in the hardware and code." books.by/john-buck

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Gotta love an economics prof who explains the impact of Trump tariff's clearly and quickly, and saves time to plug Australian wine on MSNBC :-) More please @justinwolfers.bsky.social @chrislhayes.bsky.social @allinwithchris.bsky.social

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

Apple scientist Jean-Charles Mourey recalls the Advanced Technology Group: "It was like walking around James Bond's gadget lab. So many smart, innovative people with grand ideas, doing important work, that we believed could change the world. My friends thought I was in a cult." books.by/john-buck

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Eric Hoffert recalls: Steve Jobs got word of my decision. My phone rang. 'Hello' 'Hi, it's Steve' 'Oh. Hi, Steve' 'You're making the stupidest move of your career. Apple's big, fat, and slow moving. We have all the best people here at NeXT. You need to rescind your Apple offer.' books.by/john-buck

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Long time listener, first time caller. Did NYT pitch the headline "How Kara Swisher Scaled Even Higher" before or after they took the non-metaphorically scaling photo? 2nd -shouldn't you be in a harness ;-) 3rd -scaling a pile of literal cash. @karaswisher.bsky.social @profgalloway.com

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John Buck @hellojohnbuck.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Charlie Bedard ran Project Rosebud inside Apple. ‘How we get the user to generate a query, find results they like and say to the device - more like this? How do you teach your Mac to think? We were trying to create a compelling USP to have a Macintosh. books.by/john-buck

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