Mike OConnor

Software developer. I bought a one-transistor radio in the early 60s. Now, my wristwatch has over five billion transistors.

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@RealEmirHan Rosebud

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@TheOnlyJQuon @kyledcheney Without the book, of course. Maybe she could hold some missles.

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@MollyJongFast Isn’t that a line from Shakespeare In Love?

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@glenn_tunes Windmills only seem worse because the unfortunate animals all fall in the same spot, whereas those hit by cars are very widely disbursed, so you only see one or two here and there

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@TheFungi669 Easy. Our king can just roll out of bed, sit on his ringside throne, and watch. This saves whole gallons of gas on those big motorcades!

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@kat_maryb All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@coffeetabletsla @wholemars When you put up the weather map, turn the map so north is up

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@wholemars I didn’t get this one yet. Did you know the setting to soften the radio in reverse is ignored?

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@AlexTran677026 My fav? Top of the world, Ma!

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@DevinOlsenn The summer update is early this year!

[Whole Mars Catalog @wholemars]

soon

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@DevinOlsenn @Tesla_AI I think that is safety related. Another thing I expect is you will not be able to tell Grok to start Self Driving, it’ll need some physical action

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@Kidneypunch2025 @Tesla_AI @BLKMDL3 I want to tell it to drop me off at the current destination, then go to the next destination if there is one, otherwise be a robotaxi if that is set, otherwise go park yourself nearby. Come when summoned.

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@MingNa Love her voice. One of my favs is… FF The Sprits Within!

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@realphilhendrie Surprised he didn’t drop buckets of shit on the crowd

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@SawyerMerritt I always leave voice notes so will keep at it. Instead of tapping “navigation” isn’t it better to say “didn’t get into the turn lane”?

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@DevinOlsenn Either they need a button that says “this was nothing”, or make it dismissible. I just felt like driving right now

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@Kawa15504309 @BastiUi It really should. Maybe they went a little overboard back then, but it’s a good idea, makes the computer more intuitive and less intimidating

[Jaynit @jaynitx]

In 1997, Steve Jobs came back to Apple and canceled 70% of the product line.

The engineers whose projects just died?

Three feet off the ground with excitement.

“They finally understood where in the heck we were going.”

He spent 20 minutes explaining how he was going to bring Apple back:

On focus:

"We looked at the product road map going out for a few years and said a lot of this doesn't make sense."

"There's way too much stuff and not enough focus."

"We got rid of 70% of the stuff on the product road map."

"You're going to see the product line get much simpler. And you're going to see the product line get much better."

On inventory:

"We've got two to three months of inventory in our manufacturing pipeline. And about an equal amount in our distribution pipeline."

"So we're having to make guesses four, five, six months in advance about what the customer wants."

"We're not smart enough to do that. I don't think Einstein's smart enough to do that."

"So we're going to get really simple. Take inventory out of those pipelines. Let the customer tell us what they want. And respond to it super fast."

On marketing:

"To me, marketing is about values."

"This is a very complicated world. A very noisy world. We're not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is."

"So we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us."

On brand neglect:

"Apple is one of the half dozen best brands in the whole world. Right up there with Nike, Disney, Coke, Sony."

"But even a great brand needs investment and caring if it's going to retain its relevance and vitality."

"The Apple brand has clearly suffered from neglect in the last few years."

On what not to do:

"The way to bring it back is not to talk about speeds and feeds. Not to talk about megahertz. Not to talk about why we're better than Windows."

"The dairy industry tried for 20 years to convince you that milk was good for you. It's a lie. But they tried anyway."

"Sales were going like this." [Down]

"Then they tried 'Got Milk.' Sales went like this." [Up]

"Got Milk doesn't even talk about the product. It focuses on the absence of the product."

On Nike:

"The best example of all. One of the greatest jobs of marketing the universe has ever seen is Nike."

"Nike sells a commodity. They sell shoes. Yet when you think of Nike, you feel something different than a shoe company."

"In their ads, they don't ever talk about the product. They honor great athletes. That's who they are."

On Apple's identity:

"Our customers want to know: who is Apple? What do we stand for?"

"What we're about isn't making boxes for people to get their jobs done."

"Apple at its core is that we believe people with passion can change the world for the better."

"Those people crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that actually do."

On death:

"For 33 years, I've looked in the mirror every morning and asked: if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I'm about to do today?"

"Whenever the answer has been no for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something."

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life."

"Almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death."

"You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

On time:

"Your time is limited. So don't waste it living someone else's life."

"Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking."

"Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."

"Everything else is secondary."

"Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

[Mike OConnor @lepton]

@Deandawiz Say “goodbye”