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I always found this picture of Steve Jobs in his home office fascinating (numericcitizen.me)
37 points by speckx 18 days ago | hide | past | favorite | 32 comments



Genelec is a speaker brand isn't?

(Something like this https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachmen...)


Yup. The second “mystery” object is definitely a speaker. As for the mini Mac Pro… my guess is it’s a scale model for that particular design refresh.


Yes. Some of the best active (studio) speakers available.



Its a genelec 1029a, I think.


To answer the post's questions:

1. The tiny "Mac Pro" is a scaled-down mock up of the Power Macintosh G5, which was the Mac Pro of it's time. There's a video of Jobs showing it off somewhere. Or maybe it was in the Isaacson book and my memory is too vivid. Anyway, it's not a computer, let alone a functional one.

2. The "UPS" is an older Genelec audio speaker. One cable is for AC power and the other cable is for audio. It has the Genelec logo on the back. There are other photos of Jobs' office from the other side that show it's clearly a speaker. And there's another speaker on the other side of his monitor, close to the wall.

3. On the bookshelf are various tinctures and aromatherapy bottles. This has been mentioned somewhere -- probably the Isaacson book, again. Jobs was really into homeopathic medicine.

4. Bonus answer: The little cylinder mounted at the top of Jobs' monitor is an iSight camera, which was ahead of it's time. It had really good video quality and plugged into the Firewire port on the Mac. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISight

Edit: grammar.


The iSight has a really cool shutter you can close.


Just like people holding box-like things to their ear in photos from 1910 are not showing someone with an early iPhone, things in Jobs' office from long ago are not always Vision Pro cameras or whatever.

We're just projecting.


That "mini Mac Pro" thing (next to the Genelec speaker) could also be an external drive bay -- Macsales/OWS sold a silver one for years IIRC -- they now sell an SSD version of it that's not silver anymore: https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/TB3F81S128/ -- and I think the form factor may have shifted a bit.


It's a studio monitor speaker. It's hard to see at first glance, but the manufacturer (Genelec) is printed on the back of it. There are other photos of his office from the other side and it's clearly a speaker.

I feel like this blog post author could've Googled all the answers to his questions in only a few minutes.


Not the big box, mini Mac Pro thing next to it. Might just be a scale model.


I misread. Yep, that's an non-operable scale model "sculpture" of a Power Mac G5.


Nobody seems to mention there are no cables. It's a g5 model.

I don't think (personality-wise) he would have a non-apple look-alike device on his desk.


I would wager that the little bottles of liquid are tinctures.


Yeah seems like related to homeopathic medicine (aromatherapy or essential oils or tinctures)


I was thinking ink. Steve's love of calligraphy is why we have fonts.



Not to mention that... If Thomas Edison didn't invite the light bulb, we'd all go to bed at sundown! (sarcasm, obviously)


the mini power mac is just a scale model, nothing functional

the other thing is a speaker, you can see the other one in a different angle

https://web.archive.org/web/20150415020308/http://successsto...


So the thing I find most interesting is how "cluttered" his office appears to be. Like it looks a lot like my cluttered office. (I have no room to judge). I'm not a big Steve Jobs superfan or anything, but his public persona was always so groomed his (and Apple's) brand is always so curated, I kind of half thought his office would reflect that. But hey, I'm glad to see he worked in an office that was just as cluttered as mine!


Like it looks a lot like my cluttered office

Yep - I had the same "hey, that's my office" reaction as well.

And an interesting the counterpoint it is to the minimalist aesthete meme that gets continually repeated at us ("He curated his own life, choosing to live in an empty space with just a few exquisite things—a Tiffany lamp, a custom-assembled stereo system"[0]).

I guess that "curated life" thing was just a phase he went through.

[0] https://stevejobsarchive.com/exhibits/objects-of-our-life


The device on the left is a studio monitor (speaker), probably there's a near-identical one on the left side of his display.

The other one I'd think is a scale model of a Power Mac G5. It matches the general layout but it's too small to be a real one. It's also not connected to anything, and I think it's being used as a bookstand.


It would also appear that the mini Mac Pro isn't connected to anything, so it's probably just a scale model?


This reddit thread seems to agree.

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/s/6c6HKjhu11


He was likely test-driving early versions of Apple products


> in the left segment of the bookshelf, there are many small bottles of liquid drops. What were they for?

They look like homeopathic liquids to me, which was something he was into.


His failure to treat cancer with scientifically tested methods is probably why he is dead.


From what I understand, even with the best science had to offer at the time, the odds still weren’t good. Definitely didn’t help ignoring science though.


You mean Steve was doing remote work? I thought that wasn’t possible to do.


iChat had video calling way way back. And I worked at Apple (briefly) during Steve's time, we all used iChat for everything work related, where people would use Slack, IRC, Teams etc now.


IRC? I'd be amazed if that was used at Apple at this time.


It's not possible for the simple minds of peon workers. For ubermensch executives it's well within their ability.




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