Now in Halls of Power: Jeans

Asia provides workers, flexibility that US can't match

(NEWSER) - Last year, President Obama asked Steve Jobs whether iPhones could be made in the US instead of Asia. Jobs was blunt: “Those jobs aren’t coming back." The New York Times takes a long look at why. In short, Asia has a surplus of engineers and factory workers who work cheaply in flexible companies—so flexible that one reportedly roused thousands of workers at midnight to produce redesigned iPhones on a massive scale. Says a former White House adviser: “If it’s the pinnacle of capitalism, we should be worried.” More»

Called Android 'stolen product'

(NEWSER) - Steve Jobs was furious over what he called Google’s “grand theft” of Apple ideas, and he didn’t mince words about it, the Huffington Post reports. “I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this,” he says in Walter Isaacson’s biography , discussing Apple’s patent lawsuit against HTC, which by extension fingered Android. "Our lawsuit is saying, 'Google you f---ing ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off," Jobs said. "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product." More»

It began when employees rejected his idea for a company vest: Biography

(NEWSER) - Steve Jobs considered his signature style of black turtleneck and blue jeans to be a sort of personal uniform—which came to be because Apple employees rejected his idea for a company-wide uniform. Gawker has excerpts from the upcoming Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson that explains the back story. It begins when Jobs, inspired by Sony, suggested that all workers wear a nylon vest made by designer Issey Miyake. More»

Politicians mourn Apple founder

(NEWSER) - The death of Steve Jobs has brought tribute from politicians from across America, many of whom compare Jobs to the greatest geniuses in American history, Politico reports.

• President Obama: "The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented."
• Michael Bloomberg: "Tonight, America lost a genius who will be remembered with Edison and Einstein, and whose ideas will shape the world for generations to come. Again and again over the last four decades, Steve Jobs saw the future and brought it to life long before most people could even see the horizon."

One big reason: They're made in America

(NEWSER) - Ever wondered how a pair of jeans, even great-looking ones, could possibly cost $300 or more? The Wall Street Journal has the answer—and in large part, it’s because the fancy pants were made in America, writes Christina Binkley. If a pair of $300 True Religion jeans had been made in China, they’d cost you more like $40, says that company’s head. Plus, expensive “premium jeans” require input from a range of people, from seamstresses to button makers to wholesalers. More»