Several observers, including Christopher Bonanos and Erik Calonius, have pointed out that Steve Jobs was greatly inspired by Edwin H. Land, the inventor of instant photography and founder of Polaroid. Walter Isaacson, in his biography of Steve Jobs, quotes Jobs as saying that Land was one of his childhood heroes. A Polaroid veteran’s recent accounts detail the lessons that Jobs took from Dr. Land. These lessons would shape Apple’s culture and fuel Jobs’ determination to help that culture survive his own death.

The insights on the Jobs/Land connection were offered in a recent column at Ad Age, by Carl Johnson that is well worth reading and in subsequent conversations. Johnson should know; he learned them himself from Edwin Land when he became VP of worldwide advertising at Polaroid in the early 1980s

Read the entire article at Forbes.com.

Anticipation is building for the iPad3, with rumors flying that the next generation of Apple’s tablet has moved into production and will go on sale later this year or early next year. Whenever it arrives, the iPad3 is sure to be regarded as another masterstroke by the late Steve Jobs.

While the details of the iPad3 are shrouded in Apple’s signature secrecy, its broad shape can be easily discerned. That’s because Apple laid out an amazingly prescient vision of the iPad3 23 years ago. That earlier effort was also a marvelous example of how, even in the most disruptive domains, companies can craft articulate visions of the future.

Cue the video, and I’ll point out a few things.

Read the entire article at Forbes.com

With Steve Jobs much in the news, we thought it worthwhile to highlight an earlier entry, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish,” that gives some insight into the man.

Even the most successful executives learn from failure. We were recently reminded of Steve Job’s 2005 Stanford commencement speech, in which he “connects the dots” between several of his biggest failures, such as dropping out of college and being fired from Apple, to his greatest successes.

“Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories…”

Read the full speech. Watch it via youtube below.