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Apple co-founder still looking for next big thing

Michael Liedtke

AP – Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has remained immersed in technology while also pursuing divergent interests since his 1985 departure from the revolutionary company he started with the late Steve Jobs.

Wozniak’s side projects have included competing on Dancing With The Stars in 2009 and a guest appearance on Big Bang Theory during its fourth season. Now he is participating in an online video show called Unicorn Hunters that assesses ideas from entrepreneurs vying to build startups potentially worth USD1 billion or more. Wozniak sits on a panel of judges that includes former United States (US) Treasurer Rosie Rios and NSYNC singer Lance Bass.

Wozniak, 71, plans to return for a second season of Unicorn Hunters. He recently discussed the show and technology landscape with The Associated Press.

Q: What attracted you to Unicorn Hunters?
A: I am kind of surprised because I am not really in the financial community as much as the technical community, but the call really came from a good friend that I trust a lot. And she’s a good producer that even got me on Dancing With The Stars, one of the most fun things you could ever do. What intrigues me (about Unicorn Hunters) are the interesting new things that other people don’t even know about.

Q: What do you think of the current state in technology?
A: I think a lot has been going on that really enhances your life. Over the last decade, look at the Internet of things, the cameras we put in our house, the Ring doorbells, the different locking systems, and controlling your lights, and speaking to the personal assistants like Siri or Alexa.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. PHOTO: AP

Q: Do you think the recent conviction of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes will change the culture of Silicon Valley?
A: I am not so much totally down on her, like she is a criminal. I never have been. I thought when you start up a company, and you are out there trying to do something good, and maybe you run into technical difficulties, sometimes the impossible turns out to be impossible. And I could understand how she would have to start just kind of covering it up just to keep the company going to have a chance to do some good. And I can see it from that angle. It’s not right to deceive and lie knowingly. But I think she was really just trying to do something good. If she was motivated too much by money, then she’s not my type.

To get the passion, the drive, the idea should do so much good for the world, and it should not be driven by money. Too many people just think, “I will get into this entrepreneurship thing and once I start one company, I can afford a house in San Francisco, (then) I will do my next company and my next company.” And it’s just a formula to make money. I don’t like that, that’s not the way I was.

Q: Did you and Steve Jobs ever feel like you had to stretch the truth during Apple’s early days?
A: No. Everything was gold and our Apple II computer (released in 1977) was so far ahead of the competition in years that we had no worry. We were so far ahead of what other people were trying to do, they were trying to do something I had already done five years before.

Q: How do you assess the startup pitches on Unicorn Hunters?
A: I try to think, when you are judging them, “What if Apple was up there making a pitch in the earliest days?”

And it would seem, “So, whoa, this idea will go somewhere,” but the big computer companies don’t even really believe in it.

How would you spot those Apples when they are right in front of you?

Q: What do you think are the most interesting trends in technology?
A: There is always the latest fad. The Internet of things was a big fad, and turned out a lot of great companies. And then they kind of consolidated. I like it when it’s open to investment, when it’s open to all kinds of people with great ideas, just out of universities and want to have a startup. I am interested in that.

Jaguar Land Rover commits to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

Jaguar Land Rover has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its operations by 46 per cent by 2030. The company will also cut average vehicle emissions across its value chains by 54 per cent, including a 60-per-cent reduction throughout the use phase of its vehicles.

The goals, approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), confirmed the company’s pathway to a 1.5 degrees Celsius emissions reduction in line with the Paris Agreement. The commitment by Jaguar Land Rover meets the most ambitious goal set in Paris.

By the end of the decade, Jaguar Land Rover will reduce its direct greenhouse gas emissions across vehicle manufacture and operations by 46 per cent in absolute value compared to a 2019 baseline. The company has also committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions per vehicle by an average of 54 per cent across the entire value chain, including a reduction of 60 per cent in the vehicle use phase.

The targets represent Jaguar Land Rover’s commitment to 2030, followed by a second-decade ambition for net zero emissions across supply chain, product, and operations by 2039, as part of its reimagine strategy. To achieve this, the company will decarbonise across design and materials, manufacturing operations, supply chain, electrification, battery strategy, circular economy processes, and up to end-of-life treatment.

To support its mission, Jaguar Land Rover has introduced the new role of Sustainability Director, appointing Rossella Cardone to drive its transformation and support Executive Director, Strategy and Sustainability François Dossa.

“Sustainability sits at the core of our Reimagine strategy, with the aim to achieve net carbon zero by 2039, as the creator of the world’s most desirable modern luxury vehicles,” said Director Rossella. “As we move from climate ambition into action, we are now embedding sustainability into the Jaguar Land Rover DNA to minimise our carbon footprint across our value chain. Science-based targets tell us how much and how quickly we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as well as keeping stakeholders informed about our progress.”

Meanwhile, , Managing Director Alberto Carrillo Pineda of Science Based Targets at CDP, one of the Science Based Targets initiative partners, said, “We congratulate Jaguar Land Rover on setting science-based targets consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement. By setting ambitious science-based targets grounded in climate science, Jaguar Land Rover is taking action to prevent the most damaging effects of climate change.”

Jaguar Land Rover first announced its commitment to the SBTi as part of its support for COP26, the climate change summit held in November 2021.

A Jaguar Land Rover vehicle. PHOTO: JAGUAR LAND ROVER

The perfect solution for Hari Raya cleaning tasks

For far too long, we’ve been watching nature take over stone walls in the garden or the natural stone bases of houses, covering them with a layer of moss, lichen and organic matter.

What might be romantic on the ruins of a castle can look rather scruffy in a more residential context. And that’s not all: mossy surfaces pose a high risk of slipping. As such, there is no escaping inevitable regular cleaning.

Most natural dirt can be quickly removed with a high-pressure cleaner. Kärcher pressure cleaner provides 50 times more cleaning power than manual cleaning.

This involves using water alone, fired in a concentrated jet.

As well as the extremely high cleaning performance, this also saves water, because while around 3,500 litres flow through a garden hose every hour, Kärcher K3 Deluxe Premium High Pressure Cleaner uses maximum 380 litres.

The saving effect is compounded since the high water pressure speeds up the work.

As moss and lichen are very stubborn and difficult to remove from surface pores, a rotation nozzle could be used. With Kärcher, this is the dirt blaster, included as a standard accessory with K3 Deluxe Premium. This uses the cleaning power of a concentrated point jet that rotates at high speed on the surface being cleaned. This allows stubborn layers of organic matter to be removed very efficiently.

Kärcher is the world’s leading manufacturer of cleaning equipment. Each Kärcher product features German precision engineering and attention to detail, resulting in a quality and reliable machine to meet your cleaning needs.

Discover the world of Kärcher’s cleaning equipment at Chemiland branches by calling 3330173 (Kuala Belait Headquarters) or 2267488 (Kiulap branch) for information.

 

Five workers freed in Nigeria after Cameroon kidnap: MSF

LIBREVILLE (AFP) – The French medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said yesterday five employees kidnapped more than a month ago in troubled northern Cameroon had been released in neighbouring Nigeria.

The five, seized on February 24 at Fotokol, a border area that frequently suffers extremist attacks, have been taken to a “safe place”, MSF told AFP.

“We are pleased to have our colleagues back safe and sound,” MSF’s chief executive, Stephen Cornish, said in an email to AFP.

The five comprise three aid workers with Chadian, Senegalese and French-Ivorian nationalities, and two Cameroonian security guards.

They were seized by armed men who entered a building used by the charity.

Formula 1 returns to Vegas after four-decade absence

CNA – Las Vegas will host a night-time Formula 1 (F1) Grand Prix along its iconic Strip in 2023 with the sport’s top official describing the event as “an incredible moment”.

The race returns to the city for the first time since 1982 and will become the third Grand Prix in the United States (US) on next year’s F1 calendar, alongside Miami and Austin.

“This is an incredible moment for Formula 1 that demonstrates the huge appeal and growth of our sport with a third race in the US,” said Stefano Domenicali, the president of F1.

“Las Vegas is a destination known around the world for its excitement, hospitality, thrills, and of course, the famous Strip. There is no better place for F1 to race than in the global entertainment capital of the world.”

The race will take place at night, on a Saturday in November.

A screen show Charles Leclerc driving a Ferrari, during a news conference announcing a 2023 Formula One Grand Prix auto race to be held in Las Vegas. PHOTO: AP

The track will be 3.8 miles long from start to finish with top speeds estimated to be over 212 mph.

It will take in the city’s most famous landmarks, hotels and casinos.

There will be 50 laps with three main straights and 14 corners, including a high-speed cornering sequence and a single chicane section.

“Iconic Las Vegas and Formula 1, the pinnacle of motorsport, is the perfect marriage of speed and glamour,” said Greg Maffei, president of F1’s owners Liberty Media. Las Vegas twice hosted F1 races in 1981 and 1982 on the car park of Caesar’s Palace after Watkins Glen in upstate New York lost its rights after two decades.

The Miami Grand Prix debuts this year on May 8 while the US Grand Prix takes place at Austin, Texas on October 23.

The famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway previously played host to the US Grand Prix between 2000 and 2007.

This year will be the first time since Dallas and Detroit in 1984 that the US has staged two races.

Capacity for gatherings at 300, says minister

Izah Azahari

Mass gatherings are now permitted at up to 300 people at public premises including halls and restaurants, or the maximum capacity a given venue, whichever is the lesser number starting today.

The announcement was made by Minister of Home Affairs Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong at the daily press conference yesterday with the consent of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.

“The maximum capacity of public premises is subject to physical distancing of at least one metre between tables in restaurants, or one metre between chairs for other mass gathering events,” said the minister.

Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Haji Awang Abu Bakar also said the capacity for mass gatherings in home residences remains at a maximum of 30 people, excluding the host.

“The COVID-19 Steering Committee also wishes to remind the public, particularly owners of restaurants and eateries, that preparation of food in the form of buffet in restaurants or home residences is still not permitted,” the minister added.

He went on to say that the updated guidelines are subject to changes made by the COVID-19 Steering Committee from time to time, and further information as well as details can be found on the Prime Minister’s Office website at www.jpm.gov.bn.

No pets left behind

LVIV, UKRAINE (AFP) – At the ‘Home for Rescued Animals’ in the city of Lviv, exotic creatures are now sheltered alongside everyday pets – those left behind in the rush of refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A milky-eyed wolf prowls in its enclosure. Boris the goat bathes his bedraggled face in the spring sunshine. A parliament of owls peers out from the perches of their shaded roost.

In a side building around a dozen cats from Kyiv are lodged. Dogs yowl from an industrial barn, courting volunteers arriving to walk them round nearby parkland.

“Migrants who come from Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv and go abroad via Lviv leave animals en masse,” said 24-year-old shelter manager Orest Zalypskyy.

His hilltop sanctuary in the 13th Century city of Lviv was once a “haven” reserved for exotic animals, he said.

“This war has made us more engaged.”

The United Nations (UN) estimates more than 3.7 million Ukrainians have fled the country since the war began a month ago.

A girl strokes a cat in the ‘Home for Rescued Animals’ shelter in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. PHOTOS: AFP
Dogs at the ‘Home for Rescued Animals’ shelter

More than two million of those crossed the border to Poland, where AFP has witnessed droves of animal lovers ferrying dogs, cats, parrots and turtles to safety.

Lviv – just 70 kilometres from the border – has been the final stopover on Ukrainian soil for many making the journey out of the war zone.

Some soon-to-be refugees felt unable to take their pets further.

Zalypskyy estimates his shelter has taken in 1,500 animals since the war began, from migrants and shelters in “hot spots” to the east.

Between 10 and 20 were collected from Lviv’s train station – the locus of chaos in the first days of the war, where carriages and platforms heaved with desperate passengers.

“There’s been no system,” said Zalypskyy. “We just have many volunteers who head out and fetch them.”

One dog from a war-torn region in the east did not leave its pen for two weeks. A cat abandoned by its owner of seven years is distraught.

“We are all bitten and scratched,” said Zalypskyy of his volunteer teams. “The animals are very stressed.”

However the animals left here do not languish. Around 200 have been adopted by the locals of Lviv, while most of the rest are taken onwards by volunteers to Germany, Latvia and Lithuania.

There are currently no cats available for adoption – they are all bound for Poland.

By noon Zalypskyy has already signed his third set of dog adoption paperwork for the day.

Meanwhile the shelter is inundated with couples, friends and families arriving to borrow dogs for a weekend stroll.

“Ukrainians really adore animals,” said 36-year-old Kateryna Chernikova. “It’s just in the DNA.”

With her husband Ihor, 36, and four-year-old daughter Solomiia, Chernikova fled Kyiv a week before war broke out. The young family plus their two guinea pigs Apelsynka and Lymonadka (Orange and Lemonade) – now live in the relative safety of Lviv, which has been largely untouched by violence.

On a Saturday morning they leashed a pair of boisterous hunting dogs and set out through the shelter gates, under a fluttering Ukrainian flag.

“We’re not in the war conditions itself, but it’s psychologically very hard,” said Chernikova.

“When you have a walk with a dog, it just feels as if you’re living a normal life.”

Peru won’t free Fujimori at request of regional rights court

LIMA, PERU (AP) – Peruvian authorities said on Wednesday they will comply with a request from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to not release former President Alberto Fujimori from prison until it can examine the case.

The move came almost two weeks after Peru’s Constitutional Court issued a controversial order that Fujimori be freed from the prison where he is serving a 25-year sentence for murder and corruption charges.

Special prosecutor Carlos Reaño confirmed to The Associated Press that officials would keep Fujimori in detention because of the regional court’s request. Supporters of Fujimori have gathered outside prison hoping to see his release, while those opposed to letting him out have protested in downtown Lima.

The Constitutional Court’s decision restored a humanitarian pardon granted to the 83-year-old Fujimori on Christmas Eve in 2017 by then President Pablo Kuczynski.

The country’s Supreme Court overturned the medical pardon in 2018 and ordered the former strongman returned to prison to serve out his sentence for human rights abuses.

Looking forward to Ramadhan treats

Aqilah Rahman

After a long day of fasting, it’s only natural to look forward to breaking the fast especially with our loved ones. Whether you’re looking for a quick takeout or a buffet, there are plenty of choices in Brunei that you can treat yourself to if you don’t feel like cooking at home.

During Ramadhan, you can expect to see a number of food stalls up and running a few hours before it’s time for sungkai, offering a wide range of freshly cooked street food to satisfy your cravings. Follow the waft of smoke and there will be plenty of all-time favorites such as cucur pisang, roti john and grilled chicken skewers. Make sure to set enough time if you’re planning to look around so you can get home in time for sungkai.

If you’re in the mood for a buffet, look out for the hotels and restaurants offering special Ramadhan deals on social media. Some of them might offer different menus depending on the day so it’s a good idea to check in advance. Once you’ve decided on the menu, make a reservation and arrive early so you can find yourself a parking spot at ease.

When it’s time for sungkai, it’s easy to overestimate our appetite especially after an entire day of not eating and drinking. If you’re breaking the fast at a restaurant you’ve never been to, start off with a small portion of various food choices. Chances are, only some of them would make you want to go for seconds. Keep your portion size reasonable, eat slowly and avoid wasting food. Similarly, avoid buying too much food.

The public should also practice social distancing at all times in accordance with the Ministry of Health guidelines.

A man grilling satay. PHOTO: MOHD FIKRI BIN HAJI SALLEH

FIFA heads for record USD7B revenues

DOHA (AFP) – FIFA is on target to reap record revenues of USD7 billion on the back of this year’s Qatar World Cup, president Gianni Infantino said yesterday as experts predicted a long-term financial boom for football.

Infantino told the annual congress of the sport’s world governing body that FIFA’s finances were “great” and that it would beat its target of making USD6.4 billion in the four years up to 2022 by USD600 million.

The governing body has seen revenues from television, sponsors and marketing take off despite past scandals and the coronavirus pandemic when spectators have turned more to television screens and other new platforms.

FIFA said in its accounts that it expects “television broadcasting rights to have set a new record” by the time of the World Cup final on December 18.

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Borneo Bulletin is the leading English daily in the country. It was first published by Brunei Press. Today, Borneo Bulletin has become the foremost source of information on local and foreign affairs, and the region’s business news.

© 2013 Borneo Bulletin Online - The Independent Newspaper in Brunei Darussalam, Sabah and Sarawak

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