When we talk about Apple, we all think Steve Jobs. But the late computer genius did not do it alone as he got help from a man ho knew all there was to know about all things tech as well. That man is Steve Wozniak. To know about this American inventor, electronics engineer, programmer, philanthropist, and technology entrepreneur who co-founded Apple, here are 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Steve Wozniak:
1. His Dad Was A Major Influence
He possessed a Ham Radio license in the 6th grade and got influenced by his dad who was in the electronics field. His dad actually gave him foundation knowledge of electronic components.
2. He Was A Prankster
He once revealed that he was on probation for “computer abuse,” because he was the brain behind lots of pranks, a pastime shared by Steve Jobs himself.
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Together, they came up with the first digital “blue box” that aided them to make toll-free phone calls illegally. Jobs touched on it in an interview when he said, “if we hadn’t built blue boxes, there would have been no Apple.”
3. He Is A Member Of A Fraternal Organisations
He is a sworn member of the Freemasons. Freemasons are fraternal organizations that trace their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients.
4. His Apple I Invention Earned Him An Award
Steve Wozniak is a Fellow Awards Recipient at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. He achieved this for his “invention of the first single-board microprocessor-based microcomputer, the Apple I.”
5. He Lost His Memory
Steve had a total memory loss after a minimal plane crash. He failed to remember the crash and also day-to-day events. He thanked the power of using logical thought processes for correcting his memory issues.
6. He Dated Comedian, Kathy Griffin
Steve Wozniak dated popular comedian Kathy Griffin. Their love life was actually documented on her reality show, “My Life on the D-List.”
7. He Is An Athlete
Steve plays on a Segway polo team, the Silicon Valley Aftershocks. Segway polo is currently an international sport, ruled by the International Segway Polo Association (ISPA).
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There’s even a yearly Woz Challenge Cup, a four-day tournament named after the Apple co-founder himself.
8. He Is A DropOut
The computer genius dropped out of UC Berkeley in the 1970s but went back over ten years later to enroll under a new name, Rocky Clark.
9. He Owns A Foundation
Steve is the founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This organization is all for defending free speech, privacy, and consumer rights.
10. He Got Inducted Into Inventors Hall Of Fame
He was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame 19 years ago.
11. He Is Not A Fan Of The Movie “Jobs.”
Steve Wozniak loved and respected his late pal, Steve Jobs. When the movie celebrating Jobs’ life was released though, Wozniak revealed that he wanted little to do with it. Woz was not happy with the movie’s inaccuracies, describing it as “awful and atrocious.”
12. He Said Apple Did Not Start In A Garage
He said the reports that Apple began in a garage is a myth as no real work was done there. His words, “We did no designs there, no breadboarding, no prototyping, no planning of products. We did no manufacturing there.
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The garage didn’t serve many purposes, except it was something for us to feel was our home. We had no money. You have to work out of your home when you have no money.”
13. He Likes Google/Android
Even if Steve Wozniak is an Apple man, he is not hostile to his company’s main competition, Google/Android. In fact, he is of the opinion that both companies should work together.
He said, “Sometimes I say ‘Go to Joe’s Diner’ and [Siri] doesn’t know where Joe’s Diner is. And very often usually I find out that Android does,” “I wish to God that Apple and Google were partners in the future,” “I believe you should have a world where you’ve got to license something at a fair price. There are good things I see on Samsung phones that I wish were on my iPhone. I wish Apple would use them and could use them, and I don’t know if Samsung would stop us.”
14. He Does Not Like AI
He is not a fan of Artificial Intelligence. He feels the A is fine but he does not like the I. He said, “That implies thinking, and we don’t know a thing about how the brain is structured. Are computers going to be something to be feared, taking over from mankind? Not a prayer.”
15. He Loves Siri
Before Apple bought Siri, Steve Wozniak revealed that he has loved Siri for a very long time. His words, “I loved Siri for years. I could ask it: ‘What are the five largest lakes in California?’ and get an answer. That’s hard to do any other way on the Internet. Then, Apple bought it and now, if you ask that, it gives you a list of lakeside real estate developers.”
16. He Feels Steve Jobs Would Be Proud Of Apple Today
He believes late Steve Jobs, who died from cancer, will be super pleased with Apple today. He said all phone companies nowadays actually copy Apple. His words, “I believe that he (Jobs) would be very happy with the company today as its concern more with end users and putting people above technology. Steve always acted that way.”
17. He Loves prank calls
He once prank-called the Vatican and pretended to be the Henry Kissinger. He said, “We were doing a demo of a blue box in a dorm room. I called Italy, then asked for Rome, then asked for the Vatican.
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I told them I was Henry Kissinger calling from a summit meeting in Moscow. It was 5:30 in the morning in Italy. They told me to call back in an hour. I did, and I spoke to a bishop who said he had just spoken to Henry Kissinger in Moscow.”
18. He And Jobs Have Been Robbed Before
He and Jobs got robbed once. He shared that it was in a pizza parlor when they used to sell the blue box i discussed earlier. The guys, who they thought were potential customers, turned out to be thieves who wanted the product without paying anything, they eventually got robbed and the guys went away without paying.
19. He Does Not See Himself Leading
Steve Wozniak does not see himself as a leader and felt Steve Jobs was the right person to run the company. He said, “Steve had a background working in computer stores buying stuff cheap and selling it for a lot more. I was shocked when he told me how you could buy something for 6 cents knowing he could sell it for 60 bucks. He felt that was normal and right, and I sort of didn’t. How could you do that? I was not for ripping people off…I never wanted money. I would have been a bad person to run a company. I wanted to be a nice guy.”
20. He Said Steve Jobs Played No Role In Apple I and Apple II
Steve Wozniak once said Steve Jobs does no known technology and he had no hand in the design in any of the designs of the Apple I and Apple II computer, printer interfaces, serial interfaces, and floppy disks. He revealed that those were his changes. He said, “Steve Jobs played no role at all in any of my designs of the Apple I and Apple II computer and printer interfaces and serial interfaces and floppy disks and stuff that I made to enhance the computers. He did not know technology. He’d never designed anything as a hardware engineer, and he didn’t know software. He wanted to be important, and the important people are always the business people. So that’s what he wanted to do.”
Hope you found these facts about Steve Wozniak, to be interesting. If you have more interesting facts about him, feel free to share it in the comment box below.