Two
great minds, one interest. Two important men, one
invention. Two close friends, one story. The story of
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
Steven was born On
February 4, 1955. He was then adopted by Paul and
Clara Jobs. His father had many "jobs," (Ha ha! Get
it? Jobs, has many jobs!), so his family moved a lot.
As a young man, Steven put his interests to work in
many ways, including working for
Hewlett-Packard.
He learned a lot
from his neighbor. His neighbor made a microphone.
Steve was so interested he cornered this neighbor and
asked him questions until he understood. His neighbor
was so fascinated with such a young mind being
interested in electronics, he taught Steven all he
knew.
Stephen Wozniak, or
"Woz", was five years older than Steve. He loved to
make crazy gadgets. He showed Steve many of his
gadgets.
When Steve and Woz
were a little older, and more advanced in electronics,
they would play practical jokes. Here's their most
famous one. There was something called a "blue box."
Crooks used to get free phone calls by breaking into
the phone company's system. After long hard hours,
Steve and Woz had invented their own blue box, which
they sold to many people.
They weren't famous
for inventing the blue box, but they invented a
computer called the ready-made PC. PC stands for
personal computer. They called their first computer
the Apple I.
There were two main
reasons it was invented. It was invented to "wow" or
shock Steve and Woz's friends. The other reason was
just plain fun. It was invented for computer games,
especially an arcade game called "Breakout." In the
game you used a paddle and ball to knock out bricks.
This computer was made with speakers and a color
code.
Their system made
it cheaper and easier for people, other than computer
specialists, to have a computer. Their company, Apple
Computer, became successful and they created a new
computer called the Apple II. Soon businesses,
families, and schools were using the Apple
II.
Apple was extremely
successful in sales, until IBM made things very
difficult for them. IBM made their own PC. Apple sales
dropped tremendously. Apple needed a new plan. That's
when Apple made the Macintosh computer. That brought
another big success!
To Steven and
Stephen, we say,
"Great
Job!"
(Get it? Job,
Jobs?)
