Intimate Photos From the Golden Age of Silicon Valley

Steve Jobs Pretending to Be Human. Menlo Park, California, 1987. Menuez: "Steve was not the kind of guy who ever seemed to relax. He was usually focused like a laser on the task at hand. So it was surprising to see Steve kicking this beach ball around at a company picnic. He seemed to be having a good time, but it felt more like a performance designed to encourage the team to relax." Doug Menuez

Steve Jobs Pretending to Be Human. Menlo Park, California, 1987. Menuez: "Steve was not the kind of guy who ever seemed to relax. He was usually focused like a laser on the task at hand. So it was surprising to see Steve kicking this beach ball around at a company picnic. He seemed to be having a good time, but it felt more like a performance designed to encourage the team to relax."

Doug Menuez

New Employees Are Requested to Wear Balloon Hats. Redwood City, California, 1998. Menuez: "Samir Arora, Founder and CEO of NetObjects (at right in soft focus) is pushing his team in their attempt to 'own' the web page design software space during a staff meeting at company headquarters. New employees were asked to wear balloon hats as a mild hazing ritual." Doug Menuez

New Employees Are Requested to Wear Balloon Hats. Redwood City, California, 1998. Menuez: "Samir Arora, Founder and CEO of NetObjects (at right in soft focus) is pushing his team in their attempt to 'own' the web page design software space during a staff meeting at company headquarters. New employees were asked to wear balloon hats as a mild hazing ritual."

Doug Menuez

Thinking Difficult Thoughts. Mountain View, California, 1988. Menuez: "Much of the arduous work of technology development involves solitary concentration and happens inside people's heads." Doug Menuez

Thinking Difficult Thoughts. Mountain View, California, 1988. Menuez: "Much of the arduous work of technology development involves solitary concentration and happens inside people's heads."

Doug Menuez

Imagine If You Will. Hannover, Germany, 1993. Menuez: "Backstage before a press briefing, Newton team members Michael Tchao, Nazila Alasti, and Susan Schuman discover that all eight of the prototype Newtons they brought to demonstrate are dead." Doug Menuez

Imagine If You Will. Hannover, Germany, 1993. Menuez: "Backstage before a press briefing, Newton team members Michael Tchao, Nazila Alasti, and Susan Schuman discover that all eight of the prototype Newtons they brought to demonstrate are dead."

Doug Menuez

Steve Jobs Returning from a Visit to the New Factory. Fremont, California, 1987. Menuez: "Although Steve could be extremely rude, critical, and occasionally even vindictive, he also was incredibly joyful, with an infectious grin and energy that was irresistible." Doug Menuez

PALO ALTO: NeXt CEO Steve Jobs and Susan Barnes, NeXt VP and CFO, reacting to a joke tod by an employee on the bus going back to the headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. The team was visiting the unfinished factory in Fremont in March 1987.(Photo by Doug Menuez, Contour by Getty Images)

Doug Menuez

Susan Kare Is Part of Your Daily Life. Sonoma, California, 1987. Menuez: "Susan Kare’s playful icons and user interface design have impacted the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Susan was part of the original Mac team and designed the original Mac icons and much of the user interface." Doug Menuez

Susan Kare Is Part of Your Daily Life. Sonoma, California, 1987. Menuez: "Susan Kare’s playful icons and user interface design have impacted the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. Susan was part of the original Mac team and designed the original Mac icons and much of the user interface."

Doug Menuez

Unknown Unknowns. Fremont, California. 1990. Menuez: "An engineer at Lam Research labors to solve an electrical connection problem in the assembly of a sophisticated plasma etching tool." Doug Menuez

Unknown Unknowns. Fremont, California. 1990. Menuez: "An engineer at Lam Research labors to solve an electrical connection problem in the assembly of a sophisticated plasma etching tool."

Doug Menuez

President Clinton Is Really Smart. Mountain View, California, 1995. Menuez: "During his reelection campaign, President Bill Clinton attended a fundraiser thrown by the top CEOs of Silicon Valley. L. John Doerr (center), interacting with Clinton, helped organize the visit at the home of Regis McKenna." Doug Menuez

President Clinton Is Really Smart. Mountain View, California, 1995. Menuez: "During his reelection campaign, President Bill Clinton attended a fundraiser thrown by the top CEOs of Silicon Valley. L. John Doerr (center), interacting with Clinton, helped organize the visit at the home of Regis McKenna."

Doug Menuez

The Founders of Adobe Systems Preparing to Release Photoshop. Mountain View, California, 1988. Menuez: "John Warnock and Chuck Geschke (seated at left) confidently ready the launch of Photoshop, a landmark program that would utterly transform photography and the graphic arts." Doug Menuez

The Founders of Adobe Systems Preparing to Release Photoshop. Mountain View, California, 1988. Menuez: "John Warnock and Chuck Geschke (seated at left) confidently ready the launch of Photoshop, a landmark program that would utterly transform photography and the graphic arts."

Doug Menuez

John Sculley Masters His Shyness to Meet the Press. Fremont, California, 1990. Menuez: "At the factory in Fremont, Apple CEO John Sculley charms the press. He overcame severe shyness and a stutter to eventually become CEO of Pepsi and was then convinced by Steve Jobs to join Apple in 1983. After forcing Steve out, John grew Apple from $800 million to $8 billion a year in revenue." Doug Menuez

John Sculley Masters His Shyness to Meet the Press. Fremont, California, 1990. Menuez: "At the factory in Fremont, Apple CEO John Sculley charms the press. He overcame severe shyness and a stutter to eventually become CEO of Pepsi and was then convinced by Steve Jobs to join Apple in 1983. After forcing Steve out, John grew Apple from $800 million to $8 billion a year in revenue."

Doug Menuez

Bill Gates Says No One Should Ever Pay More Than $50 for a Photograph. Laguna Niguel, California, 1992. Menuez: "Microsoft CEO Bill Gates discusses cheap content for the masses and debates with reporters about the long-delayed vaporware upgrade to Windows at the Agenda ’92 Conference." Doug Menuez

Bill Gates Says No One Should Ever Pay More Than $50 for a Photograph. Laguna Niguel, California, 1992. Menuez: "Microsoft CEO Bill Gates discusses cheap content for the masses and debates with reporters about the long-delayed vaporware upgrade to Windows at the Agenda ’92 Conference."

Doug Menuez

Getting with the Program. Seattle, Washington, 1999. Menuez: "Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's senior vice president of systems software, engages with a group of programmers at the company headquarters." Doug Menuez

Getting with the Program. Seattle, Washington, 1999. Menuez: "Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's senior vice president of systems software, engages with a group of programmers at the company headquarters."

Doug Menuez

A Million Lines of Code. Cupertino, California. 1992. Menuez: "Programmer Peter Alley rests during the big push leading up to the announcement of the Apple Newton by John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago." Doug Menuez

A Million Lines of Code. Cupertino, California. 1992. Menuez: "Programmer Peter Alley rests during the big push leading up to the announcement of the Apple Newton by John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago."

Doug Menuez

The Newton War Room at Apple Computer. Cupertino, California, 1993. Menuez: "Apple programmer Sarah Clark kept her newborn baby with her at work, almost never leaving the building for two years as the team rushed to finish the software. She pulled curtains over her office so colleagues knew when it was naptime or if she was breast-feeding." Doug Menuez

The Newton War Room at Apple Computer. Cupertino, California, 1993. Menuez: "Apple programmer Sarah Clark kept her newborn baby with her at work, almost never leaving the building for two years as the team rushed to finish the software. She pulled curtains over her office so colleagues knew when it was naptime or if she was breast-feeding."

Doug Menuez

Bill Joy Is Worried about the Future of the Human Race. Aspen, Colorado, 1998. Menuez: "Legendary programmer and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Bill Joy, wrote Berkeley Unix while a student at UC Berkeley and helped the US Defense Department with the TCP/IP stack code that allowed email to travel along the path of least resistance in case of nuclear attack." Doug Menuez

Bill Joy Is Worried about the Future of the Human Race. Aspen, Colorado, 1998. Menuez: "Legendary programmer and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Bill Joy, wrote Berkeley Unix while a student at UC Berkeley and helped the US Defense Department with the TCP/IP stack code that allowed email to travel along the path of least resistance in case of nuclear attack."

Doug Menuez

Calculated Risk. Northern California, 1993. Menuez: "Apple Newton software engineers defy orders (and gravity) to not risk their lives until the product was done. Their boss, software engineering manager Donna Auguste, was not amused, but understood their need to blow off steam after years of intense work." Doug Menuez

Calculated Risk. Northern California, 1993. Menuez: "Apple Newton software engineers defy orders (and gravity) to not risk their lives until the product was done. Their boss, software engineering manager Donna Auguste, was not amused, but understood their need to blow off steam after years of intense work."

Doug Menuez

Evidence of Human Activity. Silicon Valley, California. Menuez: "In the maelstrom of Silicon Valley is was relatively rare to find a super neat workspace." Doug Menuez

Evidence of Human Activity. Silicon Valley, California. Menuez: "In the maelstrom of Silicon Valley is was relatively rare to find a super neat workspace."

Doug Menuez

An Infant at Apple. Cupertino, California, 1993. Menuez: "As the Newton team worked even more hours, including almost every weekend, they began to bring wives, husbands, and children into the Apple offices. That way kids could see their parents in daylight hours." Doug Menuez

Every evening, the children of the Newton engineers could be seen roaming the halls of the research lab, playing and visiting with their parents.

Doug Menuez

End of the Dream. Silicon Valley, 2000. Menuez: "The dot-com bubble collapse was such a slow-motion disaster at first, unfolding hesitantly through late 1999 into 2000, then accelerating with neck-snapping g-force as it spread from local VC’s to Wall Street to the big retirement funds and mom and pop investors. By 2001, trillions of dollars of shareholder value had washed away." Doug Menuez

End of the Dream. Silicon Valley, 2000. Menuez: "The dot-com bubble collapse was such a slow-motion disaster at first, unfolding hesitantly through late 1999 into 2000, then accelerating with neck-snapping g-force as it spread from local VC’s to Wall Street to the big retirement funds and mom and pop investors. By 2001, trillions of dollars of shareholder value had washed away."

Doug Menuez

Aerospace Gurus Show Off a Fancy Space Suit Made for Mars

The space suits astronauts wear today are marvels of engineering, but they’re far from perfect. For one thing, they’re unwieldy. At a weight of nearly 300 pounds, astronauts have to expend a huge amount of energy just to move them around. “It was great for 45 years ago, but we can do better,” says Dava Newman.

Newman, an MIT aerospace engineer who was recently nominated for the role of NASA deputy administrator, is working on next-generation suits that would give astronauts far greater mobility—the type of equipment that would be instrumental to a manned mission to Mars. At WIRED by Design, Newman and her partner Gui Trotti showed off one such concept. Dubbed the BioSuit, it would replace today’s bulky gas-pressurized get-ups with a form-fitting “soft exoskeleton.”

By tapping advanced materials and relying on a mathematically-informed fit, the BioSuit could someday allow astronauts to explore the solar system with unprecedented freedom. As Newman puts it: “It is literally a second-skin suit.”

For more on WIRED by Design, visit live.wired.com.

Ford Police Cruisers Now Tattle When Cops Drive Like Jerks

Ford

Everyone’s seen a cop driving like a jerk: Double parking and blocking traffic. Cruising down the highway way beyond the speed limit, with no suspect to run down. Blatantly texting while driving. Pulling the old turn-on-the-siren-just-long-enough-to-run-the-red-light trick. And for anyone who’s fantasized about making a citizen’s arrest of one of their city’s finest, police departments soon will be able to track how their cops are driving, and when they’re behaving badly.

Ford has created a way for law enforcement bosses to see where their subordinates go and track how they’re driving. Fifty Los Angeles Police Department cruisers have been outfitted with transmitters that send officers’ driving information to their supervisors, and can even tell if the boys in blue are wearing seat belts. The system is a joint effort by Ford and California software firm Telogis, and designed for the Police Interceptor models of the Explorer and Taurus. The idea is that accountability will lead to better and safer driving behavior. Auto insurance companies have been doing the same thing for years.

“From a business standpoint, these are expensive vehicles with expensive employees driving them,” says Bryan Vila, a professor and researcher at Washington State University. He also spent 17 years as an officer, including nine with the LA County sheriff. “When they crash, they’re also more likely to kill bystanders and civilians, so there’s a public safety side. I’ve been looking forward to seeing the LAPD implementing this.”

Police organizations have been ramping up education about the risks of driving fast, but Vila, having spent time with a badge and gun, understands the urge to ignore those lessons. “If you’re a young cop and someone gives you a fast car to drive, there’s a lot of temptation to do it,” Vila says. “Whether its safe, or not, and whether it’s legal, or not.”

Ford Telematics for Law Enforcement lets police departments see if their officers are giving in to those temptations. The system knows if the light bar is turned on, and measures the speed of the car against the limit. It looks for hard braking and sudden acceleration. It sees when the car spins and when the anti-lock braking system is engaged. Unlike conventional black boxes for cars, it can transmit data in real-time. And if the airbags deploy, dispatchers will see it and know to send backup immediately.

Ford

There are safety advantages for cops, too. Car crashes kill dozens of officers annually, but most California police don’t wear seat belts, according to a recent study. That may be because they find it uncomfortable while wearing other gear, they think it can prevent them from reaching their gun, or they may find it annoying given how often they get into and out of their cars. If the higher-ups want to enforce the use of seat belts, having info on who’s buckled up is a big help.

“With officers, you’re talking about a culture,” says Detective Meghan Aguilar, who’s been at the LAPD for 18 years, and whose title makes her one of the aforementioned higher-ups. “When I started it was much more common for police to not wear their seatbelt. You’re fighting a misperception that [wearing a seat belt] slows you down exiting the vehicle, pursuing a suspect.”

This type of monitoring uses technology to give supervisors eyes where they couldn’t see before. The basic principle is that being watched will prompt officers to follow the rules. “If there’s equipment that allows me to monitor that, without having to be in front of every vehicle,” Aguilar says, “there’s a good chance that behavior is going to be modified.”

That doesn’t mean every cop likes the idea of being watched over. “There’s a distinction between encouraging and active real-time monitoring that’s going to your supervisor,” says Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations. “It almost sounds like they’re trolling for violations.”

Professor Vila says this type of monitoring, used along side education about the consequences of driving irresponsibly, will be effective, and for that reason, a moral imperative. “How do you say, ‘No, I don’t want to be safer,’” he says. “There isn’t a responsible way to defend that.”

Ford hasn’t announced what the factory-installed system costs, but it should be available next year. It’s an advantage for the company, which, three years after discontinuing the Crown Victoria, competes with Chrysler and GM to provide vehicles to the nation’s police departments. If Ford can link its name to an exclusive technology like this, it could have an edge. Depending on how the LAPD’s test goes, Ford’s tech could end up in more of the 1,800 police vehicles driven by the city’s 10,000-strong police force.