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A customer reads the new biography in a Shanghai bookstore Zhong yang/AP/Press Association Images

'Petulant genius': 7 nuggets from the new Steve Jobs biography

The Apple founder had a brittle manner and didn’t wear deodorant, according to a new book. We’ve put together some of the most telling details.

LATE APPLE FOUNDER Steve Jobs was a genius with a brittle manner and an aversion to deodorant, according to a new biography published today.

Walter Isaacson’s account of the iconic tech wizard’s life, simply called Steve Jobs, appears just two and a half weeks after Jobs’s death from pancreatic cancer. It is based primarily on hours of interviews which Isaacson conducted with Jobs over the last years of his life.

The biography gives a number of telling details about the personality and career of Jobs, who led Apple to its current dominant position in several technology markets. We’ve put together some of the best for you:

  1. He was petulant Jobs wasn’t always a nice guy, according to Isaacson, who told CBS News: “He [Jobs] was very brittle. He could be very, very mean to people at times. Whether it was to a waitress in a restaurant, or to a guy who had stayed up all night coding”.
  2. He was a Facebook fan Jobs had a lot of admiration forMark Zuckerberg’s company, according to the Economic Times – which reports that he saw it as the only real social network out there.
  3. He didn’t wear deodorant At least as a young man, Jobs wasn’t a fan of frequent washing. Isaacson said: “He believed that his vegan diet, and the way he lived made it so he didn’t have to use deodorant or shower that often. It was an incorrect theory as people kept pointing out to him.”
  4. He was furious about Android Jobs was extremely angry when Google decided to launch Android, according to CNET – which reports that he saw the rival operating system as essentially an idea stolen from Apple.
  5. He didn’t lock his back door Despite his enormous wealth Jobs lived in a normal home in Palo Alto, California. “You could walk into the garden in the back gate, and open the back door to the kitchen, which used to not be locked,” Isaacson said.
  6. He tried to redesign his medical equipment After a life-saving liver transplant in 2009,  Jobs disapproved of his oxygen mask and finger monitor – so he proposed ways to revamp and improve them, the Washington Post reports.
  7. He wanted to make a TV set next An Apple TV set was a personal obsession of Jobs’s, according to the Washington Post. Currently the company sells a set-top box – but a full “integrated” set could be next in the pipeline if Apple follows its founder’s wishes.

Read more: 13 most memorable quotes from Steve Jobs>

Read more: Obituary: Steve Jobs 1955 – 2011>

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    Mute Alan
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 2:20 PM

    So much for people who say why vote, my vote doesn’t count. You can see here that every vote does count

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    Mute FlipBip
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 7:21 PM

    @Alan: Well, every 35 anyway.

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    Mute qffaffaf affrafrfraf
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 1:29 PM

    Hopefully he will stay in, last thing we need is another Liebour TD

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    Mute honey badger
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 2:37 PM

    This should mean PBP lose their speaking rights in the Dáil. Every cloud, eh readers?

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    Mute Ian
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 3:38 PM

    @honey badger: Yawn. Bore off.

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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 4:57 PM

    @honey badger: I believe it does. It’s an awful shame Paul Murphy managed to scrape in. But at least we won’t have to listen to him as much

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    Mute honey badger
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 5:04 PM

    @Ian: Cheer up, Ian. I’m sure you can watch their previous episodes on oireactas tv!

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    Mute honey badger
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 5:06 PM

    @Ger Whelan: It is an awful shame! It’s a small but welcome consolation that their lack of electoral traction has muzzled them.

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    Mute H Woo
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 6:52 PM

    @Ger Whelan:
    Pop up Paul is actualy useful.
    He sucks up the brain dead vote that would have gone to Sinn Fein.

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    Mute Nicholas James O'Donnell
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 7:10 PM

    @honey badger: You don’t understand how speaking rights work. They will form a group of 7 with another small party or independents for the sake of speaking rights.

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    Mute Tom O' Donnell
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 2:09 PM

    You’d have none of this nonsense if the media hadn’t campaigned against e-voting

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    Mute Stanley Marsh
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 2:27 PM

    @Tom O’ Donnell: In 2024 there’s definetly a case to be made for online voting.

    If our banks allow us to bank online and the taxman allows us to do our taxes online surely it’s not beyond the wit of man to figure out an online voting system.

    There would be issues with the old and infirm being able to access it but then again not having to make their way to a polling station would possible balance that out.

    The current system / circus is closer to the famine than autonomous cars and nuclear fusion.

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    Mute William Airey
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 2:32 PM

    @Tom O’ Donnell:
    E voting in Brazil since 1996, population of 216 million, shows how backward we are in this country

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    Mute John Brennan
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 2:34 PM

    @Tom O’ Donnell: The paper ballot is a permanent record, not vulnerable to hacking or whatever other online skullduggery can be dreamt up. A bulwark of democracy.

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 3:48 PM

    @John Brennan: Or even just simple coding (programming) errors.

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    Mute Sean Hayes
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 5:49 PM

    @William Airey: I don’t think we need to learn anything about democracy from Brazil, thanks

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    Mute D Farrell
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 3:33 PM

    Mick Barry is having a hard time accepting that Cork people do not want to be represented by a full-time whinger.

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    Mute Tim Brennan
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 5:26 PM

    @D Farrell: Typical he has been rejected shouting and balling is not political discourse

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    Mute SV3tN8M4
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 7:14 PM

    @D Farrell: Very poor representative, never anything to offer, just anti everything.

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    Mute Kevin Kerr
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 7:33 PM

    @SV3tN8M4: oh the irony

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    Mute Dan Murphy
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 1:44 PM

    A battle of the Commies.

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    Mute Frank O'Hara
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 2:30 PM

    @Dan Murphy: Isn’t that the truth. It’s a bit like choosing whether to get punched in the face or kicked in the crotch.

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    Mute SerotoninWars
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 4:54 PM

    @Dan Murphy: Or to more accurate: a battle of the dictionary-shy who don’t understand what a communist is.

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    Mute H Woo
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 6:49 PM

    @SerotoninWars:
    A communist is what you end up with after the socialists have finished wiping out the middleclasses.

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    Mute Alan Murphy
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 4:56 PM

    Mick hasn’t been seen or heard of around our constituency up until 3/4 weeks ago. Absolute bluffer of a man. His lackies do all his work. Change it up and give Maher a chance. Mick’s a waking sound bite (the rare time he pops up) like election time

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    Mute SV3tN8M4
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 7:15 PM

    @Alan Murphy: Spot on.

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    Mute Paul O'Mahoney
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 8:49 PM

    @Alan Murphy: He got an easy in 2016 after labour were wiped out, Kathleen Lynch , had to look her up btw did so much for that area, including getting back paid SW for women who were discriminated against……I went school in the North Mon in the 70s so it’s a place that I genuinely love…….well done Labour Toddy is looking down happily

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    Mute offside again
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 5:26 PM

    Getting in this late seems like an ‘I was the best of the worst’ badge of honneur.
    Way too many TDs in Ireland.

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    Mute Paul O'Mahoney
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 8:45 PM

    @offside again: Feck off

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    Mute Tim Brennan
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 3:38 PM

    Delighted for the young guy from Mallow even though the other Labour party candidate John Maher gave a lot of transfers to Mick Barry. City voters versus Mallow voters. Best of Luck to Eoin a budding politician since birth.

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    Mute Paul O'Mahoney
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 8:51 PM

    @Tim Brennan: And whatabout Sarsfields beating Ballygunner…..that’s the real story…..wrong constituency but what the feck

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    Mute Paul O'Mahoney
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 1:30 PM

    Well our democracy allows for this so let it happen, if Labour prevails great as its a long time since there was a Labour TD in that constituency…..I think it was Toddy O O’Sullivan, although Democratic Left had that lady…..and they merged so maybe it’s not that long.

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    Mute Tim Brennan
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 7:15 PM

    Barry and Co have a real problem with the voters having elected people to govern those who choose the sideline are the real problem. You’re elected to govern in this Dail not the next one.

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    Mute Setanta O'Toole
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 3:05 PM

    Hello to all the lads blindly hoping Mick Barry loses his seat because some lad with a cameraphone told them he was a ‘communist’.

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    Mute Fintan Pox
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 2:54 PM

    Mick has a smile that could light up Cork North Central

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    Mute Tom McBride
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    Dec 2nd 2024, 9:52 PM

    “Queer activists” no wonder the people rejected him

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