Inside Apple’s Plans for Its Futuristic, $5 Billion Headquarters

Steve Jobs had grand plans for Apple’s new headquarters, but now there are questions over whether the company should be going through with them:

“Apple hasn’t announced any major changes to Jobs’s vision, so some of the sought-after $1 billion savings will likely come by rolling back his sky-high requirements for fit and finish. Rather than cement floors, Jobs wanted to use a stone-infused alternative such as terrazzo, buffed to a sheen normally reserved for museums and high-end residences. Jobs insisted that the tiny gaps where walls and other surfaces come together be no more than 1/32 of an inch across, vs. the typical ⅛ inch in most U.S. construction. Rather than a lightweight, sound-absorbing acoustical tile, Jobs even wanted the ceilings to be polished concrete. Contractors would typically erect molds with crude scaffolds to pour the cement in place, but that leaves unsightly ruts where the scaffolding puts extra pressure on the surfaces. According to two people who’ve seen the plans, Apple will instead cast the ceilings in molds on the floor and lift them into place, a far more expensive approach that left one person involved in the project speechless.”

Source: Businessweek
Published: Apr 4, 2013
Length: 11 minutes (2,750 words)

Apple vs. Google

How the battle between Silicon Valley’s superstars will shape the future of mobile computing

Published: Jan 14, 2010
Length: 10 minutes (2,574 words)

Inside the App Economy

Beyond the goofy games is a world of useful programs that’s making fortunes and changing the rules of business

Source: Businessweek
Published: Oct 22, 2009
Length: 31 minutes (7,847 words)