|outside the lines|

“Design has always been a great interest of mine. Even as a child, it was very important as to how my room was arranged and what items were in it. When I started having my own homes, I found that many of the furnishings and accessories that I was envisioning for the space did not exist. So I began to make them myself. As I got deeper into that practice, I became addicted to producing pieces that were in my head. Years later, after doing several of my own homes, I realized that I needed to stop and focus on trying to design for other people. Kravitz Design was started shortly thereafter. Something that was a personal passion has now grown into a company that is organically expanding.” – Lenny Kravitz

Steve Jobs broke the mould where consumer tech was concerned, but he was also a rebel on the road, riding around in a high-powered Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG sports car that, notoriously, never had a licence plate fitted.

Why Jobs did this and how he got away with it has baffled Apple fans for years, but iTWire thinks it has the answer to at least one of those questions, courtesy of former Apple security employee, and CTO of Entrust, Jon Callas.

Jobs managed to avoid the long nightstick of the law thanks to a little-known loophole in California legislation, according to Callas, which states anyone with a brand-new car has a maximum of six months to affix a number plate to their vehicle.

Jobs made arrangements with the company from which he’d leased the Merc to change the car every six months. Unlike most people, who might switch to a different model, or perhaps even experiment with a different colour, Steve would exchange the vehicle for another identical silver SL55 AMG every single time.

But why? Is it because Jobs thought the licence plate spoiled the aesthetics of the car? Was he exercising that famous Apple design minimalism? Perhaps he was simply ‘opting out’ of being identified and tracked wherever he went.

Sadly, the answer to that question (and the one about why he was so fond of using disabled parking spaces) is one the former Apple boss may have taken to his grave.

Image credit: Ranajune 

The notion behind this was to Think Different.

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The Week’s super-quick catch-up on the main news talking points.

1. CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS DIES AT 62
Controversy-courting British journalist Christopher Hitchens has died in hospital in Texas at the age of 62, 18 months after he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. During his provocative career, Hitchens moved from the radical left to supporting George W Bush’s re-election and the war in Iraq.

2. IMF: WORLD FACES 1930S DEPRESSION
Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, said yesterday that countries must settle their differences and work together or the world risks sliding into “retraction, rising protectionism, isolation” and a 1930s-style depression. Meanwhile, France called for the UK’s triple-A credit rating to be downgraded.

3. ENGLAND BRACED FOR SNOW
Those living in the triangle between Cardiff, London and Stoke-on-Trent have been warned by the Met Office to expect up to four inches of snow overnight tonight. Further south, on the coast, the weekend could bring snow, ice, sleet, flooding and 70mph winds. Yorkshire was blanketed in snow yesterday.

4. GIGGS DROPS BLACKMAIL ACCUSATION
Footballer Ryan Giggs was forced yesterday to admit in court that his claim Imogen Thomas tried to blackmail him was false. Giggs had been granted a gagging order preventing media discussing his affair with the model on the basis that he suspected her of blackmail and selling her story to the papers.

5. SECOND LIFE SENTENCE FOR JACKAL
Carlos the Jackal, the Venezuelan-born terrorist whose real name is Ramirez Sanchez, received a second life sentence in a French court yesterday after he was found guilty of organising a series of terrorist attacks in France in the 19980s which killed 11. Defending himself, he wept for Muammar Gaddafi.

6. SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ASSANGE APPEAL
The Supreme Court has said it will hear the case of Julian Assange, who Swedish authorities want to extradite to answer questions about alleged sexual misconduct. The court decided that the WikiLeaks editor’s case raises questions of “general public importance”.

7. CHRISTIAN BALE PUNCHED IN CHINA
Actor Christian Bale, who stars in a new state-funded historical movie about China’s 1937-45 war with Japan decried by some as propaganda, was punched and chased for 40 minutes by thugs as he tried during a publicity trip to China to visit dissident lawyer Chen Guangcheng, who is under house arrest.

8. ARSENAL TO PLAY AC MILAN
The Premier League’s two remaining Champions League hopes, Arsenal and Chelsea, have both drawn Italian opposition in the knockout stages. Arsenal must play Serie A champions AC Milan in the last 16, while Chelsea are up against Napoli. In the Europa League Manchester City play Porto, United face Ajax and Stoke were paired with Valencia.

9. BRADLEY MANNING GOES TO COURT
The lawyer for Bradley Manning, the army intelligence officer accused of sending classified files to WikiLeaks, has demanded that the investigating officer withdraw from the case on grounds of bias. Manning was making his first public appearance in more than 18 months at a pre-trial hearing at Fort Meade in Maryland.

10. HOT TICKET: RITCHIE RETURNS TO HOLMES
A Game of Shadows, the sequel to British director Guy Ritchie’s 2009 Sherlock Holmes rejig, opens in UK cinemas today. Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law team up again as Holmes and Watson in a madcap romp through Europe to foil a dastardly plot by nemesis Moriarty. The Telegraph calls it “rollicking good fun”.

The battle for Universal to shut down MegaUpload on the grounds of piracy is continuing, and MegaUpload have some how managed to grab some of the most popular artists and celebs to endorse the company.

They claim they pull illegal videos and other files and ban the user, they’re also about to announce a MegaMusicStore (not the real name) and this is going to give artists 90% of the sales from the songs! Something NO other record company or site like iTunes does.

Is this the real reason? That artists might move to this new way, and leave record companies altogether? Probably not, as without the middle man its hard to make it. But with the growing use of social media… artists can promote themselves - they don’t need a record company as much to promote and hook up studio time etc.

Click … and go to the site for all of them, there’s a lot of celebrity backing to this!