iSad

I've poked a lot of fun at Steve Jobs and the Cult of Apple here over the past few years, but there's simply no denying his revolutionary genius or the effect that it had on our culture. Not simply certain aspects of our culture but our culture itself.

Jobs was a singular visionary who changed the way we talked, listened, connected with each other, saw the world -- how we as a species lived. He made technology an extension of who we are as human beings and allowed it to evolve in tandem with us -- and occasionally ahead of us, pulling us into the future at a seemingly impossible pace. The inexhaustible assembly line that flowed directly from his imagination often felt like it had the ability to actually speed up time, and the amazing gadgets it produced likewise felt as if they possessed transformative properties that literally altered our reality. And in fact they did. They have.

It would simply be impossible to repay the debt of gratitude that this planet owes him. As someone said on Twitter just a few minutes ago: The man was our generation's Henry Ford.

You'll hear a lot of seemingly hyperbolic eulogizing over the next couple of days -- but in reality there will be nothing hyperbolic about it. All the flowery encomia will be true.

Steve Jobs changed everything.

So long, man. And thank you.

iQuit

So the dark art of techno-witchcraft's leading necromancer Steve Jobs is stepping down as CEO of Apple.

Here's a clip from his resignation announcement, made, as usual, before a room full of fawning acolytes.

Quote About the iPad That Automatically Becomes My New Favorite Pick-Up Line

"When you feel all this power in your hands, you'll never want to go back."

-- Steve Jobs

Maxi-iPad

What do you get when you combine a groveling, cultlike devotion to every little thing Steve Jobs leaves in the toilet in the morning with the instantaneous worldwide communication network provided by Twitter?

An outpouring of mass, real-time techno-worship like nothing you've ever seen.

Honestly, it's kind of terrifying.

Go here to experience it.

By the way, if you get in line and wait out in the cold to buy this thing, you're a fucking idiot. You'd be an idiot regardless, but you're definitely one for buying a first generation Apple product -- because what have we learned about every one of those over the past several years?

iQuit

Maybe without the benefit of Jobs's technological witchcraft, Apple will be forced to stop churning out new, better versions of the crap I just bought from them.

The Washington Post: Steve Jobs Stepping Down as CEO of Apple, Taking Extended Medical Leave/1.14.09

(And no, of course I'm not making fun of Steve Jobs's health problems. If I tried to do that, my MacBook would automatically meltdown.)