I feel the same way, to a degree. It’s a shame that such a genius had to die so young (and damn you, pancreatic cancer). He definitely changed my life: Apple computers were my gateway to technology and the Internet and the iPhone showed me the future of mobile technology. My iPad is my constant companion.

As many people are pointing out, Steve Jobs understood the human side of technology better than anyone; he boiled computing down to its essential core, and as a result produced devices that felt like extensions of ourselves. Millions of people came to understand the beauty of networked technology in this way.

And yet, I wonder if there isn’t a tinge of elitism, or out-of-touch-ism, to all of us who thank him for “changing the world.”

A voice inside me asks, “whose world?” For whom is the world different thanks to Steve Jobs? Those in the developed world who can afford to buy Macbooks and iPhones, who are trained to appreciate Good Design and who, like good capitalists, love and respect business-geniuses like Jobs, Edison, Carnegie, Bell — those kind of people can thank Jobs for changing the world in which they live.

And yet, as the New York Times recently pointed out, given his extraordinary wealth, Jobs has done relatively little in the way of philanthropy. Maybe he donated under a different name; maybe a massive foundation will be set up in his honor. We’ll see what happens.

But when it came to those millions of people who couldn’t afford his devices, who didn’t see the beauty of his vision, the world was not changed. It went on, with all of its inequality, hunger and suffering.

This is not to say we shouldn’t celebrate Steve Jobs the man — we should do so, completely, if only to celebrate the human spirit and the high art of turning magic into a real-life commodity — but we should merely check ourselves when we talk of “changing the world.”

That is all. RIP Steve.

I can be a pain in the butt when it comes to Apple naysaying, and I could be accused of being an iPhone-owning, Macbook-tapping, iTunes-downloading hypocrite, but every time Apple launches a new marketing blitz we endure an exhausting parade of claims that the new product will “change the world.” There’s no doubt that the new iPhone and, more importantly, the 2.0 software update, is very, very cool, and it does represent an evolution in mobile computing. But I’m confused about why so many of my fellow geeks find it necessary to describe this new product in terms typically reserved for advocacy campaigns or political slogans.

Read on for more.

I said out loud: “How about spending some of this iPhone energy protesting the war in Iraq?” to which I heard mumbles in reply. It may have been childish, unhelpful, and annoying for me to say that. But I couldn’t help myself. It’s a phone — a very cool one, by all admissions — but still a frickin’ phone.

Meet Adam Reuters,

Reuters’ bureau chief in Second Life.

In real life, he is Adam Pasick, a veteran tech and media journalist.

Adam will be keeping regular hours in Second Life; you can view his calendar here.

The line between this life and Second Life is becoming fuzzier…

Tags: reuters, second life, virtual worlds