It is said that this happened:
“When engineers working on the very first iPod completed the prototype, they presented their work to Steve Jobs for his approval. Jobs played with the device, scrutinized it, weighed it in his hands, and promptly rejected it. It was too big. The engineers explained that they had to reinvent inventing to create the iPod, and that it was simply impossible to make it any smaller. Jobs was quiet for a moment. Finally he stood, walked over to an aquarium, and dropped the iPod in the tank. After it touched bottom, bubbles floated to the top. “Those are air bubbles,” he snapped. “That means there’s space in there. Make it smaller.”
http://www.quora.com/Steve-Jobs/What-are-some-great-stories-about-Steve-Jobs
that’s pretty funny if it’s true. even if it isn’t.
The quora page in turn cites The Atlantic:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/10/in-praise-of-bad-steve/246242/
…which quotes an anonymous source, so…
That might explain a lot about the Apple III’s infamous heating problems, though.
Oh, so *that’s* the inspiration for the Lisa,Mac+,SE aquaria. All this time I thought it was AfterDark …
This reminds me of the story of Thomas Edison, who off-handedly asked a young assistant to find the volume of a light bulb. A day or two later, Edison returned, and found him painstakingly measuring the bulb and trying to determine its geometry. Edison took the bulb from the young man, partially filled a graduated cylinder with water, dunked the bulb, and measured the displacement.
Too bad I am an atheist. It would be nice to imagine Jobs and Edison sharing a laugh over this in heaven.