9 Ways Steve Jobs Changed Your World

Of course he reinvented personal computers, but did you know he also enabled the selfie? Catch Ashton Kutcher as the famous innovator in Jobs, in theaters August 16.

1. He enabled your bathroom selfie.

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Apple made the first consumer digital camera, the QuickTake.

2. He’s the reason you hate Comic Sans.

Emily Steele

After dropping in on a calligraphy course in college, Jobs became obsessed with the art and design of font. He is directly responsible for multiple, diverse fonts on PCs, which led to the much-maligned Comic Sans.

3. He made the computer the internet was made on.

Emily Steele

The first web browser was built on a NeXT platform. Jobs started NeXT after being pushed out of Apple.

4. He’s responsible for your app addiction.

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His iTunes app store was multiplatform and omnipresent, paving the way for app stores on Droids, Facebook, Google, Kindle, and more.

5. He’s responsible for that conflicted feeling where you have a cable you haven’t used in three years but you’re afraid to throw it out because it goes to SOMETHING.

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His Mac designs used USB imports almost exclusively, resulting in a boom of computer accessories equipped with the port. Today, computer accessories are almost exclusively made for USB ports, rendering all those other computer cables you had in 1990 totally useless.

tl;dr? Throw them out.

6. He took boring lanyards and added magical technology.

Sarah_Ackerman / Via Flickr: sackerman519

That is not the magical tech lanyard. That’s the crappy lanyard you made at summer camp.

Jobs held a patent for high-tech lanyards that incorporated electronic circuitry like heart rate detectors. And you were proud you could make it look twisted.

7. He’s the reason your CD collection is in your parents’ garage.

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Although he wasn’t the first to invent a digital music player, he was the pioneer of “syncing” and pushed for the hub of music players to be on computers. Earlier music players tried to be entirely self-contained, which was clunky and inefficient.

Steve Jobs won a posthumous Grammy award for his contributions to the music industry.

8. He took you to the next level. Literally.

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He patented the design of the glass stairs in Apple stores, which were specifically engineered to make customers want to explore the second floor, typically a retail wasteland.

He’s in your head, yo.

9. He’s why you scoff at desktops.

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His Mac designs were revolutionary for being all-in-one. That design sped up the arrival of the laptop and popularized their use as full-featured computers.

Have you ever tried using a typewriter? Say “thank you” right now.

Check out Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs in Jobs.

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