Wozniak talks a life in technology

CREATIVITY and jokes go hand-in-hand, according to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

The headliner at last week’s Pivot Summit, Mr Wozniak shared stories about the formative years of the now-global technology company, its earliest projects such as the Apple II computer (which he designed), working alongside fellow Apple founder Steve Jobs, and his thoughts on the future of technology.

In conversation with MC Monty Hamilton from PwC Australia, Mr Wozniak recounted his history as a jokester and prankster, including his famous “phreaking” exploits to get free long-distance phone calls.

“If you make up your own joke, you’ve created something out of nothing.”

This carried over to the design of the groundbreaking Apple II: “You had to have a machine that was fun with games, at home,” Mr Wozniak said.

Experimentation has been a driving force for him, especially simplification.

“Simplify your design – it’s easier to understand, easier to maintain, and then I carried it over to life,” he said. “Try to do things in your life that skip the middle men, which usually skip the middle steps.”

He said he did not realise in his early years how far ahead of the world he was in electronics and computing.

“I had taught myself in high school, when no computers were around, how to design any computer in the world in two days, and the way I taught myself was 10,000 hours of trying over and over and over and over.”

He continues to tinker with technology, revealing that he carries around three iPhones on three different providers “to compare them all”, but only started using the just-released iPhone X after Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook sent him one.

Mr Wozniak said he had never met Tesla co-founder Elon Musk, but particularly liked the Supercharger network for Tesla’s electric cars.

“When you build things for yourself and you get them right for your own needs, they can turn out to be the best products in the world sometimes – the Apple II computer, the iPhone, the Tesla Model S.”