The Valley is a strange place most of the time - there's a willing suspension of disbelief which allows for optimism, so people start companies and get financing for unlikely ideas.

Yesterday, though, it was the reality that was strange. It started with a posting on Facebook from friends who have a house on Lorne Way, in Cupertino - there was a manhunt in progress, for someone who'd shot several co-workers earlier that morning at the big cement quarry a few miles to the West. Some of the comments, about the advisability of obtaining and using one's own guns, were interesting. #Cupertino was a trending tag on Twitter, at least for the San Francisco area - very little real content, lots of people repeating each other.

In the afternoon, Apple announced that Steve Jobs had died - the day after the big presentations for the launch of the iPhone 4S. That created another flood of reaction. There was rain and intermittent sunshine, producing rainbows, which were declared 'a tribute to Steve'. As ever, Apple's information control was impressive - Tim Cook, Apple CEO since August, doing his first launch as CEO, must have known that Steve Jobs was at home - but nothing leaked, from either Apple or the medical people.

This morning (6th October) the "suspect in the shooting spree" was shot and killed.

http://www.mercurynews.com/sunnyvale/ci_19053663

People who have had a little time to think and reflect are writing about their interactions with Apple - here are a couple of more personal reflections from people about their early development experiences.

Patrik Fältström http://stupid.domain.name/node/1477
Bill Dudney http://bill.dudney.net/roller/objc/entry/the_next_big_thing