When it comes to technology, Sam Gold is your man.
For his bar mitzvah, he chose a visit to San Francisco — and Apple’s headquarters — over a party.
He amassed over 15,000 print and TV ads, keynote speeches, internal training videos and other material to create an amazing, unofficial but world-renowned Apple archive.
Sam Gold (right), with instructor Geno Heiter, helped develop Staples High School’s innovative “70 North” on a variety of platforms.
Sam — who graduated last month from Staples High School — is my go-to computer guy. He solves every problem quickly and efficiently, and has the grace to never make me feel that my most idiotic questions are, well, idiotic.
Sam — who co-created apps to help users control and monitor their devices — worked his way far up Apple’s food chain. After years of persistence, he finally wangled an invitation to their World Wide Developers Conference.
It was set for June, in San Jose. But the pandemic forced the prestigious event online.
One of the best aspects of the WWDC for developers is networking. Rather than business cards, they swap stickers. They cover their laptops, and are great conversation starters.
No live conference? No problem!
Sam and a few other independent app developers decided created a sticker pack to sell online. Proceeds would go to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Response Fund and Equal Justice Institute.
Sam found 134 developers who wanted their brand’s sticker to be included. He designed 15 individual sheets of stickers.Quickly, he had a website up and running. The ordering window opened a week before the virtual WWDC, and closed the day after its keynote.
Over 1,500 orders poured in, from around the world.
One page of Sam’s stickers.
Last week, 22,500 were delivered to Sam’s house. They covered his family’s dining room table.
Then the low-tech work began. He, his parents and brother collated, sorted and stuffed envelopes. They hauled all those boxes to the post office, which — based on recent reports of its possible demise — must have been very happy for the haul.
Sam Gold, at his dining room table.
Sam and his business partner provided a bit of fun for developers who missed out on the in-person experience of WWDC. And they raised $10,000 for their 2 causes.
Sure gives new meaning to the term “sticker shock.”