How to Download and Install Windows 8 on a New Partition

You want to try out Windows 8. Excellent! But you're not foolhardy enough to try using a developer preview build as your main work/play operating system--you just want to dabble. We'll show you how to download and install the Windows 8 developer's preview onto a separate partition (or separate hard drive, if you have a spare). If you don't feel like mucking your hard drive with another partition, read How to Download and Install Windows 8 to a Virtual Machine for a less-intrusive way to get Windows 8 up and running on your PC.
If you have a spare hard drive lying around, this process is pretty easy: Download the appropriate Windows 8 ISO from the Microsoft Developer Network site, burn it to a DVD, turn off your PC, slap the hard drive in your case, and connect it up to your motherboard. Then just turn your system on and either press the key that allows you to access your motherboard's boot menu or change the boot options in the BIOS so your optical drive is recognized before your main hard drive; you should then be booting off your new Windows 8 disk. From there, just fire up the Windows 8 installer and install the operating system to your new drive.
However, if you only have one hard drive in your system, you'll have to be a little bit more creative in order to install Windows 8 without nuking your existing Windows installation. Welcome to the world of drive partitioning: In layman's terms, partitioning takes a hard drive's total storage and splits it into separate chunks of data. Your operating system then treats these separate data partitions as separate storage volumes.
Assuming you're currently running Windows Vista or Windows 7, open Control Panel and open up the Administrative Tools screen. There, double-click on the Computer Management option. When that window appears, look for the "Disk Management" submenu under "Storage" on the left-hand sidebar. Click that.

You'll see your hard drive (and optical drive) on the screen: Your primary drive should already be split into a "System Reserved" volume and your primary C:\ volume.

Right-click on the C:\ volume and select the "Shrink Volume" option, and then reduce the size of your volume by at least 16 gigabytes for a 32-bit installation of Windows 8 or 20 gigabytes for a 64-bit installation.

You'll now see a new, monochromatic, "unallocated" hunk of storage appear next to your C:\ volume in the graphical display. Right-click on it, select the New Simple Volume option, and click on the Next button until you reach the screen for assigning letters and drive paths.

Feel free to assign your new volume whatever drive letter you most prefer. Click Next one more time and give your volume a witty name; now click Next (and then Finish) to quick-format the volume as an NTFS partition.

Next, burn the Windows 8 image to a disc using a freeware app like Imgburn or CDBurnerXP, then reboot your PC, access your BIOS setup menu (typically by pressing Delete or another specified key while booting up), and change the boot order so your PC will boot from your optical drive instead of your primary hard drive when you restart your computer. Once your PC boots from the Windows 8 DVD, just install Windows 8 to your new partition (identifiable by the drive letter and name you picked out).
And here's an extra tip: Once you've loaded up Windows 8 for the first time, you'll be able to edit Windows' boot settings to make Windows 7 boot by default instead of 8 (which happens after a short time delay if you don't select an operating system yourself).

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WHY WOULD ALIENS INVADE THE EARTH?

Why would aliens invade Earth? 

As far as we understand our planet we enjoy the benefits of habitable eco-systems, fresh water, and a means to produce foods.  These things would be the most likely reason for an alien invasion.   Assuming that we are not alone in this vast cosmos.


Taken to account that there are roughly 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, the probability of life on other planets is a likely one.  Also the infinite numberof parallel universes, there the possibility of life on other planets is expanded quite a bit.  Extraterrestrials would have quite a bit of searching to do just to find our big blue ball in an infinite sea of possibilities, in this case.

The reasoning behind an invasion could stem from any number of things.  Their own planet could be in the grip of over population, that they have depleted their own native resources and drained the planet.  Over pollution is as well another possibility for their migrations.  If there were resources native to only a few planets, Earth included this would be another cause for invasion.

The existence of life within our own Solar System

Scientists have puzzled over whether or not life other than ours is existent in this corner of the neighborhood.  They look to other local planets and moons, such as Mars and the satellite of Jupiter, Europa. 

Mars, with its signs of flowing water in its past is the target of current research.  The two research vehicles, Opportunity and Spirit currently exploring Mars, have  confirmed the presence of liquid water in the planets history.  It is quite possible that it had harbored life at one time, and may currently have microscopic life today.

The moon Europa with its primordial oceans hidden beneath thick layers of ice could be the home to many water dwelling organisms.  It is widely taught that water is where life begins and evolves from, why not under the icy face of Europa.  With a surface that is estimated to be only 30 million years old, it is not likely that an E.T. invasion would begin here.

Intelligent Life

If in fact there is life on other planets, it does not necessarily mean that it has the mental facilities for higher motor and thought processes.  It took mankind at least 1 million years to evolve into what we are today, and we have not begun to scratch the dust on the surface of scientific exploration.  But who is to say that another form of life and civilization could not evolve into something far greater than we are now in less time.  

Today's technology is still prone to quite a bit of mishaps as we are still in the baby steps of exploring just our own Solar System up close.  Better propulsion systems and protective vehicles and suits will have to evolve in order to explore our closest neighbor besides our own Moon. 

Galactic Transportation

Our universe is theorized to be one thousand trillion trillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) meters, should our planet be found in the vastness of possibilities, how would we be reached from the depths of space?  Traveling at a year at the speed of light one would have gone ten trillion kilometers (10,000,000,000,000) one would have to possess superior technologies that could propel them at faster than light speeds, and/or through "wormholes".  A theoretical distortion of space-time in a region of the universe that would link one location or time with another, through a path that is shorter in distance or duration than would otherwise be expected.  If one were able to harness faster than light speeds, faster than 300,000 kilometers per second as well as travel through wormholes, then an invasion would be quite possible within a few years as opposed to a few million, billion, or trillion years. Physicists today are coming closer to the answer of this question although the technology is something out of our current reach.

Would we be able to protect ourselves?

Were astronomers able to see an incoming threat it would give us time to prepare, though at that point in time, we would not know if they were friendlies or hostiles.  Considering that astronomers have a difficult enough time tracking near earth objects the likelihood of them spotting a fleet would be small in percentage.

Given the technologies that these beings could possibly possess, or other transport options that we couldn't fathom, it is quite likely that they would possesses weapons that would remove us completely without endangering their new possible home.  In another case, they may even just kill off the excess and use the rest as slave labor.  Such fantasies as seen in the science fiction books and movies where humans won the day through whatever means would be exactly that, fiction.  An intelligent species would have taken the time to study this planets physiology and technology to learn what viruses and possible threats that were resident here and take precautions.

In the event of an unknown threat, we would have no hard information on how to defend ourselves against a threat such as this.  Being an unknown enemy is the best tactic that an enemy has.  We would either kill ourselves, and the planet with nuclear weapons in the remote chance that it would remove the threat, game over for everyone
  

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Lutetia: a Rare Survivor from the Birth of the Earth

New observations indicate that the asteroid Lutetia is a leftover fragment of the same original material that formed the Earth, Venus and Mercury. Astronomers have combined data from ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft, ESO’s New Technology Telescope, and NASA telescopes. They found that the properties of the asteroid closely match those of a rare kind of meteorites found on Earth and thought to have formed in the inner parts of the Solar System. Lutetia must, at some point, have moved out to its current location in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

A team of astronomers from French and North American universities have studied the unusual asteroid Lutetia in detail at a very wide range of wavelengths [1] to deduce its composition. Data from the OSIRIS camera on ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft [2], ESO’s New Technology Telescope (NTT) at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, and NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii and Spitzer Space Telescope were combined to create the most complete spectrum of an asteroid ever assembled [3].

This spectrum of Lutetia was then compared with that of meteorites found on Earth that have been extensively studied in the laboratory. Only one type of meteorite — enstatite chondrites— was found to have properties that matched Lutetia over the full range of colours.

Enstatite chondrites are known to be material that dates from the early Solar System. They are thought to have formed close to the young Sun and to have been a major building block in the formation of the rocky planets [4], in particular the Earth, Venus and Mercury [5]. Lutetia seems to have originated not in the main belt of asteroids, where it is now, but much closer to the Sun.

“But how did Lutetia escape from the inner Solar System and reach the main asteroid belt?” asks Pierre Vernazza (ESO), the lead author of the paper.

Astronomers have estimated that less than 2% of the bodies located in the region where Earth formed, ended up in the main asteroid belt. Most of the bodies of the inner Solar System disappeared after a few million years as they were incorporated into the young planets that were forming. However, some of the largest, with diameters of about 100 kilometres or more, were ejected to safer orbits further from the Sun.

Lutetia, which is about 100 kilometres across, may have been tossed out from the inner parts of the young Solar System if it passed close to one of the rocky planets and thus had its orbit dramatically altered [6]. An encounter with the young Jupiter during its migration to its current orbit could also account for the huge change in Lutetia’s orbit [7].

“We think that such an ejection must have happened to Lutetia. It ended up as an interloper in the main asteroid belt and it has been preserved there for four billion years,” continues Pierre Vernazza.

Earlier studies of its colour and surface properties showed that Lutetia is a very unusual and rather mysterious member of the asteroid main belt. Previous surveys have shown that similar asteroids are very rare and represent less than 1% of the asteroid population of the main belt. The new findings explain why Lutetia is different — it is a very rare survivor of the original material that formed the rocky planets.

“Lutetia seems to be the largest, and one of the very few, remnants of such material in the main asteroid belt. For this reason, asteroids like Lutetia represent ideal targets for future sample return missions. We could then study in detail the origin of the rocky planets, including our Earth,” concludes Pierre Vernazza.

Notes

[1] The electromagnetic spectrum represents the complete range of wavelengths covered by the different types ofelectromagnetic radiation. Visible light is the most familiar form, but many others exist. Many of these types of radiation are used in everyday life, such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared and ultraviolet light and X-rays.

[2] The Rosetta spacecraft, on its way to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, flew past Lutetia on 10 July 2010.

[3] Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera provided data in the ultraviolet, ESO’s NTT provided data in visible light, while NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii and Spitzer Space Telescope provided data in the near-infrared and mid-infrared respectively.

[4] The enstatite chondrites (E chondrites) are a unique class of meteorites that account for only about 2% of the recovered meteorite falls. The unusual mineralogy and chemistry of E chondrites is consistent with formation relatively close to the Sun. This is further supported by isotope measurements (verified for oxygen, nitrogen, ruthenium, chromium and titanium): E chondrites are the only groups of chondrites that have the same isotopic composition as the Earth and Moon system. This strongly suggests that the Earth formed from enstatite chondrite-type materials and also that E chondrites formed at about the same distance from the Sun as the Earth.

In addition it has been recently shown that formation from enstatite chondrite bodies can explain Mercury's unusual and previously inexplicable composition. This suggests that Mercury — like the Earth — largely accreted from enstatite chondrite-like materials.

[5] Although they all formed from similar material, it remains a mystery why the inner three planets are so different.

[6] This process is very much like the gravitational assist methods used to change the direction and speed of space probes by arranging for them to fly close to a planet.

[7] Some astronomers think that the gaseous giant may have been closer to the Sun in the early days of the Solar System, before moving outwards to its current position. This would have caused havoc in the orbits of other objects of the inner Solar System due to the huge gravitational pull of Jupiter.

More information

This research was presented in a paper, “Asteroid (21) Lutetia as a remnant of Earth’s precursor planetesimals”, to appear in the journal Icarus.

The team is composed of P. Vernazza (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM), France; European Southern Observatory, Germany), P. Lamy (LAM, France), O. Groussin (LAM, France), T. Hiroi (Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, USA), L. Jorda(LAM, France), P.L. King (Institute for Meteoritics, University of New Mexico, USA), M.R.M. Izawa (Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, Canada), F. Marchis (Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, USA; IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris (OBSPM), France), M. Birlan (IMCCE, OBSPM, France), R. Brunetto (Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, CNRS, France).

ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world’s largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become “the world’s biggest eye on the sky”.

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Various News About Alien Invasions | Skeptism about this news is not a big deal

LIJANG, CHINA -  Three alien spaceships landed on earth today!  Two in China and one in the Indonesian Sea. 
Is Earth under attack?
WWN confirmed with the U.N. Panel on Extraterrestrials that three large alien spaceships from Planet Gootan landed on earth today.    According to eyewitnesses from the Kangean Island in the Bali Sea one large “purplish” spaceship appeared out of the sky and quickly dove into the sea, creating a large wave.  There were over two hundred witnesses that confirmed the spaceship sighting.
The first spaceship did not resurface again.
Here’s a shot from the Kangean Island in the Bali Sea. The ship went down approximately five miles from this spot:

Meanwhile, two other spaceships came streaking across the Chinese sky and seemed to be headed for a fiery crash into Mainland China, but the ships suddenly, and miraculously, landed in a field outside Lijang, China.   Thousands of Chinese reported the sighting to local authorities and the Chinese government sent troops to the area.
According to witnesses from Lijang, an ancient city in the northwest of Yunnan Province in China, the massive ship remained stationary for several hours, then there were several large booms.  “It seem like a big energy force came from the ships, and went off in many directions.  It scared my whole family,” said Yan Hu of Lijang.  “My family all huddle in our house and wait to die, but when we look up the ships were gone.”
Here’s the town near where the ships landed:

Where did the ships go?
“These ships are from Planet Gootan and are behaving in a manner that we predicted,” said Dr. John Malley, head of the U.N. Panel of Extraterrestrials.  “They have landed on earth and are now setting up base.  We believe that the energy forces that the locals reported, were actually Gootan soldiers exiting the spaceships and spreading out to all parts of the world.  We are very concerned.”

WWN spoke to our sources and they seemed very concerned.  “We thought that perhaps this was not going to happen, or perhaps we were all misinterpreting the data, but we can confirm that three alien spaceships landed on earth today.  It’s very exciting, but we are very cautious.”
Vladmir Putin spoke on a conference call to world leaders, including President Hu Jintao of China.  Putin said he would be sending a battalion of Russian soldiers to Lijang to investigate.    President Obama has taken a back seat on the alien invasion, allowing the Russians and Chinese to take the lead on the defense of the earth.

Has the Gootans landed!!!
Has the attack begun!….

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Alien Invasion/Visit | Aliens Spotted in China

BINCHUAN, CHINA -  Aliens from Gootan have been spotted throughout Yunnan province in China. 
WWN continues to follow the landing of three large spaceships from Planet Gootan – that arrived on November 29th.  One ship landed in the Bali Sea, near Kangean Island and two ships landed in a field near Lijang, China.
Some readers continue to be skeptical of the landings – but WWN has been following the developments closely.  Is it an attack?  It is not clear yet, but three aliens ships from Planet Gootan are now on earth and experts from the U.N. Panel of Extraterrestrials estimate that between ten thousand and thirty thousand Gootans are now on Earth.
Aliens were spotted near Binchuan, China – a city that was devastated by an earthquake in 2008.

According to sources in China, there have been hundreds of reports of strange apparitions, beings, moving through towns in Yunnan Province:
– ANNING.  Three young girls (Qian Wang, Mei Yan and Ne Kuo) walking to school, saw five strange beings crossing a road.  The beings stopped to look at them.   The girls said that the beings seemed to have a ghost-like form and they emitted a pulsating glow.  The beings started at them for a minute and then moved away.  The girls said they felt “happy and calm” after seeing the beings.
The girls described the beings similar to this:

– FUYUAN.  A truck driver (Yan Du) pulled over to the side of the road to sleep and was awakened by a shaking of his truck.  He screamed when he realized his truck was in the air.  He looked down and saw “purplish, glowing beings” holding up the truck and shaking it.  He felt for sure that was going to die and then suddenly, the truck was put down on the road and the “beings” disappeared.
– YUTI – Two workers (Yan Tsih, and Andrew Yuo) at a grain mill took a smoke break and noticed strange lights moving through a nearby forest.  They walked closer to have a look and – were knocked out cold.  They woke up two hours later, lying on a soft bed of grass.  They felt “renewed and alive” – but they had lost their jobs.
“Strange” alien beings have been spotted in Guangnan, Mengzi, Luxi, near Erahi Lake, Mainri Snow Mountain and the Mekong River.   Many are talking about the sightings:

Dr. John Malley, the leader of the U.N. Panel on Extraterrestrials is in China monitoring the situation.  “The Gootans are here.  That is clear.  They have not, yet, attacked any citizens and we are hoping that remains the case.”  Dr. Malley is joined by his team, including Banesh Bannerjee, the world’s leading extraterrestrial expert and an alien doctor, Dr. Kelly McManus, who specializes in extraterrestrial medicine.
When asked why the Gootans have come, Malley said, “some speculated that they have come for our gold, or that they feel that humans are abusing the planet and want to take over, some speculate that they are here to do research on humans, others feel that they want to teach us, and there are some that believe they just want to destroy us.”

The area around Kangean Island in the Bali Sea has not been seen again.  “The ship could be anywhere,” said Malley.  “It will turn up soon.”
As always, WWN will continue following this developing story…  and please report any Gootan sightings in the comments section.

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ALIENS BALLS FALLING ON U.S. | COULD THIS BE ALIEN INVASION?

Large metallic balls dropping across the U.S. (and Africa).  NASA and the U.N. confirmed the alien balls are from Planet Zeeba.
The hollow balls with a circumference of between 4 an 10 feet have been found all across the U.S. in the last forty-eight hours, according to authorities with NASA and the United Nations Panel on Extraterrestrials.
With a diameter of 3 to 6 feet, the balls have a rough surface and appear to consist of “two halves welded together”.

Forensic scientists from the FBI said that the alien balls are made of a “metal alloy unknown to man.”  The balls weight between 10 and 20 pounds. Curiously many of the alien balls land softly on earth, though a few of them  have made  holes about two feet deep.
The FBI and NASA estimate that over 10,000 alien balls have dropped in the United States, with an additional 5,000 balls dropping in Africa, Australia and Latin America.  There are more alien balls spottings reported each and every hour across the United States.
The alien orbs, however, do not pose any danger.  “They are not explosive devices, they seem harmless,” said FBI agent, Lloyd Mowra.

Dr. Susan Begley and Dr. Banesh Bannerjee of the U.N. Panel on Extraterrestrials have been working with NASA scientists over the last two days, examining the balls.  Dr. Begley told WWN that the balls are “clearly from spaceships from Planet Zeeba.  We recognize the markings on the balls, and they are clearly Zeeban.”
This was good news to Dr. Bannerjee.  “The Zeebans are part of an ongoing peaceful alien invasion that began in October of 2010 and they we estimate will continue until December of 2015.”

Some on the U.N . Panel, however, say that the Zeebans may be sending a message to the aliens from Planet Gootan, who landed on Earth (in China and the Indonesian Sea) on November 27th of this year. “The Gootan are hostile and are here to attack humans.  The Zeebans may be coming here to defend us against the Gootan attack.”
Could Earth be a battleground  between the Gootans and the Zeebans.
“We think so.  We are predicting an alien conflict on earth between the Gootans and the Zeebans throughout 2012.  In fact, we think it’s already begun.”
What should citizens do if they see the alien balls falling?
“There’s no reason for alarm.  The balls seem to be designed to avoid  striking any humans.  They are friendly balls.”

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MAC FOUNDER | STEVE JOBS DEAD!!!

Steve Jobs, the mastermind behind Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes, has died, Apple said. Jobs was 56.

Jobs died "peacefully" surrounded by family members, his family said in a statement.

Neither Jobs' family nor Apple revealed where Jobs died or from what cause, though in recent years he had fought a form of pancreatic cancer and had a liver transplant.

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed awaytoday," read a statement by Apple's board of directors. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve. His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts."

The homepage of Apple's website switched to a full-page image of Jobs with the text, "Steve Jobs 1955-2011."

Clicking on the image revealed additional text, credited in a separate memo to Apple employees to current Apple CEO Tim Cook.

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being," the text read. "Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

Reaction to Jobs' death came far and wide -- even from the White House.

"Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs," President Obama said in a written statement. "Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it."

Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 and, with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak, marketed what was considered the world's first personal computer, the Apple II.

Shortly after learning of Jobs' death, Wozniak told ABC News, "I'm shocked and disturbed."

Industry watchers called Jobs a master innovator -- perhaps on a par with Thomas Edison -- changing the worlds of computing, recorded music and communications.

Click Here for Pictures: Steve Jobs Through the Years

Jobs' rivals in the development of personal computers, Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, immediately reacted to his death and highlighted his importance to their industry.

Allen called him "a unique tech pioneer and auteur who knew how to make amazingly great products."

Gates extended his condolences and noted in a written statement that he and Jobs "have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives."

"The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come," Gates added. "For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely."

A more recent rival, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, also weighed in with a statement on Jobs.

"Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend," it read. "Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you."

Click here for more reaction to Jobs' death.

Jobs continued to innovate in recent years even as he battled severe health problems that prompted leaves of absence from Apple.

In 2004, he beat back an unusual form of pancreatic cancer, and in 2009 he was forced to get a liver transplant. After several years of failing health, Jobs announced on Aug. 24, 2011 that he was stepping down as Apple's chief executive.

"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know," Jobs wrote in his letter of resignation. "Unfortunately, that day has come."

Nevertheless, he remained as chairman of the corporation, a new position created just for him.

Remembering a Tech Innovator

Upon his death today, Jobs' family released a statement thanking everyone who had expressed concern about the health of the tech innovator in the final year of his life, and noted, "a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories."

"In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family," the statement said. "We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief."

One of the world's most famous CEOs, Jobs remained stubbornly private about his personal life, refusing interviews and shielding his wife and their children from public view.

"He's never been a media person," said industry analyst Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, after Jobs resigned. "He's granted interviews in the context of product launches, when it benefits Apple, but you never see him talk about himself."

Upon Jobs' death, Apple said it was not planning any public events, though Cook's memo to Apple employees said the company was "planning a celebration of Steve's extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon."

At Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., tonight, people were hugging and crying. Candles were being lit around an iPad with a picture of Jobs on the screen, and people very quietly stood and looked at the memorial.

The highlights of Jobs's career trajectory are well-known: a prodigy who dropped out of Reed College in Oregon and, at 21, started Apple with Wozniak in his parents' garage. He was a multimillionaire by 25, appeared on the cover of Time magazine at 26, and was ousted at Apple at age 30, in 1984.

In the years that followed, he went into other businesses, founding NeXT computers and, in 1986, buying the computer graphics arm of Lucasfilm, Ltd., which became Pixar Animation Studios.

He was described as an exacting and sometimes fearsome leader, ordering up and rejecting multiple versions of new products until the final version was just right. He said the design and aesthetics of a device were as important as the hardware and software inside.

Click Here for Pictures: Apple's Iconic Products

In 1996, Apple, which had struggled without Jobs, brought him back by buying NeXT. He became CEO in 1997 and put the company on a remarkable upward path.

By 2001, the commercial music industry was on its knees because digital recordings, copied and shared online for free, made it unnecessary for millions of people to buy compact discs.

Jobs took advantage with the iPod -- essentially a pocket-sized computer hard drive with elegantly simple controls and a set of white earbuds so that one could listen to the hours of music one saved on it. He set up the iTunes online music store, and persuaded major recording labels to sell songs for 99 cents each. No longer did people have to go out and buy a CD if they liked one song from it. They bought a digital file and stored it in their iPod.

"Other companies sold digital music before Apple," said Bill Werde, editorial director of Billboard magazine. "Other companies made digital music available on computers and digital phones and used it in commercials. Apple's brilliance -- and I don't think anyone doubts that this was Steve Jobs' brilliance -- was that Apple made it exciting and simple and effortless and fun. Before Steve Jobs, digital music was math class. After, it was recess.

"Without a doubt," he added, "when you think of the Mount Rush more of the music business -- pioneers like Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, Clive Davis and Jimmy Iovine -- Steve Jobs has earned his prominent place."

In 2007, Jobs transformed the cell phone. Apple's iPhone, with its iconic touch screen, was a handheld computer, music player, messaging device, digital wallet and -- almost incidentally -- cell phone. Major competitors, such as BlackBerry, Nokia and Motorola, struggled after it appeared.

By 2010, Apple's new iPad began to cannibalize its original business, the personal computer. The iPad was a sleek tablet computer with a touch screen and almost no physical buttons. It could be used for almost anything software designers could conceive, from watching movies to taking pictures to leafing through a virtual book.

Steve Jobs' Personal Life

Jobs kept a close cadre of friends, Bajarin said, including John Lasseter of Pixar and Larry Ellison of Oracle, but beyond that, shared very little of his personal life with anyone.

But that personal life -- he was given up at birth for adoption, had an illegitimate child, was romantically linked with movie stars -- was full of intrigue for his fan base and Apple consumers.

Jobs and his wife, Laurene Powell, were married in a small ceremony in Yosemite National Park in 1991, lived in Woodside, Calif., and had three children: Reed Paul, Erin Sienna and Eve.

He admitted that when he was 23, he had a child out of wedlock with his high school girlfriend, Chris Ann Brennan. Their daughter, Lisa Brennan Jobs, was born in 1978.

He had a biological sister, Mona Simpson, the author of such well-known books as "Anywhere But Here." But he did not meet Simpson until they were adults and he was seeking out his birth parents. Simpson later wrote a book based on their relationship. She called it "A Regular Guy."

Fortune magazine reported that Jobs denied paternity of Lisa for years, at one point swearing in a court document that he was infertile and could not have children. According to the report, Chris Ann Brennan collected welfare for a time to support the child until Jobs later acknowledged Lisa as his daughter.

There were other personal details that emerged over the years, as well.

At Reed, Jobs became romantically involved with the singer Joan Baez, according to Elizabeth Holmes, a friend and classmate. In "The Second Coming of Steve Jobs," Holmes tells biographer Alan Deutschman that Jobs broke up with his serious girlfriend to "begin an affair with the charismatic singer-activist." Holmes confirmed the details to ABC News.

Jobs' Health and Apple's Health

Enigmatic and charismatic, Jobs said little about himself. But then his body began to fail him.

In 2004, he was forced to say publicly he had a rare form of pancreatic cancer. In 2009, it was revealed that he had quietly gone to a Memphis hospital for a liver transplant.

He took three medical leaves from Apple. He did not share details.

In 2009, sources said, members of Apple's board of directors had to persuade him to disclose more about his health as "a fiduciary issue," interwoven with the health of the company.

He was listed in March as 109th on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires, with a net worth of about $8.3 billion. After selling Pixar animation studios to The Walt Disney Company in 2006, he became a Disney board member and the company's largest shareholder. Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

Analysts said Apple performed well during Jobs' absence, partly because he was available for big decisions and partly because his chief lieutenant, Tim Cook, was the hands-on manager even when Jobs was there.

The company has a history of bouncing back. In January 2009, after he announced his second medical leave, Apple stock dropped to $78.20 per share. But it quickly recovered and became one of the most successful stocks on Wall Street. On one day in the summer of 2011, with the stock hitting the $400 level, Apple briefly passed ExxonMobil as the world's most valuable company.

ABC News' Alex Stone and Catherine McKenzie contributed to this report.

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