Ask-Me-Anything sessions on Reddit can throw up all kinds of new and interesting information about the rich and the famous, and Apple co-founder Steve 'Woz' Wozniak has just been busy answering questions from Redditors about all aspects of the company he left in 1985.
He's definitely pleased with the direction Tim Cook's going in - "I love the software, and I love the hardware, and nothing's letting me down" - though he did express some reservations about whether the Apple Watch has been a wise move. "It's taken us into a jewellery market where you're going to buy a watch between $500 or $1,100 based on how important you think you are as a person," he said, though he does own and use one.
Of course Apple is currently embroiled in a data privacy fight with the FBI and US government over iPhone unlocking, and Wozniak offered his backing to his old employers: "I come from the side of personal liberties... These are dangerous, dangerous things, and if some code gets written in an Apple product that lets people in, bad people are going to find their way to it, very likely."
From VR to the Apple Car
Answering a question about his favourite up-and-coming gadget, Woz enthused about the potential of virtual reality headsets, saying they offer "an experience that you can't believe". The Amazon Echo and self-driving cars also got a mention, and he's also a big fan of Siri. If he had to invent a new device, it would be "a device that gives us one extra hour per day" Woz said.
As for what Apple has in store next, the long-standing issue of an Apple Car was brought up. Wozniak thinks it's a good idea, but that Apple should only launch it if its "insanely great", in the words of Steve Jobs. "I think that we're really going to improve life a lot with [self-driving car technology], and that's where Apple likes to be," he wrote on Reddit. "Basically making products that make a better world for the users. So the car market makes total sense to me for Apple."
It's well worth reading through the AMA in full to get Woz's opinions on burger bars, comic book superheroes, modern-day technologies and his time at Apple. As for the story that he and Steve Jobs started Apple in a garage, he described it as "true and untrue" - so that clears up that one, then.
