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January 24, 2012

Virgin America Plane Pays Homage to Steve Jobs

By Jacqueline Lee, Contributing Writer

Virgin America has announced that it has named one member of its fleet of planes in honor of the late Apple (News - Alert) founder Steve Jobs. The airline chose the name as the result of an internally sponsored naming contest. Virgin America is the only airline based in Silicon Valley, with 2,200 employees working out of its home base in Burlingame.



“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” is the moniker for the plane, and the phrase comes from Jobs’ famous commencement speech given at Stanford University. “Stay hungry. Stay foolish,” Jobs told graduates back in 2005, quoting from a phrase coined by the 1970s Whole Earth Catalog. “I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.”

The Virgin America honor is not the only posthumous honor granted to the late technology pioneer. On February 11, 2012, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences will present Jobs with a posthumous Grammy. According to the Academy, Jobs changed the way that people consume television, movies, music and books thanks to his many technological innovations.

Apple’s iTunes store has sold more than 16 billion songs since its inception in 2003, and Jobs worked tirelessly to persuade record labels to sell their songs through the venue.

Last October, The Salesforce Foundation agreed to match contributions that people made to College Track, a charity founded by Jobs’ wife, Laurene Powell Jobs. College Track works to help disadvantaged youths to be successful in college by facilitating college-prep testing and promoting a culture in which academic success is celebrated. The foundation expressed sadness over Jobs’ passing and encouraged all who benefited from his achievements to donate in his honor.

Even fans in other countries have come together to celebrate the life of the man touted as the Father of Modern Computing. Jobs was recently immortalized in a bronze statue erected in Budapest, Hungary. A company called Graphisoft, which benefited from its relationship with Apple during the days when Hungary was controlled by a communist government, commissioned the statue in Jobs’ honor.

Ordinary people looking to honor the late visionary may not have the resources to name a plane after Jobs. However, one of the best ways to honor Apple’s co-founder is to become an organ donor. Jobs received a liver transplant in 2009 that prolonged his life for an additional two years in spite of the ravages of pancreatic cancer. To become a donor, readers can list their names with their state of residence’s organ and tissue donor registry.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO East 2012, taking place Jan. 31-Feb. 3 2012, in Miami, FL. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO registration, click here.

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Jacqueline Lee is a TMCnet contributor who produces web content, blogs and articles for numerous websites including wikiHow.com. Her background is in business and education.

Edited by Jennifer Russell
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