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Published by Michael Stern
Our documentary told the story of General Magic—the most influential tech company you’ve never heard of. Now, we’re exploring the lessons it left behind and what they reveal about the future of technology, culture, and human ambition. spellboundproductions.substack.com
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Kris Rodriguez was one of the original HR people at General Magic — the person who decided who got hired, and who didn’t, at one of Silicon Valley’s most mythologized companies. She now runs Clear Path Communications, a leadership coaching and organization-development consultancy focused on change management and executive coaching, largely in biotech. In this conversation, she traces a direct line from her days as Magic’s “gatekeeper” to the leadership philosophy she teaches today: dispelling the old instruction-manual model of leadership, helping people connect to their own purpose, and reckoning honestly with the double-edged nature of bold vision. She also weighs in candidly on AI anxiety, Amara’s Law, and why the most compelling visions can blind us to their own risks. In This Episode * General Magic’s hiring philosophy: integrity, enthusiasm, and the space to play * From Digital Equipment Corporation to the “graduate school experience” * The heartbreak of the company’s collapse and the pivot to Portico * Amara’s Law and the anxiety of living through another technological inflection point * Dispelling the “textbook” of leadership — coaching as a return to purpose * Vision as a double-edged sword: the “ice wall” metaphor * The discipline of saying no and making trade-offs explicit * AI’s own creators sounding the alarm — and what that should tell us * Gene editing, biotech ethics, and believing in the good * Her bumper-sticker answer: “Human… and Mom” Timestamps 01:29 — What General Magic screened for: integrity, enthusiasm, and play 10:32 — Amara’s Law and the anxiety of the AI moment 17:15 — Dispelling the leadership “textbook” — coaching’s real starting point 22:39 — “The thing I’ve been trying to get back to for 30 years” 24:57 — Vision as a double-edged sword: the “ice wall” metaphor 26:59 — The art of saying no: trade-off decisions in coaching 29:33 — AI’s own creators sounding the alarm 37:51 — Why coaching isn’t a turnaround tool — integrity as a filter 41:50 — Gene editing, biotech ethics, and believing in the good About Kris Rodriguez Kris Rodriguez was one of the original HR people at General Magic, where she helped build the team and served as the company’s “gatekeeper” during hiring. She previously worked at Digital Equipment Corporation and has spent the last 25 years in biotech, most recently as founder of Clear Path Communications, a leadership coaching and organization-development consultancy specializing in change management, org design, and executive coaching. Resources & Links * Clearpath Communications * Contact Kris: kris@clearpathcommunications.com * General Magic documentary This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit spellboundproductions.substack.com
Andy Hertzfeld wrote much of the original Macintosh operating system, co-founded General Magic, later worked at Google, and created Folklore.org, the definitive oral history of early Apple. In this 46-minute audio edit, he opens up more candidly than ever about why using AI coding tools and AI music generation feels, in his words, “thrilling” and “like magic” — the same joy he felt writing code as a teenager — while also delivering a clear-eyed reckoning with what went wrong at General Magic, how Apple’s Newton team secretly raced to beat them to market, why he thinks the AI industry “is poisoned by money,” and, in a closing conversation, what it will take for Silicon Valley — and the country — to rediscover its soul. In This Episode 04:17 - “It’s actually thrilling”: Andy on using AI coding tools 04:51 - Suno, poetry, and rediscovering creative joy through AI music 07:54 - Why Andy trusts Gemini over ChatGPT 12:04 - Is the AI industry idealistic, or “poisoned by money”? 14:57 - Andy’s biggest regret at General Magic26:10 - The Newton betrayal38:45 - Andy’s bumper-sticker answer and his Tesla regret 41:04 - Silicon Valley’s political turn, and finding tech’s soul again 43:58 - The Steve Jobs/Steve Wozniak kindness distinction that still guides him About Andy Hertzfeld: Andy Hertzfeld was a key member of the original Apple Macintosh team, where he wrote much of the system software that defined personal computing. He went on to co-found General Magic, the legendary Silicon Valley startup that envisioned the smartphone 15 years before the iPhone. He later worked at Google, where he contributed to Google+. Hertzfeld is also the creator of Folklore.org, a widely cited living archive of stories from the early days of Apple, and co-author of the book Revolution in the Valley . Now retired, he spends his time on personal creative projects — including AI-assisted music composition through Suno — and remains one of the most respected and beloved figures in Silicon Valley history. Resources & Links: * Andy Hertzfeld on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Hertzfeld * Folklore.org (created by Andy Hertzfeld): https://www.folklore.org * Revolution in the Valley by Andy Hertzfeld: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/revolution-in-the/9780596007195/ Thanks for reading General Magic & The Soul of Tech! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit spellboundproductions.substack.com
Steve Jarrett is one of the rare technologists who has built products at every stage of the mobile revolution — from General Magic and Audible to Philips and the iPod team at Apple, to Chief AI Officer at Orange, where he oversaw AI strategy for 300 million customers across 26 countries. In this conversation, he brings that depth to the questions that matter most right now: how AI should be governed, who gets left behind when it isn't, and what the EU AI Act gets right and wrong. He also shares hard-won lessons on innovation methodology, why simpler models often beat complex ones, and his thoughts on future societal impacts of AI. In this episode: * What it was like inside General Magic — and the lesson Steve carried with him: “The world is built by people .” * Building the first app store at Philips with Tony Fadell — years before Apple’s App Store existed * Creating Audible’s first mobile audio player and the first mobile web browser * Joining the iPod team at Apple and building the first version of CarPlay * The AI digital divide: what happens when AI reaches places where people earn five euros a month and speak languages no model understands * Open-weight vs. closed AI models — and the national security trade-offs Europe is navigating * EU AI Act: what it gets right, what it gets wrong, and why governance matters * “Don’t use AI if you don’t have to” — why simpler methods are more explainable, more repeatable, and generate less CO2 * On-device AI, privacy, and the future of the smartphone * Tony Fadell’s innovation methodology and what Steve Jobs actually taught the people around him About Steve Jarrett:Steve Jarrett is a serial technology innovator who began his career at General Magic and went on to help build the first commercial app store (at Philips, with Tony Fadell), the first mobile audio app (at Audible), and the first mobile web browser. He later joined the iPod team at Apple and supported the first version of CarPlay. Most recently, he served as Chief AI Officer at Orange Group, in Paris, overseeing AI strategy for 300 million customers across 26 countries.Resources & Links:Steve Jarrett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevejarrett/Steve Blank's Customer Development: https://steveblank.com/Eric Ries's Lean Startup Methodology: https://leanstartup.co/ The audio-only link of the interview here in Substack, on Spotify, and in Apple Podcasts is edited for length. The full-length version of the interview is the video we post on YouTube …which also includes some fun bits between Steve and Hersh, who were quite the pranksters back at Magic. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit spellboundproductions.substack.com
Welcome to our second episode of General Magic & The Soul of Tech. This was a nostalgic conversation with one of our early colleagues at General Magic. Scott Knaster is one of the few people who worked at Apple, General Magic, and then Microsoft and Google—which means he’s seen the soul of tech from just about every angle. In this conversation, he talks about what made each of those cultures different, and why Magic’s still stands apart in his memory. It’s a warm, honest, and sometimes funny look at what happens when a company is built around people rather than products—and what gets lost when that stops being the priority. The full uncut video is below on YouTube for those nostalgia buffs who want to hear our full conversation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit spellboundproductions.substack.com
Thirty years ago, the team at General Magic invented the smartphone concept — and helped usher in a revolution that reshaped how we work, communicate, and relate to each other. They also didn't see the dark side coming. In this first episode of General Magic and the Soul of Tech, hosts Michael Stern and Tom Hershenson sit down with the General Magic documentary co-director Sarah Kerruish for a wide-ranging conversation about what General Magic got wrong the first time — and why the rise of AI may be humanity's only chance to get it right. They cover the original vision at General Magic, the invention of software agents (yes, before AI agents were a thing), why “Jobs vs. Musk” is the title of their upcoming book, and what a "call to conscience" for technologists, policymakers, and investors looks like in 2026. This isn't despair. It's a summons. Topics in this episode:• Why General Magic matters now, not just as history• The soul of tech: Steve Jobs vs. Elon Musk• How GM invented agents — and what that means for AI today• Safety-first architecture: what Telescript got right that modern AI hasn't• The K-shaped economy and who benefits from the AI boom• What social movements teach us about the road ahead Join the conversation: Substack → spellboundproductions.substack.com General Magic documentary → generalmagicthemovie.com General Magic and the Soul of Tech is produced by Spellbound Productions II LLC. #GeneralMagic #SiliconValley #Innovation #Technology #Ethics #FutureOfAI #HumanCenteredDesign #TheSoulOfTech #Podcast #spellboundproductions This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit spellboundproductions.substack.com
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Observed September 13, 2026. Cached outside the daily freshness window; the positions keep the date they were taken on.
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