I interviewed Glenn Close for Palm Springs Life magazine about her just-released movie “Albert Nobbs.” Close received a best-actress Oscar nomination, while co-star Janet McTeer was nominated for best-supporting actress. Both gave strong performances in the movie.

Close, who won a Career Achievement Award at this year’s Palm Springs International Film Festival earlier this month, had been hoping to play the “Albert Nobbs” role since playing the part on stage at the Manhattan Theater Club in 1982.

Close was generous with her time for the interview, which I may post on this blog next month. A thank you to Palm Springs Life editor-in-chief Steven Biller for reaching out to me for this opportunity.

Click here to read the story.

In July 2000, I met Jobs at the Macworld Expo NY 2000 at the Javits Center in New York City.

He was on stage in front of an audience of hundreds, introducing a lineup of candy-colored iMacs. Colorful computers were a novel idea then, because before the iMac, computers were beige and boxy. The iMac G3 looked like a TV you’d see in an alien cartoon. In classic Jobs fashion, he talked up the iMac, told us why it was so great, using exorbitant language, revealed the new brightly-colored iMacs, waited for the “oohs” and “ahhs” to quiet down, told us more reasons why it was great, and ended with his “one more thing,” which was the G4 Cube.

After his presentation, Jobs went to a large room to do one-on-one interviews with reporters. I was reporting on Apple for Bloomberg News and one of the the last reporters in line. We were cued up outside of the room. Ahead of me in line was a reporter from the USA Today. He asked if it was my first time interviewing Jobs. I said yes. He then explained how it would go. “Be careful, he said. “If he doesn’t like a question you ask, he’ll get up and leave. If he doesn’t like your tone of voice, he may leave the room. He might lie and say he’s going to the bathroom, and then not come back. Or he may just leave without a word.”

Soon it was my turn to interview Jobs. As we shook hands I noticed his short-facial hair and John Lennon-like glasses. He was still, quiet and aloof as we began to talk. I explained how I first used a Macintosh in college, which prompted me to later borrow money from my folks to buy a PowerBook. He relaxed once he knew I was familiar with his products. He stood up and walked me over to a table lined with the new iMacs and the soon-to-flop G4 Cube.

He began gushing about these products like a man showing off his new babies. His eyes lit up as he walked and talked excitedly about the new iMac colors: Indigo, Ruby, Sage, Graphite and Snow. I asked what would become of the colors introduced in 1999: Strawberry, Blueberry, Lime, Grape and Tangerine? He paused, raised his right hand to his chin, and stared at me for what seemed like a long time, Then, with a bemused look on his face, he finally said, “You know, you’re the first person to ask, and because you asked, I’ll tell you. I wasn’t going to mention this today. Those colors will be retired.”

The idea of computer exterior colors being retired was odd, but I knew it was news. He said he had not mentioned it because he wanted the spotlight to be on the new iMac lineup, not the outgoing line. He then spoke about the G4 Cube and the other Apple products introduced that day. I was itching to get out of there so I could call the Bloomberg headlines desk to tell them about the colors being retired. I didn’t want to get scooped by our competition. At Bloomberg, because so many traders watch the headlines, if you were first with a headline, it was often better than being first with a story. The editor who answered the breaking news phone was convinced it wasn’t news and almost hung up. Quickly, I talked him into sending the headline about the iMac colors being discontinued.

I collected more information about when the retiring iMacs would officially be pulled from stores and whether Apple was worried about customers being upset about no longer being able to buy a Blueberry iMac. I was sitting outside of the room where folks were carrying out the iMacs that had been on display, and then out Jobs came, still talking excitedly about the new products.

He looked at me and a wide-smile came across his face.

“Nice job on the colorful story,” he said.

I was impressed that he knew about the headline, but not surprised.
Jobs never missed a detail.

He’ll be missed at Apple for that, and by the rest of us, for his genius, vision and thoughtfulness. Those qualities will continue to be felt for years.

Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley’s plan is to do for places and experiences, what Amazon has done for books, and Netflix has done for movies. Crowley calls Foursquare a “recommendation engine.” I called it an “anticipation engine” when I caught up with Crowley at the at this month’s 140 Characters Conference in New York City. I asked him what changes are coming that users don’t expect? Will Foursquare evolve in ways that we’re not yet imagining? Watch the 140-second interview to hear what he said.

“You want to make sure everything you tweet is accurate, honest and useful,” Curry said in an interview. “I’m held to a very high standard, and you need to meet that.”

Curry sets a high-standard each day as host of as NBC’s “Today” show, and when the cameras are off, she maintains her journalism standards when she sends updates on Twitter.

“I don’t want to let people down,” she said. “It’s a lot of responsibility.”

Two years ago at the 140 Characters Conference in New York City, Curry emerged as a social media star because she explained how seriously she approaches each tweet. That won the respect of the crowd and her Twitter following quickly grew from 40,000 to over one million. Curry’s interview with HiAnthony.com took place at last year’s #140conf, as it’s known on Twitter. She will speak again at this year’s 140 Characters Conference, which kicks off June 15 at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan.

Twitter is changing, Curry said, comparing it to the evolution of transportation. “When have generations been able to expereince something, knowing that they’re at the ground stage of something? It’s a rare experience.”

New York City cab driver Ala Uddin talks about the city’s recent snow storm, which left city streets covered with snow for days. New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg and the city’s sanitation department have come under fire for taking too long to clear city streets. He talks about whether mayor Bloomberg should be blamed for how the cleanup was handled, and how former mayor Rudy Giuliani handled city snow storms.

For more lively opinion about New York City, Uddin can be found driving cab 3C34. He owns the cab’s medallion.

NEW YORK — Jeff Pulver took a few minutes to discuss what to expect at this year’s 140 Characters Conference: New York City. It’s the second annual conference, referred to as #140conf on Twitter. The #140conf tag has been used every day on Twitter since the conference a year ago, Pulver said. Last year’s conference helped propel NBC News journalist Ann Curry (@AnnCurry) from 40,000 followers to over 1 jmillion and also featured Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee). Both Curry and Vaynerchuk are speaking again at this year’s conference. Also speaking at the conference, on April 20 and 21 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump), Donny Deutsch (@Donny_Deutsch) and MC Hammer (@MCHammer).

“What we’re really looking at is the effects of the real-time Internet on both business and we the people ,” Pulver said during a recent interview at the Roger Smith Hotel (@RSHotel).

“We will be looking at the Haiti disaster,” and topics including media, fashion, music and sports. “The people define the moment,” said Pulver, who runs the conference and is also Vonage’s original founder. “It’s about serendipity. It’s about life.”

I attended last year’s 140 Characters Conference: New York City and connected with many folks there. The interaction at the conference helped me to become more active on Twitter. By the way, Pulver said, March 5 is the last day to get into the conference for $100 for both days. As of March 6, it goes up to $140 for both days. I’ll put the conference registration link here and the schedule link here, because I believe it’s well worth the investment.

NEW YORK — New York City taxi driver Richard Horne said the streets of New York are overcrowded with selfish pedestrians and drivers. “New York City is a great place to come to visit, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a horrible place to work or to live,” Horne said during a recent cab ride. The city is filled with aggressive people and vehicles jockeying for position. Rivera has more to say about the economy, President Barack Obama, and tension in New York City in his video interview with NYC Voices.

Horne is a retired U.S. government law enforcement officer, who didn’t wish to be more specific about his previous job. The U.S. economy has been poor since mid-2008, he said. Yet, business is improving in 2010. “I can’t speak for the other drivers,” he said. “I do exceptionally well.”

Other taxi drivers would also do well if they focused on their customers and careful driving, instead of fighting other drivers.

“Most New York City problems can be solved if people showed common courtesy to each other,” he told NYC Voices.

NEW YORK — Al Rivera has been hawking goods on the streets of New York City for the past 30 years. He loves meeting people as they check out his hats, belts, socks and other items, which he sells for about five dollars. Rivera, 56, has been living in a hotel for the past 15 years. “It’s the only way to survive,” Rivera said in an interview this month. He’s a resident of the hotel, which is in the city, and feels fortunate to make a living on the streets of Manhattan.

Many days during the past 18 months, Rivera makes about $30, he said. “It’s about survival.” When consumers spent more and the U.S. economy was in better shape a couple of years ago, it was common for Rivera to make $100 a day, he said.

What’s next for the economy? Commercial real estate is hurting and will likely get worse, Rivera said. Many retail tenants are not able to pay the rent, he observed from behind his table of goods on the corner of 30th Street and Seventh Avenue on a cold January afternoon.

Rivera sells wholesale goods that he buys from suppliers from countries including China. As the U.S. dollar has grown weaker, his product choices have also dwindled, he said. Rivera shared more insights on retail, the U.S. economy and China in our video interview.

Last week, 10 privacy organizations filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the complaint says Facebook’s privacy policies “violate federal consumer protection law.” Inadvertently sharing your list of friends with outside companies, and your profile information with users beyond your circle of friends, are among the issues EPIC disputes.

This all has a familiarly creepy ring to it. Remember when you loaned your high school yearbook to a friend for them to sign? Sometimes you’d get the yearbook back with that person’s well wishes — plus signatures from other folks who’d borrowed your book and signed, too. That wasn’t cool: Your non-pals had read your actual pals’ messages to you. That’s a more simplistic version of what Facebook is doing, or hoping to get you to do: opening up your account to non-pals to read.

Short-Term Gains

Most users view Facebook as a safe place to share information with other users whom they select: a closed network of friends and family who have been invited to see their information. By quietly pushing its users beyond that privacy comfort zones, the company may indeed profit — in the short term.

But if Facebook loses the trust of its users, the mounting scorn will cost the company its reputation. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook officers are taking advantage of their trusting customers who don’t see their information getting sold off to salivating advertisers. And they’ll ultimately have the same reputation as the kid who signs your yearbook without your permission.

Facebook’s privacy page notes that the site has changed “a lot” in the past five years, and that “people are generally sharing more information, and” — wishful thinking, perhaps — “they are becoming more comfortable sharing more information.” The recent privacy changes, it says, are meant to “address these shifting social norms” — although some critics suggest that the real goal here is to better compete with Twitter, where most users open their updates to all.

Legal Challenges

Whatever their motives, the company clearly wants users to share more information with “everyone,” because such information has value to potential advertisers. DailyFinance’s Tom Johansmeyer wrote that it was only a matter of time until someone decided to challenge Facebook legally. A Facebook spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that it “discussed the privacy program with many regulators, including the FTC, prior to launch and expect[ed] to continue to work with them in the future.”

What would be most useful and honest, though, would be for Facebook to bonk users over the head with the message that their updates are being made public. That may not best serve the company’s needs, but users should not be duped into opening up their information. Because while getting 350 million users to share their personal information publicly may attract advertisers, it erodes the trust of those who use Facebook and make it an increasingly powerful network.

The high cost of illness, insurance and treatments is one of the key factors driving the U.S. health care reform debate in Washington. The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which was published last week, allows people to see just how much certain illnesses will cost them and their insurer based on age and, of course, the condition. After looking at these charts you’ll pray you never get diagnosed with diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis or emphysema.

Keep in mind that the personal costs referenced in the study aren’t necessarily coming straight from the insured person’s pocket. Employers cover the bulk of the cost, says Alan Miller, CEO of Universal Health Services. ‘It doesn’t cost that much to the individual. It certainly costs a lot for the employer to have you covered.”

This could help explain an interesting shift I’ve noticed in workplace dynamics regarding sick days. As the costs associated with illness continue to rise for employers, they’re more likely to encourage workers to use sick days. After all, it’s in the employer’s best interest for workers to recover sooner rather than later, and it’s a better way of preventing other employees from falling ill as well. Especially since the H1N1 outbreak, it seems as if co-workers are less likely to snipe about someone being out sick than they are about a sick person coming into the office and spreading their germs around.

Playing Offense Is Key to Cutting Costs

Maybe this is a sign that the U.S. is turning the corner in how we approach illness. If getting sick is costing everyone more — me, you, your company, my company and U.S. taxpayers — isn’t it in our best interest to beat the illness before it starts, as much as that’s possible?

“The U.S. health-care system has historically focused on cures for illness and disease rather than effective prevention,” Christopher Fey, CEO of U.S. Preventive Medicine, said in an e-mail. “An estimated 10% to 20% of the workforce either has, or is at high-risk for developing, a chronic condition. Subsidizing expensive interventions that treat sickness rather than prevent it is a burden taxpayers and employers can’t afford.”

Assume that’s true, are we willing to adapt? The culture in the U.S. is a long way from being proactive toward illness. The government needs to consider whether they will take a carrot or stick approach.

If there were a so-called “fat tax” or a similar tax for not being healthy in the U.S., a mob would descend on those trying to enforce such a law. As it is, some resent the police because of an occasional ticket, which is, in essence, a tax for faulty driving or parking. Imagine the outrage against the Twinkie-police.

Should the U.S. government take a more charitable route and consider reforms that encourage folks to lose weight or otherwise be healthier, they need to take into account that Americans are likely to demand no one tell them not to smoke, eat, or drink, in excess. Perhaps the U.S. should keep an eye on things in the U.K., which is testing a plan in 2010 that allows people to earn money by losing weight.

“[The government is] still fighting over what the [health care] bill ultimately will be. None of the details have been ironed out, it’s very complicated,” said Miller, who recently wrote Health Care Reform that Makes Sense.

The complexity of health care and who should pay for it could cause the debate to rage on for years. Meanwhile, I think we’re fighting the wrong side of this battle. Sure, if you lead a so-called “clean lifestyle,” you may still get sick, but is that reason enough not to be healthy? Putting a price tag on certain illnesses entices people to look at the actual expense. If a problem hits you in the pocketbook, it’s more likely to move you to action than a philosophical argument regarding the systemic cost of illness.