After Steve Jobs was unceremoniously booted from Apple Computer in 1985 (he actually resigned after being pressured out), he took a core group of employees and started NeXT, Inc.

NeXT had a variety of business models and products both hardware and software. Tim Berners-Lee used a NeXT Computer in 1991 to create the first web browser and web server; accordingly, NeXT was instrumental in the development of the World Wide Web.

In the early 1990s John Carmack used a NeXTcube to build two of his pioneering games, Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.

Oh yeah, and they pioneered object-oriented programming, graphical user interfaces, and web application servers which enabled dynamic page generation based on user interactions as opposed to static content.

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Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm. George Lucas sold Pixar to Steve Jobs in 1986 shortly after he left Apple Computer. Jobs paid $5 million to George Lucas and put $5 million as capital into the company.

Pixar had a love-hate relationship with Disney for several years: Pixar made amazingly successful films, and Disney made a lot of money.

In 2000, Pixar moved into this location that features an enormous atrium, volleyball courts, pool, and people riding around on Razor scooters. The facility was purchased outright with profits made from Toy Story.

On January 24, 2006, Disney purchased Pixar for $7.4 billion in an all-stock deal. Steve Jobs, who owned 50.1% of the company, gained 7.1% of Disney, making him the largest single shareholder of Disney, and putting him on the board of directors.

Pixar continues to make ground-breaking animated films, and has several slated for future release.

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Built in the early 1900s for copper magnate Daniel Jackling, Steve Jobs bought this mansion in 1984. An enormous house with 14 rooms, Jobs intention was always to tear the building down. It took until March 2010 to get approval from a California court to get approval to demolish the property, which was done in February 2011.

According to reports, even though Jobs lived in it for ten years, he kept it virtually unfurnished. He once hosted a dinner for President Clinton here in 1996. He was rewarded with a stay in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House.

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This former naval base has been the filming location for many different films and tv shows.

The Treasure Island Naval Base served as the Zeppelin Airport in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The Robin Williams' films Flubber, What Dreams May Come, Patch Adams and Bicentennial Man were all filmed on this island. The "bullet-time" sequences for The Matrix were filmed in the former air hangers here.

And for three seasons, the Comedy Central show Battlebots was filmed here. This show will undoubtedly be projected on enormous screens in the future, as our robot overlords force humans to fight each other to the death for their amusement.

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Philip K. Dick moved to this house in San Rafael with his fourth wife in 1968. After they separated, a rotating cast of characters would live and do drugs with him at the house. It would earn the nickname 'Hermit House' and this time period in his life would become the basis for A Scanner Darkly published in 1977.

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