The Burner Files

Breaking Through the Legend of Steve Jobs

He spent twelve years in exile from Apple. But the man I uncovered during those difficult years was far more than the tyrant depicted in movies.

May 29 • Geoffrey Cain

5

1

The revolution Steve Jobs missed

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web on Steve Jobs' exotic computer. Steve ignored it.

May 23 • Geoffrey Cain

3

5

1

Three days in: what people are saying about Steve Jobs in Exile

NeXT and Apple alumni, the Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Six Colors, 9to5Mac, and others weigh in

May 21 • Geoffrey Cain

2

2

The Other Steve Jobs, in the Wilderness

Notes on writing Steve Jobs in Exile

May 19 • Geoffrey Cain

8

1

Behind the Boardroom Coup That Forced Steve Jobs Into Exile

A note on the reporting, plus a link to the Vanity Fair excerpt

May 11 • Geoffrey Cain

2

1

Tim Cook Built Apple in China, but Beijing Owns the Keys

Apple’s new CEO inherits a company that cannot escape the Communist Party of China.

Published on Commonplace • May 7

April 2026

John Ternus Is Apple's Next CEO. The Lessons Are in Steve Jobs's Wilderness Years.

Before Jobs built the iPhone, he spent twelve years at a company called NeXT. The clearest lessons of his career are in those years.

Apr 21 • Geoffrey Cain

1

2

1

The $2.5 billion chip smuggling operation that Silicon Valley doesn't want to talk about

My second cover story for The Spectator, on how the West is arming China's war machine

Apr 8 • Geoffrey Cain

5

2

March 2026

Khamenei Is Dead. Now Look at Beijing.

My cover story in The Spectator on the collapse of Xi's coalition and the summit with Trump

Mar 5 • Geoffrey Cain

2

1

January 2026

Announcing My New Book: Steve Jobs in Exile

Jobs Hit Rock Bottom. Then Came the Greatest Comeback in Business History.

Jan 15 • Geoffrey Cain

14

4

2

October 2022

TikTok, you are technically correct, the worst kind of correct

TikTok dodges the hard questions about its China connections

Oct 11, 2022 • Mike Wacker

4

1

July 2022

Ukraine's cyber-war shows us the future

The age of the open internet is finished. How do we contend with a closed one?

Jul 26, 2022 • Geoffrey Cain

5

1