Steve Jobs

It's been a rough year for the IT industry. The death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in October grabbed international headlines. But we also lost other major figures from almost every area of technology, including Xerox PARC founder Jacob E. Goldman, who died in late December. Here's one last look at some of the people who made a big difference.

Apple grabbed 3 of the top 10 spots. One was for a nonexistent product -- the iPhone 5 -- that nabbed the six spot in the standings. Apple's deceased cofounder, Steve Jobs, finished ninth in the rankings, followed by the iPad2 at 10.

Natural disasters -- the Japan earthquake and Hurricane Irene -- have spurred the most online news searches in 2011, though big news and rumors about Apple weren't far behind.

Though the world at large may be more excited for the new Muppets movie, Apple enthusiasts have a different sort of screening to look forward to: Starting next week, Landmark Theaters will be showing 59 lost minutes from Robert Cringely's 1995 interview with Steve Jobs, originally captured for use in the PBS miniseries, Triumph of the Nerds.. I had a chance to preview the film, and though the video quality may not win any awards, the content is far and away worth the hour or so of your time.

Steve Jobs initially hoped to create his own network with the unlicensed spectrum that Wi-Fi uses rather than work with the mobile operators, said wireless industry legend John Stanton.