Report: Steve Jobs recovered, set for timely return to Apple
By Jacqui Cheng
It appears as if Steve Jobs will indeed return to Apple by the end of June after taking a six-month leave from the company. The world is watching to see whether he’ll make a surprise appearance at WWDC next week, though many believe he’s saving that surprise for another time.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is reportedly on track to return to Apple full-time later this month, right on schedule. Insiders speaking to The Wall Street Journal claim that Jobs’ recovery is “coming along” and that Apple’s directors have been receiving weekly updates since Jobs took leave in January. Whether or not we’ll see him at next week’s WWDC keynote, however, remains up in the air.
“He was one real sick guy,” one of the WSJ’s sources said. “Fundamentally he was starving to death over a nine-month period. He couldn’t digest protein. [But] he took corrective action.”
The iconic CEO has been on medical leave for the last five months after endless speculation about his weight and overall health. Indeed, Jobs was looking a little frail during Apple’s iPod and notebook events in the fall of 2008, and he first tried to address the issue by publicly acknowledging a “hormonal imbalance” in early January. At that time, Jobs said that he had no plans to step aside as CEO of the company and that he had already begun treatment.
Just nine days later, however, Jobs sent out another public letter saying that his health issues were “more complex” than he originally thought and that he would be on medical leave from Apple until June. In his place would be Apple COO Tim Cook, though Jobs said he would remain involved in major strategic decisions while on leave. Needless to say, this announcement sent the entire tech community into a flurry of rumors and speculation about whether Jobs would ever return to Apple and what it would mean for the company.
Since then, we have heard relatively little about Jobs’ progress except for some brief acknowledgments by Cook during two of the company’s quarterly financial calls. Both times, Apple emphasized that Jobs still expected to return in June. A number of Apple employees also relayed last week that Jobs had been spotted around campus, bolstering confidence that he was indeed preparing to return soon. So, the WSJ’s report isn’t exactly shocking.
What is up for debate is whether Jobs will pop in during Monday’s keynote at WWDC, to be delivered by Phil Schiller and gang. Apple fans are dying for this to happen, though numerous analysts have expressed doubt that such a spectacle will come to pass.
For the record, we agree with the analysts—a Jobs appearance at Monday’s keynote would be welcome but almost too expected, not to mention early. A better theory would be that Jobs will make a surprise appearance near the launch of the as-yet-unannounced next-gen iPhone (admittedly, we jacked this theory from former Apple PR guru Anuj Nayar, but it truly is the best one). Either way, it’s clear at this point that Jobs will definitely be making a comeback to the company, and he undoubtedly has “one more thing” up his sleeve.
richman.sulit.com.ph - Saturday, May 15, 2010
2010 © Sulit.com.ph
Categories: apple ipod, apple ipod otuch, apple ipod shuffle, ipod, ipod apple Tags:
Apple iPod shuffle (3rd Gen)
By Jonathan Bray
Verdict: Achingly gorgeous and with some intriguing features, but it’s not the most practical of designs
The shuffle has always generated heated debate over the merits of the design. But you could never accuse Apple of resting on its design laurels, and its third generation iPod shuffle is the sexiest yet.
Small enough to pass as a hair clip or over-sized earring, there’s no denying that this little MP3 player has a huge amount of charm.
Apple claims it’s the smallest MP3 player in the world and we wouldn’t quibble: we’ve no idea how the designers managed to squeeze 4GB of memory and a battery big enough to offer ten hours of playback into a package this tiny.
To compensate for the lack of screen, this Shuffle has another trick up its sleeve: VoiceOver. It’s the first MP3 player that can talk to you. It will tell you what track is playing and who the artist is, talk its way through your playlists and conscientiously let you know when your battery is running low.
It’s no substitute for a screen – there’s no way of browsing by album, song title, genre or year for instance – but if you’re sold on the no-screen approach then it’s certainly an improvement.
As before, the shuffle comes with a spring-loaded clip on the rear to attach it to your clothing and the casing feels very solid indeed – there’s a free engraving service too, if you order one through Apple’s website. But we think that Apple has taken things too far here.
In order to keep the size down, there are no controls on the player itself, aside from a small three-way power switch that lets you swap between play-in-order and shuffle modes. Instead, volume and track-skipping duties have been offloaded to an inline remote that sits on the cord running to the right-hand earbud.
It’s so slim you hardly notice it’s there, but it’s fiddly to use and feels flimsy. The worse thing about it, though, is that in order to use anything other than the bundled earbuds (best described as mediocre) you have to buy either a compatible set of alternatives (the in-ear Apple headphones work and a limited number of third party manufacturers sell them too), or splash out on a special adapter.
There are undoubtedly irritations and annoyances then, not least over those outboard controls, but with a player this small and beautifully-crafted the foibles are easy to overlook.
It’s not a player for the audiophile and doesn’t aim to be, nor are there many features, but there’s plenty of storage space here for the money and if you’re the kind of person who goes for style over substance there’s very little out there to compete with it.
SPECIFICATIONS:
4GB flash memory; USB 2 interface; fixed lithium-polymer battery; 10-hour claimed battery life; bundled earbuds and remote control; supports MP3, AAC, Audible, Apple Lossless, WAV and AIFF; 45.7 x 17.5 x 8mm (WDH), 10.7g
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Categories: apple, apple ipod, apple ipod shuffle, ipod Tags:
