jobs

Buzz Out Loud 775: EverCuil

On today's show, we learn how we, too, can purchase an extreme cooling machine, we test out the new Cuil search engine, which is apparently already doomed by its incomprehensible name and the unreasonable hatred of our chat room. Also, Steve Jobs calls to clear the air regarding his health (if you can call it clearing the air, that is), and I go on a rant that includes the term "earwax wiggle." Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 775

‘Hijacked’ SF passwords made public (Thanks Russ960!) http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10000342-83.html

Hammer drops at last: … Read more

Comparing Apple to Microsoft in PR

Dan Lyons utters an uncomfortable truth today: We'd never let Microsoft get away with the PR smoke and mirrors that Apple regularly offers. I'm a near-religious Apple fan, but it's absolutely true that we give Apple a free pass on just about everything.

He's referring, of course, to the way Steve Jobs treated a New York Times reporter (called him, insulted him, and then said he'd give him information but only off the record). If Ballmer did that same thing, and if Microsoft sheltered Ballmer the way Apple shelters Jobs, the media would freak, as … Read more

How news gets made (Or, Dan Lyons on Valleywag on Steve Jobs)

I like Dan Lyons' blog much more now than when he was writing as Fake Steve Jobs. Same bite and same insight without the noise.

Take, for example, a post today on Valleywag's complaint about how Apple PR is managing information relative to Steve Jobs' health. I made an unfortunate decision to post on the subject earlier, got swatted by Tom Krazit, and now am following it from the sidelines.

Those sidelines, incidentally, are fascinating, as Dan's post suggests. Dan is a veteran news reporter and talks through how the Jobs story is playing out, by whom, and … Read more

Why Apple needs an heir apparent

Earlier this week, Apple started a firestorm by telling its shareholders that Steve Jobs' health is a private matter. I argued both here on The Digital Home and on CNBC's Closing Bell, that Steve Jobs' health does matter and with no heir apparent in sight, how can shareholders feel secure in their investment?

I won't rehash the argument here, but it does beg one question: where is that heir apparent and who is he or she?

Apple, unlike almost every other company in technology space is so tied to its CEO that whenever he appears on TV or says anything of substance, it becomes a major media event and has an impact on the company's stock price. Beyond that, I would argue that there hasn't been one CEO currently sitting atop a company that has had the kind of impact Steve Jobs has had.

Think of it this way: before he was ousted, Jobs was the most important element in Apple's strategy. Sure, he made mistakes and the company suffered, but his tenacity was what kept that company going.

After this ouster, Jobs watched on the sidelines as his company fell into a malaise. The company's executives presided over an extreme degradation in the Apple product and practically everyone was wondering how long it would last.

And then, Steve Jobs came back and, well, saved the day. He presided over the greatest gain in shareholder value the company had ever seen and restored his company to the position of one of the most feared, yet popular brands in the business. Along the way, he made countless investors multimillionaires.… Read more

Ditto

The Macalope has assiduously avoided the "issue" of Steve Jobs' health to date simply because he finds the armchair diagnoses of people who aren't doctors but play them on the Internet to be repugnant. Today, Michael Gartenberg sums up his feelings perfectly:

Steve Jobs health is no one's business except his. That's my last word on this topic.

Why Steve Jobs' health matters more than Apple says

"Steve loves Apple. He serves at the pleasure of Apple's board. He has no plans to leave Apple. Steve's health is a private matter," said Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer on a conference call with investors on Monday.

Since then, investors have been calling for an update on their CEO's health -- to no avail.

"Every client call today I've had has brought up the health issue," said Charles Wolf, a securities analyst at Needham & Company to the New York Times. "I think the drop was based on the margin; that's when the stock really cratered."

Regardless, it brings up an interesting question: does Steve Jobs' health matter? Sure, he's a CEO of a public company and his decisions will have a major impact on shareholder value, but should his own health matters stay private? After all, I don't want my health records displayed in a public forum and it's not something that I enjoy talking about.

It makes sense for his health issues to be private, right?

Think again.… Read more

Crossing the line on Steve Jobs' health

Anyone with a genuine ounce of concern for Steve Jobs' health should remember the golden rule of medicine: first, do no harm.

Presumably carrying the torch for concerned Apple investors, Henry Blodget of Silicon Alley Insider has apparently decided to make it his personal mission this summer to shame Apple into revealing whether or not Jobs' pancreatic cancer has returned, aided and abetted by timely "hedge fund sources" from The New York Post who claim that Jobs is scaring business associates with his appearance and this despicable throw-away thought from CNET Blog Network contributor Matt Asay suggesting--without a … Read more

Jobs' health to blame for recent Apple issues?

Nine days after Apple released its iPhone 2.0 software, the code has been cracked. PwnageTool 2.0 will successfully unlock your iPhone.

This is great, but what I'm waiting for is a tool that will let me downgrade to the older iPhone 1.1.4 software.

Why? Because iPhone 2.0 remains very buggy.

Last night, I was reading my Arsenal news in the Safari browser, and the browser dumped me back to the home screen repeatedly, something that never happened in the iPhone 1.0 world. E-mail routinely dies on me, and those App Store applications? It's rare that I can get through a Sketches session without the application dying.

Steve Jobs once ridiculed Microsoft for cloning its software ("Redmond, start your photocopiers"), but this feels like Apple desperately trying to come up with a suitable rendition of the so-called blue screen of death.

As a hard-core Apple fan, I'm starting to wonder if there's more to this fiasco than meets the eye. It's very unlike Apple to have a sloppy upgrade (iPhone 2.0), terrible customer experience (activation problems at the launch of the 3G iPhone), and a crummy product launch (Mobile Me). Rumors have been swirling that Steve Jobs' health is in significant decline.

Could the recent foibles have something to do with Jobs' lack of oversight due to encroaching health problems?… Read more

Fake Dan Lyons. The reason Fake Steve Jobs must continue.

I was in a bar in New York last weekend and the man next to me looked vaguely familiar.

Glasses, friendly, drinking a lot.

To me, these are all the hallmarks of a journalist. But he might have been a doctor, I supposed.

His first words? "I just can't take it any more. The pressure, the accolades. And all the adulation. Man, have you got any idea how stressful adulation can be?"

He introduced himself as Dan.

He kept talking, either trying to convince me of something or, I preferred, to convince himself.

"Most journalists become … Read more