I have nothing against smoking, save for the difficult odor that emanates from every part, breath, and piece of clothing belonging to a smoker. I could no more live with a smoker than I could live with a third ear perched off the end of my nose.
However, I am embalmed in a curious sympathy after reading a report from The Consumerist concerning two Mac users whose AppleCare warranties appear to have been voided due to the presence of cigarette smoke in their homes.
One, named Derek, recounts the tale of his overheating black MacBook. He took it into the Apple store in Jordan Creek, West Des Moines.
He told The Consumerist: "Today, April, 28, 2008, the Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, that has voided the warranty and they refuse to work on the machine, due to 'health risks of secondhand smoke.'"
He continued: "Nowhere in your AppleCare terms of service can I find anything mentioning being used in a smoking environment as voiding the warranty."
Derek's resulting appeal to the office of Steve Jobs bore him no joy, so he resorted to blowing some compressed air at the machine, leading it to restart its wondrous functions.
Then along came Ruth, who took her son's iMac to an authorized repair center. After five days, they apparently told her they couldn't work on it because it was contaminated with cigarette smoke and was therefore a bio-hazard.
... Read more
Apple CEO Steve Jobs briefly addressed his state of health onstage at an Apple event last October.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)A Memphis, Tenn., hospital confirmed Tuesday that Apple CEO Steve Jobs received a liver transplant there two months ago and said he is "recovering well and has an excellent prognosis."
Jobs, who returned to work at Apple's campus on Monday after a six-month medical leave, "received a liver transplant because he was the patient with the highest MELD score (model for end-stage liver disease) of his blood type and, therefore, the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available," according to a statement by Dr. James D. Eason, the program director of the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute in Memphis.
"The waiting list for liver transplants was smaller than in other states, such as California," Eason said.
While Eason said the confirmation was being provided with Jobs' approval, he cited patient confidentiality in saying that he could not reveal any further information on the specifics of Jobs' surgery.
Apple representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
News of the transplant broke Friday night when The Wall Street Journal reported, in a story that cited no sources, that Jobs had received a transplant in Tennessee about two months ago. Earlier this year, Apple's CEO was reported to be relocating from California to Tennessee.
In January, after Jobs announced that he would step aside from his day-to-day duties for a six-month medical leave of absence, Bloomberg reported that Apple's CEO was considering a liver transplant.
Jobs, 54, has been the subject of heated speculation regarding his health since last June's Worldwide Developers Conference, when he appeared to have lost a great deal of weight. At the time, Apple insisted that Jobs' health was a private matter, but in early January revealed that Jobs was suffering from a hormone imbalance that was impeding his body's ability to absorb certain proteins.
In August 2004, Jobs underwent successful surgery to treat a rare form of pancreatic cancer, which sidelined him until September of that year. Much of the speculation over the past year had been over whether that cancer had returned.
Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute said it performed 120 liver transplants in 2008, making it one of the 10 largest liver transplant centers in the country.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs briefly addressed his state of health onstage at an Apple event last October.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave from Apple for the past six months, received a liver transplant in Tennessee two months ago, according to a report Friday in The Wall Street Journal that did not cite sources.
Earlier this year, Apple's CEO was reported to be relocating from California to Tennessee, which has a shorter waiting list for patients seeking organs, the report noted. In January, after Jobs announced that he would step aside from his day-to-day duties for a six-month medical leave of absence, Bloomberg reported that Apple's CEO was considering a liver transplant. In a telephone interview at the time, Jobs refused to comment on his health status.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but an Apple representative told the Journal that Jobs "continues to look forward to returning at the end of June, and there's nothing further to say."
Jobs is expected to return to the helm of Apple this month after nearly six months of medical leave. Jobs announced in January that he would be stepping down temporarily from the chief executive post while recuperating from a hormone imbalance. Some hoped his return to the company would coincide with an appearance at the Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this month to announce the new iPhone 3G S, but that did not pan out for Apple faithful.
Jobs, 54, has been the subject of heated speculation regarding his health since last June's Worldwide Developers Conference, when he appeared to have lost a great deal of weight. At the time, Apple insisted that Jobs' health was a private matter but revealed in early January that Jobs was suffering from a hormone imbalance that was impeding his body's ability to absorb certain proteins.
In August 2004, Jobs underwent successful surgery to treat a rare form of pancreatic cancer, which sidelined him until September of that year. Much of the speculation over the past year had been over whether that cancer had returned.
Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, has been running the company during Jobs' absence.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs briefly addressed his state of health onstage at an Apple event last October.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)Steve Jobs is on track to return to the helm of Apple this month after nearly six months of medical leave, according a report in The Wall Street Journal that cited unnamed sources.
Jobs announced in January that he would be stepping down temporarily from the chief executive post while recuperating from a hormone imbalance, and a return to the company this month could coincide with an appearance at the Worldwide Developers Conference, which opens Monday in San Francisco. The centerpiece of the conference is expected to be the App Store and the new features of the iPhone OS 3.0, but there has also been speculation that Apple will unveil a new iPhone as well.
Jobs, 54, has been the subject of heated speculation regarding his health since last June's Worldwide Developers Conference, when he appeared to have lost a great deal of weight. At the time, Apple insisted that Jobs' health was a private matter but revealed in early January that Jobs was suffering from a hormone imbalance that was impeding his body's ability to absorb certain proteins.
"He was one real sick guy,'' said a source whom the newspaper described as having seen Jobs in recent weeks. "Fundamentally he was starving to death over a nine-month period. He couldn't digest protein. (But) he took corrective action.''
Last week, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told the Journal that Jobs seemed healthy and energetic.
In August 2004, Jobs underwent successful surgery to treat a rare form of pancreatic cancer, which sidelined him until September of that year. Much of the speculation over the past year had been over whether that cancer had returned.
Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, has been running the company during Jobs' absence. Apple has said Vice President of Marketing Philip Schiller will deliver the WWDC keynote address, assuming Jobs' customary role as he did at the Macworld conference earlier this year.
With a little more than a month to go before he is scheduled to return to Apple, Steve Jobs sounds "healthy" and "energetic," Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told The Wall Street Journal.
At an Apple event in October 2008, Steve Jobs briefly touched on his state of health.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)Speaking to the Journal at the D: All Things Digital conference, Wozniak said that Jobs didn't sound sick or appear to be in any kind of a health crisis.
The news from Wozniak is the first tentative confirmation to the public that Jobs' health is improving. Concern grew for Jobs last year after public appearances at which he seemed gaunt.
Speculation was that Jobs' pancreatic cancer had returned and was taking a toll on him. An intensely private man, Jobs in January decided to divulge that the reason for his sickness was a hormone imbalance. He said that doctors knew how to treat the problem and that improvement was expected by late spring.
Just nine days later, Jobs took a voluntary leave of absence after learning that "my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought" and as concerns about his health began to overshadow everything else that was happening at Apple.
Not much has been said since. Apple has maintained that Job's health is a private matter and left it at that.
Jobs is scheduled to return to the helm of Apple at the end of June, after the company's upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference finishes.
Valleywag is reporting that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is undergoing surgery at Stanford Hospital on Monday.
The report did not explain what type of surgery Jobs might be having. It cited a secondhand account passed along from a employee at Stanford.
Jobs is currently on medical leave from Apple while he recuperates from health problems that have caused him to lose significant weight over the last year.
Bloomberg reported two weeks ago that Jobs was considering a liver transplant. A Stanford Hospital representative would only say that "due to federal patient privacy laws, we're unable to provide any information on any patient."
Apple declined to comment on what a representative called rumors and speculation.
It is a hoax, Wired reported Thursday -- an article that looks like a story on Wired.com and that claims Apple CEO Steve Jobs has had a heart attack.
"A widely-circulated URL which points to an image that purports to be a wired.com story about Steve Jobs health is a hack job," Wired.com said. "We won't provide the URL here but the Twitterverse quickly surmised that the item was not correct." It appears to have first been reported by Mashable.
Someone created a legitimate-looking Web page using Wired's public upload image viewer, which generates a page containing an image under a Wired logo banner, Wired.com said. The hole has been patched, the news site added.
While characteristics of the fake post--such as the Wired logo, byline, and accompanying related stories list--make it look legitimate, the post is plagued with misspellings and grammatical problems.
Rumors about Job's health have been a big deal for the last 12 months, including a fake news item in October about Jobs purportedly having a heart attack. That allegation was reported on CNN's iReport citizen journalism site and led to a drop in the price of Apple stock.
Jobs, who had surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2004, announced this month that he will take a medical leave of absence to treat a hormone imbalance.
Mashable got a screen shot of the fake Wired.com page with the Steve Jobs hoax report.
(Credit: Mashable)Securities and Exchange Commission investigators are reviewing the way Apple handled the disclosures surrounding the health of CEO Steve Jobs, according to a Bloomberg report citing a person familiar with the matter. Earlier this month, Jobs announced he would take a six-month medical leave.
Apple, whose CEO's health has been a concern to investors over the past six months following his gaunt appearance at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, announced in mid-December that Jobs would not be speaking at the January Macworld and that Apple would not participate in the event going forward.
At the time, Apple said Jobs would be sitting out Macworld and that its marketing chief would fill in. Then, on the eve of Macworld, Jobs disclosed that he had a hormone imbalance that was "straightforward" in its treatment.
A week after Macworld, Jobs announced new information had come to light regarding his health and it was more complex than earlier thought and that he would be taking a six-month medical leave of absence.
According to the Bloomberg report on Wednesday, SEC investigators are looking into whether Apple's previous disclosures misled investors.
Apple has been enshrouded in controversy over its disclosures regarding Jobs' health, with a number of investors expressing frustration that such disclosures did not come sooner given Jobs' increasingly gaunt appearance.
Apple's share price has also suffered a bout of turbulence with each news report and company disclosure regarding Jobs' health; the iconic leader's vision is considered paramount by many investors in driving the company into new markets and products.
In 2004, Jobs underwent treatment for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, which he has said was successfully treated.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that according to people "monitoring his illness" Jobs is weighing his options regarding a possible liver transplant because of complications following his cancer treatment.
A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment on whether the agency was reviewing Apple's actions regarding Jobs health disclosures.
The SEC does not disclose its investigations unless an enforcement action is taken either through the courts or with an administrative law judge.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.
Offering a unique perspective on Steve Jobs' health, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is speaking out in the media on his old friend's leave of absence and its likely effect on the company.
In an interview with NBC11 in San Jose, Calif., Wozniak said investors and the media should be respectful of his privacy.
"What he says, we ought to accept," Wozniak said in response to a question about Jobs' health.
Wozniak also said Jobs' six-month absence shouldn't have a negative effect on Apple's product line:
"The products coming out of Apple, out of tech companies, have a long tech pipeline...they work their way through for a year, year and a half...Those products are in the pipeline, they're not going to be disturbed."
He also offered some insight into how his friend's absence could ultimately have a positive impact on the company as well as himself.
"In the shower this morning I was thinking, well you know he sort of said he's going to take a leave of absence. To me, you know, if that's what he says then I'll take it at face value. He wants a rest. The rest and peacefulness. What do you do when you rest? Sometimes your mind floats. A person like him is probably going to work out better concepts and products and ways the future could be and the way we live our lives better than any individual could. Probably a great, great thing for Apple."
After months of speculation about his health, Jobs announced earlier last week that he will step down from his post while recuperating from a hormone imbalance. His absence is expected to stretch until the end of June.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces new MacBooks in October, his last public appearance.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET News)Apple CEO Steve Jobs' disclosure that he'll have to take some time off to tend to his health did not clear up any of the mystery surrounding exactly what is ailing the man.
By any measure, Jobs has lost a lot of weight over the last year. He has only said that he is suffering from some sort of hormone imbalance that is preventing his body from properly absorbing protein and therefore is causing weight loss. The problem has apparently become "more complex" in the last several days.
Let's look at what we know and what we're hearing.
What we know
Jobs underwent surgery in August 2004 to remove a cancerous tumor growing on his pancreas. Usually, pancreatic cancer is a death sentence, but Jobs had a rare type of tumor known as an "islet cell neuroendocrine tumor," according to a Fortune magazine article from last year that Apple has not disputed.
That type of tumor is treatable by a procedure called the "Whipple," named after the doctor who invented it and much easier to pronounce than pancreaticoduodenectomy. During the procedure, part of the pancreas is removed and the rest of the surrounding organs are rearranged to keep the digestive process intact.
According to the University of Southern California, this is considered a relatively safe surgical procedure. However, there can be side effects such as mal-absorption, which appears to be what Jobs is suffering from, according to his statement on January 5.
In June 2008, attendees at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference were troubled by Jobs' appearance, as he appeared to have lost a lot of weight. Apple initially refused to comment on his health, but finally acknowledged the hormone imbalance in January and said Wednesday Jobs would take a six-month medical leave of absence to recuperate.
What we're hearing
Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Jobs' cancer has not returned, citing anonymous sources. It's not clear whether this is an Apple-directed attempt at damage control at this point, given that both the Times and CNBC have reported in the past that Jobs is "fine," citing anonymous sources.
Bloomberg interviewed a doctor who has performed the Whipple procedure, and he said it's possible that Jobs' pancreas might have to be removed entirely as a result of the complications. That doctor, of course, is not part of Jobs' medical team and therefore doesn't really have any idea of his exact status, but cited the possibility of removing the entire organ as a potential course of action in Jobs' treatment.
An Apple spokesman declined to elaborate beyond the e-mail Apple released to the public describing Jobs' current health.
