Dan Lyons, who once wrote the "Fake Steve Jobs" blog, criticized Silicon Valley bureau chief Jim Goldman for withholding information from sources inside Apple about Steve Jobs' health.

The sparks fly in this video around the 3:30 mark.

Lyons, on CNBC Reports, said Goldman had become the kind of reporter that gets "played and punked" by Apple, and that he should have released the information he knew on Monday, before Apple's announcement yesterday. Lyons also demanded that Goldman apologize to Gizmodo, for criticizing their December 30 story about Jobs' declining health.

Goldman said that he had contacted two individuals on Monday who have personal contact with Jobs, but don't know the intimate details about his medical treatment. Goldman wrote yesterday:

What struck me was that both felt compelled to come to me to tell me that they had "serious misgivings" about the state of Jobs' health. One said, based on his contact with Jobs personally, that he was in "serious denial" about just how bad the circumstances had become. The other explained to me that he was "deeply concerned" about Jobs, and the sudden lack of communication, the non-return of emails, ignoring chat requests, unreturned phone calls was a strong indication to him that Jobs was in "dire" shape.

According to Silicon Alley Insider, a source close to the matter said that Lyons had been banned from appearing on CNBC again, though CNBC spokesman Kevin Goldman (no relation) said "Real Dan" had not been banned.

In related news, Joe Nocera, the New York Times journalist who Steve Jobs called a "slime bucket" in an off-the-record phone interview about his health, said that the medical problem Jobs confessed to in the call is different from the "hormone imbalance" mentioned in Apple's press release just before Macworld. Nocera called for greater transparency from Apple about how it discusses Steve's health.

[Via MacDailyNews.]

On a personal and editorial note, I wish Mr. Jobs and his family all the best, and this is the last story I'll be writing about yesterday's announcement for the foreseeable future. I was conflicted about even writing this, because Jobs deserves his time to recuperate, free from the spread of rumors and half-truths. Perhaps the less I write about it, the healthier he'll get. In theory. Maybe. We can hope. - RP

Grant Robertson at The Digital Music Weblog (a sister blog) has dug up details on a move from the Canadian Automobile Association to pressure provincial governments in Canada to ban younger drivers from using electronic devices, such as mobile phones and MP3 players, in the car, eh. While some think they have their song switching skillz down pat while juggling a Big Gulp™ and steering with their knee, Grant also cites a study released in April 2006 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that states "the many forms of distractions are collectively responsible for as many as eight out of every ten crashes" (do y'all even have 711's and 'Big Gulps' in Canada? If not, consider yourselves lucky).

Check out Grant's post on the issue covering more on this sudden iPod-hating from Canada (we kid). But if the thought of not being able to cart your tunes with you is too much to bear, you might also need to start checking up on those fancy iPod-integration kits that let you control your iPod from your steering wheel.