As promised, Steve's medical leave ended with the month of June. Last January, Apple announced that CEO Steve Jobs would take a leave of absense to deal with medical issues for approximately six months. Since then, we've learned that Steve had a liver transplant and today Apple confirmed his return.

"Steve Jobs is back to work. He is at Apple a few days a week and working from home the other days," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said. "We're glad to have him back."

That's great news for the company and, more importantly, for Steve himself. There has been much noise about Steve during the past six months, including Apple's future without him, who might take over and the company's obligation to keep investors informed about the health of their CEO. Here's hoping the din dies down and that Steve continues to enjoy a long and productive career at Apple.

iTreadmill (App Store link) is a pedometer app for your iPhone or iPod touch. I spoke with the developer, who demoed the app for us at WWDC. It looks nice, appears to perform well, and features a respectable number of ways to customize and tune the readings. Pedometer apps may not save the world, but if you're looking for something much less expensive than the Nike+iPod device, this will do in a pinch. There's also a Lite version (App Store link) if you want to try it yourself.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs had a liver transplant two months ago in Tennessee, but is still expected to return to work by the end of the month.

Jobs, who went on a medical leave from Apple in January, has had continuing medical issues related to a bout with pancreatic cancer. The type of pancreatic cancer that Jobs has will often metastasize in other organs, particularly the liver. According to the WSJ article, it is expected that Jobs will work part-time upon his return to the company in order to speed his recovery.

The 54 year-old Jobs missed the Apple shareholder meeting in February, and hasn't been flying in his corporate jet (one of the perks he receives along with his US$1 annual compensation) as much as he had in the past.

The TUAW staff, along with many of our readers, is looking forward to the return of the Steve Jobs to the company he helped to create.

Well, we're still not sure our iPhones are safe to use, and now comes word from Australia that our brand spanking new glossy screens might be hurting us as well, through bad ergonomics.

An HR advisory from Queensland University of Technology suggests that:

"Reflections and glare on high gloss monitor screens and their relation to the angle of the monitor screen, could cause the operator to adopt awkward postures when viewing the monitor screen and using related equipment. These reflections on the screen can be from internal and external sources such as the overhead lighting and/or position of windows.

Awkward postures adopted by the operator may in turn lead to an injury."

Of course Apple has moved to high gloss screens on every laptop except the 17" MacBook Pro, and the matte screen option on that laptop costs an extra fifty bucks. The iMacs are also only available with glossy screens.

Of course there are other health hazards associated with having Apple equipment, such as a tendency to have panic attacks or heart palpitations when you learn you can't update your iPhone cheaply through AT&T. At any rate, there is one advantage to those glossy screens. You'll be able to clearly see your pained face as you try to stretch into position to avoid those reflections on those mirror-like screens. So there.

Thanks to one of our readers who tipped us to this happy news via this web site

In its sometime role as a broadsheet hybrid of Us magazine and the New England Journal of Medicine, we have an update tonight from The Wall Street Journal on the condition of everyone's favorite iCEO. Steve Jobs, according to the story (subscription required on the web, free to read on your iPhone), is recovered from his health crisis and on track to return by the end of June. While some speculate that he might choose to surprise the audience at WWDC with a One More Thing moment, two sources for the WSJ story say that the plan is to wait a bit longer.

Steve's return is likely to be coordinated with a product launch or other public event later in June, say the sources. That event probably won't be the announcement of the next-gen iPhone, which the paper pinpoints for the keynote address on Monday with availability close to the two-year anniversary date for the original iPhone purchasers (pretty sensible; anyone who bought a first-gen for the premium price is a likely candidate to shell out for a replacement). The WSJ cites someone who has seen the new phone in person, reporting a faster processor and the expected video editing capabilities.

Equally importantly, the story points out that the long Steveless months with Tim Cook at the helm have shown investors and customers that the Apple train is still on track. AAPL is up 68% since Steve announced his leave of absence in January, vs. a 24% uptick for the NASDAQ index. Granted, Apple stock took a bit of a hit around the announcement of the leave, dipping to a low of 78.20 on 1/20, but it's up at 143.74 as of today's close.

[via Macrumors]

Bloomberg is reporting that Steve Jobs will not attend this week's Apple shareholder meeting. That's not a big surprise -- Jobs' health has kept him from attending recent usual events, including Macworld earlier this year. But it is the first time in the over 10 years since he rejoined the company that he won't be appearing at the annual meeting.

Additionally, at this week's meeting, as usual, shareholders will vote on whether or not to re-elect Apple's directors to their one-year terms, including Jobs, though nothing is expected to change -- the company has remained strongly in support of Jobs as leader, even if they haven't talked about his health as much as some investors may have liked. COO Tim Cook will likely run most of the planned activities during the meeting.

We'll keep an eye on any news that comes out of the closed meeting (streams and transcripts won't be available, but there will be reporters in attendance), and let you know what we hear. As always, we wish Jobs and his company and family the best of health, and hope he is able to feel better soon.

[via CNET]

As we are all probably aware by now, Apple's fearless leader Steve Jobs is a bit further under the weather than we previously believed. However, we will not let this change our regard for Apple, nor its founder and first-ever iCEO. We want to take this time to offer up some words of well-wishing for Steve's health, as well as for Tim Cook (and the rest of the executive staff) as he takes on additional responsibilities during this time of recuperation.

Apple has been an extremely solid performer since Steve took the reigns in 1996. There is no doubt that the success of the Mac, iPod, and iPhone are all in part the results of his direction and unrelenting push for quality. As we have seen from the recent press event surrounding the MacBook refresh as well as from the keynote at Macworld, there are many important players on Steve's team that are extremely talented and capable individuals. During this time of leave it would not be surprising to see Apple pull out some very interesting cards from its sleeves.

Because we love Steve and Apple so much we are already working on compiling a get-well card to Steve with your voice messages, pictures, blog posts, etc., but we here at the HQ wanted to take a minute to lend some of our own thoughts at this time of trepidation. Read on as we wax sentimental over Steve, his health, and what it means to us.

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

CNBC is reporting that Steve Jobs' health situation is "more serious" than previously thought, and Steve Jobs announced he is taking a "medical leave of absence" in a letter to Apple employees. He anticipates returning in July.

Tim Cook, Chief Operating Officer, is taking over day-to-day operations of Apple, Inc. in the meantime. In his letter, Jobs says the board supports this plan, and that he will be involved in major decisions even though he is out of the office.

Cook took the reins at Apple for a month in 2004, while Jobs had surgery for pancreatic cancer, the disease that could be contributing to his health problems today.

Jobs released a letter the day before Macworld Expo detailing a "hormone imbalance" that he said would be treatable with an adjusted diet. His health concerns apparently became a distraction to himself and Apple employees, so he chose to take a six-month medical leave of absence.

CNBC analyst Jim Goldman said his sources inside Apple told him that "Steve Jobs is in serious denial" about the state of his health. BusinessWeek's Arik Hesseldahl said on CNBC that although this is a surprise announcement, he took a milder tone, and doesn't think this is a resurgence of Jobs' pancreatic cancer, which Jobs said he beat.

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster said on CNBC's Fast Money program that while Tim Cook is a solid choice to lead in the interim, "replacing the magic of Steve Jobs is impossible." Even so, Munster considers this a buying opportunity for Apple stock.

Apple stock trading was halted until 5 p.m. Eastern time. In early trades since the stock re-opened, AAPL's price is down by about $10.

Read on to see the full text of Jobs' letter.

App Cubby announced that a new iPhone app, Health Cubby (click opens iTunes) arrived in the App Store today. Health Cubby (US$4.99) is a personal fitness tracking app with a difference -- it adds a social networking element for working with friends and family members to keep motivated to exercise more and eat less.

The social features connect you with up to 7 other people, share your progress in achieving fitness goals, and even send motivational messages. To do that, you set up a private account with App Cubby for data syncing and sending messages.

Health Cubby has a great online user manual complete with screenshots. Instead of tracking meals with points or calories, the app has you enter a 1 to 5 rating. Rating a meal a 1 means you put the all-you-can-eat buffet out of business, while a 5 is a low-calorie, healthy meal. You also set goals for strength, cardio and...vices! While the first two involve exercise, the third item makes you set goals to reduce the number of times you indulge in a vice. My goal is to reduce my beer drinking to one a day (yeah, right...).

I've put Health Cubby on my iPhone right next to Weight Watchers Mobile. It'll be interesting to see which app I use most often. Check the gallery below for screenshots of Health Cubby in action.

With the end of the year comes the cavalcade of best and worst lists, just in case you didn't know what was best and what was worst over the course of the year.

Apple made glassdoor.com's list of "50 Best Places to Work," placing 19th. It scored a 3.8 out of five, and 90 percent of employees approved of the job that CEO Steve Jobs was doing. 303 employees completed reviews at the site, contributing to its score. (The reviews themselves are interesting to read, incidentally, if you have a few minutes to kill.)

On the other hand, Apple made Fortune magazine's list of 21 Dumbest Moments in Business for the year, twice -- but the second time really wasn't its fault.

The first head-smacker, at number six, was for the approval (and subsequent removal) of the "I Am Rich" iPhone application. "The real losers?" Fortune asks: "The eight suckers who bought it."

The second blooper, number 19, actually goes to CNN and Bloomberg for two false stories about Steve Jobs' health. Bloomberg accidentally released an obituary on August 28, and retracted it the same day. In a similar gaffe, a post on CNN's iReport site falsely claimed that Jobs had suffered a heart attack. CNN took down the post -- but not after Apple's stock dipped 10 percent in 10 minutes. Ouch.

[Via Macsimum News and MacNN.]

Many high school students are happy to get science projects done quietly, without attracting the attention of, say, the Associated Press. Not Jay Thaker. His research shows that an iPod held 2 inches from the chest can disrupt pacemaker function in some patients, which has caused a torrent of media furor over this previously unstudied and unquantified risk.

Here at TUAW we don't give medical advice [You got that right. -Ed.] and we don't like to point out when big media stories about Apple products are silly, disproportionate or plain goofy... well, actually we do like to point that out. With all due respect to those who might be directly affected by this discovery, some points to consider:

1. The study only examined iPods, no other portable media players (HD or flash-based) and so far I haven't found anything that says exactly what type of iPod was used. Is it the Shuffle that's causing skipped beats? What happens if I use a Sandisk player or a Zune? We need a control group... what about a vintage Sony Walkman?
   
2. This isn't the first time we've been told portable electronic devices and pacemakers don't mix. Ten years ago, the first reports of cellphone interference came out. Users were (prudently) told to keep phones at least 6 inches from their chests, and the fuss blew over.
3. One of the study's noted concerns was that the presence of an iPod could cause a physician to misread pacemaker telemetry during an exam. I'm not an expert, but are there any doctors that are in the habit of letting patients listen to their iPods during physical exams? Most of the time, one of you is naked, and hopefully it's not the doctor.
4. As some of the study authors have noted, there's a reason this hasn't been a big issue: the overlap of "iPod owners" and "pacemaker patients" has not been a substantial population.
   

All kidding aside, I look forward to seeing this study expanded to other portable electronic devices; the safety of all of them (not just the iPod) for pacemaker or other medical appliance users is worth checking.

It's clear who the real losers are in this situation: the folks who, only a few days ago, introduced a new portable music player aimed at the DJ market: the Pacemaker. Ooch, that's gonna leave a mark.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

According to a recent health column in The Australian, iPod earbuds in and of themselves will not cause ear infections. Prolonged use, however, may irritate the ear canal making it more prone to infection. Ear buds can also pick up material from an outer ear infection and transfer it into the inner ear. The risk is pretty slight says column writer Dr. Linda Clabresi. Of more concern to her is the risk to long-term hearing caused by constant exposure to loud music. "Constant loud music will cause a premature deterioration in a person's hearing. A good rule of thumb is if people around you can easily hear what you're listening to via earphones, it's too loud."

Most people know that the right ergonomic setup is important to maintain not only good productivity but good health. Far too many otherwise healthy and intelligent people, including Mac pundit and New York Times columnist David Pogue, succumb to painful, sometimes even debilitating, RSI or back pain caused by flawed work environments. Lucky for those of us who don't have the time to do a full re-configuration of our computing areas, Macworld has a two succinct and informative articles on small but important things you can do to improve the ergonomics of your desk.

The first article touches on methods for improving over-all physical ergonomics such as screen and keyboard positioning and best practices for how to set up your chair. Once your big picture is all comfy and healthy, it's time to look at the software tools such as TextExpander which can help reduce the amount of repetitive actions one takes in their daily computer usage.