Apple chief Jobs ‘back at work’

Analysts say Mr Jobs will likely start back at work on a part-time basis

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has reportedly returned to work following six months of medical leave.

Mr Jobs, 54, who is reported to have had a liver transplant, was expected back at his desk at the end of June.

Apple has refused to comment on the matter but did quote Mr Jobs in a press release on first weekend sales figures for the next generation of iPhones.

The blogosphere has noted several sightings of Apple’s co-founder around its campus in Silicon Valley.

“Jobs is in the house!” declared CNBC’s Jim Goldman, who is regarded as having close ties to Apple.

“Confirmed! Steve Jobs did report for work today, according to employees who have seen him on campus,” wrote Mr Goldman in his TechCheck column.

Reuters news agency quoted sources saying Mr Jobs “was seen leaving the main Apple building in Cupertino and getting into a black car alone that was driven off by men in black suits with ear-pieces.”

Revelations

In 2004, Mr Jobs was treated for pancreatic cancer.

Last year there were fears that the cancer had returned when he appeared at a major Apple event looking thin and gaunt.

Months of rumour ensued and the company’s share price rose and fell as a result.

In January, Mr Jobs revealed that he was being treated for a “hormone imbalance”.

Over a week later he sent an e-mail to employees and told them that his medical problems were more complex than first thought and he would take six months off work to concentrate on his health.

The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Mr Jobs underwent a liver transplant over two months ago, but Apple remained tight-lipped on the subject.

Analysts have predicted that Mr Jobs will stay on as chief executive officer on a part-time basis with a view to moving on to become chairman of the company.

Apple boss ‘had liver transplant’

Steve Jobs had taken medical leave until the end of June

Apple boss Steve Jobs received a liver transplant about two months ago and is expected to return to work later this month, a US newspaper has reported.

The Wall Street Journal said the Apple chief executive would be returning to his job on schedule, but may initially work part-time.

Neither Mr Jobs nor a company spokeswoman confirmed the report, the newspaper said.

Mr Jobs ceased his normal management role more than five months ago.

In January, he announced that he was being treated for a “hormone imbalance”, and had been losing weight throughout 2008.

Mr Jobs co-founded Apple in 1976. He left in 1985, before returning in 1997 and becoming full-time chief executive in 2000.

He is seen to have played a crucial role in Apple’s growth.

The company’s share price has recently risen and fallen in step with rumours or news about his health.

He has already survived a pancreatic cancer that was diagnosed in 2004.

Web browser to get ‘privacy mode’

Trial, or beta, versions of Internet Explorer 8 are already available

Microsoft is planning a “privacy mode” for the next release of its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser.

By clicking a button, users of IE8 will be able to limit how much information is recorded about where they go online and what they do.

Microsoft watchers have spotted two patent applications covering ways to manage the amount of information a browser logs.

When introduced the privacy mode will match features found on other browsers.

Medical test

Australian blogger Long Zheng has found two patent applications made by Microsoft on 30 July for ideas it calls “Cleartracks” and “Inprivate”.

The applications deal with methods of erasing data that browsing programs log, turning off features that record sites visited or notifying users of what sites are doing to log a visit.

While many browsers already have menu options that let people alter security settings and clear history files it typically has to be done on a use-by-use basis.

Users may wish to turn on the privacy mode if they are planning a surprise party, buying presents or researching a medical condition and do not want others users of the same computer to find out.

Internet Explorer 8 is due to go on general release late in 2008 though early trial versions are already available.

By comparison Apple’s Safari browser already has a privacy mode and developers working for Mozilla, creators of Firefox, are reportedly working on a similar feature for future versions.

Other browsers, such as Xerobank, take a more thorough approach to privacy and try to anonymise all web use.

Digital nomad drives laptop sales

Courtesy BBC

By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco

One of the demands of the new digital nomad is constant connectivity

The demands of the digital nomad are expected to drive laptop sales to over one billion in the next five years.

The prediction by Dell came as it unveiled 10 new laptop models aimed at this emerging working class.

The new Latitude line boasts as much as 19 hours of battery life for the always connected 21st century worker.

“There is no business as usual in the connected era,” said Andy Lark, Dell’s vice president of global marketing.

“Boundaries for businesses are virtual. This is a new class of worker who maybe doesn’t have an office and who maybe visits 10 offices in a day and visits several different customers.”

Andy Lark says Dell has shipped 53 million Latitude laptops since 1994

Mr Lark told BBC News that the ranks of the digital nomad were swelling as were expectations about the functions their laptops and notebooks could perform.

“The majority of people coming online and buying their first computer today are doing it in emerging countries like China, India and Brazil.

“If you look at India, about 67% or more of their workforce is going to be entirely mobile and that is driving the demand for new features in the laptop like all day connectivity, long battery life, high-level security and uncompromising design and durability.”

‘Performance leaders’

At a press launch in San Francisco, Jeff Clarke, senior vice president of Dell’s business group, showed off the new line to reporters and analysts.

The laptops include seven Latitude business laptops and three Dell Precision workstation laptops which Mr Clarke described as “performance leaders and something the tech community will absolutely die for”.

The computers have just under 10 hours of battery life which can be extended with a so called “battery slice” to total 19 hours.

Mr Clarke said the company spent more than one million man hours and two years designing the updated Latitude line which range in price from $800 (£400) to around $1,400.

The company also consulted more than 4,000 customers to find out what they wanted in their laptop. As well as battery life being a priority, security was the other big concern.

Dell’s Jeff Clarke shows off some of the new ultra mobile laptop colours

Mr Clarke told reporters: “With 17,000 notebooks being lost, left unattended or reported missing at airports around the world, many with important information on them, our customers asked for the notion of a vault to secure their information.”

Dell said it had done that by including the ability to track down or disable the device if it was stolen.

The machines also have a fingerprint reader and a “control vault” processor that stores an owner’s identity and credentials on protected hardware.

‘Tiniest of differences’

Dell may have declared “freedom from business as usual”, but is it enough to regain market share and compete with devices made by rivals such as Apple and HP?

Mr Clarke certainly seemed to think so.

“We have defined mobility for the business computer. We are at that forefront of being different.”

In discussions with customers, security emerged as a major issue

Charles King of technology industry analysis firm Pund-IT told the BBC Dell had produced a product for today’s workforce.

“I think what it comes down to is that for most of those customers, highly mobile, highly robust and highly secure systems are critical for large organizations’ ease of management and administration.

“I think what Dell has done here is really very much focused on meeting the needs and wishes of this different class.”

Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat.com said he wasn’t totally convinced.

“I am not sure this is going to do it for Dell. The differentiation in this space is based on the tiniest of differences. Still it gives Apple, HP, Toshiba and Lenovo a target to strike at.”