Business currents

Now Apple's credibility really is in the balance

If you're an Apple shareholder or employee, the good news is that Steve Jobs' health is not in any immediate danger.

Or so we're supposed to surmise from the cryptic note issued by Jobs early Monday on the state of his health--and the even more cryptic note put out by his employer.

Here's the relevant text from Jobs' statement Monday:

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this … Read more

Steve Jobs discloses 'hormone imbalance'

The health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been a topic of concern for some months now. On Monday, with the company's Macworld show getting under way, Apple and Jobs issued statements on Jobs' health. We'll be following this breaking story throughout the day.

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- It is widely recognized both inside and outside of Apple that Steve Jobs is one of the most talented and effective CEOs in the world.

As we have said before, if there ever comes a day when Steve wants to retire or for other reasons cannot continue to fulfill his duties … Read more

A last stand for Sony's 'Sir Howard?'

Sony boss Sir Howard Stringer has to be one of the most charming executives in all of techdom. But as Arthur Miller taught us, a smile and a shoeshine go only so far.

Remember this quote?: "You can take iPod and beat us over the head with it, but it's only one product. And we have a thousand products. Apple has two or three."

Oh boy. I'm sure Stringer winces whenever that quote gets trotted out. Now Stringer, who has been CEO since 2005, is reportedly mulling what the U.K.'s Times suggests will include &… Read more

Israeli news site down, blames cyber attack

First real war, now a cyber war? The Jerusalem-based Debkafile said it was temporarily put out of action Saturday evening by a cyber attack.

It's not clear whether this was a denial of service attack. Debka, which specializes in military and political analysis, sent out a note to subscribers that both its English and Hebrew sites had been under attack "since 19:00 local time." It did not get more specific and the site's publishers were not immediately available for comment.

The announcement took place in the shadow of the week-long conflict between Israel and Hamas. … Read more

The holiday e-retail satisfaction rankings are in

With the nation on edge, you might assume that every Internet retailer worth their salt would have extended red carpet treatment to shoppers during the traditional end-of-year shopping rush.

Wrong assumption.

In fact, more than one-third of the 40 online merchants surveyed in a report on retail satisfaction finished with lower scores than they did during the same period a year ago.

Still, the annual report from Foresee Results found that scores for most of the 40 online retailers it tracks remained the same while one-fourth registered improvements from 2007.

"Holding flat was a pleasant surprise," said Larry … Read more

The smartphone buzz in '09? It's not a product

There's already a lengthy wish list as users ponder the invention of the "ideal" smartphone in 2009. All well and good. But I submit that next year's most important technology development won't have anything to do with a new feature or application.

Instead, it's going to boil down to whether mobile device makers open smartphones as widely as the personal computer. Manufactures and carriers, scared to death about the possible security implications, may decide that it's wiser to instead keep their devices closed. How long they can ignore the pressure is unclear.

That'… Read more

Music moguls' latest strategy: Zig then zag

In July 2001, Napster got shut down by the recording industry. Had the music moguls known how history would evolve over the next six and a half years, I wonder whether they would have tried a different tack.

I know, it's an endless bar debate. But watching the music establishment play catch-up, with its continuing series of zigs and zags, don't you just know these guys wish they had the opportunity for a do-over? Who wouldn't? But life doesn't work that way. So instead, it's been a slow (and unsatisfying) grapple with technology.

A few … Read more

Elephants ready to party as eBay ban approaches

What with a deepening global recession it's been pretty much a lousy 2008 for most folks, but it's closing on a very good note--if you happen to be an elephant, that is.

Come January 1, eBay's worldwide ban on ivory products goes into effect, a move that animal rights advocates hope will help protect elephant populations around the world.

The proliferation in the illegal trade of wildlife species has been aided by the use of the Internet. In a recent report (PDF), the International Fund for Animal Welfare found that about two-thirds of the global online trade … Read more

Prudery in the cause of cyber-censorship? Hardly

Bobbie Johnson, who blogs for the Guardian.co.uk, has published what may be the silliest post of 2008. But let's not rush to judgment; there are still nine more days, so he still has a chance to top himself.

Earlier today, we reported that Apple's AppStore rejected a book authored by our CNET colleague, David Carnoy, because it said the work contained "objectionable content." The rejection cited a clause in the iPhone SDK that states: "Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, … Read more