Reader Kaelri—famous for the beautiful and function Enigma desktop—has packaged and released version 1.1 of the customization files. What's changed? Kaelri explains: I've added:
- RSS reader.
- Gmail notifier.
- Calendar by ~limpet.
- System/battery graphics using ecqlipse 2 icons.
- Tray clock replacement.
- Quick-edit button for Notes.
- Application launcher. Useless to anyone with Launchy or StandaloneStack, but it's pretty, and way too much fun to play with. (You can see what it looks like in the deviantArt screenshot.)
- Assorted doodads and revisions.
- Fixed the Location bug plaguing Enigma and HUD.Vision.
The Enigma 1.1 ZIP archive includes config files for Samurize and Rainmeter, fonts, a Windows theme, and more. Unzip it to get the full installation instructions. Nice work, Kaelri! The Enigma 1.1 customization package is a free download for Windows only. Enigma by ~Kaelri/a> [deviantART via Flickr]
With Apple's (AAPL) usual showman on the bench -- co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs skipped his Macworld keynote this year -- it was up to marketing exec Phil Schiller to show off Apple's latest products, including some software and hardware updates.
How'd he do? Pretty well, actually -- better than we expected, and perhaps better than any other tech executive besides Steve could have done.
The products were't very exciting, but that isn't Phil's fault. We wonder if even Steve could make the new iWork features -- like better graphing and math formula tools -- sexier than they are.
Phil was comfortable, composed, and sounded good, if a bit fast. He mixed in a joke or two -- though not as quippy as Jobs typically is, especially during his masterful iPhone keynote at Macworld two years ago. And he shined during smooth product demos -- his strong suit, something he's done for Jobs multiple times in the past.
Like Steve, Phil knew when to call in the experts. An Apple software engineer showed off some of the tricky parts of the new iMovie software. And Phil showed a video of Apple hardware engineers explaining how the new MacBook Pro battery worked and why it needed to be locked into the case.
We'd obviously love to see Steve Jobs give every Apple speech forever. But that's not realistic.
Phil showed today that Apple's executive bench is deep. And that even Apple's no. 2 is a lot better than most -- if not every -- other tech companies' no. 1.
See Also:Macworld Keynote: SnoozefestMissing From Macworld: Mac Mini, Steve Jobs Surprise
As anticipated, Apple's (AAPL) last Macworld keynote was a snoozefest. The company showed off some software and hardware updates. And the updates to iTunes -- more DRM-free songs, different price points, over-the-air downloads -- were a long time coming.
So just as important as what Apple marketing exec Phil Schiller showed off is what was missing: An update to the Mac mini, which was highly anticipated. And perhaps a surprise visit from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is treating a "hormonal imbalance."
The Mac mini is Apple's wildcard -- a computer that seemingly sells well and has a strong following from home theater enthusiasts, some server farm operators, and cheapskates like us, who use it as our main home computer. But Apple didn't do anything with it today, and now we don't know when to expect an update on the one Mac that's overdue for even a speed bump.
Rumors about a Mac mini update at Macworld have floated around for weeks, and we were hoping to see one -- especially if Apple tries to integrate the mini deeper with its Apple TV set-top box. Perhaps we'll see a press release soon.
Meanwhile, we didn't really expect Steve to pop out of a cake and surprise anyone. But this being our first -- and probably last -- Macworld visit, it would have been a treat. We hope he's well as he fights whatever's ailing him. And his replacement, Schiller, did a pretty good job.
See Also: Macworld Keynote: Snoozefest
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli shelling killed more than 40 Palestinians Tuesday at a U.N. school where civilians had taken shelter, medical officials said, in carnage likely to boost international pressure on Israel to halt a Gaza offensive.
BLAUBEUREN, Germany (Reuters) - German billionaire Adolf Merckle who was hit by a train on Monday evening killed himself, unhinged by financial turmoil and struggling to salvage his business empire, his family said on Tuesday.
With Steve Jobs on the sidelines, expectations were low for today's Macworld keynote. And Apple didn't surprise anyone.
Marketing exec Phil Schiller showed off an updated MacBook Pro, announced some changes to iTunes, and unveiled new versions of the company's iLife and iWork software. But nothing new or terribly exciting, which will leave the Mac faithful pining for more.
Perhaps the most significant: Apple's iTunes store will be mostly DRM-free today, and iPhone owners will be able to download music over 3G networks at no extra charge. Previously, they were required to use wi-fi.
We're not sure if Apple's partners like AT&T (T) are included in this transaction, but we wouldn't be surprised if they weren't. Which they're certainly going to be miffed about -- they typically try to charge $2 per song for over-the-air downloads and wrap the low-quality downloads in restrictive DRM.
Missing from today's keynote: A new Mac mini, which was widely expected. And a surprise visit from Steve, which wasn't really expected, but would have been a nice treat.
Live notes below in chronological order.
11:50 Seated, waiting for presentation to begin.
11:59 "Welcome" speech over intercom. Please take a monent to silence all cellphones and pagers!
12:00 Uplifting musical crescendo!
12:02 Connected to Apple wifi. Wonder if they are sniffing packets, disconnecting snarky live bloggers.
12:03 Lights dimming, some hoots from crowd. MacBook display brightness turned low, so please excuse all typos.
12:03 Phil on stage, wearing all blue, long sleeves. Loud ovation.
12:04 Personally excited to be delivering keynote, thanks for showing up. Welcome to Macworld sign on stage.
12:04 So much going on across all of businesses. Stores are big. Showing off Beijing store. Munich.
12:05 Look at the crowds of people in Sydney! Big, gorgeous, glowing Apple. What other company's logo could you ever imagine in this photo with a store this beautiful, with customers bringing energy and love.
12:05 3.4 million customers visit Apple store a week, 100 Macworlds a week going on in Apple stores. No wonder what's happening is so important to us. Great place to shop.
12:06 Talking about the Mac. 9.7 million Macs sold last fiscal year.
12:07 Best hardware ever. Leopard, etc. If you want to hear some new things today, and I assume some people do, I have 3 new things to tell you about.
12:07 iLife '09, an entire new version of iLife. One of the reasons people buy a Mac today.
12:08 As much as some people up North think they have something pretty good, nothing as good as iLife. New iPhoto 09.
12:08 Talking about events feature. This year with iPhoto 09, adding 2 events. Faces.
12:09 New feature called Faces brings up corkboard of snapshots of your favorite people,
12:10 Face recognition technology. Track a face with facial detection. Where's this feature, Facebook!?
12:10 Will also find "Liz" across all your photos. Single click on some photos, say it's the person.
12:11 So far Phil doing a good job. Not thrilling software, but he's good on stage. Talking faster than Steve.
12:11 New iPhoto feature: Places. iPhoto organizing photos around where they're taken.
12:12 GPS Geotagging. Looks like Google Maps built into iPhoto. GPS built into Nikon Coolpix, iPhone.
12:13 Camera auto assigns geo tag. Figures out Eiffel tower -- Paris -- France.
12:13 What about photos that don't have geotagging? Can add location to old photos.
12:14 Confirmed: Google Maps built into iPhoto. Satellite images, street maps.
12:15 Faces and Places are new iPhoto features. A lot more depth and power, too. Facebook and Flickr support built in.
12:15 Tag your friends in iPhoto, syncs up.
12:17 Slideshow themes. Ballet practice example.
12:17 Video demo of ballet theme. Peanuts music! Pretty nice slideshow feature.
12:18 Uses facial detection to properly display, organize photos.
12:18 Demo of kids at skate park. Very cool video animations.
12:18 Save slideshows directly to iTunes, sace as video for iPhone and iPod touch.
12:19 Printing out photos and books has been popular feature. Updated with more themes, beautiful printing. Updated travel book theme.
12:20 Uses geotags to add maps with pins of your photos. Pretty neat.
12:20 Demo time. Phil to show off iPhoto 09 running on his Mac.
12:21 Phil in his comfort zone as demo czar. He's been good so far, actually. Not the same stage presence as Steve, but better than pretty much every other tech exec we've ever seen on a stage.
12:22 Showing off face recognition features.
12:23 Good point in comments. Steve showing this off would be pretty boring. But we're only in the first chapter!
12:24 Want to mess with the Internet? Someone pop out an Apple remote and turn all these live bloggers' MacBooks to Front Row.
12:24 Now showing off geotagging feature. Pumpkin Patch event in 2007 getting tagged with Half Moon Bay.
12:25 Very cool visual effects zooming through Paris trip photos with map. Haven't had a chance to try out Google's Picasa for Mac yet but it seems this will blow it out of the water.
12:26 Schiller crackin jokes! Why photo tagged in the Seine river? Boat tour, of course!
12:27 Browse photos by location like browing iTunes by artist/album. Doing a good job pronouncing French landmarks.
12:28 That's just the first of all the new products in iLife '09. Brand new version of iMovie, too. iMovie was entirely new last year.
12:28 Brilliant engineer redid iMovie, but some people missed old features. So stuff coming back.
12:29 Precise editing tools with amazing control.
12:29 Wonder if facial/geo features coming to iMovie?
12:30 Very cool animated travel maps showing where you traveled.
12:30 Video stabilization will remove jitters. Maybe will rescue the Flip HD?
12:31 Randy Ubillos, iMovie architect coming on stage to demo.
12:32 Wonder where Apple gets all this canned stock video/footage of people and kids?
12:32 Easier to mix audio and video, including audio from video clips you're not going to use.
12:33 Still seems less intuitive than old versions of iMovie, which were very simple drag and drop. But we'll see.
12:34 Going to have to spend some time with new iMovie. Precision editing looks good, but he's going through demo very fast.
12:34 iMovie looking very powerful for prosumer video editing.
12:35 Now we know where they get videos. Apple employees on vacation! (Randy showing off his African safari video.)
12:36 Showing off image stabilization feature. Looks REALLY nice.
12:38 iMovie '09 complete with cheesy "aged film" effects!
12:39 Map animation is very cool for travel video.
12:40 Showing off video with "photo album" transitions. Very professional looking.
12:41 Phil's back. Stevelike "isn't that incredible?" banter.
12:41 Now showing off Garage Band '09. New guitar effects, etc. But most exciting feature is something "no one's ever done before." Software to help you learn play musical instrument. Apple is now in the music education business!
12:42 HD video of "Tim" teaching you how to play guitar. Tim is wearing a black long sleeved tshirt and dark (black?) jeans. SO APPLE.
12:42 This is like getting guitar lessons from someone who has clearly never inhaled or played a show at CBGB.
12:43 Tim is now teaching us piano and chord progressions. Very polished.
12:44 Artist lessons. John Fogerty teaching guitar. Better! "Proud Mary" instructions. Coldbie Caillat. Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy. Sting!
12:45 Sarah McLachlan teaching piano. Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic. Norah Jones!
12:45 Still laughing about GUITAR LESSONS FROM STING. HA.
12:46 Artist lessons cost $4.99. Wonder how much goes to the artist.
12:46 Watching a video of Fogerty. "It was 1968, the best I could remember it..."
12:47 Includes rambling commentary. "Kinda bouncing off Beethoven's inspiration..."
12:48 Pretty cool, actually.
12:49 $79 to upgrade to new iLife, comes free with new Macs. $99 for Family Pack. Will ship in late January.
12:49 Next up: iWork. Sheesh. This is a snoozer as feared.
12:50 Showing off new slideshow features for Keynote, Apple's PowerPoint killer. Cool animation effects stiching two static slides together.
12:51 Object zoom transitions. Pretty nice looking.
12:52 "Swing transition" of text from Bush to Obama. "Read whatever you want into it," says Phil.
12:53 Stone texture on charts, transitions of charts. Will this help startups get funding?
12:54 New keynote remote app for iPhone or iPod touch. Smart and gorgeous app. (Does MSFT have this for Windows Mobile and PowerPoint?)
12:54 Will be sold for $0.99. Apple has already given it some five star reviews.
12:55 Next up: Pages '09, Apple's word processor.
12:55 Apple stock up 1.6% Not bad -- no one expected anything big here today.
12:56 Full screen mode, built in outlining. Wish I had that in high school.
12:57 "Math type" integration, EndNote.
12:58 Numbers '09. First time brought it out last year. Focused on filling out features this year to make it more powerful.
12:59 Table categories. "Categorize by this column" choice.
12:59 More than 250 functions now. New function view for math stuff.
1:00 Looks like a more "human" way to do formulas, functions than Excel.
1:00 Advanced chart options. Trendlines, multiple axes, error bars, etc.
1:01 Linked UI from Numbers to Pages. Don't have to cut and paste new chart into word processing doc if you update in spreadsheet. Lots of templates too.
1:02 iWork $79, $99 for family pack. If you purchase with a new Mac, just $49. Shipping today. That's iLife and iWork. We think a lot of customers will want to get both. Want all 3 (incl. Leopard) -- Mac box set for $169.
1:03 iWork.com. New Web service. Beta customers can get involved. Apple's Google Docs killer!
1:04 Easily upload and notify, view documents online, add comments and notes, download a copy.
1:04 Showing off demo. Looking at Pages document. Wants to share it with some others. Button in the top of new iWork apps that says iWork.com. Seems to be different account setup than MobileMe.
1:06 Recipient has been invited to view document on iWork.com. Launches iWork in Safari. Can also be a PC. Safari, Firefox, IE, or whatever. (No mention of Chrome.)
1:07 Can leave notes in right column.
1:07 Can't immediately tell if this is better than Google Docs. Wonder if Apple will charge for this or build it into iWork price.
1:09 The beginning of a new service. Sign up free for beta. Will be a fee-based service.
1:10 One more thing. Third thing. New 17 inch MacBook Pro. (Where's the Mac mini?)
1:11 Precision unibody enclosure. Ed Baig, David Pogue, Walt Mossberg quotes about how awesome MacBook is. Apple's heroes!
1:11 0.98 inches thick. World's thinnest 17 inch notebook. 6.6 lbs.
1:12 1920x1200, 700:1, 60% greater color gamut. Wow.
1:12 $50 anti-glare option. Crowd goes wild!
1:13 For your reference, 1920x1200 is the same resolution as a 24 inch monitor. Very dense pixel density = very gorgeous.
1:14 New generation of Core 2 Duo, up to 8 GB memory. Has both graphics cards like the MacBook Pro.
1:15 Mini Display Port works with new LED cinema display.
1:15 Most innovative: Battery. Challenged engineers to design longest lasting battery ever, but keeping notebook just as thin, just as light. Here's a video from engineers.
1:16 Battery design area for key advancements. Designed a battery that will last up to 8 hours, recharged up to 1,000 times.
1:16 Bigger battery. Challenge is where to find space. Wasted space with removable battery. Showing all the structures that they can take out to make room for a 40% larger battery. This is smart because only tech weenies will complain about this feature.
1:17 Showing weird science like rooms showing off battery research and production. Crazy machines showing how batteries are made. Worth watching when Apple posts video of today's keynote.
1:18 Up to 1,000 recharges is 3x typical notebook battery.
1:19 Chip in battery checks in with each cell, system adjusts current to battery cells accordingly.
1:19 Now talking about how green the battery is. Lifespan up to 5 years. A lot less batteries in landfills!
1:20 Video is over. Phil is back.
1:21 Adaptive charging is buzzword for this new smart charging feature. Up to 7-8 hours battery life depending on which graphics card you're using.
1:21 Wonder when this will be built into the 15 inch MacBook Pro and even MacBook. Smart feature that makes sense.
1:22 $1799, same price as before. 4 GB of RAM, 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo. Starts shipping in late January.
1:23 Environmental report card. EPEAT GOLD. Smaller packaging = less fossil fuels!
1:23 New TV ad focusing on new battery, fewer batteries in landfills. World's greenest family of notebooks.
1:24 One last thing. Some things we're doing with iTunes.
1:24 Started iTunes six years ago. In less than 6 years, now sold over 6 billion songs.
1:25 10 million songs available, over 75 million accounts with credit cards.
1:25 iTunes no. 1 channel for music, above Walmart, Best Buy.
1:25 So what's new in 2009? First, price.
1:26 One pricing model for all songs. Starting in April, more flexibility. Three pricing tiers. 99 cents, 69 cents, and $1.29. Based on how records choose to price them. More at 69 cents than $1.29. Coming in April.
1:27 iTunes Plus, or DRM-free music. New today: Worked with major music companies, starting today, offering 8 million of songs, all DRM-free. Seeya, Amazon! 2 million more by the end of the quarter. All 10 million DRM-free by end of quarter.
1:28 Crowd goes nuts. Really easy to upgrade library to iTunes plus.
1:28 iPhone's iTunes the most popular for buying music on phones. Now no longer wi-fi, but 3G too. (How about EDGE?)
1:29 Same price, same selection. Very important. Same quality.
1:29 Same music, no DRM. This blows rivals out of the water. Starts today.
1:30 Synchs back to your computer. A leading step for Apple.
1:30 We love great music! Ending last Macworld keynote with artist that's had some amazing music. Recognized as a true legend in industry.
1:31 Here's Tony Bennett!
1:32 "The best is yet to come"
1:33 Wondering if "one more, more thing"...? Still missing Mac mini, surprise visit from Steve!
1:34 Looks like Gene Munster just walked out. Is it over?
1:34 Readers bombarding me with IMs asking about Mac mini. Don't know either! Sorta surprised.
1:36 Tony wraps up his second song. Standing ovation.
1:37 People from VIP section starting to leave the auditorium. That's our show, says Phil.
1:37 Phil thanks his family, friends at Apple. Please enjoy the rest of the show, try out iLife, iWork, MacBook Pro. That's it. Lights are up.
Usually laptop sleeves are meant to hide and protect your laptop from the outside world. Not these new Altego clear laptop sleeves. Now you can show off that pricey gelaskin or new fancy Dell. These cases are transparent sleeves with a clear air cushion. Surprisingly enough they are a licensed Microsoft product as well. Go figure…I guess they are taking a break from the new OS. This is a must for those who want to show the world their fancy laptops without the fear of hurting them. The sleeves will be available in 10″ to 17″ sizes. They will also be available in pink, red, black, silver. No pricing is available yet.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats sealed their increased control of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday with the swearing in of newly elected members expected to help enact President-elect Barack Obama's call for a massive economic stimulus package.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia sharply cut gas flows to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday in a dramatic worsening of a pricing dispute with Kiev that threatened to disrupt supplies as far west as Italy and Germany.
Apple marketing boss Phil Schiller is on stage at Macworld right now. We'll list his announcements here as he makes them.
For up-to-the-second coverage and color commentary, see our liveblog.
A new version of iPhoto, which includes:
- Facial recognition technology to organize your photos by who's in them.
- Geotagging to organize photos by where they were taken. Photos taken with an iPhone will use the GPS to automatically tag them.
- Built in support for Facebook, Google Maps and Flickr.
A new version of iMovie, which includes:
- Lots of the features Apple took away in iMovie '08.
- Better editing and themes.
- New effects like stabilization and cartooning.
A new version of GarageBand, which includes:
- A new "learn to play" tool featuring an HD video instructor.
- Besides 9 bundles freebies, extra lessons from artists like Norah Jones and Sting cost $4.99 a piece.
Updates to iWork '09
- Updated Numbers, Keynote, Pages and a $.99 iPhone App
- Beta version of iWork.com, a Google Docs-like Web-based office tool
New 17-inch MacBook Pro
- 6.6 lbs
- A matte display
- .98 inches thick
- 2.9 gigahertz
- 8 hours of battery life than can be charged more than 1,000 times
Updates to iTunes
- Now there are three pricing tiers: 99 cents, 69 cents, and $1.29.
- 10 million songs without DRM by the end of the quarter
See Also:LIVE: Macworld Keynote Presentation (AAPL)
Photo: Engadget
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he expects to inherit a U.S. budget deficit approaching $1 trillion and that his administration would have to make some tough budget choices.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - How much does it cost to spend $350 billion?
Apple has long stood by the simplicity of the flat, $.99/track pricing scheme. The system has frustrated the record labels who insist that digital pricing should fluctuate like the price of actual CDs, even though the idea behind cut-rate CDs is to move inventory that's not selling. Apple budged a little from flat-rate orthodoxy when it adopted $1.29 DRM-free tracks, and now it's set to give in some more.
WSJ: The changes, many of which could be unveiled during a speech Tuesday at the Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, include a change in the way Apple prices its songs. Apple has historically priced nearly all its songs at 99 cents each. Under a new pricing plan, songs would cost either 69 cents, 99 cents or $1.29, depending on how desirable they are considered. Apple is likely to sell the "vast majority" of the songs for 69 cents, these people said. But they cautioned that the handful of the most sought-after songs-which generate the vast majority of sales on the service-would likely cost $1.29.
This isn't the first time variable pricing based on popularity has been tried on the web. That's the core model behind New York startup Amie St. and AmazonMP3 has gained fans with its daily rotation of cheap albums. Today, for example, you can get the brand-new album from singer-songwriter Erin McCarley for just $1.99 --normal price $7.99 (we've never heard of her either, which might explain the price).
The labels will be happy that they got a shift in pricing strategy, but it's not going to produce major results for them anytime soon.
See Also:Warner Music: We'll Get Variable Pricing... One Day
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many U.S. troops serving overseas are effectively excluded from voting because they are not given enough time to cast absentee ballots, according to a report released on Tuesday.
If your iPhone’s palm sized screen makes you squint while watching movies, and reminds you of when you mother told you not to sit too close to the TV, the i1 166 Portable Multimedia Player should capture your attention. With a 9” screen and lightweight design, it is ideal for travel and great for the eyes. No more squinting, and no more feeling the loss of blood from holding the iPhone as close to your eyes as possible for a 2 hour long movie. It even comes equipped with a car-strap for mounting on the back of a seat. It can run DVDs and your iPod. It will also charge your ipod while docked. What more could you need for an en route movie experience? Well, maybe some popcorn would be nice. The i1 166 is available through iLuv.
Melissa Lafsky of Discover consulted with the same endocrinologist the WSJ spoke to yesterday, Michael Jensen of the Mayo clinic. Dr. Jensen provided more specifics on what might be wrong with Steve Jobs.
We've also added a lengthy theory written by an anonymous surgeon (see below). Jensen and the anonymous surgeon appear to have reached different conclusions.
Dr. Jensen says most likely scenario, based on Steve's history and his description of his condition, is that his cancer has returned. If so, this news is not necessarily devastating, and the treatment could still be "simple and straightforward," as Steve suggested.
Discover: 'If a patient came to me with [Jobs's] history, the two big questions that would come to mind are: 1) is this a [recurrent] tumor, and 2) was there sufficient pancreas removed with the original surgery that he's gradually lost his ability to digest and absorb food,' says Michael Jensen, an endocrinologist and nutrition specialist at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
'The third option, when you take out the pancreas and see weight loss like this, is that it's diabetes,' Jensen says. 'But this would be something so well-known and treatable, we would have heard about it. Just the fact that they didn't say it was diabetes means it probably isn't.'
Jensen estimates that the chances of tumor recurrence versus impeded digestion are 50-50. But Jobs's claim that the problem is both a 'hormone imbalance' that can be treated through 'nutritional' means (both terms that rank high on the obfuscation and vagueness scales) raises some questions. If the second option on Jensen's list is true, and the CEO's pancreas is no longer making the enzymes he needs to digest food, the problem is in fact dietary-but not hormonal.
'The kind of hormonal imbalances [that are possible] in his case cannot be treated by simple nutritional intervention. If he's undergoing simple nutritional treatment, then it wouldn't be a hormone problem,' says Jensen.
While the contradiction remains unexplained, other physicians have raised plenty of possibilities, such as the tumor removal upsetting the balance of hormones like insulin and glucagon, which help control blood sugar levels, or somatostatin and gastrin, which aid digestion and other functions. But there's a very real possibility that Jobs may once again have cancer.
If this worst-case scenario is true, it might not be devastating for Jobs. In all likelihood, the recurrence would be of the same islet tumor removed in 2004. A malignant islet tumor that recurs still isn't as deadly as normal pancreatic cancer, and while it could eventually be fatal, an islet tumor recurrence 'does not typically cause a rapid, severe [decline] if you can control the hormonal problems, which you usually can,' says Jensen.
And here's an excerpt from the anonymous surgeon's take. Read the full post here:
I think I know what's going on here, at least as well as can be known with the little information that's been given. I admit that my thoughts are speculation, but I hope they're more of an educated guess than just pulling something out of my nether regions.
Jobs underwent an operation known as the Whipple operation, otherwise known as a pancreaticoduodenectomy. This is a huge operation, one of the biggest and most radical rearrangements of a patient's anatomy that is done routinely. What's done is that the head of the pancreas and duodenum are removed en bloc (mainly because their close proximity to each other and their shared blood supply make it virtually impossible to remove the pancreatic head alone. This tour de force operation then necessitates putting things back together thusly:
There are many potential complications of the Whipple procedure, because it's a big operation and it's an operation on the pancreas. There's a famous saying in surgery that goes, "Eat when you can, sleep when you can, but don't mess with the pancreas." (Usually another, far less savory word than "mess" is used.) In any case, there are almost always long term nutritional consequences that derive from rearranging a patient's anatomy in so radical a fashion. First off, patients almost always lose 5-15% of their body weight right off the bat, although that usually levels off fairly quickly. Jobs, however, was never exactly what you would call robust-looking. He was always thin; so losing that much weight for him could be more problematic. Although it has been speculated that Steve Jobs is a vegan or vegetarian, apparently such is not the case (he's a so-called pescetarian, meaning he will eat seafood in addition to vegetables, fruit, grains, and dairy); so post-surgical difficulties maintaining nutrition because of a special diet that doesn't mesh well with Jobs' new anatomy are probably not what's going on here. Some other potential serious problems over the long term include glucose intolerance or even diabetes requiring insulin; malabsorption because of diminished production of pancreatic enzymes; delayed gastric emptying; the afferent loop syndrome; or the "dumping syndrome," which is common after stomach resections and results from undigested food being "dumped" too fast into the proximal small intestine, which draws in fluid.
Of course, his surgery was nearly four years ago. Usually by this long out, these problems will have resolved or at least stabilized, so why is Jobs apparently looking worse now?
I emphasize again that this is just my guess, but the admission that Jobs had an unnamed procedure or operation gives me enough of a clue to what's probably going on. Chances are, Jobs had either dumping syndrome or afferent loop syndrome. Of the two, given that he underwent a procedure, the latter strikes me as more likely, because surgery is much less common used to correct dumping. That's because the troublesome symptoms of dumping can often be managed pretty well medically with octreotide and other drugs. The treatment of afferent limb syndrome (ALS), however, is almost always surgical. It is a mechanical problem and requires a mechanical solution.
You've probably never heard of it unless you've been unfortunate enough to have it (or are a surgeon or gastroenterologist), but ALS is a potential complication after a certain type of gastrojejunostomy, which is when the stomach is connected to a loop of small bowel in an anastomosis. This leaves two "loops." The efferent loop is the small bowel leading away from the anastomosis. The afferent loop is the loop proximal to the anastomosis, whose peristalsis runs towards the anastomosis. Bile and pancreatic juice dump into the afferent loop, as can be seen in the illustration above. If there is a mechanical problem with the afferent loop, it can result in symptoms soon after surgery or as long as many years later. That Jobs seems to be rather quickly looking worse nearly four years after his operation also suggests ALS.
There are two forms of the problem, acute and chronic. Acute ALS involves a high grade obstruction of the afferent limb, in which pancreatic juices and bile back up behind the obstruction under pressure, and is potentially life-threatening. The more common and chronic form is what can produce nutritional deficiencies over time. Usually, approximately 10-20 minutes to an hour after a meal, the patient will experience abdominal fullness and pain as the liver and pancreas pump bile and pancreatic juice into the partially obstructed afferent limb. These symptoms usually last from several minutes to an hour, although they occasionally last as long as several days. Pressure will build up and the obstruction will resolve by then, sometimes with vomiting. Prolonged ALS with stasis of digestive juices in the afferent limb can result in bacterial overgrowth of the digestive juices sitting there, fatty stools, diarrhea, and vitamin B-12 deficiency.
The treatment, as I mentioned before, is surgical. Basically, the connection between the stomach and the duodenum must be revised. Usually, one of two operations are necessary. Either the gastrojejunostomy has to be converted to what's known as a Billroth I gastroduodenostomy, in which the end of the stomach is directly connected to the end of the duodenum. This is usually not an option after a Whipple operation for simple anatomic reasons. In Jobs' case, I speculate, that leaves the second option of a Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy.
I could be entirely wrong, of course but from what we know, my speculation makes medical and surgical sense. If the cause of Jobs' nutritional problems was indeed afferent loop syndrome, then the treatment would be to operate and fix whatever the problem with the afferent loop is. I will point out that an alternate explanation for Jobs undergoing a procedure related to his nutrition is that he could have undergone the placement of a feeding jejunostomy tube, so that nutritional supplementation could be administered directly into his small intestine downstream from its anastomosis with the stomach. The only way I could picture a surgeon recommending that option, though, is if Jobs happens to be one of the small number of patients who have serious nutritional difficulties after a Whipple operation whose cause cannot be determined. This does happen. In such cases, what's important is to fix his nutritional status and keep trying to figure out the cause if possible. Finally, it could still be the dumping syndrome; sometimes dumping is so bad that surgery, either to do a Roux-en-Y or a Billroth I conversion becomes necessary. Another treatment option for dumping that is sometimes done is to reverse a length of small bowel, so that its peristalsis runs reverse to the normal direction, as a means of slowing down the rapid entry of undigested food into the small intestine.
What's more important, though, is that Jobs' appearance (at least as far as I can tell from the limited information that I have) is almost certainly not due to a recurrence of his tumor, and it's not something that can't be fixed. Chances are Jobs will be fine, and will remain as cantankerous, arrogant, dictatorial, and wildly visionary as ever for many years to come. Whether he'll choose to remain at Apple for many years to come, of course, no one but Jobs can say, but it's unlikely to be his current health problems that motivate him to leave, when leave he inevitably does.
See Also: Endocrinologists: Steve Jobs' Diagnosis (And Prognosis) Unclear
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Dire economic data from the United States and Europe showed the world's two largest economies remain mired in recession, and Toyota Motor Corp said it would halt all production in Japan in response to plunging demand.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The man named by the scandal-plagued governor of Illinois to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate failed to gain entry on Tuesday when the chamber's secretary rejected as incomplete his credentials for the seat.
Early blogging service Livejournal is on life support: The site (which is owned by Russian media company SUP) will be laying off 20 of its 27 employees, leaving LJ's bloggers desperate to export content off the site ahead of a possible shutdown. (Some LJ Blogs have been posting daily content for over eight years.)
LJ's failure should serve as a warning to Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter, and other free social-networking and user-gen sites. Livejournal has (had?) an addictive social experience that its millions of users spent hours on every day, but the site could never figure out how to transform that into a sustainable business.
A variety of revenue-generating ideas like 99 cent "virtual gifts" and freemium add-ons never panned out, (these ideas are still being talked about as working models for other sites). Without a clear business plan, Livejournal stumbled on until its owners finally decided to cut the cord.
UPDATE: A Livejournal spokesperson emails us to say only a dozen employees, less than 20%, have been cut. The original report at Valleywag we cited with the "20 of 27" figure has been changed.
LJ laid off about a dozen employees, which is less than 20% of the entire LJ workforce. And contrary to some online gossip sites, LiveJournal employees leaving the business as a result of the restructuring are receiving comprehensive support from the company.
See Also: Facebook Looks For More Non-Advertising Revenues
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American millionaires have seen their assets shrink by 30 percent during the economic crisis, a report said on Tuesday, with only 36 percent of them pleased with the performance of their financial advisers.