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]

I don't know about you all, but considering I'm not in the market for a pricey, tiny notebook, and I don't need yet another thing hooked up to my TV, the best news I heard at the Keynote today was about this iPhone "January update" (does that mean there'll be one every month?) coming soon to your iTunes. Included in the free update to iPhone users:

• An updated Maps that will actually find your location automatically by triangulating cell towers (we saw this a while ago), and give you the option to add a pin to the map
• Web Clips, cutouts of web pages that you can attach to an icon sitting right there on the homescreen.
  
• A customizable homescreen and dock (just hold an icon to get them wiggling, and then move them around as you please), and up to nine homescreen pages total
• The update will also add chapter navigation for iPhone video, and subtitle/audio options as well.
• And though the readers in our IRC channel weren't very impressed with this one, the iPhone will now feature multiple SMS sending.

Very awesome update for the iPhone, completely free and available on download in iTunes right now (!), and definitely an update that will set the stage for all the third party applications we're supposed to see next month. Bring on the SDK!

Well the one rumor that I thought was least likely (that the Beatles were a no go at this morning's event) turned out to be true. There is still no Beatles music available on the iTunes store, either in the WiFi store or otherwise.

Not that Steve didn't taunt us. Over and over again, he threw down hints the whole time-- he played "Give Peace a Chance" as a ringtone (joking that it was for when NBC called), played Lennon to demo the new WiFi store, and played Paul McCartney to bring the chairman of Starbucks on stage. Heck, the name of the event was "The Beat Goes On." He knows we want the Beatles (even if Scott doesn't), and he played with our emotions all day.

But when "One more thing..." came out, it was the Starbucks deal and KT Tunstall performing. And we're left with no idea when (or if ever) we'll be able to buy Apple recordings in Apple's online music store.

Sources have informed The Financial Times of London that the forged documents at the center of the ongoing SEC investigation relate to illegal activities surrounding options given to Steven Jobs. According to the FT story, Jobs "was handed 7.5m stock options in 2001 without the required authorization from the company's board of directors." and that "Records that purported to show a full board meeting had taken place to approve Mr Jobs' remuneration, as required by Apple's procedures, were later falsified."

If this is in fact the case, it certainly makes sense that Jobs would seek his own external legal counsel both to more closely protect his personal interests as well as put some distance between himself and the company as a whole.

Update: The FT article makes no mention of wrong doing by Jobs himself, and as such this post has been updated.

[via Cult of Mac]

It's no big secret that Our Glorious Leader has very particular tastes, and he likes getting his way. Fast cars (Mercedes Benz), fast jets (Gulfstream), and according to Valleywag, secret three-legged stools. Though no real details are known about said stool, the Valleywag tipster says that Unkie Steve requires his designer stool to be present at all important meetings (both Apple internal meetings and certain outside meetings), as well as available to sit on during long flights on his jet (though the safety of a three-legged stool in turbulence seems dubious to me). One would imagine that this stool will be present during the keynote, so everyone keep their eyes sharp to see if we can't identify it.

Egads, the rumor engine has caught on fire and September 12th is to blame: HardMac cites anonymous sources (i.e. - take it with a grain of salt) that Steve Jobs still won't be present in Paris for the upcoming Apple Expo, but that doesn't mean he can't be on a stage somewhere: the rumor is that Jobs will still give a keynote, but it will be produced in Cupertino and relayed to London, Apple Europe's headquarters (where all the journalists have actually been invited to already). Let's hear it for the powers of iChat A/V.

Next on the list of September 12th rumors is that, along with 23-inch Core 2 Duo iMacs, we could also see revised MacBook Pros, possibly even with Core 2 Duo shininess. For this one, HardMac cites a French student who tried to purchase a MacBook Pro online, but was given a 3-5 week shipping window - which typically happens to products in some regions when an update is imminent.

Keep in mind none of this is confirmed, so if Sept. 12th turns out to be not much more than an Aperture update (after all, it is close to Photokina), keep your chin up. Apple's fall season is just getting started.

For those who don't quite get the headline: Jobs is notorious for being a demanding and quick-to-fire-you CEO; there are a few stories of His Steveness doing things like firing an employee who pulled a Porky Pig (an American cartoon character with a stuttering speech impediment) when he found himself on the same elevator as Mr Jobs.

With that said, TUAW reader Florian sent us a link to this Flickr image of what looks like a WWDC attendee (student?) approaching Mr. Jobs with something on his PowerBook/MacBook. I'm sure this isn't the first time something like this has happened (with no one receiving a pink slip), but it's a great shot and Steve seems genuinely interested.

Florian took the pic, but didn't have a chance to ask this guy about what was going on. If anyone knows anything, or if Mr. Guy Who Was Talking to Steve is a TUAW reader, feel free to drop us a tip (a link to our tips form, by the way, is located at the bottom of our categories list in the middle of this page) and share your wisdom.

Our hearts go out to all the Apple Expo Paris attendees in the audience, for Steve Jobs will not be giving a keynote yet again this year. In fact, there won't be any keynote at all. A show representative confirmed this keynote-less announcement with Macworld UK, citing that, while Apple has seen "significant" market share gains in France lately, they also mention the whole 'open up your FairPlay, or else' issue the French government is trying to force on Apple.

That doesn't seem like a very good reason for Jobs to stop delivering his theatrical keynotes, though he was having surgery during 2004's paris expo, and for some odd reason didn't give a keynote at '05's Expo either. I guess the closest you'll be able to get to Mr. Jobs this time around is some hi-res desktop wallpapers.

Before we dive into the actual story, lets just take a minute to sit back and appreciate just how fantastically bizarre that title is.
...
Ok then! Mac daddy Steve Wozniak has announced that in December 2007, he and Moon man Buzz Aldrin (second person ever to set foot on the Moon) will participate in an expedition to the South Pole in which the intrepid explorers will be conveyed by Hydrogen fuel cell powered H1 Hummers.

The Apple co-founder revealed his plans at Stanford University's AlwaysOn conference. The modern day eco-friendly adventure will be filmed using 3D cameras for use in an upcoming James Cameron film. According to Woz, the team has received significant input from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which runs three of its buses on fuel cells.

[via Cult of Mac]

David Pescowitz, columnist and Boing Boing coeditor, conducted a great interview of Steve Wozniak in the Fall 2005 issue of Berkeley School of Engineering's Forefront magazine. The interview includes some nifty nuggets of Wozness including why Woz's Berkeley Engineering diploma is made out to Rocky Raccoon Clark.

I'm not sure I agree with Woz's prediction of 2020, however. He notes that if wireless and wired standards sift down to only a few formats, then we'll have less things to hack on and invent. I'm sure by that point we'll have a slew of new formats in non-wired or wireless ways that evenTesla couldn't imagine.

[photo courtesy Forefront and Boing Boing]

Apple has confirmed today that Steve Jobs will not be delivering a keynote speech at Mac Expo in Paris later this month. Instead, Apple executives (including Jobs) will host a Q&A with members of the media. "Yes, Steve will be at Apple Expo with other members of Apple's executive team," said Apple spokesperson Bill Evans in a comment to Macworld.

No reason was given for the cancellation.

Thanks, Fabienne!