The Latest Invasion Into Steve Jobs’ Privacy: A Untrue “Heart Attack”

The bizarre and apparently endless obsession with the health of Steve Jobs has taken yet another offensive turn. This time, in the form of an unsubstantiated “citizen report” placed on a CNN site called iReport, which stated that Steve Jobs had been rushed to a hospital following a “major heart attack”.

CNN spokesperson, Jennifer Martin, maintains that the content published on this site is “entirely user-generated”, and that CNN site “makes no guarantee about the content or coverage” of the headlines that are published there. Sorry? Excuse me? How is that news? How is that responsible journalism? How is that, in any way, legal? Of course, in the age of the internet, and especially in the blogsphere, all sorts of nonsense can be written and published. But when it is given the “imprimatur” of a news source such as CNN how is it possible that extended responsibility does not exist? Read more

Apple’s Expanding Into Medicine and Clinical Practice

John Martellaro of TMO writes that a recent sign of Apple’s new initiative into the medical field is seen in the fact that Dr. Liz Kerr’s title is Apple Director of Science and Medicine Markets. Another sign, we would like to add, is the number of Apps which are available that support medical practices. Apple’s Mac has an advantage in “imaging, visualization and video, along with considerable progress in practice management by third parties,” which, according to Martellaro, “makes this a natural technical discipline for Apple to add.” Dr. Kerr adds that OsiriX software has been running on Mac OS X for the last 12 months. OsiriX is one of the most advanced and broadly used Open Source diagnostic imaging viewers.

Although scientific fields don’t immediately come to mind when thinking of the average Apple user, Martellaro writes, “Historically, Apple products have found favor in all scientific areas, from astronomy to chemistry and microscopy. Apple also has considerable market share in genomics and proteomics research. Not only does Apple sell desktop computers in those disciplines, but also a small workgroup cluster of Xserves.”

Still, Apple doesn’t often showcase support for a specific scientific discipline without what Martellaro calls “specific intentions, solutions, partners and internal support.” So, the belief is that the growth Apple is anticipating into the medical markets must be quite large. Both in research and practical medicine, medicine is now one of Apple’s major growth areas.

Apple Is Making “Serious Inroads In The Enterprise”

John Martellaro for MacObserver write that the barriers are finally collapsing, as Mac is moving more deeply into the corporate sector. He notes an article written by Vin D’Amico at IndUS Business Journal. Martellaro writes, “In an exceptionally well balanced and thought out assessment of the situation, Mr. D’Amico wrote a prescription for a corporation that wants to test the waters with Apple’s enterprise offerings.”

He lists the key points as:
-Recognizing the standards compliance of Macs built on UNIX;
-Being award of Apple’s Xserve and Xsan storage area network;
-Mac’s ability to integrate into an Active Directory network
-Assessing the real TCO, which is not apparent from up front pricing since Apple typically focuses on high performance and valued added configurations;
-The ability of Macs to run Windows and Windows software natively or in virtualization.

“Some barriers remain, however,” D’Amico states. “Support for legacy applications, reliance on a single source, and the effort to introduce a second platform pose ongoing challenges.” Martellaro points out that Apple offers in-person visits from an Apple account executive and his support engineer, who will work to provide a much better understanding of Apple solutions.

D’Amico writes, “As Apple grows its consumer business, there will be increasing pressure on corporations to adopt the Mac. Some of this pressure will come from recent college graduates, many of whom are Mac users. They will want to continue using Macs when entering the workforce.” Those college students may well be able to turn the tide, since their years of experience working on Macs would allow them the ability to demonstrate its strengths within the corporate sector. Then, of course, there is the issue of security. D’Amico gives Apple the gold star in that area. “Macs are generally more stable and virus-resistant than Windows. They are easier to use and built on open standards. Maybe it is time to test the barriers to Mac adoption in your company,” Mr. D’Amico advised.

Big Crowds Queue Up To Celebrate Grand Opening of Belfast Apple Store

The grand opening of the Apple Store Victoria Square in Belfast took place this weekend, on Saturday September 20. The BBC was on hand, and reports, “Hundreds of people have queued outside the new Apple store in Belfast for its first day of opening, with some waiting all night to be the first through the doors.” One of the first in line sported an Apple tattoo. Why? Because he was a graphic designer, and thinks that the Apple logo is one of the most elegant and beautiful ever designed. Another customer expressed great excitement at the first Apple store in Northern Ireland.The excitement was palpable, even when watching the videos of the event. You can view BBC News’ “Queues at Belfast Apple store opening,” BBC.co.uk

Alan in Belfast, a blogger who was at the event, writes, “The first hardy souls started the queue before 11pm last night. Matthew, Michael, Stuart, Wayne and Karl. Another few arrived after midnight (better prepared with camp seats!). And then it was early morning – 5am-ish – when the rest of the queue started to form.”

To those of us used to Apple Store openings, all the regular ingredients were there: the excited staff in their aqua, or orange, or black t-shirts (although the BBC video shows one person — staffer or customer? — wearing a “Steve Jobs for President” t-shirt), the count-down, the clapping and cheering, the gifts being handed out to the customers. But somehow, no matter how many times the events are witnessed, the excitement doesn’t diminish.

Too Sad: Microsoft’s ‘I’m a PC’ Campaign Made With Macs

These guys just can’t get it together. AppleInsider’s, Prince McLean writes, “Metadata found on Microsoft’s creative copy used in its ‘I’m a PC’ ad reveals that the graphics were actually produced using Macs running Adobe Creative Suite 3. After the details were published on the Flickr photo sharing site, Microsoft scrambled to polish off the embarrassing details last night.”

Microsoft’s much touted, and often obtuse, $10million ad campaign with Jerry Seinfeld has been scraped, and has been replaced with a new ad approach, which features an actor dressed to look like John Hodgman, the Apple’s Get a Mac ad “PC” character. He is joined by a people who all say, “I’m a PC,” in the attempt to send the message that PC users are everywhere. Decent concept — certainly nothing brilliant — except that its credibility was totally blown.

The problem is that even Microsoft needs a Mac in order to produce their commercial. Flickr user LuisDS discovered metadata which proved that Microsoft was using Macs as well as Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 (rather than its own Expressions Studio) in order to create the commercial.

Ouch.

Dilger, at Roughly Drafted, writes, “Apparently, neither Windows PCs nor Expression Studio are up to the task of taking on Apple and destroying its globe enshrouding “Get a Mac” campaign. The image of John Hodgman as a troubled PC struggling with Vista-related problems has pushed Microsoft to defend itself with a $300 million campaign to take control of the “conversation about Windows,” using Macs as needed to get the message produced.” LuisDS published the metadata details (which can be viewed at Cult of Mac); but, when he went back the following day, he discovered that Microsoft had scrubbed the revealing details from the work. Good work, LuisDS, for getting the word out before it disappeared. Apple marketing will get mileage out of this, we can be sure. Not only can’t Microsoft make an operating system which stands up to Apple’s OS X, but they can’t even make a commercial to repair their image using their own equipment without the support of Apple’s higher quality! Sad, sad, sad.

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