Apple is slated to announce the fruits of its labor on improving the use of technology in education at its special media event on Thursday, January 19. While speculation has so far centered on digital textbooks, sources close to the matter have confirmed to Ars that Apple will announce tools to help create interactive e-books—the "GarageBand for e-books," so to speak—and expand its current platform to distribute them to iPhone and iPad users.

Along with the details we were able to gather from our sources, we also spoke to two experts in the field of digital publishing to get a clearer picture of the significance of what Apple is planning to announce.

So far, Apple has largely embraced the ePub 2 standard for its iBooks platform, though it has added a number of HTML5-based extensions to enable the inclusion of video and audio for some limited interaction. The recently-updated ePub 3 standard obviates the need for these proprietary extensions, which in some cases make iBook-formatted e-books incompatible with other e-reader platforms. Apple is expected to announce support for the ePub 3 standard for iBooks going forward.

GarageBand for e-books

At the same time, however, authoring standards-compliant e-books (despite some promises to the contrary) is not as simple as running a Word document of a manuscript through a filter. The current state of software tools continues to frustrate authors and publishers alike, with several authors telling Ars that they wish Apple or some other vendor would make a simple app that makes the process as easy as creating a song in GarageBand.

Our sources say Apple will announce such a tool on Thursday.

And Inkling CEO Matt MacInnis agrees that such a move would be very likely. MacInnis previously worked on education projects at Apple before leaving the company in 2009 to pursue his own ideas about creating interactive digital books. Inkling currently offers a variety of digital textbooks with interactive features, including the ability to share notes with classmates and instructors, via an iPad app.

"When you think about what Apple is doing... they are selling tens of thousands of iPads into K-12 institutions," MacInnis told Ars. "What are they doing with those iPads? They don't really replace textbooks, because there's not very much content on offer," he said.

Don't expect that content to come directly from Apple, however. "Practically speaking, Apple does not want to get into the content publishing business," MacInnis said. Like the music and movie industries, Apple has instead built a distribution platform as well as hardware to consume it—but Apple isn't a record label or production studio.

But what Apple does provide is industry-leading tools for content production, such as Logic or Final Cut Pro, to help create content. The company also produces tools like GarageBand or iMovie that make such production accessible to a much wider audience.

Will Apple launch a sort of GarageBand for e-books? "That's what we believe you're about to see," MacInnis told Ars (and our other sources agree). "Publishing something to ePub is very similar to publishing web content. Remember iWeb? That iWeb code didn't just get flushed down the toilet—I think you'll see some of [that code] repurposed."

Mobile, social learning

Technology-in-education expert Dr. William Rankin also believes digital books will expand with tools that will enable social interactions among textbook users. Rankin, who serves as Director of Educational Innovation of Abilene Christian University and has extensively researched the use of mobile devices in the classroom, was one of three authors of a white paper on the effects of digital convergence on learning titled "Code/X," published in 2009.

In that document, Rankin and his colleagues laid out their vision for the future of learning, which included an always-on, always-networked digital device called a "Talos." That device turned out to be very similar to the iPad that Apple announced just six months later.

"What we saw coming was a change in the kinds of places that learning would happen," Rankin told Ars. Since the device would always be with the student, it would give her access to information anytime and anywhere. "For that, you need a different kind of book."

Such digital texts would let students interact with information in visual ways, such as 3D models, graphs, and videos. They would also allow students to create links to additional texts, audio, and other supporting materials. Furthermore, students could share those connections with classmates and colleagues.

"What we really believe is important is the role of social networking in a converged learning environment," Rankin told Ars. "We're already seeing that in Inkling's platform, and Kno's journaling feature. Future digital texts should allow students to layer all kind of other data, such as pictures, and notes, and then share that with the class or, ideally, anyone."

Exactly how what Apple announces on Thursday will impact digital publishing isn't certain, however.

"Think about how meaningful simply authoring and publishing to an iPad will be for K-12," MacInnis said. "However, it might not be great for molecular biology."

MacInnis sees Apple as possibly up-ending the traditional print publishing model for the low-end, where basic information has for many years remained locked behind high textbook prices. Apple can "kick up dust with the education market," which could then create visibility for platforms like Inkling. This could then serve as a sort of professional Logic-type tool for interactive textbook creation complement to Apple's "GarageBand for e-books."

"There will be a spectrum of tools and consumers, and we will continue to fit on that spectrum," MacInnis opined. "I don't know if the publishing industry will react to it with fear or enthusiasm."

Steve Jobs' pet project

We know that former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was working on addressing learning and digital textbooks for some time, according to Walter Issacson's biography. Jobs believed that textbook publishing was an "$8 billion a year industry ripe for digital destruction."

According to our sources close to his efforts, however, Jobs' personal involvement was perhaps more significant that even his biography purports. Jobs worked on this project for several years, and our understanding is that the final outcome was slated to be announced in October 2011 in conjunction with the iPhone 4S. Those plans were postponed at the last minute, perhaps due to Jobs' imminent death.

Despite the delay, however, ACU's Rankin believes the time is right for a change to happen in the field. "We're headed toward a completely digital future at ACU," he told Ars. "A recent study showed that 82 percent of all higher education students nationwide will come to campus with a smartphone. We need to have resources and tools ready for these mobile, connected students."

Lenovo is entering the TV business at this year’s CES, and it’s doing so with a splash: The company announced the world’s first TV set running Android 4.0, a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich, Sunday. The device, dubbed the Lenovo K91 Smart TV, will initially be available only in China, but Lenovo is looking to launch it in other countries later this year.

Here’s what the TV will offer aside form the latest version of Android:

• The K91 is powered by Qualcomm’s 8060 Snapdragon processor, which clocks 1.5 Ghz.
• It will have 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage and 2 GB SD card.
• There will be two models, one with a 42” and one with a 50” 3-D LED screen.
• It will have an integrated 5 MP webcam, which will be used for facial recognition. Why would you need that? Parental control, of course.
• There will be a 3-axis gyro gamepad, but the regular remote control sounds pretty cool, too: It will have a touchpad as well as an integrated microphone, and voice recognition will make it possible to control the devices without pressing any buttons at all.

Owners of the device will be able to access Lenovo’s yet-to-be-launched cloud services from the TV to stream personal media stored in the cloud. Lenovo hasn’t officially announced its cloud plans yet, but it sounds like it will offer media and screen sharing across mobile, PC and TV devices.

It’s worth pointing out that the K91 won’t actually be running Google TV, which is based on Android 3.1 a.k.a. Honeycomb. Lenovo instead chose to customize Android 4.0. It’s unclear whether it will have access to the Android Market, or whether Lenovo is launching its very own app store to power its foray into the TV market.

Since 2010 a group of self-confessed pirates have tried to get their beliefs recognized as an official religion in Sweden. After their request was denied several times, the Church of Kopimism – which holds CTRL+C and CTRL+V as sacred symbols – is now approved by the authorities as an official religion. The Church hopes that its official status will remove the legal stigma that surrounds file-sharing.

All around the world file-sharers are being chased by anti-piracy outfits and the authorities, and the situation in Sweden is no different. While copyright holders are often quick to label file-sharers as pirates, there is a large group of people who actually consider copying to be a sacred act.

Philosophy student Isak Gerson is such a religious file-sharer, and in an attempt to protect his unique belief system he founded The Missionary Church of Kopimism in 2010. In the hope that they could help prevent persecution for their beliefs, the Church then filed a request to be officially accepted by the authorities.

After two failed attempts, where the Church was asked to formalize its way of praying or meditation, the authorities finally recognized the organization as an official religion. The Church’s founder is ecstatic about this news, and hopes that it will motivate more people to come forward as ‘Kopimists’.

“I think that more people will have the courage to step out as Kopimists. Maybe not in the public, but at least to their close ones,” Isak tells TorrentFreak. “There’s still a legal stigma around copying for many. A lot of people still worry about going to jail when copying and remixing. I hope in the name of Kopimi that this will change.”

Although the formal status of the Church doesn’t mean that copyright infringement is now permitted, the Church’s founder hopes that their beliefs will be considered in future lawmaking.

During the last half year the Missionary Church of Kopimism tripled its members from 1,000 to 3,000 and it’s expected that the recent news will cause another surge in followers. Official member or not, Gerson encourages everyone with an Internet connection to keep on sharing.

“We confessional Kopimists have not only depended on each other in this struggle, but on everyone who is copying information. To everyone with an internet connection: Keep copying. Maintain hardline Kopimi,” Gerson concludes.

Prospective followers who embrace the same calling are of course welcome to join the movement, free of charge.

A year ago Steven Levy suggested that Facebook should give us each a single “friend-list do-over.”

A lot of commenters challenged him. “Grow some balls and just unfriend people,” said one of the more even tempered readers. Another – “These comments are too constructive. Someone should just call this guy an idiot.”

Steven probably didn’t see that criticism coming, because he probably assumed people understand how difficult it is to unfriend people on Facebook at any sort of scale. You have to find the person, hover over the friend button, select unfriend and then click a confirmation.

That’s a few seconds, and when you are trying to remove hundreds, or thousands, or people you don’t know as friends, that takes Too Long. And so the friends stay, for the same reason that every clock in my house is off by an hour for half the year.

So, no, most of us aren’t going to spend the time removing friends on Facebook. Instead many of us are using new social networks, like Path (we’re an investor) and the upcoming Just.Me (we’re also investors, guess how much we like this space) to start fresh. Facebook is for thousands of people you don’t know. The start fresh new services can be finely crafted from the start to include only your actual friends. And they’re made for mobile. Update: Check out Ourspot as well.

Path and others are giving us what we want – A nice, sophisticated and diverse conversation with friends, like sitting together at a table just laughing and talking and drinking a latte. Facebook is more like the top picture above. Chaos.

I don’t like sweater vests, but I’ll take them over hordes of strangers yelling at me any day. I can politely ask that guy to take off that stupid vest anyway. Then everything would be perfect, really.

Sure, lots of people say this is our own fault for showing zero restraint on adding friends over the years. But what seemed like a fun “sure why not, this is adventurous!” in 2006 and 2007 when Facebook allowed open registrations now feels like a bad hangover.

Anyhow, Facebook today is so crowded and messy that no one ever goes there anymore. Or at least that’s what I imagine Yogi Berra would say.

So Facebook, I ask you. Give us the Steven Levy do-over. Or give it a Jack Welch twist and auto suggest we unfriend the 10% of our Facebook friends that we interact with the least once a year. Or both.

I promise, cross my heart and pinky swear, I’ll be more restrained and focused this time. I’ll realize the long term consequences of my more hasty why the hell not click yes decisions, and I won’t repeat my past sin of not saying “no” more often.

Ok, I may repeat past sins. But you can just let me start fresh again next year, right? That wouldn’t be so bad. I could live with that.

Because if you don’t, eventually Facebookers may not wanna come over to the site since it’s so crowded, and no one can stop ‘em. You can observe a lot just by watching. Facebook is 90% mental, but the other half is making me insane.

You’ve come to a fork in the road, Facebook, and you should take it.

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design Jonathan Ive can add a new title to his resume: Sir Jonathan Ive. According to BBC, Ive was granted knighthood in the United Kingdom in the New Year Honours List. The report said that Ive’s official title is a Knight Commander of the British Empire. Ive, who was born and raised in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States to pursue design work, said that the honor is ‘absolutely thrilling.’

Ive credits his home country for some of his incredible design work: ‘I am keenly aware that I benefit from a wonderful tradition in the U.K. of designing and making.’ While Ive has had an extremely successful career in Cupertino, California as Apple’s design chief, recent rumors said the designer of the iPod, iMac, iPhone, and most recently the iPad, was considering a move back to the United Kingdom. Soon after those rumors, a reliable report claimed Ive would not be leaving…

Ive joins a long list of New Years 2012 Honours List members and John Patrick Richardson is the only other international KBE that accompanies him from outside of the United Kingdom. Richardson is known as a famous author and art historian. Notably, on the subject of Apple and knighthood, a report from early 2011 claimed that Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was in the final stages of receiving knighthood, but his honor and ‘Sir’ title was blocked at the last minute by Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown over Jobs refusal to speak at an event.

Jonathan Ive became the leader of Apple’s design team in 1996 and has since then transformed the company’s design philosophy. Newcastle Polytechnic awarded Ive with a Bachelor of Arts and an honorary doctorate. In addition, today’s United Kingdom-related award was not Ive’s first major award from the country. According to Ive’s official Apple biography, in 2003, he was named Designer of the Year by the Design Museum London and The Royal Society of Arts awarded him the title Royal Designer for Industry.

Screenshot from the Honours List for 2012:

Walter Isaacson’s biography of the Apple Cofounder and former CEO Steve Jobs, ‘Steve Jobs’, highlighted some of the interactions between Ive and Jobs, calling them ‘spiritual partners.’ According to Ive, Jobs would attempt to take credit for some of his ideas from time-to-time. ‘I pay maniacal attention to where an idea comes from, and I even keep notebooks filled with my ideas,’ Ive said. ‘So it hurts when he takes credit for one of my designs.’ In addition, the biography said that Jobs setup Apple’s internal organization so that Ive would have ‘more operation power’ than anyone else.

Many of Ive’s design principles and ideas are inspired by the great work of Dieter Rams. In 2009, Ive’s participated in a video interview for a film called ‘Objectified.’ In his portion of the film, embedded above, Ive discussed some of the work behind the unibody engineering efforts put into products like the MacBook Pro. Ive also discussed the simplicity of a product like the iPhone where the design ‘defers to the display.’ Ive also discussed how different materials affect overall product design motifs.

Summary: Facebook has responded to the leak of its Messenger for Windows application by simply releasing an official download. It’s a great way to downplay the leak while keeping users excited.

Mere hours after Facebook Messenger for Windows leaked, Facebook has released the official desktop client. Facebook contacted me and said the official Messenger for Windows download link is available from fbcdn_dragon-a.akamaihd.net.

Facebook would not confirm the version number with me, but given that the application updates automatically, I think Menlo Park made a decision to officially release it instead of trying to combat the leak. Smart move. This means that the screenshots I put together earlier today still apply: Facebook Messenger for Windows leaks (screenshots).

Facebook started testing the Messenger for Windows desktop client with a limited group of users last month. The application, which requires Windows 7, provides access to three main Facebook features: Facebook Chat, the new Ticker feed, and notifications. In addition to Windows 7, Facebook Messenger is also already available for Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry.

Facebook has hinted at a few upcoming features for the Windows flavor already: chatting with multiple friends, video calling, limiting chat availability, and editing settings. It’s not clear if the company will be making announcements for every new version or if they will be just quietly released like this first version.

So, what does this application require to keep you updated? First and foremost, you must be logged into Facebook. After you click on the blue “Log In” button pictured above, you will redirected to the facebook.com/desktop/login webpage where Facebook explains that Messenger for Windows requires you stay logged in so that it can deliver chat and notification messages to your desktop. This means you will stay logged into Facebook even after you close your browser. To log out of Facebook, you’ll need to actually do so from Facebook Messenger for Windows.

Facebook believes users want to use the social network’s real-time features without having to keep a browser window open. The social networking giant is clearly hoping that users will leave Messenger for Windows on throughout the day, probably since most Facebook addicts already do so with a browser tab. In addition to being a standalone application, Facebook Messenger for Windows can be snapped to the side of the screen; that’s probably why it only works for Windows 7.

The application was developed entirely by Facebook and does not constitute a new partnership with Microsoft, which is a big investor in Facebook. It’s not clear if Facebook will offer support for anything before Windows 7, or if it will simply move on towards Windows 8. Clients for Mac and Linux will likely only be released if the Windows 7 version proves popular.

Apple's anticipated full-fledged television set could offer Internet-based content subscriptions with customized channel lineups, if the company has its way.

Customized programming is said to be one of Apple's most desired features for its rumored television set, according to analyst Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee. In Apple's vision, customers would choose whichever channels or shows they want for a monthly subscription fee.

"This is obviously much more complicated (than current offerings) from a licensing standpoint," Wu wrote in a note to investors on Wednesday. "And in our view, would change the game for television and give AAPL a big leg-up against the competition."

Hardware and technology are not the issues holding back Apple from releasing a television set, he said. Instead, Apple must negotiate unique content deals that will allow the company to differentiate its product from other televisions on the market.

"Today, iTunes has a rich library of movies and TV shows but it is mostly for downloads and only movies are available for rentals (TV shows once were but were terminated in August 2011)," he wrote. "What's missing is live broadcast television."

He said the obvious way Apple could allow this is to integrate with a cable or satellite subscription already offered to customers. But the more revolutionary way would be to deliver live content via the Internet or IPTV, a method that would be more in line with the company's existing iTunes and iCloud services.

Apple's interest in expanding its content offerings has been known for some time, as the company is said to have pushed for more options and greater flexibility in negotiations with content providers. In November, CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves revealed his company was approached by Apple about a potential streaming TV deal that would share ad revenues, but the network declined Apple's offer because it prefers licensing its content.

Wu previously noted in October that Apple's plans to build an HDTV have been held up by content providers who are reluctant to allow Apple to offer subscription-based plans to customers. Rumors of an Apple-built HDTV began to pick up steam earlier this year, when it was revealed that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told his biographer that he had "cracked' the secret to building an integrated, easy-to-use television set. He said the device "will have the simplest user interface you could imagine."

If Apple does release a full television set, Wu believes it would be wise for the company to continue selling its existing Apple TV set top box. This would allow Apple to continue offering existing HDTV owners the benefits of Apple TV, while an integrated TV set could offer a complete easy-to-use solution like a Mac, iPad or iPhone.

Rumors have pointed toward a 2012 launch of an Apple television with Siri voice control technology built in, and the company is said to have already built prototypes of the anticipated device. The latest rumor this week suggested suppliers will begin preparing materials for an Apple-branded television in the first quarter of 2012, with the device debuting in the second or third quarter of the year.

George Clooney and Noah Wylie are reportedly in the frame to portray late Apple founder Steve Jobs.

A movie of Jobs' life is currently in development by Sony, from a script by The Social Network writer Aaron Sorkin, adapted from Walter Isaacson's biography. Now, the two former ER actors are apparently going head to head to play him, according to CNN.

Wylie may have the edge over his bigger-name former co-star, having played Jobs before, in 1999 TV movie Pirates Of Silicon Valley. The film, which portrayed the rivalry between Jobs and Microsoft boss Bill Gates, saw Wylie attend that year’s Macworld Expo with Jobs.

The actor has said of having dinner with Jobs: "He took his napkin and started sketching out the schematics and he passed the napkin around the table. The cheque soon came and we started to get up to leave - and the napkin was just sat there on the table.

"I thought to myself, 'I got to take that napkin', and my hand was on it, but Steve called from the door and asked, 'Noah, you want to share a cab with me?' So I put the napkin down. I could have had an Edison original."

Discovery has ordered a documentary on the life of the late Steve Jobs, with theMythbusters duo on board to host. The network is teaming with NBC`s Peacock Productions foriGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World, a one-hour special. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who celebrate the spirit of innovation on Discovery’s hit Mythbusters, will host the show.

“Someone once said that to follow the path that others have laid before you is a very reasonable course of action, therefore all progress is made by unreasonable men,” Savage said. “Steve Jobs was an unreasonable man. He didn`t simply give the public what they wanted, he defined entirely new ways of thinking about our lives in the digital space: productivity, creativity, music, communication, media and art. He has touched, directly and indirectly, all of our lives.”

The special has already lined up interviews with several key names to talk about the Apple co-founder and CEO, including: Lee Felsenstein, founding member of the Homebrew Computer Club, Daniel Kottke, who traveled to India with Jobs and who later become an early Apple employee, and John Draper, an engineer who gave Jobs his start. Musicians Stevie Wonder and Pete Wentz will talk about how Jobs` innovations impacted their careers.

The documentary premieres Sunday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. and will air across Discovery`s portfolio of networks in 210 countries and territories.

 Steve Jobs, the visionary in the black turtleneck who co-founded Apple in a Silicon Valley garage, built it into the world's leading tech company and led a mobile-computing revolution with wildly popular devices such as the iPhone, died Wednesday. He was 56.

The hard-driving executive pioneered the concept of the personal computer and of navigating them by clicking onscreen images with a mouse. In more recent years, he introduced the iPod portable music player, the iPhone and the iPad tablet -- all of which changed how we consume content in the digital age.

Fortune: Ten ways Steve Jobs changed the world

His friends and Apple fans on Wednesday night mourned the passing of a tech titan.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives," Apple said in a statement. "The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."

See reactions from Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and many others

More than one pundit, praising Jobs' ability to transform entire industries with his inventions, called him a modern-day Leonardo Da Vinci.

"Steve Jobs is one of the great innovators in the history of modern capitalism," New York Times columnist Joe Nocera said in August. "His intuition has been phenomenal over the years."

Jobs' death, while dreaded by Apple's legions of fans, was not unexpected. He had battled cancer for years, took a medical leave from Apple in January and stepped down as chief executive in August because he could "no longer meet (his) duties and expectations."

Born February 24, 1955, and then adopted, Jobs grew up in Cupertino, California -- which would become home to Apple's headquarters -- and showed an early interest in electronics. As a teenager, he phoned William Hewlett, president of Hewlett-Packard, to request parts for a school project. He got them, along with an offer of a summer job at HP.

How Steve Jobs grew up

Jobs 'set the agenda' for tech industry

Jobs dropped out of Oregon's Reed College after one semester, although he returned to audit a class in calligraphy, which he says influenced Apple's graceful, minimalist aesthetic. He quit one of his first jobs, designing video games for Atari, to backpack across India and take psychedelic drugs. Those experiences, Jobs said later, shaped his creative vision.

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future," he told Stanford University graduates during a commencement speech in 2005. "You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

View a time line of Steve Jobs' work

While at HP, Jobs befriended Steve Wozniak, who impressed him with his skill at assembling electronic components. The two later joined a Silicon Valley computer hobbyists club, and when he was 21, Jobs teamed with Wozniak and two other men to launch Apple Computer Inc.

It's long been Silicon Valley legend: Jobs and Wozniak built their first commercial product, the Apple 1, in Jobs' parents' garage in 1976. Jobs sold his Volkswagen van to help finance the venture. The primitive computer, priced at $666.66, had no keyboard or display, and customers had to assemble it themselves.

The following year, Apple unveiled the Apple II computer at the inaugural West Coast Computer Faire. The machine was a hit, and the personal computing revolution was under way.

Jobs was among the first computer engineers to recognize the appeal of the mouse and the graphical interface, which let users operate computers by clicking on images instead of writing text.

Timeline: Steve Jobs' career

Apple's pioneering Macintosh computer launched in early 1984 with a now-iconic, Orwellian-themed Super Bowl ad. The boxy beige Macintosh sold well, but the demanding Jobs clashed frequently with colleagues, and in 1986, he was ousted from Apple after a power struggle.

Then came a 10-year hiatus during which he founded NeXT Computer, whose pricey, cube-shaped computer workstations never caught on with consumers.

Jobs had more success when he bought Pixar Animation Studios from George Lucas before the company made it big with "Toy Story." Jobs brought the same marketing skill to Pixar that he became known for at Apple. His brief but emotional pitch for "Finding Nemo," for example, was a masterful bit of succinct storytelling.

Share your memories and images of Steve Jobs

In 1996, Apple bought NeXT, returning Jobs to the then-struggling company he had co-founded. Within a year, he was running Apple again -- older and perhaps wiser but no less of a perfectionist. And in 2001, he took the stage to introduce the original iPod, the little white device that transformed portable music and kick-started Apple's furious comeback.

Thus began one of the most remarkable second acts in the history of business. Over the next decade, Jobs wowed launch-event audiences, and consumers, with one game-changing hit after another: iTunes (2003), the iPhone (2007), the App Store (2008), and the iPad (2010).

Review Jobs' top moments as a showman

Observers marveled at Jobs' skills as a pitchman, his ability to inspire godlike devotion among Apple "fanboys" (and scorn from PC fans) and his "one more thing" surprise announcements. Time after time, he sold people on a product they didn't know they needed until he invented it. And all this on an official annual salary of $1.

He also built a reputation as a hard-driving, mercurial and sometimes difficult boss who oversaw almost every detail of Apple's products and rejected prototypes that didn't meet his exacting standards.

By the late 2000s, his once-renegade tech company, the David to Microsoft's Goliath, was entrenched at the uppermost tier of American business. Apple now operates more than 300 retail stores in 11 countries. The company has sold more than 275 million iPods, 100 million iPhones and 25 million iPads worldwide.

Jobs' climb to the top was complete in summer 2011, when Apple listed more cash reserves than the U.S. Treasury and even briefly surpassed Exxon Mobil as the world's most valuable company.

CNNMoney.com: Apple stock under Jobs

But Jobs' health problems sometimes cast a shadow over his company's success. In 2004, he announced to his employees that he was being treated for pancreatic cancer. He lost weight and appeared unusually gaunt at keynote speeches to Apple developers, spurring concerns about his health and fluctuations in the company's stock price. One wire service accidentally published Jobs' obituary.

Jobs had a secret liver transplant in 2009 in Tennessee during a six-month medical leave of absence from Apple. He took another medical leave in January this year. Perhaps mindful of his legacy, he cooperated on his first authorized biography, scheduled to be published by Simon & Schuster in November.

Jobs is survived by his wife of 20 years, Laurene, and four children, including one from a prior relationship.

He always spoke with immense pride about what he and his engineers accomplished at Apple.

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do," he told the Stanford grads in 2005.

"If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on."

During a press event in New York City on Wednesday, Amazon took the wraps off of its $200 Kindle Fire tablet. The Kindle Fire is equipped with a 7-inch display and will have access to all of Amazon’s services including AmazonMP3, Amazon Prime, Amazon Kindle, Amazon Instant Video and the Amazon AppStore. The tablet is powered by a dual-core processor and weighs 14.6 ounces. Customers can pre-order the Kindle Fire today and it will ship in November. Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos also unveiled a brand new version of his company’s popular eReader, dubbed the Kindle touch. The $99 Kindle touch is equipped with an infrared layer on top of the E-Ink display to help avoid with any interference while reading. It also has Amazon’s EasyReach technology for turning pages by tapping the screen in specific areas. In addition, an X-Ray feature allows users to view where and when certain characters or places take place in a book. Amazon will also sell a separate Kindle touch 3G model for $149. Pre-orders for the Kindle touch eReader begin today and will ship by November 21st. Finally, Bezos announced a new standard Kindle for $79 that does not offer a touchscreen. It is available now and will also ship today.

Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reports [Google translation] that Apple is set to launch the iTunes Music Store in ten new European Union (EU) countries. While the exact timing of the launch is unknown, sources have indicated that Apple could launch the services `at any time`, possibly as soon as next month. 

The report names Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic as countries set to receive new iTunes Music Stores, but the additional seven countries are not specified. Of the 27 European Union member states, twelve currently do not offer iTunes Music Store services: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Speculation suggests that Cyprus and Malta could be the two EU countries left out of the launch, due in part to geographic isolation and their status as the two countries having the smallest populations among those currently without music stores. 

The iTunes Music Store is currently available in nearly two dozen countries, making an increase of ten countries a substantial addition to Apple's offerings, although only Poland (38 million) and Romania (22 million) out of the candidate countries have populations substantially above 10 million. Apple's App Store is active in many dozens of countries around the world, including all 27 member states of the EU, but access to the music portion of the iTunes Store is considerably more limited at the present time due to the difficulties of licensing content in each market.

Apple on Tuesday officially announced its iPhone 5 launch event. According to the invitation received by The Loop, the event will be held on October 4 at Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. campus. The event will begin at 10:00 am PT.

Earlier today, Wacom introduced  its Inkling digital sketch pen for those who want to simultaneously draw on paper and on the computer.

<<The Inkling digital sketch pen captures a digital likeness of your work while you sketch with its ballpoint tip on any sketchbook or standard piece of paper. Designed for rough concepting and creative brainstorming, Inkling is ideal for the front end of the creative process. Later, refine your work on your computer using an Intuos4 tablet or Cintiq interactive pen display.

In addition to capturing your sketch, stroke by stroke, Inkling allows you to create layers in digital files while you sketch on paper. Digital files are transferred to your computer using the Inkling Sketch Manager software, and later, exported to applications such as Adobe® Photoshop® and Illustrator®. Files can also be opened with the included Inkling Sketch Manager software to edit, delete, add layers or change file formats.>>

It’s a designer’s version the livescribe pens which are mostly for note-taking.  It will be available in the middle of the month

Overview

The World is in Play

Take on opponents across the globe while you take a bus across town. Control every movement with the tap of a finger or blow up enemy fighters soaring through your living room. Some of your favorite PS3 brands, and some new titles developed just for PlayStation®Vita let you discover a gaming experience with no limits. The world is in play.

PlayStation®Vita System Console

Brand new Ways to Play

Transform your world.

-With front and rear cameras, you can turn kitchen counters into a fight ring or office boardrooms into a battlefield. Augmented Reality (AR) technology for PlayStation®Vita brings your physical world into the PlayStation® world.

-Interact with the world. Wi-Fi and 3G* capabilities pinpoint the location of nearby opponents, send friends on treasure hunts, and keep the world updated on your rank.

-Non-stop action. Literally. Keep the intensity up at home or on the go. With Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity, you can pick up games right where you left off, even from your PS3™system.

Biggest and Best Games

PlayStation®Vita transforms the way you experience your favorites titles. Through technologies like the front multitouch screen and the rear multitouch pad, motion-sensors, and augmented reality, PS Vita brings the biggest and best games to life in a whole new way. Coupled with the rich graphics and new social gaming features play your favorite adventures with an all-new spin.

-Stunning 5-inch multitouch OLED display with rear touch pad and dual analog sticks

Sleek new form

-Modeled after the classic dual-stick control, PlayStation®Vita reinvents gaming experiences with its ultra-slim, pocket-ready form.

Beauty in the details

-Experience rich, cinema-like content in this highest definition, compact 5-inch OLED display.

Complete your control

-Front multitouch screen and rear touch pad pick up your every motion and put all your fingers to good use.

Features:

PS Vita Features

-Features like front and back multitouch screens, motion sensors and Six Axis sensors

 Chat on the fly

-Chat on the fly in the midst of multiplayer action or while watching videos

Multitouch Display

-Catch every detail with the PlayStation®Vita system’s stunning, multitouch 5-inch OLED display

Augmented Reality

-Merge the real world and the game world with front and rear camera enabled augmented reality

Always on

-Take on your friends — or the whole world — anywhere, anytime with Wi-Fi or always-on 3G

Dual analog sticks

-Feel the full-on intensity of First Person Shooters with Dual Analog Sticks

PS3™ Integration

-Enjoy continuous, uninterrupted gameplay between your PS3™ and PlayStation®Vita systems with compatible titles

We’ve been pretty envious of the Logitech Solar Wireless Keyboard that has been selling for months now for Windows PCs (though it does work on Macs with key mapping).   Amazon reviewers give it overwhelmingly positive feedback on the PC, it is thin and goes for three months without light.

Today, Logitech announced that a Mac version is on the way.  As a bonus, it is available in 5 colors including black, white and 3 different admittedly ugly pastels.  Interestingly, Logitech is selling it for $20 less than the list price of the $79.99 PC version at $59.99.  So much for the Mac Tax?

Besides the pastels, this product looks like a winner.  Sign us up.

Additionally, Logitech launched a $50 back mounted iPad speaker earlier this week.  It has batteries which last about as long as an iPad and also charges via USB.  I’m not immediately sure if I like this idea or more importantly, the implementation but, there it is:

Today brings good news for all you tablet users out there: The new Logitech Tablet Speaker is here to help you enjoy and share stereo sound on your tablet, no matter where you go!

A rubberized clip lets you securely attach this compact speaker to your iPad or other tablet device. Once you connect the audio cable to the headphone jack, just sit back and enjoy—perfect for an impromptu dance party or a movie on the go.

To keep the party going, the speakers charge via USB and have a battery life of up to eight hours. So you can watch a show you missed, play games for hours or just fall asleep to your favorite music.

The Logitech Tablet Speaker is the perfect way to share with your friends and extend your tablet experience into the world around you.  It also comes with a travelling case, so it’s great for last minute summer travel. Tell us what you’d use the Logitech Tablet Speaker to listen to in the comments.