Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Monday that doctors may have discovered the cause of the weight loss that has caused speculation about his health, adding that he will continue to serve as the computer maker's CEO.

In a letter to the "Apple community," Jobs said the cause appears to be "a hormone imbalance that has been 'robbing' me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis."

Investors were relieved to hear that Jobs' condition is improving. Stock of Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., rose about 3% in early Monday trading.

"Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed," Jobs said in the letter.

On Saturday, Shawn and Sly walked around the (very) touristy area of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco - taking pictures of sea lions, blimps and boats!

MacSpeech sends us to Expo, it's Lesa's favorite time of the year, Griffin Presents the YML Rocks Expo Party, there's a Bus Trip to the Apple Company Store in Cupertino and we've got details for the Official Hotel of YML!

We arrived in San Francisco this morning after a wonderful First Class flight from JFK and, while out running some errands, found ourselves in the middle of a peaceful protest march!

So I got out the Nikon D3 on loan from LensProToGo and started playing photojournalist.

There are a lot of good reasons for Apple to end the keynotes. But why end attending? Steve Jobs has said "We do the equivalent of a Macworld Expo every day at each of our Apple retail stores." (I am giving this from memory, so it is not likely to be word perfect) From Apple's point of view this may be true, but from the attendee perspective Macworld Expos are so much more.

Macworld Expo is not going to end just because Apple won't be here. I don't know how much longer it will be around, and there are certainly enough arguments to predict doom for any trade show, but I think that Paul Kent and his staff are more than capable of changing Macworld Expo to reflect the needs of the community.

I am going to Macworld Expo 2009, and I am going to have a wonderful time.

I don’t know about you, but I’m about ready to file 2008 under “L” for “Let Us Never Speak of This Again,” before padlocking the file cabinet and heading on into 2009 with nary a glance in the rear view mirror. But before I can do that, let’s put a final stamp on the past year with a look at the top 10 stories that hit the Mac market in 2008, a grand and glorious tradition that dates all the way back to last year.

Stories are ranked 10 to one in ascending order of importance, based on a number of factors including the overall impact on the Mac market and Mac users as well as the potential to influence events deep into the coming year. The 10 entries were selected by a panel of me, following a lengthy debate between me and the voices in my head. This is one man’s opinion, in other words—if you think that I overlooked, overemphasized, or overrated a Mac-related happening, feel free to let me know about it in the comments.

Let’s begin the countdown, shall we?

Congratulations to:

Furthest travelled from outside North America: Michael House, Tokyo, Japan

Furthest travelled from inside North America: George Canellis, Bellport, NY

Random draw winners:
TJ Ferreira
Michelle Grajales
Paul Trentham
Terry Swensen
Devon Goss
Dan Neal

See you at Macworld Expo next week!

Steve Jobs needs to take a page from Fidel Castro's book and give a speech. A big long one. At the Macworld conference next week.

But Jobs' people say there will be no Jobs at Macworld 2009. And the last thing the public relations folks at Apple want you to think is that the move has anything to do with Jobs' health. Which is why they won't say a thing about his condition. The longstanding company line? ''Steve's health is a private matter.''

Actually, it isn't.

My health is a private matter. Your health is a private matter. Steve Jobs' health is not a private matter. Steve Jobs' health is Apple's health. When Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, shows up gaunt in public or acknowledges that he is not going to show up in public at all, the company's stock dives.

What will future Macworld Conference & Expos be like without the presence of Apple?

Whatever you want them to be, says IDG. The company that organizes the yearly conference announced today that next week's Expo will feature a Town Hall meeting, which will be open to all attendees who want to help "shape Macworld in 2010 and beyond." The forum-style meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 7 at 5pm Pacific Time in Moscone's Gateway Ballroom (room 102).

Don't go thinking that just because Apple won't be there doesn't mean that, at least in 2010, the Expo won't go on. "While there is no question that Macworld is going to evolve and change in 2010, the fundamental importance of the event remains the same: the unique ability to put exciting new Apple-related products directly into the hands of users and to inspire those users to put their products to work in new and innovative ways," Macworld Conference & Expo president and general manager Paul Kent said in a statement sent to Ars.

"Macworld will continue to foster the deep sense of community that has been at the heart of the show for the last 25 years. As part of this commitment to the community, we look forward to sharing our thoughts and ideas for future Macworld events, as well as hearing ideas and suggestions from the community."

If you’re a sports or press Photographer who does only basic image editing, but need to sort through large amounts of images quickly, then Aperture is a no brainer. It excels in this area and is much better than Lightroom for these tasks.

If you are a Landscape or Artistic Photographer, then you may be better off with Lightroom. Its editing capabilities will probably appeal to you more than Apertures. Similarly, Amateurs who like to tinker with their images might be better served by Lightroom.

Just to throw a spanner in the works though, there is a third option.

Two men broke into the Apple store in downtown Palo Alto early Sunday morning and made off with $10,000 in high-tech gear, police reported.

The thieves triggered an alarm at the University Avenue store at 4:11 a.m. Sunday by breaking a glass front door, police Agent Dan Ryan said. They then grabbed six laptops and two iPhones and were gone by the time police arrived just two minutes later.

"They were in and out in under a minute," said Ryan, who pegged the value of the electronics at about $10,000.

A similar burglary was reported about an hour later at an Apple store in Los Gatos, according to Ryan. Laptops and iPhones were also stolen.

Police believe the burglaries are connected. In both incidents, the suspects were a 6-foot-tall white man weighing about 250 pounds and a black man weighing about 180 pounds, Ryan said. The suspects in both burglaries wore beanies and dark-colored jackets and pants.

Lesa Snider King is at it again!

This time, she has written an incredible tome with Photoshop CS4 - The Missing Manual. When you are looking for books on Photoshop, they usually run a couple of different varieties: The ‘let me teach you step by step’ Book, The quick down and dirty book, and the Reference book. At over 800 pages, the book is definitely one of those Reference books, but what excites me about it is the level at which Lesa’s commited to explaining everything out for you.

She’s got a great style, the book looks really impressive, and I think is going to be one of those invaluable resources you have to take Photoshop to the next level. Congratulations Lesa. This one looks brilliant!

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday it will start selling Apple Inc's iPhone on Sunday, but the popular cell phones that can surf the web will not be priced as low as some anticipated.

Wal-Mart plans to sell the black 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G model, which also holds about 2,000 songs, for $197. The 16-gigabyte model, in black or white, will be priced at $297. All of the phones require a new two-year service agreement from AT&T Inc or a qualified upgrade, Wal-Mart said.

The move gives Apple the chance to reach millions of Wal-Mart shoppers who may not be as familiar with the company's products.

Well, Vancouver recorded its whitest Christmas on record (I believe) and on the North Shore where I spent Christmas with my family, we had almost 23 inches of snow fall in just a couple of days! Yikes!

From my family (my nieces Hannah and Kathryn and nephew/God son Eli) to yours, the happiest of holiday seasons!!

Click here for a few more snow/Christmas Eve pics

~Sly

We know what you’re thinking. You’ve heard about AppleScript. You’ve heard that it can do amazing things. You’ve heard that it can automate away the tiring, redundant, repetitive tasks you do with the computer.

All true. But you’re not sure about what’s involved with using it. Is it difficult? Is it programming? After all, you’re just a better-than average computer user. You know what you know, and your expertise serves you pretty well. But recently you’ve reached the point of asking yourself “Is there a better way?” The answer is “Yes.”

And relax, you just got lucky. This book is for you.

Apple announced that they had bad news, good news, and worse news: The bad news: For the first time since he returned to Apple, Steve Jobs would not be delivering the keynote address at Macworld Expo in January.

The worse news: this would be the last year that Apple would even be exhibiting at Macworld Expo at all. Later, they would retract the compliment about the shirt, sheepishly admitting that they felt like they needed to say something nice, just to make the moment a little less awkward.

This is big stuff.

If you’re looking for the last minute Christmas gift for the photo enthusiast who really wants to learn more about Photoshop Elements, consider the gift of a tutorial video by Lesa Snider King. It’s a very simple way to learn the essence of what Elements is really all about.

Just try it for one month. The cost is $20 per month or $200 for the year for Scott Kelby's video training to gain access to so many great photo tutorials. Besides getting Lesa’s insightful Photoshop Elements’ tips, you get her explaining image resolution wearing a chef’s outfit as she uses brown sugar in her demonstration. It’s definitely my favorite of all the Kelby training videos

In 2007 the Best BigCo went to Facebook, due to the launch and subsequent impact of its development platform. This year we've chosen Apple, which almost single-handedly brought the Mobile Web to life in 2008.

Apple has revolutionized two major industries in recent years, using Web technology: first music with iTunes/iPod, then mobile phones with iPhone. The iTunes/iPod success story started a number of years ago and, no surprise, this year it continued its dominance of online music. But it's the iPhone story which really tipped the scales for Apple in 2008 - and we think it made Apple a true Internet powerhouse.

The iPhone was first launched in January 2007 and in last year's awards we gave Apple an 'Honorable Mention' for it, noting that it was the biggest product launch of 2007 and a catalyst for a lot of new Mobile Web development activity. However it wasn't until 2008 that the iPhone truely reached a mainstream audience, when the new 3G iPhone was announced in June and then launched to much acclaim in July.

For many years now everybody (including us) has been predicting that the next year will be the one that the Mobile Web breaks through. Well finally, 2008 was that year - and it's in large part due to the Apple iPhone and the blossoming of 10,000 apps.

iPhone and iPod touch users planning on attending Macworld Conference & Expo should take note of iMacworld, a new application that lets you get information about the show. It’s available for free download from the App Store.

iMacworld provides exhibitor information and product information, and also integrates a messaging service. It lets you browse exhibitor lists, looking at vendors by name, hall and aisle number. You can also check exhibited products by name, category and exhibitor.

The software checks the Web for new information about Macworld Expo exhibitors and events and saves the data locally, so you don’t need network or cell phone access to check.

It's official - AT&T sealed the deal Monday and will acquire Unicel.

It means dozens of new jobs in Vermont and that the heavily-hyped iPhone will soon be here in Vermont. The Apple iPhone is available only from AT&T and until now, Vermont did not have that service.

The company cleared the final regulatory hurdle just last week and Monday announced it will add nearly 75 new jobs.

Fear not, Steve Jobs fans: Apple's abandonment of Macworld Expo doesn't mean that Stevenotes are gone forever.

Much has been made in the tech press about this nugget, mostly focusing on Jobs' health.

To this we say: C'mon. Are you serious? Do you really think Apple would cancel its attendance at all future Macworlds because Jobs isn't up to one speech?

(If you're getting last week's show when you tune in live, you click on Quicktime Preferences in your Quicktime Menu, then click on browser and then click on Empty Download Cache (or uncheck the "Save Movies" in disk cache")

This week on Your Mac Life, sponsored by RadTech, SmileOnMyMac and Circus Ponies - "Happy Holidays from YML!"

Live Video is on Your Mac Life thanks to MacOSG.com! You can watch the show live at this URL:
http://www.macosg.com/group/yml.html

Or you can listen in to the plain old audio feed at:
http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/QT/stream.mov

You can also join the Chat Room that runs during the live show - on the Live Video Feed itself or on the dedicated IRC Server at irc.netmug.org in the #yourmaclife Channel.

Make sure you listen in this and every Wednesday evening from 5:30pm to 8pm PT or from 8:30pm to 11pm ET, for the most fun you'll have listening to your Mac.

Macworld Expo is the biggest event in the Mac Universe each year. And each year, we veterans try to teach the new showgoers what to do and not to do during the week.

Expo Survival Tips!

Keeping the Con Crud at Bay: 6 Tips for Staying Healthy at Conventions

The makers of the Modbook, Axiotrom, announced that the other co-founder of Apple Computer, Steve Wozniak, has joined the company's Board of Advisors. The board consists of both sales and industry professionals, including the CEOs of Other Wold Computing and Gravis AG, and the Vice President of Business Development at Cicor Technologies. The Woz makes the eighth member of the board advising this relatively young company.

Currently, the company's sole offering is their Modbook, a modified MacBook made into a keyboardless tablet computer that fills what some see as a void in Apple's current product line. Additionally, the company offers to transform owners current MacBooks into Modbooks for a sum that starts at $1,299. The Modbook has met with some success, as it won Macworld's Best of Show in 2007.

After Ars contacted Wozniak for comment, he answered concisely, "the founder approached me and told me about it. I admired his passion and entrepreneurship."

Wish I was going to Macworld! Wish I could be with all YMLers going this special year. I'll have to settle for attending Macworld '10, the first without Apple and Steve. Glad I made the last Keynote he gave at Macworld '08, and I saw a few others in years past.

This year's announcement of no more Apple exhibits and no more Keynote makes the past years of shivering in line as the fog rolls in, or standing in the pouring rain with no umbrella, outfitted in various torn garbage bags acting as a better-than-nothing raincoat at 3 and 4 a.m. in a line of people hundreds deep, all worth it.

Memories from '08 Keynote:
Missing Lesh and Duh who could not attend. Walking very quickly and timidly ALONE from the Pickwick to the Keynote line, as my YML line buddie Dan (Hanineal) failed to meet me in the Pickwick lobby and had overslept. Getting to the Moscone regardless, and discovering lots of cool new Mac people in line, all as friendly as anyone from YML. TJ was also there, met an artistic guy from the Netherlands, and a few business owners from various distant places and countries, all using Macs in their own ways. It was such an interesting mix of people and ages, and countries all brought together to share one annual obsessive event.
At the Keynote I felt the reality distortion field, endured a crying baby next to me, cheered announcements (excellent but not Earth shattering), lost at Keynote Bingo, and uttered a "What the — ?" when Steve got to the usual one more thing-ish part of the show and surprise musical guest. I was psyched with hope to hear Steve announce the long awaited Beatles iPod and maybe surprise guest Paul McCartney and instead got Randy Newman and no one more thing awesome product. Obviously I was flung from one extreme emotion to the other at warp speed. At that point, I had a premonition I quickly brushed off, that told me Apple was not as "into" this Keynote WOW stage show as they had been in past years.

Dear Apple,

Just because you're old enough to issue a press release doesn't mean you're too old to listen to some common sense from your mother. What's this I hear about how you don't plan to come to Macworld Expo in 2010?

I've been reading about it in the tech tabloids, and I'm shocked, just shocked, to hear that you've let the suits take over - you were so Bohemian as a child, so free-spirited.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's marvelous that every Apple employee can afford a pony, and I'm very proud of your Macs and iPods and that new iPhone thing, but you need to act your age.