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Apple’s co-founder and chief executive, Steve Jobs, is now back to work after taking a medical leave for five months, but some investors said the issues raised by Apple’s secrecy about his health problems and liver transplant are likely to remain.

The company said Steve Jobs is currently at Apple for several days a week and working from home the remaining days, but like the case of his leave, his return to work was coupled with only minimum disclosures.

The company refused to say if Steve Jobs’ role had changed from what it was before his leave, and it declined to discuss his health. It also would not say when his first returned to work at Apple, but person saw him working on the corporate campus a week ago.

The Apple chief’s official comeback is just before the self-imposed deadline for his medical leave. When Apple announced his leave in January, the company said he would be back at work by the end of June.

Steve Jobs underwent a liver transplant about two months ago, but word of the operation did not surface until earlier this month. Last week, a hospital in Tennessee confirmed that he had surgery there and said his prognosis was excellent.

News of the operation rekindled a controversy among shareholders and corporate governance experts about Apple’s scant disclosures regarding his health, a survivor of pancreatic cancer. His return to work is not likely to quell the debate.

With Steve Jobs’s return widely expected, Wall Street’s reaction to the news on Monday was muted. Apple shares closed down 47 cents at US$141.97.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer during Steve. Jobs’s absence, kept its business humming, but Steve Jobs’s vision, attention to product detail and ability to inspire employees are unmatched and have shaped Apple’s success, so the hope is that he will stick around.

In Silicon Valley and beyond, critics and fans of Steve Jobs alike said they were elated by his return to work, which appeared to signal that his health had stabilized.

Acer seems poised to acquire Dell as the world’s second-largest seller of personal laptop computers, which, if it comes true, will certainly enable Acer to follow only Hewlett-Packard (HP).

No Taiwanese firm has made an achievement so fast and more effectively than Acer. To reach the number 3 spot in the global laptop computers business, Acer went through a corporate reinvention that offers fodder for business-school case studies.

For nearly 15 years, Acer suffered from a split personality. One part of the company built computers for other PC sellers that would then put their labels on the machines. Another part of Acer sold very similar computers under the company’s own brand.

The arrangement created obvious conflicts, Acer executives say, with the group responsible for the Acer-branded products competing against the customers of the manufacturing arm.

In 2000, Acer began cleaving off its manufacturing division. A year later it formed an independent company called Wistron to handle these operations. A smaller, nimbler Acer emerged, outfitted with a new logo and lofty, global aspirations.

With a clean slate, Acer made what looked like counterintuitive decisions. It decided to focus on laptop computers for consumers, and to sell them through partners and retailers, avoiding any kind of direct sales.

This approach placed Acer on a distinctly opposite path from Dell, which was the PC industry’s major success story in 2000. Dell had surged past rivals like Compaq, I.B.M. and H.P. through an ultra-lean direct sales model that hinged to a large degree on shipping desktop computers to big businesses.

In the subsequent years, however, computer retailing shifted in favor of Acer. Consumers now buy more computers than businesses do, and these buyers tend to prefer laptop computers to computer desktops. The advantages that Dell once gained by mixing and matching components for customers at its factories have faded as consumers have flocked to stores to buy preconfigured computers.

Acer’s ascent has accelerated during the global economic slowdown. The company made an aggressive move into the market for netbooks - the small, low-cost laptop computers that have been a rare bright spot during the worst slump the PC industry has ever faced. Dell, which depends far more on PC sales to businesses, has struggled as companies have avoided buying new computers.

Last year, Acer’s market share grew by three percentage points, to 10.9%, while Dell gained just 0.1 percentage point, to 15%, according to the research company IDC. Acer has continued to narrow that gap this year, claiming 11.6% of the market to Dell’s 13.6% through the first quarter.

Acer can keep growing, especially in the United States and China - the two most prized regions for PC sellers. In addition, he’s steering Acer into cellphones, arguing that the growing similarities between smartphones and laptop computers play directly to Acer’s strengths.

In the meantime, Acer has snatched the mantle of quick-moving, lean operator from Dell. Be it wireless technology or super-thin laptop computers with a long battery life, Acer often ships computers with new features before any other large PC maker.

When it spots a hot trend started by another company - netbooks or small laptops, for instance, were the brainchild of Asustek, a fellow Taiwanese company - Acer follows in force, bombarding the market with low-cost in Aspire One Acer mini laptop products.

Only some tens of thousand applications available for Apple’s popular iPhone and the iPod Touch are likely to attract extensive usage, a report said recently.

According to the report, Mobile advertising platform AdMob tracked the popularity of more than 2,300 applications for the iPhone and the iPod Touch used by the more than 15 million members in its network.

AdMob said 5% or 116 of the applications had more than 100,000 active users in May. It said 14% or 322 applications had between 10,000-100,000 active users as 54% or 1,244 applications had less than 1,000 active users.

The average iPhone user in AdMob’s network accessed four applications in May, AdMob said, whereas Apple’s online App Store offers more than 50,000 applications and has notched up more than one billion downloads since it opened a year ago.

Further AdMob said the vast majority of the applications in its network were free applications and the pattern of usage may be different for paid applications. Like in many other forms of media, the most popular applications generated the majority of usage by consumers, AdMob said.

It said the App Store ranking system feeds the success of these top applications, some of which were accessed by more than one million users in May.

Pinch Media said after conducting a study in February that fewer than 5% of iPhone users were still actively using an application a month after downloading it and that only one percent of total downloads have a long-term audience.

Games were used for longer periods than any other type of application, the study found, while tens of thousands of applications for the iPhone have been created by independent developers, but Apple has strict control over which ones are featured in the App Store.

Apple was too cute in making disclosures about Steve Jobs and the company owed its investors more disclosure, but now things had changed as he was about to take a six-month leave.

Steve Jobs is really sick and even so sick that he has to take a leave. There is hope that he will return but perhaps he will not, and he may leave the office for six months but possibly longer or shorter. Besides, the kind of the sickness is unknown too.

Certainly the news is that Steve Jobs had a liver transplant a few months ago but it was not covered by the news media rather than being divulged by Apple,  and once again it is unknown about what it means. The question is, is it a separate problem from the pancreatic cancer he was operated for in 2004 or does it mean that the cancer has returned and spread?

The Times said today quoting pancreatic cancer expert Dr Richard Goldberg that the liver is the most common site for the spread of pancreatic cancer. Dr Goldberg added worryingly that the prognosis for someone with metastatic liver disease is not nearly as good as for somebody who has disease confined to the pancreas.

Steve Jobs retired from Apple or took a long leave which is actually his business and not his investors’. But he did not do that and instead he took a six-month leave which ended on Monday and he is reportedly back at work. So does it mean that is he fully back in the chair or is he a part timer? Moreover, is he involved only in big strategic decisions or is he back to his old micromanaging self?

When Steve Jobs officially returned to work on Monday, the board should publicize a simple and definite statement about what his health problems are, what his prognosis is and if all the problems will affect his ability to lead. If they do not, the Securities and Exchange Commission  (SEC), which supposedly is undertaking an inquiry into the way the company has handled preceding announcements on his Jobs’s health, should force them all to resign.

Media entrepreneurs - as in the case of newspaper business - are trying to find new ways to protect their investment from the attack of the Internet, and still the answer has been vague.

Maybe, what is at risk is the last remaining pillar of the old media business that has not been cruelly affected by the Internet, the cable television. Knowing that how print, music and broadcast television have suffered harsh business erosion, the chief executives of the major media conglomerates like Time Warner, Viacom and NBC Universal have given top priority to protecting cable TV from ravages  of the Internet.

This is because profits of the big entertainment companies mostly come from cable programming, while the major efar is that if cable networks do not protect the fees from paying subscribers, and offer most programming online at no cost - as newspapers have done - then customers may in the end revoke their cable subscriptions.

Among other ideas, the one  as proposed most loudly by Time Warner, and embraced by many major media executives, may be to offer cable shows online without no extra charge, provided a viewer is first authenticated as a cable or satellite subscriber. This idea is called “TV Everywhere,” but others in the industry refer to it by other names like “authentication,” “entitlement,” while Comcast has called its coming service “OnDemand Online.”

The first test of the new system, which will authenticate cable subscribers online and make available programs on the Web without additional charge, will be announced on Wednesday, between Comcast and Time Warner. The trial will involve about 5,000 Comcast subscribers, and television shows from the Time Warner networks TNT and TBS.

Considering antitrust concerns, the companies that create cable programming are reluctant to come together and agree on a solution. A few weeks ago, newspaper executives held a secretive meeting in Rosemont, Illinois, to discuss ways to charge for news online - a gathering that critics said flouted antitrust law.

But unlike broadcast television that relies merely on advertising, cable networks have another revenue stream: fees paid by cable operators. Comcast, for example, pays Disney roughly $1 billion a year to carry ESPN. This is why Hulu.com, the popular site owned by News Corporation and NBC, is mainly a destination for broadcast shows like “The Office” and “The Simpsons,” and not cable programs.

In some cases, Time Warner’s plan can be perceived as a direct shot at Hulu, which does offer some cable shows on a delayed basis, after some time has passed since the show was seen on television. That stream is so important to every entertainment company that everybody is looking at that and saying, if we are not careful we could start to harm that model.

There is no sign of that happening anytime soon, but a recent poll by the Sanford Bernstein research group found that about 35% of people who watch videos online might cut their cable subscription within five years.

Anyway, the Wall Street is monitoring closely. The movement of video, whether it be television shows or movies, to the Internet may be the single largest investment controversy in the media sector.  Another analysis report said, US$300 billion of market value - based on calculation of the current worth of all the companies involved in television production and distribution - is at stake. It said the risk is that television’s economics could be overturned, just it has for newspapers and music.

The US administration has filed a formal protest with the Chinese government over its plan to force all computers sold in China to be equipped come with software that blocks access to certain Web sites.

A letter has been sent by US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Trade Representative Ron Kirk to officials in two Chinese ministries, which read that they should cancel the  rule on the software that is set to become enter effect on July 1.

In some way, the US officials’ complaint bordered this as a trade issue, with objection to the burden put on computer makers to install the software with little notice. But iat the same time it also raised broader questions if the software would lead to more censorship of the Internet in China and restrict freedom of expression.

Locke said in a press release that China is putting companies in an untenable position by requiring them, with virtually no public notice, to pre-install software that appears to have broad-based censorship implications and network security issues. But the government did not release the text of the letter.

The letter, which has been prepared by two cabinet-rank officials, reflects an escalation of the concern over the software plan. Last week United States officials met with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing to raise objections to the new policy.

The US Computer and Communications Industry Association is one of several trade groups that have objected to the Chinese plan, and the association’s president Ed Black president said recently that the letter represented an important change in American policy.

He said the issue of Internet freedom and openness was something that should have been at the top of the US international agenda  This administration is far more in tune with and ready to support Internet openness, he added.

China has had an complicated system that obstructs access to sites discussing flimsy topics such as the Dalai Lama and Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement.

In their statement, the American officials rejected the argument that the software was simply a way to block pornography. “Protecting children from inappropriate content is a legitimate objective, but this is an inappropriate means and is likely to have a broader scope,. Kirk said in the statement. “Mandating technically flawed Green Dam software and denying manufacturers and consumers freedom to select filtering software is an unnecessary and unjustified means to achieve that objective,” he put it.

Security experts have expressed concerns that once installed, the software might also be used to block other sorts of content or even to monitor the online activities of citizens.

The letter suggested that China’s move might violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules because American companies were given only six weeks’ notice to comply. While formal complaints to the trade organization are difficult and cumbersome, pointing to the regulations is another signal that the United States will continue to pursue the issue.

With only one week before the new rules are to go into effect, it is unclear if American computer companies will comply.

Hewlett-Packard said the company was still studying the rules and seeking clarification, while Dell did not return calls seeking comment.

Separately, access to Google’s main search engine at Google.com and other services like Gmail was temporarily blocked in China on Wednesday, but the block was lifted a few hours later.

Access to foreign Web sites in China can be inconsistent, and saying if the government is responsible can be difficult. It is not clear if the blocking of Google’s sites has to do with a dispute that erupted last week between Google and Chinese authorities.

The Chinese government disabled some search functions of Google’s Chinese-language search engine, Google.cn, for reason that the site offered too many links to pornographic material. Google’s license to operate in China requires that it not show pornographic sites.

Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems Inc, said the company has launched new Satellite L Series, which have a new look, new screen sizes and a new direction for the company’s popular Satellite L Series of everyday laptops.

The new Satellite L Series of laptop computers are designed for budget-smart consumers and “Back-to-School” shoppers, and strike an ideal balance of style, performance and cost at price points starting at only US$549.991.

Toshiba said that in a new economy of today, consumers want more choice, so the company has expanded its entry level laptop computers line, adding more screen size options, new features and brought in our Fusion Finish to give the line a fantastic new look.

It’s a great example of Toshiba’s ability to meet the market’s demands with solid, high-quality products that exemplify our commitment to value and innovation, the company said.

The Satellite L Series consists of four model classes: the lightweight 14-inch Satellite L510/L515, the versatile 15.6- and 16-inch Satellite L500/L505 and the larger 17.3-inch Satellite L550/L555 desktop replacement. Each laptop is equipped with the latest processors and standout features like HD TruBrite widescreen displays, USB Sleep-and-Charge and hard drives ranging from 250GB to 500GB.

Since they are well-equipped with built-in high-speed wireless connectivity3, lots of expansion ports and a choice of either Intel or AMD processor, Satellite L Series laptop computers are ideal for students, home users and anyone looking to enjoy digital media, staying productive, connecting online or casual gaming.

New features consist of:

* New High Definition Displays: The new HD TruBrite widescreen displays feature stunning 16:9 aspect ratios and native 720p resolution, well-suited for enjoying digital entertainment, powering through spreadsheets or managing home finances.

* Fusion Finish: Proving that great style is available at any price, the Satellite L Series laptops now come dressed in Toshiba’s Fusion Finish with Breeze pattern in a Graphite color. A color-coordinated interior continues the Breeze pattern and completes the look.

* Toshiba PC Health Monitor: All Satellite models now feature this system utility that proactively checks the laptop’s critical components for problematic conditions, such as battery performance, heat and hard drive movement. The software helps users diagnose potential problems before they occur in order to protect from data loss.

* Toshiba Power-Saving Eco Utility: A utility that allows users to monitor and adjust their power consumption and settings in real-time. The utility also provides daily, weekly and monthly analysis reports that show accumulated power savings.

* Ten-key Keypad: Models with 15.6-inch and larger displays feature a built-in numeric 10-key keypad, making data entry or casual gaming a breeze.

* Discrete Graphics: Select models also include discrete ATI Radeon 3100 graphics.

All new Toshiba laptop computers are RoHS-compatible, effectively reducing the environmental impact by restricting the use of lead, mercury and certain other hazardous substances. In addition, all of Toshiba’s new laptops are boxed in packing made of 90 percent recyclable materials. All models of the Satellite L510/L515 and Satellite L550/L555 also include mercury-free LED displays.

Toshiba also offers a computer trade-in and recycling program to reduce environmental impact and promote efficient utilization of resources. All Toshiba computers qualify for free recycling, while non-Toshiba computers and other consumer electronic products can be recycled for a small fee.

The new Satellite L Series laptop computers models are available today in both Intel and AMD CPU configurations and can be purchased at a variety of major consumer electronics and computer stores nationwide or directly from Latest laptop offers at ToshibaDirect.com

The Satellite L500/L505 starts at an MSRP of US$549.991, the Satellite L510/L515 starts at US$649.991 and the Satellite L550/L555 starts at US$649.99.

Apple has refused to chat with the world through blogs and dropping crumbs of information on its inner workings, though it is known as one of the coolest companies in the world.

True, a small number of companies have been more secretive than Apple or as punitive to those who dare to violate the company’s rules on keeping tight control over information.

Employees have been fired for leaking news to outsiders, and the company has been known to disinform its own workers about its product plans.

Even Apple’s handling of news on the health of its chief executive and co-founder, Steve Jobs, who has fought against pancreatic cancer and recently had a liver transplant while on a leave of absence, is beyond compare.

People briefed on the matter by current and former board members said that Jobs received the liver transplant about two months ago. Despite intense interest in Jobs’s condition among the news media and investors, Apple representatives have denied to speak about the matter, reciting with maddening discipline only that Jobs will be back at the company by the end of June.

Secrecy at Apple is not just the prevailing communications strategy; it is baked into the corporate culture. Employees working on top-secret projects must pass through a maze of security doors, swiping their badges again and again and finally entering a numeric code to reach their offices, according to one former employee who worked in such areas.

Work spaces are typically monitored by security cameras, this employee said. Some Apple workers in the most critical product-testing rooms must cover up devices with black cloaks when they are working on them, and turn on a red warning light when devices are unmasked so that everyone knows to be extra-careful, he said.

Apple employees are often just as surprised about new products as everyone else. Apple routinely tries to find and fire leakers. Apple’s senior vice president for marketing has held internal meetings about new products and provided incorrect information about a product’s price or features, according to a former employee who signed an agreement not to discuss internal matters. Apple then tries to track down the source of news reports that include the incorrect details.

Five years ago, Apple took its obsession with secrecy to the courts. It sued several bloggers who had covered the company, arguing that they had violated trade-secret laws and were not entitled to First Amendment protections. A California appeals court ruled for the bloggers, and the company had to pay US$700,000 in legal fees.

Apple also sued a blog called Think Secret and settled the case for an undisclosed amount, but as part of the settlement that blog shut down.

Apple’s decision to severely limit communication with the news media, shareholders and the public is at odds with the approach taken by many other companies, which are embracing online outlets like blogs and Twitter and generally trying to be more open with shareholders and more responsive to customers.

For corporate governance experts, and perhaps federal regulators, the biggest question is whether Steve Jobs’s approach has led to violating laws that cover what companies must disclose to the public about the well-being of their chief executive.

On that key issue, the experts are divided. Some believe Apple did not need to disclose Jobs’s liver transplant because he was on a leave of absence and had passed responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the company to the chief operating officer, Timothy Cook.

Other governance experts argue that the liver transplant now makes one of Apple’s assertions from January - that Jobs was suffering only from a hormonal imbalance - seem like a deliberate mistruth, unless his health condition suddenly deteriorated. Of course, no one knows enough to say definitively.

Most governance experts do seem to agree on one point: that the secrecy that adds surprise and excitement to Apple product announcements is not serving the company well in other areas.

Apple’s stock dropped US$2.11 to US$137.37 on Monday amid a larger market sell-off, and the company had something to reveal, that is, it had sold a million units of its new iPhone 3G S over the weekend, above analysts’ estimates.

Autonet Mobile said it is now available in Amazon.com’s Electronics store at electronic gadgets store page so we can go online and turn any car into a rolling WiFi hotspot with the world’s first internet service for the car.

It has never been easier recently to extend the internet experience into the car with the hottest new accessory for entertainment and communication.

Autonet Mobile is better than a DVD player and half the cost of a cell card, because it provides connectivity to every passenger in the vehicle. Families, small business owners, entertainers and professional race car drivers use Autonet Mobile to stay connected and access their favorite internet entertainment and information services while on the road.

From road trips to road warriors, Autonet Mobile is perfect for everyone who wants to stay connected to the office from their cars, keep passengers of all ages entertained on road trips, and extend the office and living room experiences into the car.

Amazon.com has expanded Autonet Mobile’s reach throughout the United States and adds to your family of distributors, and now everybody can bring Facebook, YouTube and FlyCast into the car.

Autonet Mobile enables families and mobile executives to take the internet with them wherever they go. Passengers can bring all of their own WiFi enabled devices such as laptops, netbooks, Nintendo’s DS, Sony’s PSP, iPod iTouch or iPhone and other devices on the road.

Besides, children in the back seat can now visit Facebook, YouTube or Webkinz while Mom or Dad in the passenger seat checks traffic, weather and the latest score or listens to the game on internet radio.

Autonet Mobile is available at Amazon.com/electronics and qualifies for FREE Super Saver Shipping or Free Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime, and monthly service contracts that start from US$29, while Autonet Mobile KT-ANMRTR-01 Automotive Wi-Fi Router
at $389.99

Autonet Mobile is the world’s first in-car internet service provider. Founded by a corporate executive and former race car driver and a leading network architect and designer, the company is dedicated to enhancing the in-car experience by bringing the power of the internet to the 200+ million cars on the road in the US. For more information, please visit www.autonetmobile.com

Verizon is raising the price of the company’s FiOS service in many markets so the price of basic triple play bundle that consists  of TV, Internet and phone now climbs at US$109 from US$99.

At the same time, the price of its step-up bundle which has faster Internet service and more channels, steps up by US$10 to US$119 and that of the most expensive bundle drops to US$129 from US$139 but now it includes Showtime instead of HBO and a horde of other movie channels.

In New York City and its surrounding areas, the basic price climbs to US$99 from US$94, and the step-up price rises to US$109 from US$99. Besides, the company is raising Internet speeds for all these packages fairly sharply. Current customers keep their existing prices and Internet speeds until their contracts terminate.

But it seems that Verizon does intend not to mention about its price hikes, and in avideo press conference on Monday it said about the faster Internet speeds as well as new promotions and new local TV news channels for Long Island and northern New Jersey. Still, it did not cite price increases.

Technical specifications and features are interesting to talk about, but it is worth to remember that the most important metric for any telecommunications firm is average revenue per user (APRU), and a great deal of what executives do is try to come up with products and promotions to get customers to spend more each month.

Verizon is working on other features that will bring Internet services like social networks onto television sets and also take pay-per-view movies, purchased on the set top boxes, onto computers and cellphones, he said.

It is raising prices when all the operators are heavily marketing triple-play bundles. In the New York area, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision are both trying to attract customers with US$90 plans for the first year. Comcast, which competes against FiOS in much of the Northeast, is promoting a US$99 introductory bundle that includes HBO and US$200 cash back.

Indeed, these bundles are offered with one or two-year introductory rates. The companies are much less clear about what customers’ rates will be when the initial deals expire. Essentially, they hope that customers don’t notice a big jump in their bills, but they are prepared to negotiate if needed to keep people’s business.

It makes economic sense for Verizon to try to compete more aggressively in the premium end of the video and Internet market. Cable companies, with larger video customer bases, have lower costs and thus can better compete on price. FiOS, while expensive for Verizon to build, has higher capacity. So it’s easier for it to add Internet speed and high-definition channels to its higher-end packages.

The easiest place to make that case is Internet speed. Verizon’s basic tier for FiOS will now offer 15 megabits per second for downloads and 5 Mbps for uploads. In industry shorthand, that’s referred to as 15/5 service. FiOS’s previous offering started with 10/2 service. Purchased outside the video bundle, the faster base offering, costs the same US$45 a month.

The mid- and high-priced bundles now get 25/15 service, increased from 20/5, but the price for higher speed increases to $65 from $55. In New York City and Long Island, the midtier speed is now 35/20.

These speeds beat what rivals offer at similar price points. In markets with its latest technology, Comcast’s basic offer is 12/2, with an upgrades to 16/2 and 22/5. Cable vision offers 15/2 service with an upgrade to 30/5. Time Warner Cable is slower.

Even Verizon hopes to emphasize upload speed as a point of differentiation because cable technology has less upstream capacity. To emphasize uploads, one of the company’s promotions offers new customers a high-definition Flip video camera, that generates some rather large files people may want to share.

Verizon is not focused on selling 50-Mbps or 100-Mbps service as some cable companies are for $89 a month and up, which is simply too much money for mainstream customers, particularly when people don’t know what to do with that much speed.

Verizon, rather, is looking to create new services, such as high-definition teleconferencing, that it can package in with higher speed services.