This morning, Apple revealed that its CEO and leader in every sense of the word, Steve Jobs, will be taking a medical leave of absence for an unspecified amount of time. While the news is shocking, it’s also apparently not completely unexpected. According to the New York Times, Steve Jobs “has looked increasingly frail” in recent months. Apple’s CEO was reportedly supposed to be at Verizon’s iPhone announcement event last week as well, and coupled with the delay of the new iPad digital newspaper The Daily, it’s beginning to look like there is something more to the story.

Here’s is Jobs’ letter when he took a six-month leave beginning in early 2009:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

And here is Jobs’ letter from this morning:

Team,

At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.

Steve

There are some subtle differences in the wording Jobs used this time around that could mean nothing — but they also could spell big trouble for Apple. First off, the open-ended nature of Steve’s email from this morning is troubling. This doesn’t sound like someone who will be back at Apple any time soon. Back in 2009, Jobs gave a finite timeline, stating that he would return at “the end of June,” but he’s leaving this one open-ended.

Jobs’ new leave also means that he will probably not be around to introduce important new products such as the iPad 2 or iPhone 5, which are both set to be announced in the coming months. Beyond that, the mention that Apple’s executive management team will handle the “the exciting plans we have in place for 2011″ seems to indicate that Jobs might not be back in 2011, and he’s setting expectations subtly.

We sincerely hope Steve Jobs gets better, and fast. We’re just still a little bit in shock from the news — it unfortunately doesn’t look good.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said on Monday that Apple’s board of directors has granted him a medical leave of absence. It is currently not known why Jobs requested the leave or for how long he will be gone. Jobs also took a six-month leave of absence in early 2009 when he received a liver transplant. Today, Jobs says that he will continue as CEO and will be involved in major strategic decisions while Apple COO Tim Cook will take over day to day operations during his leave. Hit the break for Jobs’ note regarding his leave.

Team,

At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for all of Apple’s day to day operations. I have great confidence that Tim and the rest of the executive management team will do a terrific job executing the exciting plans we have in place for 2011.

I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.

Steve

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As much fun as it is to head to your doctor’s office or a clinic to get tested for an STD, it looks like there might be a slightly more private and comfortable option on the horizon. A group of organizations in the UK have combined to produce over $10 million in funding for research related to inexpensive portable STD test. The test consists of a single-use USB dongle-sized component containing a microchip. Once urinated upon, the device connects to a mobile phone or laptop and tests for herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhea with instant results. The tests would be distributed through vending machines in UK nightclubs, among other places, and would cost less than $2 each. It is almost a given that more private testing options will lead to more frequent testing and, hopefully, to safer behavior. Let’s just hope that once this great new mobile STD testing technology hits the market in the UK, it spreads quickly.

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Gentlemen, we are about to boldly go where BGR has never gone before. We are about to discuss that personal area between your belly button and knee caps, affectionately known as the: gonads, balls, dingle-berries, or nuts. Today, on our beloved technology blog, we’re talking testicles. Now, we know what you’re thinking: what? Hit the jump to hear us out.

Reuters is reporting that a study in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility states that men who use their laptop on, well, their laps, could be affecting their sperm quality. The study notes that placing the warm, portable, computer on-top of your man region causes the proverbial thermostat of your two, dangling friends to rise above its optimal setting.

“Millions and millions of men are using laptops now, especially those in the reproductive age range,” wrote Dr. Yefim Sheynkin, a urologist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. “Within 10 or 15 minutes their scrotal temperature is already above what we consider safe, but they don’t feel it.”

The doctor notes that repeated use could “contribute to reproductive problems,” but does write that using a laptop computer on your lap will not directly cause infertility.

The most comical line from the Reuters post is as follows:

The researchers hooked thermometers to the scrotums of 29 young men who were balancing a laptop on their knees.

Priceless. There you have it men. The next time you want to plop that notebook down on your lap, think twice, and remember… you could be microwaving your man-friends.

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File this one under “duh”. With all of the commotion caused by Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ announcement earlier this month, it was only a matter of time before the SEC began looking into the matter. For those of you who have been living with the Fraggles for the past few months, allow us to recap the situation in one short series of sentence fragments: Jobs was sick. Apple denied Jobs was sick. Jobs admitted he was sick. As Stevo plays such an integral role in all things Apple, it’s a no-brainer that investors deserved to know what was going on.The question is, did Apple do anything illegal?

To bring any case, the SEC would probably have to show the company tried to benefit by withholding information about an unambiguous diagnosis, said Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor and SEC lawyer who now teaches at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.

“It would be difficult, and certainly a new area of the law,” Henning said. “You would have to pin down exactly what they knew, and with a health issue — unlike a merger or a decline in revenue — it’s not subject to definitive answers.”

While the SEC’s inquiry isn’t yet official, a source close to Bloomberg spilled the beans and you can expect official word to come soon as a result. Either way, it looks like the SEC will be treading on some new and tricky ground if its findings are worth pursuing.

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Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

Steve Jobs has been the focus of many health-related rumors lately – in fact, Bloomberg even killed him back in August. Each and every time the rumor mongers get going however, Apple either remains silent or refutes the rumors completely, claiming that Jobs is perfectly healthy. The rumors still persist however, and this time around it’s not a random teen behind the reports but a “repeatedly” reliable Gizmodo source. The quote from Giz’s mole:

Steves health is rapidly declining. Apple is choosing to remove the hype factor strategically vs letting the hype destroy apple when the inevitable news comes later this spring.

This strategic loss will be less of a bang with investors. This is why MacWorld is a no-go anymore. No more Steve means no more hype. Saying they are no longer needing [MacWorld] is the cover designed by the worldwide “loyalty” department.

By way of Silicon Alley Insider, CNBC’s Jim Goldman reports that these new rumors are 100% false and that Jobs is still doing just fine. Goldman’s source at Apple who fed him information behind his initial report on Jobs’ health in mid-December, has stated yet again that Apple’s CEO is tip-top and the world need not worry. Apple shares took a temporary dive when the initial Gizmodo post was published but regained ground quickly in light of Goldman’s claims.

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