News : Plane crashes into New York river

A twin-engine jet crashed into the Hudson River apparently hitting a flock of birds.

One witness said he saw flames coming out of the left engine. Aviation officials said all 155 people on board managed to safely get off the plane.

Fred Katayama reports from New York.

News : Jobs used bravado, charisma as public face of Apple

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Steve Jobs became a household name as the founder and chief executive of Apple Inc, marshaling his bravado and charisma to drive the innovation machine behind the iPod and iPhone.

Deemed irreplaceable by legions of Apple fans and investors alike, Jobs said on Wednesday he would take a medical leave of absence until the end of June because his health problems are "more complex" than he had thought.

Jobs, 53, turned around the once moribund Apple in large part due to the blockbuster success of the ubiquitous iPod digital music player.

A showman, he often unveiled the latest Apple products at trade shows and conferences amid cheers and applause from thousands of software developers, customers and employees.

"Steve Jobs is Apple," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management in New York, which holds Apple shares. "Certainly the company will continue, but Steve Jobs has been a visionary and very active in design."

In past months, however, questions about his health and his ability to lead the company he created have overshadowed his past achievements and clouded his future prospects.

Industry and investor fears about Jobs' health have not dimmed in more than a year, especially after he appeared dramatically thinner in public last summer. At the time, Apple said he was fighting a "common bug" and taking antibiotics.

Rumors abounded on blogs about whether Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, was suffering from complications related to the disease. Then, nine days ago, Jobs sought to soothe concerns by saying his weight loss was caused by a hormone imbalance that was relatively simple to treat.

Now, some analysts bet that Jobs is getting ready to step down for good and hand Apple over to an unknown successor.

Jobs, a college dropout, started Apple Computer with his friend Steve Wozniak in the Jobs family garage in Silicon Valley more than 30 years ago. The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer. But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry.

Jobs, who became a multimillionaire after Apple's IPO in December 1980, in 1983 famously lured John Sculley, then CEO of Pepsi, to lead Apple with the question: "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?"

In 1984 came the Macintosh, the first commercially successful computer that had an easy-to-use graphical user interface. Despite the success of the Mac, or perhaps partly because of it, the relationship between Jobs and Sculley soured, and in 1985 the board removed most of Jobs' powers and he left the company. Soon after, he sold all but one share of his Apple holdings.

Apple's purchase of NeXT -- the computer company Jobs founded after leaving Apple -- in 1997 brought Jobs back to Apple. Later that year he became interim CEO and in 2000 the company dropped "interim" from his title.

In 2001, Apple launched the iPod, whose elegant and simple design cemented Jobs' legacy as an innovator able to marry technology and media.

In addition to his Apple pursuits, Jobs co-founded the animation studio Pixar in 1986 with Edwin Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith, buying Lucasfilm's computer graphics division for $10 million. In 1995 came "Toy Story," the breakout computer animated film. Academy Award winners including "The Incredibles" and "Ratatouille" have followed.

Jobs became a board member and the largest individual shareholder of Walt Disney Co when Disney purchased Pixar, now known as Disney-Pixar, in 2006.

(Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall and Anupreeta Das; Editing by Edwin Chan, Phil Berlowitz)

News : Investors tremble on Jobs' health

Apple says its chief and technical visionary, Steve Jobs, will take a leave of absence until the end of June due to health problems.

The statement backtracks on reassurances and sent shivers through investors who fear a change at the top.

Apple's shares tumbled after the bombshell announcement.

Nine days earlier, the pancreatic cancer survivor downplayed investor concerns about his dramatic weight loss in recent months, saying it was caused by an easily treatable hormone imbalance.

Many fear Jobs' departure will deprive the company of its most vital and imaginative resource.

Apple's product innovations have often laid the blueprint for its competitors to follow.

News : Jobs announcement hits Apple shares

News that Apple boss Steve Jobs is taking a six-month leave of absence due to health concerns has hit the company's shares and increased uncertainty.

Jobs is universally viewed as the chief creative force behind the company's line of consumer-friendly products, which include Mac computers, the iPod and the iPhone, and is regarded as a master marketer and pitchman.

As such, many fear his departure would deprive the company of its most vital and imaginative resource.

Matt Cowan reports.

News : Apple's Jobs takes medical leave

By Gabriel Madway

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc chief and tech visionary Steve Jobs will take a leave of absence till end-June because of health problems "more complex" than thought, backtracking on reassurances, stunning investors and sending its shares skidding 10 percent on Wednesday.

Jobs, a pancreatic cancer survivor, dropped his bombshell in a cryptic announcement on Wednesday -- only nine days after he soothed jumpy investors somewhat by saying his dramatic weight loss over the past seven months was due to an easily treatable hormone imbalance. He had promised to remain at the helm throughout his treatment.

Wednesday's revelation, which contained scant detail on Jobs health, comes at a difficult time for the company behind iPod media players and iPhones but now grappling with a slowing product line, rapidly worsening consumer spending and an uncertain succession plan.

Jobs, 53, vowed to remain involved in major strategic decisions while he's away. Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will take over day-to-day operations in what experts say could be a dress rehearsal for a more permanent CEO performance.

It will be a familiar role for Cook, who stepped in to run the company in 2004, when Jobs sought treatment for cancer.

"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," Jobs said in a letter to employees that was released by the company.

Analysts were divided over the longer term impact were Jobs to take himself out of the equation. Some were confident a successor will rise from within Apple's ranks, others lamented the loss of the firm's helmsman and inspiration.

"It's the classic blind man feeling around the elephant. We are all dealing on partial information," said Collins Stewart LLC analyst Ashok Kumar.

"There's no individual or even a management team that can fill his shoes. That being said, there is hope that the management bench is deep enough to continue the track record and also that Steve will be able to return in some capacity or the other to the company in the near future."

Speculation about Jobs' health resurfaced in June 2008, when he appeared dramatically thinner at an Apple event. Jobs is viewed as the driving force behind Apple's consumer-friendly products, which also include Macintosh computers.

"The next six months are going to be basically a trial period for Tim Cook to be CEO," said Brian Marshall at Broadpoint Amtech."

"If that period goes well, my expectation is that Steve will pass the baton over to Tim in June and basically Steve will be his senior adviser."

But with details scarce in Wednesday's statement, fears about Jobs' health will continue to haunt markets. Investors have blasted the company for failing to announce a succession plan, considering how vital Jobs is to Apple's success.

"Apple is more dependent on its CEO than most other companies," said Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies. "Steve is a critical judge of the company's business, and that maestro role that he performs is what makes Apple great. But there is no maestro-in-training to take over Steve's role."

A DIFFICULT YEAR

Indeed, legal experts said investors are likely to take the firm to court for less-than-timely disclosure -- and they would have a case. Jobs and the firm have remained close-mouthed amid swirling speculation in the media and on the Internet about his health.

"It is extremely difficult because it is the most private part of his life," Steve Williams, a plaintiffs attorney for Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy, said. "At the same time, Apple is Steve Jobs."

Some investors had long since bet on Jobs' imminent departure. Adam Harter, an analyst at Financial Enhancement Group, said last week that his company had added to its position in Apple a couple of months ago when the stock was trading in the mid-$80s, thinking that the so-called "Jobs premium" had been discounted from the share price.

Jobs' apparently seesawing health also complicates what was already expected to be a difficult year for Apple and the electronics industry, as a severe downturn saps consumers' spending appetite.

Some fear that Jobs' absence will mean no big product launch -- such as last year's 3G iPhone -- in 2009, and hence put a dampener on the firm's share price.

"Steve Jobs is known as the company but we have to see how well his 'support system' -- the people he put in place -- will hold up," said Tom Sowanick, chief investment officer of Clearwater Financial.

Customers at a bustling Apple store in San Francisco said they knew about Jobs' health-related issues from the media, but thought his absence from the company wouldn't immediately influence their buying decisions.

"A visionary man draws visionary people to him, so even if he isn't at the helm, the company is still in good hands," said Sam Brown, a 22-year-old Pittsburgh resident.

Jobs, 53, turned around a once-moribund Apple in large part due to the blockbuster success of the ubiquitous iPod. A showman, he often unveiled the latest Apple products at trade shows and conferences amid cheers and applause from thousands of software developers, customers and employees.

Jobs, a college dropout, started Apple Computer with his friend Steve Wozniak in the Jobs family garage in Silicon Valley more than 30 years ago. The company soon introduced the Apple 1 computer. But it was the Apple II that became a huge success and gave Apple its position as a critical player in the then-nascent PC industry.

Today, Jobs is a board member and the largest individual shareholder of Walt Disney Co, a position he took when Disney bought his animation company, Pixar Animation Studio, now known as Disney-Pixar, in 2006.

Disney did not respond to queries about whether Jobs would continue to serve on the company's board.

Apple's stock fell as much as 10 percent following Jobs' announcement, before paring losses to trade at $79.64 after hours. The stock had closed down 2.71 percent at $85.33 on Nasdaq.

(Additional reporting by Anupreeta Das, Jonathan Stempel, Rodrigo Campos, Jennifer Ablan, Yinka Adegoke, Sinead Carew, Jim Finkle, Nichola Groom, Gina Keating, Lisa Baertlein and Muralikumar Anantharaman; Editing by Edwin Chan, Richard Chang)

News : Playboy goes digital

Reality show offers a look at what it's like to work at Playboy Enterprises, through the eyes of three interns.

Playboy launches a new reality series, offering viewers a look at what it's like to work at the global enterprise, through the eyes of three interns. The show, 'Playboy Interns' is available online, and on mobile phones.Gemma Haines reports.

News : Shuttle Columbia's final moments

The U.S. space agency NASA issues a report on the last minutes of the spacecraft before its disintegration on re-entry in 2003.

For the families of the seven crew who died in the disaster, NASA's report provides painful insights into the final moments of their loved ones.

Susan Flory reports.

News : NASA says Columbia crew had no chance to survive

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts on the shuttle Columbia were trying to regain control of their craft before it broke apart in 2003, but there was no chance of surviving the accident, a NASA report said on Tuesday.

From the crew's perspective, the shift from what appeared to be a normal descent on February 1, 2003, into disaster happened so fast that the astronauts didn't even have time to close the visors on their helmets.

Columbia broke apart about 12 miles over Texas as it headed for landing at the Kennedy Space Center. The cause of the accident was traced to a hole in one of the shuttle's wings, which was hit by a piece of falling foam insulation during launch 16 days earlier.

Seven astronauts, including Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon, were killed when superheated atmospheric gases blasted inside the breach like a blow torch, melting the ship's structure.

The crew cabin broke away from the ship and started spinning rapidly. Analysis of the wreckage indicated the crew members had flipped cockpit switches in response to alarms that were sounding. The astronauts had also reset the shuttle's autopilot system, the report said.

"We have evidence from some of the switch positions that the crew was trying very hard to regain control. We're talking about a very brief time in a crisis situation," said NASA's deputy associate administrator, Wayne Hale.

But rapid depressurization caused the Columbia crew to lose consciousness, and medical findings show that they could not have recovered, said the report, which took four years to compile.

"This report confirms that although the valiant Columbia crew tried every possible way to maintain control of their vehicle, the accident was not ultimately survivable," said Hale, who oversaw the shuttle program during its return to flight after the accident.

TRAUMATIC INJURIES

Analysis shows the astronauts' shoulder harnesses failed and their helmets did not adequately protect their heads. The lack of safety restraints caused traumatic injuries.

The investigation also found problems with the shuttle's seats and parachute landing system, which requires astronauts be conscious to operate manually.

Even if the safety gear had worked, the astronauts would have died due to the winds, shock waves and other extreme conditions in the upper atmosphere.

Designing spacesuits that are more automated and integrated into future spaceships is among 30 recommendations made in the report.

"I call on spacecraft designers from all the other nations of the world, as well as the commercial and personal spacecraft designers here at home to read this report and apply these hard lessons which have been paid for so dearly," Hale said.

Also killed in the accident were shuttle commander Rick Husband, pilot William McCool and astronauts Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark.

Much of what is in the report was discovered by the Columbia accident investigation team, which released a series of findings and recommendations six months after the disaster.

The panel advised retiring the space shuttles as soon as NASA finishes using them to complete construction of the International Space Station, a $100 billion project of 16 partner countries that has been under way for more than a decade. The shuttle Challenger broke apart in 1986.

Since the accident, NASA has flown 11 shuttle missions and has nine left in its schedule. A 10th mission to fly a physics experiment to the space station is under consideration.

(Editing by Jane Sutton and Cynthia Osterman)

News : Beatles to zombies, videogamers set for varied '09

By John Gaudiosi

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - For videogame publishers the start of 2009 marks a new phase in gaming with the release of new titles no longer confined to the top holiday sale months but spread throughout the year.

Traditionally about half of annual videogame sales were rung up in November and December but last year Take Two Interactive broke this pattern when it released "Grand Theft Auto IV" in April and the game sold well throughout the year.

In 2009, the first Nintendo DS installment of the best-selling crime story game franchise, "Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars," gets a March launch -- but some of the year's most-anticipated games will be available even before then.

Japanese videogame maker Capcom Co Ltd introduces fighters new and old in the classic brawler sequel "Street Fighter IV" in February when Guerilla Games' PlayStation 3-exclusive "Killzone 2" sci-fi shooter hit store shelves. "This time around we're taking the war to the enemy," said Hermen Hulst, managing director of Guerilla Games. "We want players to experience a large-scale invasion and journey through a hostile world filled with big set pieces and dramatic events."

Zombies are set to invade PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles in March as Capcom unleashes "Resident Evil 5." Set in Africa, this latest shooter introduces two-player cooperative gameplay to the mix and ups the ante with an assortment of undead enemies.

The typically slow summer months will see some big movie tie-ins like Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's (WBIE) "Terminator: Salvation" and Electronic Arts' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

SEQUELS AND NEW TITLES TO COMPETE

After taking the summer off in 2008, the Dark Knight returns in an original game from WBIE, "Batman: Arkham Asylum," in which The Joker and an assortment of crazed super villains lock Batman inside their prison.

Nintendo will offer Wii gamers virtual summer activities in "Wii Sports Resort." This game will ship with an advanced motion-sensor controller add-on that enables more precise aim in mini-games like playing dog Frisbee or riding jet skis.

"To me, the big story is what happens on the Wii because it's the dominant platform, and it will be interesting to see how the publishers approach the Wii audience," said Michael Pachter, videogame analyst, Wedbush Morgan Securities.

"There must be dozens of Wii games planned for holiday 2009 that we don't know about yet, and I think that many games will be designed to use the Wii Fit balance board that we haven't conceived of yet."

Another big story for 2009 is the continuation of established franchises, especially when looking at the line-up for fall which includes sequels like Sony Computer Entertainment's "God of War II I," Take Two Interactive's "BioShock 2," Microsoft's "Halo 3: ODST," and Nintendo's rumored new "Legend of Zelda."

While franchises such as "Fallout 3," "Gears of War 2," and "Call of Duty: World at War" did well in 2008, original titles like "Dead Space," "Mirror's Edge," and "Spore" didn't sell so well, said Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat.com's videogame editor.

"It looks like consumers are getting more conservative about the way they're spending their precious dollars." he said.

But there are original games slated for 2009, including Electronic Arts' horror action title, "Dante's Inferno," which is based on the classic poem, "The Divine Comedy," by Dante Alighieri.

The Beatles are getting into the game business with MTV Games and "Rock Band" developer Harmonix in a collaboration that will create an as-yet-untitled interactive music experience.

PlayStation 3 gamers will be able to star in a virtual film noir thriller when Sony and developer Quantic Dream release "Heavy Rain" in late 2009.

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

News : Microsoft blames leap year for Zune glitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A malfunction of some Microsoft Corp Zune music players was caused by an error in the way the device accounts for leap years, Microsoft said.

In a statement on the Zune website posted late on Wednesday, the company blamed "a bug in the internal clock driver related to the way the device handles a leap year," adding: "The issue should be resolved over the next 24 hours as the time change moves to January 1, 2009."

The year 2008 had 366 days instead of the usual 365.

Early on Wednesday, thousands of users found they could not use the 30-gigabyte Zune model, made in 2006. Microsoft called the issue "widespread," but said users could reconnect their players after 7 a.m. EST on Thursday.

(Reporting by Nick Zieminski; Editing by James Dalgleish)