For you PowerPC lovers out there, the latest news of Apple’s iLife and rumors of Snow Leopard have probably left you frowning. It is being reported by Arstechnica that a significant portion of iLife, specifically Garage Band will only be compatible with Intel machines.

This news follows the rumor that Snow Leopard, Apple’s next OS will only support Intel. This of course is still just a rumor, as many details about Snow Leopard are still not known.

So, what do you think about the possibility of Macs going exclusively to Intel? Are you a fan of PowerPC, and will miss it if it’s dropped?

It was announced yesterday, by way of company email that Steve Jobs would be taking a five month leave of absence to deal with health concerns. It’s being reported that Jobs’ second bout with health problems has stemmed from food absorption problems, which doesn’t sound pleasant.

Here’s the company e-mail that Jobs’ sent out about his medical status:

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.

So, what does this all mean for Apple? First, you can expect to see Apple stock fall by the wayside for a short period of time. Second, we’ll more than likely be seeing Tim Cook the COO of Apple take over Jobs’ responsibilities. The rest is pretty much left to wild speculation.

I personally believe that Jobs will be back sooner than anticipated. The reason being is that Jobs hasn’t said anything about leaving for good, or turning over the reins to someone else. I’m not a medical expert so I can’t tell you how long ‘food absorption’ problems last, but five months sound like a “worst-case” scenario timeline.

What are your thoughts on the Steve Jobs’ medical leave? Is it really just the five months, or perhaps the sign of things to come? With the little information we have on Tim Cook, what are your thoughts about him watching things while Steve is gone?

For those who get a lot of use their Time Capsule, some wonderful rumors have been floating around the Apple blogosphere. The original reports of the rumor seem to have originated from 9to5mac.com.

It seems that Apple is working on a device, or perhaps upgrading Time Capsule that will allow access of local files over the internet. Steve Jobs has mentioned something along this line before, when talking about what functions could be added to Time Capsule in the future.

Here are some of the features that have been rumored that will be available with Apple’s media server device:

- User’s MobileMe accounts will be directly tied in with the media server, which will be used in accessing the files on the server.

- iTunes database would be shared, not just for music but video.

- Media would be available for access on the iPod Touch, and iPhone.

Some other bits of the rumor were that Apple might offer these services on ‘the cloud’. I really don’t see how it could be done, as storing that much information would take a hefty amount of server space. I do like the idea of adding the function to Time Capsule. It would be a nice addition if they are able to allow the function for existing Time Capsule owners.

You know that the iPhone has really left its mark, when Wal-Mart starts sniffing their corporate nose around it. Boygeniusreport.com reported back in October that Wal-Mart could soon be carrying iPhones. That rumor has since proven to be true, although they were incorrect about the release date. They claimed the iPhone would be at Wal-Mart by mid-November but is actually releasing after Christmas.

A new rumor has surfaced from the same website. Their source, they admit isn’t 100% verified but the news isn’t any less exciting to talk about.

Their source claims that a $99 deal for a 4GB iPhone, with two year contract. When the iPhone first released, the models came in 4GB, and 8GB. Since that time, the 4GB has been scrapped. With the economy the way that it is, it does seem like a good business move to offer cheaper options for consumers. For now though it’s still all speculative, but will find out later this month.

So here’s an interesting nugget of information for you; Barack Obama is a Mac user. It’s true, according to Telegraph, who put together a list of 50 facts you might not know about the President-Elect.

To prove his “Mac Status” even more his wife, Michelle, has even stated to People magazine that her husband never travels without his webcam. Now, I’m not one to make assumptions… but if you add all the clues up it’s pretty easy to see that he’s probably a fan of iChat as well (since iChat is easily the best app for video chatting according to Gadget Lab).

If you keep up with under the table Apple news, then you definitely know about Steve Job’s health. He’s a pancreatic cancer survivor and his health has been a key component in investor faith. There was a rumor of a heart attack a few years back, and Apple’s stock plummeted.

Fortune writer, Adam Lashinsky has written an article about who could potentially be Steve Job’s succesor if the unfortunate were to happen. The resounding answer is a man named Tim Cook, who is the COO of Apple. Again, to those who know Apple’s behind the scenes news, will know that Cook was instrumental in turning Apple around near the turn of the century.

He implemented economical, and inventory plans that would save the company millions. He’s one of the primary reasons that Apple is able to generate profits with the overall plan they implement.

The question that’s in the back, or front of everyone’s mind is, “Could he keep the company image?”. If you frequent many Mac blogs, then you’ll know that Apple is the sexy tech company. People who buy their products and services have nothing but great things to say about them. That aspect of the company wasn’t built by sound fiscal planning, but by inspirational and creative decision making.

So, to play devil’s advocate I think it would be foolish at this point to put stock into one person for Job’s successor. Steve Jobs is a one-of-a-kind business leader. He probably can read the consumers better than any businessman in the game right now. Having sound economical policies just can’t replace that