Brian Ford, of Newsvine, deconstructs Gizmodo’s terrible reporting on Jobs’s health:

So, let’s put these in order of importance, shall we? A little grade school lesson in reading comprehension:

• Steve jobs health is rapidly deteriorating and it’s worse than we’ve imagined.
• This is the real reason Jobs is not presenting the ‘09 Keynote and why Apple is pulling out of Macworld after ‘09, once Jobs bows out, this spring.

Assuming you’re wrong on the first bullet point (let’s not kid ourselves, that was the major scoop) you don’t get to retroactively gloat about the second bullet point when you’ve no hard evidence to back up the claim unless you squint really hard and invent some lines to read between amongst actual sentences in Apple’s press releases.

Today, Jobs explained why he lost so much weight over 2008 — he apparently has a hormone imbalance, and is being treated for it.

Gizmodo took this as some kind of victory:

But we were right on something almost as important: The reason why Steve Jobs is not doing the Macworld 2009 keynote is his health. Apple PR muscle tried to mislead the public again saying that the reason was the irrelevance of Macworld. They said they didn’t want to give importance to a show that Apple was pulling from.

Gizmodo’s evidence is Jobs’s first paragraph, where he states:

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

The problem is, though, that this isn’t evidence of Gizmodo’s claim — that Jobs will not deliver the keynote due to his health. At all. In any way.

Gizmodo decided to publish a stupid report last week, and is now flailing to justify it in any way they can. Terrible journalism.

Dan Benjamin just published a thoughtful piece on how Twitter is affecting the web.

CNBC’s Jim Goldman had this to say about Gizmodo’s article:

I was told this morning (Tuesday) that nothing has changed since then. The same reasons apply today that applied two weeks ago.

I was told two weeks ago by sources inside Apple that the decision had nothing to do with Jobs’ health. I got the same message today. Period.

I will say again: if Apple is lying, holding some truth back, manipulating its own stock by manipulating the truth, someone — indeed a lot of people — could be going to jail. Do I like the way Apple has handled this ongoing story? No. But do I traffic in rumors to fill the void the company has created by not choosing to be more forthcoming about Jobs’ health? Absolutely not.

Which is to say: Apple would have to be completely stupid to lie if Jobs’s health was rapidly declining, as Gizmodo claims. Which most likely means: Gizmodo is full of it.

37Signals published its design process for the Highrise chart.

The Denver Broncos fired Mike Shanahan today.

Completely and utterly stupid. Bill Cowher is the only coach on the market worth talking to, and his offensive philosophy doesn’t fit the Broncos’ personnel at all. Cowher likes big offenses — big offensive linemen and a big running back, so he can pound the ball and throw occasionally.

We run a zone-blocking scheme, which uses smaller, athletic offensive linemen. We have a great offensive line, one of the best in the league, and its built for zone-blocking. Jay Cutler is a strong pocket passer and mobile quarterback who throws downfield, and we have the receivers he needs. We aren’t built for pounding the ball. We are built for an even mix of passing and throwing.

The only coach I am at all interested in is Gary Kubiak, Denver’s former offensive coordinator, who now coaches the Houston Texans. He is doing well in Houston, though, so he is unlikely to take the job.

Denver could be in for years of uncertainty at head coach, which could ruin the team in the interim.

Jonathan Rentzsch and Dave Dribin just released Textcast, which turns any RSS feed, website or text into a podcast.

Great idea.

MacHeist put together a great holiday giveaway this Christmas — the Mac Giving Tree. For signing up, you receive five free applications. My favorites are iConquer (a nice Risk game), and 1Password.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Mint, the excellent financial web application, has released an iPhone application.

Jon Favreau is 27 years old. He is also Obama’s main speech writer.

Good story by the Washington Post. This is quite inspiring to hear for me as someone who wrote my own debate and extemporaneous speeches in high school. I have a special appreciation for political speeches, and I can’t help but be jealous.