Forbes Magazine has always listed the world's richest people. Some, however, have not only the fortune, but also the fame. It is interesting to note that the list of the world's richest celebrities is topped by the very dynamic Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. Here's the list:

10. JK Rowling - book author worth US$ 1 billion.
9. Oprah Winfrey - TV host worth US$ 1.5 billion.
8. Mark Cuban - HD net owner worth US$ 2.3 billion.
7. Donald Trump - real estate mogul worth US$ 2.9 billion.
6. Steven Spielberg - film maker worth US$ 3 billion.
5. George Lucas - Star Wars mastermind worth US$ 3.6 billion.
4. Richard Branson - entreprenuer worth US$ 3.8 billion.
3. David Geffen - movie mogul worth US$ 4.7 billion.
2. Michael Bloomberg - financial information system founder worth US$ 5.5 billion.

1. Steve Jobs, Apple CEO worth US$ 5.7 billion. - This quirky, individualistic and dynamic former hippie has made waves in the computer industry with his company Apple. He helped popularize the concept of the personal computer in the late '70s. This pop-culture icon is also credited for the iPod, which gave a hipper reputation to computers and MP3 players. Recently, Steve's been gaining attention with his anti-DRM statements and his yet-to-be released iPhone.

The richest celebrities, in pictures, follow below.

See more pictures after the jump!

Apple is known for revolutionizing our lives. The iPod alone has deeply rooted itself into cultures internationally. The more recent iPhone has also generated a lot of attention as well. Now, here comes Apple's latest product: a product-unveiling product, the iLaunch.

Now how is this revolutionary? As The Onion (*hint-hint*) reports, Steve Jobs introduced the iLaunch at a media event in San Francisco, and as the device was revealed to the audience, Jobs said:

Get ready for the future of product introduction. The iLaunch will be able to make announcements from this, or any other stage, making human participation in generating consumer awareness almost entirely unnecessary... CEOs have devoted their valuable time to strutting around on stage and breathlessly describing the features of their new products... Apple's goal within the next 12 months is to make me totally obsolete.

Powerful statements, yeah? The device, powered by Intel dual-core processors, runs Keynote-formatted presentations in high-definition through a projector, and, at the same time, displaying a rotating 3D image of the product. The iLaunch can also recite speeches via voice-recognition software built into the device. An AI is even incorporated into the system so much so that, when a glitch occurs during the presentation, it will generate humorous remarks to egg on the audience.

What's surprising: the whole presentation of Steve Jobs was produced by the iLaunch.

What isn't surprising: Microsoft just announced a similar product, the Launch-O, scheduled for 2009.

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Update: Apparently this bit of "news" has caused quite a stir at Digg (from 10 to 1000 Diggs in just a few hours). Do know that this story came from The Onion, and from that alone, most of you internet-savvy folks would know how... how shall we say it... satirical they are. So, just to make things clear, consider this as a pre-April Fool's piece. It's been fun while it lasted. To the guys up at The Onion, a warm round of applause for spread yet another great meme.

 A few days ago, we covered a story about Jobs sparing no words in criticizing teachers and teacher unions. This has caused the California Federation of Teachers to invite Jobs to either attend an annual teacher's convention next month or to offer a public apology for his "insulting comments" to California's teachers.

Jobs, with rival CEO Michael Dell, shares a vision of delivering technology to schools and having "textbook-free" classrooms, but according to him, no amount of technology would ever improve schools until public school principals could fire bad teachers.  The CFT says they will create a new award specifically for Jobs, the "Rotten Apple" award, for the individual who best personifies the need to think differently about public education and teacher unions.

Educators reiterate by pointing out that Apple refused to recognize the Silicon Valley janitorial workforce in the 1990s until Justice for Janitors union sufficiently embarrassed the company and brought it around. CFT President Mary Bergan also cited Albert Einstein's support for the American Federation of Teachers, saying that the genius encouraged intellectuals to work together to be an influential political force. According to Bergan, the real problem in the education system is lack of funding.

Steve Jobs may be a pop-culture icon, but it's interesting to know if this former hippie has been too radical this time.

So all the speculations have long been over. iPhone has been revealed, unveiled, whatever term you may want to use. It would be remembered that Steve Jobs himself highlighted its rather amazing features at this year's Macworld Conference and Expo.

So you think you know everything about the product? Well, think again. Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Apple, most especially the outspoken CEO, forced Cingular to relinquish control of the development process therefore winning many concessions from the biggest mobile phone carrier in the U.S.

The influential newspaper added as well that one of these concessions includes a portion of the monthly revenues from subscribers. Furthermore, Wall Street Journal mentioned as well that Cingular agreed to not put its logo on the phone.

Not only that, it was also reported that the carrier abandoned its whim for the phone to carry its software for Web Surfing as well as for ringtones and other services. The publication continued,

Top Cingular executives were willing to cede control to Mr. Jobs and tolerate his digs at cellphone carriers, all for the privilege of being the exclusive U.S. provider of one of the most highly anticipated consumer electronics devices in years -- and to deny rivals a chance to do the same.

It seems that doing business with Jobs has its price. There's a big chance that the iPhone is going to be a multi-million hit once it comes out - and Cingular is probably banking on this to happen.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on a roll. It was just yesterday when we reported that the outspoken official took a shot at the music industry with his focus being on DRM or Digital Rights Management. This time, Jobs had a couple of not-so-friendly words for the public schools in general, with emphasis given on teacher unions.

To make the long story short, Jobs' message stated that the only way to improve the state of education in America is for school principals to learn to fire bad teachers. He then said that the unions directly contributed to the demise of public education:

What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldn't get rid of people that they thought weren't any good? Not really great ones because if you're really smart you go, 'I can't win.' I believe that what is wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way. This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy.

After that rather harsh comments, the Apple official then went down to business and talked about his proposals. According to Jobs, he dreams of having textbook-free schools in the future. In lieu of these, Jobs said that students may have a free online information source that is being updated by experts regularly. Think Wiki.

He added that instead of channeling funds for printing books that become obsolete in no time, we could use the money by buying "delivery vehicles" such as computers and faster Internet. With the Wiki-like project, Jobs believes as well that some of the brightest minds will definitely contribute.

Lastly, Jobs remembered his earlier statements against the educational system well. He closed his speech with "Apple just lost some business in this state, I'm sure." The teachers and other guests present during his speech supposedly applauded Jobs.

 

Fred Amoroso, the CEO of DRM, electronic licensing e-licensing, and software asset managment provider">Macrovision, the original DRM company, has made a response to Steve Jobs' open letter regarding the role of Digital Rights Management (DRM) in the current electronic content marketplace. In his response, Mr. Amoroso highlights four major points.

First, is that DRM is just broader than music, and that DRM has an impact across many forms of content across different media. Therefore, the discussion should not be limited to just music.

Second, Amoroso asserts that DRM increases, rather than decreases consumer value. He says that without reasonable, consistent, and transparent DRM, there will only be a delay in consumers receiving premium, quality content in their homes in the way they want it.

Third, Amoroso believes that DRM will increase electronic distribution. He says that if owners of high-value content are asked to enter or stay in an environment/platform that offers no protection for their content, there will be no reason for them to enter.

And finally, Amoroso notes that what DRM needs is for it to be interoperable and open. He says that true interoperable DRM will speed the shift to the electronic distribution of content and make it easier for consumers to manage and share content in the home. He adds that it will also enable an open environment where content is portable across a number of devices and not held hostage in just one company's product.

Amoroso expounds:

As an industry, we can overcome the DRM challenges. A commitment to transparent, interoperable and reasonable DRM will effectively bridge the gap between consumers and content owners, eliminate confusion and make it possible for new releases and premium content to enter the digital environment and kick off a new era of entertainment.

We feel that we should have enough self-control to not laugh out loud at the use of words like "enabler" and "not decreases consumer value", and take those points suggested by Mr. Amoroso with reason. We're not sure about you folks though. We'll leave the laughing, nitpicking, and debating for and against DRM to you guys.

Anyway, here's a pseudo-analytical look at this. Jobs' letter said something that implies something like this: "The industry wants something impossible, like a unicorn headed for candy mountain." Macrovision's response is this: "Yeah! Candy Mountain rocks! Let's grow pink wings, turn into unicorns and fly to Candy Mountain!"

Double plus ungood. Read the exec's letter yourselves via our "read" link below.

QJ Blogger Victor B has previously reported on Steve Jobs' suggestion  to abandon digital tunes copy protection earlier this week. Here's a bitter and yet somewhat expected update to that report. Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman has rejected that suggestion, saying that they advocate the continued use of DRM. Bronfman explains:

The notion that music does not deserve the same protection as software, film, video games or other intellectual property, simply because there is an unprotected legacy product in the physical world, is completely without logic or merit.

Jobs, in his open letter, has criticised major labels including Warner, EMI, Sony, and Universal for demanding DRM on their music sold online while at the same time selling billions of CDs containing unprotected tracks.

PC World reports that Bronfman is the first executive of a major recording company to respond to Steve Job's open letter. Bronfman reportedly urges Apple and the music industry to continue working with each other. Bronfman adds, "Frankly, manifestos in advance of those discussions is counter-productive."

Within a certain world bound by the iPod, the Mac, OS X, the Apple's-got-to-call-it-somethingPhone, Apple TV, and so forth, Steve Jobs sits right on top of the food chain. King of the hill. Visionary ideologue. The only thing missing is a Red Sea to part, it seems. But perhaps another aspect of Jobs' charm isn't just his bold vision for Apple (which has led to at least one outrageous claim, though), but his humanity.

You know, it's got flaws, it screws up every once in a while, and instead of running Bug Month, everyone has a good laugh. It happens to everyone, even to Jobs. Here's a collage of some of his keynote speech bloopers, caught on tape, and edited together in iMovie by --Machintologist--. Yes, it's nothing newsworthy, we know, for those who nitpick. But the true mark of being human, a wise man once said, is his ability to laugh once in a while and not give a whole flying manureload whether it's newsworthy or not. We bet even Steve enjoys a good laugh once in a while.

Apple owners may want to set their calendars for June, as Apple has scheduled this year's World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC) from June 10 to 15, with Steve Jobs making his keynotes presentation on the 11th.

In conjunction with the WWDC 2007, it is noted that this event heralds the coming of Apple's Leopard OS, with further info on the system being released in the following months. Readers may also want to double up on the iLife and iWork software packs, with Apple possible releasing more info on these two as they will for OS X Leopard.

The event will be held at the Moscone West convention center in downtown San Francisco, with Apple releasing a formal events announcement early next month. Stay tuned for this official release.

All this talk about next-gen consoles has us looking at the other side of the spectrum of home entertainment. This generation's next-generation of digital media players, the "iTV," has been clouded with many rumors recently. Lo and behold, Steve Jobs pulls yet another, well, Steve-Jobs-job on us.

Surprise, surprise. As announced in the MacWorld Expo, the Apple TV is now available for pre-ordering. Shipping starts this February, so you better make sure your living room is prepared for the invasion of the iTunes-to-TV player. Here's the long and short of what you can expect for the US$ 299 price tag:

• Mac + PC support
  
• Wi-Fi 802.11 wireless connectivity
  
• 40GB hard drive for up to 50 hours video
• Apple Remote included

This device allows you to play any media content - music, podcasts, movies, TV shows, etc. - stored in your computer onto your widescreen TV. Every time you update your iTunes with new content, Apple TV automatically updates itself. An easy-to-navigate menu is incorporated into the device to allow easy browsing and streaming of media files with the Apple Remote.

From the man, Steve Jobs, himself:

Apple TV is like a DVD player for the 21st century -- you connect it to your entertainment system just like a DVD player, but it plays digital content you get from the Internet rather than DVDs you get from a physical store. Apple TV plays the same iTunes content that users enjoy on their computers and iPods, so now they can even watch part of a movie in their living room, and watch the rest later on their iPod.

You can place your orders and learn more about the Apple TV in the official Apple website found behind the "Read" link below.