Earlier this morning, the live feed of the MacWorld keynote was hacked, leading to the terse message "STEVE JOBS JUST DIED" getting publicly displayed on the internet. This led to all sorts of confusion and suspensions and Twitter feeds being pulled down. Basically, an epic mess, apparently brought to you by the den of internet rude mechanicals from 4chan.
The false rumors exploit the recent speculation circulating around Jobs' overall health. Yesterday, Jobs released a letter explaining that he is suffering from "a hormone imbalance that has been 'robbing' [him] of the proteins [his] body needs to be healthy." The whispers had been adversely affecting Apple stock -- Jobs' clarification sparked a rally in trading yesterday against the overall NASDAQ trend, as investors' confidence in Jobs' health was buoyed.
Twitter, which yesterday was the victim of similar hacks, impacting luminaries such as CNN's Rick Sanchez, Britney Spears, Barack Obama and others is typically abuzz with the news. If you want the latest back and forth and redundant debunking, click here. Or if you prefer, just go on using Twitter as your go-to tool to send out 140-character drunk texts to one another.
Via Mobodojo, here's a screenshot of the MacWorld live feed, before it was pulled down:
