Below, find the full U.S. Patent granted to Apple for its "iGlasses" head-mounted laser display.

Apple today received a patent on a head-mounted laser video display. Now that the three-year old application has finally been approved, Steve Jobs can put these babies through his grueling design process and hopefully pretty them up a bit.

Apple has taken flack for over-policing its iPhone App store. But sometimes the company under-polices, as well. As with LuckyFortune, a fortune cookie app built around what can only be descrived as a "ching-chong Chinaman" theme.

Steve Jobs and Apple famously dissembled about the CEO's health, until Jobs took a six-month medical leave. And what did Jobs do on his return? Issued a controversial statement about Google that the search company has now flatly contradicted.

It's going to take more than six months medical leave to reform Steve Jobs. On his very first day back before the media, the Apple CEO apparently told a whopper to the New York Times.

Steve Jobs "appeared thin and spoke with a scratchy voice" on his return from medical leave, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. Apparently we had no idea!

After spotting some stray tweets about the incident, Todd Bishop of TechFlash dug up the tale: At yesterday's annual Microsoft meeting at Safeco Field, Ballmer was making his entrance when a 'Softie tried to snap his picture with an iPhone. Bad idea!

"I probably need to gain about 30 pounds," Steve Jobs told the New York Times after his return to public life yesterday. Might as well concede the obvious if investors are looking for unexpected physical weakness.

In the end, Steve Jobs didn't have much to announce in San Francisco today — a new iPod Nano with a videocamera, a faster iPod Touch. But the Apple CEO knew he needed to show his face, and he did.

• A long list of media luminaries and politicians, including President Obama and former president Clinton, turned out for this afternoon for a memorial service at Avery Fisher Hall in honor of Walter Cronkite. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Stephen Farrell, a New York Times reporter taken hostage by militants in Afghanistan, was freed early this morning following a raid by British commandos; his Afghan interpreter, however, was killed. [NYT, E&P]
• The McKinsey consultants who have been reviewing operations at Condé Nast are finishing up their work and will be submitting their findings shortly. So what changes are in store for the magazine conglomerate? No one knows for sure, but further budget cuts and a closure or two are entirely likely. [NYO]
• McGraw-Hill, the parent company of BusinessWeek, reports that 93 different buyers have expressed an interest in acquiring the struggling magazine. [BN]

The big tech news today is Apple's expected unveiling of new iPod music players. How pedestrian. The subtext is far more gripping: The inevitable end of the Steve Jobs era at Apple, and whether it's yet upon us.

NYT Public Editor Clark Hoyt: our love affair continues. You're like the Internal Affairs of the Times! All the cops/writers probably hate/fear you. Especially after giving David Pogue a curbside beating for shilling his Apple book with a Times review.

Just as we suspected he would, Matt Drudge demanded Apple kill iDrudge, the iPhone app created by a fan to read his website. But the right-wing protoblogger then reversed himself in a stunning flip fliop. Siren time!

One Wall Street analyst predicts Steve Jobs will show up for Apple's Apple's iPod event next week; others doubt it. The frenzied chatter is just one way people turn into hysterical teenaged girls before these Apple things. Especially online.

Oh, look at that: A self-professed fan of blogger Matt Drudge has released iDrudge, an apparently unauthorized iPhone app for reading the Drudge Report. No need to zoom in, like in Mobile Safari. Also: No ads!

Sometime next month, new iPhone software is supposed to ease the way for "augmented reality" apps, which digitally superimpose data on the world, as seen through the phone's camera. Very cool idea and, so far, very boring execution. Think, people!

Blogger John Gruber responded to our post on erroneous press coverage of Apple's relationship with Google. It turns out Steve Jobs keeps many of his minions as ill-informed as the media. Sounds about right! It's all in the update.

Looks like the languid, late summer days are not exactly relaxing the insiders over at Business Insider and Silicon Alley Insider. Editors Nicholas Carlson and Dan Frommer have a veritable slapfight going. Check out the warring headlines:

• Just when you think members of the Jackson family can't possibly stoop any lower comes confirmation they've agreed to do a reality TV show for A&E. It's going to be "genuine," says the show's producer. Clearly. [THR]
• Because the public has been clamoring for 24/7 access to fake wrestling matches, the WWF is now hoping to start up its own cable network. [NYP]
• More on what went down when Vogue editor Anna Wintour sat down to chat with David Letterman on his show last night. [WWD]
• Sony unveiled its electronic reading gizmo/Kindle competitor today. [NYT]
• The Observer's Jason Horowitz is leaving for the Washington Post. [NYO]
• A homeless woman has scored a four-month internship at Elle. Just wait until Elle "employee" Olivia Palermo gets her hands on her on the next season of The City. Homelessness, we presume, will never have looked so good. [Gawker]

Steve Jobs really is getting better! Rumors that the Apple CEO is being an impossible bastard to his staff have been confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, to whom said staff leaked details of their torment. Old Steve is back.