[MyAppleMenu] Jan 16, 2005

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
==================================================
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/>
Mac news for Mac people

[News]

*** Do Tiny Music Players Drown Out Real Life?
<http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10654737.htm>
Andrew Shain, Charlotte Observer

*** Apple's Baby To Shake Computer Market To Core
<http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=54822005>
Perry Gourley, Scotsman

*** Aqua OpenOffice.org 2.0 Cancelled
<http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/15/2044205>
MacSlash

*** One iPod, Many Uses
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sub/gizmos/story/0,5562,295842,00.html?>
Jeremy Au Yong, Straits Times

Scientists use it. Deejays use it. Why, even thieves use it. Apple's iPod, it appears, is not just an accessory for playing music.

*** Just For Kicks
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sub/gizmos/story/0,5562,295817,00.html?>
Straits Times

Ever since fitness instructor Haley Wong started using her iPod to provide music for her aerobics classes, she has shed more than 4kg. From her backpack, that is.

*** Homework Porter
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sub/gizmos/story/0,5562,295819,00.html?>
Straits Times

Previously, Rachel Yeo would burn her projects onto CDs to be taken home. Now she just plugs her iPod into one of the Macs at school and downloads her work directly onto the portable hard drive.

*** A Music Spinner
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sub/gizmos/story/0,5562,295843,00.html?>
Straits Times

When master of ceremonies Jeffrey Low needs some background music for an event, more often than not, he turns to his 20GB iPod rather than his stack of CDs.

*** Band's Best Friend
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sub/gizmos/story/0,5562,295816,00.html?>
Straits Times

Musician Jack Ho find sthe iPod indispensable when his band EIC rehearses.

*** Frills And Thrills
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sub/gizmos/story/0,5562,295844,00.html?>
Straits Times

New little add-ons for the iPod seem to show up almost every week.

*** Mac Mini AppleCare Is Apple's Cheapest
<http://www.macminute.com/2005/01/15/mac-mini-applecare/>
MacMinute

[Opinion]

*** Geeks Aside, Apple Is Gospel Of Simplicity
<http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orl-locmiket16011605jan16,1,5879719.column?coll=orl-news-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true>
Miek Thomas, Orlando Sentinel

I cried -- not out of sentimentality, but because at long last, a computer finally had listened to me.

*** iPod Shuffles Hard To Get? Blame Word-Of-Mouth Networks
<http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2005/01/15.html#a9212>
Robert Scoble, Scobleizer

Here's a company selling a flash-based MP3 player that's very similar to tons that have been out there for months, if not years. But, notice how fast word has spread that Apple had a hot new product...

*** Apple's Inspirational Marketing
<http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/wilcox/archives/005968.html>
Joe Wilcox, Jupiter Research

*** Why The iPod Is Music To Apple's Ears
<http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/01/16/ccsikl16.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/01/16/ixcoms.html>
Richard Siklos, Telegraph

Apple's stellar results are a truly remarkable milestone for the company: they are also a wake up call to its rivals.

*** iPod Shuffle Fashions
<http://modular.autonomous.org/pebble/scotartt/2005/01/16/1105829737206.html>
Scott Artt, My Cummerbund Fell In The Toilet

The only way for Apple to compete [in the smaller-cheaper player market] is to use Apple's design experience and move the Shuffle into becoming a fashion necklace, a piece of jewelry or a branded clothing accessory.

*** Thinking May Not Be All It's Thought To Be
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/weekinreview/16schw.html?ex=1263531600&en=3927bc068f347a36&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt>
John Schwartz, New York Times

Feel the ripple in the zeitgeist? Two new slogans are busily burrowing their way into popular culture. Steven P. Jobs introduced one last week: "Life is random."

*** After 20 Years, Finally Capitalizing On Cool
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/business/yourmoney/16digi.html?ex=1263531600&en=021f03a7217db99c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt>
Randall Stross, New York Times

Apple is well positioned for the future. When consumers open their wallets to buy things that have machine intelligence, or provide digital entertainment, or link to the Internet -- that is, just about everything in a household that is not edible -- they are likely to be drawn to the company with cachet, offering the best-designed, best-engineered, easiest-to-use products, priced affordably thanks to Mr. Moore's old law and Mr. Jobs's new pragmatism. They'll turn to the company that best knows how to meld hardware and software, the company embodied int he ecstatically happy hipster silhouette. The company that is, in a word, cool.

[Review]

*** Shuffle: Music Or Podcasts?
<http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008247.html>
Russell Beattie, Notebook

Chalk one up for Apple, once again they've thought wholistically and it shows.

[Sidetrack]

*** What Is The Opposite Of Microsoft?
Heng-Cheong Leong

Microsoft wanted everyone in the world to use Windows Media Player. How did they try? By going to all the media companies and convince them to use Windows Media format so that you and I have no choice but to subscribe to Microsoft's vision in order to watch, listen, and read.

Apple didn't try to out-license Microsoft. Instead, Apple went the other way: by making the coolest and most useful platform, so that you and I will choose the platform and embrace Apple's vision. No content from the big media companies? Doesn't matter. Apple will create the music store, and the users will fill in the rest with MP3s and podcasts. Who needs Windows Media Player and Microsoft?

Joe Wilcox <http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/wilcox/archives/005968.html>: Rather than watch Sonic X [on] Saturday morning, [my 10-year-old daughter] is making her own entertainment.

MyAppleMenu Reader
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The other things in life

[World]

*** A Question Of Numbers
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/magazine/16SOCIAL.html?oref=login>
Roger Lowenstein, New York Times

Since the establishment of Social Security in 1935, government actuaries have been crunching data and projecting the future of the system. Why don't they see a crisis looming?

[Life]

*** The Book Of Jobs
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/books/review/16POSTREL.html?oref=login>
Virginia Postrel, New York Times

Over the years, "What Color Is Your Parachute?" has grown like a ramshackle house, adding resources, numbered lists and personality tests.

*** Gen X Dad
<http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2005/01/16/gen_x_dad/>
Patricia Wen, Boston Globe

Luxury vacations, fast-track careers, and bigger houses used to be a priority for family men, but no longer. Today's young fathers are taking paternity leaves, rejecting overtime, and rushing home after work to do all the things many of their own fathers didn't.

*** For Party Planners, A Difficult Delivery
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12540-2005Jan15.html?nav=rss_print/style>
Darragh Johnson, Washington Post

"It's gonna be fine." It's a phrase party planner Jenna Mack repeats almost hourly, soothing clients, caterers, truck drivers, dance-floor deliverers, Secret Service agents and fellow event managers.

SingaporeSurf
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<http://www.myapplemenu.com/singapore/>
Life in the city

[News]

*** Singapore Searching For New Growth Engines To Power Economy
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/127652/1/.html>
Derek Cher, Channel NewsAsia

Singapore is still in search of the "next big thing" that will drive its future growth.

*** New Beginning For Malaysia, Singapore
<http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/geted.pl5?eo20050116a1.htm>
Eric Teo Chu Cheow, Japan Times

This year promise to usher in a new entente between Malaysia and Singapore, leading to better Asian regional cooperation and development.

*** Should Telcos Charge For Charity Telethons?
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sub/news/story/0,5562,295886,00.html?>
Sarah Ng, Straits Times

About $1 of every $40 donated via phone or SMS to 6 charities went to telcos as admin fees.