[MyAppleMenu] Oct 12, 2007

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Universal Music Takes On iTunes <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_43/b4055048.htm?chan=search>
by Ronald Grover and Peter Burrows, BusinessWeek
Universal Music chief Doug Morris is going on the offensive. The world's most powerful music executive aims to join forces with other record companies to launch an industry-owned subscription service. /BusinessWeek/ has learned that Morris has already enlisted Sony BMG Music Entertainment as a potential partner and is talking to Warner Music Group. Together the three would control about 75% of the music sold in the U.S. Besides competing head-on with Apple Inc.'s music store, Morris and his allies hope to move digital music beyond the iPod-iTunes universe by nurturing the likes of Microsoft's Zune media player and Sony's PlayStation and by working with the wireless carriers. The service, which is one of several initiatives the music majors are considering to help reverse sliding sales, will be called Total Music.

**** I Unplug My Toaster At Night <http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2007/10/i_unplug_my_toaster_at_night.html>
by Francois Joseph de Kermadec, O'Reilly Mac DeveCenter Blog
I have come to appreciate that consumer machines are seldom made to run continuously. Even on today's Mac OS X, a stable, UNIX-based OS with no fundamental faults that would require frequent reboots, things get wonky after a while.

**** Software Options For Mac Users Improve <http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071012/FEAT05/710120306/1191>
by Nancianne Parkers Suber, The Clarion-Ledger
Macintosh users now have a wide variety of genealogy programs from which to choose and Windows envy should be a thing of the past.

**** A Bruise Or Two On Apple's Reputation <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_43/b4055070.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_businessweek+exclusives>
by Louise Lee and Peter Burrows, With Elizabeth Woyke, BusinessWeek
For Apple, there may be a downside to success. Sales of the Cupertino company's Macintosh machines are growing three times as fast as the overall PC market. Its iPod music player is burying the competition. And the stylish iPhone is setting the wireless industry on its head. But as Apple pulls in millions more customers with different kinds of products, it's getting harder to keep them all happy.

**** Popcorn 3 <http://www.macnn.com/reviews/popcorn-3.html>
by Bill Gureck, MacNN
Popcorn 3 is a valuable video conversion and DVD creation utility if you only need the video side of Toast.

**** True Confessions Of OS Switchers <http://laptopmag.com/Features/True-Confessions-of-OS-Switchers.htm>
by Jeffrey L. Wilson, Laptop Magazine
/Laptop/ interviews three former Vista users who moved on to Macs. And one Mac guy who gave up the Apple for Vista.

**** 10 Things That Should Be In Apple's Next Mac Pro <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9042038&source=rss_topic123>
by Seth Weintraub, Computerworld
Intel's Penryn chip is almost a given, but there's lots of room for more.

**** Revealed: Apple's Sydney Shopfront <http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/apples-sydney-shopfront/2007/10/11/1191696046043.html>
by Asher Moses, Sydney Morning Herald
Apple's secretive plans for an official retail store in Sydney &mdash; understood to be the first in the southern hemisphere &mdash; have been revealed in council documents, which suggest it's unlikely the store will open for business before mid-2008.

**** EasyFind - It's Easy, It Finds, It's Free <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9231>
by Matt Neuburg, TidBITS
EasyFind is an alternative to Spotlight: it's a way of finding text on your computer.

**** Open Systems, Closed Systems, And The Future Of Apple TV <http://wilshipley.com/blog/2007/10/open-systems-closed-systems-and-future.html>
by Wil Shipley, Call Me Fishmeal
Apple has a ton of very talented designers and very smart engineers. But they shouldn't have to be the /only/ smart people in the world, who must anticipate everything every customer might ever need. It's asking too much.

**** Reports On Chinese iPod Sweatshop Suppressed <http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,138352-c,researchreports/article.html>
by Jonny Evans, Macworld
The Chinese government worked last year to suppress a news story that exposed poor working conditions in Foxconn's iPod factory, an investigation has revealed.

**** I Will Behave Cautiously Online <http://www.macworld.com/2007/10/features/lockup_online/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
by Joe Kissell, Macworld
I can't always know when I can trust a web site to guard my private date. So I will take steps to keep personal information personal.

**** Report: Apple Gains 29% Share Of $$$ Notebooks <http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2007/10/11/report-apple-gains-29-share-of-notebooks/>
by Fortune
If you look at the high-priced markets Apple chooses to play in, says Toni Sacconaghi Jr. of Bernstein Research, you see that it already has a surprisingly dominant market share &mdash; without much room for growth.

**** Ambrosia Releases WireTap Studio Audio Recorder, Editor <http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/10/11/wiretap/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld
The utility helps users record and edit audio from any application, system audio, or input from any microphone, line-in or audio input hardware.

**** iPhone WebApps Directory Is Live <http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/11/iphone-webapps-directory-is-live/>
by Erica Sadun, The Unofficial Apple Weblog

The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Radiohead Stirs Gloomy Revolt With Pay-Whatever Internet Album <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aBvXeRXgxD2Q&refer=muse>
by Mark Beech, Bloomberg
See Also:
Madonna Heads For Virgin Territory <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119205443638155166.html>, by Ethan Smith, Wall Street Journal.

**** Prediction: Starbucks Wi-Fi Will Soon Be Free <http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=hardware&articleId=9042179&taxonomyId=12&intsrc=kc_feat>
by Mike Elgan, Computerworld
When Starbucks introduced for-pay Wi-Fi in 2002, it seemed like a great deal (especially for business customers who could expense it). But five years later, the model appears old and stale and ready for a complete overhaul.

MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** On The Trail Of Brooklyn's Underground Railroad <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/arts/12expl.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin>
by John Strausbaugh, New York Times
Last month the City of New York gave Duffield Street in downtown Brooklyn an alternate name: Abolitionist Place. It's an acknowledgment that long before Brooklyn was veined with subway lines, it was a hub of the Underground Railroad: the network of sympathizers and safe houses throughout the North that helped as many as 100,000 slaves flee the South before the Civil War.

**** After Years Of Being Out, The Necktie Is In <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/fashion/11CODES.html?ex=1349755200&en=39c40d1106b456eb&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>
by David Colman, New York Times
Necktie sales may have foundered in the decade or more since the words "casual Friday" entered men's vocabularies, but in the last year or two, stylish men in their 20s and early 30s have embraced the old four-in-hand as a style statement &mdash; that is, as long as it is an optional one.

SingaporeSurf
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**** Singapore Celebs Rap To Make Gay Sex Legal <http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/breakingnews/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=94111>
by AFP
Singaporean celebrities are rapping for repeal of a law that makes gay sex a criminal offence.

**** Furore Over Funeral Parlour's Final Resting Place <http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_166440.html>
by Arlina Arshad, Straits Times
On Friday, the URA released details for the parlour, assuring the residents of Sin Ming that it will be a quiet, discreet and dignified place that will not advertise the business of death so near to their homes.

**** Give The Hawkers A Break Can? <http://kwayteowman.blogspot.com/2007/10/give-hawkers-break-can.html>
by The Kway Teow Man
Now, one curry-puff man jailed, we therefore presume that all hawkers are cheating and under-delcaring their incomes to evade tax?

**** Fernandes: All We Ask For Is Two Flights A Day To Singapore <http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=289816>
by M. Saraswathi, Bernama
"All we ask for is two flights a day from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. This has nothing to do with the open sky policy."

**** PM Lee's Hari Raya Greetings To Malaysians To Be Aired On RTM Tonight <http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_166350.html>
by Straits Times
This is the first time RTM will be broadcasting festive greetings from leaders of neighbouring countries.

**** Singapore Discusses U.N. Investigation <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119214967148156787.html?mod=googlenews_wsj>
by Vanu Gopala Menon, Permananet Mission Of The Republic Of Singapore To The United Nations, Wall Street Journal
It is precisely because we value the highest standards of integrity that Singapore has questioned the PTF's handling of this and other cases under its charge. The essence of accountability must be that no one can be exempt. These facts about the PTF's conduct were omitted in your Oct 8 article.

**** TOC Speaks To Ephraim <http://ephraim.blogspot.com/2007/10/toc-speaks-to-ephraim-ephraim-loy-one.html>
by Ephraim Loy, A Writer's Blog

**** It's Not Just A Gay Thing. It's About Equality <http://siewkumhong.blogspot.com/2007/10/its-not-just-gay-thing-its-about.html>
by Siew Kum Hong

**** If Only Malaysia Has Leaders Half Of Lee's Intelligence <http://stocktube.blogspot.com/2007/10/if-only-malaysia-has-leaders-half-of.html>
by Stocktube

**** City Of Possibilities Or City Of Hyprocrisy? <http://lalaland9.wordpress.com/2007/10/11/city-of-possibilities-or-city-of-hypocrisy/>
by Looking For LalaLand...
So, what's the difference between Douglas Sanders and Peter Schwartz?

**** Parliamentary Petition To Repeal 377A: Not Just Any Other Petition <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/10/12/parliamentary-petition-to-repeal-377a-not-just-any-other-petition/>
by Choo Zheng Xi, theonlinecitizen
The petition requests that parliament 'extend equal protection to all Singaporeans in respect of their private consensual sexual conduct, regardless of their sexual orientation'.
See Also:
NMP To Present Petition To Repeal Anti-Gay Law To Parliament <http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_166111.html>, by Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times.
NMP To Present Petition To Repeal Anti_Gay Law To Parliament <http://siewkumhong.blogspot.com/2007/10/nmp-to-present-petition-to-repeal-anti.html>, by SIew Kum Hong.

**** University No. 4: Implications And Risks <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/305224/1/.html>
by Jasmine Yin, Today
Subsidy criteria, admission ages and graduation rates will have to be re-visited if 30 per cent of each cohort is to enter the university by 2015.

**** Singapore Finally Picks Up The Keys For First Superjumbo <http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22570737-23349,00.html>
by Steve Creedy, The Australian
The superjumbo may be two years late &mdash; with the repercussions of that delay still battering the European manufacturer &mdash; but none of its customers is complaining about the quality of the product.

**** Singapore Government Pledges Light Internet Censorship <http://www.cw.com.hk/computerworldhk/Daily+News/Singapore-govt-pledges-light-Internet-censorship/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/464632?ref=25>
by Ross O. Storery, Computerworld Hong Kong
In contrast with Malaysia's recent crackdown on bloggers, Singapore's government said it will continue to maintain "creemonial censorhsip" and "a light touch" on any censoring of the internet.

**** Repeal 377A, Singapore! <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/10/12/repeal-377a-singapore/>
by theonlinecitizen

**** No End To The Search <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/216287.asp>
by Alice Leong, Today
Death is a natural, if terminal part of the life cycle. THere is nothing sinister about it.

**** Time To Amend THe Constitution <http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_166192.html>
by Radha Basu, Straits Times
In many ways, Singapore women have it better than their counterparts in many other countries, but there is probably still room to see how local laws, including the constitution, can be revised to ensure better protection of women's rights.

**** End Of Tang Dynasty City <http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_166124.html>
by Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times
Landlord JTC said with no offers coming in, demolition will start in January and will be completed before March 2009.

**** 2 CEO Jobs Up For Grabs. Any Takers? <http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_166291.html>
by Lee Su Shyan, Straits Times
Chiefs for F&amp;N and DBS will face huge challenges with the firms at crossroads.

**** He Wants His Students To Use Cellphones - In Class <http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-southeastasia.asp?parentid=79742>
by Liaw Wy-Cin, Straits Times
At Damai Secondary School in Bedok, students use their cellphones in class &mdash; but as a learning tool.