[MyAppleMenu] Aug 12, 2008

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** It Took Me 30 Minutes To Purchase A MacBook <http://blogs.pcworld.com/communityvoices/archives/2008/08/it_took_me_30_m.html>
by Phil Shapiro, PC World
The store was just too franctic for me to be able to think clearly when I was making my order. The whole experience was un-Zen.

**** Simple Comic 1.6.1 <http://www.macworld.com/article/134562/2008/08/simplecomic.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Jason Snell, Macworld

**** Is There Room For Culture In An iPhone World? <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/opinion/l12brooks.html?ref=opinion>
by Elliott Riebman, New York Times
To maintain culturally elite status today, one is better served studying the works of Steve Jobs than Soren Kierkegaard.

**** Laptops Distributed To Farmington Middle Schoolers <http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_10172202>
by G Jeff Golden, The Daily Times

**** MailSteward 8.05 Archives Email For Mac Business <http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/08/11/mailsteward.805/>
by MacNN

**** Closed Platforms Could Ruin The Web <http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/08/12/will-closed-platforms-ruin-the-web/>
by Josh Catone, SitePoint Blogs
As the computing moves off of our computers we're increasingly moving toward an environment where a few platform providers are the ultimate gatekeepers brokering our experience.

**** I Hate That I Like Apple Products <http://weblog.infoworld.com/openresource/archives/2008/08/i_hate_that_i_l.html>
by Savio Rodrigues, InfoWorld
I'm pulling for RIM to offer mobile application developers with an open development platform without restirctions on the applications that developers can build an dusers can freely choose to run.

**** TextExpander 2.4: Speedier Abbreviations On The Fly <http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/08/11/textexpander.24.faster/>
by MacNN
Those who have a lot to do in a short time no doubt appreciate how text "shortcuts" for frequently used text strings and images can speed things up.

**** iPhone As Advertising Platform <http://blogs.ft.com/techblog/2008/08/iphone-as-advertising-platform/>
by Richard Waters, Financial Times
It seems a safe bet that most of the money made by the iPhone appliction developers will come in the form of advertising. That is the overwhelming lesson from the PC-based internet.

**** MobileMe Mail And Gmail Go Down Simultaneously <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9729>
by Adam C. Engst, TidBITS
For a period of several hours on 11-Aug-08, both MobileMe Mail and Google's Gmail were both inaccessible for many users.

**** A Missed Marketing Opportunity: Free iPhone Apps <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ByteOfTheApple/blog/archives/2008/08/a_missed_market.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_byteoftheapple>
by Arik Hesseldahl, BusinessWeek
More than 80,000 people are downloading this game every day. And rather than look at your logo, dear corporations, they're looking at nothing.

**** Phishing Scam Targets MobileMe Users <http://www.macworld.com/article/134941/2008/08/mobileme_phishing.html>
by Peter Cohen, Macworld
An e-mail purporting to be from Apple laerting users to a billing problem is, in fact, a phishing scam that's targeting users of Apple's online service, /Macworld/ has learned.

The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Commanding Your Browser <http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/21215/?a=f>
by Kate Greene, MIT Technology Review
A new interface bypasses the mouse for some complex tasks.

MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** A Bristle Of Wings In The Ivy <http://www.slate.com/id/2196659/?from=rss>
by Teresa Cader, Slate

**** Bizarre Death Of The Man Who Talked Too Much <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/books/12weisberg.html>
by Joseph Weisberg, New York Times
In "The Terminal Spy" Alan S. Cowell, a veteran foreign correspondent for The New York Times, gives an absorbing account of Mr Litvinenko's life and bizarre murder. Along the way he explains how Russia lost and got back its tremendous energy resources after the fall of the Soviet Union, describes how wealthy Russians have turned London into "Moscow-on-the-Thames" and tries to determine if the Litvinenko murder is the harbinger of a new and especialy dangerous kind of terrorism.

**** While A Magician Works, The Mind Does The Tricks <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/science/12magic.html>
by Benedict Carey, New York Times
"Here's this art form gooing back perhaps to ancietn Egypt, and basically the neuroscience community had been unaware" of its direct application to the study of perception, Dr Marthinez-Conde said.

**** Condolences, Felt But Not Expressed <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/health/12essa.html>
by Kent Sepkowitz, New York Times
I think doctors have a strange way of grieving their patients.

**** Britons Abroad: Speaking In Tongues <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/britons-abroad-speaking-in-tongues-890074.html>
by Michael Church, The Independent
Each language represents a particular kind of society, and a particular way of feeling and thinking. For those who speak it, it's the sum of human intelligence. We should all take note, and cherish our little grammar books.

**** 'Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do (And What It Says About Us)' By Tom Vanderbilt <http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-ca-tom-vanderbilt10-2008aug10,0,31153.story?track=rss>
by Mathew DeBord, Los Angeles Times
An encyclopedic look at traffic woes. Unfortunately, it goes nowhere.

SingaporeSurf
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**** Singapore Airlines Voted World's Best Again <http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSSP5101020080812>
by Miral Fahmy, Reuters
Singapore Airlines was voted the best in the world for second cnsecutive year by an annual survey of passengers which was dominated by Asian and Gulf Arab carriers, including Australia's Qantas.

**** Secularism And Women's Education <http://agonist.org/sean_paul_kelley/20080811/secularism_and_womens_education>
by The Agonist
When you free half your soceity and free your entire society to worship or not worship as they see fit, you create the necessary conditions for prosperity.

**** Impact Of Drive Burning Out <http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_267148.html>
by Judith Tan, Straits Times
During the past 35 years, wider bans and gory anti-smoking campaigns have managed to whittle away the number of smokers. But recent evidence suggests the drive may have lost its momentum.
/Let's turn up the knob: smoking ban in all places in Singapore, except in private homes and destinated public spots./

**** SingTel To Launch iPhone In Singapore On Aug 22 <http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSFC00004520080812>
by Jennifer Tan, Reuters
Singapore Telecommunications, Southeast Asia's largest telecoms firm, will launch Apple Inc's third-generation iPhone in Singapore on Aug 22, the company said on Tuesday.

**** P. Pisang Lighthouse Expansion Began In 80S, Say Heir <http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=352103>
by Mohd Haikal Isa, Bernama
Singapore is believed to have been expanding the compound of a lighhouse operated by its Maritime and Port Authority on Pulau Pisang since early 1980s.

**** Need To Refine Deferment Policy? <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/270295.asp>
by Siew Kum Hong, Today
Is this policy outdated, in a globalised world with a growing Singaporean diaspora?

**** On Shit And Prostrating Prostitutes <http://mollymeek.livejournal.com/197584.html>
by Mollymeek

**** Screwed Again! <http://feedmetothefish.blogspot.com/2008/08/screwed-again.html>
by Feed Me To The Fish
We pay our conservancy charges, taxes and GST and they use it to glorify and advertise PAP MPs?
Have they no shame?