[MyAppleMenu] May 26, 2008

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** MP3 Players Losing Muscle <http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_9383083?nclick_check=1>
by Troy Wolverton, San Jose Mercury News
The MP3 player industry - otherwise known as the iPod market - seems about to go from being a rock star to a has-been.
While still strong, sales have slowed and even begun to decline in some markets. Prices, particularly on the low end, are plunging, typically an indicator of slacking demand.
/And by MP3 player, San Jose Mercury News doesn't count iPhone, possibily the next great platform from Apple./

**** Apple Says 'Drop In Soon' To Sydney Store <http://www.smh.com.au/news/biztech/apples-sydney-store-teaser/2008/05/26/1211653914950.html>
by Stephen Hutcheon, Sydney Morning Herald
The countdown to the opening of the first Apple Store in the southern hemisphere has begun with the unveiling of a "coming soon" sign across the facade of a nearly-completed office complex int he heart of the Sydney CBD.

**** Don't Expect A Flood Of Mac Open Source <http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2472>
by Dana Blankenhorn, ZDNet.com
The installed base remains too small to deliver the support revenues necessary for success. And the Mac's own software bundle leaves few basic niches.

**** From Under The DRM Cloud <http://rixstep.com/1/20080525,00.shtml>
by Rixstep
Music subscriptions don't work. That's what the market says. Which basically proves Apple were right all along. But even if DRM works it doesn't work as well as DRM free. Which basically leaves Apple as the odd ones out.
/The jury is still out, I believe, on what works and what doesn't work. It may well be that what didn't work was non-iPod-compability./

**** Apple Mac Popular <http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Hardware/3896.html>
by Greg Gordon, Sunday Times

**** Banner Unfurled At Sydney Apple Store Site But It's Not Yet Open <http://www.itwire.com/content/view/18418/1103/>
by Alex Zaharov-Reutt, iTWire

The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Browsers Are A Battleround Once Again <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/technology/26firefox.html>
by Brad Stone, New York Times

**** Social Networks' Sway May Be Underestimated <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/25/AR2008052501779.html?nav=rss_nation/science>
by Rob Stein, Washington Post
The studies and others are fueling a growing recognition that many behaviors are swayed by social networks in ways that have not been fully understood.

MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Wine Drinkers Of The World, Unite <http://www.slate.com/id/2191912/?from=rss>
by Christopher Hitchens, Slate
You have nothing to lose but inflated bills and interrupted anecdotes.

**** In Murderous Pursuit Of Esintein's Secrets <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/books/26masl.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>
by Janet Maslin, New York Times
"Final Theory" is the work of two Mark Alperts: the one who is readily conversant with science and the one who had to cook up a cinematic action story.

**** Murder, She Once Wrote <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/nyregion/thecity/25crim.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>
by Gregory Beyer, New York Times
As New York celebrates the sharp decline in crime, the crime writer may be the only New yorker for whom that drop is not an unequivocal blessing. Just as the breakup of the Soviet Union caused problems for writes whose plots hinged on the dark doings of the cold war, so New York's crime writers are wondering where to find grist in a far safer city.

**** Low <http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2008/06/02/080602po_poem_collins>
by Arda Collins, New Yorker

**** A Night At The Opera <http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2008/06/02/080602fi_fiction_frame>
by Janet Frame, New Yorker

SingaporeSurf
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**** DPM Wong On Why ISD Director Not Held Accountable <http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_241299.html>
by Li Xueying, Straits Times
The director of the Internal Security Department holds broad responsibility for the entire organisation. And to blame him for the Mas Selamat Kastari ecape is to place an 'unreasonable and overly onerous burden' on him, said deputy prime minister Wong Kan Seng.

**** Malay Village Area Set For A Revamp Under URA Draft Masterplan 2008 <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/350117/1/.html>
by Imedla Saad, Channel NewsAsia
National devleopment minister Mah Bow Tan said a substantial portion of the Malay Village site will be reserved for a new civic bilding, housing a commuity club, the community development council office, and possibly a community library.

**** Call For Joint Maritime Patrols <http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/National/2250385/Article/index_html>
by New Straits Times
Maritime patrols around Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks should be conducted jointly with Singapore as the two features were close to each other, home minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said.

**** Pedra Branca: SIngapore And Malaysia Relaxed About Safeguarding Their Claims <http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Monday/NewsBreak/20080526152734/Article/index_html>
by Zakaria Abdul Wahab, Bernama
"We should be more relaxed now about safeguarding our claims, about the intensity of our patrols and so on," local media today quoted Singapore's foreign affairs minister George Yeo as saying in Yangon, Myanmar yesterday.

**** PAS Unhappy With 'Weak' Arguments In Batu Putih Case <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/5/26/nation/20080526163943&sec=nation>
by SIm Leoi Leoi, The Star
Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan urged the government to move into Pulau Pisang, where Singapore still maintains a lighthouse, and develop it.
"Why should Singapore be allowed to keep the lighthouse there? WIsma Putra told me that under the present agreement, Singapore is allowed to maintain the lighthouse as long as it is still being used and for as long as there are stars and a moon. But in this day and age, no ship uses a lighthouse and all of them now rely on global positioning system and radar to guide them. So what's the use of the lighthouse?"

**** 90 Days Since Escape... No More Information? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/05/90-days-since-escape-no-more-information/>
by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen
The minister has had 90 days already - to capture a limping terrorist, with the entire security force at his disposal, in this tiny island.
The buck, surely, must stop somewhere.

**** PM Lee Takes Stand In High Court To Defend Claims Against SDP <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/350110/1/.html>
by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia
In court on Monday, PM Lee said all he is seeking is to establish that the article had published lies.
Mr Lee said the article had implied that the mistake made by the NKF epitomised what the whole government had stood for. THis was a very grave charge and action had to be taken to defend the entire system.

**** No Evidence Of Singapore Involvement In Weapons Exported To Myanmar <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/350104/1/.html>
by Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia
Foreign minister George Yeo has said there is no evidence of any Singaporean company being involved in the export of weapons to Myanmar, nor is there evidence that such a transaction has occurred.

**** Trade Minister Lim Says Not Useful To Tweak GST Rate In Short Term <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/350074/1/.html>
by Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia
Singapore's exchange rate policy has helped dampen the effects of inflation while providing support for sustainable economic growth, according to trade and industry minister, Lm Hng Kiang.
/This cannot lah, that cannot lah. Meanwhile, poor families will have to hope that their employer gives one-off inflation bonus, and wait for economy to get better and inflation to go back down./

**** Why NS Didn't Make Me Patriotic <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/05/why-ns-didnt-make-me-patriotic/>
by Eddie Choo, The Online Citizen
When something becomes a ritual, it loses its meaning, and whatever pasion there was is lost, and what you get ar ethe tired faces and the bad-ass attitudes that are commonplace among the guys serving.

**** The Rush For Seatbelts <http://hardhitting-nobs.blogspot.com/2008/05/rush-for-seatbelts.html>
by Hard Hitting In The Lion City
Let some time pass, some heads to cool and then decide.

**** Southern Ridges Singaproe: Canopy Walk Near Kent Ridge Park <http://seenthisscenethat.blogspot.com/2008/05/southern-ridges-singapore-canopy-walk.html>
by Seen This Scene That

**** School Holidays? What School Holidays?! An Interesting Look Into My Past <http://blog.simplyjean.com/2008/05/26/school-holidays-what-school-holidays-an-interesting-look-into-my-past/>
by Simply Jean
It's probably things like this that made me feel "Singaporean".

**** SUperintendent Of Detention Centre Sacked Over Mas Selamat's Escape <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/350057/1/.html>
by Channel NewsAsia
The superintendent of the Whitley Road Detention Centre has been sacked over secruity lapses that led to the escape of Jemaah Islamiyah detainee Mas Selemat Kastari. His deputy has also been demoted in rank, with a corresponding pay cut.

**** Singapore's April Manufacturing Otuput Dips 5.7% On-Year <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/350045/1/.html>
by Channel NewsAsia
Singapore's manufacturing output declined 5.7 percent in April, worse than analysts' expectations, due to a contraction in electronics and pharmaceuticals production, the government said Monday.

**** (Some) Subsidies Are Bad (, While Others Are Necessary To Help Us Win Votes) <http://blueheeler.wordpress.com/2008/05/26/some-subsidies-are-bad-while-others-are-necessary-to-help-us-win-votes/>
by BothSidesOfTheJohorStraits
Perhaps cheap healthcare and education are not only vote-winning gestures for the government, they are also necessary a healthy and smart workforce to power our ever-growing economy?

**** School Holiday? What Holiday? <http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_241101.html>
by Jane Ng and Yen Feng, Straits Times
A check with 25 primary and secondary schools showed that almost all have some form of classes,mostly for graduating batches of students - primary 6s and secondary 4s and 5s.

**** Ahoy! New Water Taxis To Cruise Singapore River Soon <http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_241105.html>
by Hong Xinyi, Straits Times

**** Singpaore - Just Overcrowded <http://www.autho-rity.info/2008/05/25/singapore-just-overcrowded/>
by Authority Sites Directory Blog
These are of course introduced by our country's elite who benefits greatly from such foreigner influx into our job market since they are the biggest employers. The simple reason is to suppress overall workers' salaries.

**** Don't Blame Current Government Of Malaysia Because Losing Pulau Batu Puteh <http://myramblings.malayablogs.com/personal/dont-blame-current-government-of-malaysia-because-losing-pulau-batu-puteh/288/2008>
by Mohd Afiq

**** Our Sovereignty Under Threat From Singapore - Failure By Our Barisan Nasional Government To Protect &amp; Uphold Its Territories <http://kamal-talksmalaysia.blogspot.com/2008/05/our-sovereignty-under-threat-from.html>
by Mohd Kamal Abdullah, Kamal-talks
Since Pulau Batu Puteh is so close to Johor, Singapore's ownership will be very detriment to Malaysia since the territorial waters of Singapore once realigned would enhance Singapore's marine supremacy since Singapore has always been noted for their stubborn and uncaring attitude towards its neighbours although it may speak otherwise.

**** Pulau Batu Puteh <http://abgdark.blogspot.com/2008/05/pulau-batu-puteh.html>
by ABGDARK

**** My Lighthouse, My Playground <http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,165761,00.html>
by Ng Tze Yong, New Paper

**** Compensate Drivers With Faulty Cashcard/IU <http://sovietmole.com/2008/05/compensate-drivers-with-faulty-cashcardiu/>
by The Moley Prophet

**** When The PAP Is The Opposition <http://ephraim.blogspot.com/2008/05/when-pap-is-opposition-come-next.html>
by Ephraim Loy, A Writer's Blog
The PAP will be seen as the party that just appears before the elections online just like how they attacked the opposition in real life.

**** With String Attached, Or Not At All <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/255779.asp>
by Esther Fung, Today
All 13 companies taht Today surveyed last week had no plans to give out the one-off special lump-sum payment the National Wages Council (NWC) had urged for.

**** New Workgroup To Promote Harmonious Living Among Neighbours <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/349946/1/.html>
by Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia