From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sat Nov 1 13:15:00 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 1 Nov 2008 17:15:00 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 1, 2008 Message-ID: <20081101171500.63221.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Stop The Page-Flicking Madness - Give Us iPhone Folders by Rob Griffiths, Macworld **** Review - Billings 3 by John Martellaro, Mac Observer **** Born To Hand Jive by Josh Quittner, Time With the Apple tax comes peace of mind. A major virtue of Steve Jobs' control-freak ways is that if something goes wrong with your computer, you know whom to blame. You call Apple or go to the Genius Bar at an Apple store. End of problem. **** Busienss Takes A Shine To Apple by Joyce Carpenter, Computerworld E-mail on the iPhone. Xserve to the data center. Apple is everywhere. **** Microsoft Parks "I'm A PC" Recording Booth Outside Apple Store by Sam Oliver, AppleInsider **** Review: InDesign CS4 by Galen Gruman, Macworld Pleasant but middling update offers some compelling new tools but no must-have advances. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** The Affluencer by Susan Dominus, New York Times Lauren Zalaznick, the head of the Bravo network, has taken her own elite, urban, downtown sensibilities and brought it into America's living rooms. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Gay Protest Postponed by Kor Kian Beng, Straits Times Singapore's first outdoor gay protest at Speakers' Corner in Hong Lim Park on Nov 15 has been postponed to early next year. Organiser Roy Tan, 50, a Singaporean who initiated the event, yesterday cited the overwhelming response from the gay community as a key reason for the date change. **** Government Applies Brakes by Marissa Chew and Esther Fung, Today The government has put the brakes on its land sales programme, as the outlook for the local economy and the property market takes a turn for the worse. **** Playing Cupid Once More by Seah Chiang Nee, The Star It's back to the eugenics debate with minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew bringing it up once again but this time around there seems to be little interest among the younger generation. **** Electricity Prices: Why HK Is Cheaper by Lim Bee Khim, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Straits Times Electricity prices are lower in Hong Kong partly because it produces electricity from coal, whereas Singapore produces most of our electricity from natural gas. In fact, this is the main reason, rather than Hong Kong's tiered tariff system. **** Bus Commuters Caught In Terminology Jam by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sun Nov 2 13:15:02 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 2 Nov 2008 18:15:02 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 2, 2008 Message-ID: <20081102181502.69629.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** A Month With My New Notebook by Pjharvey **** UI Design And Microsoft Windows by Rocket Silence **** Apple Exchange Policy by Lester Chan Even though you don't read my blog, but I still have to say it, thank you Diana from Apple for all the help you have provided me! **** Mac Money-Savers: 12 Essential Free Mac Apps by TechRadar.com Excellent programs to help you get the most from your Mac. **** Apple Retail Store Field Trip by Fraser Speirs Of course the Field Trips have a benefit to Apple — Apple isn't a charity — but it provided us with a high quailty and low cost afternoon trip that the children thoroughly enjoyed and learned from. I'm OK with that. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Pump Up The Volume by Virginia Heffernan, New York Times Unlike the other devices that clatter in my shoulder bag, the Kindle isn't a big greedy magnet for the world's signals. It doesn't pulse with clocks, blaze with video or squall with incoming bulletins and demands. It's almost dead, actually. Lifeless. Just a lump in my hands or my bag, exiled from the crisscrossing of infinite cybernetworks. It's almost like a book. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Busted In The Park by Daniel Krieger, New York Times I'd gone into the dark woods of Central Park on the well-lighted 72nd Street Park Drive an upstanding citizen, trying to reduce my carbon footprint while getting some exercise and saving a few dollars. Next thing I knew, one of New York's finest was threatening arrest, drawing me into the labyrinth of the city's criminal justice system. **** Just Leave Them Behind by Charles McGrath, New York Times One author argues that some of us are just not college material. Another, that colleges should just stick to the basics. **** The Lessons Of The Master by Ian Buruma, New York Review Of Books Naipaul's literary discovery of the world is marked by the way he uses his eyes and ears. These observations are filtered through a mind that is alert, never sentimental, and deeply suspicious of romantic cant. **** How To Read Like A President by Jon Meacham, New York Times You can tell a lot about a president — or a presidential canddiate — by what he reads, or says he reads. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** They Are Taking Up Jobs That Singaporeans Want And Can Do Too! by Lee Lilian, The Itch To Write I think its time for our ministers to come out from their ivory tower and take a look at what is happening outside... Singaporeans should come first. **** Unintended Benefits Of Malaysia Being A Tortoise by Tan Siok Choo, The Sun As a tortoise, Malaysia has been spared the turmoil affecting thousands of investors in Hongkong and Singapore. This is because policymakers like Bank Negara Malaysia emphasise developing ringgit-based lending and ringgit-based investment products while resisting the temptation to be financially trendy. **** Homeless Koreans' Photo Upsets Community by Jamie Ee Wen Wei, Straits Times In response, Ministry of Education said the publisher has been asked to replace the picture at the next reprint of the textbook. **** Singapore Will See More Political Openness: PM by Straits Times **** Lawyer Nair Now Accused Of Contempt Of Court by Straits Times This time, the 58-year-old is alleged to have said, among other things, 'that the courts were being abused for political ends'. **** Compensation For Kidneys? by Salma Khalik, Straits Times The law will be changed early next year to allow people who donate their kidneys to get monetary compensation from the recipient or a voluntary organisation. The amount should not be so large that it is seen as an inducement, said health minister Khaw Boon Wan when he announced this yesterday. **** "Exploiting People's Misery" by Goh Meng Seng, Singapore Alternatives **** 1,017 Have Signed Fourth Petition To MAS by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen The petition calls for "fair compensation" for investors of failed credit-linked securities who were "misled by sales reps and/or sales material" which described the products as low risk. **** Angry Investors Ponder Legal Action, Crowd Swells At Hong Lim Park by The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore **** Government Will Ensure Vulnerable Groups Are Cared For During Downturn by Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia The government's most pressing concern moving into 2009 is to maintain progress amid the uncertain economic conditions and to ensure that vulnerable groups are taken care of. Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong made this point on Saturday during a dialogue session with youths aged 18 to 35. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Mon Nov 3 13:15:00 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 3 Nov 2008 18:15:00 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 3, 2008 Message-ID: <20081103181500.87448.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Crashing The iPhone by Taylor Buley, Forbes **** Is The MacBook Air Overpriced? by Brooke Crothers, CNET News.com Competitive offerings from Dell and Toshiba reveal that the MacBook Air may not be so extortionately expensive. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** On Security, Microsoft Reports Progress And Alarm by John Markoff, New York Times Microsoft plans to report on Monday that the security of its Windows operating system has significantly improved, while at the same time the threat of computer viruses, frauds and other online scourges has become much more serious. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Leopard by Wells Tower, New Yorker **** Prayers by Rae Armantrout, New Yorker **** Summer At Blue Creek, North Carolina by Jack Gilbert, New Yorker **** From This To That by Eamon Grennan, New Yorker SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Payment For Expenses Only by Serene Luo, Straits Times Women who donate their eggs for research should be reimbursed only for teir expenses such as cab fares, and earnings in the time taken. They should not be paid for the inconvenience, the pain they undergo, nor the risks involved, said the Bioethics Advisory Committee of Singapore, which on Monday unveiled seven recommendations on the handling of human eggs donated for research. **** AG To Argue In WSJA Case by Zakir Hussain, Straits Times Attorney-general Walter Woon will be in the Hgh Court on Tuesday to argue that the publisher of the Wall Street Journal Asia is gulity of contempt of court. **** SIA Charges For Exit Row Seats On Economy Class by Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia Customers will be able to get a guaranteed exit row seat on Singapore Airlines flights, but they will have to pay US$50 per sector for the privilege. SIA says it may extend this Preferred Seat Selection programme to other seats that offer more leg room in future. **** Photos Of Marina Barrage by AsiaIsGreen **** PAP Leaders Welcome More Foreigners For Our "National" Interest! by Fang Zhi Yuan, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore SM Goh's continued insistence that the government understands the concerns of Singaporeans when its policies remained in favor of foreigners shows how out of toucht eh PAP is from the general populace. **** Singapore Not Run Like A Business: Law Minister by Zul Othman, Today Singaporeans' interests "msut come first," said Mr K Shanmugam, but that does not mean "we shouldn't allow foreigners to be here." **** No IC? Pay Special Fee by New Paper A check by The New Paper on Sunday has revealed how easy it is to buy a 'pre-registered' card from some phone vendors without signing any papers or showing any identification. **** Poly Students Want Fairer Transport Fares by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen "We are surprised that transport operators choose to discriminate based on a 'man-made' label; tertiary and non-tertiary." From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Tue Nov 4 13:15:00 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 4 Nov 2008 18:15:00 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 4, 2008 Message-ID: <20081104181500.73285.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Apple: Soon To Be A Mobile Gaming Force by Arik Hesseldahl, BusinessWeek Apple already has more titles for its games than both Ninetndo DS console and Sony PSP combined. And with Apple selling via iTuens, there are no costs associated with the distribution of physical media. **** Review: Premiere Pro CS4 by Antony Bolante, Macworld Premiere Pro CS4 further strengthens Premiere's reputation on the Mac as a capable video-editing program. It has yet to attain the best-of-class standing enjoyed by many of the other programs in the Creative Suite, but it has earned its place among them. **** Unconfirmed: New MacBooks Disabled Pwnage Tool, Open Second Front In War On Jailbreaking by John Herman, Gizmodo Users over at HowardForums and iPodTouchFans are reporting problems running the Pwnage tool on the new aluminum MacBooks, which don't seem to be able to recognize an iPhone or iPod Touch when it is booted into DFU mode, a vital requirement for jailbreaking. **** Report: Tony Fadell, iPod Chief, To Leave Apple by Tom Krazit, CNET News.com One of the fathers of the iPod, Tony Fadell, is leving Apple after seven years spent inside the division that changed the company's fortunes. Fadell is to be replaced by former IBM executive Mark Papermaster, according to a report Monday night by the /Wall Street Journal/. **** Will Apple's Stance On Ballot Measure Come Back To Haunt It? by Lisa Schmeiser, Macworld For Apple to publicly commit to a specific political stance is unusual, both for the company and for corporations on the whole since it runs the risk of alienating the percentage of its customer base that may not share those views. But, some argue those risks may be outweighed by the rewards. **** PDFPen 4.0.1 by Ed Eubanks, Jr, ATPM **** Apple, Psystar Ask Court To Set Trial Date For Next November by Sam Oliver, AppleInsider A proposal that would have had Apple and unauthorized Mac clone maker Psystar settle their legal dispute outside of court appears to be off the table, with the two firms more recently asking a judge to approve a lengthy discovery and court schedule that would end in a trial next fall. **** Apple: No New Products Before The Holidays by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld Despite internet rumors of forthcoming producting releases, an Apple representative confirmed that the company has no plans to release any new products before the holidays. /It's now 'safe' to buy that iMac you always wanted. :-)/ **** Apple Rep: We're "Looking Into" MacBook Pro Trackpad Issues by Jeff Smykil, Ars Technica **** Can iPhone 3G Create 'Halo Effect' For Apple Internationally? by Ed Sutherland, Cult Of Mac **** Apple Sued Over Defective PowerBook Memory Slots by Katie Marsal, AppleInsider Apple is facing a new class-action lawsuit that charges the companyw ith failing to fully recognize the scope of a memory slot defect in its PowerBook G4 notebooks, which has left thousands of customers with no choice but to foot hefty repair costs on their own. **** Why Opera Didn't Make It On The iPhone by Daniel Lonescu, PC World It looks like an Opera publicity stunt rather than yet another anticompetivie scandal for Apple. **** Time-Saving Tips: Get Creative by Christopher Breen, Jeff Carlson and Jim Heid, Macworld 18 tips for doing more (and spending less time) with iLife '08. **** FileMaker Devcon '09 Registration Is Open by Peter Cohen, Macworld The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** A Mostly Cloudy Computing Forecast by Daniel Lyons, Washington Post **** Microsoft: Third Party Apps Killing Our Security by Larry Dignan, ZDNet.com MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Graywolf Press Is Lone Wolf In Book Publishing by Ben Westhoff, City Pages The publisher is a thousand miles from NYC but remains one of the best. **** A Writer In A Living Novel by Charles McGrath, New York Times Charolyn Chute, whose fourth novel, "The School on Heart's Content Road," comes out on Firday, splits time at her rural Maine compound between writing and running her "no-wing" militia. **** The End Of The Satirical Industrial Complex? by Thomas Schaller, Salon For the past eight years, Jon Stewart, Tina Fey and other comedians have had us laughing through our tears. If Obama wins, will the laughter die? SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Monthly Digest Of Statistics Singapore, October 2008 by Department Of Statistics, Singapore Government This present publication contains a wide range of current satistical information on the Singapore economy and society. (Note: Link goes to an PDF document.) **** Singapore Sizzling by Joseph Sedfrey S. Santiago, BusinessMirror It is a good time for art lovers to be in Singapore. **** 'Kangaroo' Case Postponed by Jeremy Au Yong, Straits Times The trial of three men taken to court for wearing T-shirts with a Kangaroo dressed in a judge's robe shas been postponed for three weeks to give them more time to prepare for the case. **** SDP's John Tan Suspended From Work Due TO Pending Court Case by Margaret Perry, Channel NewsAsia James Cook University Singapore has suspended the services of its contract lecturer John Tan Liang Joo, who is also the assistant secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP). **** SIA To Differentiate Fuel Surchage According To Class Of Travel by Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia **** AG Asks For Substantial Fine Against Dow Jones Publishing In Contempt Case by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia Attorney general Water Woon said laws against contempt of court are not a restriction on freedom of speech or expression. He said the right to criticise does not give anyone the licence to make irespnosible accusations against the judiciary. **** LTA Looks Into Making Cycling More Conveinent by Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia **** Lloyd Won't Face Drug Trafficking Charge by AFP Singapore's attorney-general has withdrawn a drug trafficking charge against ABC reporter Peter Lloyd, but he still faces four lesser charges, his lawyer says. **** Learn From Others' Expeience by Christopher Tan, Straits Times Singapore may have been the first to implement bold initiatives such as the vehicle quota system and congestion pricing, but it gets many of its ideas from other cities, said transport minister Raymond Lim. **** On The Foreign Dorm Issue by Dancingredheels Am I allowed to sheepishly retract whatever insensitive remarks that I have stupidly made? **** Boycott As A Form Of Civil Disobedience? by Singapore Skeptic I think organising regular protests, while admirable, is not very effective. What is the best way to get at DBS? Hurt them at the pocket books. **** Betting On Singapore Visitors by New Straits Times When the Eye On Malaysia here officially opens for business on Saturday at the Sungai Melaka rivermouth, the people behind this project along with the state government will be keeping a close eye on Singapore. **** Singapore Restaurant Rated Top In Asian Guide by Neil Chatterjee, Reuters Singapore restaurants grabbed top spots in a new guidebook to the best Asian eateries that favours the region's twists on modern European cuisine rather than street stall favorites. **** A Cultural Divide? While The West Axes Jobs, Asia Cuts Pay by Kevin Lim, Reuters Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian firms try harder to preserve jobs in difficult times, which will stem unemployment and may help keep Asian economies afloat at a time of slowing exports. **** Meeting Wants Of Special-Needs Students by Wong Siew Hoong, Ministry of Education, Singapore Government As there might have been some miscommunication on the issue, the school has since clarified the matter with Mdm Lee. **** Black October Eats Into Temasek's Paper Wealth by Business Times Singapore Last month's market upheaval swept away S$16.4 billion in market value from Temasek Holdings' portfolio of major ivnestments in Singapore-listed companies alone. **** New Expressway To Cost $5 Billion? by Christopher Tan, Straits Times The new Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE), which will link the new downtown to the western and north-eastern suburbs, is busting its budget in a big way. /As a layman, this is one land project that I cannot understand why it is needed./ **** Listen To The Lion City by The Age Add in a good dose of old-fashioned central planning leavened by a fair degree of common sense (spiced by paternalism), and its IT, or "infocomm" industry can't help but thrive. /Sadly though, I don't see a lot of IT innovations./ **** Flaws In Public Transport Council Study by Tan Lay Peng, Straits Times See Previously: Bus Commuters Caught In Terminology Jam , by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Wed Nov 5 13:15:04 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 5 Nov 2008 18:15:04 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 5, 2008 Message-ID: <20081105181504.95712.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Review: After Effects CS4 by Jeff Foster, Macworld Much improved performance and tools for serious production workflow. **** Apple Releases Digital Camera Raw Comaptibility Update 2.3 by Cory Bohon, The Unofficial Apple Weblog **** Path Finder: A Browser For Mac Power Users by Bakari Chavanu, Apple Matters It definitely has caused me to rethink how I can use its browser to better access files and other items on my computer more efficiently. See Also: Does Path Finder Have What It Takes To Displace The Finder? , by Milind Alvares, Smoking Apples. **** What Apple Gets Right by Darien Graham-Smith, PC Pro Despite its emphasis on consistency, Apple hates to rest on its laurels: with almost every product it debuts some unique new feature. **** Are Smartphones Threatening Windows PC Sales? by Shane O'Neill, CIO Apple is not going to cripple Windows laptop sales by hitting them over the head with a pricey MacBook, but by sweeping the legs with that little computer in your pocket: the iPhone. **** Forget PSP, DS: Apple Enters Handheld Gaming by ANdrew Nusca, ZDNet.com I, for one, am not entirely sure the world is ready to drop a phone, iPod /and/ handheld gaming device for one. Let's see how holiday sales work out first. **** Why You Will Not See Opera On Your iPhone by Saul Hansell, New York Times **** Mighty Annoyed At The Mighty Mouse by David Zeiler, Baltimore Sun I'm annoyed at Apple for designing the Mighty Mouse in such a way that the scroll ball becomes difficult to use in an appallingly brief time. Can't they figure out a way to provide scrolling without a physical rolling ball? **** Confessions Of An iPod Touch Convert by Kevin van Haaren, TidBITS I've found the purchase of the iPod touch as a PDA to be well worth the money. I ended up with a better media player than the iPod video, and I gained access to apps that are significant improvements over my BlackBerry and Palm applications. **** Time-Saving Tips: At The Office by Jeffrey Battersby, Rik Myslewski and Kirk McElhearn, Macworld Twenty-two ways to save time and keystrokes in Microsoft Office, iWork, and more. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** FCC Approves Google-Backed Plan To Free TV Airwaves by Molly Peterson, Bloomberg **** Twitter Changes The Game For Pitching by Carmine Gallo, BusinessWeek Here are four rules for deliveirng powerful presentations in the world of social media. **** A Full Wall Of E-Ink Paper Debuts In Japan by Jose Fermoso, Wired MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Whole Lives Summed Up Wittily And Succinctly by Carlin Romano, The Philadelphia Inquirer Can good writers write short? C'mon - can fish swim? Example: /Not Quite What I Was Planning./ It's a collection of six-word memoirs. **** Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Work Out by Janet Maslin, New York Times Stephen King's introductio explains that his new surge of short-story writing was prompted by the job of editing the 2006 volume in the Best American Short Stories series. He wondered whether he stil had the knack of miniaturiaztion and decided to find out. And simple, everyday situations became his open portals to fantasy and horror. **** What Would George Bailey Do? by Edward Rothstein, New York Times After the events of the last century, can anyone fully believe that the state should be the ultimate standard for trust and fiscal faith? And would even a real-life George Bailey be able to coax us into confidence, let alone belief that good intentions have power over principles of finance? SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** A Dent In Singapore's Financial Hub Dream by Megawati Wijaya, Asia Times When the United States and Europe showed early signs of financial distress last year, Singapore came to the rescue of a handful of big investment banks hit by subprime mortgage problems. But as the financial contagion spreads, the island nation's open economy is emerging at least in the short term as one of the region's biggest losers from the crisis. **** Singapore PM Congratuates Obama, Biden On Election Victory by Lau Joon-Nie, Channel NewsAsia Singapore prime minister Lee Hisen Loong said the world needed strong US leadership to overcome the deepening economic crisis and conclude the Doha Round of trade negotiations. See Also: MFA Press Release: Congratulatory Letters From PM Lee Hsien Long To US President-Elect Barack Obama And Vice-President-Elect Joe Biden , by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore Government. **** StarHub Delays iPhone Sale by Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times StarHub, which had earlier said that it will have the Apple iPhone 3G in stores by end of the year, will not be bringing it in after all. **** Ok To Compensate Egg Donors by Judith Tan, Straits Times The Ministry of Health supports the principle set by the Bioethics Advisory Committee to compensate women who donate their eggs for research for their loss of time and earnings. **** FM George Yeo Says Obama's Victory Is "Deeply Inspiring" by Ca-Mie De Souza, Channel NewsAsia SIngapore's foreign affairs minister George Yeo has called the election of the first African-American US president a "historic event" that is "deeply inspiring". See Also: Obama Victory , by George Yeo, Beyond SG. **** LTA Researching On Viability Of Distance-Based Road Pricing by Asha Popatlal, sin The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been working with potential suppliers to test different satellite systems for the past couple of years. However, at the Urban Transport Leaders Summit on Wednesday, its chief engineer said there is no complete solution in sight yet. **** Lee Kuan Yew Ponders Nuclear Energy Option by Business Times Singapore The stumbling block, said Lee Kuan Yew, is that even if the decision was made eventually to build a nuclear power station, the densely populated and compact republic lacks the minimum safety distance required for evacuation in case of a fallout. Singapore, he said, would eventually be "forced to cooperate" with its neighbours, Malaysia and Indonesia, in this alternate energy effort. See Also: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's Dialogue At Singapore Energy Conference , by Singapore Government. **** Changi Chapel Museum, Singapore by SingingQuilter's Weblog It started with a quilt made by the Girl Scouts for their scout leader, Elizabeth Ennis during the first year of incarceration at Changi. **** Singaporeans Drink Little Recycled Sewage by Greg Robert, The Australian The Queensland government has hailed Singapore as a prime example of the success of introducing recycled sewage to the drinking water supply, but most of the water the island nation derives from recycled sewage is used for industrial and commercial purposes. See Also: Singapore Drinks Recycled Water Too , by Stuart Khan, Water Recycling In Australia. What is more interesting in Singapore is the high level of treatment used. This has made the water highly suited for a number of applications including Singapore's considerable electronic chip manufaturing industry. **** Singapore Says WSJ Wages Two-Decade Judicial Attack by Melanie Lee, Reuters **** DBS A Victim Of Its Own Success? by Loh Chee Kong, Today DBS not only has to resolve this High Notes saga but also repair the damage done to its standing among Singaporeans. **** It's Was For The Commuters' Sake by Looi Teik Soon, Public Transport Council, Straits Times The PTC imposes on premium bus service (PBS) a minimum fare of 1.5 times the baic bus fares to protect the viability of basic bus services. Without the fare guidelines, the PBS will cannibalise the ridership of the basic bus services. **** Why Bus Lanes Don't Work In Heartland Stretches by Low Kok Soon, Straits Times Public infrastructure is being used inefficiently as there are only seven bus services plying this stretch during peak hours... This means in an hour, there are only 42 service splying this stretch. On the other hand, there are about 1,200 vehicles squeezed into the two remaining lanes during the same period. /You want to compare numbers? Why don't you compare actual number of people using those lanes instead? How many people are on the buses, and how many people are using private space-hogging congestion-inducing cars?/ /By the way, I counted the 13 services using at least part of the affected road: 67, 75, 77, 170, 171, 173, 176, 177, 178, 184, 961, 963, 970./ **** Number Of Bus And MRT Fare Cheats Drops With Tougher Penalties by Ng Lian Cheong, Channel NewsAsia From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Thu Nov 6 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 6 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 6, 2008 Message-ID: <20081106181501.81359.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** OmniOutliner Updated To Version 3.7.1 by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld **** Apple App Store Refund Is Possible by Cybernet **** Joel's Role Leading Apple University by Joel West, Open IT Strategies To quote my onetime hero, let me make one thing perfectly clear: Joel Podolny did not quit Yale to head internal training at Apple. I'd bet a year's mortgage payments on that. **** Big Mean Folder Machine 1.5.1 by Dan Frakes, Macworld I've found Big Mean Folder Machine to be a huge time-saver when performing large file-organization jobs. **** There's Nothing Easy About Letting Apple Into The Enterprise by Mary Brandel, Computerworld While Apple will likely infiltrate more corporate environments - thanks to the enthusiasm it has generated in the consumer market and the enterprise-friendly features added to the Mac and iPhone - that doesn't mean it will be easy. Even Mac veterans say Apple doesn't always act like other technology partners and that doing what it takes to mix Apple into the environment takes time and research. /Apple has never been about partnering — they have always been selling appliances, not 'technology solutions'./ **** Review: BBEdit 9.02 by Tom Negrino and Dori Smith, Macworld If you really do need the full power of BBEdit, this new version is a good, if pricey, choice. **** Steve Jobs: King Of Cash by Brian Caulfield, Forbes The bottom line: Jobs is the king of cash, he can do anything. **** Five Ways To Slim Down Your Mac OS X Install by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica There's lots of stuff in your install that you don't need, don't want, and will never use. A thoughfully slimmed-down OS X discards those unneeded elements and leaves you more room for the items yo do want. **** Leopard One Year Later: 5 OS Lessons Learned by Robert Lemos, CIO.com Apple's Leopard version of its Mac OS X added more polish and features to the Mac desktop — and carried with it important lessons for operating systems of the future, even for arch-rival Microsoft. **** Apple, Late To The Party — Again by Paul Rubens, Server Watch Apple was late to the party moving to Intel processors, it's missing the enterprise OS party, and it doesn't seem to have heard of the party getting going in the cloud. **** Why Apple's Sales Jumped In Japan by Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune **** Apple iPod Creator Gets $300,000 Per Year For Advisory Role by Wolfgang Gruener, TG Daily **** Jobs' Travel Expenses Continue To Rise by MacNN Apple CEO Steve Jobs is continuing to spend high amounts of money on private jet travel, figures from the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal. **** MobileMe Stumbles Again, Goes Dark For Nearly 7 Hours by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld Even though Apple recently upgraded the back-end infrastructure of its problem-plagued MobileMe, the online service was offline for nearly seven hours on Monday, according to a web uptime-measurement company. **** Filing Reveals Apple Employment Boom by Todd Bishop, TechFlash Employment at Apple has risen nearly 50 percent during the past year, according to the company's annual 10-K report, filed this morning with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A large chunk of the employment increase was due to growth in Apple's retail segment. **** MacBook Pro Is Built To Last by Tom Yager, InfoWorld On the criteria that matter most to me — durability, longevity, flexibility, power efficiency, and ecological impact — I've yet to come across a mainstream notebook that measures up to the unibody MacBook Pro. Apple's MacBook Pro is still the best notebook you can buy. **** Jack Keane by Michael Yanovich, Inside Mac Games All in all, it really isnt' a bad game. It's resonably fun, some of the puzzles can be enjoyable, the story is entertaining, the characters are ok. It just never breaks out of the realm of mediocrity into really good territory, though it does have the occasional slip into the weak side. **** Sandvox Website Creation App Updated by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld New features in Sandvox 1.5.2 include Autosave now being done in the background. Backups and snapshots also run in the background with the new version. **** Apple Resonse On Norwegian iTunes Case Fails To Impress by Mikael Ricknas, IDG News Service Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman Bjorn Erik Thon said: "It's a consumer's right to transfer and play digital content bought and downloaded frm the internet to the music device he himself chooses to use. iTunes makes this impossible or at least difficult, and hence, they act in breach of Norwegian law." **** Roxio Updates Toast 9 And Streamer by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Once Thought Safe, WPA Wi-Fi Encryption Is Cracked by Robert McMillan, IDG News Service **** Netbooks Come Into Their Own by Walter S. Mossberg, Wall Street Journal **** Intel Dumps Ultra-Wideband Development by Electronista MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** 30 Years Of /Dallas/ by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch, Reason Magazine THe TV show that won the Cold War. **** What Michelle Can Teach Us by Allison Samuels, Newsweek Forget Claire Huxtable. She could be a real-life role model for black women. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** No Need To Draw On Reserves Yet, Says President Nathan by Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia **** Singaproe To Become Water-Sufficient by Ben Bland, Asia Sentinel When Singapore's newest reservoir was opened this weekend, it was billed as the garden city's latest leisure hub, designed to attract boaters and picnickers keen to escape the hectic pace of urban life. But the Marina Reservoir, the 15th to be built in Singapore and the first to be located in the city center, has a much more important role to play. It is the latest advance in the city-state's drive to wean itself away from imported water from Malaysia and its concomitant political entanglements. In the process, Singapore has emerged as an unlikely world leader in water conservation, reclamation and desalination. **** The War Between Bloggers And Journalists Rages On by Terence Lee, The Online Citizen Yes, we should be critical of the mainstream press, but we must also be reminded of the realities in Singapore: where else can you get your daily dose of news about the local scene? **** Public Funds: Be Safe, Not Sorry by Loh Chee Kong, Today Town councils that have invested in Lehman-linked products should inform their residents how much (or little) money they lost and what recourse (if any) has been sought. Residents should not have to wait until next April to find out these answers, if at all. **** Awaiting Singapore's Moment Of Change by Dhevarajan Devadas, The Online Citizen The PAP titled its 2006 election manifesto "Staying Together, Moving Ahead." But it has failed to live up to this promise. **** Passenger Load On Trains: What's Acceptable And What's Not by Geoffrey Lim, Land Transport Authority, Straits Times At 1,600 passengers per train, the MRT pssenger density will translate to about 4.9 passengers per square metre, which is significantly lower than the actual loading density of 7.0 pasengers per square metre experienced on the Tokyo metro. /I propose LTA start measuring with something that passengers can relate more: a) what is the maximum time for a passenger to alight a train, when nobody else is getting off the train, b) how big a newspaper/magazine can one read comfortably: Penguin Classic, Today, or Straits Times./ **** Tiered Electricity Tariff Will Benefit Needy by Sylvia Lim, Straits Times Even if the provider needs to recoup the same total revenue, this can be achieved where the baseline consumption rate is significantly below 30.45 cents per unit while consumption in the subsequent tiers is charged at progressively higher rates. /Non-green event organisers like F1 should, especially, pay a significantly higher tariff than the rest of us. I support Sylvia Lim in this issue./ **** SIA Charge For Legroom Doesn't Make Sense by Jeffrey Chan, Straits Times In a post-9/11, terror-threatened world, does SIA truly want to offer passengers who harbour ill intentions an additional option of guaranteeing a certain seat beforeand, a seat tha talso offers maximum mobility in that cabin class? From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Fri Nov 7 13:15:00 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 7 Nov 2008 18:15:00 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 7, 2008 Message-ID: <20081107181500.82596.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** MacBook Air 1.86GHz Test Results by James Galbraith, Macworld New system improves on original models, but still lags behind other Mac laptops. **** Apple Faces More Pressure Over iPod Exclusivity In Norway by AFP Norway's consumer mediator said Thursday he would take US electronics manufacturer Apple's iTunes before a government agency for failing to make its online store compatible with music players other than its iPod. **** Review: Flash CS4 Professional by David Karlins, Macworld Graphic designers and illustrators will find in Flash CS4 Professional the environment and interface they have longed for—one that provides access to complex anmation generation without needing to define keyframes or write ActionScript. Definitely worth the upgade price for most Flash developers, Flash CS4 might well come at the right moment for folks who have been intimidated by Flash's dependence on scripting to jump in the pool. **** Is Apple Opening Up? by Chuqui So here's the new Apple, reacting to issues, and in some cases, actually acknowledging rumors. And the rumor world is reacting as Apple wants it to — by shutting down the hype. Apple's made a big shift here, from "we will keep this out of discussion" to "we can help steer the discussion." **** Review - Three Organizer Programs For Writers by John Martellaro, Mac Observer **** A Router Migration: Apple's Airport Extreme 'N' Delivers Mixed Results by Brian Dipert, EDN **** Has 2008 Been The Oustanding Year Steve Jobs Promised? by MacBlogz At the end of the Macworld '08 keynote, Steve Jobs enthuisastically rattled off all of the products Apple had release din the first two weeks of 2008. "All of this in just the first two weeks!" he explained, ".. and we've got 50 more weeks to go." As Jobs concluded, the crowd at Macworld erupted, and surely everyone was convinced that Apple would be bringing the goods this year. **** AT&T: Tethering Coming To The iPhone Soon by Harry McCracken, Technologizer **** The Top Ten Reasons iTunes Sucks by Scott GIlbertson, Webmonkey **** Sharing Your iTunjes Music With Simlify by Christopher Breen, Macworld And /simple/ pretty well describes it. **** Manage iTunes Radio Stations Via A Smart Playlist by Rob Griffiths, Macworld **** Play Almost Any Audio File by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld Listen to music formats that iTunes doesn't support. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Twitter's Evan Williams: Making Money Through Corporate Accounts? by Caroline McCarthy, CNET News.com **** Microsoft 'Interested' In Open Source Browser: Ballmer by Rodney Gedda, TechWorld MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Laugh And Be Merry - Tomorrow We're Growing Up by Chris Colin, New York Times Before becoming first-time parents, a couple takes a vacation with old friends to Monte Rio, Calif., a laid-back enclave of misty redwoods in Sonoma County. **** Commute Or Relocate? In Capital, An Enduring Question by John M. Broder, New York Times Rahm Emanuel, who will leave his family in Chicago and commute whenever he can, is the latest political appointee to face the question. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Real-Time Maps On Trains by Maria Almenoar, Straits Times Train commuters will know which door is opening and which stop they are heading to with a new real-time map system to be rolled out by SMRT. The map panels are similar to that on Hong Kong trains. **** Green Island On Pulau Ubin by Tania Tan, Straits Times **** All Bets Off For Las Vegas Sands' In Singapore by Neel Chowdhury, Time **** Economists Say Government Could Increase Spending By S$10b by Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia Economists expect Singapore's government to increase its spending by up to S$10 billion next year. Senior minister Goh Chok Tong said on Thursday that the next budget will be an "expansionary" one, which means the government will be spending more and collecting less. **** Financial Crisis Politically Awakens Singapore Investors by Melanie Lee, Reuters The incident left many financially scarred but politically awakened in a city-state where protests are rare and street gatherings of five or more people require a permit. **** New Security At Terminals by Chong Chee Kin, Straits Times A new security system which makes use of sensors and automated bollards at bus interchanges will be implemented soon to deal with the threat of car bombs. /Privates cars entering interchanges accidentally — such as Woodlands Interchange, where this is a not-too-rare event due to the poor traffic junction design — will face serious problems./ **** Medical Ethics Committee Supports Law Change To Compensate Kidney Donors by Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia The National Medical Ethics Committee has supported the proposed change to the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) to compensate kidney donors. Among its recommendations, the committee suggested that the compensation scheme should start with Singaproe citizens and permanent residents. The donor should also be given a choice whether to accept or decline the compensation. **** Pro The Death Penalty by Indonesian Matters **** Open Source Principles Driven Government by Harish Pillay **** The Paradox Of Thrift In Singapore by Everyday's Life In A Snapshot Assuming the government does take actions to stimulate spending, would Singaporeans bite? /No, the government will just spend on public projects. Many public projects are still going on, from the casinos to Orchard Road renovation to the Sports Hub to the new rail lines and expressways./ **** Singapore Government On Singapore Sustainability? by Simon Tay, SG Energy Crisis There won't be sufficient electricity generated to be shared among all the HDB household to be utilitze for their personal consumption. **** Las Vegas Sands' Adelson Said To Meet With Singapore by Beth Jinks and Kelvin Wong, Bloomberg Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire who controls Las Vegas Sands Corp., held talks with the Singapore government this week as a cash shortage threatens the company's $4 billion casino development there, a person with knowledge of the meetings said. Las Vegas Sands seeks funding to stave off defaulting on loans while facing "substantial doubt" about its ability to survive as a going concern, the casino operator said yesterday. Las Vegas Sands and government offiicals will publicly pledge to complete the Singapore project, said the person, who declined to be identified because the information isn't public. **** Singapore's DBS Says To Cut 6 Pct Of Workforce by Saeed Azhar and Kevin Lim, Reuters DBS Group, Southeast Asia's biggest bank, will cut 900 staff from Singapore and Hong Kong or six percent of its workforce by the end of this month to reduce costs, its CEO Richard Stanley said on Friday. **** Return Area To Its Former Glory, Please by Lawrence Loh, Today Tear down the infrastructure that supports the sex trade and things will fall into place. **** Can We See Beyond The Colour? by Tan May Ping, New Paper The need for the GRC or group representation constituency scheme shows clearly that we're still tribal folk, flocking together like birds of a feather. /Who says we still need the GRC scheme?/ **** The War Between Bloggers And Journalists Rages On II by Clarence Chua, The Online Citizen Writing skewed articles and settling on an ill-fitting interviewee: honest mistakes or second-rate work ethics? From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sat Nov 8 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 8 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 8, 2008 Message-ID: <20081108181501.34789.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Apple Beats RIM, Microsoft To Become No. 2 Smartphone Provider by Eric Zeman, InformationWeek Analysts have confirmed the numbers. Apple did indeed surpass RIM in sales during the second quarter to become the second-largest provider of smartphones. It also surpassed Windows Mobile. But can Apple keep the momentum going? **** Papermaster Denies Breaking NCA In Joining Apple by MacNN In his formal response to IBM, Papermaster claims that Apple and IBM do not compete with each other, and that his hiring was not primarily based on his work with the latter company. **** Majestic Forest Features 60 Levels Of Mazes by MacNN The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** The Cybercafe Lives by Virginia Heffernan, New York Times Today, with superpowered handhelds, we imagine digital life as something that no longer requires devoted surfaces, mouse pads or uninterrupted stretches of time. But that's not true if you're a gamer. **** Oh, Grow Up by The Economist Blogging is no longer what it was, because it has entered the mainstream. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** The Caged Bird Speaks by Elizabeth Royte, New York Times "Alex & Me," Irene Pepperberg's memoir of her 30-year scientific collaboration with an African gray parrot, was written for the legions of Alex's fans, the (probably) millions whose lives he and she touched with their groundbreaking work on nonhuman communication. **** Holding Up The Sky by Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times The emergence of China's titanic manufacturing base has been chronicled in numerous books and articles in recent years, but Leslie Chang has elected to focus not on the broader market forces at play but on the individuals, most of them women, who leave their villages and sek their fortunes on the front lines of this economy. **** A Genial Explorer Of Literary Worlds by A. O. Scott, New York Times A single John Leonard sentence is, more often than not, an unmatchable catalog of learning, wit, enthusiasm and combativeness, and by the time Mr Leonard died on Wednesday, tose sentences surely numbered in the millions. **** The End Of Vietnam In American Politics by John Zogby, Forbes Once again, history is not kind to the soldiers of America's least popular and most divisive war. This election may have closed the book on a Vietnam veteran ever being elected president. **** Mercenary For Justice by Robert Kolker, New York Magazine Pro-life zealot James Kopp murdered an upstte abrotion doctor in 1998. nd he might well have escaped the FBI if not for an informant whose desire for the big reward money led him to betray a lifelong friend. **** /The New York Times/'s Lonely War by Seth Mnookin, Vanity Fair The /Times/ is being whipsawed by the same economic woes battering the rest of the industry. But unlike virtually every other news organization on the planet, it has not significantly cut back on the number of staff in has on the ground in Iraq, a commitment which costs upwards of $3 million a year. "You can't cover a story only when interest peaks," says Bill Keller, the paper's executive editor. "You have to walk the beat all the time. This is so integral to what readers expect in /The New York Times/ that if we stopped covering the war in Iraq we should just go out of business." SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Outstanding Issues Won't Affect Malaysia-Singapore Ties by Bernama Malaysia and Singapore will not allow outstanding issues to hinder efforts at forging closer bilateral ties, said foreign minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim Saturday. **** Judge Orders Apple Executive To Stop Work by David Lawsky, Reuters A U.S> District Court judge in New York ordered a newly hired Apple Inc. executive to stop work immediately because he ight be violating an agreement with his former employer, IBM. See Also: The Papermaster Chronicles: An Apple Vs. IBM Timeline, by Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune. **** The Little Kiddies And Their Beauty Sleep by Mr Wang Says So The Singapore government likes to say that it has high standards, but are the standards high becuase the system is really good? Or because the students these days are just working harder and harder and harder. **** And Then Suddenly The Tide Came In... by Mr Wang Says So If the world heads into a really bad economic patch in the next few years, the IR projects can do litle to help Singapore. **** 80 Hours In The Air-Conditioned Nation by Jamais Cascio, Open The Future Underlying this evolution is a stark sense of insecurity. **** The Languages Of Singapore by With One's Past... **** Singapore's "National Identity" by Global Problems What is a nation if its only pursuit is one of economic progress? **** Teacher By Day, Bar Dancer By Night by Seah Chiang Nee, The Star As the recession bites harder some find unconventional ways to get spending money while others show their meaner side. **** Recession Drives Golf Club Memberships Below Par by Neil Chatterjee, Reuters Prices for exclusive golf club memberships in Singapore have been whacked as the global financial crisis seeps into the real economy. **** Man Killed For Exposing Himself by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread Curing homophobia requires teaching people to question received authority, peer pressure and the whole notion of social conformity. **** The Legal Complications Of Oral Sex by Mr Wang Says So See Also: Wrong Sex And The Wrong Time? (And A Case Of Exemplary Journalism) , by Mollymeek. **** Special Lane Has Improved Bus Speeds by Geoffrey Lim, Land Transport Authority, Straits Times A car on average carries 1.5 people. A single-deck bus can carry 80 passengers. As road space is limited, we need to make a decisive shift towards public transport to meet travel needs. To do this, we need to increase the attractiveness of public transport, and bus lanes help to increase the speed and reliabiity of bus services for commuters. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sun Nov 9 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 9 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 9, 2008 Message-ID: <20081109181501.5821.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** The Essential Guide To Deep-Cleaning Your Mac by TechRadar.com How to find the files that eat up space and slow you down. **** Why Apple's Keynote Keeps Raising The Bar When It Comes To Presentations - It's All To Do With Why It Was Created In The First Place by Les Posen's Presentation Magic One shouldn't underestimate the story-telling, narrative-building capacities of Keynote. More than ever, the power to weave a story arc, with its beginning - middle - end, is essential for conveying complex ideas and concepts to naive audiences. **** Latest App Store Victim: CastCatcher By Return7 by MacBlogz **** Apple Slimming Down AC Adapter Recall Packaging? by Rene Ritchie, The iPhone Blog **** Balancing New, Old Technologies Is Tricky by Craig Crossman, SunHerald.com It's unreasonable to ask companies like Apple to keep supporting legacy products without end. **** AT&T Brass Talks Big On Future Of iPhone by Mark Sullivan, PC World De la Vega, AT&T iPhone chief, let loose with a laundry list of future applications and usage scenarios for the device. **** MacMania: A Sea Of Macs by SmileOnMyMac Blog **** A Crack In Wi-Fi Security And How To Fix It by Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Why I Copyfight by Cory Doctorow, Locus Why does all this copyright reform stuff matter, anyway? What's at stake? Everything. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Hey! How Are You? Long Time, No See. How About A Visit? Say... Jan. 20? by Avis Thomas-Lester and Lori Aratani, Washington Post President-elect Barack Obama hadn't left the stage at Chicago's Grant Park on Tuesday night when telephones started jingling across the Washington area. America, apparently, is looking for a place to crash. **** Shadowland by Alexander Aciman, New York Times Metropolis and world capital by day, the city by night is an Art Deco treasure that exists most powerfully in detective movies of previous decades. Even in the town celebrated for insomnia and vivcity, there exists a spooky, eerie element that haunts the streets at night. **** The Fall by David Grann, New Yorker John McCain's choices. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Accept Sacrifies, Cutbacks by Straits Times The government will ensure no Singaporean falls below the poverty line as a result of the financial crisis but it cannot restore peoples living standards to what they were pre-crisis. Minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew gave this assurance today, as he promised measures in next year's budget to buffer lower-income earners and those without jobs from the impact of higher prices of food and other goods. **** Singapore Has Enough Reserves To See Country Through Crisis by Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia Minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said the current global recession ins the most severe since the Great Depression of the 1930s. And he cautioned that it is just the beginning in Singapore. But Mr Lee said: "Our reserves can see us through this crisis without going broke, although we have no natural resources, no oil, gas, palm oil whatever." **** Bali Bombers And The Death Penalty by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread **** Sovereign Wealth Funds Turning Cautious: Analysts by AFP Cash-rich sovereign wealth funds from Asia and the Middle East may be turning cautious after getting burnt by investments in Western firms hit by the current financial turmoil, analysts said. **** Reply To Mr Ablert Teng's Letter To /Today/ On How Well Managed PAP Town Councils Are by The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore It is quite frankly a severe case of double standards, to only hold opposition-run town councils to a high standard of scrutiny when the maority of town councils in Singapore, which are PAP-run, do not hold themsleves up to that same standard of scutiny. **** Not Ready For Non-Chinese PM? Who Is PM To Speak On Our Behalf? by Where Bears Roam Free If the PAP is race bias, don't blame it on the people. No matter how much PAP has been saying that race is not an issue for them, and at the same time poking jibes at other countries' race politics, the PAP has /always/ played the racial card. **** Singapore To Work With KL On Crisis by New Straits Times Singapore foreign minister George Yeo said the two neighbours could work together in staving off a potential crisis as their economies were closely intertwined. **** Johor Must Bring Out Its Tourism Chamr, Says Don by Anis Ibrahim, New Straits Times Prof Amran Hamzah of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia said Iskandar Malaysia should leverage on its advantage and not compete with Singapore in the same tourism area. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Mon Nov 10 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 10 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 10, 2008 Message-ID: <20081110181501.95684.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Apple: The Genius Behind Steve by Adam Lashinsky, Fortune Could operations whiz Tim Cook run Apple someday? **** Whatever Happened To iTunes Plus? by Thomas Fitzgerald Shutting Apple out of the DRM free party altogether is not going to work in the long term, it will just entrench people further in the iTunes / iPod ecosystem. **** Review: OmniGraffle Pro 5.0.2 by Stuart Gripman, Macworld The comfortable user interface belies the depth of its capabilities—a model for complex software. A preponderance of arcane import formats is the only significant blemish. **** Hands On: Songbird 1.0 Music App Soars by David Chartier, Ars Technica Songbird is a very solid alternative for users who want a truly cross-platform option for organization and getting social with their music libraries. **** MacBook Air 1.86GHz Test Results by James Gaibraith, Reseller News It's still a product you buy for its small size and light weight, not its speed. **** Gaming On The iPhone by Stuart Andrews, TrustedReviews Apple's secret weapon is the huge iPhone development community and the Apps Store itself. iPhone developers have simply flooded the Apps Store with games, some rotten, some awful, many little more than sketches or tech demos, but some surprisingly good. And the real treat is that you don't pay through the nose for these games. **** Why I Love My MacBook More Than My PC by HinesSight Falling in love doesn't take long. **** The Apple Convert by Joe Wilkert's Publishing 2020 Blog If you're in the publishing business you owe it to yourself to personally experience new technologies like the iPhone. **** Lost Opportunity: How Apple Got Its Strategy Wrong by Priyanka Mehra and Shauvik Ghosh, Wall Street Journal iPhone's launch in India has been dubbed the biggest failure of a top-notch brand from a well regarded company in recent times. Two months after the dust over the launch and the subsequent wave of disappointment has settled, it's time to take an objective look at what actuallyw ent wrong with iPhone in India, given that it has been a runaway success in most other markets it was launched in. **** Apple's Papermaster Was Misquoted by Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune The full quote reads: "Until this litigation effort by IBM, aside from the divested IBM personal computer business and a single sale several years ago of Apple's Xserve product to a univeristy, I do not recall a single instance of Apple being described as a competitor of IBM during my entire tenure at IBM." **** Apple Unveils New 'Shazam' iPhone Ad In 'Dilemmas' Series by MacBlogz The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Google Signs A Deal To E-Public Out-Of-Print Books by Eric Pfanner, New York Times **** MGM To Post Full Films On YouTube by Brad Stone and Brooks Barnes, New York Times **** Microsoft 'Not Against' Open Source by Jared Heng, MIS Asia "Open source is not a product but an approach to software development," said Matthew Hardman, platform strategy manager at Microsoft Singapore. "Microsoft does not compete with open source, just as Nike does not compete with running." MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** All Apologies by Henry Alford, New York Times I have become more explicit in my acts of reverse etiquette. **** Exxon by Robert Wrigley, New Yorker **** Lostronaut by Jonathan Lethem, New Yorker **** The Coffin Store by C. K. Williams, New Yorker **** Of Bibliophilia And Biblioclasm by Theodore Dalyrmple, New English Review The pleasure of second-hand bokshops is not only in finding what you wnat: it is in leafing through many volumes and alighting upon something that you never knew existed, that fascinates you and therefore widens your horizons in a completely unanticipated way, helping you to make sthe most unexpected connections. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** CapitaLand Says No Casino Talks With Las Vegas Sands by Saeed Azhar, Reuters Property developer CapitaLand said on Monday it has not held any talks with Las Vegas Sands over its Singapore casino-resort project, but will explore opportunities to invest in distressed assets. **** Eco Park To Be Built On Singapore Landfill by Waste Management World The Singapore National Environmental Agency has announced it is looking into the possibility of building an eco park on a land fill at the recent International Solid Waste Association Congress in Singapore. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, minister for the environment and water resources, made the announcement at the opening ceremony saying "With this, we can create opportunities for research and development, as well as the application of clean technologies." **** CapitaLand May Take Over Casino If Sands Fails, CIMB Says by Chen Shiyin, Bloomberg Singapore's government may form a venture with CpaitaLand Ltd. to take over one of the island's two casino-resorts if Las Vegas Sands Corp. falls to stave off loal defaults, CIMB-GK Research Pte said. **** Minority PM: Singaproe Boleh In 1955 But Not In 2008 by Serville Zervant, The Online Citizen It is about time Singaporeans sit back and reflect what has caused all this deterioration in the last 53 years and seek to rectify the situation. No economic achievement can sustain itself without parallel political achievements. **** Commuters Can Pay For SMRT Taxi Fares With Ez-Link Cards From Dec by Channel NewsAsia **** Thank Goodness For Reality Checks by Groundnotes The real question should be, is the Cabinet ready to select a non-Chinese PM? **** DBS Layoffs: Taken By Surprise? by Conrad Raj, Today Why is streamlining done only during a downturn? Why can't companies here run a tight ship even in good times, so that the chances of resorting to lay-offs and retrenchment are slimmer? **** This Seat Is Not Yours! by Kimberly Spykerman, Straits Times Mr Kumar said his group was not against reserving seats at food centres. Rather, they wanted to encourage people to find a more gracious method. **** The Right To Love, Marry And Procreate? by Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen I find it somewhat ironic that a Singaporean can go to a neighbouring country like Vietnam, pay a few thousand dollars, and marry a bride whom he has met only a few days before. In contrast, if he wants to marry a foreigner who has ever been to Singapore on a work permit or S-employment pass, he has to apply for permission. **** Loss In The Singapore Reserves by Tan Kin Lian In some cases, the investments were made in bonds, so that actual loss may not be that large - although the share price may have dropped a lot. **** Chinese Actress Gong Li Becomes A Singaporean: Report by Melanie Lee, Reuters Chinese actress Gong Li, teh glamorous siren who made a successful crossover to Hollywood, has become a Singaporean, a local newspaper reported on Monday. **** Library Users Urged To Be Considerate by Veronica Boudville, National Library Board, Straits Times Library at esplanade serves a unique niche as a library for the performing arts, the first of its kind in Singapore. Patrons are informed of programmes in advance via our library websites, posters and public announcements. This is done to help those who wouldlike to attend the porgrammes and others who may choose to visit the library outside appointed times of performing arts events. **** Second-Hand Stores Seeing More Customers Selling Possessions For Cash by Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Tue Nov 11 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 11 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 11, 2008 Message-ID: <20081111181501.26158.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Parallels Desktop For Mac 4.0 Unveiled by Jim Darlymple, Macworld Improvements in the new version include spee dboosts that the company says are up to 50 percent faster than previous version of Parallels. **** MozyHome by Susie Ochs, MacLife **** iPhone OS Push Notification: Where Did It Go? by iPhone Atlas It is possible that, after the uproar over the unsuccessful launch of MobileMe and iPhone OS 2.0, Apple has exercised increased caution about launching yet another server-based technology. Some users, however, have posited a financial reason for delaying the service. **** Apple Bandai Pippin In Retrospective by Allan Yogasingam, EE Times Apple as an organization learned from this debacle. Shortly after the Pippin's discontinuation, Steve Jobs was promoted to CEO, and the company took a more focused approach to consumer electronics. **** Study: New MacBooks Likely 33% Of US Sales by Electronista Apple's recent MacBook lineup and the iPhone may make it one of the better-positioned companies to survive a likely steep drop in spending during the holidays, according to new data from ChangeWave. **** Want To Automatically Maintain Your Mac? Check Out Macaroni! by John F. Braun, Mac Observer **** Apple's 3G iPhone Passes RAZR In Sales by Jim Goldman, CNBC.com **** iLife Support Update Improves Stability by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld While Apple doesn't go into detail on what was fixed they did say it addresses a number of minor issues. **** Parallels Desktop 3.0 Updated by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Smart Web App Development by Roger Smith, Network Computing **** Fully Digital Living Room Still A Few Years Away by Troy Wolverton, San Jose Mercury News **** Book Publishers Take Leaps Into Digital by Eric Pfanner, New York Times MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** When Science Fiction Morphed Into Politicis by Dave Itzkoff, New York Times What fans expected from Mr. Crichton wsa his honoring the unspoken understanding that exists between readers and writers and speculative fiction: the reader will suspend disbelief as long as the writer start with basic scientific fact before weaving his science fiction. With these last two novels, they concluded that Mr. Crichton, in his warnings of perilous futures, had violated the pact. **** Hiroshima: The Lost Photographs by Adam Harrison Levy, Design Observer Devastated buildings, twisted girders, broken bridges — snapshots from an annihilated city. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Bus Lanes To Be Implemented At Three More Locations From Monday by S. Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia Bus lanes will be implemented at three more locations from November 17. They will be marked by the usual yellow lines along Commonwealth Avenue, Cmmonwealth Avenue West and Queensway. **** Building Of Jurong General Hospital Brought Forward As Construction Prices Fall by Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia **** When It Comes To Politics, Competition Is Good by Fang Zhi Yuan, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore **** Malaysian Courts 'Must Be Involved' by The Star **** 'Let Market Forces Take Their Course' by Tan Thuan Seng, Today Public funds and liberalisation of rules governing the casinos should not be allowed to svae these IR projects. **** Taking DBS' Lead, Let's 'Retrench' Some Singapore Ministers! by BothSidesOfTheJohorStraits All ministers without portfolios should be immeidately downgraded to lower-paying positions within ministries, so as to save millons each year. **** Singapore 'Planning For The Future' by Opodo The Singaore Tourism Board has announced that, following a highly successful year for the city-state's travel industry, it is now developing ambitious plans for the future. /So, is "highly successful" the new code word for "probably will not meet targets"?/ **** Active Map For Trains: A Waste Of Money by Monica Cheang, Straits Times This is a waste of money for something so unnecessary. **** CPF Cuts Not Likely For Now, Says NTUC Chief Lim Swee Say by Ca-Mie De Souza, Channel NewsAsia Central Provident Fund (CPF) cuts is a last-resort measure to keep business costs down, said labour chief Lim Swee Say in an exclusive interview on Monday. "Any talk about CPF cuts at this moment is way too premature because there are 1,001 thins we can do to prepare ourselves, to strengthen ourselves to ride through this crisis," he said. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Wed Nov 12 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 12 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 12, 2008 Message-ID: <20081112181501.23065.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Apple Sr. VP Of Enterprise Sales Leaving Apple, Won't Be Replaced by Bryan Chaffin, Mac Observer Al Shipp, Apple's senior vice president of enterprise sales, will be leaving the Cupertino company, and he won't be replaced. **** Why Windows Enthusiasts Don't Get The "Get A Mac" Ads by Video **** Minimal Updates Until 15 Dec 2008 by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu Updates will be minimal until 15 Dec 2008, due to my a) going on a holiday, b) work commitment, and c) reservist duties; not concurrently, and not necessary in that order. :-)

Permanent Link to This Post **** Coda 1.6 Gains Plug-In Support by Jonathan Seff, Macworld The latest version of the web site development application adds support for plug-ins. WIth plug-ins, you can script Coda to extend its functionality, either by writing your own or by downloading other users' plug-ins. **** iPhone Saves Weary Road Warrior by Rich Mogull, TidBITS As a frequent traveler I've never had such a useful tool at my disposal. **** iPhone Exploit Undermines App Store Security, Lets Devs Update And Run Arbitrary Code by Jason Kincaid, TechCrunch **** Solving The E-Waste Dilemma With One Used Mac Per Child by Newton Poetry **** Google Uses Searches To Track Flu's Spread by Miguel Helft, New York Times Turns out a lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like "flu symptoms" into Google and other search engines before they call their doctor. **** Rumor Today: iPhone 2.2 Coming Real Soon Now by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu Get ready to... sit back and see if other people are having problems with the new iPhone OS update before deciding to update your iPhone and iPod Touch. 'Cause, if the rumors are accurate, iPhone 2.2 is just "10 days away."

Permanent Link to This Post **** Apple Clings To Its Dock by John O'Brien, Courier Mail Apple has been granted a patent on the Dock, one of the fundamental and most controversial elements of its operating system, OS X. /I wonder if Microsoft have any reasons to start worrying about Windows 7's dock...er... taskbar./ **** Up Close And Personal With Apple's MacBooks: Toppling Expectations by Jean-Sebastien Zanchi, Tom's Guide **** It's A Mac Netbook, But Not From Apple by Joe Wilcox, eWeek Some people want an Apple-branded netbook, they're willing to make their own. **** IBM Fears Papermaster Could Design Rival Apple Chips by Paul mcDougall, InformationWeek IBM is rejecting former employee Mark Papermaster's claim that his move to Apple doesn't violate his non-compete contract because Apple and IBM are not competitors. "The trade secrets and confidential know-how that Mr. Papermaster has in his possession can be used for extensive and far-reaching applications in the field of consumer electronics," Rodney Adkins, IBM's senior VP for Systems and Technology, stated. /So it has come to this? IBM couldn't innovate its way out of losing Apple as a customer, and has now resort to lawsuits to prevent Apple from moving ahead?/ **** Sometimes It Helps To Be A Little Crazy by John Sheesley, TechRepublic I noticed that the machine was getting pretty hot during the install, so I decided there was a heat issue causing the drive to flake out. /Upgrade your OS during winter: it's simply easier. :-)/ **** Pixelmater 1.3 Enhances Tools, Open GL Performance by MacNN **** Will Las Vegas Sands Hold Singapore Government To Ransom Over The Marina Bay IR Project? by Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net **** Ex-IBM Exec Could Seek Financial Compensation Over Apple Job by Macworld UK **** ConceptDraw Office Update Improves Brainstorming, Drawing Apps by Philip Michaels, Macworld ConceptDraw Office aims to help business users manage projects, capture ideas, and track resoures. **** Review: Illustrator CS4 by Ben Long, Macworld The addition of multi-page capabilities and the Blob Brush Tool make it must-have upgrade. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Minimal Updates Until 15 Dec 2008 by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu Updates will be minimal until 15 Dec 2008, due to my a) going on a holiday, b) work commitment, and c) reservist duties; not concurrently, and not necessary in that order. :-)

Permanent Link to This Post **** Google Launches Video Chat For Gmail by Rafe Needleman, CNET News.com MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Are Three Novels, Revised As One, A New Book? by Charles Mcgrath, New York Times Asked if after 30 years he finally had "Shadow Country" in the shape he wanted, Mr. Matthiessen laughted and threatened to rewrite it all over again. **** Death Takes A Holiday, And Few Are Better Off by Richard Eder, New York Times Mr Saramago, one of the last of the old-line Communists, has written an atheist's religious parable; a story abounding in sentiment and purged of it. **** Minimal Updates Until 15 Dec 2008 by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu Updates will be minimal until 15 Dec 2008, due to my a) going on a holiday, b) work commitment, and c) reservist duties; not concurrently, and not necessary in that order. :-)

Permanent Link to This Post **** The Bagel: An L.A. Story by Judith Kane Jeanson, Los Angeles Times "Most people choose the bagel they grew up with," says Richard Friedman, and for most Southern Californians, whether they know it or not, that means the choice is bagels made either by Friedman or his oldest competitor. **** Two Bucks A Dance by Debbie Nathan, New York Magazine In /bailarina/ bars, you can rent a girlfriend by the song. For $40, she'll sit with you for an hour. For $500, she's yours for the evening. That's when the relationship gets complicated. **** Geek Pop Star by Jaason Zengerie, New York Magazine Malcolm Gladwell's elegant and wildly popular theories about modern life have turned his name into an adjective—Gladwelian! But in his new book, he seeks to undercut the cult of success, including his own, by explaining how little control we have over it. **** Imagine Seeing John Wayne In IMAX by Keith Phipps, Slate That's sort of what watching /How the West Was Won/ is like. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Singapore, Sands Stand By Their Bets by Muhammad Cohen, Asia Times Premier Lee has made his bet on the developement's success, and his arguments for it strengthening the island's tourism business still appear to stand. **** SBS Transit Profit Falls 17% by Elizabeth Wilmot, Straits Times Bus and rail operator SBS Transit on Wednesday posted a 17 per cent slump in third quarter net profit to $8.3 million, as higher expenses such as fuel costs eroded stronger revenue. **** Single-Character Domain Names Now Possible by IDA, Singapore Government The Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), Singapore's national registry for domain names, will release Single-Character Domain Names (SCDN) such as WWW.A.SG, WWW.B.SG, WWW.C.SG, based on the 26 letters in the English alphabet series. /Bidding starts at S$20,000./ **** SingTel Freezes Hiring by Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times SingTel, which posted a 12 per cent fall in net profit in the second quarter, has begun cost-cutting measures to help it ride out the downturn, including a hiring freeze and cutback on discretionary expenses, the company said on Wednesday. **** Accountability, Transparency And Social Justice by Tan Kin Lian I do not know how MAS can find a solution without listening to the views of the many thousand of people who have lost their hard earned savings. **** Poor Examples For Pro-Establishment by Singapore Social Activist We should stop ursuing an ideology of neoliberal "market fundamentalism" and pay attention to real human needs. The definition of progress and success cannot be measured in material terms alone. **** Living With HIV In Singapore by Mathia Lee **** Lesson From A Matchbox by Yesterday.sg Do you know you can learn quite a bit about the history of Singapore from matchboxes too? /Do you remember KFC used to be a full-service restaurant?/ **** Singapore: The Future Is Still Bright by Business Monitor International Singapore's present economic difficulties are inevitable in such an open economy, which is one of its key strengths. Recessions come and go, and the structural factors boosting Singapore have not changed. **** Solve CPF Withdrawal Issue With Singapore by Roger Tay, The Star Many Malaysians with CPF savings would appreciate it if they are able to withdraw their CPF savings early to help them ride through the difficult times. **** Seeking Laughter Can Be No Joke After All by Koh Lay Chin, New Straits Times How did the stuffy Singaporeans end up with bar-top dancing and casinos, while across the border we debate the evils of yoga? **** This Time, Southeast Asia Is Not At Center Of The Crisis by Thomas Fuller, New York Times As another global financial crisis unfolds, the signs of distress in Southeast Asia are much more subtle. **** Consumer Confidence Dips by Tessa Wong, Straits Times Singapore consumer confidence for the next six months has dropped to below market's historical level, in line with regional sentiments. See Also: Asians Will Bargain Hunt For The Good Life: Survey , by Miral Fahmy, Reuters. Wining, dining and fashion are still a priority for Asia-Pacific consumers, but a regional survey shows that the global financial crisis is motivating them to hunt for bargains and save more. **** Minimal Updates Until 15 Dec 2008 by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu Updates will be minimal until 15 Dec 2008, due to my a) going on a holiday, b) work commitment, and c) reservist duties; not concurrently, and not necessary in that order. :-)

Permanent Link to This Post **** No Bailout For IRs by Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times The government has 'no intention' of bailing out the integrated resorts in Singapore should they fail, senior minister of state S. Iswaran said on Wednesday. To another question on whether a government-linked company will bail out the IR, he said that such companies are 'commercial enterprises' which will 'have to make their own decisions' on whether an investment is viable or not. /Just a note: Temasek, if I undertand correctly, is a 'government-linked company', and is not part of the government./ See Also: Completing Singapore Casino Number One Priority: Sands , by AFP. **** An Extreme Suggestion For An Extreme Age by The Online Citizen The best way for the government to show its sincerity towards e-engagement is by granting independence to MICA. **** Outrage As China's Leading Lady Defects To Singapore by Clifford Coonan, The Independent China's leading lady Gong Li is being accused of treason by her irate countrymen for becoming a Singaporean citizen. **** Groundwork For GE Starts by Aaron Low, Straits Times The Elections Department has started preparations for the next general election, which is due at the latest by Feb 2, 2012. It has identified 28,000 civil servants to become election officials, and has begun sending letters out to them. **** 20 Years Of The GRC: A Closer Look (Part One) by Melvin Tan, The Online Citizen **** No Perfect Political System by Caryn Yeo, Straits Times No one political system is the best for generating sustaine deconomic growth, and the success of a country's economy does not rest on whether the governance is Asian-style or Western-style, senior minister GOh Chok Tong said on Tuesday night. **** Fewer Seats On Train by Maria Almenoar, Straits Times More trains with about a third of their seats removed will ply the MRT tracks from next week, even as commuters yesterday said they found the trains no less crowded as a result. Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the intention is not to fit more people on the train, but to give standing commuters more space. But that seems to be what is happening. Nine of 10 commuters travelling during yesterday's morning rush hour told The Straits Times that they did not have any more room while standing. /Take a look at the accompanying photo on The Straits Times: the number of people standing in the space created by removing the seats is the same as the number of people sitting when the seats were not removed. This is a stupid and useless move by LTA and SMRT./ **** Singaporean, 57, Employed, Married But Cannot Buy HDB Flat by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen **** SM Goh Warns Against Over-Regulation Of Financial System by Roland Lim, Channel NewsAsia Goh Chok Tong said the financial system must be flexible to allow ingenuity in creating new products, but agreed that more mechanisms need to be put in place to protect investors. See Also: Governance And Growth In Emerging Asia , speech by Goh Chok Tong, Singapore Government. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Thu Nov 13 13:15:00 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 13 Nov 2008 18:15:00 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 13, 2008 Message-ID: <20081113181500.11305.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Review: MacBook Air 1.86GHz by Jason Snell, Macworld THe new generation of MacBook Air is superior to the original. However, the substantial upgrades Apple has made to the rest of the MacBook line threaten to narrow the MacBook Air's already limited appeal even further. **** Apple's Enterprise Strategy The Same As It Ever Was by John C. Welch, Macworld The reason why Al Shipp's retirement isn't the end of Apple as an enterprise company is because there was never a /beginning/ of Apple as an Enterprise company. **** Apple's iPhone Offers The Ideal Micropayments Platform by Narendra Rocherolle, Fortune Apple has already re-inspired (and perhaps revitalized) the vibrant shareware industry; it now has a chance to legitimize new online business models. **** Docs Show Apple Failed To Find Ideal Successor For iPod Chief by Aidan Malley and Kasper Jade, AppleInsider A series of statements made in court filings by tentative iPod and iPhone chief Mark Papermaster and those recruited him at Apple show that the company at first considered him a secondary pick. They also reveal that IBM's own management has partly contradicted its stance on whether the executive could leave. **** Apple Updates iPod Nano, Classic Software by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld Apple on Wednesday released updates for its iPod nano (4th generation) and iPod classic (120GB). **** Agatha Christie: Peril At End House by Ted Bade, Inside Mac Games All in all, Peril at End House is a pretty good game and will provide several hours of fun with some basic puzzles, all wrapped up in an Agatha Christie storyline. **** Customized MacBook Pro Benchmarks by James Galbraith, Macworld **** Thinking Outside The Apple TV With Boxee by Christopher Breen, Macworld The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Death Of The OS, Re-Birth Of The Kernel by John Brandon, Computerworld The real-term vision for computing has to be: reduce the OS to its roots, and make the web the thickest pipe. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Sands Asks For Singapore Casino To Open In Stages by AFP The Singapore Tourism Board said it was considering a proposal by Las Vegas Sands for the complex to be opened progressively from the end of 2009. /Is this fair to the other casino coampny, and to the other companies that lost in the tender?/ **** DBS Staff Get Layoff Letters by Francis Chan, Straits Times **** Tiger Kills Man At Zoo by Straits Times A Malaysian cleaner died after he was mauled by a white tiger at the Singapore Zoo on Thursday. **** Singapore To Tighten Regulation On Derivation Sales - Report by Saeed Azhar, Reuters Singapore will introduce stricter measures for sales of structured products, a government minister was quoted as saying, after retail investors suffered hefty losses on products listed to collapsed bank Lehman Brothers. **** Former Singapore Lawyer Gopalan Nair Let Off With Warning After Pleading Contempt Of Court by Channel NewsAsia Former Singapore lawyer Gopalan Nair will not be jailed for contempt of court but has been given a telling-off and warning against making attacks against the Singapore Judiciary in future. **** Tissue Issue: 'Using Tissue To Reserve Is An Efficient Way Of Allocating Seats To Patrons" by See Eng Soon, Straits Times The 'tisue culture' implicitly increases the turnaround of patrons at popular food centres, helping most workers who aim is to eat and return to work on time. In addition, this benefits people who dine alone. **** What Will You Do When The Elections Come? by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen Will Singaporeans take an active role in the elections? **** Random Readiness by Mollymeek **** Apple's iPhone Faces Off With The Game Champs by Nick Wingfield and Christopher Lawton, Wall Street Journal The iPhone and its sister device the iPod touch, which feature big screens and powerful graphics, are emerging as serious competitors to Nintendo's DS handheld and Sony's PlayStation Portable. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Fri Nov 14 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 14 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 14, 2008 Message-ID: <20081114181501.90769.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Ambrosia Releases Aquaria Game For The Mac by Peter Cohen, Macworld Aquaria is a 2D side-scrolling game set underwater. **** First Look: Parallels 4.0, Virtualization Software by MacNN **** "MobileMe Still Has Issues," Apple Tells Developers by Macworld UK **** Safari 3.2 Finally Gains Phishing Protection by Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica Safari 3.2 adds a long-awaited feature that has been present in other browsers for some time: phishing protection. **** The Book Of MacBook by Dan Moren, Macworld Observations and thoughts on Apple's latest (and greatest?) consumer portable. **** Review: Penny Arcade Adventures, Episode Two by Chris Holt, Macworld Fans of the series will enjoy the quips and satires of gaming's tropes, but newbies will likely be turned off by the lackluster combat system and sometimes-crass humor. **** Tweaking Your Time Machine Strategies by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Cleaner Killed By Zoo TIgers by Khushwant Singh, Straits Times According to eyewitnesses, Mr Nordin, who was seen shouting and flinging items about shortly before the incident, vaulted a low wall and landed in a moat in the enclosure, four metres below. Carrying a yellow pail and a broom, he then crossed the 1.75m-deep moat, walked up to a rocky ledge near where the animals were and began agitating them by swinging the broom. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sat Nov 15 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 15 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 15, 2008 Message-ID: <20081115181501.31819.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Apple Sued Over Hairline Cracks In iPhone 3G by Andrew Nusca, ZDNet.com **** Fifteen Reasons Macs Are Still Better Than Windows PCs by Dan Warne, APC On balance, Macs just let you get stuff done, whereas Windows computers constantly find ways of annoying you. **** 'Should Games Retail Fear Apple?' by Michael French, MCV **** Google Is Taking Questions (Spoken, Via iPhone) by John Markoff, New York Times Pushing ahead in the decade-long effort to get computers to understand human speech, Google researchers have added sophisticated voice recognition technology to the company's search software for the Apple iPhone. **** The UrbanSpoon Effect by Jason D. O'Grady, ZDNet.com **** Rah, Rah, Apple U. by Dan Turner, Computerworld At Apple U, you may not see wholesale career changes, but it can't be a bad idea to have various teams learn more about what others do and why. After all, Apple is the exception in the PC industry in that it builds the whole widget, from motherboard designs to external casings to the OS to the final packaging. **** Papermaster Countersues IBM In Effort To Join Apple by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld In an effort to sever ties with his former employer, Mark Papermaster has countersued IBM, claiming among other things that Apple and IBM are not significant competitors. **** Review: XMind 2008 Pro by Stuart Gripman, Macworld XMind Pro 2008 (version 2.3) shines as a mind mapping tool that doesn't get in the way as the ideas come flooding out of your head. Sticklers for Apple's interface standards won't warm to the buys design, and anyone with a significant investment in an unspported import format can move along. But new mind mappers and those not crazy about MindManager or FreeMind should give XMind a shot. **** First Look: Boxee by Christopher Breen, Macworld The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** In The Culture Of Innovation, Leadership Is Key by Michael Keen, Brian Madden MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** The Joy Of English by Jack Shafer, New York Times Roy Blount Jr. has returned from the fileds where the American lingo grows wild to write "Alphabet Juice," his personal lexicon, usage manual, writers' guidebook, etymological investigation and literary junk drawer. **** We Blew It by P.J. O'Rourke, Weekly Standard Let us bend over the kiss our ass goodbye. Our 28-year conservative opportunity to fix the moral and practical boundaries of government is gone—gone with the bear market and the Bear Stearns and the bear that's headed off to do you-know-what in the woods on our philosophy. **** Analogy Lesson by Richard Thompson Ford, Slate Racism is the wrong frame for understanding the passage of California's same-sex marriage ban. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Socially Responsible Retrenchments? by Gerald Giam Ambiguous signals like this latest statement from the acting manpower minister only serve to embolden large corporations to think they can willy nilly cut staff as long as the process is communicated properly from a PR standpoint. **** The UFOs Have Landed! by Mr Wang Says So Can you really blame Richard? I mean, everyone knows that employee trade unions in Singapore are supposed to be docile, subservient and useless. How the heck was Richard to know that before retrenching the workers, he was supposed to /consult/ the bank union... **** Many Investors Have Lost Faith In Government And MAS: Tan Kin Lian by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen **** MOM To Release Guidelines On Management Of Excess Staff by Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia The manpower minister will soon release guidelines on how to manage excess manpower in light of expected increase in retrenchment in Singapore. The guidlines willi nclude what's called responsible retrenchment, where employers work with unions to explain the situation to workers before serving the termination letter. **** Dressing Down Debacle by Seah Chiang Nee, The Star There is no denying that over-regulation that caused people to draft - and follow - regulations, sometimes automatically by instinct, ahs contributed to a safe, clean and efficient Singapore. That was in the past when people were production ants. **** Read: Singapore's Troubled Periods Revisited by James Hipkiss, New Straits Times **** Foreigners Benefit If Singapore Changes Organ Law - Paper by Melanie Lee, Reuters **** The Right Price For The Right To Protest In Singapore by Eugene Yeo, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore The PAP understands perfectly that the only potential threat to their hegemony comes from the educated professionals - the elite and middle class of Singaporeans residing in private landed properties and apartment which forms 10% of the population. Keep them happy even at the expense of the low-income group and this will ensure continued stability. **** Minority PM Issue: Let's Drop This 'Not Ready' Nonsense by Gerald Giam **** Tigers Stresses By The Incident by Jessica Lim, Straits Times The two white tigers involved in Thursday's attack on a cleaner are exhibiting symptoms of stress. This is because of the commotion that occurred during the attack, said the zoo's assistant director Biswajit Guha. **** Zoo Beefs Up Safety Steps by Jessica Lim, Straits Times **** How Transport Body Checks Bus Services by Looi Teik Soon, Public Transport Council, Straits Times Although the standard is measured at the interchange, the operators cannot let bus bunching or delays get out of hand, because that would mean the bus cannot be ready for its scheduled departure at the next bus interchange. To reduce the impact of traffic conditions, more bus priority measures such as bus lanes, priority traffic signals and giving way to buses exiting bus bays are necessary. **** Hotel Huff: Different Customers, Different Rules by Seah Gek Hoon, Straits Times Apparently, Marina Mandarin has different classifications of slippers for different customers. **** Why There Won't Be Snap Elections by Loh Chee Kong, Today **** Growth by The Online Citizen Singapore's current government-dominated model for industrial growth is too tightly enmeshed with other aspects of its political economy for it to be easily loosened up, much less by the party that stands at the heart of the entire system. **** Labour Chief Disappointed WIth DBS' Sudden Retrenchments by Valerie Tan, Channel NewsAsia Labour chief Lim Swee Say has expressed his disappointment in the sudden decision by DBS Bank to cut 900 jobs. In a statement, Mr Lims said that the bank had not consulted with the DBS Staff Union on other alternatives to cutting costs. As a result, the perception on the ground is that DBS Bank decided on retrenchment as a first resort. **** Singapore Zoo Assures Visitors That White Tiger Exhibit Is Safe by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia A day after a cleaner was mauled to death at the Singaproe Zoo's white tiger enclosure, officials assured the public that the exhibit is "very safe". From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sun Nov 16 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 16 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 16, 2008 Message-ID: <20081116181501.75580.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Where Is Google Voice-Powered Search? by Desiree Everts, CNET News.com One reason for the delay could be that it has been bogged down by Apple's App Store approval process. **** Lifting The Veil On Luxury by Jonathan Margolis, Scotland On Sunday Apple turns an activity more often these days associated with workaday drudgery into a delight. **** This Mac Is A Real Pro by Murray Hill, The StarPhoenix The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** What Has Driven Women Out Of Computer Science? by Randall Stross, New York Times Computer science has changed considerably since 1991. Now, there are even fewer women entering the field. Why this is so remains a matter of dispute. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Enough With The Sweet Talk by Joe Queenan, New York Times Forget unfair negative reviews. The real problem is the unfair positive ones. **** What Is Art For? by Daniel B. Smith, New York Times The poet, philosopher, translator and scholar Lewis Hyde has spent his life trying to figure that out — and become a literary cult figure in the process. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Two-Party System Won't Work by Straits Times A two-party system will not work in Singapore, which is much better off with 'one dominant, clean and good party,' said prime minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday. But he acknowledged that the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) 'should not have a carte blanche'. **** After Five Weeks, Where Are The Politicians? by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen Isn't 10,000 investors enough reason for them to come forward and help out? **** Barking NTUC Chief Has No Bite by Where Bears Roam Free It has long been argued, for decades, that as long as S17(2) of the Industrial Relations Act is in place, all the hot air MOM or NTUC talk about retrenchment will be just that - hot air. The retrenchment exercise by DBS has proven just that. **** Partisan Political Films Please, We're The PAP by Martyn See, No Political Films Please, We're Singaporeans It's two steps back, one step forward. **** PM Lee Says Singapore's Budget To Be Bought Forward To January 2009 by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced that the country's budget statement will be brought forward to Janaury next year. The budget is usually delivered by the finance minister in February. Mr Lee said the government is working out the best combination of measures for the coming budget with the am of not just helping Singaporeans with the present downturn but also to build up strength for the future. **** Is This Rude? by Cheryl Tan and Cara Van Miriah, Straits Times No, it's not, say diners who dismis students' campaign against using tissue paper packets to reserve seats. **** Government Must Do What Is Right: Goh Meng Seng by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen **** The Future Of Regulatory Oversight In Singapore by The Gigamole Diaries Now that lassiez-faire has been offiically pronounced dead, dare we hope the government will invest a bit more and provide us better regulatory service? **** Singapore! - Green Buildings In The Garden City! by Maximizing Progress **** Agencies Recruiting Sarawak Workers For Singapore Under Watch by Bernama **** Tan Kin Lian Asks: Is It Fair? Investors Answer: No! by Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Mon Nov 17 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 17 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 17, 2008 Message-ID: <20081117181501.32358.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Review: ConceptDraw MindMap Pro 5.5 by John Brandon, Macworld For me, ConceptDraw's MindMap Pro 5.5 achieved the ultimate goal: it helped with brainstorming for several new projects, ncluding a new web site I'm creating, and for viewing the structure of a large multi-chapter document. For $200, MindMap is worth the price because it helps you brainstorm ideas simply while avoiding the feature war with other brainstorming tools. **** Should Apple Engage In I Spy With Stolen iPods? by Matt Hartley, Globe And Mail 'Kill switch' that allows the manufacturer to disable iPhones could be applied to music players to discourage theft, some say. **** The New MacBook Is Apple's Stealth Business Notebook by Scot Finnie, Computerworld Apple finally has the right hardware and software for mainstream business users. **** Apple Should Offer iTunes Subscriptions - For Video Only by Pete Mortensen, Cult Of Mac I would gladly ditch my Netflix subscription and pony up the same $20 a month for unlimited rentals of the TV shows on iTunes, even without movies. **** Reason For Apple's TV Ad Success by Joe Wilcox, eWeek Based on applying findings from a Boston College study of television viewing, I conclude that most Apple television commercials are remarkably well-suited to generating brand awareness even when people fast-forward past advertisements. **** When Apple Meets Apple by TechBlog When is an apple not just an apple? When their grower attaches decals to the fruit before the ripen, in the form of the Apple logo and iPods. **** Update On Google iPhone Voice Recognition App: Look For It On Monday by Michael Arrington, TechCrunch Google's voice recognition search application for the iPhone, originally set for launch on Friday, will likely go live sometime Monday, we've heard from a source with knowledge of the situation. **** Apple iPhone 3G Strikes Wrong Chord In India, Fails To Take Off by International Business Times **** Apple Winning Over Businesses With iPhone by Jason Mick, DailyTech **** How To Price Your iPhone App Out Of Existence by Andy Finnell, Safe From The Losing Fight There /will/ be an iPhone app bust. The current prices simply aren't sustainable. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Media Companies Help Promote Laptop Project by Steve Lohr, New York Times **** Cloudsurfing: Welcome To The Future Of Computing by Tim Walker, The Independent In a world blanketed by Wi-Fi, where we all carry a computer in our pockets, working, gaming, making friends, spending and investing, collecitng and sharing snapshots, listening to music, watching movies and television, reading books and newspapers like this one - all of it will become part of Cloud-living. **** Obama Appoints YouTube (Google) As Secretary Of Video by Dan Farber, CNET News.com Why should the incoming president, or public official, favor one internet video service over another? MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Twelve-Year-Old's A Food Critic, And The Chef Loves It by Susan Dominus, New York Times Everyone's a critic, and apparntly it's never too soon to start. That's why David Fishman, an Upper West Sider who turned 12 last month, decided to take himself out for dinner one night last week. **** By Meat Alone by Calvin Trillin, New Yorker The best Texas BBQ in the world. **** The Bridgetower by Rita Dove, New Yorker **** Ghosts by Edwidge Danticat, New Yorker **** Master Of Disguises by Charles Simic, New Yorker **** Malcolm Gladwell's Secrets Of Success by Louis Bayard, Salon Bill Gates and the Beatles owe their genius to nurture not nature, argues the acclaimed "Tipping Point" author. It's a nice theory. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Let's Bring In Left-Hand-Drive Cars by Chris Tan, Straits Times **** Singapore Government Considers Requests To Phase In Opening Of IRs by May Wong, Channel NewsAsia THe two firms building integrated resorts (IRs) in Singapore have requested for approval from the government to open their projects progressively. Senior minister of state for trade and industry S Iswaran told Parliament the government is considering the requests from Resorts World at Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands. **** $12M In Troubled Products by Goh Chin Lian, Straits Times Holland-Bukit Panjang and Pasir-Ris-Punggo have about $12 million invested in troubled structured products. Senior minister of state (national development and education) Grace Fu gave this update in Parliament on Monday, in response to a question from nominated MP Eunice Olsen. Holland-Bukit Panjang invested about 6.7 per cent of its total funds available for investment in the structured products, and Pasir Ris-Punggol, about 2.6 per cent. **** Firm Action Will Be Taken Against Anyone Mis-Selling Financial Products by Channel NewsAsia Finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has confirmed that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has started formal enquiries into allegations of mis-selling of financial products by banks here. **** MAS Tells Financial Institutions To Review Sales And Marketing Procedures by Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has instructed the CEOs of all financial institutions to conduct a thorough review of their sales and marketing processes for structured products. **** Screwed By The Impotent by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread NTUC's impotence is a symptom of structural changes to the global economy. DBS is evolving into a multinational company. Unions, on the other hand, are still stuck in a pre-World War II mindset, organising themselves within national boundaries only. Would NTUC and the Singapore government even be able to contemplate a future where workers are part of multinational unions? Our government is wedded to the idea that they should control the unions, and so long as this is non-negotiable, can we even begin moving down the road of multinational unions? But if things stay as they are, won't the NTUC lose all influence altogether, as more and more companies go global? **** Lock N Load! - PAP Platoon Move Out! by Gabriel Sim, Simply Gab The PAP is not stupid. One thing they do know is how to spin economic uncertainty in their favour. **** Human Rights And Your Job by Singapore Democratic Party So what if DBS Staff Union had been consulted? The PAP government did not obliterate trade unionism in the 1960s for nothing. Appointing a cabinet minister to head the NTUC sums up the sorry state in which workers find themselves. To be able to organise the working sector we need to get the people together, we need for people to speak up, and we need to form independent labour unions. To do these we need the freedoms of speech, association and assembly. In short, we need political rights. **** Singapore Could See Negative Growth In 2009, PM Warns by AFP Singapore, which is already in recession, could experience negative growth next year, the city-state's premier has warned. Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said the recession will probably last a year but beyond that there could be several years of slow growth. **** Singapore's October New Home Sales Dive 70%-On-Month by Channel NewsAsia **** Singapore Exports Slump As Crisis Hits Demand by Reuters Singapore's non-oil exports fell an unexpected 7.4 percent in October after seasonal adjustments, the biggest drop in five months and the latest evidence that hte worsening financial crisis has hit demand for Asian exports. See Also: Singaproe's External Trade - October 2008 , by IE Singapore, Singapore Government. (Note: Link goes to a PDF document.) **** The Seletar Reservoir Dam by Yesterday.sg Tucked away in a corner of Singapore and accessible only by the know-how, the dam separating Seletar Reservoir and the Straits of Johor provides a nice scenic view of the kelongs on the straits side and the greenery fo the reservoir side. **** Two-Party Political Model Can Work In Singapore by Yaw Shin Leong For a small country, Singapore must caution and insure itself against elitist politics of the one party system. Singaporeans must ensure that there is political competition and credible alternative partisan representation in Parliament to ensure that the present elitist PAP leadership does not take its people for granted. **** Singapore's Temasek Stumbles Again by Asia Sentinel The rapid demise of ABC Lerning, which is Australia's largest childcare provider, show sthat Temasek's poor investment decisions are not limited to the banking sector. **** What Happens If You Are Retrenched? by Tan Hui Leng, Today In response to queries from Today, a Ministry of Health spokeswoman said: "A patient who is retrenched at the time of hospitalisation will enjoy full subsidy. If his income hsa shrunk, means testing will be based on his latest income. Hospitals will need evidence of retrenchment or income reduction." **** Asians Fail To Join Class Action Claims by Sundeep Tucker, Financial Times Asian investors are missing out on billions of dollars by not taking part in class action lawsuits against US companies whose managers have been accused of improper corporate behaviour, according to a study. **** Cheap, As Well As Reliable by Neo Chai Chin, Today Foreign workers can count on this going for them in Singapore: Remittance rates here are among the cheapest in the world. **** Long Way To Go As Asia's Arts Hub by Prime Sarmiento, IPS **** Why Should People Suffer? by Elysa Chen, New Paper **** Must I Shout Louder To Talk? by Shree Ann Mathavan, New Paper The former NTUC Income CEO is not pleased that he is being ignored. **** DBS' Reply To Labour Chief's Comments On Retrenchment Leave Much To Be Desired by Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Tue Nov 18 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 18 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 18, 2008 Message-ID: <20081118181501.9263.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Yum 3.0 Recipe Manager Released by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld **** Some Thoughts On Apple TV by Kevin Stories, Haggaret.com **** China Mobile Still In Talks With Apple Over iPhone by Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service **** Apple Comes Through, CastCatcher 1.3 Approved by MacBlogz Apple has reversed their decision and approved CastCatcher 1.3. **** Apple Of Our Ear: Google's Voice Search App Finally Live by Clint Boulton, eWeek **** iPhone Remains Left Out As Android Scores Flash by Judy Mottl, Internet News Google and Adobe announce Flash for the G1 and other Android devices. Will Apple change its tune? /No./ **** FireWire Not So Hot Alongside USB 3.0 by David Frith, The Australian **** Seven Lessons Windows 7 Can Learn From OS X by TechRadar.com One way to make Windows 7 a hit is to take a look at what Apple has got right (and wrong) with OS X, to see what Microsoft can learn from its experience. **** Callling All Math Guys: Fortran Comes To Mac OS X by Alan Zeichick, bMighty.com **** The New MacBook's Green Credentials by Joe Hutsko, New York Times **** Apple's 25-Year Report Card by Rik Myslewski, The Register What Steve hath wrought - from A to F. **** Sente 5.7 Enhances Note Taking Support, Interface by MacNN **** QuickTime Update Improves Compatibility With iChat by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld **** Apple Brins HDCP To A New Aluminum MacBook Near You by David Chartier, Ars Technica It appears that Apple's new aluminum MacBook are using HDCP to protect iTunes Store media. **** StarOffice Gains Native Mac Support by Ina Fried, CNET News.com **** Apple Releases Fix For Quirky MacBook Glass Trackpads by AppleInsider Aple has released a software update to address an issue where trackpad clicks would randomly go unrecognized on its latest notebook offerings. **** Google Powers Safari's New Antifraud Warnings by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld **** Mac Devs Takes Bugs Into Their Own Hands by Dan Moren, MacUser Developer Tim Burks took a simple but clever solution: create a duplicate database into which developers could file the same bugs they're reporting to Apple, but which allows for searching and other features that Radar doesn't. **** Why Developers Prefer Macs by Peter Wayner, InfoWorld Apple's decision to move to Intel chips and embrace virtualization of other operating systems turned the platform into a very flexible tool for programmers. **** Docks Lets You 'Swap' Docks In Leopard by Peter Cohen, Macworld You can use it to create separate docks for sets of applications and files you use frequently. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Google, iPhone And The Future Of Machines That Listen by John Markoff, New York Times **** Yahoo's Yang To Step Down As CEO by Martyn Williams, Nancy Gohring and James Niccolai, IDG News Service **** Yahoo's Jerry Yang To Step Down, As A Search For New CEO Commences by Kara Swisher, All Things Digital Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang will step down from his job as CEO, said sources close to the company, as soon as the board finds a replacement for him, in what sources close to the situation call a joint decision by him and the company's directors. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Amendments To GST Act Passed In Parliament by Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia **** Town Councils Say Investments Needed To Offset Inflatoin, Keep Sinking Fund Going by Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia **** Income Tax Act Enhanced To Better Achieve Economic And Social Objectives by May Wong, Channel NewsAsia Senior mnister of state for finance, Lim Hwee Hua, announced in Parliament that one key change is that the amounts of child relief and handicapped child relief will be increased from next year. **** One Party Good, Two Parties Bad, Says PM Lee. Again. by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread How do Singaporeans get the good government they want from another party in the absence of a two-party democracy? **** Parliament Passes Bill To Allow Limited Partnership In Singapore by Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia **** Rising Debut Not A Concern by Robin Chan, Straits Times Finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that while consumer loans have increased by 10 per cent in September compared to a year ago, it is in line with the economic growth and property boom in recent years. **** Las Vegas Sands Has 'All The Money' Needed For Singaproe Casino by Beth Jinks, Bloomberg Las Vegas Sands Corp. has enough money to finish Singapore's first casino without help from the city-state's government or billionaire Kwek Leng Beng after the company raised $2.1 billion, president William Weidner said. **** Singapore Government Statutory Boards Have No Exposure To Lehman-Linked Products by May Wong, Channel NewsAsia Finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam told Parliament that none of Singapore government statutory boards are holding the Lehman Minibonds, Pinnacle Series, DBS High Notes Five, Merill Lynch Jubilee Series products. Mr Tharman says four statutory boards - the Civil Service College, Singapore Land Authority, Infocomm Development Authority and the Professional Engineers' Board - have invested in other credit-linked notes. **** Singapore Banks Have Sufficient Liquidity - Finance Minister by Daryl Loo, Reuters **** Why That 80% Rule... by Esther Ng, Today **** Marriage Age Upped For Muslims by Zakir Hussain, Straits Times The minimum marriage age at which Muslims can marry has been raised to 18, in line with that for other Singaporeans. **** Budget Deficit Three Times More by Irene Ngoo, Straits Times Singapore's budget deficit for this fiscal year is expected to be more than three times larger than the earlier estimated $800 million due to higher expenditures, additional spending and more payouts to the people, said finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. But he said the government would not reduce this deficit, either by trimming its expenditures or raising additonal revenues. See Also: Singapore Budget Deficit To Swell, Tax Cuts Eyed , by Melanie Lee, Reuters. **** Who Has Jurisdiction? by Bhag Singh, The Star **** Singapore May Weaken Currency In Recession, UBS Says by Patricia lui, Bloomberg Singapore, facing a slump in exports amid a recession, may change its exchange-rate policy to favor a weakening currency in April or sooner, according to UBS AG. **** It Doesn't Make Bold Headlines, But It's Fair by Loh Chee Kong, Today In finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's words, it would have been "easy" for the govenmetn to score political points by putting pressure on the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to bear down on the financial institutions that sold Lehman-linked structured products to retail investors. But such a move would only backfire and hurt investors, said Mr Tharman yesterday as he robustly defended the SIngapore authorities' approach to resolving the saga. **** The Tissue Issue by Clarence Chua, The Online Citizen Instead of advocating dress changes, the SMU students and SKM should tackle the spectre of over-filled food centres. **** Town Councils Investments - A Brief Summary by The Online Citizen From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Wed Nov 19 13:15:00 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 19 Nov 2008 18:15:00 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 19, 2008 Message-ID: <20081119181500.39095.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Flash Memory Developer Claims iPods Violate Patents In Samsung Suit by Jon Brodkin, Networld World Flash memory developer Spansion has filed patent infringement suits against Samsung seeking to ban the US sale of more than 100 million iPods, mobile phones, digital cameras and other consumer devices containing flash technology. **** Review: Fireworks CS4 by Cyndy Cashman, Macworld No longer the forgotten app, Adobe has fully integrated the vector program into its suite. **** Microsoft Feared Mac Vs. Vista Comparison In '05, Insider E-Mails Show by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld More than a year before Windows Vista's release - and long before Apple started poking funa t the operating system - Microsoft officials were already worried about comparisons between Mac OS X and Vista, insider e-mails disclosed yesterday revealed. **** MacBook Owners Enraged As Apple Blocks Some Displays by Ed Sutherland, Cult Of Mac **** Judge Dismisses Psystar Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld In his ruling Judge William Alsup found that Psystar's claims did not meet the requirements to find in favor or an antitrust claim. "Indeed, Psystar's allegations are internally contradictory." **** How Safari 3.2'S Anti-Phishing Does, And Doesn't, Work by Rich Mogull, TidBITS It's commendable that Apple added these features to bring Safari up to the level of its competitors, but users shouldn't rely on them as definite protections from phishing. **** Ripping And Playing Audiobooks by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Omaha Beach by Piotr Florczyk, Slate **** Enceladus: Secrets Of Saturn's Strangest Moon by Carolyn Porco, Scientific American Wrinkled landscapes and spouting jets on Saturn's sixth-largest moon hint at underground waters. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** SM Goh Should Send Teo Ho Pin To Learn From Hougang Town Council To Keep PAP MPs On Their Toes by Eugene Yeo, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore Mr Teo Ho Pin should learn some basic investment strategies from Mr Low Thia Kiang lest he frittered away our precious Town Council sinking funds again. **** The Silent People's Representative by Lim Chih Yang, The Online Citizen **** COE Crashes To $2 by Christopher Tan, Straits Times The number of bids submitted exceeded the COE supply of 1,851 by only one. **** PAP Town Councils - What A Fiasco by Mr Wang Says So **** Our Very Own "Lipstick On A Pig" by Groundnotes How does the PAP patronize Singaporeans? Let me count the ways. **** Town Council Losses: Who's Accountable? by Karen Woon, Straits Times The government has advocated high pay packages to public servants, because their pay should be commensurate with the risks they take, just like the CEO of a private organisation. But when mistakes are made, the CEO has to answer for them, most often at the cost of his job. So who should take the rap for these mistakes? And what actions will be taken to prevent future cases like this? See Also: Questions Over Losses By Town Councils , by Liew Yeng Chee, Straits Times. Will there be accountability? **** Reply To Chua Sheng Yang by Tan Kin Lian **** Does Labour Chief Know Labour Laws? by Melvin Tan, A Blog Day's Work From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Thu Nov 20 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 20 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 20, 2008 Message-ID: <20081120181501.99720.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Review: Adobe Soundbooth CS4 by Christopher Breen, Macworld As part of CS4, Soundbooth makes sense. As a separate application for those looking for a powerful and complete audio editor, not so much. **** Apple's Superlative Sequel: The Latest iPod Touch by Cliff Edwards, BusinessWeek The touch now sits in a class by itself. No longer simply a high-end iPod, it has become the foundation of what's sure to be an increasingly important handheld computing platform for Apple word or phrase. **** Ars Investigates: Does Google Mobile Use Private APIs? by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica It looks like Google decided that it was better to get the job done and provide a richer user experience to the end user than to live according to Apple's exact dictates. **** How Google's Ear Hears by Kate Greene, MIT Technology Review If you owe an iPhone, you can now be part of one of the most ambitious speech-recognition experiments ever launched. **** Omni Group Announces OmniGraffle 5.1, OmniFocus 1.5 by MacNN **** Where To Get The Worst Deal On A Professional-Level Mac by Dori Smith, Backup Brain **** Apple Releases Apple TV 2.3 Software Update by Arnold Kim, MacRumors.com **** Google Mobile Uses Private iPhone APIs by John Gruber, Daring Fireball **** Picking The Right Apple: A Guide To Apple's Mac Lineup by Ryan Faas, Datamation If you're thinking about buying a Mac for your family (or even yourself), understanding Apple's product line can be important to making that right choice, whether you're a longtime Mac fan or someone just considering switching from a PC. **** Apple's New Display Looks Great, But... by Stephen Williams, New York Times Why iniitially restrict the kinds of sources, including Apple's old older MacBook sand computers like the MacPro, that the monitor can accommodate? **** Frenzic Games Comes To iPhone by Peter Cohen, Macworld **** World Of Goo by Franklin Pride, Inside Mac Games WoG is the best game you'll play all year. **** Snow Leopard: Ahead Of Schedule? by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld A slide presented by an Apple employee at a recent conference suggests Snow Leopard may be ahead of schedule. **** Regarding Dumb Smart Folders by Christopher Breen, Macworld **** Wolfram Introduces Mathematica 7 by Peter Cohen, Macworld Key improvements include image processing, parallel High Performance Computing (HPC) support, on-demand curated data and other major functions. **** VoodooPad Upgraded To Version 4.0, Includes WebDAV Sync by Justin Berka, Ars Technica The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Microsoft, Labels Try To Revive Subscriptions by Ina Fried, CNET News.com **** Yahoo!'s Five Biggest Mistakes by Brian Caulfield, Forbes MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Siskel And Ebert And The Jugular by Roger Ebert, Chicaco Sun-Times At Pritikin they have a truism: "If you don't die of anything else, sooner or later you will die of caner." We all nod thoughtfully. **** The Child Trap by Joan Acocella, New Yorker The rise of overparenting. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Analysts Say GST Cut To Boost Local Consumption Isn't The Only Option by Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia **** Letter To Dr Teo Ho Pin, MP For Bukit Panjang by Jeffrey Ho, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore Are residents made to pay for the Lehman-related loss by the town council with higher S & C fees i the future before the GE2006 promises can be fulfilled? /I don't think the sports complex is going to be paid for by the sinking fund./ **** Only 30% Of Singapore Firms Aware Of Corporate Social Responsibility by Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia **** Southeast Asia Winning Malacca Straits Battle For Now: Watchdog by AFP **** Collateral Damage Of The WiFi Kind by Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times Call me chicken, but no thanks. **** It's No Glory Taking This Government Money by Feed Me To The Fish If government ministers can sponge off Singaporeans with their million dollars salary, paying Mdm Lim $330 a month is chicken feed. **** Straits Times' Credibility In Serious Doubt By Publishing Mr Chua Sheng Yang's Highly Critical Letter About Mr Tan Kin Lian by Eugene Yeo, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore The Straits Times Forum is a place which allows the views of ordinary citizens to be heard and should not be abused as a platform to launch personal attacks or unfounded allegations on one another. **** Nielsen Survey Shows Consumer Confidence In Singapore At All-Time Low by Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia Consumer confidence in Singapore has fallen to an all-time low, according to a Nielsen survey. Findings showed that one-third of Singaporeans have started feeling the heat of the economic downturn, even before the government announced that the country was in a technical recession. **** Town Councils Should Take Legal Action For Mis-Selling by Tan Kin Lian **** Curious Facts About Singapore by Bertha Henson, Straits Times Somebody in Peru's committee tasked with organising the Apec summit this weekend in Lima has a sense of humour - or maybe not. **** What Is The Source Of Singapore's "SH*T Society"? Singaproeans Or Foreigners? by This Lush Garden Within **** A Thorough Review Is Necessary by Kelvin Kwan Chee Hong, Today Affected Town Councils should not hide behind past successes and simply brush off the losses as unforeseeable and an insignificant percentage of their total funds. **** More Singaporeans Use Public Transit During Downturn: Government by AFP More people in Singapore are taking public transport as they try to save money during the global economic slowdown, the city-state's transport minister said in a speech released Wednesday. **** Singapore's Economy Probably Shrank On Manufacturing by Shamim Adam, Bloomberg Singapore's economy probably shrank last quarter as a manufacturing slump and easing demadn for financial services drove the nation into its first recession since 2002, adding pressure on policy makers to stimulate growth. **** Neptune Orient Lines To Cut 1,000 Jobs by Melanie Lee, Reuters Neptune Orient Lines, the world's seventh-largest container carrier,s aid on Wednesday it will shed 9 percent of its workforce and warned the outlook was grim as the shipping sector faces up to a prolonged downturn. See Also: NOL Warns Of Unprecedented Industry Crisis , by John Burton, Financial Times. **** Our Money, Our Right To Know by Choo Zheng Xi, The Online Citizen **** Rejected For Publication - Letter To Straits Times Forum Page by Vincent Sear, The Online Citizen I hav ehad the privilege of working with Mr Tan Kin Lian in NTUC Income several eyars ago. As far as I know, at no time did Mr Tan advocate any unethical or unscrupulous practices for his sales force. **** MM Lee Says Singapore's Bilingual Education Policy Reaping Dividends In China by Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Fri Nov 21 13:15:03 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 21 Nov 2008 18:15:03 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 21, 2008 Message-ID: <20081121181503.94531.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Font Software PopChar X Gets Update, Fixes Bugs by Macworld UK **** iPod Touch 2.2 Update Omits Google Maps Improvements by iPodNN The update appears to exclude any of the iPhone's upgrades to Google Maps, such as Street View, public transit navigation or sharing information via e-mail. **** DisplayPort by Sven-S. Prost, Quarter Life Crisis **** iPhone 2.2 Hides Some Treats by Giles Turnbull, Cult Of Mac **** Review: Contribute CS4 by Tom Negrino, Macworld Unimpressive upgrade for Adobe's web page editor. **** Psystar Case Reveals Apple's Shaky E-Mail Retention Policy by Jordan Golson, The Industry Standard Apple employees are responsible for maintaining their own documents such as e-mails, memos, and voicemails. In other words, there is no company-wide policy for archiving, saving, or deleting these documents. **** Apple Releases iPhone 2.2 Update by Jason Snell, Macworld Apple released the 2.2 software update for the iPhone late Thursday night Pacific time. **** Apple Updates Final Cut In Pro App Update by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld **** In UI Design, The "Obvious" Solution Isn't Necessarily The Best Solution by Usability Post OS X scrollbars have two arrow buttons, up and down, just like Windows — but the difference is that they're both located at the bottom. **** Apple's Folly by Michael Lee, Red Herring **** How Apple Gained The Upper Hand On Microsoft by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet.com Bottom line, the Mac experience removes uncertainty. **** Apple Releases iTunes 8.0.2 by Arnold Kim, MacRumors.com **** EtherPad Brings Simultaneous Writing To Web by Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS Simultaneous writing might seem like the authorial equivalent of the four-way intersection car crash in Steve Martin's L.A. Story. Instead, we find it makes it posssible for us to write faster (especially under deadline), and speed up editing, too. **** StoryMill Update Adds Word Frequency Filtering by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld New in StoryMill 3.2 is a Project Find and Replace feature, word frequency filtering, text zooming available everywhere, and support for international date formats. **** One-Touch GarageBand Sound Effects by Christopher Breen, Macworld **** The Perfect Storm Of Dta Loss: A Cautionary Tale by Dan Moren, Macworld Don't rely on your iDisk for backups of critical data. Make sure that you have a copy on a local disk at all times, lest you end up crushed and bereft, like me. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** St. Olaf Wrestles With Milton's Angel, And Prevails by Jennifer Howard, Chronicle Of Higher Education When Richard J. DuRocher, a professor English at St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minn., told one of his classes that he was running a marathon, everybody cheered. Then he told them what kind of marathon: a straight-through, out-loud reading of John ilton's /Paradise Lost/ — all 12 books of it, from Satan's fall to Adam and Eve's eviction from the Garden of Eden. **** Shoe-Leather Rhapsody by David Propson, Wall Street Journal 'Pedestrianism' as a method of discovering the world. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Countries Renew Commitment To Ending Death Penalty Worldwide by DPA **** Temasek Plans Pay Cut, Anticipates Global Recession by Chen Shiyin, Bloomberg Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore's state-owned investment company, plans to cut salaries and said a worldwide recession may extend beyond 2009. THe firm, which oversees $130 billion, said senior management has volunteered a 15 percent to 25 percent pay cut. The key managers will provide almost 90 percent of the savings from the companywide cut, it said in an e-mailed response today to a Bloomberg News query. **** Third Ministers' Pay Hike In Two Years - Staying Together Or Moving Ahead? by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen **** Old Woodlands Checkpoint To Get S$2.5M Makeover Aimed At Easing Congestion by Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia Faced with a steady growth in traffic volume, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has announced plans to further evelop the Old Woodlands Checkpoint. **** Political Systems Or Rhetorical Systems? by Mollymeek What the PAP wants is people to believe that it has to be in power forever, not that a dominant-party system is better than a two-party system. Once we get this clear, we know where to steer the debate. **** Malaysia And Singapore Ties 'Solid As An Iceberg' by The Star Malaysia-Singapore ties will always remain strong despite long-standing bilateral issues, said Singapore's High Commissioner to Malaysia T. Jasudasen. **** Monetary Policy Appropriate by Robin Chan, Straits Times The MOnetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said there are no plans to change its current exchange rate policy stance. **** Singapore Cuts GDP Forecast by Fiona Chan, Straits Times Singapore's economy could shrink next year for the first time since 2001 as the global downturn deepens, warned the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday. **** Twenty Years Of The GRC: Walkover Political Careers (Part Two) by Melvin Tan, The Online Citizen **** Home-Schoolers Do Well by Jane Ng, Straits Times The first batch of students outside mainstream schools to sit for the Primary School Leaving Examination have done as well as their counterparts elsewhere, with over 90 per cent of them doing well enough to move to the secondary level. **** Why Singapore's Political System Works by Tan Wu Meng, Young PAP, Straits Times In partnership with the people of Singapore, PAP governments have kept this nation afloat through the 1970s oil shocks, the 1980s recession, the 1990s Asian financial crisis, the post-9/11 aftermath and Sars. Which other party in the world has this depth of experience? /PAP prides itself on economic success. But if one measures against protecting the freedom and rights of the citizen as enshrined in our constitution, PAP's track record is bad./. **** DBS Bank Defends Retrenchment by Karen Ngui, DBS Bank, Straits Times A hiring freeze was already in place and we considered temporary measures, including tiered pay reductions across the organisation. But the most imortant consideration of all is that the changes in the financial landscape are drastic and permanent - they are not cyclical. **** Falling Prices Scuttle Couple's 'Reverse Loan' by Tan May Ping, New Paper /Like many in the U.S. who believed that the value of their properties will only increase and never decrease, this couple was burnt./ From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sat Nov 22 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 22 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 22, 2008 Message-ID: <20081122181501.84476.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Apple Unplugged In Georgetown? by Missy Frederick, Washington Business Journal Although Apple Inc. paid $13.4 million for a building at 1229 Wisconsin Ave. NW more than a year ago, there are no signs the company is moving forward with its plans any time soon. **** Apple Approves Third-Party Email Client For The App Store, Violates Its Own Policies by Joshua Topolsky, Engadget **** Without Battery, MacBooks Take Big Performance Hit by Zach Honig, PC Magazine If you're a MacBook or MacBook Pro owner, you'll get the best performance out of your system when you leave the battery in. **** Jobs, It's My House... by Ronald O Carlson, Mac.Blorge.com **** Mac OS X Targeted By Trojan And Backdoor Tool by Matthew Broersma, ZDNet.co.uk Two pieces of malicious software affecting Apple's Mac OS X appeared this week: a Trojan horse with the ability to download and install malicious code of an attacker's choice, and a hacker tool for creating backdoors, according to security vendors. /Still, no virus. :-)/ **** Apple's Ad Spend Almost A Half-Billion Dollars by Sam Diaz, ZDNet.com If Apple can afford to spend almost a half-billion dollars on an ad campaign and still continue to beat Wall Street's quarterly estiamtes, launch breakthrough products that keep customers longing for more and generate an enormous amount of unsolicited blog buzz, then I say more power to them. /Unlike Microsoft, Apple doesn't need more money to fix Vista./ **** The Revenge Of The $9.99 iPhone Apps by Mg Siegler, Venture Beat $0.99-an-app isn't much of a way for developers to make a living, and quite a few of them are now trending back towards $10. **** Apple Updates Final Cut Pro, Compressor, Color And Shake by AppleInsider **** $5 Million Lawsuit Charges Apple With Fraud Over 3G Speeds by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld A new lawsuit filed this week against Apple and AT&T charge the companies with a host of offenses related to the speed of the 3G network and the performance of the iPhone. **** Apple Lawyers Hand iPod Hash Cracking Site A DMCA Notice by Justin Berka, Ars Technica Apple lawyers recently sent a DMCA violation notice to a project that was attempting to reverse-engineer the current version of hte iTunesDB protection. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** The (Mostly) True Story Of Helvetica And The New York City Subway by Paul Shaw, AIGA There is a commonly held belief that Helvetica is /the/ signage typeface of the New York City subway syste, a belief reinforced by /Helvetica/, Gary Hustwit's popular 2007 documentary about the typeface. But it is not true—or rather, it is only somewhat true. **** The Sitcom Digresses by Ross Simonini, New York Times Avant-grade literature gave America its first tradition of subverting narrative, but what was once a wild experiment in language has become an accepted counterpart to our internet culture, where digressive Googling and link-clicking are a way of life. The dustry sitcom has caught up to the modern mind. **** Spellbound by Michael Dirda, New York Review Of Books Start one of his books and by page two you cannot choose but hear. While Paul Auster may not have a glittering eye, he still knows how to keep a reader spellbound. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Durian Seller Explains Why Only One Seller Needed by Yuhui's Singapore Blogger **** Why Can't We Be More Like Singapore? by The Star To all our politicians who intend to go for long and expensive overseas trips to study how to run our country, please don't waste taxpayers' money. Be humble and just learn from Singapore! **** PAP: Change We Also Can... Part 1 by Diary Of A Singaporean Mind The PAP is a product of Singaporeans' apathy and complacency. **** A Touch Of Reserve by The Online Citizen In a wider sense, the current acrimony is also a product of latent worries about the government's notoriously secretive management of the country's savings. **** Gamblers And Gambling - A Nation Hooked by Gilbert Goh, The Online Citizen **** Rocked By Global Crisis by Seah Chiang Nee, The Star The government, which had been sweeping general elections, is evidently worried about an upsurge in discontent that could erode its power base. **** Shrinking Economy Tests Singapore by John Burton, Financial Times Singapore's government faces its biggest test since taking office in 2004 after forecasting that the economy will shrinnk 1-2 per cent next year. A recesion next year would be the fourth that Singapore has suffered since independence in 1965 but some economists believe it could be the country's worst. The sudden downturn may prompt the government to call an early election before scheduled polls in 2011 in case economic pain leads to a backlash against the People's Action party that has ruled Singapore for 50 years. **** Tan Kin Lian Has Left The PAP? by Lianhe Zaobao **** Logic Favours Two-Party System by Rayner Teo, Straits Times Experience does not prevent us from making mistakes; worse, it creates an environment of complacency and lethargy. **** Governments Better Off With Checks And Blanaces by Vincent Tan, Straits Times From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sun Nov 23 13:15:00 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 23 Nov 2008 18:15:00 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 23, 2008 Message-ID: <20081123181500.77757.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** iPhone Firmware 2.2 Jailbroken! QuickPwn 2.2 Released! by Dan Nosowitz, Gizmodo **** Sex Can't Sell On The iPhone: Wallpaper Universe Pulled From App Store by Mg Siegler, Venture Beat The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Lessons Of Survival, From The Dot-Com Attic by Leslie Berlin, New York Times Dot-com survival rate is as good as or bettter than that for technologies like automobiles, tires and televisions in their formative years. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Goodbye, Girl by Marianne Jacobbi, Boston Globe No piece of clothing is as cloaked in history and dreams as the wedding dress. **** Irony Is Dead. Again. Yeah, Right. by Andy Newman, New York Times Pity poor irony. Declared dead after 9/11, it staged a strong rally beneath a "Mission Accomplished banner, only to find itself in mortal danger once again. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Citigroup Down To $20.5B From $244B by Blowin' In The Wind **** Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council Says Part Of S$4m Investment Not Written Off by Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council said while it is looking at safer options for investing, it will also take into account what residents prefer. Speaking on the sidelines of a community event on Sunday, Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council chairman, Ahmad Magad, said the council has been communicating with some residents who have asked about the investments. And going forward, it will listen to what residents prefer. **** Sunday Times Shooting "Honey-Coated" Arrows At Tan Kin Lian To Sabotage His Bid For Political Office by Fang Zhi Yuan, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore Mr Tan's latest announcement may not be too welcomed by certain quarters in the government going by the slant the state media has been adopting so far against him. **** Red Alert: Tan Kin Lian For President!!! by Diary Of A Singaporean Mind I expect the PAP to now start mining for information on Mr. Tan. **** Parents Disagree With Suggestion To Only Recruit Graduate Teachers by Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia Many parents have asked for non-academic achievements to be given greter prominence and to be included in key performance index. **** Singapore Sizzles With The Best Street Food by Anthony Capella, The Times Any country that bans chewing gum can't be all bad, particularly when the same controlling attitude also created some of the world's most vibrant street food. **** Tan Kin Lian Eyes Presidency by Nur Dianah Suhaimi, Straits Times The 60-year-old former chief executive officer of NTUC Income told The Sunday Times he is considering standing as Singapore's next elected president or contesting in the next general election as an independent candidate. See Also: Tan Kin Lian Eyes Elected Presidency , by Tan Kin Lian. "It is not my interest or amibition to stand for election. If I do not get 100,000 signatures, I have the excuse to opt out - that this is a bad idea." **** Town Councils To Explain by Tan Dawn Wei and Zureena Habib, Straits Times Town councils must be accountable to their residents for what they do with the money they collect from them, said national development Mah Bow Tan. But the government should not meddle with how these funds are managed, just as it does not interfere with the town councils' other operations. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Mon Nov 24 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 24 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 24, 2008 Message-ID: <20081124181501.45490.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Why Macs And Why Now? by Ben Stevens, Law Practice Today **** Second Generation iPod Touch Faster Than iPhone by Touch Arcade **** Why The iPhone Doesn't Need To Compete With The Nintendo DS Or Sony PSP by Edible Apple What makes the iPhone as a gaming platform so exiciting isn't that it's going to compete with Sony and Nintendo for the hardcore gamers, but rather that it appears to be opening up an entirely new market of gaming by appealing to the casual gamer. **** Mac Clones Doomed? by Seb Janacek, Silicon.com If the hardware is 'what' Apple makes it money from, the operating system and the software is the 'why'. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Why Retuers Left Second Life, And How Linden Lab Can Fix It by Eric Krangel, Silicon Alley Insider MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Peace by Stanley Moss, New Yorker **** In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin, New Yorker **** Signing Ceremony by Clive James, New Yorker SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Give Expats More Options by Karsten Carmer, Today I would like to ask the National Library Board (NLB) why foreigners in Singapore are not given the option to sign up for a basic membership, and instead are required to sign up for a premium membership? **** Standard Chartered Announces $2.7 Billion Rights Issue by Reuters **** The Singapore Miracle by Farooq Hameed Khan, The Nation **** The Party May Be Over In Singapore by Mariko Oi, BBC News For years the financial district of Singapore has been a magnet for thousands of expats seeking big bonuses and a glamorous lifestyle. But now with job losses spreading to Asia and the city state in recession, the party could very soon be over. **** Demand For RI Workers Remains High In Singapore by Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta Post **** 19% Pay Cut For President And Prime Minister, But They Remain The Highest Paid Public Servants In The World by Eugene Yeo, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore **** Singapore To Invest In JB Project by The Star Singapore has proposed to make an 'iconic investment' in Iskandar Malaysia as a symbol of commitment between the two countries,s aid deputy prime minister Seri Najib. He said the suggestion was put forward by Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong when the two met at the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit. **** Oct Inflation Eases To 6.4% by Fiona Chan, Straits Times Inflation continued to ease last month, but stayed higher than expected as the hikes in electricity rates kicked in. See Also: Singapore Consumer Price Index, October 2008 , by Singapore Department of Statistics, Singapore Government. **** Civil Service To Cut Pay by Straits Times The civil service will cut pay of ministers and senior officials by up to 19 per cent next year, and hte year-end payment for 2008 by one month in view of the slowdown in the global economy and in Singapore, the Public Service Division (PSD) announced on Monday. **** Tan Kin Lian's Bid For Presidency: Is This The Right Time? by Fang Zhi Yuan, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore **** Enforce The Rules, Asks Reader by Elysa Chen, New Paper Cyclists who ride dangerously on pedestrian walkways should be taken to task. Otherwise more people are going to get hurt. See Also: Off The Bus And Into A Speeding Cyclist , by Elysa Chen, New Paper. **** Win Some, Lose Some by Singapore Kopi Tok Just a year ago, everyone's concern was that inflation far exceede the fixd deposit rate. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Tue Nov 25 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 25 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 25, 2008 Message-ID: <20081125181501.19718.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Is Apple Pricing Itself Out Of Education? by Christopher Dawson, ZDNet.com **** Inside Safari 3.2'S Anti-Phishing Features by MacJournals, Macworld Apple silently uses Google's Safe Browsing technology to monitor web-site connections. **** Review: The New MacBook Air, Now With Extra SSD Goodness by Ken Mingis, Computerworld If the first MacBook Air was a revolutionary take on the Apple laptop line, this is an evolutionary steps — which is exactly what you'd expect from a second-generation release. **** Treating URL Protocol Schemes As Cruft by John Gruber, Daring Fireball To make better use of the available space in the location field, Safari no longer shows the "http://" or "https://" protocol scheme. **** Negotiations To Put Beatles On iTunes Stalled by Meera Selva, Associated Press Paul McCartney said Monday negotiations on a long-awaited deal to make the Beatles' catalog available on the online music service iTunes have stalled. **** Macworld Buying Guides: Apple's Mac Lineup by Philip Michaels, Macworld **** Apple Touts MacBooks' Greenness by Scott McNulty, Macworld A new Apple web site proudly proclaims that the new MacBooks are "the world's greenest family of notebooks." **** Apple Bumps Safari To 3.2.1 by Jonathan Seff, Macworld According to the terse description, Safari 3.2.1 includes unspecified "stability improvements" and is recommended for all Safari users. **** HandBrake 0.9.3 Accepts Any Files, Boosts Encoding Quality by David Chartier, Ars Technica **** Apple Sued Over Mobile Safari As Email Retention Policy Questioned by Katie Marsal, AppleInsider **** Apple Cutting Hours For Part-Time Retail Workers? by Tom Krazit, CNET News.com **** Ten Tiny Apps That I'm Thankful For by Guy Kawasaki, How To Change The World **** Jade Empire: Special Edition by Marcus Albers, Inside Mac Games **** TaskPaper 2.0 Helps You Get Things Done by Scott McNulty, Macworld **** Hack Enables Hidden Google Maps Features On iPod Touch by Aayush Arya, Macworld It's a fairly complicated process which requires having jailbroken your device and the ability to modify system-level files on it remotely using the Terminal. **** How Podcasts Work With iPhone 2.2 And iTunes by Iljitsch van Beijnum, Ars Technica This is excellent new functionality that avid podcast listeners have been waiting for since the day the first iPhone was released. However, it's a bit clunky here and there. One of the main features of podcasts is that they are automatically downloaded without the user having to go out and look for new episodes. Apple's iPhone podcast downloading mechanism breaks this paradigm. **** Review: Battlestations Midway by Chris Holt, Macworld The wonky controls never become intuitive, and commnding a battle group becomes more of a chore than a joy given the ridiculously dumb AI. The game offers you a playground for your militaristic dreams and then proceeds to tie your hands behind your back and toss sand in your eyes. **** Macworld Buying Guides: iPods by Christopher Breen, Macworld The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Twelve Myths About How The Internet Works by Carolyn Duffy Marsan, Network World MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** The White Skunk by David Ferry, Slate **** Porn In A Flash by Tracy Clark-Flory, Salon A troubling surge in creepy "upskirt" photography has lawmakers in a twist — and the body parts of women posted all over the internet. **** A Whisper, Perhaps, From The Universe's Dark Side by Dennis Overbye, New York Times A concatenation of puzzling results from an alphabet soup of satellites and experiments has led a growing number of astronomers and physicists to suspect that they are getting signals from a shadow universe of dark matter that makes up a quarter of creation but has eluded direct detection until now. **** Across France, Cafe Owners Are Suffering by Steven Erlanger, New York Times The impression is that business is bad and getting worse, with people and companies cutting back on discretionary spending and entertainment budgets. And that is only compounding longer-term problems stemming from changes in how people live and growing health concerns. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Case Yet To Be Made by Li Hongyi, Straits Times An effective response to Dr Tan must account for both costs and benefits of multi-party politics and argue why one side outweighs the other - in particular, why Singapore can harness such political compettion to generate better policymaking while avoiding the attendant costs, when many other countries are unable to do so. /Personally, I want a samll government. I want government out of my life. But if I can't have that, I rather have more political parties than less, because a single-party parliament will tend to get bigger, not smaller./ **** Crowded Trains: Bunching Not The Problem by Hannah Ruth Chia, Straits Times SMRT can throw statistics at commuters and claim that maximum capacity has not been reached. If this is true, I shudder to think how unbearable train journeys will be if maximum capacity is reached. **** SDP: Misunderstood, Misguided Or Misaligned? by Kelvin Lim, The Online Citizen **** Kudos To Government For Pay Cut And Deferment by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen Whether the cut and deferment for ministers' salary is a political move does not really matter at the moment. What will matter — to the PAP as a political party and Singaporeans in general — is whether the government will be able to help Singaporeans through the next two or three years when unemployment is expected to double and when thousands start to have difficulties living day to day. **** Wall Street Journal Asia Fined S$25,000 For Contempt Of Court by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia Singapore's High Court has found the Wall Street Journal Asia in contempt of court and fined it S$25,000. It is the highest fine meted out so far for such cases. **** PM Lee Assures Singaporeans They Are Not Alone In Coping With Downturn by Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said the country cannot simply stimulate demand during this time of crisis by raising government spending. While that may be what other countries are doing to stem the downturn, Mr Lee said it cannot work for Singapore because of its small economy. **** Two Opinions On Tan Kin Lian Petition by P N Baliji and Choo Zheng Xi, The Online Citizen Go for the presidency, Mr Tan. **** Three Singaporeans To Be Sentenced For Contempt Of Court by Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia Three Singaporeans have been held in contempt of court for appearing at the Supreme Court building in May wearing T-shirts showing a kangaroo in a judge's gown. **** Conversation Stoppers by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread Penalising people for saying that our courts do not meet expected standards does not improve justice. It's just a conversation stopper. A silencer. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Wed Nov 26 13:15:00 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 26 Nov 2008 18:15:00 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 26, 2008 Message-ID: <20081126181500.57105.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** EFF: Apple DisplayPort DRM Will Lead To More Piracy by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld "This is a remarkably short-sighted move for both Apple and Hollywood," wrote Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual property attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "THis punishes existing iTunes customers." He also called new MacBook's a downgrade in everyone's previous investment in iTunes content. /All DRM schemes — no matter how strict or generous — bascially punish honest customers./ **** Parallels Virtualization App Upgrade Sparks Outcry From Some Mac Users by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld Desktop for Mac 4.0 under fire on support forums, company says 'small number' affected. **** QuickTime 7.5.7 For DisplayPort Allows Standard Definition Playback by Arnold Kim, MacRumors.com This latest update appears to remove the HDCP enforcement on standard definition content, which means that the current movie content purchased or rented on a Mac should playback unrestricted. **** Google Admits Breaking App Store Rules by Tom Krazit, CNET News.com A Google spokesman confirmed Tuesday that Google Mobile uses undocumented APIs in order to use the iPhone's proximity sensor to prompt a verbal search. Google has denied, however, a more serious charge that it was linking to private or dynamic frameworks in the Google Mobile application. **** LogicControl 2.0 by Dan Frakes, Macworld **** EFF Berates Apple Over Open-Source iTunes Project by Robert McMillan, IDG News Service Apple's attempt to quash an effort to help the latest iPods and iPhones work with non-Apple software such as the Linux operating system is out of line, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said Tuesday. **** Old Macs In The New Economy by John Hatchett, Low End Mac **** Judge: Apple's New VP Could Cause 'Irreparable Harm' To IBM by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld **** Confirmed: Apple Now Price-Matches Any Item In Its Stores by David Chartier, Ars Technica **** Review: Adobe InCopy CS4 by Sally Zahner, Macworld Adobe's latest version of InCopy, the companion program to InDesign that lets writers and editors work on a document concurrently with the designer, offers a host of significant new features and enhancmeents. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Sharing The Browser by Erica Naone, MIT Technology Review Software lets workers collaborate online by clicking together. **** Ray Ozzie Wants To Push Microsoft Back Into Startup Mode by Steven Levy, Wired Can Ray Ozzie fix the house that Bill built? **** E-Commerce Shrinks For First Time, Research Firm Says by Brad Stone, New York Times MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Betting On Mac And Cheese by Alex Witchel, New York Times Macaroni and cheese with Humboldt Fog, a high-end goat cheese from Northern California, is savory without being acrid, and creamy without being heavy. **** The Circle Of Life With Bagels by Mervyn Rothstein, New York Times For Maria Balinska, it was never just bagels and yuks. "People used to laugh at me when I told them I was writing a book about bagels," she said. "I'd tell them It was actually quite serious." **** Alone Together by Jennifer Senior, New York Magazine Manhattan is the capital of people living by themselves. But are New Yorkers lonelier? Far from it, say a new breed of lonelines researchers, who argue that urban alienation is largely a myth. **** Thanksigivng? No Thanks! by Regina Schrambling, Slate Why food writers secretly hate the November feast. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** DBS And Me... (Two Emails) by Ovidia Yu **** Bangkok Airport Shut Down, Singapore TV News Covers It As Major News Item Again, And Again, And Again by mrbrown Ok, ok, we get it. Don't go Bangkok. Now please cover some news Singaporeans care about. **** Singapore Wins Again by Asia Sentinel A high court judge reinvents Alice in Wonderland in a contempt case. **** Town Councils' Sinking Funds Not Mismanaged, Says Teo Ho Pin by Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia In a statement to the media on Wednesday, he said town councils have been prudent because they understand their responsibility to residents. /Channel NewsAsia uses the word "clarify" to describe Teo Ho Pin's words. I'd use the word "claim", because no where in this articele can I find any evidence that town councils are either "prudent" or "responsible" to residents./ /"Estate maintenance and improvement plans will not be affected," calimed Teo Ho Pin. That may simply mean that the PAP town councils have collected too much money in the sinking fund, such that losing a few millions here and a few millions there will "not affect" the plans./ **** Singapore Imposes Indefinite Suspension On Cluster Munitions Exports by Cheah Yean Ti, Channel NewsAsia A joint statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence said that while Singapore is concerned about the humanitarian problems caused by the irresponsible and indiscriminate use of cluster munitions, it is impractical to impose a blanket ban on these weapons. /This is not good enough. Singapore should sign the agreement, and stop manufacturing and remove all existing cluster bombs. "Responsible use of cluster munitions for self-defence" is a horrible excuse, as there are enough weapons in the world already for any kind of self-defence. I am disappointed by Singapore's government stand on this matter./ **** PowerSeraya Sale Shelved by Fiona Chan, Straits Times Temasek Holdins has halted its sale of power generation company PowerSeraya, as deepening pessimism about the global economy thwarts corporate deal-making plans around the world. **** Seatless Cabins Won't Ease Crowded MRT by Edward Say, Straits Times The present press-formed seats have been shaped and sized to seat passengers compactly, with barely enough shoulder and leg room for a medium-built individual. Hence the converted space will in practice takes about the same number of standing passengers as seats removed, after allowing for shoulder room and room to avoid breathing down another passenger's neck. The net result of the exercise is thus no increase in space for more standing passengers and no more room for those who stand. Not surprisingly, this has been borne out by feedback from passengers. **** Follow The Porridge by Singapore Life And Times **** My Response To The TOC Article "SDP Misunderstood, Misguided Or Misaligned?" by Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net I hope Mr Lim realizes the wool that the mainstream media has pooled over everyone's eyes in tainting the SDP as a rogue or maverick party with little political agenda apart from breaking the law. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Thu Nov 27 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 27 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 27, 2008 Message-ID: <20081127181501.5395.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Five Reasons To Choose OS X by Sergiu Gatlan, Softpedia **** Apple Sends Baseless Takedown Notice To Hackers Discussing iTunesDB Code by Devin Coldewey, CrunchGear Perhaps it's just an overzealous lawyer throwing Apple's weight around, but really, how could they blow it so badly? **** Black Friday Discounts On Macs Have Begun by Arnold Kim, MacRumors.com **** Apple Made To Drop iPhone Advert by BBC News An Apple iPhone advert has been banned by the advertising standards watchdog for exaggerating the phone's speed. **** iPhone 2.2 SDK Offers Undocumented TV-Out Features by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica **** First Impressions: Apple 24-Inch LED Cinema Display by Clint Ecker, Ars Technica **** 17-Inch MacBook Pro Benchmarks by James Galbraith, Macworld Macworld Lab's tests indicate that despite the lack of any great leap forward in the 17-inch model's under-the-hood specs, this laptop is still a very good performer. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Tan Wen Yi - The CCA Suicide by Mr Wang Says So **** Swiss Chief Says Singapore Banks Give More Secrecy by Raphael Minder, Financial Times Singapore should expect tougher international scrutiny of its banking secrecy rules, as the Asian city-state continues to expand its wealth management and private banking businesses, according to the chief executive of the Swiss Bankers Association. **** Singapore Court Fines WSJ For "Scandalizing The Court" by Amir Efrati, Wall Street Journal A spokesman for Dow Jones, the News Corp. unit that owns WSJ and the Law Blog, said the company "strongly disagrees with the court's analysis" and that its newspaper "has not engaged in a 'campaign' of any sort against the Singapore judiciary. We will in future continue to defend the right of The Wall Street Journal Asia to report and comment on matters of international importance, including matters concerning Singapore." **** What Is Worrying About GIC And Temasek Losses! by Diary Of A Singaporean Mind At which point will the check and balance kick in? At which point will Singaporeans be calling out loudly to reform the GIC and Temasek? **** Jail Term For Three Singaporeans Found Guilty Of Contempt Of Court by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia The three Singaporeans who have been found guilty of contempt of court in the kangaroo T-shirt case have been sentenced to jail. Two of them, 19-year-old Muhammad Shafi'ie Syahmi Sariman and 33-year-old Isrizal Mohamed Isa, received a seven-day jail term each, while 47-year-old John Tan Liang Joo was slapped with a 15-day jail term. **** MFA Says Singaporean Among Hostages In Mumbai by 938 Live The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has said it is working closely with the Indian authorities to secure the safe release of a Singaporean woman held hostage at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai. See Also: MFA Press Statement On The Mumbai Terrorist Attacks And Hostage Situation , by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore Government. **** Tourism Dips by Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times October marked yet another dismal month for tourism, as arrivals dipped year-on-year for the fifth consecutive month, according to official figures released yesterday. **** Teo Ho Pin's "Reassurance" Is Hardly Reassuring by Eugene Yeo, The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore Dr Teo Ho Pin's "reassurance" raises more questions given that he is merely rehashing old arguments in defence of the PAP Town Councils. From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Fri Nov 28 13:15:00 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 28 Nov 2008 18:15:00 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 28, 2008 Message-ID: <20081128181500.4901.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Review: MindNode Pro 1.0.3 by Tim Haddock, Macworld MindNode Pro 1.0.3 is a straightforward and pain-free point of entry into the world of mind mapping. That said, the program's simplicity and ease of use come at the cost of features and capabilities that power users and fast learners might quickly find themselves wishing they had. **** My Visit To The Apple Store by Antonio Cangiano, Zen And The Art Of Programming This is just an anecdote, but it helps to explain the loyalty of an increasing number of Mac users. **** Apple's US Black Friday Sale Now Live by Thomas Ricker, Engadget **** Apple Investigates MacBook Graphics Issues by Jose Vilches, TechSpot.com Apple has acknowledged two graphics issues with its new line of unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops, and while a software update may remedy at least one of them, Apple is reportedly investigating whether the second one is software or hardware related. **** Apple iPhone 3G Ad: Brouhaha Is Bogus by Simon Jary, PC Advisor What do these people expect — Apple to air a two-minute advert where the iPhone is shown laborriously loading a range of average web pages? **** Review: WriteRoom 2.3 by Nathan Aiderman, Macworld If you just want to dive into your writing with the fewest possible distractions, WriteRoom is second to none. Sometimes, a unitasker—especially one as well-crafted as this—really is the best tool for the job. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Guilty Verdict In Cyberbullying Case Provokes Many Questions Over Online Identity by Brian Stelter, New York Times The verdict Wednesday in the MySpace cyberbullying case raised a variety of questions about the terms that users agree to when they log on to web sites. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Singaporean Held Hostage At Mumbai's Oberoi Hotel Killed by Ca-Mie De Souza, Channel NewsAsia Singapore's foreign ministry says the Singapore Chinese woman held hostage at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai has been killed. See Also: MFA Press Statement On The Singapore Hostage In Mumbai , by Ministry Of Foreign Affairs, Singapore Government. We are deeply saddened to have to inform you that the Singaporean who was held hostage since 27 November 2008 was a casualty. We would like to convey our sincere condolences to the family of Ms Lo Hoei Yen. This is a tragedy for all SIngaporeans. **** Don't Use Yor DBS Card This Christmas... by Musings ... unless you want to spread hate, instead of love. **** Singapore Central Bank Warns Of Worsening Economy by Alex Kennedy, Associated Press Singapore's central bank warned the city-state's economy, which slid into recession in the third quarter, will continue to weaken, hurting corporate profits and sparking job cuts. **** The Government Wants Active Citizens So That They Can Harass Them by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread Regulation of civic activities in Singapore stand in stark contrast to the streamlined way by which bisnesses are registered. **** Multi-Party Politics: As Churchill Said, Democracy Is The Worst Form Of Government, Except All The Others by Toh Han Shih, Straits Times While it is fair to argue that too muchbickering can paralyse a government when it needs to act quickly in a crisis, it is undesirable to have a dominant government so ossified in its ways, it cannot respond nimbly and effectively to ever-changing situations. **** 'More Trains, Not Fewer Seats' by New Paper From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sat Nov 29 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 29 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 29, 2008 Message-ID: <20081129181501.61157.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Two UI "Features" I Just Don't Understand by SteveX Compiled Why do some lists in the Mac work this way? **** Why We Develop For The iPhone Or "Fish Where The Fish Are." by Connected Data Apple has innovated a new way to market software to the world. Thank you Steve Jobs for hanging in! **** Apple And The Digital Rights Management Debate by Mark Webster, The Independent It's all about whether a database's content change signifies an authorship change or not. And it's an issue likely to take years to resolve in the US legal system. **** What Might End Apple's Open Source Pass by Dana Blankenhorn, ZDNet.com It does not surprise me that those in the open source movement, or the free internet movement, would protest Apple's actions. What surprises me is the silence of the music industry. **** Ten Of The Best Mac Apps For Bloggers by Paul Glazowski, Mashable **** Organize Your Workflow With Spaces by Chris Bowler, The Weekly Review You only see the windows that you are directly working with. The list is considerably shorter than cycling through a long list of applications. Brilliant. **** Prince Of Persia: The Two Thrones by Zack Stem, MacLife The physicality in Two Thrones excels, but we were still disappointed by bugs and technical issues. **** Update: The Paperless Office by Joe Kissell, Macworld New AppleScripts work with the latest versions of Adobe Acrobat. The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** Google's Gatekeepers? by Jeffrey Rosen, New York Times Nicole Wong and her colleagues decide what the world can see on YouTube. Are they also determiing the limits of free speech? MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** Exit Wounds by Tom Bissell, New York Times Suicide is an exploded bridge that can never be repaired. All its secondary victims can do is stare across the chasm and hope the other side is more peaceful than this one. **** Holes In Our Socks by Tim Harford, Slate Why it's so hard to predict how bad the recession will be. **** For The Naughty by Dave Barry, Washington Post Why do we give gifts during the holiday season? We do it for a reason that is as timeless as humanity itself: women. **** The State Of Solitude by Andrew Stark, Wall Street Journal Pondering what it means to be alone in the modern world. **** An Epic Journey In Which Science And Reason Rule by Peter Bebergal, Boston Globe Yes, "Anathem," Neal Stephenson's new novel is very long, coming in at more than 900 pages. Yes, it tackles philosophy, physics, religion, and mathematics. Yes, it's a daring feat of speculative fiction, playing with all the classic science-fiction tropes: futurism, first contact, high tech versus low tech, and speculations on the nature of the cosmos. And yes, it's pretty good, almost great, despite the work involved in reading it. SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Leading Rights Lawyer Faces Jail Term by Baradan Kuppsuamy, IPS Singapore's embattled human rights lawyer and leading anti-death penalty campaigner, Ravi Madasamy, intends to defend his reputation "all the way" to the highest courts after being released on bail for allegedly causing a disturbance at a mosque. **** Tranquil Singapore Shaken By Mumbai Killing by Ben Bland, Telegraph Although it has a population of nearly 5m, Singapore often feels like it's a small market town and the death of Ms Lo has hit the city as if she was known to everyone here. **** Mumbai Killing Jolts Peaceful Singapore by AFP Lo Hwei Yen came from a country that prides itself on rigorous anti-terrorism measures. But all the security in the city-state of Singapore meant nothing when Islamic militants stormed the Indian hotel where Lo was staying and took her hostage. **** FOTF: Promoting The Devaluation Of Women by Glass Castle Blog It's not something DBS shareholders and customers would necessarily feel comfortable supporting financially. DBS should be upfront about this. **** Singapore Licenses Are Online! by Creative Commons Singapore **** Fremont Attorney Released From Singapore Jail by Linh Tat, The Argus Gopalan Nair, a San Jose resident who practices law in Fremont maintained his innocence Friday and continued to lash out at the Singapore government as being corrupt. He said he plans to repost the two previous entries and that he will continue to write critical pieces of the government, reliazing he'll never be able to step foot in Singapore again. **** Singapore Strikes Again by Wall Street Journal As for this week's contempt ruling, the first line of Justice tay's decision is revealing as a standard for Singapore justice. "Words sometimes mean more than what they appear to say on the surface," he writes, going on to interpret the words as contemptuous because they had an "inherent tendency" to scandalise the court." We'll pay the fine. We'll also continue to express our views about politics, the courts and other subjects that we think our readers should know about. And we'll let readers decide what to make of the judiciary in Singapore. **** MRT Seat Removal: More Space = More Crowded by Mollymeek **** How Top Schools Stay At The Top by Mr Wang Says So Why gather hard information about things that are best kept a secret. **** No Change In Political Equation by Seah Chiang Nee, The Star Few analysts expect the PAP to lose an election anytime soon. Its record as a stable, capable government remains in many people's minds despite the crop of unpopular policies it has pushed through. The younger set of leaders is, however, undergoing a baptism of fire and not exactly coming out with flying colours. /As noted elsewhere, the younger 'leaders' today did not really go through the ritual of an election and having to go out and earn people's votes. All they know, in a sense, is to lead by command-and-order a.k.a. SAF-management-style, and to throw money at problems and hope for the best./ /Many people will be willing to die for Lee Kuan Yew. How many of the younger generation will even want to ride a bicycle with the younger generation of MPs?/ **** Women And Older Residents Raise Singapore's Labour Rate by Bernama Singapore's employment rate grew by 2.7 percent last June compared to a year ago after more local women and older residents joined the workforce. **** The Secret Makan Ghettos Of Singapore by The Malaysian Insider **** PM Lee Prescribes Bitter Medicine - Again by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen Under your leadership, all that Singaporeans seem to be doing these past years is swallowing bitter stuff - while at the same time, being told by you and your government how exceptional a government you are and how Singapore is in a 'golden period'. **** MFA Press Statement: Acting Prime Minister Professor S Jayakumar's Condolence Message To The Family Of Ms Lo Hoei Yen by Ministry Of Foreign Affairs, Singapore Government My Cabinet colleagues and I are painfully saddened by the news of the death of a Singaporean among the hostages in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Our condolences go out to her family and her loved ones for their tragic loss. The loss of any life to terrorism is sad but the loss of a fellow Singaporean is a pain more keenly and more closely felt by every Singaporean. I know that all Singaporeans feel deeply for the family and our hearts go out to them in their time of sorrow and grief. **** MRT Seats Removed After Public Feedback by Geoffrey Lim, Land Transport Authority, Bernadette Low, SMRT Corporation, Straits Times In a survey of over 700 commuters conducted after deployment of the modified trains on Oct 31, nine in 10 commuters on platforms and seven in 10 in trains preferred being able to board a train quickly to having a seat. Most commuters also felt it was important to have more standing space in the cabins. And six in 10 felt that LTA and SMRT have modified the correct proportion of trains. **** Real Pain by Singapore Life And Times **** Terrorists Have Killed One Of Our Own by Gerald Giam From applesurf at myapplemenu.com Sun Nov 30 13:15:01 2008 From: applesurf at myapplemenu.com (applesurf at myapplemenu.com) Date: 30 Nov 2008 18:15:01 -0000 Subject: [MyAppleMenu] Nov 30, 2008 Message-ID: <20081130181501.16010.qmail@voot.pair.com> MyAppleMenu ==================================== **** Losing An iPhone by James Duncan Davidson My iPhone has become a very important part of my life. It's not just a phone or an email client. It really is a fully capable portal to the internet that can go anywhere. **** LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures by Marcus Albers, Inside Mac Games The Tomorrow Weblog ==================================== **** You're Leaving A Digital Trail. What About Privacy? by John Markoff, New York Times Propelled by new technologies and the internet's steady incursion into every nook and cranny of life, collective intelligence offers powerful capabilities, from improving the efficiency of advertising to giving community groups new ways to organize. But even its practitioners acknowledge that, if misused, collective intelligence tools could create an Orwellian future on a level Big Brother could only dream of. MyAppleMenu Reader ==================================== **** The Well-Tended Bookshelf by Laura Miller, New York Times As long as I have a few unread books beckoning to me from across the room, I tell myself I can always find a little more time. **** How To Publish Without Perishing by James Gleick, New York Times Publishers may or may not figure out how to make moey again, but their product has a chance for new life: as a physical object, and as an idea, and as a set of literary forms. **** We're Going To Party Like It's 1929 by Alex Williams, New York Times "The thing about the recession is, it takes the pressure off," said David Monn, the celebrated New York event planner. "It allows you to strip away all the stuff that's not important and focus on what is: friends, family, togetherness." (And potatoes, it turns out; but more about that later.) SingaporeSurf ==================================== **** Aviation Shifts Into New Era With Opening Of Singapore-KL Route by Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia **** Train Tracks To Link Asian Nations by Vaudine England, BBC News Train lovers and travel nuts have long had a dream of going from Europe to Singapore by rail. **** Cops Swarm Bukit Batok Area Over Mas Selamat Tip-Off by Elysa Chen, New Paper /Still no evidence that the man is in Singapore./