[MyAppleMenu] Jan 20, 2009

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
====================================

**** Jobs' Hiatus Doesn't Ruffle Educators <http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=56805>
by eSchool News
Educators say they remain confidet about the company and its vision.

**** The Day I Met Steve Jobs <http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/Features/20090120192639/Article/indexpull_html>
by Ridzwan A. Rahim, New Straits Times

**** Apple Sells Used Products For Less In China <http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE50J0UQ20090120>
by Michael Wei, Reuters
Apple Inc said on Tuesday it had launched an online shop selling second-hand Apple products in China, offering discounts of up to 22 percent, as it looks to beef up its business in the country. Apple has introduced similar deals in other countries for years, but second-hand purchase only makes up a small portion of its total sales.

**** Ten Things That Apple Has Taught Me <http://www.newspapertree.com/opinion/3342-ten-things-that-apple-has-taught-me>
by Tim Holt, Newspaper Tree
Here are 10 lessons I have learned from watching Apple, and I think that these can be replicated in anyone's vocation.

**** Review: Apple iPod Touch <http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/digitaljoystick/archives/159796.asp?from=blog_last3>
by Seattle Post-Intelligencer

**** Time Machine Wipes Out Boot Camp <http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisemac/archives/2009/01/time_machine_wi.html?source=rss>
by Tom Yager, InfoWorld
I did not expect that satisfying this best practice would wipe out my MacBook Pro's Boot Camp partition.

**** Apple Among PC Makers Sued Over OS Permissions Tech <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/01/19/apple_among_pc_makers_sued_over_os_permissions_tech.html>
by Katie Marsal, AppleInsider
Aple is among a dozen systems builders being sued this month for infringing on a pair of patents that cover system-wide software permissions for defining the range of operations that computer applications may or may not perform.

**** Twitter For The Creative Mac User <http://www.macworld.com/article/138286/2009/01/twitterforcreatives.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by James Dempsey, Macworld

The Tomorrow Weblog
====================================

**** Forget Yahoo - Buy Palm <http://www.slate.com/id/2209139/?from=rss>
by Farhad Manjoo, Slate
Why Microsoft would be foolish to get into the web ad business.

**** Questions About TIming Of Europe's New Microsoft Inquiry <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/technology/20soft.html?ref=todayspaper>
by Kevin J. O'Brien, New York Times
This time, legal experts say, the European authorities may have a harder time winning their case because Microsoft may in fact be losing market share &mdash; at least in some segments of the software market.

**** Will User Interfaces Be The Downfall Of Microsoft? <http://blogs.computerworld.com/will_the_user_interface_be_the_downfall_of_microsoft>
by Michael Horowitz, Computerworld
Microsoft has made, what I think are, mistakes in changing the user interfaces on their two most important products, Windows and Office.

MyAppleMenu Reader
====================================

**** Inauguration Day <http://www.slate.com/id/2209125/?from=rss>
by Frank Bidart, Slate

**** Solving Avalanches' Mysteries <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/science/20cold.html?_r=1>
by Jim Robbins, New York Times
Forecasting avalanches has always been as much an art as a science because of the wide variability of conditions, from time of day and year to type of snow, to slope and temperature.

SingaporeSurf
====================================

**** Singapore Amends Law To Help People Avoid Bankruptcy Amid Slump <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aeQdmjZi2pWg&refer=asia>
by Luzi Ann Javier, Bloomberg
Singapore, facing its worst economic slump in four decades, changed its law to help people avoid bankruptcy as job losses and loan defaults rise.

**** Move On, Shut Up <http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2009/yax-973.htm>
by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread
Our Attorney-General's Chambers devise ever more ludicrous laws that not only take leave of basic principles of civil rights, but also do not address any issue that vexes the public. They are quick fixes that seek to impale one man and his plans.

**** Xenophobic President Of Association Of Bloggers (Singapore) Attacks Bystanders <http://daphnemaia.sg/2009/01/20/xenophobic-president-of-association-of-bloggers-singapore/>
by Daphne Maia
How important is it for you to be given a stamp of approval which affirms that you are indeed, a blogger?

**** Whose Side Are You On? <http://singularityindustries.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/whose-side-are-you-on/>
by Singularity Industries
My validation as a blogger comes through my own integrity and my audience. Not necessarily through an external body. It works for me, but /you/ will definitely have your own opinion.

**** Philip Jeyaretnam: Remove Perception Of Government Intervention In Legal Profession <http://theonlinecitizen.com/archives/5196>
by Choo Zheng Xi, The Online Citizen
23 year old amendments to the Legal Profession Act curtailing the Law Society's powers continues to be a hindrance to the perception of the legal profession's independence.

**** PAP MP Floats Idea Of Minimum Wage, Critcizes 'Overheated' Growth Model <http://theonlinecitizen.com/archives/5175>
by Choo Zheng Xi, The Online Citizen
Speaking in his personal capacity at the Institute of Policy Studies' (IPS) Singapore Perspectives 2009 seminar, Mr Inderjit Singh said that cheap foreign labor had depressed wages, and this hurt low income Singaporeans the most.

**** Employment Outlook For Fresh Graduates Less Rosy This Year <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/403714/1/.html>
by Channel NewsAsia
In his written reply to a parliament question, acting manpower minister Gan Km Yong  said the manpower ministry and the Workforce Development Agency will work with the education institutions to organise job fairs for graduating students.
Mr Gan said some of the graduating students could consider continuing with post-graduate studies and defer entering the job market until the situation improves.

**** Beware Of The Young Doctor And The Old Barber <http://gssq.blogspot.com/2009/01/beware-of-young-doctor-and-old-barber.html>
by Balderdash
And don't forget a healthy sprinkling of delusions of grandeur.

**** Nobody Bloggers Start Associaton Of Bloggers (Singapore) <http://rockson.blogspot.com/2009/01/nobody-bloggers-start-associaton-of.html>
by Talk Rock
This kind of... association is usually started by those bloggers who tired of their blog read by only their mohter, so want to become more famous. (Note: strong language in this post.)

**** Key Household Income Trends, 2008 <http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/papers/people/op-s15.pdf>
by Department Of Statistics, Singapore Government
Media monthly household income from work of /resident/ households increase dby 13 per cent from $4,380 in 2007 to $4,950 in 2008. After adjusting for higher consumer price inflation in 2008, media household income saw slower growth in 2008, growing by 6.2 per cent compared with 7.2 per cent in 2007. (Note: Link goes to PDF document.)

**** CIQ Woes To Be Brought To Cabinet <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/1/20/nation/3064258&sec=nation>
by The Star
Reopening the old Customs and Immigration complex to pedestrian traffic can be one solution to the long walk public transport users now endure at the new CIQ.

**** Lesser Mortals, Unite And Remove The Greater Mortal! <http://singaporecitizen.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/lesser-mortals-unite-and-remove-the-greater-mortal/>
by Everyday's Life In A Snapshot
It's not a wrong choice of words. It's honest words from a thoroughly arrogant MP. In other words, he just said: "Get out of my elite, uncaring face."

**** I Live In A Country Populated By Idiots <http://fr0z.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-live-in-country-populated-by-idiots.html>
by Misanthropic And Loving It!
Mr Chong, your attempt at humour missed the mark. And since you're an MP for my GRC, who have inexplicably lost $4 million of what is actually public money, we should be chasing you for an answer on where that went instead of blaming Mr Tan for his moment of folly. While Mr Tan is spending his salary, no one can disguise the fact that the $4 million lost is nothing but public money.

**** We Be Lesser Mortals <http://www.insanepoly.com/blog/?p=685>
by Insane Polygons
If you are not part of the elite, then you must be a lesser mortal.

**** Singapore Blogger Association?! <http://brennan.sg/2009/01/20/singapore-blogger-association/>
by Brennan.sg
It's just another clique in the local blogosophere, or even the online world.

**** Foreign Workers Still Wanted <http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_328483.html>
by Straits Times
Singapore still needs foreign workers, even in an economic downturn. This is because many of them take on jobs that Singaporeans may not want to do or unable to fill, like in construction and marine, said acting manpower minister Gan Kim Yong.
/And this is because government policies with respect to foreign workers and the lack of minimal wages had drove many industries to unsustainability without foreigners, from which there is no simple recoveries./

**** Singapore May See 200,000 Foreigners Leave, Credit Suisse Says <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aDUTELnSlccU&refer=asia>
by Shamim Adam, Bloomberg
Singapore's population may shrink in the next two years as "sizeable" job losses amid the city - state's deepest recession force 200,000 foreigners to leave, Credit Suisse Group said. About 300,000 jobs may be lost by 2010, two-thirds of which are held by foreigners and permanent residents, economists Cem Karacadag and Kun Lung Wu wrote in a report received today.

**** We Must Stop Then At All Costs. This Cannot Carry On :) <http://chiatilik.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/we-must-stop-them-at-all-costs-this-cannot-carry-on/>
by Chia Ti Lik
Morale will never be high when the priorities are wrong. When service in the Home Team is aimed at stifling democratic movements, this essentially mean a betrayal of the nation for the fruits dispensed by a despotic government. The Home Team members will have to face their own consciences and the challenges when they do so.

**** Lesser Mortals: Tell Me What We're Fighting For Again? <http://military-life.blogspot.com/2009/01/lesser-mortals-tell-me-what-were.html>
by Military Life: Memoirs Of A Conscript In The Lion City
I mayb e a salaryman in Singapore Inc and not a member of the Elite Club but I am a Mindef-Reserve status citizen who encountered people dying for a Singapore that celebrates conspicuous consumption by Civil Servants and MPs who feel that, hey, give that man a break, you green-eyed lesser mortals just don't get it!

**** Little To Smile About At Jetstar Asia <http://www.intellasia.net/news/articles/regional/111256083.shtml>
by IntellAsia.net
The figures show that four-years on, the low-cost airline boom in Asia has failed to live up to its hype.

**** Singapore Press Falls To 10-Year Low On Earnings Concern <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a69TTJOIZT7E&refer=asia>
by Jonathan Burgos, Bloomberg
Singapore's Press Holdings Ltd., the city's biggest newspaper publisher, fell to its lowest in a decade on concern earnings will slump this year as the economic recession crimps consumption and advertising.

**** Home Prices Still Falling <http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_328447.html>
by Joyce Teo, Straits Times
Home prices here largely continued to be eroded at the end of last year, according to early indicators.

**** PAP MP Charles Chong: You "Lesser Mortals" Are Just Envious Of Tan Yong Soon! <http://wayangparty.com/2009/01/20/pap-mp-charles-chong-you-lesser-mortals-are-just-envious-of-tan-yong-soon/>
by The Wayang Party Club Of Singapore
Mr Charles Chong is entitled to his own opinion and we respect his right to disagree. However, it is totally uncalled for to resort to name-calling and insulting those who choose to see the issue from a different perspective.
It is utterly for a public servant - a MP who is supposed to represent the people in Parliament to lack basic empathy and considerations for the feelings of the man in the street which he has conveniently brush aside as "lesser mortals".

**** Jubilant Washington, Gloomy Singapore <http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2009/01/jubilant-washington-gloomy-singapore.html>
by Blowin' In The Wind

**** Sigh, Why Do I Live In This Country!? <http://rumpledoodles.com/adventures/2009/01/19/sigh-why-do-i-live-in-this-country/>
by The Random Adventures Of Jojo

**** Yes We Can <http://thinkformesingapore.blogspot.com/2009/01/yes-we-can.html>
by Think For Me, Singapore
While in less than 24 hours, America will be celebrating a historic moment, our little red dot continues to defy odds by making it less and less tolerable to live here.

**** Let's Keep It Real <http://yawshinleong.blogspot.com/2009/01/lets-keep-it-real.html>
by Yaw Shin Leong
To acknowledge verbally that people and businesses both need help in the current economic downturn is a good step in the right direction, but this must also be in sync with its action of freezing, if not reversing hikes in the rents, taxes and charges.

**** Cactus In Singapore? <http://www.cactusjungle.com/blog/2009/01/19/cactus-in-singapore/>
by Cactus Blog
It's an outrage! I won't stand for this sitting down!

**** Busienss Slow Minus Bridge <http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/1/20/southneast/3047000&sec=southneast>
by Hamdan Raja Abdullah, The Star
Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said when the bridge project was called off, the government had to build a temporary access road to the complex. He said in doing so, all routes planned from Tanjug Puteri to the city had to be closed and motorists had to travel to the inner ring road to enter the city.
/This city intentionally left blank./

**** Death Penalty Effective <http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_328448.html>
by Straits Times
Theissue is a philosophical one and cannot be decided by statistics, law minister K. Shanmugam said yesterday. There are powerful arguments on both sides, and no consensus is in sight. The Singapore government thus has to find its own stand. It has decided to retain the death penalty as it has been effective in controling the drug menace.
/If there are indeed powerful arguments on both sides, then I would imagine one will have to err on the side of not killing lives, not doing something that cannot be undone./