[MyAppleMenu] Nov 14, 2009

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** The Airfoil Speakers Touch Situation <http://daringfireball.net/2009/11/airfoil_touch_situation>
John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Is Apple within their rights to reject this app for this reason? Sure. The bottom line is that they can reject apps for whatever reasons they want — that’s the rule that matters here. But was Rogue Amoeba foolish for designing their application this way? No. There’s nothing in the SDK agreement that they’ve violated.

**** The Only 2 Fixes For The iPhone Platform <http://www.manton.org/2009/11/the_only_2.html>
Manton Reece

I want my software to fail because it sucks, or is buggy, or doesn't have the right features, not because Apple can shut me down over a minor difference of opinion.

**** Apple Quietly Updates The 5th Generation iPod Nano To 1.0.2 <http://www.tuaw.com/2009/11/13/apple-quietly-updates-the-5th-generation-ipod-nano-to-1-0-2/>
Joachim Bean, TUAW

**** Grooving To Your iPod, Wirelessly <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/car-life/gizmos/grooving-to-your-ipod-wirelessly/article1362170/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheGlobeAndMail-specialGlobeAuto+%28The+Globe+and+Mail+-+GlobeAuto+News%29>
Elizabeth Howell, The Globe And Mail

I can't go a considerable distance without playing music – so trying out the FM transmitters that connect an iPod or iPhone to your car stereo without wiring sounds like a convenient and excellent solution. Here's a test drive of three of the popular models.

**** To Play With Giants, App Devs Risk Getting Squashed <http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/11/appstores/>
Brian X. Chen, Wired News

Hot-selling mobile apps have earned some independent programmers hundreds of thousands of dollars. But one of the greatest risks of developing apps for a platform controlled by a large corporation, such as Google or Apple, is that you can easily get crushed.

**** Airfoil Speakers Touch: Correcting Misconceptions <http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/2009/11/13/airfoil-speakers-touch-correcting-misconceptions/>
Mike Ash, Rogue Amoeba

Ultimately, this is not a trademark issue, but simply a matter of Apple enforcing arbitrary and inconsistent requirements for iPhone applications. There’s no legal requirement for them to forbid use of their icons, and no benefit to them in doing so.

**** The Secrets Of The Apple Store iPod Touch <http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/11/13/the-secrets-of-the-apple-store-ipod-touch/>
John Biggs, CrunchGear

**** Apple Was <i>Not</i> More Profitable Selling Cell Phones Than Nokia In Q3 <http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/Apple-was-NOT-more-profitable-selling-cell-phones-than-Nokia-in-Q3/1258169110>
Joe Wilcox, BetaNews

As for Apple's overall phone profits being higher than Nokia's, don't believe it. Just because dozens of Websites report something as true doesn't make it so. Because of the extent of misreporting, I can't say where the fault lies.

**** Improving The iPhone App Store Approval Process <http://rc3.org/2009/11/13/improving-the-iphone-app-store-approval-process/>
Rafe Colburn, rc3.org

The current system isn’t going to work for a whole lot longer.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Fixing E-Mail <http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/23938/>
Erica Naone, MIT Technology Review

Experts at Defrag believe e-mail can benefit from lessons learned on the social web.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Lost In The Waves <http://www.mensjournal.com/lost-in-the-waves>
Justin Heckert, Men's Journal

Swept out to sea by a riptide, a father and his 12-year-old son struggle to stay alive miles from shore. As night falls, with no rescue imminent, the dad comes to a devastating realization: If they remain together, they’ll drown together.

**** Invisible By Paul Auster <http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/73NOc8gPrLs/invisible-paul-auster-book-review>
Joanna Briscoe, Guardian

Paul Auster has created what amounts to his own, self-referential fictional world over the years, and Invisible is packed with typical Auster tropes. This is his 13th novel, and at times he seems to be both celebrating and lightly mocking his own oeuvre. There is the oddly detached male narrator roaming New York; a random dramatic incident that alters the course of a life; ruminations on the nature of writing, language and identity; multiple narrators; stories within stories; and general intertextual gadding about. And, as ever, fragments of Auster himself seem to feature – in this case, divided into two characters.

**** The Cheating Game <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=c0cf7ad2f89837cbdc3988685082a70e>
Robert Pinsky, New York Times

Near the outset of his copious, lively account of poker’s past and present, “Cowboys Full,” James McManus describes the game, and the qualities it demands, as characteristically American. As the American game, he says, poker combines two contrasting strands in our national character, “the risk-averse Puritan work ethic and the entrepreneur’s urge to seize the main chance.”



SingaporeSurf
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**** Singaporeans Wrestle With Likely Impact Of Two New Casinos <http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2009/11/14/columnists/insightdownsouth/5109453&sec=insightdownsouth>
Seah Chiang Nee, The Star

Between personal tragedy and recovery from an economic crisis, the pros and cons of big-time gambling are still being weighed.

**** Myanmar Situation Will Not Change Overnight <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC091114-0000063/Myanmar-situation-will-not-change-overnight>
Today

Members of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) have "minimal pressure points" that would enable it to persuade Myanmar to pursue democratic reforms, said prime minister Lee Hsien Loong in an interview with the BBC.

**** LTA's Rejection Of Taxi Application Sends Wrong Signal <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_454043.html>
Paul Chan, Straits Times

LTA's rejection of the new application sends the wrong signal to the industry that liberalisation is selective, and runs counter to the principle of free trade and free market competition.

**** Chiam's Gutsy Move <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_454046.html>
Teo Kueh Liang, Straits Times

**** How Did Ethnic Stereotype Go Unflagged? <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_454116.html>
Chow Pei Sze, Straits Times

I was appalled when last Friday's prime-time drama series of MediaCorp's vernacular Channel 8, Daddy At Home, scripted in an ethnic stereotype.

**** Not A Zero-sum Game <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_454336.html>
Sue-Ann Chia, Straits Times

Despite rivalry between China and the United States, relating with the two is not a zero-sum game and Singapore does not want to have to choose one over the other. Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong made the point on Friday in an interview with the BBC as host of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum.

**** The Pragmatic Monkey On Your Non-degree-holder Back <http://thinkingbetterthinkingmeta.blogspot.com/2009/11/pragmatic-monkey-on-your-non-degree.html>
Sam Ho, Sam's thoughts

We may speak of the pursuit of non-academic passions, but employers and people with financial difficulties may have a different idea.

**** Singapore's GIC Sees Recovery Continuing Next Year <http://news.google.com/news/url?fd=Rhttp://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSSGA00003920091114&sa=T&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Farticle%2FbondsNews%2FidUSSGA00003920091114&usg=AFQjCNG2k-hxyQdc6zUjHJX51-VxTWmEUg>
Kevin Lim and Saeed Azhar, Reuters

Sovereign wealth fund the Government of Singapore Investment Corp expects the global economic recovery to extend into 2010 with stronger growth in Asian and Latin American countries that have lower debt levels, deputy chairman Tony Tan said on Saturday.

**** Thoughts on Amazon Web Service Expanding To Singapore And Asia <http://www.mobinode.com/2009/11/14/thoughts-on-amazon-web-service-expanding-to-singapore-asia/>
Gang Lu, Mobinode

It is not only about the cloud infrastructure, it could speed up the building of a healthy ecosystem for Singapore IT industry.

**** GIC Says Governments Should Open Markets To Sovereign Funds <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aVj.rSFa7bd0>
Netty Ismail and Shamim Adam, Bloomberg

Government of Singapore Investment Corp., manager of more than $100 billion of the city-state’s foreign reserves, said governments should keep their capital markets open to sovereign wealth funds, because protectionist measures could hurt the global economic recovery.

**** APEC Faces 'Political' Obstacles To Free Trade Area, Lee Says <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aakTIQVQBzSI&pos=1>
Shamim Adam, Bloomberg

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group faces “political” hurdles in its vision to form a region-wide free trade area, Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said.

**** Obama's Asia Trip: In Singapore, A Focus On US Staying Power <http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/1114/p06s04-wosc.html>
Simon Montlake, Christian Science Monitor

On the second stop of Obama's Asia trip, the president will meet with the 10 ASEAN leaders in a region that welcomes the US presence as a counterbalance to China.

**** Letter On Ethnic Stereotyping Gets Heavily Edited By Straits Times <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/11/letter-on-ethnic-stereotyping-gets-heavily-edited-by-straits-times/>
The Online Citizen

Ms Chow Pei Sze was outraged when she saw an episode of the Mediacorp Channel 8 drama serial, “Daddy At Home”. She wrote to the Straits Times’ forum page on 8 November. Her original letter was 424-words long. After a week, on 14 November, the Straits Times published her letter – which was edited to 155 words.

One should not forget that SPH, which publishes Straits Times, does have a stake in MediaCorp TV Holdings, which operates Channel 8.