[MyAppleMenu] Apr 8, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** The iPad <http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/the_ipad>
John Gruber, Daring Fireball

Apple hasn’t thought of everything with iPad, but what they’ve thought about, they’ve thought about very deeply.

**** Dropbox: Beyond The Basics <http://www.macworld.com/article/150181/2010/04/advanceddropboxtricks.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Dan Miller, Macworld

My hands-down favorite new Mac app of the past year or so has been Dropbox. One reason I like it: I keep discovering new things it can do.

**** Report: FTC May Try To Block Google's AdMob Deal <http://www.macworld.com/article/150464/2010/04/google_admob.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Owen Fletcher, IDG News Service

The Federal Trade Commission may be preparing to challenge Google’s planned acquisition of AdMob on antitrust concerns, The Wall Street Journal reported.

**** Apple Rejected iPad App For Using Pinch To Expand Gesture <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/07/apple_rejected_ipad_app_for_using_pinch_to_expand_gesture.html>
AppleInsider

Apple refused to accept one iPad application to its App Store until the proprietary "pinch to expand" multi-touch gesture, which is found in Apple's own Photos application, was removed, a developer has told AppleInsider.

**** Witch 3 Adds Command-tab Support, More <http://www.macworld.com/article/150459/2010/04/witch_3.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Dan Moren, Macworld

If you’re dissatisfied with the way OS X’s built-in application switcher interface works, then you might consider the latest version of Many Tricks’s Witch window switching utility, which on Wednesday was updated to version 3.

**** Should Apple's iPhone Apps Play By Its Own Rules? <http://www.macworld.com/article/150469/2010/04/private_apis.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Marco Tabini, Macworld

In the end, private frameworks remain edge cases; the vast majority of apps that are submitted to the App Store are either approved or rejected on a basis other than private framework usage, and the numbers clearly indicate that this issue has not prevented the formation of a vibrant—and profitable—software ecosystem around iPhone OS.

**** iPad Etiquette: The Official FAQ <http://gizmodo.com/5509938/ipad-etiquette-the-official-faq?skyline=true&s=i>
Mat Honan, Gizmodo

As early adopters, the opportunity to define proper etiquette is ours.

**** Isn't It Illegal For Apple To Restrict The iPad's Software Library? <http://www.slate.com/id/2250083/?from=rss>
Brian Palmer, Slate Magazine

Microsoft wasn't allowed to bundle Internet Explorer with its operating system. Should Apple get to decide what software goes on the iPad?

**** Apple Creates AdLib Framework To Enable Rich iPad Web Apps <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/07/apple_creates_ipad_adlib_framework_to_join_tunekit_pastrykit.html>
AppleInsider

Apple has created a new development framework to enable rich web apps for iPad using simple HTML, CSS and JavaScript, following its previous efforts to do the same for the iPhone and within iTunes.

**** iPad Day: 9:41 AM <http://secretlab.com.au/blog/posts/ipad-day-941-am/>
John Manning, Secret Lab

All promotional images of the iPhone show the time as 9:42 AM. Nobody knew the exact reason why, though theories abound. But on the iPad, the time is shown as 9:41 AM. Hmm.

**** Apple's iPad, Benchmarked: It's Fast <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362361,00.asp>
Sascha Segan, PC Magazine

The iPad is fast. Since we have quite a few Apple products around here, we decided to see just how fast, by benchmarking it against an iPhone 3GS, an iPod Touch (3rd generation), an original iPhone and my 2.2-Ghz Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro.

Unsurprisingly, the iPad beat all the other portable products. On the most comprehensive publicly available native benchmarking app, BenchTest, it proved 1.6 times as fast as the iPhone 3GS and 3.72 times as fast as the original iPhone.

**** The Success Of The iPad Will Come Down To App Development <http://www.joshuakennon.com/the-success-of-the-ipad-will-come-down-to-app-development/>
Joshua Kennon

**** AdLib: Apple’s Secret Weapon For Making Better Web Apps For The iPad <http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/04/07/adlib-apples-secret-weapon-for-making-better-web-apps-for-the-ipad/>
Greg Kumparak, MobileCrunch

Coming in at just shy of 4,500 lines of code, the entire purpose of AdLib appears to be to bring native app-esque functionality to Web Apps, often counteracting the default behaviors that make Safari play nice with the rest of the web.

**** 'Get a Mac' Commercials Coming To An End? <http://www.9to5mac.com/get-a-mac-ads-over-justin-long-interview-340975209?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+9To5Mac-MacAllDay+%289+to+5+Mac+-+Apple+Intelligence%29>
Seth Weintraub, 9 To 5 Mac

Justin Long (Mac) told the Onion's AV section that Apple's iconic 'Get a Mac' ads might be done.  In fact, he's heard from John Hodgman (PC) that Apple was "moving on".

**** Backup iPhone Power In A Slim Device <http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/backup-iphone-power-in-a-slim-device/?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Eric A. Taub, New York Times

The $60 Jump Start, from DLO, doesn’t cover the entire back of an iPhone or iPod. Instead, the device, black and rubbery, slips over about the middle two-thirds of the phone, allowing it to maintain its sleek shape.

**** iPad Review <http://www.macintouch.com/reviews/ipad/>
Robert Mohns, Macintouch

Conceptually, the iPad is a blank canvas. The big screen becomes whatever it needs to be. It's a transformative experience, and it enables the iPad to be something that the iPhone and iPod Touch never could be — a creator's tool.

**** Adobe To Switch On Silent PDF Updates For Reader, Acrobat <http://www.macworld.com/article/150487/2010/04/adobe_reader_acrobat.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

Adobe will flip the switch next week on a service that silently updates customers’ copies of its popular Reader and Acrobat PDF programs, the company’s chief security executive said Thursday.

**** New iPhone Developer Agreement Bans The Use Of Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone Compiler <http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/iphone_agreement_bans_flash_compiler>
John Gruber, Daring Fireball

My reading of this new language is that cross-compilers, such as the Flash-to-iPhone compiler in Adobe’s upcoming Flash Professional CS5 release, are prohibited. This also bans apps compiled using MonoTouch — a tool that compiles C# and .NET apps to the iPhone.

**** Apple Hates Cross-compilers <http://rc3.org/2010/04/08/apple-hates-cross-compilers/>
rc3.org

It looks like Apple wants to make sure that being multi-platform stays expensive, and that people just stick with building applications for today’s dominant platform — iPhone.

**** Inside iPhone 4.0's Multitasking <http://www.macworld.com/article/150496/2010/04/multitasking_iphone.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Jason Snell, Macworld

Apple is achieving the appearance of multitasking—the ability to run more than one program at a time—through a combination of app-switching features and background processes managed by the operating system itself. What is not being added to iPhone OS 4.0 is the more traditional concept of apps running, full bore, whether you can see that or not.

**** What Apple’s Game Center Means To iPhone Gamers <http://www.macworld.com/article/147282/2010/04/apple_gamecenter.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Chris Holt, Macworld

Due out “later this year,” Game Center is a social network platform for games that will allow you to invite friends, do automatic matchmaking, compare yourself to other players via leaderboards, and earn achievements. Think of it as Xbox Live for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users. “We want to make gaming even better on the iPhone, so we’re adding a social gaming network,” explained Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone Software during Apple’s iPhone OS 4 announcement.

**** Apple Debuts iAd Advertising Platform For iPhone OS <http://www.macworld.com/article/150489/2010/04/iad_iphone.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Marco Tabini, Macworld

Apple introduced a new advertising platform designed specifically for the iPhone OS platform during the company’s iPhone 4.0 preview event on Thursday. The new technology, dubbed “iAd,” will be built straight into the forthcoming update to Apple's mobile operating system.

iAd allows developers to include ads directly into their apps. The ads, in turn, are designed to provide a rich promotional environment, complete with what are essentially mini apps-inside-the-app that, according to Jobs, are written entirely using the HTML5 standard—a clear jab in the direction of Adboe's competing Flash platform.

**** Multitasking Tops Tentpole Features In iPhone 4.0 <http://www.macworld.com/article/150488/2010/04/iphone4_features.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Dan Moren, Macworld

The ability to run multiple apps, folders for organizing your mobile applications, and Mail improvements lead the major changes coming in the next version of the iPhone operating system. Apple gave a sneak peek Thursday at a developer preview of iPhone OS 4.0, which is coming later this summer.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** For Writers, A Less Lonely Life <http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/for-writers-a-less-lonely-life/?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Eric A. Taub, New York Times

Now a new self-publishing venture, FastPencil, promises to make book writing less lonely. At FastPencil, hopeful writers can get immediate feedback on their work — from professionals, from other writers toiling around the world, or from friends.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Momo' For Mamas: Inside The Latest Momofuku <http://www.theatlantic.com/food/archive/2010/04/momo-for-mamas-inside-the-latest-momofuku/38572/>
Ryan Bradley, The Atlantic

It's high noon in Manhattan, and all eyes are on David Chang's latest creation, Má Pêche. For those out of the Chang-Momofuku-pork-bun-craze-loop, a quick review: Momofuku is Japanese for lucky peach, and the restaurants—Má Pêche, opening later this week, makes four, plus a dessert spot called Milk Bar—are Asian-influenced in the same way that the avante-garde '70s cult rock group Can is Asian-influenced. Can came out of Germany, but its lead singer was a wandering Japanese-born gypsy named Damo Suzuki. Momofuku comes out of New York, but Chang is, like Suzuki, a wanderer.

**** Enjoy the Bugs, but Don’t Feed The Scientists <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/arts/design/08darwin.html>
Edward Rothstein, New York Times

There is something daring, almost provocative, about the Cocoon. This eight-story-high egg-shaped structure, which contains major new exhibition space along with scientific-research facilities, is housed in an enormous glass-and-steel box. It is annexed to the Natural History Museum here as if it were a gigantic specimen brought back by 21st-century heirs to the collectors, entomologists and zoologists who created that great institution.

**** A = A <http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100405/joron>
Andrew Joron, The Nation



SingaporeSurf
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**** I Am My Own Man: Kenneth Jeyaretnam <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1048649/1/.html>
Loh Chee Kong, Today

While Mr Jeyaretnam sees his work as a continuation of his father's lifelong mission, he also wants to be seen as "his own man" with his own brand of "economically-competent" politics. And perhaps having witnessed firsthand his father's costly legal battles, he recently told Loh Chee Kong that he wants the Reform Party to steer clear of legal minefields.

**** ST Refuses To Challenge Falsehoods <http://callantham.org/blog/2010/4/7/st-refuses-to-challenge-falsehoods.html>
Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp

The Straits Times and its journalists are just as culpable as the PAP in manufacturing an uninformed, detached, and unquestioning citizenry, and the continued reign of the PAP to the detriment of Singapore and Singaporeans.

**** Big Rats And Fat Cats <http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=3953>
Wong Wee Nam, Sgpolitics.net

For a just an equal society, a government must be able to control the greed of the Big Rats and trim the fat of the Fat Cats instead of justifying the necessity of their existence.

**** Why The Delay In Upgrading Opposition Ward? <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_511848.html>
Chan Mia Lee, Straits Times

Let our constituency be a model of how an ugly duckling can be transformed into a beautiful swan.

**** Singapore Housing Market Still Sizzling <http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=133410>
AFP

Singapore's housing sector is still sizzling despite government measures to cool it down, with demand fuelled by a strong economy and foreign investor confidence, analysts say.

Hefty price tags have not dented the market, with buyers flocking to pre-construction sales offering blank cheques to reserve condominium units which they expect to rise sharply in value after the projects are finished.

**** Raffles Hotel Sold To Qatari Diar For $275m <http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/leisure/article7091016.ece>
Dominic Walsh, The Times

The historic Raffles Hotel in Singapore, famed for its colonial grandeur and the Singapore Sling cocktail, is to change hands in a deal worth $275 million (£180 million).

**** 4th Telco? Unlikely <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_511967.html>
Chua Hian Hou & Tan Weizhen, Straits Times

**** Smokeless Tobacco <http://mohsingapore.blogspot.com/2010/04/smokeless-tobacco.html>
Khaw Boon Wan

Whether it creates smoke or is smokeless, tobacco is highly addictive and it kills.

**** Anti-PAP Fliers In Some Estates <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_511975.html>
Cai Haoxiang, Straits Times

Fliers critical of the People's Action Party and urging residents to take 'collective and concerted action to go against the PAP' have been circulated in at least two group representation constituencies (GRCs).

**** Mah Bow Tan : We Don't Fudge The Numbers.... <http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2010/04/mah-bow-tan-we-dont-fudge-numbers.html>
Diary of A Singaporean Mind

**** Anti-PAP Sentiments Take A New Turn <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/04/anti-pap-sentiments-take-a-new-turn/>
The Online Citizen

**** A Fallacy – The Singapore Dream – We Are All Just GDP Oompa Loompas <http://nabbedd.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/a-fallacy-the-singapore-dream-we-are-all-just-gdp-oompa-loompas/>
It's All About Amelioration

**** Media Must Step Up To The Plate <http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-04/08/content_9699800.htm>
Alexis Hooi, China Daily

For veteran Singapore journalist Felix Soh, one of the main issues facing Asian media now is that of credibility.

**** Mustafa Centre Ordered To Close First Floor Until Saturday <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1048701/1/.html>
Shaffiq Alkhatib, Channel NewsAsia

Mustafa Centre in Little India will have to stop business temporarily for 40 hours on its first floor following a court order on Thursday. If the violations are not dealt with, they can be fined an additional S$500 for each day.

**** Al Jazeera English Taken Off Air In Singapore <http://blogs.aljazeera.net/asia/2010/04/07/al-jazeera-english-taken-air-singapore>
Teymoor Nabili, Al Jazeera

Journalists still need to tread carefully,  and many people still discern the  whiff of authoritarianism in the air, but to my mind Singapore now ranks as one of the most agreeable places in the world, Asia's equivalent of LA.

But every now again, that inexplicable whiff of the past re-appears.

**** Do You Want Me To Stay At The Beach? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/04/do-you-want-me-to-stay-at-the-beach/>
Ravi Philemon, The Online Citizen

Contrary to what the government would have us believe, that the situation of all the homeless in Singapore is only transitional, in the sense that the families that are experiencing homelessness do so only for a short period given there is so much help in the community, anecdotal evidence like that of Jacob and Sally prove that it is no longer transitional but almost permanent – at least for some.

**** Conversation With Jiang Mei, A PRC Freelance Prostitute Given Singapore PR By The PAP <http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/04/08/conversation-with-jiang-mei-a-prc-freelance-prostitute-given-singapore-pr/>
The Temasek Review

**** Housing Prices Vs Household Income – Alternative Ways Of Viewing The Statistics <http://hazelpoa.blogspot.com/2010/04/housing-prices-vs-household-income.html>
Hazel Poa

Choosing a suitable base year to support your conclusions is quite a useful trick that we should all learn.

**** Chiam-Gate: See Tong’s Own Folly <http://dlzj.wordpress.com/2010/04/08/chiam-gate-part-deux/>
Icarus Flew Too High

The four parter by Dr Chee, as well as Cherian’s own accounts, debunks Lina Chiam’s entire claim. No one forced Chiam out. He got himself into his own Chiam-gate, with his own undemocratic ways and personal grudges. But can we say that Chiam has turned over a new leaf with the SPP/SDA? Unfortunately, no. The differences within the Potong Pasir Town Council, as well as “two factions” within the SDA, are rumors that have been circulating around for some time. I am not entirely surprised if these were true.

**** Study Liberal Arts At NUS? <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_512084.html>
Amelia Tan, Straits Times

The National University of Singapore (NUS) should look into starting an undergraduate liberal arts programme which will equip students with a more flexible frame of mind and the confidence to pursue new fields- necessary traits for success in a rapidly changing economy.

The liberal arts model allows students to study varied fields, from the humanities to the hard sciences, before they specialise in a major. This, said chairman of the National Research Foundation and Singapore Press Holdings Tony Tan, would foster in graduates a readiness for changes and a willingness to take risks.

**** PAP Mass-Recruiting Taiwanese PMETs By Offering Higher Than Market Pay To Lure Them To Work In Singapore <http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/04/08/pap-mass-recruiting-taiwanese-pmets-by-offering-them-higher-than-market-pay-to-lure-them-to-work-in-singapore/comment-page-1/>
The Temasek Review

**** Some Stallholders Quit Sheng Siong's Wet Markets In Search Of Cheaper Premises <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1048798/1/.html>
Sharon See & Michelle Lee, Channel NewsAsia