[MyAppleMenu] Apr 5, 2011

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Apple Wins Reversal Of $625.5 Million Mirror Worlds Verdict <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-04/apple-wins-reversal-of-mirror-worlds-patent-verdict.html?cmpid=yhoo>
Susan Decker And Dennis Robertson, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. (AAPL) won a court ruling that throws out a $625.5 million patent-infringement verdict over how documents are displayed on a computer screen.

The trial focused on the Spotlight, Time Machine and Cover Flow features in Apple’s Mac operating systems. Cover Flow lets users scroll through album cover art when browsing for music in their iTunes libraries. The feature also works for documents, pictures and other material stored in a computer. Spotlight searches the computer’s hard drive while Time Machine automatically saves copies of files.

**** Rejection As Positive Feedback <http://www.codebykevin.com/blosxom.cgi/2011/04/03#rejection-as-positive-feedback>
Code By Kevin

Rather than continuing to see the App Store submission process as an obstacle that delays the release of new versions of my applications, and thus sales, I've come to regard the submission process as free, professional-level usability testing for my apps--a process that leads to substantial improvements in their stability and usability. I've never had this before with my apps, and I'm glad to have it now.

**** Can The iPhone Revive The Home Movie? <http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/can-the-iphone-revive-the-home-movie/?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Jenna Wortham, New York Times

**** How One Radio Reporter Ditched His Equipment For An iPhone 4 <http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/04/how-one-radio-reporter-ditched-his-equipment-for-an-iphone-4094.html>
Neal Augenstein, PBS

It's been more than a year since I packed away my laptop computer, digital recorders, microphones, cables and cameras, and began covering Washington, D.C. with only my iPhone.

**** Manage A Hanging 'Print & Fax' System Preferences In OS X <http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20050608-263.html>
Topher Kessler, CNET

**** CalendarBar Keeps Your Calendars In Your OS X Menubar <http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/04/calendarbar-keeps-your-calendars-in-your-os-x-menubar/>
Adam Dachis, Lifehacker

**** Giz Explains: How Blind People See The Internet <http://gizmodo.com/#!5620079/giz-explains-how-blind-people-see-the-internet>
John Herrman, Gizmodo

But for millions of others—those who are unable to see—the web is a wildly different place. Characters become sounds. Layouts are meaningless. Images are, at best, words, and at worst, blank spaces. And yet the blind browse the same internet as everyone else, every day. They use the same gadgets the sighted do, and happily. But how?

**** Apple Finally Figures Out A Way To Get An iAd In My Face: An iAd App <http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/05/apple-iad-app/>
MG Siegler, TechCrunch

Apple has just released the iAd Gallery app into the App Store. The (obviously) free download allows you to see how the elusive ads actually look and work on the iPhone. And while this may seem like a pretty good way for app developers to see what the ads will look like in their apps, the tagline almost makes it seem as if it’s for consumers as well: Great ads. On-demand. In your pocket.

**** Divvy 1.2.3 <http://www.macworld.com/article/159013/2011/04/divvy.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Dan Frakes, Macworld

And once you've used Divvy's grid to move and resize windows, OS X's standard methods of performing these actions feel a bit primitive.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Dear Urban Cyclists: Go Play In Traffic <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704050204576218600999993800.html>
P.j. O'rourke, Wall Street Journal

Given that riding a bike in a city is insane and that very few cities need more insane people on their streets, why the profusion of urban bike lanes?

**** Odysseus Seeing Laertes <http://www.slate.com/id/2290451/?from=rss>
George Kalogeris, Slate

**** Save NPR! <http://www.slate.com/id/2290357/?from=rss>
Mark Oppenheimer, Slate

But please, put PBS out of its misery.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Pot Calling Kettle Black <http://singaporedesk.blogspot.com/2011/04/pot-calling-kettle-black.html>
Singapore Notes

Mainstream media Lianhe Zaobao (联合早报) obviously wrote its editorial ”Say no to smear politics” (向抹黑政治说不) to join in the Government’s chorus of slamming netizens’ critique of their  nubile poster child. There's a narrative in Francis Seow's "To Catch A Tartar: A Dissident In Lee Kuan Yew's Prison" that gives you a perspective of what's game in their brand of politics.

**** Wrong To Let Young Candidate Sneak In <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_652965.html>
Tan Siong Kuan, Straits Times

Ms Tin could not rebut criticism on her own and had to be defended repeatedly by senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and several other heavyweight ministers and MPs.

If she is as good as the party leadership says she is, she should perhaps be fielded in a single-member constituency.

If she can hold her own against an unknown opposition candidate in a straight fight, she will gain the respect of all Singaporeans.

**** Chiam And Low Should Not Stay Put <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_652885.html>
Daniel Chan, Straits Times

One implication of Mr Ang's suggestion is that the People's Action Party will always remain in power because of the GRC scheme. By putting one or more heavyweight ministers in a GRC, voters are told that "good leaders" will be lost if they do not use their votes carefully.

If this is true, it is sad for the opposition and Singapore democracy. Are political leaders from the ruling party indispensable?

**** More Coverage Of Opposition Candidates, Please <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_652880.html>
Paul Chan, Straits Times

What amazed me was the prominent coverage of new candidates from the ruling party against that of all candidates from the opposition parties.

Should more space be given to the opposition candidates to reveal their conviction to the country and commitment to serve the people? I think it is fair to treat all political parties equally when reporting pre-GE activities to show a non-biased stand by our mainstream media.

**** Are We Ready To Move From Third World To First World? <http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/2011/04/are-we-ready-to-move-from-third-world.html>
Chua Chin Leng, My Singapore News

**** “We Must Give The PAP 48 %, Wake Them Up!” <http://blogs.straitstimes.com/2011/4/4/we-must-give-the-pap-48-wake-them-up>
Chua Mui Hoong, Straits Times

“We must give the PAP 48, 49 per cent in some GRC, wake them up!”

“The prices of things are rising so fast. One cup of coffee here (points to coffeeshop) has gone up by 20 cents! MRT fares are so high. You top up with $10, you take a trip out and back, and it’s gone!”

**** Why Voters Play Hard To Get With The PAP <http://blogs.straitstimes.com/2011/4/4/why-voters-play-hard-to-get-with-the-pap>
Lydia Lim, Straits Times

But the task of persuading people who do not know them that they are sincere about serving nation and society can be an uphill one. Because when you join the winning side, especially one that has not lost a single General Election for over half a century, it can be hard to convince others you are not doing so for the power and the glory.

That is especially so when a newcomer on a PAP ticket has to risk so little to win political office. Every PAP newcomer can be assured of a place in a GRC team led by an experienced minister, who will take charge of the election campaign. Some may walk into Parliament without having to face a contest.

Now the opposition men and women may not look so good on paper but every one of them will have to fight for their seat in Parliament. Even though the odds are stacked against them, they step forward.

**** Singapore’s Wannabe Emigrants And Fear Of Foreigners <http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2011/04/singapores-wannabe-emigrants-and-fear-of-foreigners.html>
Pressrun.net

Another thing that surprised me is the best and brightest of Singaporeans feel most threatened by foreign talent. That’s surprising, considering Singapore is reputed to have one of the best educated workforces in the world with a school system almost second to none.

**** 地铁车资两种收费 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/yl/yl110405_006.shtml>
杜海泉, 联合早报

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**** Press Muse – Boilerplate Nationalism <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/04/press-muse-boilerplate-nationalism/>
The Online Citizen

Staying or quitting? The Straits Times has apparently made our minds up for us. So perhaps the question is better posed to their journalists who might care about their professional bona fides.

**** MPs And Quality Control <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/04/mps-and-quality-control/>
Wong Wee Nam, The Online Citizen

My friends are very clear what doing national service means. They did not boast to the whole of Singapore that they had spent the last 40 years saving lives as doctors. This is because they know that being a doctor is a service in humility and doing national service is a duty to serve the nation with pride and honour. It means to be prepared, when such a time comes, to be at the front so as to prevent the loss of lives of our citizens.

Thus if a new citizen thinks that his economic and professional contributions are enough to be considered national duties, then he belittles all of us who have done national service.

**** What’s Happening? <http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/2011/04/whats-happening.html>
Chua Chin Leng, My Singapore News

Was Chok Tong giving a hint of the party’s position on self renewal or was he making a personal remark that has not been approved by the party? What was Kan Seng trying to say, or what was Chok Tong trying to say?

**** PAP, Get Better At Social Media <http://iantan.org/archives/2897>
Empty Vessel

Law minister Shanmugan was just quoted that people should not be distracted by “Internet chatter” and that they can decide what the real issues are.. Well times have changed – Internet chatter is becoming public opinion. It’s no longer just coffeeshop talk limited to social circles that do not mix with each other.

What I am personally looking for online, is a robust intellectual debate among the political candidates and wannabes about the issues that concern people today.

Isn’t that what the elections process is all about? It’s not just about dangling carrots or using fear appeal (“Imagine what would happen if those other guys got voted in!”), but persuading people why you should vote for them using reason, logic and emotion.

**** Yes He Can <http://www.insanepoly.com/blog/?p=1218>
Insane Polygons

In the case of the NS man- if this blog is to be believed, the gahmen is actually wasting valuable manpower and resources in trying to identify the man. All this over a “soldier” who has the audacity to make his maid carry his fullpack for him?

**** A Govt Trying Hard To Click With Its Citizens <http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=ceritalah&file=/2011/4/5/columnists/ceritalah/8417240&sec=Ceritalah>
Karim Raslan, The Star

However, the PAP’s willingness to address democracy (as yet they are not really “embracing” it) receives scorn from many more experienced Singapore political watchers.

One professional says dismissively: “There’s no willingness, puhlease! They’ll play dirty on the Opposition. Just wait.”

**** Petition Calls For Tin Pei Ling To Be Fielded In A Single-member Seat <http://ge2011.theonlinecitizen.com/2011/04/petition-calls-on-tin-pei-ling-to-be-fielded-in-a-single-member-seat/>
The Online Citizen

While initial attacks which focused on Ms Tin’s designer handbags were easy to dismiss, concerns about Ms Tin’s lack of substance in media interviews and a speech she gave to a PAP conference in 2007 have started to come into focus. The latest petition crystallizes the question in voters’ minds: can the PAP’s youngest candidate hold her own?

The contrast between a young PAP candidate taking cover in a safe GRC and the blooding of young candidates in opposition could not be more stark: the Worker’s Party’s (WP) Mr Gerald Giam, only a few years Ms Tin’s senior, ably held his own against Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on national television. When Ms Glenda Han of the WP contested against the Prime Minister in 2006, she was only two years older than Ms Tin.

**** Joint Statement On Yong Vui Kong's Appeal Verdict <http://www.thinkcentre.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=3080>
Think Centre & Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign

The Think Centre and the Singapore Anti-Death Penalty Campaign find the verdict announced by Singapore's Court of Appeal highly disappointing. We also find it daunting that the President of Singapore has no apparent right to decide against the advice of the Cabinet regarding the granting of clemency appeals.

There is no value in the state execution of Yong Vui Kong. The reason that there are still drug mules carrying drugs into our country proves that the Mandatory Death Penalty (MDP) has failed to serve as a deterrent. While drug mules are being hanged, the masterminds of such drug syndicates get away scot free.

The government of Singapore actively advocates for chances to be given to former convicts and to help them rejoin the society under the Yellow Ribbon Project. We do not see how it cannot be extended to Vui Kong and the rest of the drug mules who are mostly marginalised youths who were led astray.

**** Thoughts On Upcoming SG Elections 2011 <http://kentridgecommon.com/?p=10621>
Koh Choon Hwee, Kent Ridge Common

Using this as a warning to Singaporeans not to vote for opposition parties will only work up till a point, the tipping point of sufficient discontent. Future historians of our island will then look back in history to trace the beginnings of decline, and we will see then that the same way wealth doesn’t pass 3 generations (富不过三代), apparently neither does good political leadership.

**** Campaign To Save Yong From The Gallows Goes On <http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/05/campaign-to-save-yong-from-the-gallows-goes-on/>
K Pragalath, Free Malaysia Today

**** Australia To Reject Singapore Exchange's $7.8 Billion ASX Bid <http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/04/05/us-asx-sgx-idUKTRE73418G20110405>
Michael Smith And Saeed Azhar, Reuters

Australia intends to reject Singapore Exchange Ltd's proposed $7.8 billion bid for Australia's ASX Ltd on national interest grounds, underscoring the political challenges facing other cross-border exchange deals.

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan, facing growing political opposition to the deal, said on Tuesday he intended to reject the bid after getting advice from the country's Foreign Investment Review Board.

**** PAP Considered Splitting Into Two-party System <http://www.straitstimes.com/GeneralElection/News/Story/STIStory_653255.html>
Yen Feng, Straits Times

The People's Action Party once considered splitting itself into two so that Singapore could have a two-party system, but in the end it never did it, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday night.

The main reason, he said, was a lack of talent to form two A teams.

**** This Is Why We Fight So Hard For Fair Media Coverage <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4706-this-is-why-we-fight-so-hard-for-fair-media-coverage>
Singapore Democratic Party

Political parties need to be known to voters in order to win their support. The Singapore Democrats are confident that if the electorate heard more about our policies and candidates, they will like and support us more.

**** New Edition Of Alan Shadrake's Once A Jolly Hangman To Be Launched <http://sgdeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-edition-of-alan-shadrakes-once.html>
Death Penalty in Singapore

The new edition will exclude sections which have been ruled by Singapore High Court as scandalising and tarnishing the reputation of the Singapore judiciary. Despite so, Shadrake promised that the book will be as "hard-hitting" as the first edition and "devastatingly accurate".

**** What The Bibulous Men Say To Us <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/what-the-bibulous-men-say-to-us/>
Yawning Bread