[MyAppleMenu] Apr 15, 2011

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Flow 2.0.2 <http://www.macworld.com/article/158346/2011/04/flow2.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Jay J. Nelson, Macworld

Flow 2 is a systemwide project management tool that functions as a workflow tracker, project manager, and revision keeper. Think of it as a beefed-up Spotlight focused specifically on the challenges facing creative pros. It tracks every file your project team creates, updates, moves, exports, or places into another document, and it can show you the relationships between them. It also tracks time spent on projects, provides unique tools for collaboration, and lets you roll back a document to any previously saved version.

**** Pull Excel Data Into Word 2011 Docs <http://www.macworld.com/article/159219/2011/04/excelwordvisualbasic.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Chris Grover, Macworld

**** Apple Releases Safari, Snow Leopard Security Updates <http://www.macworld.com/article/159241/2011/04/sl_security_safari_505.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld

**** Apple Releases iOS 4.3.2, Fixes FaceTime, 3G Issues <http://www.macworld.com/article/159239/2011/04/ios432.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Lex Friedman, Macworld

The update addresses just a couple of issues. It corrects a problem with blank or frozen video during FaceTime calls (potentially resolving a strange bug that some users have complained about) and it fixes an issue that prevented some international users from connecting to 3G networks using the iPad Wi-Fi + 3G. There’s some question as to whether or not it will also correct a problem experienced by some Verizon iPad 2 users in getting a 3G signal; Apple previously said it was investigating the issue, but gave no timeframe for a fix.

The update also includes a number of security-related patches, such as blacklisting fraudulent security certificates issued by Comodo, a patch for a vulnerability in QuickLook related to maliciously crafted Microsoft Office files, and several fixes for protecting against maliciously crafted websites.

**** Let The Mayhem Begin: You Don't Know Jack Arrives On iOS Devices <http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/04/jack-arrives-ios-devices-free-versions/>
Bryan Wolfe, AppAdvice

The “irrelevant trivia” game You Don’t Know Jack has arrived on iOS devices.  It is a reboot of the popular PC game series, which first arrived on the scene in 1995.

**** Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: New Multitouch Gestures, Dock Integration For Exposé, Launchpad, Mission Control <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/04/14/mac_os_x_10_7_lion_new_multitouch_gestures_dock_integration_for_expos_launchpad_mission_control.html>
AppleInsider

**** Visual Thesaurus Is A Great Tool For Writers <http://www.tuaw.com/2011/04/14/visual-thesaurus-is-a-great-tool-for-writers/>
Michael Grothaus, TUAW

**** Font-fixer Smasher Gets New Interface In Update <http://www.macworld.com/article/159203/2011/04/smasher.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Joel Mathis, Macworld

Smasher, a program that automatically fixes font problems that can result in garbled text, has been updated with a redesigned user interface, improved support for Adobe CS 5, and a new range of font preview capabilities.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Why We Need Storytellers At The Heart Of Product Development <http://uxmag.com/strategy/why-we-need-storytellers-at-the-heart-of-product-development>
Sarah Doody, UX Magazine

**** Why New Link Shortener Rdd.me Stands Out <http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/26657/?ref=rss>
Christopher Mims, Technology Review

In a crowded field, rdd.me is unique in offering the ability make target webpages more readable.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Kitsch, Gin, And Woods Of Her Own: Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Steepletop <http://writershouses.com/?guest=kitsch-gin-and-woods-of-her-own-edna-st-vincent-millays-steepletop>
Megan Mayhew Bergman, Writers' Houses

On a deserted stretch of road off Route 22 in Austerlitz, NY, pine trees rub against each other, whining in the winter sun.  There are hundreds of acres here, forests with spruce and maple littered with bear, moose, deer, rabbit, and coyote tracks.  Bygone apple trees crop up along East Hill Road, gnarled, snow-covered fruit hanging rotten from their limbs.  Edna’s house, tall and white, holds court on top of a steep hill.  The iron gates are left open.  The pool she made from a barn foundation is frozen over.  A bittersweet vine curls around the structure that once held her pool house and a Prohibition-era bar, complete with bullet holes.

**** Why Bother? <http://nplusonemag.com/why-bother>
Nicholas Dames, N+1

If the question of the ’80s and ’90s was, “What should we be reading, and how?,” the question that dogged the opening years of our new millennium was of a vastly more dismal kind: “Why bother?”

**** From Beijing To Hong Kong <http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/places/anthony-gardner/beijing-hong-kong?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MoreintelligentlifeTotal+%28moreintelligentlife.com+-+total%29>
Anthony Gardner, Intelligent Life

When I first made this trip in the mid-1980s, it was possible to spend an entire day trying to buy a ticket. Officials at the railway station would tell aspiring travellers that tickets could only be purchased from the government travel agency; the travel agency would then send these folks back to queue at the railway station. Even when the railway finally consented to take my money, officials explained that there was no mechanism for buying a return ticket. This meant travellers planning a round trip were doomed to go through the whole rigmarole again on the other end.

A quarter-century later, I was sure that this would have changed. But no: Beijing may have swapped bicycles for cars, and 1950s tenement blocks for state-of-the art skyscrapers, but the return ticket remains a foreign concept. The good news is that agents can be found who will do the queuing for you, thanks to the internet.

**** Captive <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/15/captive-rose-tremain-short-story?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
Rose Tremain, The Guardian



SingaporeSurf
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**** PAP’s Janil Puthucheary: “I Did Not Do NS… Those Are The Facts” <http://ge2011.theonlinecitizen.com/2011/04/paps-janil-puthucheary-i-did-not-do-ns-those-are-the-facts/>
Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen

In his reply on his Facebook page, while acknowledging that Mr Chen has done his NS and he did not, Dr Janil seems to avoid commenting any further than that.

**** Candidly Admit Mistakes Of YOG <http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC110414-0001509/Candidly-admit-mistakes-of-YOG>
Kwan Jin Yao, Today

The explosion of the budget remains contentious; while Singaporeans may not be unhappy with the amounts budgeted per se, the organising committee failed to transparently justify the three-fold increase. Some form of incompetency, oversight or gross miscalculation must have led to the poorly-calculated budget estimate in the beginning. 

The comparison of the overall expenditure of the YOG and the 2008 Summer Olympics based on the "size" of the events is incongruent; a large part of the Beijing budget went into infrastructural construction and extensive refurbishment. More importantly - proportionately - the 2008 Beijing Games attracted significantly more tourists and groups into the city, and generated greater media reach, marketing value and tourism receipts. YOG attendance figures - propped up by bulk sales to the Ministry of Education - pale in comparison to that of the Beijing Olympics.

**** PAP's Large Labour Bloc An Acknowledgement Of Hot Issues <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110415-0000387/PAPs-large-labour-bloc-an-acknowledgement-of-hot-issues>
Ng Jing Yng, Today

With seven of the People's Action Party's (PAP) new faces now in the labour movement and 15 altogether, or 17 per cent of the party's entire line-up, the PAP is bringing a sizeable labour bloc to the polls.

It is needed, said veteran unionist and two-term MP Halimah Yacob, to represent the concerns of workers, a "huge and important segment of the population", and across a wide range of sectors and industries. Given the Government's goal of increasing wages by 30 per cent in the next decade, among other economic targets, Mdm Halimah said that having people who were familiar with labour policies would be helpful.

**** Pork Barrel Politics Not Halal <http://singaporedesk.blogspot.com/2011/04/pork-barrel-politics-not-halal.html>
Singapore Notes

When PM Lee insists that "there must be an incentive to vote for the Government", he was resorting to what is termed "pork barrel politics". It refers to spending that is intended to benefit constituents in return for their political support, either in the form of campaign contributions or votes. The principle is the same, the "pork" involves funding for government programs whose economic or service benefits are focused on a selected area but whose costs are borne by taxpayers all across the land. When George Yeo defended Goh's tactics in 1996, he said pork barrel politics originated in the USA.

**** Singapore Dollar Allowed To Rise To Curb Inflation <http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2011/04/singapore-dollar-allowed-to-rise-to-curb-inflation.html>
Pressrun.net

**** Mrbrown On Politicians And The Perils Of Hawker Center Walkabouts <http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/life/say-what-mrbrown/mrbrown-politicians-and-perils-hawker-center-walkabouts-704820>
Mrbrown, CNNGo

The thing is, if this had happened in other countries, the fellow would probably have been called a "concerned voter" or "disgruntled citizen". But here, he is called "heckler".

**** Hard Truths You Won’t Read About Elsewhere, Part IV <http://flaneurose.blogspot.com/2011/04/hard-truths-you-wont-read-about_14.html>
Flaneurose

The rich, the highly educated high income earners, the large business owners, foreign investors, foreign talent, high level corporate executives – these are the ones that Singapore welcomes and bends over backwards to accommodate.

If you are not a current net beneficiary, you should think about what’s going to happen after the elections.

**** Australia’s Curious Courtship Of The Singapore Exchange <http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/04/14/australia-s-curious-courtship-of-the-singapore-exchange/>
Ross Buckley, East Asia Forum

There are two problems with this argument. The first is it presumes Asian investors and fund managers would invest in Australian equities if traded on the Singapore Exchange but are too unsophisticated to invest directly in the same equities through the ASX. The second problem is that the SGX is not a gateway to Asian money. It has failed to substantially tap into Chinese capital. As successful as the island state has been, its exchange is relatively small, with half the capitalisation of Australia’s, and it is essentially a local, not a pan-Asian, exchange.

It is one thing to allow control of a vital piece of Australia’s financial infrastructure to pass to a foreign corporation, another to allow it to pass to a foreign government.

**** About Chen: WP Rebuts Forum Writer <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_656909.html>
Low Thia Khiang, Workers' Party, Straits Times

I agree that many things in life are proven by time. There is a famous adage in Chinese, lu yao zhi ma li, ri jiu jian ren xin (just as it takes a long journey to know the strength of a horse, it also takes time to know a person's real heart'). However, why does this apply only to Chen Show Mao and not to new candidates of the People's Action Party as well?

Show Mao has been in contact with the Workers' Party (WP) since 2007. He has participated in WP's ground outreach such as (party publication) Hammer's sales and other party functions. He is not returning only when 'the pickings are ripe' as the writer alleged.

**** The Emperor Has No Clothes On! <http://theowlcritic.blogspot.com/2011/04/emperor-has-no-clothes-on.html>
The Owl

Yet Mr.Lee and the PAP, insist on treating Singaporeans like a pack of mules, with their carrot and their stick. Mr.Tharman offers them carrots in the form of S$800 bribes, then Mr.Lee turns up armed with a club!

**** Chen Has Done His Share For Singapore <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_656900.html>
Tan Suan Tiu, Straits Times

Mr Chen served national service although he was not obliged to. Unlike Mr Chow and me who were born, bred and remain rooted in Singapore, Mr Chen was not born and was not wholly nurtured by Singapore. And yet, he chose to serve. What more do we need to ask of him?

Mr Chen was the top student of his batch but never got to study the course of his choice nor was he given a scholarship. If he was given his choice of study (medicine), he would have probably spent the next 10 years studying and training here.

We have only ourselves to blame for not rooting this talent in Singapore but rather forcing him to go out into the world to make a name for himself, which he did.

**** Steel Dumping Investigation Complete <http://www.tempointeractive.com/hg/nasional/2011/04/14/brk,20110414-327453,uk.html>
Tempo

Steel imports from China, the Ukraine, and Singapore were believed to have been sold in the Indonesian market for very low prices. The three countries were selling their steel products in Indonesia cheaper than in their own countries and raised speculation they were dumping their products.

**** Jobs Policy Aimed At Favouring Citizens <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_656902.html>
Farah Abdul Rahim, Ministry Of Manpower, Straits Times

Employers are not compelled to raise the salaries of existing foreign employees to meet the higher qualifying salaries as they can be downgraded to a lower work pass if they are eligible.

Employers are obliged to provide EP holders the same 12 weeks of maternity leave under the Employment Act. As for local males with national service obligations, most employers understand and support the need for national defence.

**** Foreigners The Next Catalyst For Private Home Market? <http://www.todayonline.com/Commentary/EDC110415-0000339/Foreigners-the-next-catalyst-for-private-home-market?>
Tan Kok Keong, Today

**** Minister Mah Attacks WP's Affordable Housing Plan.... <http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2011/04/minister-mah-attacks-wps-affordable.html>
Diary Of A Singapore Mind

Minister Mah calls WP irresponsible for its plan to provide more affordable flats. He says that cheaper flats means more housing subsidies and  less money for education and healthcare. Let me ask you a simple question. In the past few years when the price of HDB flats surge by more than 50% , by Minister Mah's logic, the govt should be awashed with more money from selling HDB flats for healthcare and education - if that is so, why did the govt implement means testing to cut subsidies for healthcare and why did they have to raise school fees for universities and cuts subsidies for education of children with special needs etc?

When the price of flats surge up by 50%, no significant amounts of money went to subsidise healthcare and education. Similarly, if the price rise of flats is kept close to changes median incomes suggested by the WP, healthcare  by pricing the land sales to HDB accordingly, healthcare and education will not be affected.

**** A Crying Shame <http://thetwophilo.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/a-crying-shame/>
Thetwophilo's Blog

Therefore, Singaporeans should be careful to exercise their power of the vote wisely as much is at stake if his plan is allowed to come to fruition. We may end up with even worse days ahead post-GE 2011 if a substantial number of his new candidates managed to make it to the chambers of parliament under the protective cover of the GRC.

**** Cringing At Tin Pei Ling's Video <http://fuzzielemon.blogspot.com/2011/04/cringing-at-tin-pei-lings-video.html>
Nomadism

**** Lim Hwee Hua Stopped By Heckler: PAP Losing Touch? <http://rogerpoh.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/lim-hwee-hua-stopped-by-heckler-pap-losing-touch/>
Spotlight On Singapore

The MP for my area, I still can recall vividly, came a-calling with a large retinue of supporters and aides before the last General Election. He had a walkover in the GRC, and to the best of my knowledge went into hibernation mode for the next four years.

In England and elsewhere, even Prime Ministers and Ministers pause to chat with members of the public. But here in Singapore, they move around with a large forbidding security escort, and are content with remaining within the cocoon. Only during election time, we see them venturing outside this comfort zone to greet and chat with voters.

**** Govt’s Preschool Subsidy Only For NTUC And PCF Kindergartens? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/04/govt%E2%80%99s-preschool-subsidy-only-for-ntuc-and-pcf-kindergartens/>
Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen

The ministries’ replies did not address the question of why state funds, which are taxpayers’ money, are being used to give NTUC – My First Skool (formerly NTUC Childcare) – and PCF kindergartens an unfair competitive advantage over privately run kindergartens?

Is there not a conflict of interest when the ruling Government decides that money to parents under the Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KFAS) can only go to two kindergarten operators that are headed by Members of Parliament (MPs) who are part of the Government in the case of PCF, and a cabinet minister as well as MPs in the case of NTUC?

**** Derogatory Term Used By ST To Describe Deaf People <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/04/derogatory-term-used-by-st-to-describe-deaf-people/>
Alvan Yap, The Online Citizen

This is not a new issue, but something we have brought up repeatedly, through the years, to various local media whenever they use the term “deaf-mute”, “deaf and mute” or “deaf and dumb”, and which have been acknowledged by them to be in error. Here, we would like to appeal for the Straits Times to state, ensure and enforce the non-usage of “deaf-mute” in its editorial house style.