[MyAppleMenu] Jan 17, 2011

applesurf at myapplemenu.com applesurf at myapplemenu.com
Mon Jan 17 18:59:00 EST 2011


MyAppleMenu
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**** Coming Soon: A New Way To Hack Into Your Smartphone <http://www.macworld.com/article/157217/2011/01/hacked_phone.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

Weinmann says he can do this by breaking the phone’s “baseband” processor, used to send and receive radio signals as the device communicates on its cellular network. He has found bugs in the way the firmware used in chips sold by Qualcomm and Infineon Technologies processes radio signals on the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) networks used by the majority of the world’s wireless carriers.

**** Create Message Links With Mail Proxy Icons <http://www.macworld.com/article/157203/2011/01/mailproxyicons.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Lex Friedman, Macworld

When you open an individual message in its own Mail window, you can drag that message’s proxy icon to any desktop window to create an Internet Location File (.inetloc) that points right back to the message. If you want quick repeat access to an important e-mail, using the proxy icon essentially allows you to create a desktop bookmark.

**** How To Customize A Magic Trackpad <http://www.macworld.com/article/157058/2011/01/trackpadtricks.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Rob Griffiths, Macworld

The BetterTouchTool utility allows you to define your own gestures and actions. In addition to its not-yet-final support for the Magic Trackpad, BetterTouchTool works with many third-party trackpads and Apple’s Magic Mouse. It even lets you assign various actions to keyboard shortcuts.

**** Apple's App Store On Pace To Surpass Total iTunes Music Sales By March <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/01/17/apples_app_store_on_pace_to_surpass_total_itunes_music_sales_by_march.html>
Sam Oliver, AppleInsider

**** Understanding Apple’s Fixed-layout EPUBs <http://blog.threepress.org/2011/01/17/understanding-apples-fixed-layout-epubs/>
Liza Daly, Threepress Consulting Blog

iBooks now supports an extension to EPUB that allows publishers to create books with precise layout using CSS. This is Apple’s own extension, not part of the EPUB specification itself (and not one that they suggested be included in EPUB3).

The goal of this post is to simply document the extension and show how to create new works with it. I’m not going to debate whether it’s a good thing for the ecosystem here.

**** Apple Media Advisory <http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/01/17advisory.html>
Apple

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today sent the following email to all Apple employees:

"At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health. I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company."



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Book Saver Device Takes A Page From CD Rippers <http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20028279-261.html?tag=topStories2>
Greg Sandoval, CNET

Here's something that could have publishers quaking in their books: gadget makers continue to look for ways to do for books what the CD ripper did for music.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Speculation, Really? <http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC110117-0000156/Speculation,-really?>
James Chi Han-Hsuan, Today

Resale property prices are in part influenced by prices of new launches, as valuers would factor in transacted prices of condos in the vicinity when valuing a property. In short, rising property prices are not just a matter of "willing buyer, willing seller".

**** NLB Didn't Perpetuate Any Falsehood, Says Publisher <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_624884.html>
Charles Orwin, Editions Didier Millet, Straits Times

Mr Lim's suggestion is based on the mistaken belief that the book, Chronicle Of Singapore: Fifty Years Of Headline News (1959-2009), was co-published by the NLB. It was not. The book was published solely by Editions Didier Millet.

In the book, we acknowledge the NLB as co-publisher, not to suggest that it had any role in publishing the book, but to thank it for its assistance in granting us access to the materials.

This is one strange reply. Naming NLB as a co-publisher and claim NLB not having co-published, and ignoring the original claim that the book was flawed?

See Also: Chin Siong Story In Book Was Admitted To Be False In 1966 [http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_619154.html]

**** MRT Station Names Shouldn't Confuse Commuters <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_624888.html>
Lee Kip Lee, Straits Times

Tan Kah Kee station is not named after a street or a place in the area. By giving the station such a name, LTA is not giving due consideration to the importance of place names. I urge LTA to reconsider its name for the station, before it is too late.

**** Minimum Wage And Loss Of Jobs <http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2011/01/minimum-wage-and-loss-of-jobs.html>
Tan Kin Lian

The minimum wage policy is not perfect, but it usually does more good than harm. That is why nearly all countries in the world adopt it. Only in Singapore, do we have capable leaders who think in a convoluted way.

**** Rare Insights Into The Mind Of MM Lee <http://trulysingapore.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/rare-insights-into-the-mind-of-mm-lee/>
Yours Truly Singapore

The issue is not about Singapore being vulnerable. That is never the question. The question is: should vulnerability be used as an excuse to rob Singaporeans of freedom and democracy? South Korea has clearly demonstrated that it shouldn’t be the case. Taiwan and Israel demonstrate that too.

**** Sharp Drop In PR Passes Granted In 2010 <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1105160/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

Deputy prime minister Wong Kan Seng said 29,265 PR passes were issued last year - a sharp drop from the 59,460 in 2009 and some 79,000 granted in 2008.

In managing the population, Mr Wong said the government will "always be guided by the need to preserve a strong citizen core" and to "maintain stability" in the ethnic mix.

**** 更多雇主提供事假 让员工带父母看病 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110117_002.shtml>
吴淑贤, 联合早报

提供事假让雇员带父母看病的雇主近年来有增加趋势,不过还是占少数。人力部上个月底公布的《2010年度就业状况》报告显示,提供这类假期的雇主只占11%,但比例已比2008年多出近一倍。

**** Minimum Wage: Another Perspective <http://sgpirategame.blogspot.com/2011/01/minimum-wage-another-perspective.html>
Sg Pirate Game

**** The Government's Argument Against The Minimum Wage <http://flaneurose.blogspot.com/2011/01/governments-argument-against-minimum.html>
Flaneurose

We had the opportunity to raise productivity in years past and in doing so, the wages of the low skilled worker. We ignored it in favor of continuing with cheap foreign labor. Like a country that has long subsidized petrol, we have failed to invest in fuel economy, and as result, every other car on the road is a gas guzzling SUV. In this case, every other company in our economy relies on cheap labor.

**** Across Culture <http://myunspokenminds.wordpress.com/2011/01/17/across-culture/>
My Unspoken Minds

**** 'Palpable Sense Of Loss Of Identity' Among S'poreans <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_625091.html>
Rachel Chang, Straits Times

The drive to be a Global City has come at a price for Singaporeans and their quality of life, said three prominent figures, including Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim, on Monday.

And while Singapore may have first-world infrastructure, it suffers from a lack of creativity and intellectual freedom of the sort found in other Global Cities, they argued during a panel at the annual Singapore Perspectives seminar.

**** Court Reserves Judgment On Malaysian Facing Death Penalty <http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/01/17/court-reserves-judgment-on-malaysian-facing-death-penalty/>
Faris, Yahoo!

The Court of Appeal has reserved judgement in the case of 23-year-old Malaysian Yong Vui Kong, who faces the death penalty for drug trafficking. Vui Kong’s counsel, M. Ravi, made an appeal for his client’s execution to be stayed on the grounds that he had been denied a fair clemency process.

**** S'poreans Jaded With Campaigns: Survey <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1105245/1/.html>
Mustafa Shafawi, Channel NewsAsia

One in two Singaporeans polled in a recent survey by the National University of Singapore (NUS) feels there's excessive social campaigning in the country.

**** Fertility Rate Falls To Disastrous Lows... <http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2011/01/fertility-rate-falls-to-disastrous-lows.html>
Diary Of A Singaporean Mind

They give more money to the richer parents who are usually not motivated by money since they already have plenty and deny financial incentives to poor parents who love children and would be motivated by financial help. When the PAP says it wants to encourage Singaporeans to have more children, they do not mean all Singaporeans....they just want rich Singaporeans to have more children, They don't like the idea of parents who are not rich having more children hence they give out money in the form of tax rebate. In the eighties, they were even more blatant. The incentives were targetted at graduate mothers to have more children - you may ask why graduate mothers and not fathers? It is mentioned in one of LKY's speeches that he believes intelligence comes from the mother's genes.

**** Singapore Export Growth Slows <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703396604576087400104781170.html>
Gaurav Raghuvanshi, Wall Street Journal

Singapore's non-oil export growth slowed to a 13-month low in December as shipments of key electronics products and pharmaceuticals declined, signaling more moderate growth in 2011.

**** Million-dollar Pay But Never-ending Fiascos <http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=4537>
See Leong Kit, SgPolitics.net

**** ST Undermines Its Credibility… Again <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/01/st-undermines-its-credibility-again/>
Joshua Chiang, The Online Citizen

In these two instances, whether Cheo’s or Soo’s membership with the YPAP were known to the editors and were deliberately omitted, or were genuine cases of the reporters not knowing any better, readers cannot be faulted for taking the minister’s claims with a huge pinch of salt.

Perhaps in future, reporters should do a background check on newsmakers who are full of praise for members of the ruling party.

**** Singapore, A Nation Of Paradoxes? <http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2011/01/17/singapore-a-nation-of-paradoxes/>
Alicia Wong, Yahoo!

While deputy prime minister Wong Kan Seng mapped out the government’s plans to develop Singapore as both a global city and endearing home in his keynote address, subsequent discussions raised doubts on the possibility of doing so.

One key concern was the “cost” of nation building, with the focus on growing Singapore into a global city.






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