[MyAppleMenu] Jan 19, 2011

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Backing Up And Recovery: Time Machine <http://www.amitiae.com/?p=316>
Graham K. Rogers, Amitiae

**** Apple Releases MacBook Air, iDVD Updates <http://www.macworld.com/article/157243/2011/01/macbook_air_idvd_updates.html?lsrc=rss_main>
David Chartier, Macworld

**** App Watch: Fiddling On The iPad <http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/01/18/app-watch-fiddling-on-the-ipad/?mod=rss_WSJBlog&mod=>
Yukari Iwatani Kane, Wall Street Journal

Music app developer Smule’s latest app, Magic Fiddle, emerged out of a dare. Walking out of classical musician Lang Lang’s concert in San Francisco last April, in which the pianist played an encore with Smule’s iPad piano app, Smule co-founder Ge Wang joked with colleagues about creating a violin app that would force users to put their iPads up to their face and rest their chins on the device to make it work. “We thought, ‘Wow, that idea is so bad, it might just work’” says Mr. Wang, looking back.

Almost seven months later in November, the company came out with Magic Fiddle, a violin app.

**** Billings Pro 1.0 <http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/464578/review/billings_pro_10.html?expand=true&lsrc=rss_main>
Jeffery Battersby, Macworld

Billings Pro is a superior solution for managing company-wide time billing, client-related expense tracking, and invoicing. While I’d like to see some kind of iOS app for handling time sheets for non-administrative employees, Billings Pro’s Web-based time sheets are a good temporary measure, making Billings Pro an attractive solution for managing your business’ billing and invoicing needs.

**** How To Move Your iTunes Media Folder <http://www.macworld.com/article/157240/2011/01/howto_move_itunes.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Christopher Breen, Macworld

If you love music, movies, TV shows, and podcasts there’s a good chance that your iTunes Media folder (formerly called the iTunes Music folder, and yours might be called that if you’ve been using iTunes for a long time) has swollen to the point where it’s pushing up against the bounds of your hard drive’s capacity. In such cases you need to move your media to a more expansive drive. Here are the steps for doing just that.

**** Are You A Secret Apple Stockholder? <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704678004576090211883640504.html>
Brett Arends, Wall Street Journal

You may not know it, but you are probably a secret Apple stockholder. And maybe a big one.

Apple is everywhere on Wall Street. Few stocks are as widely held in regular mutual funds as well as in hedge funds. Few affect the performance of so many retirement portfolios. This is especially unusual because Apple is such a volatile growth stock. In recent years it's fallen by two-thirds and it's quadrupled. Most of the other shares that crop up in every portfolio are dull ones like Exxon Mobil or Procter & Gamble or Johnson & Johnson.

**** 'iDOS' Open Emulation Rabbit Hole Still Exists, Sort Of <http://toucharcade.com/2011/01/19/idos-open-emulation-rabbit-hole-still-exists-sort-of/>
Eli Hodapp, TouchArcade

Using the freeware utility iPhone Explorer, adding additional games to iDOS is as simple as browsing your apps in iPhone Explorer, opening the iDOS folder, and then dumping whatever files you want inside of the iDOS documents folder.

**** Reader’s Digest For iPad Arrives In The App Store <http://appadvice.com/appnn/2011/01/readers-digest-arrives-ipad/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AppAdvice+%28AppAdvice%29>
Tyler Tschida, AppAdvice

**** Find Any File 1.5.1 <http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/794712/review/find_any_file_151.html?expand=true&lsrc=rss_main>
Dan Frakes, Macworld

**** How To Manage Your Mac’s Power On, Power Off <http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/how-to-manage-your-macs-power-on-power-off>
Jeffrey Mincey, Mac360

In an effort to make our household more green this year than last year, we’re adjusting our Mac lifestyle to include using the Mac only when we need it. That means power management. The problem is that Apple doesn’t help us. So, we have to help ourselves.

**** How To Add Or Remove Icons From The Dock <http://www.macworld.com/article/156798/2011/01/dockicons.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Roman Loyola, Macworld

Purchased apps from the Mac App Store are automatically added to the Dock. That’s great if you plan to access the new app on a frequent basis. But if it’s an app you’ll use infrequently, you probably don’t want it there. Here’s how to remove icons from your Dock. I'll go over adding icons to your Dock, as well.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** An Eyeball Camera, Now With Zoom <http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/27105/?ref=rss>
Kate Greene, Technology Review

The burgeoning field of stretchable electronics promises to change the way we think about gadgets. Silicon chips, once confined to flat, rigid shapes, will break out of the planar mold. One experimental example is a camera, modeled after an eyeball, that features a curved array of light sensors.

**** "Flasher Detection" Algorithm Aims To Clean Up Video Chat <http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/26281/?ref=rss>
Technology Review

Computer scientists have developed software that spots flashers in the act on video chat sites.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Where Did The Korean Greengrocers Go? <http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_nyc-koreans.html>
Laura Vanderkam, City Journal

There are two stories behind the Korean greengrocers’ disappearance. One involves a changing New York economy over the last 20 years. The other, a particularly Korean saga, is a story of how immigration can work in America—a testament to how far these new Americans have come in a single generation.

**** Under Paris <http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/02/paris-underground/shea-text>
Neil Shea, Photograph By Stephen Alvarez, National Geographic Magazine

Getting There: It involves manholes and endless ladders.

What to Wear: Miner's helmets are good.

What to do: Work, party, paint—or just explore the dark web of tunnels.



SingaporeSurf
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**** The Ultimate Guide To Real Estate Investment In Singapore <http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/2011/01/ultimate-guide-to-real-estate.html>
Gilbert Koh, Mr Wang Says So

You pay more for your condo, because you're competing with the foreigners. All these years, they've been jacking up your price.

In contrast, landed properties are cheaper (on a psf basis) because the foreigners are still kept out (not entirely, but largely) by the laws and regulations. Foreigners can buy landed properties, only if they first succeed in getting government approval.

**** Govt Rejects Blog's Request Not To Be Gazetted <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110119-0000259/Govt-rejects-blogs-request-not-to-be-gazetted>
Joanne Chan, Today

**** Hard Truths And The Reality On The Ground.... <http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2011/01/hard-truths-and-reality-on-ground.html>
Diary Of A Singaporean Mind

I remember a speech by Bill Clinton a few years back. He warned about people who believe they possess the 'absolute' or 'hard' truths because it can lead to actions and decisions that are extreme and detrimental to human society.

**** Lottery Results Released Online For Transparency <http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC110119-0000222/Lottery-results-released-online-for-transparency>
Phoebe Low, Singapore Pools (Private) Limited, Today

As a responsible operator, Singapore Pools is mindful of the need for transparency in our game rules and operations, which among others would require certain important information about our lottery games to be published as quickly as possible.

**** Welfarism Not The Way To Go <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_625604.html>
Chong Yuen Foong, Straits Times

While my child enjoyed a free preschool education between ages three and six when we lived in France, I did not view the education as genuinely 'free'. We paid a hellish amount in taxes for such welfare benefits.

**** Let The State Subsidise First 2 Kids <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_625525.html>
Tan Kin Lian, Straits Times

The key reasons behind the low birth rate, based on public feedback, are the cost and stress of raising children, the long working hours and financial insecurity felt by many families due to the uncertainty of jobs, and the cost of living.

**** YPAP Leader Engaged Netizens In Vulgarity War <http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/01/18/ypap-leader-engaging-in-vulgar-twitter-war-with-netizen/>
Temasek Review

**** BTO: 32 Months To Build – Really? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/01/bto-32-months-to-build-–-really/>
Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen

Since Mr Mah said in August last year that the waiting time for BTO flats launched after the middle of this year would be “about 2-1/2 years, or 30 months”, why are BTOs now about 60 months?

Finally, why is it that when the HDB built very little flats, the average BTO was 32 months, and now that it is building 38,000 flats in two years (“HDB to roll out more BTO flats in 2011”, BT, Oct 22), which is more than the total number built over the last 10 years or so, the time to build is getting so much longer?

**** Minimum Wage Only Beneficial In Long Term <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/01/minimum-wage-only-beneficial-in-long-term/>
Gordon Lee, The Online Citizen

**** Stories Of Geylang - SIN Of Singapore <http://nomadicmillionmonks.blogspot.com/2011/01/stories-of-geylang-sin-of-singapore.html>
Lakwatsero Ako, Travel Notes And Other Thingeys

I live in the heart of Geylang. For the uninitiated, the SIN in Singapore probably comes from Geylang area, specifically Sins carnal in nature. But for me it is the most interesting place in Singapore. What I like about Geylang is the stark contrast of glossy-magazine version of Singapore you see in most places. The streets are dusty, the back alleys are dark, the walls are smelly and people actually sleep in the paved sidewalks.

**** Temasek Agrees To Pay Watchdog’s Fines <http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/01/19/temasek-agrees-pay-watchdog’s-fines.html>
Rangga D. Fadillah, The Jakarta Post

Singapore-based investment giant Temasek Holdings finally agreed Tuesday to pay fines to the Indonesian government after the Supreme Court upheld a ruling by the country’s antitrust agency concluding that the firm and eight of its affiliates were guilty of violating antimonopoly laws.

**** A Chill In The Blogosphere <http://www.economist.com/blogs/asiaview/2011/01/singapores_media>
The Economist

Gazetting sounds quaint, but is anything but. It’s a means by which the government can demand that any organisation be reclassified as the government sees fit. TOC is a kind of journalistic platform; the powers-that-be now want to register the organisation as a political association. The site is to be designated as a political website. This means that TOC will fall under the rules that govern other (normal) political organisations—like parties.

Some analysts argue that gazetting should not in fact make much practical difference to TOC’s day-to-day operations. Indeed, the government argues that it will be free to carry on with its “normal, lawful operations”. The aforementioned media expert, however, says that the action against TOC is intended to cause a chilling effect on its content and that of other websites as well. As a political association, TOC says it will have to comply carefully with the Broadcasting Act. It will have to mind more carefully what it says, and it may think twice before straying into controversial areas, such as homelessness and income inequality—ie, the sort of self-censorship that the founder of Sintercom was not prepared to tolerate.

**** North-South Expressway Alignment Approved <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1105648/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

The government will acquire close to 40 lots and more than 30 part lots of land to facilitate the construction of a stretch of the North South Expressway (NSE) between Admiralty Road West and Toa Payoh Rise.

NSE will consist of a combination of viaduct and road tunnels to provide a new high speed road link from residential estates such as Woodlands, Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan and Toa Payoh to the city centre.

**** Singapore Needs Young Immigrants: Lee Kuan Yew <http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5itm9hTO9QkQlnw06-L3RuH-A_yww?docId=CNG.3bf85c2831c0d78eb3c3ae8ea03860f2.4a1>
AFP

Singapore needs young immigrants to save its economy from long-term decline as a result of a falling birth rate, elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew said in remarks published Wednesday.

Lee's defence of immigration came amid increasingly vocal criticism in web forums and local media directed at foreigners, who now make up more than 20 percent of the population of five million.

**** Singapore's Flawed 'Freedom' <http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MA20Ae01.html>
Muhammad Cohen, Asia Times

What do you call a country that takes 35% of salaries to finance a state investment fund run by the prime minister's wife? Where the government controls companies responsible for 60% of gross domestic product and 85% of its citizens live in public housing? And a country with stringent restrictions on the media and public information, limits on freedom of expression and assembly, and courts that help perpetuate the domination of the only ruling party the country has ever known? 

Rather than calling the rankings an index of economic freedom, "'Openness to rich outsiders' is more accurate", risk analyst Aaron Brown said. "Freedom for individuals within the country is another matter entirely, difficult to reconcile with freedom for outsiders. It's like the dilemma that encouraging tourism frequently inconveniences locals."

**** The State Capitalist Mixed Economy Of Singapore <http://econospeak.blogspot.com/2011/01/state-capitalist-mixed-economy-of.html>
Econospeak

So, Singapore is not what it seems in many media accounts, in many ways a progressive and innovative society that is growing rapidly economically, while also experiencing substantial inequality and repression in various forms.

**** Why Even Have Designated Smoking Tables? <http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC110119-0000629/Why-even-have-designated-smoking-tables?>
Raymund Koh Joo Guan, Today

A food centre is for consuming food, not for smoking. Therefore, it is highly unnecessary to have designated tables for smoking.