[MyAppleMenu] Jan 19, 2012

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Strategies For Switching From Word To Pages ****
<http://tidbits.com/article/12718?rss>
Tonya Engst, TidBITS


> Last year, when the Take Control ebook series migrated from Microsoft Word 2008 to Pages ’09, I faced the challenge of not only acquainting myself with an unfamiliar piece of software, but also of helping a group of authors make the switch, all while under time pressure to keep up with Apple’s breathless product-release schedule.

> Now that the commotion from the transition has died down, I want to share the strategies we used in switching from Word to Pages, along with some of my favorite Pages tips.



**** Safari’s Browsing History Doesn’t Resolve Redirected Links ****
<http://www.macgasm.net/2012/01/18/annoyance-safaris-browsing-history-resolve-redirected-links/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+macgasm%2Fmain+%28Macgasm%29>
Alexander Hoffmann, Macgasm


> Kinda defeats the purpose of a browser history, doesn’t it.



**** Why I Use Todo.txt ****
<http://www.macstories.net/stories/why-i-use-todo-txt/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+macstoriesnet+%28MacStories%29>
Fedrico Viticci, MacStories


> I’d like to briefly elaborate on my Todo.txt setup, which I only started using last month as a way to keep my “todo articles” separate from general “todos” that I now keep organized and synced through Remember The Milk. Several readers have emailed me asking why I chose Todo.txt of all text editors and task management systems, so here it goes.



**** Apple Stores Sales Ban Gives Boost To Rival Outlets ****
<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-01/19/content_14472253.htm>
Shen Jingting, China Daily



**** Final Cut Pro X Makes A Good Second Impression ****
<http://www.chron.com/business/article/Dr-Mac-Final-Cut-Pro-X-makes-a-good-second-2575241.php>
Bob LeVitus, Houston Chronicle


> So, forget everything you know about traditional video editing and spend some quality time checking out Final Cut Pro X.

> I think it's brilliant, and I think you will, too.



**** Microsoft Outlook 2011 For Mac OS X ****
<http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/outlook/outlook-2011-mac-os-141278>
Paul Robichaux, Windows IT Pro


> OWA 2010 is a fine client and is useful for a broad range of users. However, most users want a rich desktop client, and for Mac users in an Exchange environment, Outlook for Mac 2011 is it. None of the other available Mac OS X clients deliver the same combination of functionality and utility. Although the program has a few rough spots, Microsoft has fixed many of them in the first two service packs, and it's clear that Microsoft understands what Mac users with Exchange mailboxes want to see in a client. The future for Outlook on the Mac looks pretty bright.



**** New Twitter Clients ****
<http://www.macstories.net/stories/new-twitter-clients/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+macstoriesnet+%28MacStories%29>
Fedrico Viticci, MacStories


> Will we ever go back to the Birdfeed and Tweetie era? I don’t think so. Twitter is now integrated in iOS 5 and seeing massive growth because of it, thus justifying the prospect of creating an app “for power users” even less. Yet I can’t help but think about a time, not too distant from now, when the power users will finally settle on a single solution for their power-hungry needs, and let other developers innovate atop of the Twitter platform in disruptive new ways. The ideas, devices, APIs and users are waiting.



**** Apple Is Said To Plan Digital-Textbook Push To Bolster IPad Use In Schools ****
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-18/apple-said-to-plan-textbook-push-to-bolster-ipad-use-in-schools.html>
Adam Satariano And Peter Burrows, Bloomberg


> At an event in New York tomorrow, Apple will announce a set of tools that make it easier to publish interactive textbooks and other digital educational content, said two people with knowledge of the announcement, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

> The plans, to be unveiled by Apple Internet software chief Eddy Cue, are aimed at broadening the educational materials available for the iPad, especially for students in kindergarten to 12th grade, the people said. By setting its sights on the $10 billion-a-year textbook industry, Apple is using the tablet to encourage students to shun costly tomes that weigh down backpacks in favor of less-expensive, interactive digital books that can be updated anywhere via the Web.






The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** A Political Coming Of Age For The Tech Industry ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/technology/web-wide-protest-over-two-antipiracy-bills.html?pagewanted=all>
Jenna Wortham, New York Times


> With a Web-wide protest on Wednesday that includes a 24-hour shutdown of the English-language Wikipedia, the legislative battle over two Internet piracy bills has reached an extraordinary moment — a political coming of age for a relatively young and disorganized industry that has largely steered clear of lobbying and other political games in Washington.






MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Twinkies, The Undead Snack ****
<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/17/twinkies-the-undead-snack/?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Mark Bittman, New York Times


> In fact the story of Hostess, as much a fixture as Chevy when I was a kid, is the common tale of extreme debt, real obligations to real live workers and an inability to change with the times.



**** The Best Pizza Town In Italy: Rome And Naples Battle For The Title ****
<http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/the-best-pizza-town-in-italy-rome-and-naples-battle-for-the-title/251432/?single_page=true>
Anya von Bremzen, The Atlantic


> At this I said <i>basta</i>. America may be enjoying its own artisanal-pizza boom at this very moment, but having the right pie at the right place on its <i>Italian</i> home turf is like discovering pizza joy for the very first time. And so, craving to assess the work of visionary <i>pizzaioli</i> and to reexamine pizza's roots, my boyfriend, Barry, and I plotted a tour of the most exciting <i>pizzerie</i> of Naples and Rome, both new-wave and old-world. Which city wins the golden pizza paddle? Read on to find out.



**** The Chinese-Takeout Container Is Uniquely American ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/magazine/the-chinese-takeout-container-is-uniquely-american.html?_r=2>
Hilary Greenbaum And Dana Rubinstein, New York Times


> The Chinese-takeout container, with its Japanese-influenced origami folds, is a uniquely American invention. On Nov. 13, 1894, in Chicago, the inventor Frederick Weeks Wilcox patented a version of what he called a “paper pail,” which was a single piece of paper, creased into segments and folded into a (more or less) leakproof container secured with a dainty wire handle on top. The supportive folds on the outside, fastened with that same wire, created a flat interior surface over which food could slide smoothly onto a plate.






SingaporeSurf
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**** Man Jailed For Stealing S$32 From Mosque ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120119-0000144/Man-jailed-for-stealing-S$32-from-mosque>
Channel NewsAsia


> A 40-year-old man was sentenced to a year's jail today for stealing S$32. Noraizam Abdullah, who has a handicapped mother, admitted to stealing the money from a donation box in a mosque to buy food for his family.



**** Singaporean Minister Meeting With MPAA To Discuss Anti-Piracy Legislation ****
<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/singapore-considering-anti-piracy-legislation>
Jillian C. York, Electronic Frontier Foundation


> Just as SOPA and PIPA would effectively blacklist websites in the United States and around the world, such would be the case with laws born in other states backed by the same special interests. EFF will be following the developments in Singapore closely as they attempt to forge anti-infringement legislation similarly formulated with little to no understanding of their impact on free speech or innovation online.



**** Latest Circle Line Disruption Due To Signalling Equipment Failure ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1177795/1/.html>
Saifulbahri Ismail, Channel NewsAsia


> SMRT said the problem was due to a signalling equipment on the track that failed, and is investigating the cause of the signalling fault.



**** What A Difference Eight Months Makes ****
<http://www.yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/5109-what-a-difference-eight-months-makes>
Singaore Democratic Party


> Before the elections, his team was already the highest paid politicians in the world - by a light-years. And yet, it produced such a bad performance that the PM had to apologise on its behalf and to promise to make amends. 

> These problems have continued into the present: flooding continues, the train service is just as unreliable, and housing remains just as unaffordable. Nothing has changed. And Mr Lee now tells us that we must pay whatever is necessary to assemble the best team?

> The PAP is relying on the same few people, carrying out the same few policies, and paying the same enormous salaries. And he wants us to believe that a different result will emerge?



**** Sabahan On Singapore’s Death Row Turns 24 today ****
<http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/01/19/sabahan-on-singapores-death-row-turns-24-today/>
Borneo Post


> Tawau MP Datuk Chua Soon Bui said Vui Kong’s story of repentance has brought about more than 100,000 support for clemency and more than one million visitors to the blog site by people from different walks of life and ages from all over the world.



**** Wahh! Millionaire! - Ministerial Pay Cut ****
<http://diluted-enigma.blogspot.com/2012/01/wahh-millionaire-ministerial-pay-cut.html>
Insights, Interests, In Transition


> Grace Fu is a good minister. I would close an eye if she's paid very highly (sigh, but I'll still accept it). But not all ministers and MPs are that good. My friend's constituency has a really incapable MP who couldn't help her and her family and she has to stop school to earn money for the family.

> <i>Remember, the social contract</i> - If you make sure citizens are happy, citizens will close an eye as to how much politicians are paid.

To me, a lot of unhappiness from citizens seems not to be coming from the fact that ministers are drawing high salary, but that the performance from these ministers doesn't match the high salary they are drawing.
Does the discreet removal of that three ministers, the reduction in the number of ministers in the cabinet, and the reduction in salary bring back voters into the PAP camp? There's still one more factor to be played out: performance.


**** PAP, WP MPs Cross Swords Again ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120119-0000063/PAP,-WP-MPs-cross-swords-again>
Sumita Sreedharan, Today


> In his speech, deputy prime minister Teo Chee Hean had pointed out that while the WP "has stated that the committee's benchmark is 'elitist', the MX9 (Superscale) pool is actually quite a small group. In fact, just 1.2 per cent of our 76,000 civil servants across all services are in the MX9 (Superscale) grade or above."

> Mr Teo said he was "a bit perturbed" that Mr Giam had not known what the MX9 grade was but had based his entire proposition on it.



**** Pathways To The Top Or A Slippery Slope To Elitism? ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120119-0000032/Pathways-to-the-top-or-a-slippery-slope-to-elitism?>
Tan Weizhen, Today


> [Minister of state (education) Lawrence Wong said: "From an educational point of view, they may be better served because it's a more homogenous group and their needs are very different and so, more special attention and a customised curriculum can be developed to reach out to this group."

> He added: "It's a balance. You cannot take that approach and take it to an extreme, then certainly every school will be specialised and you would really have very separate and distinct groups of people rather than integration."



**** ERP Gantries 'To Manage Congestion, Not For Revenue' ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/Singaporeinbrief/EDC120119-0000035/ERP-gantries-to-manage-congestion,-not-for-revenue>
Channel NewsAsia


> [Transport minister Lui Tuck Yew] stressed that the gantries are tools to manage congestion and are not meant to generate revenue.

Also, ERP fees are meant as punishment for contributing to congestion, not a purchase for congrestion-free driving.


**** Wage Differential Between Low And High End Vocations Unusually High In Singapore ****
<http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/wage-differential-between-low-and-high-end-vocations-unusually-high-in-singapore/>
Alex Au, Yawning Bread


> Assured of plentiful supply of cheap labour there is no incentive to mechanise. The result is that human beings are used as mules. Is it any wonder that our productivity is abysmal?

Do we still need something like the NCB in the 1980s to push for computerization and automation in Singapore?


**** Salaries Cut, Singapore Leaders Are Still Well-Paid ****
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204468004577168620110589932.html>
Chun Han Wong, Wall Street Journal


> Nontheless, analysts say the cuts mark a small but significant PAP concession on pay policy, joining policy moves meant to address public grievances over issues including income inequality, high living costs and immigration pressures. It is also seen as a sign of the growing clout of opposition forces here.

> The proposals, which Parliament accepted unchanged, also sparked lively public debate, drawing some support from citizens but also broad criticisms. In his speech on Tuesday, prime minister Lee said he expected the issue to remain controversial, with his comments not representing "the last word on ministerial salaries."