[MyAppleMenu] Sunday, Dec 21, 2003

Sun Dec 21 21:05:00 EST 2003

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Sunday, Dec 21, 2003

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
-------------------------
While Other Customers Help, The Companies Hide (Rob Pegoraro, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17047-2003Dec20.html>
When companies try to reduce their tech-support costs in these ways -- a good thing if it lets them lower their prices -- they also reduce the chance of learning anything from their users.

MyAppleMenu : News
------------------
Brands To Use 'Free' Music To Lure Teens (Brian Garrity, Billboard)
<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=4027846&pageNumber=0>
Music giveaways are understood to foster customer loyalty. What's more, they provide consumers with powerful incentives to use the related products, executives say.

Christmas Shoppers 'Can't Get Enough Of iPods' (Ananova)
<http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_849072.html?menu=news.latestheadlines>
Shops are struggling to cope with demand for a hi-tech personal stereo which has become the must-have gadget of the year.

Angry iPod People Assault Battery-Price Shcoker (Dan Kadison, New York Post)
<http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/14019.htm>

Apple To Sell Software Via Software Update? (Mac Rumors)
<http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/12/20031220204205.shtml>
Embedded in one of the configuration files of Panther's Software Update is evidence that Apple has planned for the implementation of a new feature in Software Update: Selling Software.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
----------------------
There Are Alternatives To Microsoft, Really (Star-Ledger)
<http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1071989181263670.xml>
Living without Microsoft isn't as hard as you might think.

On Shipping Software (Brent Simmons)
<http://inessential.com/?comments=1&postid=2743>
It's kind of like what Woody Allen said, "90% of life is just showing up."

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
---------------------
iTunes Music Store Vs. WalMart's Download Service: A Head-To-Head Comparison (Bill Palmer)
<http://www.billpalmer.net/com000083.html>
WalMart's download service would probably seem bearable if iTunes for Windows didn't exist. But unfortunately for WalMart, it does.

Radio Userland (Karlin Lillington, The Guardian)
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/weblogs/story/0,14024,1094819,00.html>

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: News & Opinions
-------------------------------------
courts Slow Copyright Cartel's March, But For How Long? (Dan Gillmor, San Jose Mercury News)
<http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/001600.shtml>
But before anyone celebrates, let's keep something in mind. The fight is far from over.

Lost? Hiding? Your Cellphone Is Keeping Tabs (Amy Harmon, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/technology/21WATC.html>
Driven by worries about safety, the need for accountability, and perhaps a certain "I Spy" impulse, families and employers are adopting surveillance technology once used mostly to track soldiers and prisoners.

MyAppleMenu Reader: World
-------------------------
True And False (James Traub, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/magazine/21WWLN.html>
Liberal Democrats and teachers' unions and school professionals should stop trying to prove that No Child Left Behind is a failure and should stop pretending that money is the cure for everything; Republicans should accept that money does, however, matter terribly if you wish to attract the kind of teachers who can make a difference.

Where Birds Don't Fly (Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/opinion/21FRIE.html>
Give us your tired, your poor and your properly fingerprinted.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Science & Tech
----------------------------------
A Grand Plan For A Tiny Science (Jessica Steinberg, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/business/yourmoney/21worl.html>
A good bit of vision is needed to grasp the possibilities of nanotechnology, the science of using very small things. As such, it could be the perfect technology for Israel, a country that knows about small.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Life
------------------------
Sanctuary In The Past (John Balzar, Los Angeles Times)
<http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-mtnman51dec21,1,2518321.story?coll=la-headlines-magazine>
The old soap about Americans not caring a whit for their history doesn't account for one thing. It doesn't account for the great many who do. It doesn't account for those untold thousands of people who go marching backward every chance they get. These legions of Americans aren't just mindful of their past, they read history books as the script to bring yesteryear back to life.

Plan B For 'Plan 9' (Jim Burger, Washington Post)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53733-2003Dec10.html>
For one obsessed fan, seeing the worst movie of all time over and over just wasn't enough.

Pulling Strings To Get Volins Back Into Children's Lives (Bernard Holland, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/arts/music/21HOLL.html>
The University of South Carolina, now a model for the rest of the country, is doing work here that may at best keep the violin a mainstream instrument and at worst provide it a permanent niche. It will not be allowed to become an antique.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
-------------------------------------------
Steve Chia Admits Taking Maid Photos, Denies Molesting Her (Benjamin Nadarajan, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,226514,00.html?>
Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Steve Chia admitted taking 'sexy photos' of his Indonesian maid, but denied molesting her, at a press conference held on Sunday morning.

---
Modify your subscription at <http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/applesurf-list>

MyAppleMenu is edited by Heng-Cheong Leong. This site is not affiliated with Apple Computer, Inc., or any other companies in any manner. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Power Macintosh, PowerBook, iMac, iBook, iPod, and eMac are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. All other brands or product names are trademarks of their registered holders. Copyright (C) 1996-2003 Heng-Cheong Leong. All rights reserved.