[MyAppleMenu] Tuesday, Dec 23, 2003

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu Newsletter
Tuesday, Dec 23, 2003

MyAppleMenu : Top Stories
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If He's So Smart... Steve Jobs, Apple, And The Limits Of Innovation (Justin Wood, Fast Company)
<http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/78/jobs.html>
The battle over digital music is just another verse in Apple's sad song: This astonishingly imaginative company keeps getting muscled out of markets it creates. So what does Apple have to tell us about innovation?

Apple To Continue Retail Expansion (Sacramento Business Journal)
<http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2003/12/22/daily3.html>
With its retail stores showing sharp sales increases and contributing to the company's top-line growth, Apple Computer Inc. plans to continue its retail expansion push, the company said in regulatory filings.

MyAppleMenu : News
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Old School, New Tricks (Lev Grossman, Time)
<http://www.time.com/time/2003/wireless/article/old_school__new_tricks_01a.html>
Students at Brooklyn's Packer school are field testing the wireless future. And you thought high school was tough.

Apple Pegs 2004 Capex At $160 Mln (Leticia Williams, CBS MarketWatch)
<http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid={7C37D373-B436-4C8C-A675-EECFE63A4676}>
Apple Computer expects to use $160 million in 2004 for capital spending, according the annual report filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Attorneys Considering iPod Class Action Lawsuit (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/12/22/ipodsuit>
Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP, a San Francisco, California-based law firm, is "investigating a potential class action against Apple Computer, Inc. on behalf of iPod owners whose batteries have died or lost their ability to hold their charge."

Apple Considering 20th Anniversary Superbowl Ad? (Mac Rumors)
<http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/12/20031222220838.shtml>
Last month's print version of Advertising Age reported that Apple was in talks with their Advertising agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, about developing a 20th Anniversary Superbowl Advertisement "that would be reminiscent of "1984".

Apple Q1 2004 Earnings Due Jan 14 (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/12/22/q104>

Apple Sold 1.79 iPods Per Minute In 2003 (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/12/22/ipod>
Apple said it sold 939,000 iPods for US$345 million in net sales this past year.

Don't Leave Home Without Cover For Portables (The Times)
<http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8214-936215,00.html>

Elves' Shelves iPod-Bare (Karen Haslam, Macworld UK)
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/top_news_item.cfm?NewsID=7552>
UK resellers are struggling to meet demand for iPods -- despite having stocked-up on Apple's smash-hit MP3 player.

What's Next? (Arik Hesseldahl, Forbes)
<http://www.forbes.com/2003/12/22/cx_ah_1222aapl.html>
Steve Jobs has already gone on the record saying that the G5 computer will contain PowerPC chips that run at 3 GHz by the summer of 2004. A mid-step between the current systems, which top out with two chips running at 2 Ghz, and systems with chips as fast as 2.6 GHz would be a logical move come January.

NetNewsWire, NetNewsWire Lite Updated To v1.0.7 (MacMinute)
<http://www.macminute.com/2003/12/22/nnw>
This release adds a new widescreen view, support for favicons and feed URLs, boosts performance, and fixes several bugs.

MyAppleMenu : Opinions
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AliBook Shines In Military Presentation (Peter J. Park, MacInTouch)
<http://www.macintouch.com/pbg4reader26.html#dec22>
It was nice to see Apple finally on or perhaps more like above the playing field of all the others.

How Not To Write An OS X Installer (Apple-X.net)
<http://www.apple-x.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=662&mode=thread&order=1&thold=0>
One of the most powerful features of OS X's Unix underpinnings is the ability of a single computer to host multiple users. Unfortunately, this strong point of OS X is rendered into an annoyance by many software developers who are either too lazy to write a proper installer or ignorant of how to do so.

A Flawed Permise (Codepoetry)
<http://www.codepoetry.net/archives/2003/12/22/a_flawed_premise.php>
It amazes me that FileVault was setup in a binary fashion. All or nothing. How silly.

MyAppleMenu : Reviews
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The 17" PowerBook is A Full Laptop (Derrick Story, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/wlg/4098>
What's interesting to me, is not so much that the PowerBook feels fast, as much as it feels right. In other words, it does things as you would expect it too. I don't think about performance, and that's the way I like it.

Warrior Kings (Dave Peck, MacGamer)
<http://www.macgamer.com/features/?id=1736>
When Warrior Kings works, it's a decent game. But it has a few problems.

MyAppleMenu : Wintel News
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New PCs Must Be Protected, Patched (Gregg Keizer, TechWeb)
<http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20031222S0007>
Consumers buying PCs as holidays gifts and businesses purchasing new systems to squeeze capital expenditures under the tax wire may be putting themselves at risk as soon as they unwrap the machines, a security analyst said Monday.

More Wintel news at <http://www.myapplemenu.com/wintel/>

MyAppleMenu Tomorrow: News & Opinions
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Web Addresses Get Nip And Tuck -- And Spam (Paul Festa, CNET News.com)
<http://rss.com.com/2100-1038_3-5132457.html>
A crop of Web sites have sprung up with the mission of making long, easily breakable Web addresses shorter -- and at least one of them is trying to make money at the idea.

Top Ten Web Design Mistakes Of 2003 (Jakob Nielsen)
<http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20031222.html>
Sites are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining archives, and offering comprehensive services. However, these advances entail their own usability problems, as several prominent mistakes from 2003 show.

DeCSS Author Cleared Again On Appeal (Eric Bangeman, Ars Technica)
<http://arstechnica.com/news/posts/1072118397.html>
Jon Johansen's retrial on charges of DVD piracy ended today as a Norwegian appeals court ruled that his breaking copy protection on DVDs was legal.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Science & Tech
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Falling Physics, When THe Weather Outside Is Frightful (Dennis Overbye, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/23/science/23SNOW.html>
The next time it snows the first thing I'm going to do is grab my magnifying glass and run outside to look at car windshields, the better to appreciate the dance between destiny and contingency, the collision of law and chance that is one of nature's simplest but most sublime creations, the humble snowflake.

MyAppleMenu Reader: Life
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Has The Mainstream Run Dry? (James Poniewozik, Time)
<http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101031229-566024,00.html>
In 2003 TV's ratings went on the blink. Music buyers went missing. Pop-culture audiences divided young from old, red state from blue state. What does mass culture without the masses look like?

The Tyranny Of The Standing Ovation (Jesse McKinley, New York Times)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/arts/theater/21MCKI.html?pagewanted=all&position=>
Go to nearly any Broadway house, any night, and you can catch a crowd jumping up for the curtain call like politicians at a State of the Union address.

The Curse Of Designing With Microsoft Word (Andy Lester, O'Reilly Network)
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/4099>
Word actively dumbs down the design sensibilities of those who use it.

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : Top Stories
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Singapore's Steve Chia Quits Party Post But Keeps NCMP Seat (Channel NewsAsia)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,226805,00.html?>
Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Steve Chia has resigned from the executive committees of both the National Solidarity Party and the Singapore Democratic Alliance. But as he remains a member of the NSP and the alliance, this means he still retains his seat in Parliament.

Spare The Pain -- Step Down Or Resign From Party (Ben Nadarajan, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,226747,00.html?>
Are Singaporeans ready for a politician who admits to having an 'adventurous streak' and an 'open mind', as he puts it?

MyAppleMenu SingaporeSurf : News & Opinions
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How To Beat Competitors (Today)
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/12114.asp>
Changi Airport and Singapore Airlines are moving quickly to stay ahead.

Hey Now, Hey Now, The Dream Is Over (Stanley Ho, Today)
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/12145.asp>
Well, four years after its birth, the FAS has decided to ditch the bird. Officially, and you heard it here first, Goal 2010 no longer exists.

Singapore Could Soon Be A Sports Power (ABS-CBNNEWS)
<http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=SPORTS&oid=40990>
How serious Singapore has turned in its effort to emerge as a power in sports has become evident in its bid to build an ultra-modern sports complex and invest in the youth through a sports school catering to teenagers with potentials.

Singapore MP In Photo Scandal (The Australian)
<http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8237206%255E1702,00.html>
The political career of one of Singapore's few opposition members of parliament was in jeopardy today after he admitted to taking digital photographs of his Indonesian maid as she posed topless.

NSP Yet To Decide On Steve Chia's Fate (Ben Nadarajan, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,226746,00.html?>
Full-scale committee meeting yet to take place but some members have met; if party boots out Chia, he loses NCMP seat.

Air Hubs -- Evolve Or Risk Vanishing Into Thin Air (Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,226754,00.html?>
Is the air hub slowly spinning into oblivion? Let's just say it is more probable today than 20 years ago.

Changi Fights Back (Christopher Tan, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,226752,00.html?>
Can Changi keep its air hub crown? Not to be outdone by its competitors, it is spending $2.25 billion on makeovers and a new terminal.

Prices Of Big HDB Flats Set To Dip Further (Vladimir Guevarra, Straits Times)
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/storyprintfriendly/0,1887,226749,00.html?>
Demand likely to be affected by new down payment rule from Jan 1, but smaller flats will stay popular.

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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.