[MyAppleMenu] Dec 5, 2005

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
==================================================
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/>
Mac news for Mac people

[News]

*** iTunes Video A Growing Concern
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=13281&Page=1&pagePos=1>
Jonny Evans, Macworld UK

iTunes video sales are going through the roof and media companies want to join the party.

*** Fading 'Cool Factor' Not All Bad For iPod
<http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2005/12/05/newscolumn2.html?from_rss=1>
Jeff Bounds, Dallas Business Journal

Research by The Diffusion Group, a Dallas market-research concern, says pragmatic concerns are increasingly replacing social status as the main reason people are buying the MP3 players.

*** RealNetworks Opens Rhapsody Music Service To The Mac
<http://playlistmag.com/news/2005/12/04/rhapsody/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Jim Dalrymple, Playlist

Rhapsody.com will give any users that registers access to stream 25 on-demand songs every month at no cost. Rhapsody subscribers can stream an unlimited amount of music via the web site.

*** Secret Site Reveals Apple's Cheap Laptop
<http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,19509-1901384,00.html>
Rhys Blakely, The Times

Apple is preparing to launch a range of budget laptops next month, accoding to the website that was sued by the computer company earlier this year for leaking its plans for another line of low-cost machines.

*** Apple Computer Mogul's Roots Tied To Green Bay
<http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051204/GPG0101/512040591/1207/GPGnews>
Andy Behrendt, Green Bay Press-Gazette

Though not a Green Bay native himself, the charismatic but cutthroat Steve Jobs is the biological son of a hometown-Green Bay schoolteacher and brother to one of Titletown's genuinely native celebrities, author Mona Simpson.

*** There's A Professor In Your iPod
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051204.wipod1204/BNStory/Technology/>
Smon Avery, Globe And Mail

Carleton University in Ottawa says it is the first university in the world to offer an entire course of video-recorded lectures through iTunes, for playback on iPods, cellphones, Sony's PlatStation Portable and the common personal computer.

[Opinion]

*** iPod Has Fallen Far From The Apple Tree
<http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1133736612097&call_pageid=968350072197&col=969048863851>
Christopher Hutsul, Toronto Star

Mr Jobs' shtick is wearing thin, and there are some troubling developments in Apple-land.

*** Is Apple A Matter Of Choice?
<http://viewfromthemountain.typepad.com/applepeels/2005/12/is_apple_a_matt.html>
Applepeels

Perhaps in the end, it's not so much lack of choice but simplicity of choice that drives Mac users.

[Review]

*** A Talented Amateur Finds Aperture
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/8648?CMP=OTC-13IV03560550&ATT=A+Talented+Amateur+Finds+Aperture>
Tom Bridge, O'Reilly Network

[Sidetrack]

*** Dear Developers...
Heng-Cheong Leong

Allow me to remind you again: normal people <http://chriswheatley.typepad.com/chriswheatley/2005/12/ive_just_figure.html> do not parse boolean logic.

*** Of Choice And Customization
Heng-Cheong Leong

We, software developers, are typically amateur UI designers, not because we want to do the job, but we are forced to do it as part of our everyday job. What happens is that we don't know what to do: should the software have behavior X or behavior Y?

And because we are amateurs, we ended deferring the decision to the user. "I know, let's not decide! Just add an extra radio buttion in that preference dialog, so that the user can choose whether they want behavior X or behavior Y? If they have to live with their decision, they'll choose wisely."

Imagine hearing this at your favorite restaurant when you visit them: "Hi, I'm the chef for your table. When you say you want kung pao chicken, do you want me to fry it with salt and/or sugar and/or pepper and/or some other third-party ingrident that you want to integrate into the dish?"

Remember this the next time your Windows friend boost to you that he can make his own choices in the Windows world. Remember to ask: are you making real choices, or is your computer maker too incomptent to properly design a computer for you?

*** iPod Deluxe?
Heng-Cheong Leong

Come on, Apple, if Nokia can built a cellphone that can withstand "being run over by... [a] F1 Porsche" (as tested by the New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/business/03pursuits.html?ei=5088&en=bd65ad08c57406e0&ex=1291266000&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1133636256-83rzpxsKLIT/iHg44d0PTQ>) surely we can have an iPod that does not crash. :-)

The Tomorrow Weblog
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<http://www.myapplemenu.com/tomorrow/>
Emerging Technologies. Innovative Applications. New Economy

[News]

*** At Google, Cube Culture Has New Rules
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/05/technology/05google.html?ex=1291438800&en=21e8f8d95e5e3f38&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>
Steve Lohr, New York Times

Google, like IBM, says that it is forging a corporate culture in which success depends on performance. But while IBM is an old company that has revamped the social contract with its workers, Google is writing a new one from scratch.

MyAppleMenu Reader
==================================================
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/reader/>
The other things in life

[Life]

*** Sex, Please -- We're Young And Chinese
<http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1137697,00.html>
Hannah Beech, Time

A generation after Mao suits, China is coping with an epidemic of free love.

*** Not Really A Morning Person?
<http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-et-anchors5dec05,0,6880938.story?coll=cl-home-top-blurb-right>
Matea Gold, Los Angeles Times

It's a tough choice for the networks: Nighttime has the prestige; daytime's where the money is.

*** The Soul Of Sundance's Machine
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/movies/MoviesFeatures/04clar.html?8hpib>
John Clark, New York Times

The festival has become so famous it is practically synonymous with independent film, but until now, the process by which films are selected has remained a mystery within the industry.

SingaporeSurf
==================================================
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/singapore/>
Life in the city

[News]

*** Hang Democracy, Let's Trade
<http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/site/articleIDs/F3FB17DCF7223132CA2570C6007A917E>
Eric Ellis, The Bulletin

Singaporeans don't like to be reminded they do business with Burmese narco-traffickers, and admit they don't mind punishing the innocent to preserve law and order.

*** Singapore Crazy Horse Says Topless Show Not Sleazy
<http://www.leadingthecharge.com/stories/news-00107793.html>
Leading The Charge

The Singapore Crazy Horse, which will bring the famous French topless dance act to the city-state, is not just another nude show, but a classy act, its owner said.

*** Asian Hangings Will Go On: PM
<http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17458171%255E953,00.html>
Steven Wardill, The Courier-Mail

Australia could do little to stop capital punishment throughout the world, Prime Minister John Howard has insisted.

*** New Donations Spell Hope For NKF
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/free/story/0,6418,356887,00.html?>
Lee Hui Chieh, Straits Times

Despite the conroversy over how its funds were used, the National Kidney Foundation has managed to attract 50 new individual donors -- as well as three who have returned.

*** Windfall Or Liability, Those CMF Millions?
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/88328.asp>
Jasmine Yin, Today

After the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) hived off its Cancer Fund two weeks ago, talk has been rife about the fate of its other subsidiary charity -- the Children's Medical Fund (CMF).

[Opinion]

*** Singapore: A Case Of Regulations Gone Too Far
<http://www.angus-reid.com/analysis/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/10090>
Angus Reid Global Scan

The citizens did not have the possibility of electing, freely and through the ballot box, the one person who can grant clemency, not just to Nguyen, but to any other human being.

*** Cannot Take Photos Inside MRT Stations
<http://www.kennysia.com/archives/2005/12/cannot_take_pho.php>
kennysia.com

The Shuffle by MyAppleMenu
==================================================
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/podcast/>
Life is random. More tunes, less talk.

[Tunes]

*** Mellow - Kites Are Fun
<http://www.lightintheattic.net/releases/redesign/fdcd.php>
The Free Design
<http://www.lightintheattic.net/releases/redesign/audio/Mellow-Kites_Are_Fun.mp3>