[MyAppleMenu] Nov 19, 2005

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

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

[News]

*** Copy Protection Still A Work In Progress
<http://channels.netscape.com/tech/story.jsp?floc=ne-sci-8-l1&flok=FF-APO-1700&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20051118%2F1544560768.htm&sc=1700>
Brian Bergstein, Associated Press

The fact that so-called digital rights management might always be a doomed experiment became painfully clear with the fiasco that erupted after Sony BMG Music Entertainment added a technology known as XCP to more than 50 popular CDs.

*** iPod Battery Class-Action Settlement Being Appealed
<http://playlistmag.com/news/2005/11/18/ipodbattery/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Jim Dalrymple, Playlist

The settlement to a class-action lawsuit brought by customers over the iPod's rechargeable battery is being appealed, holding up resolution of the case.

*** Claude Gagnon: "Kamataki" Takes The Prize
<http://www.apple.com/pro/video/gagnon/>
Barbara Gibson, Apple

"Of course we've always been on Macs... The Apple computer works and thinks like an artist, as opposed to the other system, which has an accountant mind. I don't have an accountant mind."

*** Phil Bates: Fueling The Action With Pyrotechnics
<http://www.apple.com/pro/video/bates/>
Bija Gutoff, Apple

"Macs have always had the edge in reliability and ease of use, and they're more friendly to graphics than PCs."

*** Apple iTunes Security Flaw Discovered
<http://news.com.com/Apple+iTunes+security+flaw+discovered/2100-1002_3-5960413.html>
Dawn Kawamoto, CNET News.com

A critical vulnerability, found in some versions of Apple's iTunes, could enable attackers to remotely take over a user's computer, according to a warning issued Thursday by a security research firm.

*** 100 New Symphony Loops On .Mac
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=13165>
Jonny Evans, Macworld UK

Subscribers to Apple's .Mac service last night received 100 free loops for GarageBand.

[Opinion]

*** Who's Your Daddy, Steve? Who's Your Daddy? SAY IT!!!
<http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2005/11/in_the_end_the_.html>
John Paczkowski, San Jose Mercury News

Ultimately the labels set the wholesale price of digital music and if they move to tiered pricing when their contracts with Apple expire in 2006, Apple may have no recourse but to follow suit.

*** Apple: Reaching The Tipping Point
<http://blog.2unstream.us:9093/articles/2005/11/17/apple-reaching-the-tipping-point>
Techno Unstream

*** iChat? I Do Not
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/11/ichat/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Jackie Dove, Macworld

Either you're a chatterer or you're not.

*** Price As Signal
<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/11/18.html>
Joel Spolsky, Joel On Software

The reason the music recording industry wants different prices has nothing to do with making a premium on the best songs. What they really want is a system they can manipulate to send signals about what songs are worth, and thus what songs you should buy.

[Review]

*** Gear For Gamers: Macworld Gear Guide
<http://www.macworld.com/2005/11/features/gearguide_gamers/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Macworld

*** Benchmarks: Quad G5 On Top
<http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/11/18/quadbench/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
James Galbraith, Macworld

[Sidetrack]

*** When Models Collide
Heng-Cheong Leong

Apple and the Labels have different business models when it comes to selling music.

Apple want to sell iPods.

Labels want to sell CDs.

Apple knows that it will not make the big money by selling music. The big money is in selling little black and white music players. Thus, it is in their interest to push music at a price as low as possible, so that the music can a) drive newbies to buy an iPod, b) lock in existing customers so that they will continue to buy iPods.

The majority of purchases at iTunes Music Store is probably individual tracks. Raising the price of individual tracks means feweer purchases, which means the incentive for iPod purchases is lower. Remember: it's not the amount of profit that Apple gains from iTunes Music Store that is important to Apple; rather it is the number of purchases.

Labels know that not all music are sellable, even by the same artist. The record format works well for the Labels because they can command a high price (because, hey, there are more music) without spending expensive production and marketing expenses on each and every track on the record.

Appe's iTunes model -- $0.99 per track -- kills the album.

To the labels, it makes sense to rasie the price for each individual track. This is so as to push their customers towards buying the entire album instead. (Note all these recent talks about raising prices is mostly about the $0.99 price point, and not the album's price point.) And failing that, at least the Labels can recoup the cost they spent on the tracks that the customers didn't buy.

We do indeed live in interesting times, as we all sit and watch and see which business model wins out -- or whether Google or Microsoft or somebody can come in with a win-win-lose solution and kills Apple. :-)

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

[News]

*** Google-Mart
<http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20051117.html>
Robert X. Cringely, PBS

Sam Walton taught Google more about how to dominate the internet than Microsoft ever did.

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

[Life]

*** For A G.M. Family, The American Dream Vanishes
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/business/businessspecial2/19generations.html?hp&ex=1132462800&en=cbda8d1c25ceee66&ei=5094&partner=homepage>
Danny Hakim, New York Times

The G.M. that was once an unassailable symbol of the nation's industrial might is a shadow of its former self, and the post-World War II promise of blue-collar factory work being a secure path to the American dream has faded with it.

*** The Image Culture
<http://www.thenewatlantis.com/archive/10/rosen.htm>
Christine Rosen, The New Atlantis

We will become a society of a million pictures without much memory, a society that looks forward every second to an immediate replication of what it has just done, but one that does not sustain the difficult labor of transmitting culture from one generation to the next.

*** To Be Young And Hip In Bangkok
<http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/travel/20bangkok.html>
Matt Gross, New York Times

The heart of all this innovation remains Bangkok, and Soi Thonglor in particular.

*** How I Gave Oprah Her Start
<http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051116/COMMENTARY/511160301>
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

I was also the person who suggested that Jerry Springer not go into syndication, for which I have received too little credit.

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

[Ramblings]

*** MRT Stations Are Too Chatty...
Heng-Cheong Leong

... and it's not from the passengers. Millind Rane <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/85288.asp> wrote in to Today to complain that announcements/reminders in MRT stations to request commuters to stand behind yellow lines are too frequent and too loud, and are "nothing but a nuisance these days."

Luckily for me, I have my iPod and podcasts. :-)

[News]

*** Singapore To Review Death Method
<http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17293278%255E2702,00.html>
Alan Shadrake and Michael Davis, The Australian

Australian drug-smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van is likely to be one of the last peolple to face the hangman in Singapore after a review of execution methods by prison officials.

*** Singapore Sexpo Not So Hot
<http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/11/19/nation/12640824&sec=nation>
Philip Golingai, The Star

It was a tame affair.

*** New Code Next Year Against Discriminatory Hiring
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/85346.asp>
938Live

New guidelines against discriminatory hiring practices could be in place by early next year if proposals by the Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers are taken up.

*** It's A-OK: Aust PM
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/85363.asp>
Francis Kan, Today

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday the differences between Australia and Singapore over the planned execution of convicted drug smuggler Nguyen Tuong Van would not damage relations between the two countries.

[Opinion]

*** Recycling Bins For More Than Flyers At MRT Stations
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/85329.asp>
Ong Seng Eng, National Environment Agency, Today