[MyAppleMenu] Nov 29, 2005

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

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

[News]

*** Consumers Can Personalize Their iPods With Assorted Accessories
<http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05333/613869.stm>
Timothy McNulty, Pittsburg Post-Gazette

*** Apple Climbs As Analysts Raise Targets
<http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BDD819CA8-10F4-4E06-83DE-562E078C1F21%7D&siteid=google&dist=>
Rex Crum, MarketWatch

Apple shares rose to a new all-time high Monday on upbeat comments from several Wall Street analysts after a strong start to holiday sales of the company's iPod music players.

*** Pair Of Apple Products Leaves Sour Taste
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1893788,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594>
Nyan Naraine, eWeek

Researchers at eEye Digital Security have taken a bite out of two popular Apple products, flagging two critical vulnerabilities in the iTunes and QuickTime applications. The flaws, which put millions of Windows users at risk of code execution attacks, remain unpatched.

*** Updates From Bare Bones
<http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/8588?CMP=OTC-13IV03560550&ATT=Updates+from+Bare+Bones>
Giles Turnbull, O'Reilly Network

*** Tech Stocks Decline After Recent Gains
<http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BA1A27A71%2D67DB%2D4451%2DBEBE%2D603BB5FB1028%7D&dist=rss&siteid=mktw>
Michael Paige, MarketWatch

Technology stock fell overall Monday following recent gains that had sent the Nasdaq Composite Index to its best levels in four and a half years, though shares of both Apple and Intel clung to gains on upbeat analyst comments.

[Opinion]

*** The Apple Of Her Eye
<http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2005/11/21/the-apple-of-her-eye/>
Eric's Archived Thoughts

I'm thinking that maybe I need to spend a little less time on my Powerbook.

[Review]

*** Dreaming Of A White Christmas
<http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/0/EA86B2C6C697C6F1CC2570C300746C20?OpenDocument>
Ulrika Hedquist, Computerworld New Zealand

Please, don't make me part with this wonderful machine.

*** How Do You Give Someone An iPod That Is Pre-Loaded With Tunes From The iTunes Store
<http://www.rexblog.com/2005/11/28#a8850>
Rexblog.com

It's a hack that Apple has packaged as a feature.

*** iPod Photo Extractor
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macgems/2005/11/keithsipodphotoreader/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Dan Frakes, Macworld

How do you get photos off the iPod?

*** A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2005/11/holidaycard/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Kelly Turner, Macworld

[Sidetrack]

*** Rumor Today: The Mac Mini We Are All Waiting For
Heng-Cheong Leong

Think Secret <http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0511macmini2.html>: The new Mac mini project, code-named Kaleidoscope, will feature an Intel processor and include both Front Row 2.0 and TiVo-like DVR functionality.

Now, aren't you glad that you haven't spend all your annual Apple budget this past Black Friday? :-)

*** AAAS Warns Pat Robertson
Heng-Cheong Leong

American Association for the Advancement of Science <http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/05/Nov/science.html> (AAAS): If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to Science, you just rejected it from your life."

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

[News]

*** The Return Of Monetized Eyeballs
<http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,1135200-1,00.html>
Om Malik, Business 2.0

Now, a new wave of deals signal that internet content is hot again.

*** Low-Cost MIT Laptop Nearing Production
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1891436,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594>
Carmen Nobel, eWeek

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

[Tech & Science]

*** A Pair Of Wings Took Evolving Insects On A Nonstop Flight To Domination
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/29/science/29inse.html?hp>
Carl Zimmer, New York Times

A little over 400 million years ago, their six-legged ancestors came out of the water onto dry land. They have evolved into an estimated five million living species -- dwarfing the diversity of all other animals combined. Even if you throw in all the known species of platns, fungi and protozoans, insects still win.

[Life]

*** Fine Dining In The Sky
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/29/business/29food.html?ex=1290920400&en=19cce989fb6acc69&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>
Joe Sharkey, New York Times

Food served on airlines is steadily worsening or disappearing, but caterers on private jets are aiming high to satisfy elite appetites.

*** A Cross-Atlantic Cable
<http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-ca-bbcamerica27nov27,0,7192686.story?coll=cl-home-more-channels>
Lynn Smith, Los Angeles Times

The accent is on experimentation as BBC America works to find its U.S. niche.

*** Waiting For Havana
<http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/travel/27cuba.html>
Luisita Lopez Torregrosa, New York Times

Cuba, with its magnificent, unspoiled beauty, seduces in many ways. To American business executives, it is an untapped market of 12 million people eager for American goods. To American hoteliers and cruise ship executives, it represents a tantalizing glimpse of the future -- of future -- of future ports for their passengers, of future resorts for their customers. To American tourists, it represents the taste of a forbidden fruit -- of a land that has been off limits since 1961. And they are all waiting for one thing they believe will all but certainly make their dreams come true: the end of Fidel Castro.

*** Can The Jews Save Christmas?
<http://www.slate.com/id/2131129/>
Daniel Gross, Slate

Hanukkah is late this year. Will this help retailers?

*** They Shoot Helicopters, Don't They?
<http://www.reason.com/0512/co.mw.they.shtml>
Matt Welch, Reason

Houw journalists spread rumors during Katrina.

[Expressions]

*** Wenlock Edge
<http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/content/articles/051205fi_fiction>
Alice Munro, New Yorker

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

[Ramblings]

*** Pre-GE Goodies For Flat Residents
Heng-Cheong Leong

Ministry of Finance announced rebate rates <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/87155.asp> for next year's HDB service and conservancy charges yesterday.

Teo Ho Pin, chairman of the Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council and major of Northwest Community Development Council, is reported to say that "such announcement can either be made during the annual budget debates or anytime during the year as the MOF deems fit."

Yeah right, the skeptics in everybody say.

[News]

*** Nguyen 'Living Last Days To The Fullest'
<http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Nguyen-living-last-days-to-the-fullest/2005/11/29/1133026456515.html>
AAP

Condemned drug trafficker Nguyen Tuong Van is at peace and living the last days of his life to the fullest, his friends say.

*** Let Mum Hug Nguyen, Australia Asks
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1519231.htm>
ABC

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says Australia will ask the Singaporean government to allow the mother of Van Nguyen to hug her son before his execution.

*** Singapore Hangman Says He Wouldn't Make Smuggler Suffer
<http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3495359a12,00.html>
New Zealand Stuff

Darshan Singh insists that, with his experience, he can ensure that the condemned man would be hanged efficiently, whereas an inexperienced hangman could make mistakes and prolong Nguyen's suffering.

*** ASEAN Seeks Foreign Investment For Railway
<http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8E5DMOG0.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db>
Associated Press

Southeast Asian nations will look for foreign investment for a proposed railway line from Singapore to the Chinese city of Kunming that is expected to bolster regional trade, Malaysia's trade minister said Monday.

*** New Appeal Panel For HDB Flat Valuation
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/free/story/0,6418,355619,00.html?>
Tan Hui Yee, Straits Times

uyers and sellers unhappy with the valuation of Housing Board flats can now appeal to an independent panel to have it reviewed.

*** Hangman Not Sacked: Singapore
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/87167.asp>
Today

Singapore's prison officials have denied its chief excutioer has been sacked. "Darshan Singh has not been sacked and continues to be a contract officer engaged by the Prisons Department."

*** Kuan Fails To Quash MP's Case
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/87158.asp>
Derrick A Paulo, Today

[Opinion]

*** Things I Don't Get
<http://jyaisu.blogspot.com/2005/11/things-i-dont-get.html>
UnReaL

I was in Serangoon Central, it's just that it's under the Marine Parade GRC. Simple. The only problem is that it's Serangoon I'm at, and Marine Parade is like so so so so so so far away.

*** Singapore: Why Howard Won't Fight The Hangman
<http://www.theage.com.au/news/tim-colebatch/singapore-why-howard-wont-fight-the-hangman/2005/11/28/1133026406069.html>
Tim Colebatch, The Age

Nguyen Tuong Van case reminds us that Singapore is very different from us.

*** 2 Years Later, No Change To Lot Of Bus Commuters
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/story/0,5562,355648,00.html?>
Lim Boon Hee, Straits Times

I believe the single most important reason is that in a duopoly, the two operators are simply not willing to step up services as this would jack up costs and eat into their bottom line.

*** Transparency And Those Redhill Flats
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/87208.asp>
Today

*** Image Of Singapore Tarnished
<http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17392073%255E7583,00.html>
Garry Rodan, The Australian

More than clumsy diplomacy, the clemency episode is the latest illustration of growing challenges facing the ruling People's Action Party in managing contradictions inherent in the Singapore development model.