[MyAppleMenu] Aug 2, 2006

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

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

[News]

*** Coke, Apple Join In Huge European iTunes Giveaway
<http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-08-02T055146Z_01_L01923716_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-COKE-APPLE.xml>
Adam Pasick, Reuters

Aple is teaming up with Coca-Cola in Europe to give away about 70 million songs on its market-leading iTunes Music Store -- more than a third of the total number of songs it has sold there to date.

*** Apple Cans AppleCentre Branding
<http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=35480&src=site-marq>
Tim Lohman, CRN

Apple has begun phasing out the AppleCentre retail outlet brand name and will ask partners to reapply for their certifications.

*** Apple Releases Security Update
<http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/08/01/securityupdate/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Mathew Honan, Macworld

Apple on Tuesday released Security Update 2006-004, fixing issues with AFP Server, Bluetooth, WebKit and more.

[Opinion]

*** Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!, Caring For: Microsoft Vs Apple
<http://www.unsanity.org/archives/rant/caring_for_developers.php>
Unsanity

*** Windows Media DRM Versus Apple FairPlay Battle Looming?
<http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/5168/106/>
Stan Beer, ITWire

Microsoft could well be stepping into the music player market with Zune in order to help drive the widespread acceptance of WM-DRM.

*** Mac OS X Server Firewall Serial Hole
<http://rentzsch.com/macosx/serialnumberd>
rentzsch.com

Every Mac OS X Server 10.4 deployment, regardless of its GUI firewall setting, will accept and attempt to act on UDP packets sent to port 626.

*** My New Black MacBook
<http://www.smalltransport.com/article/my-new-black-macbook>
smallTransport

Two elements of the MacBook design that I regard as huge improvements are the "klutz-proof power adapter and a nifty magnetic latch."

*** .Mac In Trouble
<http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2006/08/mac_in_trouble.html>
Giles Turnbull, O'Reilly Network

The service needs to be re-thought and re-vamped completely.

[Review]

*** Picasa 2 Vs iPhoto 5
<http://www.hartnup.net/wordpress/picasa-2-vs-iphoto/>
At Home With John And Debbie

Picasa is gleefully original, usefrul, attractive and function rich. iPhoto does the job, but with less flair.

[Sidetrack]

*** What Is An iPhone?
Heng-Cheong Leong

Apple is making a phone. Or, at least, they aren't sitting around not making a phone.

So, what's your wish list?

Besides the obvious, er... obviously. The phone gotta be able to phone. So it needs GSM, which is where the market is. It needs to be an iPod: play music, watch videos, dock connector, all that jazz.

Then, it needs an iSight camera. What phone nowadays don't have a camera to take photos and shoot videos?

Then, it needs WiFi. VoIP is all the rage nowadays.

Then, it needs Bluetooth. How else are you going to design a wireless earphone?

Then, it needs PDA functionalities. A touch screen will be nice. Perferably a large-enough screen to watch videos,

Oh, and SMS / text-messaging is big. At least, it is big outside of the United States, but I hear even in U.S. this is picking up. So, it needs a good and full-sized keyboard. Maybe something that can light-up when it sense that the ambient light is too low.

And since we are cramming so many functions into the phone, it must have a good, flexible, stable, and secure operating system. How about Mac OS X?

And let's just call this device: MacBook Nano.

Bonus: And if you buy a copy of Microsoft Office or iWork '07, you can even read (and edit!) Office documents right in your phone. Just like a Blackberry.

:-)

*** Outsource .Mac?
Heng-Cheong Leong

.Mac hasn't live up to its reputation of always just work. Maybe Apple should consider outsourcing this to some company whose bread and butter is to deal with online issue? Maybe, well, AOL? :-)

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

[News]

*** A Password For Your Credit Cards
<http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-6101121.html?part=rss&tag=6101121&subj=news>
Joris Evers, CNET News.com

*** Five THings All Sane People Agree On About Blogs And Mainstream Journalism (So Can We Stop Talking About Them Now?)
<http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/2006/08/five_things_all.html>
Steven Johnson

*** YouTube Overtkaes MySpace
<http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1834036,00.html>
Mark Sweney, The Guardian

*** Study Shows Youth Embracing Technology Even More Than Before
<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060801-7401.html>
Jeremy Reimer, Ars Technica

*** Disney Design Exec Touts Good Ol' Pen And Paper
<http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-6100967.html?part=rss&tag=6100967&subj=news>
Candace Lombardi, CNET News.com

Designers and animators should learn more about the real world before sitting down to create a fake one.

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

[Life]

*** A New Tasting Menu In The Baby Section
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/dining/02baby.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>
Dana Bowen, New York Times

For years baby food changed little. Now there has been a growth spurt of alternatives, from single-ingredient purees to complete toddler meals in designer packages.

*** A Night Under Ambient Light
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/opinion/02wed4.html?ex=1312171200&en=a6ac8f2da9484f81&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>
Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times

Saturday night, in the company of a few dozen New Yorkers and a handful of park rangers, I slept in Central Park.

[Expressions]

*** No One In The Library Is Reading
<http://sycamorereview.com/fictionpotoczny/>
Marie Potoczny, Sycamore Review

There are mice in the library, and the teenagers are having sex in the reference collection.  The junior high boys are expressing their constitutional rights to look at pornography, and the girls are shredding the magnetic strips out of back issues of Vogue and People to steal for their bedroom walls.

*** A Low Slow Thing Moves Against Darkness, On Wheels
<http://www.threecandles.org/poetry/lstrongin.html>
Lynn Strongin, Three Candles

*** Something To Remember You By
<http://www.shampoopoetry.com/ShampooTwentyseven/27/gabbert.htm>
Elisa Gabbert, Shampoo

*** Crane Wife
<http://www.2river.org/2RView/10_4/poems/gailey.html>
Jeannine Hall Gailey, The 2River View

*** A Book Cut And Left In The Forest
<http://www.aprweb.org/issues/current/hall.html>
Judith Hall, American Poetry Review

*** Abanico Habanero
<http://www.slate.com/id/2140908/>
Peg Boyers, Slate

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

[Ramblings]

*** Start Taking Blogging Seriously For A Start, Straits Times
Heng-Cheong Leong

Andy Ho <http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=6fadbe120b93a010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:8f0cb626ceacc010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>, Senior Writer, Straits Times: Most bloggers... do not generally report onsoemthing new. Typically, they report on what reporters have reported.

And the Straits Times reports things that are new? Most of the time, it's either press releases or media briefing, and reactions against these press releases or media briefing. I don't call that new new...

But that's beside the point. Journalism is not about reporting new things. Journalism is about reporting the truth. (And we all know that truth has many sides, new and old.)

*** No More Messages, Let's Have Conversations
Heng-Cheong Leong

Edmund Lim Wee Kiat <http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:39c404ce42acc010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>: An honestly 'hip, happening' image [for PAP] can come about with a genuinely 'open, listening' attitude.

In today's world, it's not about controlling messages. It's not about images. It's about conversations.

For a start -- in addition to all the committees and feedback groups and focus groups and what-have-you -- is for every MP and every minister to have a blog.

[News]

*** New Laws Fail To Guarantee Domestic Workers their Rights
<http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=6863>
AsiaNews.it

The right to three meals per day has been stipulated for the first time. But no limits have been placed on working hours and there is no obligation to provide one day of rest per week, while recruitment fees remain steep.

*** More Singaporeans Choose Higher-Class Wards
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/134059.asp>
938 Live

*** Who Wins In Malaysia-Singapore Open Skies Pact?
<http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BT/Wednesday/Frontpage/BT579738.txt/Article/>
Kang Siew Li, Malaysia Business Times

Airline passengers and Singapore's aviation industry are likely to emerge as the biggest winners and Malaysia Airlines (MAS) the biggest loser if Malaysia and Singapore were to sign an "open skies" agreement.

*** SBS Transit And SMRT Apply For Bus, Train Fare Hikes
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/222510/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

[Opinion]

*** Which Transport Fare Hike Do You Prefer?
<http://mollymeek.livejournal.com/118925.html>
mollymeek

*** The Curious Incident Of The Singapore Flag
<http://ballsy.wordpress.com/2006/08/01/the-curious-incident-of-the-singapore-flag/>
Confessions Of A Critic

*** Blogging's More Than Idle Chatter
<http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=6fadbe120b93a010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:8f0cb626ceacc010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
Andy Ho, Straits Times

It is high time the government began to take [blogging] more seriously than just chatter.

*** Bus Operators Cannot Simply Pass On Fines
<http://straitstimes.asiaone.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:a9e404ce42acc010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
Looi Teik Soon, Public Transport Council, Straits Times

Any changes to bus fares have to be approved by the PTC and are capped by the fare-adjustment formula.

*** "Cheapness" And "Transparency" In Tourism Industry
<http://www.zaobao.com/yl/yl060802_506.html>
Liu Hailiang, Lianhe Zaobao

*** Let's Be Local Company-Friendly Too In Singapore
<http://sgentrepreneurs.com/news-stop/2006/08/01/news-stop-lets-be-local-company-friendly-too-in-singapore/>
Singapore Entrepreneurs

*** Being Deaf In Singapore
<http://sufficientgift.blogspot.com/2006/07/being-deaf-in-singapore.html>
An Equal Voice

[Technology]

*** Mobile Users Can Switch Telcos And Keep Number By End-2007
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/222679/1/.html>
Farah Abdul Rahim, Channel NewsAsia

Phone numbers will be truly "portable" by the end of next year, says the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore.

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

[Tunes]

*** Too Much Space
<http://www.younggodrecords.com/product.asp?P_ID=44>
Lisa Germano
<http://www.younggodrecords.com/audio/LisaGermano/InTheMaybeWorld/02-toomuchspace.mp3>