[MyAppleMenu] Jun 20, 2006

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

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

[News]

*** Apple Releases Universal Shake: Massive Price Cut
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=15010>
Jonny Evans, Macworld UK

Apple has released Shake 4.1, the first Universial version of the compositing software, and dramatically discounted the product's price: from $2,999 to $499.

*** EC Regulators Won't Force Interoperable iTunes
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=15002>
Macworld UK

*** Apple Plants Seeds For Pic Downloads
<http://www.variety.com/VR1117945507.html>
Ben Fritz, Variety

After conquering the digital music biz and aking the lead with TV shows online, Apple is looking to feature films. The computer company is in active negotiations with most major studios to add movies to its iTunes Music Store. The main sticking point is price.

*** Apple Acknowledges User Frustrations Over Roadmap
<http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Apple_acknowledges_user_frustrations_over_roadmap/0,2000061733,39260347,00.htm>
Renai LeMay, ZDNet Australia

Apple yesterday conceded corporate IT workers are "always" complaining about its secretive product roadmap -- but warned the only way to get up to speed is to invest thousands of dollars and a full working week attending its annual US-based developer conference.

*** Apple Says Started Audit On iPod Factory Claims
<http://today.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-06-19T214336Z_01_N19359786_RTRIDST_0_TECH-APPLE-FOXCONN.XML&rpc=66>
Reuters

The audit will look at "employee working and living conditions, interviews of employees and managers, compliance with overtime and wage regulations, and other areas as necessary to insure adherence to Apple's supplier code of conduct," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said.

*** Retalers Wake Up To Intel Macs' WinXP Capability
<http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/06/19/pcworld_uk_apple_imac_winxp/>
Tony Smith, Reg Hardware

*** Apple's Slow Burn
<http://www.fool.com/News/mft/2006/mft06061919.htm>
Alyce Lomax, Motley Fool

As digital video downloads grow in popularity, music-downloading pioneer Apple seems to have fallen behind the times.

[Opinion]

*** Mac Attack
<http://www.slate.com/id/2143810/>
Seth Stevenson, Slate

These ads don't work on me. They are conceptually brillant, beautifully executed, and highly entertaining. But they don't make me want to buy a Mac.

*** Will Europe Be Apple's Waterloo
<http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/4677/106/>
Stan Beer, ITWire

*** How Not To Fix An iPod Shuffle
<http://www.mantissa.net/blog/2006/06/18/how-not-to-fix-an-ipod-shuffle/>
Francis' Weblog

Apple made the iPod shuffle in a way for it not to be opened... there is a reason for this.

*** Why Apple Won't Open Source Its Apps
<http://daringfireball.net/2006/06/apple_open_source>
John Gruber, Daring Fireball

If the source code to these apps were made available, the best features from new versions of these apps could be ported back to previous versions, lessening the incentive for users to upgrade.

*** The Bits Will Fall As They May
<http://www.macuser.com/itms/the_bits_will_fall_as_they_may.php>
Dan Moren, MacUser

The argument of DRM is one of those tricky matters of principle and it's unlikely to go away.

*** A Kernel Of Truth: The Plot Thickens
<http://arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits.ars/2006/6/19/4376>
John Siracusa, Ars Technica

"It may contain third party source code (for Rosetta support) that they cannot release."

[Review]

*** Road Testing A MacBook Pro
<http://news.com.com/2061-10801_3-6085581.html?part=rss&tag=6085581&subj=news>
Daniel Terdiman, CNET News.com

*** Protect Your Mac
<http://www.macworld.com/2006/06/features/protectmac/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Mark H. Anbinder, Jeffery Battersby, Glenn Fleishman and Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

18 ways to safeguard your data and your privacy right now.

*** Multiple Clipboards Done Right
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macgems/2006/06/jumpcut-popcopy/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Dan Frakes, Macworld

[Sidetrack]

*** Why Apple Should Not Fear Open-Source, Even After Listening To John Gruber
Heng-Cheong Leong

Should Apple give us the source code to its "free" applications such as iChat, iCal, Safari, and Mail.app? If you like the Aqua-stripes of yesteryears, you can remove the metal-goodness of today's Safari. If you hate the drawer ("so 10.0") interface of iCal, you will be able to change it to a three-pane interface that every applications out there adopts. If you really, really, like OPML, you can make sure every application can export its data in OPML format.

As John Gruber <http://daringfireball.net/2006/06/apple_open_source> speculated, it's not that Apple cannot do this because the applications contain "trade secrets". The strength, he suggested, "is in [the] UI design, not in the code that implements the designs." Open-soucing these applications do not make it easier for others to port the applications to Windows or Linux. Rather, Apple will not open-source these applications, because Apple is using these applications, or rather, new versions of these applications, as carrots for Apple customers to upgrade their OS.

The logic is thus that, if Apple provides the source code to these applications, Apple will not be able to use new features of the applications as selling points for new OS X releases. This is because third-party developers can take the source code to the upgraded applications, and port them back to older OS X versions, thus negating any need to upgrade.

And I say, nonsense. :-)

If Apple upgraded the applications with new features that can be easily ported back to older versions of OS X, I'll say that these new features are really not worthwhile selling points for the new operating system. Tabbed window in iChat? In the larger scheme of things, no big deal. If the Leopard doesn't offer me compelling reasons to upgrade, tabbed window ain't going to do it.

But there are a lot of features that isn't going to be easily ported back to older versions of OS X. The spotlight feature of Mail.app cannot be easily ported back to Jaguar or Panther. The video chat portion of iChat AV in Tiger cannot be easily ported to older OS X versions if it depended on new capabilities in QuickTime for example. (Apple of course, did chose to support Panther for QuickTime 7, but that's a different story.)

My point is that Apple should be disciplined in two areas. Firstly, its "free" applications must showcase the latest and greatest OS-level technologies. Secondly -- and more importantly -- Apple should ensure the latest and greatest features are also easily available to third-party developers, so that a thousand flowers bloom. (We're talking about the "free" applications here; not Final Cut Pro or iTunes.) Better "find" capabilities in Mail.app? Great. But Spotlight integration for all applications, including Entourage? Insanely-great. Tabbed windows in iChat? Great. Tabbed window controls and classes in Cocoa? Insanely great.

Apple shouldn't fear open-sourcing its "free" applications.

Now, on to the next questions on whether open-sourcing will increase sales -- well, this question is left as an exercise for the readers. :-)

*** Happy Today
Heng-Cheong Leong

Today, my iPod+iTunes decided to shuffle the tune "Merrie Melodies Closing Theme" at the very end of my morning random playlist.

I'm so happy now.

*** Stop Messing My Computer
Heng-Cheong Leong

Thank goodness that Windows doesn't have any APIs that applications can use to programmatically reorder the items on the Start menu <http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2006/06/19/636823.aspx>.

Too bad the same philosophy wasn't applied when they were designing the system tray.

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

[News]

*** User-Generated Content Vs. Reader-Created Context
<http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2006/06/19.html#a1471>
Jon Udell, InfoWorld

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

[Life]

*** A McDonald's Ally In Paris
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/20/business/worldbusiness/20burger.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>
John Tagliabue, New York Times

Dennis Hennequin is very much the engineer of the restaurant chain's success in France, and one of his most compelling lessons about doing business here came from a bulldozer incident.

*** Get Ahead, Learn Mandarin
<http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501060626/story.html>
Austin Ramzy, Time

China's economic rise means the world has a new second language -- and it isn't English.

*** Self-Checkout? Just You Wait
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/17/AR2006061700074.html>
Joyce Gemperlein, Washington Post

Pressure? You don't know pressure until you're in the self-checkout line at the grocery store and your cauliflower doesn't scan and freezes the computer and there's a line of shoppers shifting from foot to foot, heaving deep sighs and giving you the evil eye because, obviously, you are keeping them from attending to a matter of life and death, such as catching the "Sopranos" episode they forgot to TiVo.

[Expressions]

*** Innocence
<http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/content/articles/060626fi_fiction>
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, New Yorker

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

[Ramblings]

*** Another Non-Reply Reply
Heng-Cheong Leong

Read this reply <http://www.mirandasound.com/audio/Miranda_Sound_-_Virginia_Creeper.mp3> by Lim Kee Ee, General Manager for Jalan Besar Town Council, and you'll discover that he never did reply why funeral wake are not allowed in the town's multi-purpose hall. The only statement that is closest to a reply is this: "Some of our multi-purpose halls are not suitable for funeral wakes as they are sited too near adjacent blocks." (Nothing specific to Mrs Tan-Wee Yin Ping's question.)

So, if you cannot hold wakes in halls are not too near adjacent blocks, where can you hold them? Lim Kee Ee has the answer: "Our town council would urge that funeral wakes be held in surrounding void decks, whenever available."

So, let me see if I get the logic here: cannot hold in halls, because it is too close to flats, so must hold inside the flats.

Somehow, I don't get a single sense of integrity from this man.

[News]

*** SDP's Dr Chee Slapped With 8 Charges Of Speaking In Public Without Licence
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/214596/1/.html>
S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia

*** Carriers Reject No-Frills Terminal
<http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/6/20/asia/14588667&sec=asia>
AFP

Singaore-based budget carriers Jetstar Asia and Valuair have decided against operating from Changi Airport's no-frills Budget Terminal, an aviation official confirmed yesterday.

*** Divided Views Over Police Checks On Blogger
<http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=47739>
Zakir Hussain, Straits Times

Netizens do not believe bloggers should be prosecuted for offensive material, but religious leaders believes the law should intervene.

[Opinion]

*** No ICT Notice, Work Projects Affected
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:e222d820f5deb010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
Jean Teoh Hui Ching, Straits Times

No explanation was given, and, of couse, no apologies.

*** Most HDB Halls May Be Used For Funeral Wakes
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:0532d820f5deb010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
Lim Kee Ee, Jalan Besar Town Council, Straits Times

*** Why Plants, Reflexology Footpath Were Replaced
<http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:8783d820f5deb010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
Michael Ngin, Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council, Straits Times

*** Mr Wang's Not Stomping
<http://commentarysingapore.blogspot.com/2006/06/mr-wangs-not-stomping.html>
Mr Wang Bakes Good Karma

STOMP's "star bloggers" just can't be themselves if they have to subject themselves to the editorial directions and marketing approach of a corporate organisation like the Singapore Press Holdings.

*** Freedom Of Choosing Religion?
<http://uzyn.com/2006/06/16/freedom-of-choosing-religion/>
uzyn.com

Why do we all have to believe in the thinking of Christians?

*** GE Issue Lift Upgrading
<http://singaporealternatives.blogspot.com/2006/06/ge-issue-lift-upgrading_16.html>
Goh Meng Seng, Singapore Alternatives

What PAP government is doing right now is to correct past mistake; it is not really about political gain but it is about fixing up past mistakes.

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

[Tunes]

*** Virginia Creeper
<http://www.mirandasound.com/>
Miranda Sound
<http://www.mirandasound.com/audio/Miranda_Sound_-_Virginia_Creeper.mp3>