[MyAppleMenu] Apr 5, 2007

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** iPhone + Rogers Wireless = Squashed. What Happened? <http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/04/05/iphone-rogers-wireless-squashed-what-happened>
by Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
Rogers Wireless manager of corporate communications Odette Coleman told CBC News in Canada that it was all "speculation," and that the company had not announced anything about whether or not they would carry the iPhone.

**** Lifting Restrictions On Digital Music Is Just One Small Step <http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0704030374apr05,1,4548196.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&cset=true>
by Greg Kot, Chiacgo Tribune
Had the industry's key executives adopted that thinking seven or eight years ago, when peer-to-peer file sharing was still in its infancy, they might not be in the mess they're in now. As it is, they've left the door open for Jobs and Apple to dictate their future, and monopolize the digital marketplace.

**** The Case Of The Curious Timing <http://www.macuser.com/hardware/the_case_of_the_curious_timing.php?lsrc=murss>
by Derik DeLong, MacUser
Apple released on a seemingly random Wednesday.

**** This Stupid Stuff Doesn't Happen On A Mac <http://www.backupbrain.com/2007_04_01_archive.html#a005036>
by Tom Negrino, Backup Brain
I was a Mac consultant, and I've worked on hundreds of Macs. Not once did I have to do something this stupid and tweaky on a Mac.

**** 10 Things I Hate About My MacBook Pro <http://boulter.com/blog/2007/04/04/10-things-i-hate-about-my-macbook-pro/>
by Jeff Boulter
I really hate the fact that closing the lid turns almost everything off.

**** Surviving, Maybe Even Thriving With My Mac <http://viewfromthemountain.typepad.com/applepeels/2007/04/surviving_maybe.html>
by Applepeels
While using a Mac initially looked like it was going to be a liability in the world of real estate, well designed ccess in our home MLS system, the wide variety of tools available for the Mac, and strong data portability has proved that not to be the case.

**** European Borders Fracture iTunes <http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130384-c,onlineentertainment/article.html>
by Martyn Williams, IDG News Service
The European Commission's complaint against Apple and the major record labels over a possible violation of European rules on cross-border trade has served to highlight the inconsistencies in how music is released and priced online.

**** First Look: Google Desktop For The Mac <http://www.macworld.com/2007/04/firstlooks/googledesktop/index.php>
by Dan Moren, Macworld
While it may not offer the same level of integration into the OS that Spotlight has, it seems a more than able competitior when it comes to the nitty-gritty of searching your Mac.

**** Apple TV Brings iTunes Videos To Your HDTV, But Quality Is Poor <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/04/financial/f091226D88.DTL>
by Peter Svensson, Asosciated Press
If you don't want the Xbox 360, wait for upgrades to both iTunes and Apple TV that take HD seriously.

**** iTunes Ripping Off UK Customers? <http://www.applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/itunes-ripping-off-uk-customers/>
by Aaron Wright, Apple Matters
While I'm sure the record labels are partly to blame, the real criminal here is the UK government and its 17.5% V.A.T.

**** One Week With Apple TV <http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macword/2007/04/tvweek/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
by Jason Snell, Macworld
Setting it up and using it has proven to me that Apple's engineers and interface designers have executed even better than I had expected.

**** Multiple-Mac Backup Server: New Life For Old Macs <http://www.macworld.com/2007/04/features/oldmac_backup/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
by Kirk McElhearn, Macworld
Rather than stocking up on DVDs or installing second hard drives, you can use one machine to back up everyone over the network.

**** Apple Slashes Cinema Display Prices <http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&newsID=17685>
by Jonny Evans, Macworld UK
See Also: Grover Saunders <http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/04/04/apple-cinema-displays-go-on-a-price-diet>, Ars Technica: This may ultimately qualify as too little, too late. Apple's Cinema Displays are /still/ far more expensive than comparable options.

The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Rewriting Ethics Rules For The New Media <http://news.com.com/2100-1030_3-6173512.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news>
by Greg Sandoval, CNET News.com
Some members of the so-called old media establishment may no longer be able to wag a finger at what they say is questionable ethics among bloggers.

**** Beaming Up 3-D Objects On A Budget <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/business/05scan.html?ref=technology>
by Peter Wayner, New York Times

**** Co-Existing With Platform Vendors <http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/04/04/coexistingWithPlatformVend.html>
by Dave Winer, Scripting News
The issues are so thorny and so impossible to solve that I came around to the opinion that the only solution was to get rid of the idea of platform vendors altogether, and see the internet as the platform without a platform vendor.

MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is The 'Culture Of Fear' Itself <http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/3053/>
by Frannk Furedi, Spiked
Fear plays a key role in twenty-first century consciousness. Increasingly, we seem to engage with various issues through a narrative of fear. You could see this trend emerging and taking hold in the last century, which was frequently described as an 'Age of Anxiety'. But in recent decades, it has become more and better defined, as specific fears have been cultivated.

**** Your Room Is Booked <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/30/AR2007033000818.html?nav=most_emailed>
by Carol McCabe, Washington Post
I should have called ahead. By the time I checked in, Journalism was gone, as was Geography and Travel. The choice was down to Germanic Languages or Philosophy. That's how I came to spend a recent night in Room 1100.003, in the company of Messrs. Kant, Hegel, Voltaire and Sartre, with George Soros lying on the nightstand.

**** The Mystery Of Easter Island <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/issues/2007/april/easter.php>
by Whitney Dangerfield, Smithsonian Magazine
New findings rekindle old debates about when the first people arrived and why their civilization collapsed.

SingaporeSurf
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**** Benevolent Authoritarism: Is It Possible? <http://aaron-ng.info/blog/benevolent-authoritarism-is-it-possible.html>
by Aaron Ng, Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Singapore is one of the least corrupt by international measures, but I always have some lingering doubts on whether there are cover-ups, especially when there's such aboluste control of the government by a political party.

**** Singaporeans Not Stupid <http://www.mrbiao.com/blog/singaporeans-not-stupid.html>
by This Lush Garden Within
This ongoing controversy has proven one thing &mdash; that many Singaporeans are not stupid and will not just accept things as they are.

**** Singapore Ministers Set For Million-Dollar Pay Hike <http://news.scotsman.com/latest_international.cfm?id=525162007>
by Koh Gui Qing, Reuters
The salary of the prime minister of Singapore is more than three times that of U.S. president George Bush and about four times that of Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe. But that is not enough.

**** Censorship At Work Or Mere Technical Error...? <http://searchingforenlightenment.blogspot.com/2007/04/censorship-at-work-or-mere-technical.html>
by Random Thoughts Of A Free Thinker
Was this omission just a mere technical error or is it censorship at work, lest the omitted statement offend the sentiments of our neighbouring countries which send their women over to Singapore to work as maids and their men as foreign workers?

**** Give Judges Leeway To Set Aside Death Penalty <http://news.asiaone.com/a1news/20070405_story5_1.html>
by AsiaOne
The Law Society wants judges to be given the discretion to either sentence offenders to death or to a jail term instead of the mandatory death penalty for crimes such as murder.

**** Indonesia-Singapore Talks On Maritime Borders Making Progress <http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20070405.E04&irec=3>
by I Made Andi Arsana, Jakarta Post
It has been clearly asserted by Singaporean minister for foreign affairs George Yeo that its land reclamation works are conducted within Singapore's territorial waters. Provided that Singapore is consistent with said statement, it shows significant progress regarding the negotiations, at least from the Indonesian perspective.

**** They'll Never Listen Will They? <http://mybitchingarea.blogspot.com/2007/04/theyll-never-listen-will-they.html>
by My Bitching Area
It would seems that just to get a $30 increase for the poorest people in Singapore, there was such a huge debate about not becoming a "welfare state", and it was a miserable $30. And yet, here we have MM stating the increase in minister's salary is /only/ 0.13% of the gahmen's total expenditure.

**** Be Mindful Of The Affective Gap <http://www.straitstimes.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=6fadbe120b93a010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:52d2bbc860db1110VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
by Catherine Lim, Straits Times
There is clearly a need to balance material needs and public service. The balance, in the view of many Singaporeans, has already been achieved with the existing ministerial salaries, if benchmarked against those of high-earners across a broad range of professions, and also against the salaries of ministers in countries such as Sweden and New Zealand, consistently ranked among the foremost, corruption-free democracies in the world.

**** Your Minister Will Now Do Your Work
by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
Lee Kuan Yew said, as reported by Straits Times, that Singaporeans should quarrel over "whether ministers collectively should be paid $10 million or $20 million more, when an economy worth $210 billion was at stake."
That's absurd &mdash; in my opinion. Is he telling us that the $210 billion economy is single-handedly created by our ministers? I guess all the CEOs and chairmans of Singaporean companies should be retrenched then, 'cause they aren't doing their job of contributing to Singapore's economy.
And I guess for the messing up by our foreign ministry in dealing with neighbouring countries that is probably costing the economy millions and millions of dollars &mdash; that will be coming out from the pockets of our ministers too?
I guess one should never use the words "PAP" and "humble" in the same sentence. (And yes, I am a tad sacarstic.)
<p class="permlink">Permanent Link to This Post <http://www.myapplemenu.com/singapore2007/04/05/id0010/>

**** Max. Pension: $176,500; Service Tenure: 18 Years <http://www.straitstimes.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:c8d7bbc860db1110VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
by Ong Toon Hui, Prime Minister's Office, Straits Times
Both writers have grossly exaggerated the amounts. Ministers qualify for a pension if they serve a minimum of eight years, but the amount of pension varies with the length of service.

**** How Is A Multi-Portfolio Minister Paid? <http://www.straitstimes.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:db7e638aecdb1110VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
by Png Eng Huat, Straits Times
The numbers do not add up if you look into each ministry's expenditure last year.

**** Lack Of Talent, Or Lack Of Leadership?
by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
The PAP government often argue that it is difficult to get good people to be leaders in our government. Hence, the need for "market rate" rewards.
However, I do wonder sometimes whether there are more fundamental reasons that the PAP government find it difficult to attract the good people. Maybe, one reason could have been the lack of leadership qualities in the current leaders that failed to attract the good people. After all, the PM has "only" gathered 66% of the votes in his own constituency. This is significant in the sence that the leaders &mdash; Lee Kuan yew, Goh Chok Tong, and even Lee Hsien Loong, used to gathered more than 70% of votes in past years when they were contested.
<p class="permlink">Permanent Link to This Post <http://www.myapplemenu.com/singapore2007/04/05/id0002/>

**** "Alternative Elite" Needed For Singapore's Long-Term Survival <http://singaporepatriot.blogspot.com/2007/04/alternative-elite-needed-for-spores.html>
by Gerald Giam, Singapore Patriot
Past success is no guarantee of future performance, as the familiar disclaimer on unit trusts warns... Singapore needs an "alternative elite" that is prepared and ready to take over should the "starts" falter. It is not healthy to continue this situation whereby almost every high-powered critic of the government is co-opted to be part of the ruling party's machinery.

The Shuffe by MyAppleMenu
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**** Purple Rain <http://www.archive.org/details/jarflys2006-07-20.flacf>
by Jarflys
Click here to listen <http://ia311506.us.archive.org/2/items/jarflys2006-07-20.flacf/jarflys2006-07-20d2t01_vbr.mp3>.

**** Purple Rain <http://www.archive.org/details/solos2006-08-21.charlesliveson>
by SoloSUnit
Click here to listen <http://ia311519.us.archive.org/0/items/solos2006-08-21.charlesliveson/SoloS2006-08-21.charlesliveson/SoloS2006-08-21d2t02_vbr.mp3>.