[MyAppleMenu] Feb 9, 2007

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

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

[News]

*** More Options Problems For Jobs
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/business/news/index.cfm?newsid=17178&pagtype=allchandate>
Macworld UK

It appears that when Jobs tried to pluck John Lasseter for Pixar, the film director was supplied with a stock options package that was backdated three months before the signing of any employment contract.

*** Virtualization Vendor Warns Mac Users With Vista Dreams
<http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=IUH35GTO4OBOOQSNDLOSKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=197004648&articleID=197004648>
Antone Gonsalves, InformationWeek

The makers of Parallels say the licensing agreement makes it uncertain whether its customers won't hear from Microsoft's legal department in the future.

*** Steve Jobs Wants To End DRM, But Apple Develops New Access Control Technology
<http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197004497&cid=RSSfeed_IWK_All>
Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has published a new Apple patent application for securing and controlling access to digital data.

*** Glass-Adorned Apple Store Sydney Revealed
<http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2480>
Slash Lane, AppleInsider

Apple's design proposal for its retail store in Australia includes three floors at the base of Sydney sky-rise building just outside the spectacular maritime setting of the King Street Wharf.

[Opinion]

*** Please Make QuickTime Pro Free!
<http://www.macnightowl.com/2007/02/09/the-leopard-report-please-make-quicktime-pro-free/>
Mac Night Owl

Apple should give it all up and set QuickTime free. After all, they have record profits, right?

*** Jobs Drowning In His Own Kupertino Kook-Aid
<http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=340>
David Berlind, ZDNet

Neither Jobs nor Apple are the harmless sheep he wants you to think they are. He was well aware that the record labels wouldn't say yes and the company's growing dominance has left many its wake reeling. Beware. Underneath that while wool are fangs and dripping saliva; the stuff wolves are made of.

*** 10 Years Of MacBU
<http://davidweiss.blogspot.com/2007/02/10-years-of-macbu.html>
David Weiss

We are setting the stage for some fast action innovation and delivery that I think is going to make folks sing, not just for Office 2008, but beyond.

*** Is Interoperable DRM Inherently Less Secure? The Case Of FairPlay Versus Windows Media
<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070208-8799.html>
Ken Fisher, Ars Technica

We can say with some certainty that in Microsoft's case, the licensed DRM model has indeed proven to be as secure as Apple's closed model, if not more so.

*** Windows Expert To Redmond: Buh-Bye
<http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9010759&intsrc=hm_ts_head>
Scot Finnie, Computerworld

Bye-bye Windows! My three-month Macintosh trial has ended, but my permanent gig with the Mac is just getting started. Apple's MacBook Pro and Mac OS X are now my computer and operating system of choice.

*** A Few More "Thoughts On Music"
<http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2007/tc20070208_741893.htm?campaign_id=yhoo>
Arik Hesseldahl, BusinessWeek

Apple's Jobs left a few music downloading scenarios off his list. Here's a suggestion for testing his proposal to ditch DRM.

*** Could Apple Overtake Microsoft?
<http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/16654041.htm>
Mathew Ingram, Toronto Globe And Mail

Market value aside, there is no doubt that Apple currently seems to have all the momentum -- in a corporate sense, at least -- while Microsoft has increasingly little. Whether the smaller company can maintain that momentum, and continue to gain ground on its much larger competitor, is the billion-dollar question.

*** Living In A Beta World
<http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/editors/2007/02/beta/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
Jim Dalrymple, Macworld

We will continue to see companies embrace beta testing as a way to set the roadmap for their products.

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

[News]

*** Literature For The MySpace Generation
<http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,2007744,00.html>
Sam Jordison, The Guardian

A new wave of publishers and writers are harnessing the power of MySpace and print on demand to bypass their bricks-and-mortar competitors to find new audiences.

*** Can ID Theft Be Solved With More Regulation?
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2092459,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594>
Brian Prince, eWeek

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

[Life]

*** Fugitive
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/magazine/11Boquete.t.html?ex=1328850000&en=5fd7a06ed45bce0c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>
Jim Dwyer, New York Times

Feb 6, 1985, the night he fled prison, Orlando Boquete, 30 years old, had already spent two years behind bars for a sexual assault and burglary he had nothing to do with, the victim of a victim who mistook him for the man who climbed in her window. Ahead of him, as far as the eye could see, were mountains of time: five decades. He bolted.

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

[Ramblings]

*** A Question Of Priority
Heng-Cheong Leong

Henry Chia <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/170931.asp>: Financially independent older Singaporeans should opt out of the job market and let those who need work stand a better chance to survive in this harsh job market.

In his world, there are only two reasons for getting a job: support family, and pass time. I pity Henry.

*** We Media
Heng-Cheong Leong

The whole idea of a ranking system is that there will be someone that is at the top of the ranking, and there will be someone that is at the bottom of the ranking. A ranking system does not reflect whether one is progressing or not. All I see in this speech <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/170900.asp> by Kishore Mahbubani is a failure to understand this simple idea of a ranking system, and an elaborate setting up of a strawman based on this misunderstanding.

It is not a black-and-white world. There is not a total freedom of speech and freedom of press even in U.S. There are lots of room for improvement everywhere. And any ranking system is going to only reflect the criteria chosen by the ranking system. But that does not mean that U.S. isn't righly ranked way ahead of China or Singapore in terms of freedom of speech and freedom of press, by most standard measurement of freedom. The author observed progress made by China, but yet failed to note the progress made by the U.S. Why?

[News]

*** Caught In A Nets Bind
<http://www.todayonline.com/articles/170981.asp>
Christie Loh, Today

Retailers upset over plans to raise Nets transaction fees to as much as 2% from April.

[Opinion]

*** A Slap In The Face For Singapore
<http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20070209.E05&irec=4>
Yang, Jarkarta Post

I think it is time for Singapore to wake up and measure the amount of assistance it should offer to its neighbors. As we see it, this is how Singapore is being appreciated, import bans and walking out of talks.

*** Irrational Dislike Of Singapore
<http://blogs.ft.com/rachmanblog/2007/02/irrational_disl.html>
Gideon Rachman, Financial Times

There is no doubt that the average Singaporean has a much better life than the average citizen of any other neighbouring South-East Asian country. It is not just that Singaporeans are richer than Indonesians or Malaysians. They are also, in general, much less exposed to the arbitrary exercise of power. All the same, I would probably advise a young Singaporean to think of a career in dentistry or engineering, rather than opposition politics or journalism.

*** Black Sheep Or White Sheep, You Are Still Sheep
<http://shianux.jiyuuu.org/2007/02/09/black-sheep-or-white-sheep-you-are-still-sheep/>
The Legal Janitor

For years, MM Lee has cultivated a political culture which discourages clear, independent and analytical thought. This culture permeates every facet of Singapore life, from the civil service to our education system, right down to the person on the street.

*** More Thoughts On Cultural Differences
<http://senseimichael.com/2007/02/08/more-thoughts-on-cultural-differences/>
Sensei Michael

The Chinese are shocked that we Singaporeans expect them to think on their feet and move with us at the same crazy pace that we used to race at. The westerners are shocked that we Singaporeans approach every little thing so seroiusly, every event, every publication, every exam paper, must be perfect.