[MyAppleMenu] May 15, 2007

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Paul McCartney's Complete Catalog Coming To iTunes <http://playlistmag.com/news/2007/05/15/mccartney/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
by Peter Cohen, Playlist
Apple on Tuesday announced that Paul McCartney's complete music catalog will soon be available for purchase and download from the iTunes Store. iTunes users can start by pre-ordering McCartney's new album, "Memory Almost Full."

**** MacBooks Get Speed, RAM, Hard Drive Bumps Across The Board <http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/05/15/macbooks-get-speed-ram-hard-drive-bumps-across-the-board>
by Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica
Apple bumped its MacBook line this morning all across the board with some relatively benign yet welcome changes. All processor speeds across the line have been bumped u, now to 2.0GHz, 2.16GHz, and 2.16GHz for white, white, and black respectively. Also updated was the base configuration of RAM across the board, from the usual (and paltry) 512MB to 1GB in every model.

**** Three Little Quibbles About The iPod <http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/commentary/cultofmac/2007/05/cultofmac_0515>
by Leander Kahney, Wired
It's a testament to the iPod's metiulous design that it took six years for these quibbles to bubble up. But here are three things that bug me about the iPod.

**** It's Now Safe To Splurge On Faster Wi-Fi Equipment <http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/silverman/4803997.html>
by Dwight Silverman, Houston Chronicle
The improved range alone is worth the investment.

**** Is My Blue iPod Giving Me The Blues?
by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
"Every illness is a musical problem, and every cure has a musical solution," claims Novalis.
I just wonder if the random shuffling of tunes in my iPod affects my mood on a day-to-day basis.
(For instance, I'm just feeling a tad blue today.)

:-)

<p class="permlink">Permanent Link to This Post <http://www.myapplemenu.com/2007/05/15/id0028/>

**** Mac Users Seek Alternative Software <http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/62154.html>
by DPA
Some people love their Macs, but still seek music programs other than iTunes or browsers other than Safari. But the search can be long and hard.
/I, for one, uses Firefox instead of Safari, simply because I can sync up the bookmarks between my work computer running Windows XP and my home computer running Mac OS X./

**** Boxing Vista
by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
Yes, I'll admit it. Like Robert <http://rhjr.net/theblog/2007/05/12/out-of-the-box-part-2/>, I /too/ had problem opening up the Vista box. I more or less figured out that the box is supposed to opened out from the top and the right-hand-side, except that it couldn't be opened that way. Only after many minutes of frustration did I realize there is another tab/sticker holding the box in place on the right-hand side which I must first remove.
The only fortunate thing is that I managed to not break the box after the whole ordeal, unlike Robert.
<p class="permlink">Permanent Link to This Post <http://www.myapplemenu.com/2007/05/15/id0021/>

**** Out Of The Box, Part 4 <http://rhjr.net/theblog/2007/05/14/out-of-the-box-part-4/>
by Robert Hoekman, Jr
My first impression of the MacBook Pro was not only extremely functional, it was /fun/.

**** Compress Files 1.0 <http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macgems/2007/05/compressfiles/index.php>
by Dan Frakes, Macworld
Apimac's Compress Files is a handy tool for those who frequently file-exchange with users of computers other than Macs. In addition to providing a dead-simple way to compress files in one of multiple formats, it's also the easiest way I've found to automatically remove the extraneous data when sending files to users of other operating systems.

**** Facing The Full Horror Of Windows Vista <http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/12147/1101/1/0/>
by Angus Kidman, ITWire
So far, Transit has been using Vista Busienss full-time for a fortnight. And so far, we've found nothing that works better than in Windows XP, dozens of things that are annoyingly different without being a functional improvement, and several things that work at best intermittently and at worst not at all. On the whole, we wish we'd never moved.

**** The iPhone's On eBay Already <http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9718909-7.html>
by Tom Krazit, CNET News.com

**** From iPhoto To Aperture <http://www.macworld.com/2007/05/secrets/2407digitalphoto/index.php>
by Jim Heid, Macworld
Make the move to Apple's high-end photo program.

**** Nokia Says iPhone May Boost Pricier Phones <http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN1433209320070514?feedType=RSS>
by Reuters
Nokia Oyj hopes Apple Inc.'s highly anticipated iPhone will boost consumer appetite for pricier mobile phones with features such as music and video, Nokia's chief financial officier said on Monday.

**** Hints Of Change <http://www.macworld.com/2007/05/opinion/june07spotlight/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
by Christopher Breen, Macworld
What was unusual about that coverage was that &mdash; for once &mdash; it didn't portray Apple's products as pretty but overpriced and Apple's customers as artsy-fartsy kooks.

**** Apple Takes The Bronze In Most Desirable Employer For Undergrads <http://www.macuser.com/business/apple_takes_the_bronze_in_most.php?lsrc=murss>
by Dan Moren, MacUser
Apple is lookig pretty tasty to many a collegian.

**** Art Text From Belight <http://www.macnn.com/reviews/review.php?id=316>
by Rick Curran, MacNN
This is a very easy utility to use. Let your creative mind go wild as you explore all of the possibilities.

The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Microsoft Agitates For Open-Source Patent Pacts <http://news.com.com/Microsoft+agitates+for+open-source+patent+pacts/2100-7344_3-6183662.html?tag=nefd.lede>
by Stephen Shankland, CNET News.com
Acording to Horacio Gutierrez, vice president of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft, the company's move is designed to bring parties to the negotiating table that currently aren't there.
The only problem with Microsoft's plan: so far its actions have only rallied the open-source troops, and not everyone believes the open-source gang egregiously violates the intellectual property regime.
See Also:
Analysis: Microsoft Patent Claims Hint At Internal Issues <http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/05/14/patentanalysis/index.php>, by Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service. Microsoft may have decided that enforcing its IP through litigation is more important than offering innovative software that can compete on its own merits, a strategy that may leave many users unimpressed, suggested Stuart Meyer, partner at Fenwick &amp; West.

**** Cell Phones Now Helping To Guide The Blind <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=mobile_devices&articleId=291724&taxonomyId=75&intsrc=kc_feat>
by Juris Kaza, Computerworld
In Stockholm, wireless technology helps blind people navigate independently.

MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** First Day Of The Hunt <http://www.slate.com/id/2163333/fr/rss/>
by Paula Bohince, Slate

**** A Giant Takes On Physics' Biggest Questions <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/science/15cern.html?ref=science>
by Dennis Overbye, New York Times
They are getting ready to see the universe born again.
Again and again and again &mdash; 30 million times a second, in fact.

**** What's On Sale There? Confusion, But It's Cheap <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/15/arts/design/15stor.html>
by Randy Kennedy, New York Times
Wormholes in perception, vortexes in viewing.

**** What Happened To Plain Old Vanilla? <http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2007/05/15/mix_in/index_np.html>
by Justin Peters, Salon
Coldstone Creamery and other "mix-in" ice cream chains that lard their cones with cakes and candies make me long for a simple, soft-serve swirl.

**** Manufacturing Belief <http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/05/15/lewis_wolpert/index_np.html>
by Steve Paulson, Salon
The origin of religion is in our heads, explains developmental biologist Lewis Wolpert. First we figured out how to make tools, then created a supernatural being.

**** Sex, Drugs And Updating Your Blog <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/magazine/13audience-t.html?ex=1336708800&en=1d5b4728dc04dc8d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss>
by Clive Thompson, New York Times
His fans need him; he needs them. Which is why, every day, Coulton wakes up, gets coffee, cracks open his PowerBook and hunkers down for up to six hours of nonstop and frequently exhausting communion with his virtual crowd.

**** The Monday Crap Story <http://www.slate.com/id/2166145/fr/rss/>
by Jack Shafer, Slate
Newspaper journalists hate working weekends, so they keep a vigil all week for a special kind of crap that they can write upon Friday nad bank for publicaton on Monday.

**** The Subjection Of Islamic Women <http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/641szkys.asp>
by Christina Hoff Sommers, Weekly Standard
And the fecklessness of American feminism.

SingaporeSurf
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**** Analysts Call Decision For Ministerial Committee A Breakthrough <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/276376/1/.html>
by Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia
Analysts have called the latest Singapore-Malaysia developments a breakthrough as they believe the right context has been set for the eventual resolution of bilateral issues.

**** F1's Flagged Off, But Some Hotels Are Stuck At The Start Line <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/276234/1/.html>
by Johnson Choo, Today
The hotels cannot yet determine their room rates, as the race dates have not been fixed.

**** Temasek Clarifies <http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20070515.F04&irec=3>
by Melinda Tan, ST Telemedia, Jakarta Post
Temasek has never been involved in any matters related to ST Telemedia's management of its investment in Indosat.
/This letter is written by ST Telemedia, clarifying that ST Telemedia and Temasek are different companies. Of course, the headline given by Jakarta Post is "/Temasek/ clarifies."/

**** Singapore, Malaysia To Cooperate On Johor Projects <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/276260/1/.html>
by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia
Singapore and Malaysia wil each set up a ministerial committee to oversee joint cooperation in the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) in the Malaysian state of Johor.
Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong told a news conference he believes the consultative committees can work on areas such as smart card access to the IDR, tourism promotion and environmental cooperation.
See Also:
Singapore Pledges To Invest In Malaysia's Johor Industrial Park Project <http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/15/business/AS-FIN-Malaysia-Singapore.php>, by Associated Press. Singapore promised Tuesday to invest in a multibillion-dollar industrial park project in Malaysia, calling the venture's success a litmus test for cooperation between southeast Asian countries as they compete with China and India.

**** Temasek Seeks More Investments In Japan <http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BT/Tuesday/Corporate/BT622664.txt/Article/>
by Bloomberg
Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore's state-owned investment company, wants to invest more in Japanese companies, its chairman, Suppiah Dhanabalan said yesterday.

**** Cyclists Take To Footpaths <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/188545.asp>
by Gracia Chiang, Today
Tampines trial to assess safety of bikers and pedestrians.

**** F1 Financing A Mystery <http://www.straitstimes.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=6fadbe120b93a010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:d5460ee8ffa82110VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
by Straits Times
Little is known of the financing details, owing to confidentiality clauses. But the government should disclose as fully as it can the financial arrangements as the F1 contract is to run for five years.
/My take on this is a little different: the government shouldn't have gone into a deal with the people's money when too much information must be kept confidential./

**** Informality The Order Of The Day As PM Meets Abdullah <http://www.straitstimes.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=6fadbe120b93a010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:ccb00ee8ffa82110VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
by Carolyn Hong, Straits Times
Malaysia's foreign minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters yesterday that the two-day meeting was arranged such that there would be a high level of comfort for ease of interaction.
See Also:
Cordial Environment For Bilateral Talks Raises Hopes Over Outstanding Issues <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/5/15/nation/17729783&sec=nation>, by Mergawati Zulfakar, The Star.

**** Why The F1 Is Bad For Singapore <http://www.straitstimes.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=f832758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:b72f31b272a82110VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
by Ng Weng Hoong, Straits Times
We have sent a clear signal that we do not believe in energy conservation at a time when the world's energy supply is coming under increasing threat and the need for conservation is becoming more pressing than ever.

**** More MRT Station Exits For Smoother Traffic Flow <http://www.straitstimes.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=7532758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:cc140ee8ffa82110VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD>
by Tan Chin Aik, Straits Times

**** The Flaw Is No Law <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/188527.asp>
by Derrick A Paulo, Today
Unlike legal codes, guidelines lack teeth to free workers from discrimination.

**** Question For Written Answer: 10 April 2007 <http://siewkumhong.blogspot.com/2007/05/question-for-written-answer-10-april.html>
by Siew Kum Hong
What is telling is that in the 5 years from 1998 to 2002, the HDB repossesed only 24 flats in all. Contrrast this to 895 HDB flats repossessed by banks in the 4 years from 2003 to 2006. Is this an improvement for the people? I'm not so sure.