[MyAppleMenu] Sep 26, 2007

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** More On The Amazon MP3 Store <http://daringfireball.net/2007/09/more_amazon_mp3_store>
by John Gruber, Daring Fireball
If your music doesn't play on iPods, it isn't going to sell.

**** Battling The "Tyranny" Of Abstract, Algorithmic iTunes Visualizers: Osiris <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070925-get-rid-of-dry-itunes-visualizations-meet-osiris.html>
by Todd Haselton, Ars Technica
In a move to fight the "tyranny of abstract, algorithmic visualizers" offered for iTunes, a group of students from Brown University has been working hard on a project that aims to provide users with a new type of visualization plug-in. In other words, the group is aiming to rid the world of the all-too-common kaleidoscope visuals.

**** Apple Has A Lot To Learn About Mobiles, Austrian Provider Says <http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/113470.html>
by DPA
Apple did not understand the mobile phone market, Austria's leading mobile phone providers said on Tuesday, reacting to reports that Apple's iPhone would be launched in Europe only without UMTS technology for surfing the internet.

**** Exploring The Amazon <http://playlistmag.com/weblogs/ipodblog/2007/09/exploreamazon/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
by Christopher Breen, Playlist
My interest is piqued by what it has to offer.
See Also:
Amazon MP3 Vs Apple iTunes: Where Should You Shop? <http://gigaom.com/2007/09/25/amazon-mp3-vs-apple-itunes-whos-better-now/>, by Om Malik, GigaOM. We might have a worthy competitor.

**** Rogue Amoeba's New Radioshift Internet Radio Recording Utility <http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/09/25/minireview-rogue-amoebas-new-radioshift-internet-radio-recording-utility>
by David Chartier, Ars Technica
Radioshift is a great 1.0 app that should bring smles to those who already love or are just getting interested in internet radio.

**** The Amazon MP3 Store And Amazon MP3 Downloader <http://daringfireball.net/2007/09/amazon_mp3_downloader>
by John Gruber, Daring Fireball
The new Amazon MP3 Store looks like no previous iTunes Store rival. The music is completely DRM-free, encoded at a very respectable 256 kbps, includes a ton of songs from major record labels, and offers terrific software support for Mac OS X.

**** Pixelmator 1.0 For OS X Ships <http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/09/25/pixelmator-1-0-for-os-x-ships>
by David Chartier, Ars Technica
Billed as an "image editor for the rest of us," Pixelmator can also be described as a Photoshop that actually lives the Mac OS X lifestyle.

**** Overflow 2.5.2 <http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macgems/2007/09/overflow/index.php?lsrc=mwrss>
by Dan Frakes, Macworld
Overflow&mdash;so named because it's designed to hold all the stuff that won't fit in your Dock (or that you don't want cluttering up your Dock)&mdash;provides elements of both the Dock and Expose/Dashboard.

**** Photoshop Elements 6 Released, Mac Version In 2008 <http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/09/24/elements/index.php>
by Jim Dalrymple, Macworld
Adobe said the Mac version of Photoshop Elements will be released later than the Windows version simply because they are different development schedules.

**** Sliding Into Song <http://whoisylvia.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/09/sliding-into-so.html>
by Sylvia Paull, Berkeley Blog
The tipping point was how easy it was to use the device with my fingers. Deflowering my first iPod took far less effort than unwrapping the cellophane chastity belt on a CD.

**** Peacock-a-thon: "Chuck" Is In The House <http://www.macuser.com/itunes-store/peacockathon_chuck_is_in_the_h_1.php?lsrc=murss>
by Jason Snell, MacUser
Is this a thaw in the NBC-Apple relationship, or just a rebellion by the makers of some of NBC's new series against Apple's spat with the peacock?

**** iPhone Hackers Say 'Relock' On The Way <http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9784775-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
by Tom Krazit, CNET News.com

The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** The Future Of Computing, According To Intel <http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/19432/?a=f>
by Kate Greene, MIT Technology Review
Massively multicore processors will enable smarter computers that can infer our activities.

MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** In Portland, A Golden Age Of Dining And Drinking <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/dining/26port.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin>
by Eric Asimov, New York Times
In the way New York drew artists in the '50s, this city at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers seems to exert a magnetic lure on talented chefs who come from almost anywhere else and decide to stay right here. About the hardest thing to find in Portland these days is a homegrown chef.

**** Sex In The Park, And Its Sneaky Spectators <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/arts/design/23geft.html?ei=5090&en=d969d1a356f9cc82&ex=1348200000&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all>
by Philip Gefter, New York Times
Why are the Japanese couples in Kohei Yoshiyuki's photographs having sex outdoors? Was 1970s Tokyo so crowded, its apartments so small, that they were forced to seek privacy in public parks at night? ANd what about those peeping toms? Are the couples as oblivious as they seem to the gawkers trespassing on their nocturnal intimacy?

**** Lack Of Opinions A Possibility <http://media.www.trinitytripod.com/media/storage/paper520/news/2007/09/25/Opinions/Lack-Of.Opinions.A.Possibility-2990515.shtml>
by James Kukstis, The Tripod
How to write an opinionated article, when nothing seems to be new.

**** Harissa, Mon Amour <http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-saucier26sep26,1,5865067.story?track=rss>
by Amy Scattergood, Los Angeles Times
This is an ode to /harissa/. It's replaced my ketchup, my /salsa picante/, even (gasp) my Louisiana hot sauce. I put it on everything. Well, not exactly everything, but the potent North African chile sauce goes into my bean soups and sandwiches, it spikes my aioli and tops my pizzas. I even take it on road trips, as a kind of food insurance, where it's done wonders for roadside hamburgers and omelets, even stadium Dodger dogs.

SingaporeSurf
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**** Singapore 'Poaching' More Filipino Software Developers <http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view_article.php?article_id=90876>
by Erwin Oliva, Inquirer.net
A representative of the local software industry believes that poaching of Filipino software engineers has become more "pronounced" in recent years because of high demand for tech skills.

**** Singapore Urges Yangon To Exercise 'Utmost Restraint' <http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_161568.html>
by Straits Times
Singapore on Wednesday urged the Myanmar authorities 'utmost restraint' amid reports that Myanmar security forces have started arresting protesting monks and students.

**** Boom Or Bust? Asian Women Seek Breast Creams For Lift <http://uk.reuters.com/article/outsourcingNews/idUKSIN4807820070926>
by Melanie Lee, Reuters
Most women will attest that gravity has never been kind to bosoms, others will chide Mother nature for her frugality. For thousands of Asian women unhappy with their bustlines, breast creams are the answer.

**** Guilty As Charged <http://thewhimsicalbuyer.blogspot.com/2007/09/guilty-as-charged.html>
by The Travels Of A Whimiscal Buyer
If you make the customer go through all this just for paying S$0.30 or slightly under S$2, no wonder the NLB has outstanding debt.
Why not cash, NLB?

**** From Iran To Singapore, With Love <http://1in300.blogspot.com/2007/09/iran-vs-singapore.html>
by One In Three Hundred
Which is worse&mdash;the ignorance on the left or the insouciance on the right?

**** Singapore-Burma <http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/2007/09/singapore-burma.html>
by My Singapore News
Singapore nowadays is being seen by average Burmese as a country which only cares for short term benefits.

**** Back From Singapore <http://vietnamstreets.blogspot.com/2007/09/back-from-singapore.html>
by Street Kids In Vietnam
Considering the kind of work that I am involved in here in Vietnam, seeing prostitutes working the streets isn't particularly shocking. What blew me away, though, was to see it so openly in a country as conservative as Singapore seems to be.

**** Why Does HDB Need To Increase Prices Of Flats So Rapidly? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/09/26/why-does-hdb-need-to-increase-prices-of-flats-so-rapidly/>
by Leong Sze Hian, theonlinecitizen
On an annual basis, the increase is 18 per cent per annum over the lat two years, and 75 per cent per annum over just the last four months.

**** MM Lee To Publish New Book On Singapore Language Policy <http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_161546.html>
by Straits Times

**** Singapore Gains As Bush Suppresses Growth Of Stem Cell Research <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aaSy4GmyvgNg>
by Yoolim Lee, Bloomberg
The city-state has lured star scientists such as Alan Colman, who helped clone Dolly the sheep, and David Lane, who discovered a protein that suppresses some tumors. "What creates good science is a good scientific community," says German researcher Gerald Udolph, 44, as he sips a Tiger beer at Bistro Fabulous' alfresco bar, located in the $300 million government-funded science park called Biopolis.
The city-state has spent more than $3 billion in a bid to transform its economy into a knowledge-based one that relies less on manufacturing of products like cell phones and modems and more on fields such as research.

**** Singapore Best Place To Do Business <http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22484976-12377,00.html>
by The Australian
Singapore has again topped the World Bank's ranks for the best place in the world to do business.

**** Singapore, And The Idea Of Success
by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
Kavi Chongkittavorn <http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/09/26/opinion/opinion_30050274.php>, The Nation, Thailand: Thaksin thought, wrongly, that the international community would admire Thailand if the country followed Singapore's successful path. He used to believe at one time that he could turn Thailand into sixteen Singapore. Economic success and prosperity, no matter what the cost and consequence, would be justified. He fervently believed this, but it turned out to be a goal too far.
<p class="permlink">Permanent Link to This Post <http://www.myapplemenu.com/singapore/2007/09/26/id0018/>

**** No KL-Singapore Open Skies Till 2009 <http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/9/26/business/18998508&sec=business>
by B.K. Sidhu, The Star
Hopes of an early opening of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore air sector to competition seems dashed with the Singapore government issuing an exclusion order yesterday.
The opening of the sector is inevitable in 2009 but, for now, analysts are of the view that the two players, SIA and MAS, need more time to protect their turf.

**** CPF Reforms: Why Government's Critics Mostly Miss The Point <http://perspectiveunlimited.blogspot.com/2007/09/cpf-reforms-why-governments-critics.html>
by Perspective Unlimited
The only way to make the government watch over the country's money as best as it can is to let it behave as if it owns the money! Any other institutional arrangement will not achieve this optimality.

**** 'Is This Worth The Effort?' <http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,142977,00.html?>
by Teh Jen Lee, New Paper
See Also:
NLB Recovery Of Unpaid Fines <http://squaredeals.blogspot.com/2007/09/nlb-recovery-of-unpaid-fines.html>, by Squaredeals. Seems like a case of penny wise, pound foolish.

**** A Peaceful Lot, So Why Not? <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/213349.asp>
by Liew Kai Khiun, Today
While Singapore has changed radically over a generation, the official attitude towards outdoor public demonstrations has remained largely unchanged.

**** Missing Piece In The CPF Debate <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/213345.asp>
by Lee U-Wen, Today
Take away the financial jargon and all the numbers being bandied about, and what last week's lengthy debate on the Central Provident Fund reforms indicated was a growing dichotomy between what the people of Singapore want from the government, and what it is willing to give.

**** What Is Cost Of Longer Concession Hours? <http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_161422.html>
by Tan Thiam Soon, Straits Times

**** A Change Of Scene <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/213370.asp>
by Zul Othman, Today
The police have turned down a request by The Substation to organise an outdoor flea market that would have included booths run by 19 civil society groups.
Rather than call off the show, the organisers decided to rebrand it as the SeptFest Gig and moved it to the pavement area behind the Singapore Management University (SMU) School of Law and School of Accountancy.