[MyAppleMenu] Feb 2, 2008

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Further Reflections On The MacBook Air <http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2008/01/further_reflect.html>
by Stephen Wildstrom, BusinessWeek
If nothing, my original conclusions about it have strengthened with experience: What seemed good feels even better and the defects feel even more deficient.

**** Implications Of The MacBook Air For Enterprises <http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/wireless/?p=182>
by Steve Stroh, TechRepublic
One of the first implications for enterprises resulting from the introduction of the MacBook Air is that it seems likely to me that enterprises are simply going to have to, once again, /"make room" for Apple products/.

**** You'll Shoot Your iPod Out! A Screening At The Apple Store <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=3&entry_id=23932>
by Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
Just when it couldn't get any stranger, it did.

**** Why Microsoft's Yahoo Bid Helps Google, IBM, And Apple <http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/02/why_microsofts.html>
by Paul McDougall, InformationWeek
A Microsoft buyout of Yahoo won't help it catch Google, but the ensuring chaos could seriously jeopardize its core Windows and Office products at a time when real alternatives are emeging.
/I don't necessarily agree. Having cloud computing baked right into Windows will make the Redmond operating system so much more attractive, especially given Apple's dismal record with .Mac's preceived value with customers. Of course, Microsoft doesn't have a good track record either, and big mergers tend not to work out./

**** MacBook Air Has Issues, Says Apple <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=laptops&articleId=9060678&taxonomyId=66&intsrc=kc_top>
by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld
Support docs detail wireless glitches, Remote Disc work-arounds, headphone trouble.

**** iPods Cleared Of Pacemaker Interference Charges <http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/02/01/ipods-cleared-of-pacemaker-interference-charges>
by Justin Berka, Ars Technica

The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Alternative Reality <http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10608655>
by The Economist
China will soon boast more internet users than any other country. But usage patterns inside China are different from those elsewhere.

**** Flash Drives: Faster, Tougher But Still In Pursuit <http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13924_1-9863019-64.html>
by Brooke Crothers, CNET News.com

**** Microsoft And Yahoo!
by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
Microsoft And Yahoo's Shotgun Marriage <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7222199.stm>, by Tim Weber, BBC. Making the offer is an admission that Microsoft's management has been scared by the success of Google. The bid is also an acknowledgement that its numerous attempts to become a dominant internet content provider have failed.
Yahoo! Can't Say No: The Logic Of Microsoft's Brilliant Bid <http://www.slate.com/id/2183494/fr/rss/>, by Henry Blodget. Yahoo!'s days as a stand-alone public company are almost certainly numbered. Yahoo! shareholders aren't going to let Yahoo! management say no to Microsoft without a fight.
Analysis: Microsoft-Yahoo Merger Won't Dethrone Google <http://www.macworld.com/article/131928/2008/02/msftyahoo_analysis.html>, by Jon Brodkin, Network World.
Microsoft Plus Yahoo? The Sum Is Less Than The Parts <http://www.wordyard.com/2008/02/01/microsoft-yahoo/>, by Scott Rosenberg's Wordyard. You will see most of Yahoo's smart people depart, and its customers gradually parceled out to attempt to bolster Microsoft's ever-faltering efforts to build an online business.
Get Off Of My Cloud: Why Microsoft's Play For Yahoo! Isn't About Search <http://www.slate.com/id/2183418/fr/rss/>, by Chris WIlson, Slate. Yahoo!'s experience as a portal and Microsoft's position as the leading provider of offline software are the ingredients for a powerful Google alternative.
<p class="permlink">Permanent Link to This Post <http://www.myapplemenu.com/tomorrow/2008/02/02/id0008/>

MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Waiting For It <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/books/review/Donadio-t.html?ref=books>
by Rachel Donadio, New York Times
Technology may be speeding up the news cycle, but in publishing, things actually seem to be slowing down.

**** Log On. Tune Out. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/books/review/Lanchester-t.html?ref=books>
by John Lanchester, New York Times
Siegel's mission is to make his readers think about the negative effects of the internet &mdash; its destructive impact on our culture, on our polity and, perhaps most important, on our sense of ourselves.

**** Without Metaphor <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/books/review/Roiphe-t.html?_r=1&ref=books&oref=slogin>
by Katie Roiphe, New York Times
One can't say Susan Sontag died a particularly private death. She once declared she wouldn't tell her readers "what it is really like to emigrate to the kingdom of the ill and live there," but it seems other people were determined to do it for her. The latest glimpse we have of her sickbed is "Swimming in a Sea of Death," David Rieff's intelligent, disordered account of his mother's final illness.

**** A Path In The Darkness <http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2250722,00.html>
by Maya Jaggi, Guardian
Francisco Goldman's first non-fiction book, set in the aftermath of Guatemala's war, may have influenced the recent elections. It also helped him overcome his own grief.

**** The First Comedy Strike <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1708834,00.html>
by Richard Zoglin, Time
Their conflicted roles in the current strike hark back to a less well remembered labor bttle of nearly three decades ago. Letterman and Leno were key figures in one of the strangest and bitterest labor-management disputes in show-business history: the Comedy Store strke of 1979.

**** The Death Of Suharto: Epitaph On A Crook And A Tyrant <http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10608377>
by The Economist
Free to mourn or cheer, Indonesians have moved on since Suharto stepped down in 1998.

SingaporeSurf
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**** Government Needs To Invest In The Credibility Of The Press <http://journalism.sg/2008/02/02/government-needs-to-invest-in-the-credibility-of-the-press/>
by Cherian George, Journalism.sg
Largely because of their fundamental distrust of the people, officials continue to hold on jeaously to the security of a compliant press. Breaking this addiction requires a strength of will on the part of the government's seniormost leaders that has not, so far, been evident.

**** Talking A Policy To Death <http://perspectiveunlimited.blogspot.com/2008/02/talking-policy-to-death-australian.html>
by Perspective Unlimited
If boldness and decisiveness are indeed virtues, where does it leave consultation and compromise?
/Correct decision &mdash; no matter how bold and how decisive &mdash; can only come about because of consultations, listening, and experience./

**** Businesses Say New ERP Gantries May Increase Operating Costs <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/326495/1/.html>
by Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia

**** Not Quite The "A" Team <http://statestimes.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/not-the-a-team/>
by The States Times
For minister of national development Mah Bow Tan, it must have sounded like the slap that was heard around the world.

**** Singapore Old Time Cafe, Dublin <http://foodhoe.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/singapore-old-time-cafe-dublin/>
by Foodhoe's Foraging

**** The Mix-And-Match City <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/235634.asp>
by Loh Chee Kong, Today
Why mega cities will be the norm and where Singapore's edge is.

**** AirAsia Flies To Singapore From KL <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/2/2/nation/20217154&sec=nation>
by Farik Zolkepli, The Star
AirAsia will push for more flights on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route as well as services from Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Langkawi and Penang into the island republic.

**** Pay $10,000 For Stall The Size Of HDB Toilet? <http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,155182,00.html?>
by Alvin Chiang, New Paper

**** 6.5 Million People = A Better Singaore? <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/235647.asp>
by Nazry Bahrawi, Today

**** Madien Voyage Across Singapore-KL's Open Skies <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/235651.asp>
by Leong Wee Keat and Ansley Ng, Today

**** 'Rebel' UBS Shareholders <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/235637.asp>
by Christie Loh, Today
Unhappy that the new foreign investor GIC will receive favourable terms in exchange for a massive cash infusion to cover the bank's sub-prime losses, a shareholder has put up an alternative proposal to be voted on during a special meeting on Feb 27 in Basel.

**** Jam-Packed Stations Could Get Two Extra Peak-Hour Trips <http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_202513.html>
by Tania Tan, Straits Times
Among the stations to benefit from the added trips, Kallang is tops. Other stations with similarly heavy traffic are Toa Payoh on the North-South Line and Clementi on the East-West Line.

**** Poor Pronunciation, Enunciation Of The Spoken English In New Train Announcements <http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Online%2BStory/STIStory_202479.html>
by Lim Soon Chien, Straits Times

**** Ease Jams, Make Upfront Car Cost Exorbitantly High <http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_202599.html>
by Chaing Meng Lee, Straits Times
/I'm sure the author will get her wish: less COEs means higher upfront car cost, despite taxes being lowered; jams at weekends will simply mean ERP extended to weekends./
See Also:<br/>Scrap ARF, Road Tax, Hike ERP <http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_202591.html>, by Tan Chor How, Straits Times. /It really doesn't matter how much ARF and road tax are being reduced; the COE price will rise to make up the difference./

**** GIC: The View From America <http://www.todayonline.com/articles/235603.asp>
by Kenneth S Chiang, Today
In the American perspective, Singapore probably falls in betwen Norway &mdash; a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally with an SWF worth over US$380 billion &mdash; and the Gulf states that seek decent returns on their petro-dollars and euros, and that probably have the fewest links in the Arab world to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.