[MyAppleMenu] Nov 25, 2008

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Is Apple Pricing Itself Out Of Education? <http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1971>
by Christopher Dawson, ZDNet.com

**** Inside Safari 3.2'S Anti-Phishing Features <http://www.macworld.com/article/137094/2008/11/safari_safe_browsing.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by MacJournals, Macworld
Apple silently uses Google's Safe Browsing technology to monitor web-site connections.

**** Review: The New MacBook Air, Now With Extra SSD Goodness <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121381&source=rss_topic123>
by Ken Mingis, Computerworld
If the first MacBook Air was a revolutionary take on the Apple laptop line, this is an evolutionary steps &mdash; which is exactly what you'd expect from a second-generation release.

**** Treating URL Protocol Schemes As Cruft <http://daringfireball.net/2008/11/treating_url_protocol_schemes_as_cruft>
by John Gruber, Daring Fireball
To make better use of the available space in the location field, Safari no longer shows the "http://" or "https://" protocol scheme.

**** Negotiations To Put Beatles On iTunes Stalled <http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081124/eu_britain_beatles_online.html?.v=2>
by Meera Selva, Associated Press
Paul McCartney said Monday negotiations on a long-awaited deal to make the Beatles' catalog available on the online music service iTunes have stalled.

**** Macworld Buying Guides: Apple's Mac Lineup <http://www.macworld.com/article/137085/2008/11/buyingguide_macs.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Philip Michaels, Macworld

**** Apple Touts MacBooks' Greenness <http://www.macworld.com/article/137096/2008/11/apple_touts_macbooks_greenness.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Scott McNulty, Macworld
A new Apple web site proudly proclaims that the new MacBooks are "the world's greenest family of notebooks."

**** Apple Bumps Safari To 3.2.1 <http://www.macworld.com/article/137090/2008/11/safari_321.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Jonathan Seff, Macworld
According to the terse description, Safari 3.2.1 includes unspecified "stability improvements" and is recommended for all Safari users.

**** HandBrake 0.9.3 Accepts Any Files, Boosts Encoding Quality <http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/11/24/handbrake-0-9-3-accepts-any-files-boosts-encoding-quality>
by David Chartier, Ars Technica

**** Apple Sued Over Mobile Safari As Email Retention Policy Questioned <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/11/24/apple_sued_over_mobile_safari_as_email_retention_policy_questioned.html>
by Katie Marsal, AppleInsider

**** Apple Cutting Hours For Part-Time Retail Workers? <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10106572-37.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Apple>
by Tom Krazit, CNET News.com

**** Ten Tiny Apps That I'm Thankful For <http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/11/ten-tiny-apps-t.html>
by Guy Kawasaki, How To Change The World

**** Jade Empire: Special Edition <http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=995>
by Marcus Albers, Inside Mac Games

**** TaskPaper 2.0 Helps You Get Things Done <http://www.macworld.com/article/137067/2008/11/taskpaper_20_get_stuff_done.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Scott McNulty, Macworld

**** Hack Enables Hidden Google Maps Features On iPod Touch <http://www.macworld.com/article/137056/2008/11/hack_enables_hidden_google_maps_features_on_ipod_touch.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Aayush Arya, Macworld
It's a fairly complicated process which requires having jailbroken your device and the ability to modify system-level files on it remotely using the Terminal.

**** How Podcasts Work With iPhone 2.2 And iTunes <http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/11/24/how-podcasts-work-with-iphone-2-2-and-itunes>
by Iljitsch van Beijnum, Ars Technica
This is excellent new functionality that avid podcast listeners have been waiting for since the day the first iPhone was released. However, it's a bit clunky here and there. One of the main features of podcasts is that they are automatically downloaded without the user having to go out and look for new episodes. Apple's iPhone podcast downloading mechanism breaks this paradigm.

**** Review: Battlestations Midway <http://www.macworld.com/article/136998/2008/11/battlestationsmidway.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Chris Holt, Macworld
The wonky controls never become intuitive, and commnding a battle group becomes more of a chore than a joy given the ridiculously dumb AI. The game offers you a playground for your militaristic dreams and then proceeds to tie your hands behind your back and toss sand in your eyes.

**** Macworld Buying Guides: iPods <http://www.macworld.com/article/137051/2008/11/buyingguide_ipod.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Christopher Breen, Macworld

The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Twelve Myths About How The Internet Works <http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/112008-ietf-internet-myths.html?netht=rn_112408&nladname=112408>
by Carolyn Duffy Marsan, Network World

MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** The White Skunk <http://www.slate.com/id/2200521/?from=rss>
by David Ferry, Slate

**** Porn In A Flash <http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/11/25/upskirting/index.html>
by Tracy Clark-Flory, Salon
A troubling surge in creepy "upskirt" photography has lawmakers in a twist &mdash; and the body parts of women posted all over the internet.

**** A Whisper, Perhaps, From The Universe's Dark Side <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/science/25dark.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>
by Dennis Overbye, New York Times
A concatenation of puzzling results from an alphabet soup of satellites and experiments has led a growing number of astronomers and physicists to suspect that they are getting signals from a shadow universe of dark matter that makes up a quarter of creation but has eluded direct detection until now.

**** Across France, Cafe Owners Are Suffering <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/world/europe/23cafe.html>
by Steven Erlanger, New York Times
The impression is that business is bad and getting worse, with people and companies cutting back on discretionary spending and entertainment budgets. And that is only compounding longer-term problems stemming from changes in how people live and growing health concerns.

SingaporeSurf
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**** Case Yet To Be Made <http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_306421.html>
by Li Hongyi, Straits Times
An effective response to Dr Tan must account for both costs and benefits of multi-party politics and argue why one side outweighs the other - in particular, why Singapore can harness such political compettion to generate better policymaking while avoiding the attendant costs, when many other countries are unable to do so.
/Personally, I want a samll government. I want government out of my life. But if I can't have that, I rather have more political parties than less, because a single-party parliament will tend to get bigger, not smaller./

**** Crowded Trains: Bunching Not The Problem <http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Story/STIStory_306429.html>
by Hannah Ruth Chia, Straits Times
SMRT can throw statistics at commuters and claim that maximum capacity has not been reached. If this is true, I shudder to think how unbearable train journeys will be if maximum capacity is reached.

**** SDP: Misunderstood, Misguided Or Misaligned? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/11/sdp-misunderstood-misguided-or-misaligned/>
by Kelvin Lim, The Online Citizen

**** Kudos To Government For Pay Cut And Deferment <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/11/kudos-to-govt-for-pay-cut-and-deferment/>
by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen
Whether the cut and deferment for ministers' salary is a political move does not really matter at the moment. What will matter &mdash; to the PAP as a political party and Singaporeans in general &mdash; is whether the government will be able to help Singaporeans through the next two or three years when unemployment is expected to double and when thousands start to have difficulties living day to day.

**** Wall Street Journal Asia Fined S$25,000 For Contempt Of Court <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/392079/1/.html>
by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia
Singapore's High Court has found the Wall Street Journal Asia in contempt of court and fined it S$25,000. It is the highest fine meted out so far for such cases.

**** PM Lee Assures Singaporeans They Are Not Alone In Coping With Downturn <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/392067/1/.html>
by Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia
Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said the country cannot simply stimulate demand during this time of crisis by raising government spending. While that may be what other countries are doing to stem the downturn, Mr Lee said it cannot work for Singapore because of its small economy.

**** Two Opinions On Tan Kin Lian Petition <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/11/two-opinions-on-tan-kin-lian-petition/>
by P N Baliji and Choo Zheng Xi, The Online Citizen
Go for the presidency, Mr Tan.

**** Three Singaporeans To Be Sentenced For Contempt Of Court <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/391941/1/.html>
by Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia
Three Singaporeans have been held in contempt of court for appearing at the Supreme Court building in May wearing T-shirts showing a kangaroo in a judge's gown.

**** Conversation Stoppers <http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2008/yax-959.htm>
by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread
Penalising people for saying that our courts do not meet expected standards does not improve justice. It's just a conversation stopper. A silencer.