[MyAppleMenu] Aug 8, 2009

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Virtual Keyboards On iPhone And Android <http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2009/08/07/virtual-keyboards-on-iphone-and-android/>
Lukas Mathis, Ignore The Code

A virtual keyboard lives and dies by the details. It’s not that there’s a single feature which makes the iPhone’s virtual keyboard better than Android’s; it’s death by a thousand cuts. A number of small differences end up making a huge difference.

**** On Phil Schiller's Credibility <http://macjournals.com/news/schillercredibility>
MacJournals

We do not offer an opinion as to whether Schiller is being truthful in the App Store censorship matter. We only point out that his past statements when Apple was under fire mean that he does not get the benefit of our doubt. If Apple’s policy truly is not to censor applications for “including references to common swear words” (or ask their developers to do so to gain approval, either explicitly or implicitly), we’ll see the results in the App Store, and Schiller will have won back some credibility.

If he is dissembling, we’ll continue to hear stories from developers whose software was rejected because of such references, and it will be clear to anyone paying attention that Schiller’s press statements about how Apple didn’t do awful or stupid things simply cannot be trusted.

**** Hoyle Puzzle & Board Games 2009 <http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=1057>
Charlie Fletcher, Inside Mac Games

It’s a great set of games with enduring replay value. However, if you already have last year’s version and don’t care to play on the net, it’s not worth the upgrade.

**** The iPhone's SMS Vulnerability: What We Learned <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=cdbf6b168e13d3a197d42730528feed2>
Rich Mogull, Macworld

Now-patched vulnerability highlights interesting issues about today’s smartphones.

**** The Problem With My Self-imposed iPhone Boycott Is I’m Not Sure How I Know When It... <http://stevenf.tumblr.com/post/158213384>
stevenf.com



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** What’s A Big City Without A Newspaper? <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=e49ef787c9794e509c3649f128a21bc0>
Michael Sokolove, New York Times

On a recent trip into Philadelphia, after I exited the Interstate and coasted to a stop at the first traffic light, a man walked up to my car. He wore a black apron with a change pouch and held aloft a copy of The Philadelphia Daily News, the city’s tart, irreverent tabloid. It gave me a warm feeling. Of course it did! I’m a newspaper guy. I worked as a reporter for The Daily News in the 1980s, and later for what we called “big sister,” the sober, broadsheet Philadelphia Inquirer. Even in better times, I would have been happy to see the product being hawked, but these days any small sign of life in the newspaper industry, even just the sight of someone reading a paper, feels positively uplifting. I handed over 75 cents for my Daily News, then drove on toward the center of the city — and U.S. Bankruptcy Court, where a hearing was soon to begin, part of an ongoing process that will determine the fate of the city’s newspapers.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Sense Of Belonging Lacking Among The Young <http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=insightdownsouth&file=/2009/8/8/columnists/insightdownsouth/4473741&sec=Insight%20Down%20South>
Seah Chiang Nee, The Star

For a large segment that has been badly affected or who is unhappy with unpopular government policies, the enthusiasm has been rather muted. They associate the festivities with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), and even refuse to put up flags.

**** Singapore Says Economy Stronger After Shrinking 6.5% <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aUZy8hFuni_U>
Shamim Adam, Bloomberg

Singapore’s economy is recovering after contracting 6.5 percent in the first half of 2009 from a year earlier, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said.

“We are now in a stronger position,” Lee said in a televised National Day message today. The decline in the first six months was “less bad than we had feared” after an easing in the global recession and government measures helped Singapore’s economy “bounce back” last quarter, he said.