[MyAppleMenu] Feb 18, 2009

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** PiperJaffray Looks Ahead To Apple's Q2 <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ByteOfTheApple/blog/archives/2009/02/a_look_at_apple.html?campaign_id=rss_blog_byteoftheapple>
by Arik Hesseldahl, BusinessWeek

Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster just issued a research note looking at the tea leaves so far on Apple’s current quarter, its fiscal second. The upshot is that given the currently available evidence, he expects Apple’s results to come in about par with the consensus expectations.

**** Liquid Submersion Indicators Reveal Accidental Dips <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10080>
by Doug McLean, TidBITS

While it's no news that water and electronic devices don't mix, Apple has of late rolled out an interesting and little-known design feature: the liquid submersion indicator (LSI). Now integrated into the design of all Apple laptops, iPods, and iPhones, the LSI reveals whether or not its host device has been subjected to liquid damage.

**** Review: Weather Radar Apps For iPhone <http://www.macworld.com/article/138873/2009/02/radarapps_iphone.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Jeff Merron, Macworld

For those who like to follow weather more closely, there are a fair number dedicated radar apps to fill the void. Three of the most popular are Radar In Motion, Weather Radar, and RadarScope.

**** Apple Makes Online Music Lessons Easy With GarageBand <http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/software/2009-02-17-garageband-online-music-lessons_N.htm?csp=34>
by Jefferson Graham, USA Today

**** Apple's Multi-Touch Designer Describes His Inspiration, More To Come? <http://www.macrumors.com/2009/02/18/apples-multi-touch-designer-describes-his-inspiration-more-to-come/>
by Arnold Kim, Mac Rumors

Wayne Westerman and John Elias are the two engineers who are responsible for much of Apple's multi-touch technology found in the iPhone and notebook trackpads. Westerman and Elias originally founded a company called Fingerworks in 1998 and developed a number of multi-touch input devices including keyboards and touch-pads. Apple then acquired Fingerworks in 2005 and Westerman has been a senior engineer at Apple since.

**** Mozilla, Skype Support EFF's Case For iPhone Jailbreaking <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/02/18/mozilla_skype_support_effs_case_for_iphone_jailbreaking.html>
by Prince McLean, AppleInsider

In a filling with the US Copyright Office, Mozilla and Skype have added their voices of support to a request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act related to iPhone jailbreaking.

**** Contactizer Adds 'Dayboard' Companion <http://www.macworld.com/article/138877/2009/02/contactizer.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Contactizer is a personal information management application that helps you manage projects and track their progress. New to the 3.7 release is a new standalone companion application called Dayboard. Dayboard provides a list of tasks, events and birthdays at a glance, even when Contactizer is closed.

**** Consistency Desired <http://theweeklyreview.ca/2009/02/18/consistency-desired/>
by Chris Bowler, The Weekly Review

The issue is that there is not consistent mapping of the Command+Number Key from application to application for opening the various windows available in any application.

**** Apple Pimps Gaming Even Further With Latest iPod Touch Ad <http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/02/apple-pimps-gaming-even-further-with-latest-ipod-touch-ad.ars>
by Chris Foresman, Ars Technica

Apple's message couldn't be any more clear, though. The iPod touch means "More games. More fun."

**** Review: Keynote Controllers For The iPhone <http://www.macworld.com/article/138874/2009/02/keynotecontrol.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Rob Griffiths, Macworld

If you’re looking for a simple Keynote controller, TapNext Lite certainly gets the job done. However, if you give more than one talk or so a year, you may find its lack of features quite limiting. For those who give many presentations, Stage Hand is the clear winner--it’s miles ahead of Keynote Remote’s limited features, and it worked very well during my testing.

**** More On Extracting Audio From Video <http://www.macworld.com/article/138888/2009/02/moreextractingaudio.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Christopher Breen, Macworld

**** Analysis: Technology, Politics Keep Flash From iPhone <http://www.macworld.com/article/138885/2009/02/flash_iphone.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Dan Moren, Macworld

With the preponderance of sites specifically tuned for the iPhone and the lack of vocal Flash proponents beyond Adobe itself, Apple has little incentive to bend over backward for what, in the end, may be a bigger help to Adobe.

**** Mac Sales Slide In January, Says NPD <http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9128163&source=rss_topic123>
by Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

The worsening economy hit Apple Inc. hard last month as its U.S. retail sales fel 6% compared with January 2008, research company The NPD Group Inc. said today.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** How To Involve Enterprise IT In Open Source <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10166161-16.html?tag=mncol>
by Matt Asay, CNET



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Your Morning Pizza <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/dining/18mini.html?_r=1>
by Mark Bittman, New York Times

There are many reasons to rethink breakfast.

**** No Way, No How, Not Here <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/opinion/18friedman.html?ref=todayspaper>
by Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times

There are nine bodies -- all of them young men -- that have been lying in a Mumbai hospital morgue since Nov. 29. They may be stranded there for a while because no local Muslim charity is willing to bury them in its cemetery. This is good news.



SingaporeSurf
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**** What Price Have We Paid For Today's Success? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/02/what-price-have-we-paid-for-today’s-success/>
by Fang Shihan, The Online Citizen

Is this necessarily a linear upward progression? What have we sacrificed to get to where we are today?

**** "My Loyalty Is First And Foremost, To The People Of Singaore" <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/02/“my-loyalty-is-first-and-foremost-to-the-people-of-singapore”/>
by Jason Lee, The Online Citizen

I believe an elected president can do more to protect our interests -- regardless of whether he is an executive or non-executive president.

**** The Call For An Independent Public Inquiry <http://yawshinleong.blogspot.com/2009/02/call-for-independent-public-inquiry.html>
by Yaw Shin Leong

**** Dismantling The Myths Of The PAP System <http://wayangparty.com/?p=5203>
by Fang Zhi Yuan, The Wayang Party Club

Eventually, Singaporeans will become so averse to the one-sided reports carried by the mainstream media that they will be completely switched off, preferring to read only what they want to read on the internet even though its factual accuracy cannot be independently verified and that will finally send the myths of the PAP system into their death throes.

**** The Beginning Of Decline In PAP's Popularity? <http://www.mrbiao.com/blog/the-beginning-of-decline-in-paps-popularity.html>
by This Lush Garden Within

To be honest, I rather have less money in our national reserves and a more compassionate government with leaders that understand citizens’ problems and can feel for us, rather than one that proclaims to understand us and yet goes about implementing a stimulus plan that don’t directly address our immediate needs as much as those of businesses and investors.

**** Singapore Mosques Get Modern To Keep Up With Times <http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-38074320090218>
by Kash Cheong, Reuters

Rooftop gardens, a shiny aluminium exterior and an environmentally friendly design: this is not a new mall in Singapore, but a mosque that is trying to put a modern face on a traditional faith.

**** Free Trade, Jobs And Democracy - A Look At Singapore <http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/14530/>
by Tim Mills, People's Weekly World

**** Unlocking Reserves <http://groundnotes.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/unlocking-reserves/>
by Groundnotes

Not here to judge? Shouldn’t the man responsible for giving the government our money make it a point to judge if the money will be well spent?

**** Will Sovereign Wealth Funds Pour Yet More Money Into The West? <http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2009/02/will-sovereign-wealth-funds-pour-yet-more-money-into-the-west.html>
by Edward Harrison, Credit Writedowns

I see the weak domestic market and the heavy losses as a one-two punch for sovereign wealth funds. While these funds may have continued to invest heavily in Europe and North America through 2008, I cannot foresee a similar asset allocation going forward.

**** More LKY Revelations At Rajakumar's Memorial <http://www.yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/1938-more-lky-revelations-at-rajakumars-memorial>
by Singapore Democrats

Forged from the crucible of the struggle for freedom, the PAP turned around and denied that very freedom to the people when it ascended the throne.

**** Government Gazette Publishes Boundaries Of Altered Polling Districts <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/409855/1/.html>
by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia

A day after the announcement by the Elections Department that the Register of Voters is being revised, the government gazette published the boundaries of altered polling districts on Wednesday.

It is believed to be the precursor of the Electoral Boundaries Report, which is normally released before an election. The last general election was held on May 6, 2006.

**** Full Of Generalities But Short On Specifics: President S R Nathan's (Unoffical) Guide To Rubber Stamping <http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=2283>
by Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net

It is this mentality taken by the ruling PAP that makes president Nathan’s nebulous explanations look all the more precarious.

**** Premium Air Traffic Falls <http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_340000.html>
by Karamjit Kaur, Straits Times

The freefall in first and business class traffic continues to batter top-tier carriers like Singapore Airlines, with no signs of the crisis bottoming out anytime soon.

**** Singapore's Bushfires Hit Nearly Decade High In Jan <http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKSIN393826>
by Nopporn Wong-Anan, Reuters

Island-state Singapore faced the largest number of bushfires in nearly a decade in January, thanks to an unusually long dry spell, the government's anti-fire agency said on Wednesday. The tropical nation saw 182 vegetation fires in January, mostly due to the dry spell, which the Singapore Civil Defence Force said was "unprecedented".

**** LTA Introduces Two New Road Safety Initiatives <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/409884/1/.html>
by Lian Cheong and Cheryl Lim, Channel NewsAsia

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has introduced two road safety measures. They're aimed at alerting motorists of pedestrian crossings ahead.

**** Your Money At Work And The Curious Disappearing Acts Of The Prime Minister <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/02/your-money-at-work-and-the-curious-disappearing-acts-of-the-prime-minister/>
by Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen

The US government, under president Barack Obama, sees its people as shareholders with a stake in how the government spends its money. The Singapore government, on the other hand, sees any query about the way it spends its money as troublesome. This is demonstrated most succintly by the recent budget debate where questions were unanswered or answered with non-answers.

Cultivating active citizenry is one of the government’s aims. It has said so several times in the past. Yet, it seems that when it matters most, and when presented with an unprecendented opportunity in this unparalleled economic crisis, the government instead has chosen to stick its head in the sand. It has gone the other way and refused any meaningful disclosures or explanations of its actions.

**** Investors Of Failed Structured Products To File Class Action Suit <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/409908/1/.html>
by Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia

260 investors in Singapore plan to take financial institutions to court in April for selling them failed structured products like Lehman Minibonds.

**** Nathan Fluffs His Reserves Explanation <http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2009/yax-986.htm>
by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread

Firstly, president Nathan had no clue what was really on people's minds and therefore failed to address the key questions in his interview, and secondly, faced with even the slightest difficulty of a question, he gave a most unconvincing reply.

It's hard to have full confidence that he is up to his constitutional job of protecting the reserves.