[MyAppleMenu] Mar 14, 2009

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Nopali Medical Office Software Adds Media File Management <http://www.macworld.com/article/139391/2009/03/nopali.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Peter Cohen, Macworld

Nopali features scheduling, electronic medical record tracking, insurance billing, photo archiving, patient tracking, quote management, patient billing, office ledger support, patient documents and reporting and statistics.

**** The Headphone Shuffle <http://www.macworld.com/article/139376/2009/03/headphoneshuffle.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Dan Frakes, Macworld

Apple's latest iPod is so special it makes most headphones obsolete.

**** Apple Extends Beta-Developer Memberships <http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/03/apple-extends-beta-developer-memberships.ars>
by Erica Sadun, Ars Technica

After disappearing from view while developer memberships started to expire, Apple has now e-mailed iPhone developers to extend their memberships until July 11, 2009. A short-term solution to the problem is good, but it shows that Apple is still working out the longer-term details.

**** Here I Am For iPhone <http://www.macworld.com/article/139259/2009/03/hereiam.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Jeffrey Hatton, Macworld

In essence, this app is really nothing than a macro that automates location finding in Google Maps and drafts an e-mail with the link—and it doesn’t pretend to anything more than that. But it does that one task consistently well.

**** iTunes Autofill Opens Up <http://www.macworld.com/article/139402/2009/03/autofill.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Dan Frakes, Macworld

Well, as of iTunes 8.1, Apple has finally—finally—made Autofill available to any iPod. Unfortunately, the company hasn’t made the feature easy to find if you don’t have a shuffle.

**** 20- And 24-Inch Aluminum iMacs (2009 Edition) <http://www.macworld.com/article/139322/2009/03/imacs_2009.html?lsrc=rss_main>
by Roman Loyola, Macworld

The iMac continues to be a desktop Mac that’s powerful enough to please both general consumers and professionals.

**** iPod Shuffle Control Scheme <http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2009/03/13/ipod-shuffle-control-scheme/>
by Lukas Mathis, Ignore The Code

It’s important to remember that not everyone will use every feature of the Shuffle.

**** 3G Phons Exposing Networks' Last-Gen Technology <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/technology/14phone.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>
by Matt Richtel, New York Times

**** Apple Adds Still More DRM To iPod Shuffle <http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/apple-adds-still-more-drm-ipod-shuffle>
by Fred von Lohmann, Electronic Frontier Foundation

According to the careful reviewers at iLounge, third-party headphone makers will have to use yet-another Apple "authentication chip" if they want to interoperate with the new Shuffle.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** In Hard Times, Freelancers Turn To The Web <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/business/smallbusiness/13freelance.html?ref=technology>
by Dan Fost, New York Times

Several online companies are easing the transition to a freelance economy for workers and employers.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** China's Way Forward <http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200904/chinese-innovation>
by James Fallows, The Atlantic

Idle factories, moored container ships, widespread bankruptcies, massive migration back to the hinterlands, strangely clean air—the signs of depression are everywhere in China. Because it makes so many of the goods the world isn’t buying now, China stands to be worse hit than the rest of the world —just as America was during the Depression, when it was the world’s sweatshop. But like America then, China will use tough times to design innovative products that will get it the high profits and the high-value jobs Americans kept to themselves for decades. And that is very bad news for the United States, unless it uses tough times to reinvent itself, too.

**** Unwed Language <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/books/review/Shea-t.html?_r=1>
by Ammon Shea, New York Times

“Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue” is by no means a complete chronicle of our language. McWhorter is more interested in, as the subtitle puts it, “the untold history of English.”

**** Newspapers And Thinking The Unthinkable <http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/03/newspapers-and-thinking-the-unthinkable/>
by Clay Shirky

We don’t know who the Aldus Manutius of the current age is. It could be Craig Newmark, or Caterina Fake. It could be Martin Nisenholtz, or Emily Bell. It could be some 19 year old kid few of us have heard of, working on something we won’t recognize as vital until a decade hence. Any experiment, though, designed to provide new models for journalism is going to be an improvement over hiding from the real, especially in a year when, for many papers, the unthinkable future is already in the past.

**** Domestic Disturbances <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/books/review/Bakopoulos-t.html>
by Dean Bakopoulos, New York Times

In this short but complex first novel, a couple’s search for a missing cradle becomes a life-rattling trip.

**** Banishing The Ghosts In Cambodia <http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/travel/15cambodia.html?ref=travel>
by Henry Alford, New York Times

To many Americans, Cambodia means only two things — the majestic temples of Angkor Wat and the Killing Fields of Phnom Penh. But there’s another Cambodia — the southern coast — that is beginning to emerge as a popular alternative to the heavily trafficked beaches of Thailand. Here, in towns like Sihanoukville — which, in its heyday in the 1960s, used to draw visitors like Jackie Kennedy and Catherine Deneuve — travelers are exploring the unusual pleasures that occur at the intersection of the luxurious present and the ravaged past.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Protection From Harm: One Set Of Rules For Political Elites And Another Set Of Rules For Common Folk <http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=2482>
by Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net

When the chief justice, Law Minister and AG collectively proclaim at the opening of the legal year in the Supreme Court in January that the law “won’t tolerate attacks” on the judiciary, yet the authorities continually allow attacks on the citizenry to go unpunished or even uninvestigated, you know there is one set of rules for the powers-that-be and another for those who are in fact their rightful masters.

**** Hostel Residents: Others Have Run Naked Before <http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,195669,00.html?>
by New Paper

While an NUS spokesman said it was the 'first time that an incident of this nature has taken place', some residents of Eusoff Hall told The New Paper that streaking was not a new thing.

**** Expensive City <http://thinkformesingapore.blogspot.com/2009/03/expensive-city.html>
by Think For Me, Singapore

**** Opposition Chance Of Winning A GRC Limited Unless They Overcome Their Achilles Heel <http://wayangparty.com/?p=6360>
by Fang Zhi Yuan, The Wayang Party Club

While I applaud the opposition parties for starting their ground work now, it is unlikely they are able to win a GRC if there is no paradigm shift in their collective electoral strategy.

**** Weakest Link In Aljunied GRC? Just Move It Out, Says PAP Activist <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/03/weakest-link-in-aljunied-grc-just-move-it-out-says-pap-activist/>
by The Online Citizen

**** Malaysia's YTL To Revive Bullet Train Project - Report <http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSKLR47256520090314>
by Reuters

Malaysia's power-to-property conglomerate YTL Corp is planning to revive a project to build a bullet train link between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, a Malaysian newspaper reported on Saturday, citing unidentified sources.

**** Unnerved By A Deathly Vibe <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/14/focus/3466821&sec=focus>
by Seah Chiang Nee, The Star

Despite the republic’s relatively moderate global standing, the levels of stress and suicides, especially among youths, are rising.

**** PAP Member's Telling 'Insight' <http://tankianhwee.blogspot.com/2009/03/pap-members-telling-insight.html>
by A Blog Day's Work

If this was not a misquote, it shows even PAP members are of the opinion that their party has control over the electoral boundaries and indirectly implies that the electoral boundaries commission, convened before every general election, is not independent.

**** Singapore Takes Journal Editor To Court - Report <http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-38503720090314>
by Reuters

The move comes almost four months after a Singapore court found the Wall Street Journal in contempt of court for publishing the same three articles, and fined it S$25,000 ($16,580).

**** Singapore High Court Take On WSJ In Legal Battle - A Political Miscalculation? <http://givemesometruth.wordpress.com/2009/03/14/singapore-high-court-take-on-wsj-in-legal-battle-a-political-miscalculation/>
by Gimme Some Truth!

Our courts give the impression of one insecure about their credibility. Furthermore, to the people who always held doubts about our courts independence, rather than convincing them otherwise, this move will likely fortify their perceptions that there’s some wrong and biased about our courts.

**** “七层楼”逐层拆　下周烟灭历史中 <http://www.zaobao.com/sp/sp090314_530.shtml>
by 赵琬仪, 联合早报

坐落在梧槽路的七层楼酒店的拆除工程自上个月28日开始，预计在下个星期五（20日）完成。这家在去年12月结束营业，拥有55年历史的酒店正式走进历史。

**** 街道之死 <http://www.zaobao.com/fk/fk090314_502.shtml>
by 林仁余, 联合早报

组屋区没有了邻里商店，大家当然得冲向市镇中心，钻进购物中心里。

**** Taking It Easy <http://yawshinleong.blogspot.com/2009/03/taking-it-easy.html>
by Yaw Shin Leong

The present WP is no longer overly concerned whether a particular GRC is to be broken up etc. From Anson SMC to Eunos GRC to Cheng San GRC, we have seen it all. Even if all of our previously contested GRCs are to be broken up, so be it. 

**** More Trains At Pioneer MRT Station Please <http://www.straitstimes.com/ST%2BForum/Online%2BStory/STIStory_349817.html>
by Oh Chee Siong, Straits Times

**** Northwest CDC Mayor Says PA, WDA Decide On Staff Pay, Bonuses <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/415302/1/.html>
by Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia

An online outcry has broken out over rumours that two staff from the Northwest Community Development Council (CDC) received bonuses of eight months last year, including the 13th month bonus.

When asked about the matter at an event for needy families on Saturday, Northwest CDC's mayor, Dr Teo Ho Pin, said bonuses and salaries of CDC staff are decided by the People's Association (PA) and, in the case of officers, the Workforce Development Agency (WDA).

I think Teo Ho Pin has more or less admitted that there are staff in Northwest CDC that did receive eight months' bonus.