[MyAppleMenu] Nov 13, 2009

applesurf at myapplemenu.com applesurf at myapplemenu.com
Fri Nov 13 18:59:00 EST 2009

MyAppleMenu
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**** Apple Banks On Retail Stores <http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10396757-266.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Apple>
Marguerite Reardon, CNET News

Apple's latest store in Manhattan is part of a bigger plan to win new customers through its retail strategy.

**** De-glitched, The C64's Up And Running Again <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=21af9301b71afeaaf870e52eeb2ad813>
Stephen Williams, New York Times

The on-again, off-again Commodore 64 app for Apple is on again in the iTunes app store, now improved over the original version that appeared—but only briefly—in September.

**** Apple's Modest Addition To The Upper West Side <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=e115152b0dab4982beec033a0e900faa>
Saul Hansell, New York Times

A glass and marble palace on New York's Upper West Side is the latest in Apple's retail chain that makes nearly as much per store as Macy's does from locations 30 times larger.

**** Apple's 'Significant Store' Strategy <http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/11/12/apples-significant-store-strategy/>
Andrew LaVallee, Wall Street Journal

Apple said Thursday that it expects to open 40 to 50 new retail locations next year and that it will focus on bigger flagship stores in major cities.

**** Taking iPhone To New Depths <http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/profiles/doer/?sr=hotnews.rss>
Apple

iPhone is helping these engineers deploy submarines and subsea rovers all over the world — without breaking the bank.

**** Research: Apple’s iPhone Owns 17% Of Smartphone Market <http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cultofmac/bFow/~3/t3_z9NSGh1g/21106>
Ed Sutherland, Cult of Mac

Apple’s iPhone now accounts for 17 percent of global smartphone sales, propelled by a nearly 50 percent growth rate for the third quarter, new research released Thursday indicates. Cupertino’s rising star in worldwide smartphone demand is expected to only increase as the iPhone becomes available in China and more carriers begin offering the popular cell phone.

**** Looking At The Changes To Snow Leopard's Top Command <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=911972303d30839ed26bb7932440122c>
Rob Griffiths, Macworld

Learn about some key changes to the Unix 'top' command in Snow Leopard.

**** Undercover 1.5 Ousts iPhone Thieves With Push Notifications <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=58961fec2d0417f1317c5e96fa2ae076>
Nicholas Bonsack, Macworld

Orbicule's Undercover 1.5 for iPhone introduces clever push notifications to the iPhone tracking app, specifically made to fool a thief into exposing his whereabouts.

**** Inside Apple's Newest Temple <http://gizmodo.com/5403255/inside-the-apple-temple>
Matt Buchanan, Gizmodo

While every Apple Store is in some sense a place of reverence, the new Upper West Side store unabashedly evokes that feeling: The top floor's a vast open space, enclosed by spartan stone walls which support a massive glass ceiling.

**** Apple's Newest Retail Masterpiece <http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-newest-retail-masterpiece-2009-11?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29>
Dan Frommer, The Business Insider

It's hard to get excited about most new stores, but this one -- from the outside, at least -- looks gorgeous.

**** It's Harder To Get A Job At The Apple Store Than It Is To Get Into Harvard <http://www.businessinsider.com/its-harder-to-get-a-job-at-the-apple-store-than-it-is-to-get-into-harvard-2009-11>
Dan Frommer, The Business Insider

At a press event today, Apple said that 10,000 people submitted applications to work at the new store on Manhattan's Upper West Side, according to Gizmodo's Matt Buchanan. Of those, just over 200 got jobs, for a 2% acceptance rate.

**** Apple's Global Retail Invasion <http://www.cnbc.com/id/33885343/site/14081545?__source=yahoo%7Cheadline%7Cquote%7Ctext%7C&par=yahoo>
Jim Goldman, CNBC

Apple now says it will open 40 to 50 new Apple stores this year, compared to earlier estimates of 25 to 50; over half the openings will be international, including locations in the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, China, and Australia. In fact, Apple will be opening its second stores in London, Paris and Shanghai.

**** Airfoil Speakers Touch 1.0.1 Finally Ships <http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/2009/11/13/airfoil-speakers-touch-1-0-1-finally-ships/>
Paul Kafasis, Rogue Amoeba

Today, over three and a half months after we initially submitted our bug fix update for review, it’s finally available. So what happened?

**** With iTunes’ Variable Pricing, Fewer Hit Song Sales Still Mean More Money For Apple <http://gigaom.com/2009/11/12/with-itunes-variable-pricing-fewer-hit-song-sales-still-mean-more-money-for-apple/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%29>
Paul Bonanos, GigaOM

When it comes to selling a song online, 30 cents means a lot. Sales of hit songs in Apple’s iTunes store have dipped 6 percent since April, in part due to a new variable song pricing structure that has driven up the price of most hits to $1.29, data from a new study by Billboard’s Glenn Peoples shows. But popular tracks by Lady GaGa, Miley Cyrus and their ilk are keeping their market share in comparison with the remainder of the music market, and Apple’s revenue from sales of the more expensive hit songs appears to be rising faster than consumers are turning away.

**** How You Can Become One Of Apple's Star iPhone App Reviewers <http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-looking-for-iphone-apps-reviewers-2009-11?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29>
Alaska Miller, The Business Insider

**** Store Photos Outside Of iPhoto's Library <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=5ae12527a9413d837e87e449a0560e06>
Derrick Story, Macworld

By storing files outside of iPhoto’s database, you can stay in control and share with other programs.

**** Apple Unveils Browser-based iTunes Preview <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/13/apple_unveils_browser_based_itunes_preview.html>
Apple Insider

Apple has updated links generated via iTunes to direct to a Web site called iTunes Preview, which gives customers the option to view content without launching the application.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Clicker Aims To Be The Path To TV Online <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6671eed6b04db03e7abaf4112a11c622>
Miguel Helft, New York Times

A new service called Clicker.com aims to help users find television shows across the web.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Big Idea: Origami <http://feeds.nationalgeographic.com/click.phdo?i=13a0adfb46fe3c5acab0fe242ede1e14>
National Geographic Magazine

Anything can be made with origami—from birds and bugs to stents and space telescopes. It's just a matter of math.















**** Facing Down the Fanatics <http://feeds.nationalgeographic.com/click.phdo?i=0998325cf96a4361e8e9824e3bbfb53e>
Michael Finkel, National Geographic Magazine

A more tolerant Islam is confronting extremism in the world's most populous Muslim country.









**** The Misuses Of Darwin <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/12/darwin-social-darwinism-sewell?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
Simon Underdown, Guardian

The idea that Darwin is to blame for high school massacres and far-right politics is a huge intellectual mistake.

**** Axler's Theater <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23430?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nybooks+%28The+New+York+Review+of+Books%29>
Elaine Blair, The New York Review of Books

One of the rare funny moments in Philip Roth's recent novel Everyman (2006) takes place when the unnamed hero visits his parents' graves in Newark. His health has been poor, his colleagues and friends have been dying, and though he has no reason to think that his own death is imminent, he can no longer pretend to himself that he will never die. In this frame of mind, he finds himself talking to the buried bones of his parents. "I'm seventy-one, your boy is seventy-one," he tells them. In his mind, he hears his mother reply: "Good. You lived."

**** Screen Memories <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=126648e8d1de7168f6f7696590207e84>
A. O. Scott, New York Times

Perhaps the easiest and most satisfying way to make sense of the unruly cinematic abundance of the past 10 years is to sift through it for masters and masterpieces, kicking the tires to see what has been built to last. Whatever else was going on, a handful of great filmmakers made a handful of great films, just as in other decades.



SingaporeSurf
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**** The Exodus Has Started ... <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC091113-0000016/The-exodus-has-started-,,,>
Teo Xuanwei, Today

In recent months, hotels here have lost a "significant" number of rank-and-file workers - especially in back-end departments like laundry, housekeeping and engineering - to the "big boys coming to town", Marina Bay Sands or Resorts World at Sentosa, industry players told MediaCorp.

**** Indonesia, Singapore Pledge To Meet Again <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC091113-0000087/Indonesia,-Singapore-pledge-to-meet-again>
Imelda Saad, Today

Singapore and Indonesia will hold a retreat in six months to review bilateral relations. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced this yesterday after meeting visiting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected recently for a second term in office.

**** Don't Make Divorce Easier <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_453494.html>
Gilbert Goh, Straits Times

I refer to Monday's report, 'Couples in uncontested divorces need not go to court', and wonder if it is the right thing to do to make the divorce process easier in view of escalating troubled marriages.

In my opinion, the right solution should be make marriages stronger, not to make divorces more difficult.

**** $653k For 4-room Flat <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_453762.html>
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times

A four-room Queenstown HDB flat has sold for $653,000, setting a new record for price per sq ft (psf), amid continuing red-hot demand for resale flats.

**** The Increasing Irrelevance Of Mainstream Media In Singapore <http://flaneurose.blogspot.com/2009/11/increasing-irrelevance-of-mainstream.html>
Flaneurose

What government-controlled media cannot endure is not criticism, but being ignored (or drowned out), because that would mean it has lost control of the conversation

**** Fogged Lens <http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2009/yax-1083.htm>
Yawning Bread

The hurdles experienced in organising the screening of Burma VJ and some other short films documenting human rights abuses in Burma. Throws some interesting light on how the Singapore bureaucracy works.

**** Justifying The Public Order Act Through Fear Mongering <http://rachelzeng.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/justifying-the-public-order-act-through-fear-mongering/>
Rachel Zeng's blog

Wonder how much they have spent on creating such a propaganda that leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who have been trying to speak out in as non violent as they can against the authoritarian rule that we have here in Singapore for the past 44 years to improve the lives of their fellow Singaporeans.

**** Singapore And Immigration: A PR Problem <http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14859345&fsrc=rss>
The Economist

Immigration becomes the hot political issue in a model city-state.

**** 'Protectionism' The Bogey At APEC <http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/11/singapore/index.html>
Andrew Stevens and Kevin Voigt, CNN

Singapore lives and dies by the global economy. With no natural resources and a small domestic market, in a generation the city-state transformed itself from the third world British colony into a first world economic power by building its economy on exports and business services.

**** S'pore Joins 'white List' <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_453837.html>
Francis Chan, Straits Times

Singapore has been taken off the 'grey list' and joined the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) 'white list' of financial jurisdictions. This follows the signing of its 12th Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) with France on Friday to incorporate new internationally agreed standard for the exchange of information for tax purposes upon request.

**** Goh Chok Tong: The Pioneer Bond-breaker? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/11/goh-chok-tong-bond-breaker/>
Gangasudhan, The Online Citizen

The circumstances seem to suggest that the young Goh Chok Tong in 1965 could have very well been one of the first few – if not the first – to have broken a civil service bond in Singapore.

**** Chee: Stop The Exploitation Of Workers <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/3063-chee-stop-the-exploitation-of-workers>
Chee Soon Juan, Singapore Democrats

While my colleagues and I have never objected to foreign talent – and let me be on record that we are in need of such talent – the truth is that the Foreign Talent Policy has much to do with foreign but little with talent.

The reality is that the Government exploits cheap foreign labour to suppress local wages. Foreign workers are allowed into Singapore to keep wages low. Wages are kept low so that we can remain attractive to MNCs.

**** 熊猫“旅居”我国　协议只花半年即谈成 <http://www.zaobao.com/sp/sp091113_008.shtml>
联合早报

中国向新加坡提供熊猫进行研究的协议，前后只用了6个月即谈成，快于其他国家与中国合作展开的类似计划。

**** SPH Reiterates 'We Didn't Do It' <http://blogs.straitstimes.com/2009/11/13/sph-reiterates-we-didn-t-do-it>
Geoffrey Pereira, Straits Times

The summary of all this is, in a space of just under a week, TR has gone on overdrive to increase traffic to its site.

It has said so many things – including denying, then accepting, that it had accused SPH of trying to cripple its server – almost in the same breath. Wayang would be an apt term to describe it.

**** Depoliticizing The Upgrading Issue <http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/13/depoliticizing-the-upgrading-issue/>
Kelvin Teo, The Temasek Review

**** One Powerful Reason Why National Library Board Doesn’t Deserve The Singapore Quality Award (SQA) <http://rogerpoh.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/one-powerful-reason-why-national-library-board-doesnt-deserve-the-singapore-quality-award-sqa/>
SpotlightOnSingapore

Noisy public libraries have become the norm because of NLB’s tolerance.

**** Wash And Watch At Singapore Loos <http://news.google.com/news/url?fd=R&sa=T&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthestar.com.my%2Fnews%2Fstory.asp%3Ffile%3D%2F2009%2F11%2F13%2Fnation%2F5100430%26sec%3Dnation&usg=AFQjCNF-fj5P20UERw8KzenjDTGf77LCJw>
Malaysia Star

You can run but you really can’t hide from Big Brother. Even in the loo. Delegates attending the Apec summit are bombarded with a special multimedia presentation when they are answering nature’s call.

**** We Should Be Concerned With Skyrocketing HDB Prices <http://urbanrant.blogspot.com/2009/11/we-should-be-concerned-with.html>
Urban Rant

The new generation in charge of housing and city planning has different objectives. And they probably do not include 'affordable housing' in the same context as before.

**** In Downturn, Luxury Brand Bally Eyes Asia And Beyond <http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE5AC0OM20091113>
Miral Fahmy, Reuters

Luxury goods have largely fallen out of favor in Europe and the United States, but as many Asian economies were not as badly affected, the appetite here remains relatively healthy.

**** Singapore Retail Sales Declined In September; Slump May Ease <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=as12.rI2mgP4>
Shamim Adam, Bloomberg

Singapore’s retail sales fell for a 12th straight month in September, a slump that may ease as the island’s economic recovery and a rebound in tourist arrivals revives spending in the coming months.

**** 央视解读中国与新加坡交往：从学习者到竞争者 <http://news.sina.com.cn/c/sd/2009-11-13/110019040772.shtml>
央视

新加坡是一个很小的城市国家，然而这个面积只有710平方公里，差不多相当于北京市两个区大的小国，却可以做到一些大国不能做到的事情，甚至还可以成为其他国家的榜样。曾几何时，新加坡是中国的榜样。新加坡和中国建交时间并不长，只有19年。本月11号，国家主席胡锦涛开始了对新加坡为期三天的国事访问，这是中国国家主席15年来首次对新加坡进行访问，其意义独特而重大。

**** Sept Retail Sales Slump 8% <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_453850.html>
Straits Times

Singapore's retail sales slumped for a 12th straight month in September, due mainly to lower sales of motor vehicles.

**** Singapore Qualifies For Removal From Tax 'Grey List' <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/00513d14-d034-11de-a8db-00144feabdc0.html>
Kevin Brown, Financial Times

**** MOE Provides More Support In Special Education <http://www.moe.gov.sg/media/press/2009/11/moe-provides-more-support-for.php>
Singapore Government




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