[MyAppleMenu] Oct 20, 2009

applesurf at myapplemenu.com applesurf at myapplemenu.com
Tue Oct 20 18:59:00 EDT 2009

MyAppleMenu
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**** As More Turn To iPhones, Companies Look For Help <http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/technology/bal-boxtone1019,0,1132754.story>
Gus G. Sentementes, Baltimore Sun

Watch out, BlackBerry. The iPhone is creeping into the workplace – and that's a good thing for BoxTone.

**** Is Apple's Stock Getting Ahead Of Itself? <http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-apples-stock-getting-ahead-of-itself-2009-10-19>
MarketWatch

They were downright giddy after the company reported even stronger than expected earnings for the fourth fiscal quarter, though some on Wall Street had also questioned whether expectations for such strong results were already baked into the stock, which has more than doubled this year and touched the $200 mark in after-hours trading Monday for the first time since January of 2008.

**** News: Snow Leopard Sales More Than Double Leopard Sales <http://www.pheedcontent.com/click.phdo?i=4de43b8f25d872461fb793854cded926>
Jeff Gamet, The Mac Observer

Sales of Mac OS X, or Snow Leopard, clocked in at more than double compared to Leopard for the first five weeks each OS was available. Apple confirmed the strong Snow Leopard figure during the company's fourth quarter earnings conference call on Monday afternoon.

**** Apple Taketh And Apple Giveth (Sometimes) <http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/10/19/apple-taketh-and-apple-giveth-sometimes/>
Yukari Iwatani Kane, Wall Street Journal

While the Cupertino, Calif., company has made some improvements, such as speeding up the approval process, it’s clear to developers Jon Myers and Chuck Hootman that Apple continues to work in mysterious ways — though they’re not complaining this time.

**** Apple: All Systems Go <http://news.google.com/news/url?fd=R&sa=T&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessweek.com%2Ftechnology%2Fcontent%2Foct2009%2Ftc20091019_072433.htm&usg=AFQjCNHbBmNqhtq0W15zUbmrjU1er-Knbw>
BusinessWeek

**** Apple Retail Stores Achieve Highest Quarterly Revenue Ever <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/10/19/apple_retail_stores_achieve_highest_quarterly_revenue_ever.html>
AppleInsider

New customers and new computers helped drive a record-setting quarter for Apple's Retail Stores, bringing in the company's highest quarterly revenue ever.

**** How Low Will Apple Go On Price? <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ByteOfTheApple/blog/archives/2009/10/how_low_will_ap.html>
Peter Burrows, BusinessWeek

**** Apple Defies Gravity <http://blogs.reuters.com/commentaries/2009/10/20/apple-defies-gravity/>
Lance Knobel, Reuters

Here’s how bullish Steve Jobs and his colleagues at Infinite Loop in Cupertino feel: After a blowout September quarter, the forward guidance they are offering for the December quarter is comically modest. In the tech world, people have long known that Jobs loves messing with the expectations of both competitors and his legions of Apple fanboys. He plays his games with the financial world as well.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** That Tune, Named <http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=53a15366a99c84e363b3ea47804e9c8a>
Farhad Manjoo, Slate Magazine

How does the music-identifying app Shazam work its magic?



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Beauty And The Bento Box <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=7937180f273af977571a8d073fd276ae>
John Maeda, Kenya Hara, Nick Currie, Denis Dutton, New York Times

What does the care devoted to the visual details in a packed lunch suggest about the culture? Why is such value placed on aesthetics in everyday life in Japan?

**** Rethinking What Leads The Way: Science, Or New Technology? <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=344714b4fe23e6cb9314cbab3dd6604d>
John Markoff, New York Times

The popular view is that technology is the handmaiden of science — less pure, more commercial. But in “The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves,” W. Brian Arthur, an economist, reframes the relationship between science and technology as part of an effort to come up with a comprehensive theory of innovation.

**** The Demons That Drove John Cheever <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/18/john-cheever-blake-bailey>
Rachel Cooke, Guardian

John Cheever, brilliant chronicler of American suburbia led a tortured double life filled with sexual guilt, alcoholism and self-loathing.

**** The Horses <http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=a5476358dba9fa3a1ffcb8c7b9028415>
Rachel Richardson, Slate Magazine



SingaporeSurf
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**** No Cap On Liability <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC091020-0000063/No-cap-on-liability>
Imelda Saad, Today

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has said "no" to placing a cap on the maximum medical liability of an employer for foreign maids brought here to work.

**** Should ERP Charges Apply When Accidents Cause Jams? <http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC091020-0000052/Should-ERP-charges-apply-when-accidents-cause-jams?>
Alan Lee, Today

Drivers can choose to pay a small premium for smoother traffic and less congestion. However, this begs the question: Should drivers still have to pay for the use of roads which are congested due to accidents?

This, I believe, is a myth. ERP cannot survive as a payment to avoid congestion. It is a tax for congestion. If the road is congested and you still drive into it, I would suggest you should pay even more ERP.

**** Reducing Cost Of Public Housing: Some Policy Suggestions <http://geraldgiam.sg/2009/10/reducing-cost-of-public-housing-some-policy-suggestions/>
Gerald Giam

This government needs to bite the bullet and clean up its own mess – even if it means losing some votes – for the sake of future generations of Singaporeans.

Instead, the government in recent years continued to push the cost of living in order to chase after the older, richer voters.

**** The Singapore Asset Recovery Is A False Recovery! <http://singaporeanskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/10/do-our-economic-planners-even-read-text.html>
Singaporean Skeptic

Correct me if I am wrong. The stock market increase is driven mainly by a flight from low interest rates. How much of it is due to proper economic fundamentals?

**** Liability For Maid’s Medical Bills: Stop Pushing The Whole Buck To Employers <http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=3654>
Sgpolitics.net

It is ridiculous and cold-hearted to force households to take on such potentially large risks on their own. Unlike corporations, households don’t hire foreign help for a profit motive. They do so because the elderly or the young need care.

This is nonsense. By all means, help the households who need help in elderly and child care, but I do not think that the majority of households who hire maids are so desperate for cheap help labour that they cannot survive without a maid.

**** 新加坡：不放过一个潜在人才 <http://news.google.com/news/url?fd=R&sa=T&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffinance.ifeng.com%2Fnews%2Fhqcj%2F20091020%2F1353083.shtml&usg=AFQjCNFrqmxo7YXSRADlmz5xw3RZkcebTQ>
覃木, 凤凰网

新加坡为何拥有这样的魅力，让东方人和西方人都在这里工作、生活，成为新加坡人？

**** Social Divide 'Inevitable' <http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_444281.html>
Jeremy Au Yong, Straits Times

Having a minimum wage in place here to narrow the income gap could do more harm than good, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said last night. In fact, every country that has set a minimum wage over what the market will bear has found that the move cuts jobs, he noted. Employers who are forced to deal with higher staff costs would simply find ways to hire less people.

So we are not doing a minimum wage scheme just to cover up the fact that we have no idea how to create enough good and sustainable jobs?

**** What Singapore Can Teach The White House <http://news.google.com/news/url?fd=R&sa=T&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052748704500604574483712417152696.html&usg=AFQjCNE94j44HcPbkQmwxjqJByYkYtu1AA>
Wall Street Journal

Critics of this island-nation often have fun referring to it as the "nanny state" for its laws against spitting, littering, or leaving behind an unflushed loo. When it comes to health care, however, Uncle Sam has better claim to the nanny title.

**** Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum: The Lion, The Young And The Orchestra <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/10/kent-ridge-ministerial-forum-the-lion-the-young-and-the-orchestra/>
Khairulanwar Zaini, The Online Citizen

We are all Lee’s children, and as far as we remain so, we will be cursed to settle for the pale imitations of a nation, one never true, never substantive, never moving. We are all Lee’s children, and this knowledge must have been of great comfort to the Father as he laid last night to repose, for every cry “For Singapore!” is one “For Lee Kuan Yew!” – the nation of Lee will prevail, that mechanical, technocratic and bureaucratic edifice, it lives on in the meek and soulless monotony of the young.

**** 消费者该用钱包说话 <http://www.zaobao.com/sp/sp091020_022.shtml>
游润恬, 联合早报

民众惯性地把湿巴刹的去留问题推给政府去决定。如卫生部长许文远日前所说，居民不能只一味地要求保留湿巴刹，而应以行动去支持，如果居民不光顾湿巴刹，摊贩生意惨淡、负担不了租金，那么就算湿巴刹不被收购，也难以维持下去。湿巴刹如果无法面对超市的强力竞争，始终会被人们抛弃。

Think: there are so many things that will not survive in the market, but we still keep them. From minority television programming to police and fire service, we as a society decides to pay for it as a common good. Why not good cheaper food for the poorer among us?

**** Singapore Maintains Secrecy Over Death Penalty Stats <http://theasiafile.blogspot.com/2009/10/singapore-maintains-secrecy-over-death.html>
Ben Bland, The Asia File

If the government is not willing to release this information in the first place, then how are people supposed to research the issue in a credible and accurate manner?

**** PAP Says: "You Die. Your Business." You Still Vote For Them. <http://singaporeanskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/10/pap-says-your-life-is-your-business-and.html>
Singaporean Skeptic

I always wondered why Singaporeans vote for the PAP when they are constantly berated and insulted by the ruling party. What's worse, our lives have actually gotten worse over the past 10 years. The best analogy I can think of is that of a battered wife.

**** MM Lee : Social Divide Inevitable <http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2009/10/mm-lee-social-divide-inevitable.html>
Diary of A Singaporean Mind

MM Lee now tells us that the income gap is inevitable. The resentment among the population caused by the income gap and rising cost of living is also inevitable. When people are resentful and the govt does nothing about a problem except to blame it on everything else but themselves, it is also inevitable what the voters do at the ballot box.

**** KRMF 2009 -- A Stage-Managed Event <http://searchingforenlightenment.blogspot.com/2009/10/krmf-2009-stage-managed-event.html>
Random Thoughts Of A Free Thinker

**** Southeast Asia To Have Rights Monitor <http://news.google.com/news/url?fd=R&sa=T&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2009%2F10%2F20%2FAR2009102000051.html&usg=AFQjCNHOJYoHHgrCeisfaGimQ0NV_27MWg>
Associated Press

Southeast Asian nations unveil a landmark human rights watchdog this week, but critics charge that it will be both toothless and include in its membership one of the world's worst human rights offenders - military-ruled Myanmar.

**** No Pageant Regulation <http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_444339.html>
Felicia Wong, Straits Times

While the Government cares about Singapore's branding, it does not see a need to regulate beauty pageants as it believes that the 'market discipline' imposed by sponsors will keep such events in check. Minister for trade and industry Lim Hng Kiang said beauty pageants are run as businesses and the organisers rely heavily sponsorship for funding. As such, they risk backlash from sponsors for badly-organised events.

Is there an approval for anything goes, so long as sponsors are okay? Hmmmm....

**** Benchmarking Affordability Of New HDB Flats <http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/10/19/benchmarking-affordability-of-new-hdb-flats/>
The Temasek Review

**** Does A Single Party State Lead To Dictatorship? <http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/10/19/does-a-single-party-state-leads-to-dictatorship/>
Manisha Kumari, The Temasek Review

**** Arrests Before APEC: Police Power Expanded With Singapore's New Law <http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/24042/>
Charlotte Cuthbertson, The Epoch Times

The arrest of a 70-year-old Singaporean man last week has seen the collision of freedoms expressed under constitutional law with new laws that give police arbitrary powers. Singapore’s Public Order Bill, introduced in April this year, was invoked for the first time for the arrest of Chua Eng Chwee on Oct. 14.

**** More Lots, Higher Priority For Regular Users As Part Of Park & Ride Scheme Revamp <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1012514/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

**** MM Lee: “Never Mind The Gini Coefficient!” <http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/10/20/mm-lee-never-mind-the-gini-coefficient/>
The Temasek Review

MM Lee forgot to mention the fact that though it is important to create jobs for the people, measures must be put in place to ensure that the wages are sufficient for them to maintain a minimum standard of living.

**** Spoken Like An Emperor (with No Clothes) <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/2942-spoken-like-an-emperor-with-no-clothes>
Singapore Democrats

Depriving workers the ability to speak up while allowing corporations to dictate wage levels is not market forces. It is bad policy making. It is exploitation. It is greed.

It is also unsustainable. Society is going to be so drained of spirit if we keep paying our workers lower and lower wages that our competitiveness and productivity will be critically undermined.




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