[MyAppleMenu] Dec 3, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** iPad Withdrawal <http://ipadwatcher.com/2010/12/01/ipad-withdrawal/>
Mauricio Longo, iPad Watcher

I already knew that some people get iPhone withdrawal, but it hadn’t really occurred to me that the same would be true of the iPad, as the iPhone seems to be even a bit more personal as you can always have it in your pocket.

**** Apple Discontinues Compact Wired Keyboard, Hulu Plus Claims Strong Start <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/02/apple_discontinues_compact_wired_keyboard_hulu_plus_claims_strong_start.html>
Katie Marsal, AppleInsider

Apple has silently removed the compact wired keyboard from its online store. The product is no longer available for purchase, and it cannot be selected as an option when configuring a new Mac.

**** Ripping And Playing Audiobooks <http://www.macworld.com/article/136824/2010/12/audiobooks.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

If you buy your own CDs, ripping audiobooks is simple, but you’ll likely want to do so differently from the way you rip music. You won’t want to use the same import settings, because spoken word recordings don’t need the same audio quality as music.

**** Neu 1.0.1 <http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/739162/review/neu_101.html?expand=true&lsrc=rss_main>
Dan Frakes, Macworld

With Neu running, whenever you’re working in a Finder window, you can use Neu in one of five ways to create a new document.

**** iPad Apps To The Rescue <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/12/02/ipad-apps-to-the-rescue/>
Erica Sadun, TUAW

This post isn't about how the iPhone saved one guy's life after the Haiti Earthquakes. Here's how iPad applications can fix your workday with simple, helpful solutions that will free you from the laptop and live "la vida tablet." We've got five real world scenarios, including the iPad apps that will be there for you.

**** Become A Mac OS X Power User The Easy Way <http://blogs.computerworld.com/17458/become_a_mac_os_x_power_user_the_easy_way>
Jonny Evans, Computerworld

Mac OS X contains many shortcuts, special keyboard combinations you can exercise to make things happen, but unless you make the effort to learn them there's no guarantee you'll recall the one you need at the time you most need it. Fear no more: there's ways to make finding shortcuts easier. Bring out your inner power user

**** Retailers Building Their Own iPod Touch, iPad POS Systems <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/02/retailers_building_their_own_ipod_touch_ipad_pos_systems.html>
Daniel Eran Dilger, AppleInsider

Apple's open, third party iOS ecosystem is enabling retailers to build mobile point of sale devices based on the iPod touch independently of the EasyPay solution used in its own retail stores, with new retail applications of the iPad also in progress. 

**** Hide And Show Desktop Icons On OS X With An Automator Service <http://lifehacker.com/5704241/hide-and-show-desktop-icons-on-os-x-with-an-automator-service>
Whitson Gordon, Lifehacker

**** Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak Is A Silicon Valley Treasure <http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_16763445?nclick_check=1>
Mike Cassidy, San Jose Mercury News

**** Apple MobileMe (2010) <http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/732534/review/mobileme_2010.html?expand=true&lsrc=rss_main>
Joe Kissell, Macworld

On the whole, the current version of MobileMe is an improvement over what was available two years ago, although it’s of uneven quality. But then, not all MobileMe features are equally important to all users. If you plan to use only e-mail and Web hosting, for example, it’s hard to justify spending $99 on the service. However, if you use most of its features or don’t want to register for, install, learn, and configure products from a variety of vendors to get most of the same features, MobileMe is a bargain.

**** Create A Gift Collage From Your Favorite Photos <http://www.macworld.com/article/156077/2010/12/collagegift.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Chris McVeigh, Macworld

**** Apple Won't Allow Demos, Trials, Betas On Mac App Store <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/12/03/apple_wont_allow_demos_trials_betas_on_mac_app_store.html>
Sam Oliver, AppleInsider

Apple this week provided more information to developers regarding its forthcoming Mac App Store, and informed them that, unlike on iOS, trial versions of software will not be allowed.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Monsters, Inc. <http://www.thesmartset.com/article/article12021001.aspx>
Stefany Anne Golberg, The Smart Set

On the seriousness of Archimboldo's silly creatures.

**** The Sky Mall Stimulus <http://www.slate.com/id/2276349/>
Timothy Noah, Slate

This Christmas, why not make your gifts especially expensive and thoughtless?

**** The Salad Daze: Farewell, Young & Hungry <http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2010/12/02/the-salad-daze-farewell-young-hungry/>
Tim Carman, Washington City Paper

Don’t worry. I’m not going to turn my farewell column into some sentimental, revisionist claptrap about how journalism needs more editors who treat their reporters like Bo Pelini treats his star quarterback. No, I’m just reflecting back on how much things have changed in five years, starting with the very job I’m leaving. Back in February 2006, when I officially became the paper’s next Young & Hungry, I wrote exactly one column a week. I went through at least three drafts on each column. I answered further questions from the copy desk. I didn’t blog at all. We didn’t even have a blog at City Paper. And today? Well, let’s just say I miss the old work load.



SingaporeSurf
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**** AVA Puts Trans Fat Plan On Hold <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC101203-0000165/AVA-puts-trans-fat-plan-on-hold>
Lynda Hong Ee Lyn, Today

The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) had initially planned to limit the amount of trans fat in locally sold fats and oil products, such as butter, margarine, shortening and cooking oil, to no more than two per cent. But MediaCorp has learnt that this has been postponed. 

When contacted, an AVA spokesperson said: "Details of the trans fat requirements are still under review and have yet to be finalised."

**** Hold Bus Services To Higher Standards <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC101203-0000154/Hold-bus-services-to-higher-standards>
Richard Hartung, Today

If we're going to get people to ride the bus and like it, moving to the levels of New York or Paris could help. While the PTC does measure 11 standards, tracking others like "regularity" or "customer satisfaction" as is done in Sydney and setting higher targets such as arriving within three minutes of the scheduled time - rather than "at least 80 per cent of bus services to operate at headway (frequencies) of not more than 10 minutes during weekday (excluding public holidays) peak periods" - could lead to higher service levels. 

**** Young Leaders For MPs <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_609929.html>
Jessica Lim And Kor Kian Beng, Straits Times

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) wants at least one or two young union leaders to be elected MPs at the next general election.

Its secretary-general Lim Swee Say expressed this hope on Thursday when he disclosed that the NTUC had put forward a 'handful' of potential candidates aged 35 and younger for the People's Action Party (PAP) to consider.

**** Going All Out In The Name Of Politic <http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/12/03/going-all-out-in-the-name-of-politics/>
Faris, Yahoo!

Touching on the GE, Mr Goh singled out three “hot-button” issues that would dominate campaigning after Nomination Day: health care, population and foreign talent policy. In particular, he also highlighted public housing which “will no doubt be a key issue because it affects 80 per cent of the people”.

**** Old-style History Lessons Now History <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2010/12/03/old-style-history-lessons-now-history/>
Yawning Bread

I got a sense that while change was in progress, much of it was still in a state of experimentation. And if some students are to be believed, things ought to go even further.

**** Enrich Or Die? <http://blogs.straitstimes.com/2010/12/2/enrich-or-die>
Ng Tze Yong, Straits Times

The moral of the story, at least to me, is as clear as it is sad. It is: If you don't believe in the system, you'd better get out of it. If you choose to remain, you better play along.

**** The Problem With The GRC System Of Election In Its Current Form Is That... <http://just-my-observation.blogspot.com/2010/12/problem-with-grc-system-of-election-in.html>
Just My Observation

What decent explanation has the PAP to give for swelling up GRCs whilst diluting minority representation- doesn’t this action go against the cause for which the GRC system of elections was implemented in the first place?

In my mind, the PAP govt has both effectively betrayed the minorities and successfully sidelined the opposition.

**** Can Singapore Become A Start-up Hub? <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11880726>
Peter Day, BBC

Singapore is one of those start-from-almost-nowhere countries that has gone up like a rocket, propelled by a then visionary belief that international banks and corporations needed an offshore beachhead in Asia.

Now the multinationals want to be onshore and up to their necks in China. Singapore has to find way of staying ahead of expectations. Its prosperous people will have to heed the senior minister's message of ten years ago, and start taking risks.

**** Singapore In Tough Environmental Balancing Act <http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hJGxCtiLRjnmY72EkFK1c5Mz_Ujw?docId=CNG.33be1f10f106ddf0b556268c38d6abda.1d1>
Martin Abbugao, AFP

Singapore prides itself on being a clean and green city but a booming economy and a high-consumption lifestyle have made it one of the world's biggest carbon polluters per person.

"If everyone in the world enjoyed the same level of consumption as the average Singaporean, we would need three planets to meet the demands placed on our resources," World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) spokesman Chris Chaplin said.

**** Chee Calls On Judiciary To Abide By Int'l Norms <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4391-chee-calls-on-judiciary-to-abide-by-intl-norms>
Singapore Democrat Party

**** Effective Governance With Freedom – Separating The Social From The Critical <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/12/effective-governance-with-freedom-separating-the-social-from-the-critical/>
Howard Lee, The Online Citizen

Singaporeans recognise that strong-arm politics has served us well in the past, but it does not mean that we would trade in the current level of freedom, exasperatingly limited and fleeting as it may seem at times, as a compromise for getting things done. Warnings that we will slip into chaos unless we accept affirmative rule is not just unacceptable, but also the least fashionable thing to say.

**** OpenNet Brouhaha Due To Communication Problems With Contractors <http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC101203-0000172/OpenNet-brouhaha-due-to-communication-problems-with-contractors>
Francis Zhan, Association Of Management Corporations In Singapore, Today

Fibre-optic cables is just another form of cable and could easily be treaded alongside television cable, yet OpenNet is unable to do their job without the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore issuing a threat. Is there not a communication problem here?

**** Why Singapore Is Connecting With Fibre Too <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/why-singapore-is-connecting-with-fibre-too/story-e6frg6z6-1225964988917>
Jennifer Hewett, The Australian

The island state's NBN provides an interesting comparison with our model.