[MyAppleMenu] Dec 13, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** LimpingMe: Apple’s Cloudy Service. <http://www.mondaynote.com/2010/12/13/limpingme-apple’s-cloudy-service/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+monday-note+%28Monday+Note%29>
Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note

Two and half years later, things are better, but MobileMe still looks disjointed, half-hearted, not very competitive. And certainly devoid of the flair and finish of most other Apple offerings.

**** OS X Networking Explained <http://www.techradar.com/news/networking/os-x-networking-explained-913449>
Luis Villazon, TechRadar

How to set up and troubleshoot an OS X network.

**** Version Control For Solo Mac Developers <http://cocoawithlove.com/2010/12/version-control-for-solo-mac-developers.html>
Matt Gallagher, Cocoa With Love

Version control systems protect your work, help you review what you've done, help you share code if needed, work like a massive undo buffer when necessary and help can help you keep your code tidy. Always use one.

**** Google Latitude App For iPhone Finally Arrive <http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20025433-264.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Apple>
Stephen Shankland, CNET

Nearly two years after Google announced its Latitude for tracking friends' locations, the service is available as an application for iOS.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Out Of Our Brains <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/out-of-our-brains/?hp>
Andy Clark, New York Times

As our technologies become better adapted to fit the niche provided by the biological brain, they become more like cognitive prosthetics.

**** Tokyo Hooters Girls <http://www.slate.com/id/2276982/>
Paige Ferrari, Slate

The burgers, beer, and boobs chain opens in Japan.

**** How Real Does It Feel? <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/magazine/12Reality-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine>
A.O. Scott, New York Times

Movies that look or feel like documentaries are much more numerous, and far more perplexing, especially since video truthiness has become the default setting of so much media. When we say “like a documentary,” do we really mean “like one of those sitcoms pretending to be a documentary,” in which characters glance at and sometimes speak directly into the camera? “Like reality television?” “Like the evening news?” Or do we mean something less specific? Do we mean something that tries to make us forget we’re watching a movie, by giving us what seems like direct, raw, unmediated access to characters and their stories? Or do we mean the opposite: a film that reminds us with every awkward cut and jolting camera movement that what we are watching is not the literal truth?

Or both at once?

**** Staying Power <http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2010/12/20/101220crbo_books_mishra>
Pankaj Mishra, New Yorker

This persistence of Mao in official discourse and popular imagination may seem an instance of ideological pathology—the same kind that makes some Russian nationalists get misty-eyed about Stalin. Indeed, the Communist state’s vast propaganda apparatus first exalted Mao to divine status. But then a non-ideological view of Mao has rarely been available in the West, even as he has gone from being a largely benign revolutionary and Third Worldist icon to, more recently, sadistic monster. This is largely due to China’s ever shifting place in the Western imagination. Three new books attest to the difficulty of definitively fixing Mao’s image, a project that amounts to writing a history of China’s present.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Singapore Is The Happiest Place In Asia? Seriously? <http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/life/tell-me-about-it/alexis-ong-singapore-happiest-place-asia-899785>
Alexis Ong, CNNGo

A more accurate statement would be that Singapore is the most contented place in Asia. Content, not happy, because we’re being taken care of so well that it creates a sort of social placebo effect.

**** Five Decades Of PAP Rule And The Disconcerting Opposition. <http://leesjuanpatworld.blogspot.com/2010/12/five-decades-of-pap-rule-and.html>
Leesjuanpat World

That is the PAP of today..High , mighty, no compassion for old folks, for poor and insensitive to the peoples hardship.

**** Of WikiLeaks, Singapore Spies And The SB <http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/150646>
Malaysiakini

**** Transcript Of Minister For Foreign Affairs George Yeo's Interview With The Media On WikiLeaks At The Eurasian House On Sunday 12 December 2010 At 5.00Pm <http://app.mfa.gov.sg/2006/press/view_press_email.asp?post_id=6612>
Ministry Of Foreign Affairs, Singapore Government

Well, it is American law, because if confidential information falls on your laps, then you have the freedom to spread it. This is not the case in many countries, not in Singapore, where you have the Official Secrets Act. If you are in receipt, however accidentally, of confidential information, disseminating it is a crime and you will be prosecuted. It is the case in most countries. But the US takes freedom of information to a point where you can't stop these things from happening. And it goes back to the Vietnam War, when because of the release of the Pentagon papers, a political change happened in that country, and there was a certain loss of faith in the institutions. They are quite determined to maintain that right, even though many of them know that there is a cost to be paid for maintaining that right. 

**** Singapore Plays Down Remarks On Asian Leaders In WikiLeaks Cables <http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1605193.php/Singapore-plays-down-remarks-on-Asian-leaders-in-WikiLeaks-cables>
DPA

Singapore sought to play down critical remarks reportedly made by some of its top diplomats on several Asian leaders, a media report said Monday.

'It's gossip, and it doesn't help,' Singapore foreign minister George Yeo told the Straits Times newspaper, adding that the comments should not have been released.

**** å¸‚é•‡ä¼šç®¡ç†æŠ¥å‘Šæ„ä¹‰ä¸å¤§ï¼Ÿå±…æ°‘ï¼šä¸è¶³ä»¥åæ˜ ç»„å±‹ç®¡ç†æ°´å¹³ã€€è®®å‘˜ï¼šé¡»åŠ å¼ºå®£ä¼  <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp101213_005.shtml>
吴淑贤 王秘, 联合早报

本报昨天访问十多名组屋居民了解他们对管理报告的看法，只有约一半知道这份评估市镇会的成绩单刚出炉，而多数人更认为它并不十分重要。

**** Red Faces In Singapore No Thanks To WikiLeaks <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/12/13/nation/7611481&sec=nation>
The Star

Singapore has become the latest country to be embarrassed by the WikiLeaks’ cables expose which showed that its officials had “bad-mouthed” four Asian neighbours and also supported a conclusion by the Australian intelligence agency on the Sodomy II charges against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

**** Singapore Has To Explain, Say Malaysian Officials <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/12/13/nation/7611688&sec=nation>
The Star

Government officials, when contacted yesterday, said it would be best to wait for Singapore’s explanation before any reaction was given.

“I am sure Singapore will explain soon enough. I am sure some people are already embarrassed with the leak,” said a senior official commenting on leaked US diplomatic cables exposed by WikiLeaks.

**** American Allies Forced To Show Hands <http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/2010/12/american-allies-forced-to-show-hands.html>
My Singapore News

The hallmark of Singapore is all about standing on high moral grounds. Be responsible and respectable in what we say and do. WikiLeaks destroyed all that.

**** MFA Doesn't Comment On Leaks <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1098903/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

A foreign affairs ministry spokesman said as a matter of principle, the ministry does not comment on leaks. 

The spokesman added that these reports are based on American interpretations of confidential conversations that did not provide the full context and, in some cases, were from third party sources.

**** Singapore Discourages Banks From Offering "Hold-mail" Service <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-12/13/c_13646825.htm>
Xinhua

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) sent a circular to banks discouraging the use of hold mail except under exceptional circumstances or unless requested by clients, the Business Times reported on Monday.

**** PKR Demands Apology From Kuan Yew, All Eyes On Altantuya, Rail-land Deal <http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/2010/12/pkr-demands-apology-from-kuan-yew-all.html>
Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Arrogant comments made by top Singapore leaders have infuriated opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters, who have demanded an apology from the republic’s minister mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, for insinuating that the Malaysian leader had committed sodomy.

It is no secret that that the 87-year old Kuan Yew – a dictator in the same style as Malaysia’s own Mahathir Mohamad – prefers Umno to remain in power rather than the Pakatan Rakyat led by Anwar Ibrahim.

**** Embarrassing? Yes. Secret? Hardly! <http://lohandbehold.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/embarrassing-yes-secret-hardly/>
Loh and Behold

**** Dr M Says He Believes Kuan Yew Has Knowledge Of Anwar's Activities <http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=549650>
Bernama

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today he believes Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has knowledge of the activities of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. "Yes, indeed. I think he (Lee) knows but the political parties are pretending they do not know about it," he told reporters.

**** Unsolicited Complaining From Unhappy Singapore <http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2010/12/unsolicited-complaining-from-unhappy-singapore/>
Bruce Sterling, Wired

**** Singapore ‘Jealous’ Of Malaysia, Says Ibrahim Ali <http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/singapore-jealous-of-malaysia-says-ibrahim-ali/>
Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, Malaysian Insider

Datuk Ibrahim claimed today that a WikiLeaks expose on Singapore’s damning assessment of Malaysia revealed the island republic’s “jealous” nature.

The Perkasa president said Singapore had been holding a “grudge” against Malaysia for a long time, and that the harsh remarks made by the country’s senior government officials only showed its “true colours.”