[MyAppleMenu] Dec 30, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Magazine Sales On Apple's iPad Plummet <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/12/magazine-sales-on-apples-ipad-have-quickly-declined.html>
Los Angeles Times

Magazine sales on the Apple iPad have dropped sharply since their debut on the leading tablet computer, according to data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

**** Bejeweled 3 For Mac <http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/759151/review/bejeweled_3_for_mac.html?expand=true&lsrc=rss_main>
Stephanie Kent, Macworld

Bejeweled 3 doesn't do anything particularly earth shattering and it doesn't re-invent the wheel—but it doesn't have to. The new modes are on the whole just fantastic. They all operate under the same rules and controls of the simple game, but require separate strategies and change in degrees of difficulty. I suspect that the key to PopCaps’ success with this series lies within its high replay value. If this is the case, Bejeweled 3's new modes, sights, and sounds is certain to bring many converts over to the church of Bejeweled.

**** Putting The Band Into GarageBand <http://www.macworld.com/article/156563/2010/12/multiband.html?lsrc=rss_main>
James Galbraith, Macworld

With multitracking, GarageBand allows you to record up to eight real instruments and one software instrument simultaneously, more than enough tracks to record an entire band at once.

**** Why Time Machine Isn't Enough For Backup <http://www.macworld.com/article/155441/2010/11/timemachineallyouneed.html>
Joe Kissell, Macworld

**** Your Mac’s Secret Built-in Personal Organizer Is Free <http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/your-macs-secret-built-in-personal-organizer-is-free>
Ron McElfresh, Mac360

Who would have thought that the simple answer to a complex life of dates, calendars, address books, personal information managers, to-do list apps, and project managers would be digital Post-It Notes on your Mac?

**** Reports Of The Death Of Magazines On The iPad Are Greatly Exaggerated <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2010/12/ireports-of-the-death-of-magazines-on-the-ipad-are-greatly-exaggerated.html>
Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times

The real question, I think, is whether the built-for-tablet magazines (or newspapers) will have an advantage over magazines that come from the old media world.

**** Apple Rejects "Manhattan Declaration" App For Second Time <http://www.macnn.com/articles/10/12/29/company.believes.app.promotes.intolerance/>
MacNN

The new version was rejected for the same reasons as previously given, the company's belief that the app would "expose a group to harm" and that the intent of the app is to be "objectionable and potentially harmful to others."

**** How To Sync Your iTunes Library To Mutliple Computers With Dropbox <http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_sync_your_itunes_library_mutliple_computers_dropbox?>
Seamus Bellamy, Mac Life

There's a quick, easy--and most importantly, free--method for bringing a good chunk of your iTunes library with you. It involves our good friends at Dropbox, and just a few minutes of your time.

**** Skype For iPhone Gets Video Chat. Works Over 3G And With Computers <http://www.9to5mac.com/45073/skype-for-iphone-gets-video-chat-works-over-3g-and-with-macs?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+9To5Mac-MacAllDay+%289+to+5+Mac+-+Apple+Intelligence%29>
Mark Gurman, 9 To 5 Mac

Skype just updated their Skype application for iOS to include video chat functionality. It works both over WiFi and 3G networks and two-way video calling is supported by the iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, and iPhone 3GS. The iPad and third generation iPod touch support one-way video calling. Just like on Apple’s FaceTime application Skype for iPhone will video conference in both portrait and landscape orientations.

**** Turn Your iPad Into The Ultimate Interactive Storybook <http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-gadgeteer/turn-your-ipad-into-the-ultimate-interactive-storybook/4278?>
Joel Evans, ZDNet

While there are plenty of apps out there for all of the standard eReaders (Kindle, Nook, etc.), if you want to enjoy an interactive storybook you have to download separate apps. Here’s a quick roundup of mine and my kids’ favorites.

**** Hands On: Skype 3.0 – Video Calling Bliss? <http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/12/hands-skype-30-video-calling-bliss/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AppAdvice+%28AppAdvice%29>
Joe White, AppAdvice

**** Bodega 1.3 Available, A Fun Alternative To The Mac App Store <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/12/30/bodega-1-3-available-a-fun-alternative-to-the-mac-app-store/>
Steven Sande, TUAW

**** iPhoto 101: How To Delete Photos <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/12/30/iphoto-101-how-to-delete-photos/>
David Winograd, TUAW

We're all used to dumping Finder's trash frequently to reclaim drive space, but what some of you might not know is when you delete pictures from iPhoto, they remain on your computer since iPhoto has its own trash. If you've never done this you may have hundreds, or for that matter, thousands of pictures or videos in iPhoto that are just clogging up your drive.

**** Discover The Hidden Power Of TextEdit <http://mac.appstorm.net/how-to/utilities-how-to/discover-the-hidden-power-of-textedit/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MacAppStorm+%28Mac+AppStorm%29>
Marius Masalar, App Storm

If it’s actual word processing we’re after rather than document design, then what functionality do we actually expect? Text wrangling with fonts, styles, and justification? Check. Tables, charts, and images? Check. Spelling and grammar checking? You bet.

As it turns out, there’s a lot of power under TextEdit’s hood, so let’s open her up and introduce you to some of the lesser-known features.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Websites Ally Against Google To Sell Local-Business Ads <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203613404576049743903850136.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_technology>
Emily Steel, Wall Street Journal

A band of Internet rivals is joining together in hopes of jump-starting sales of online ads to local businesses, and of defending their turf in the emerging local market from Google Inc.

**** S.Korea Schools Get Robot English Teachers <http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101228/wl_asia_afp/skoreaphilippinesroboteducationtechnologyoffbeat>
Jung Ha-Won, AFP

Almost 30 robots have started teaching English to youngsters in a South Korean city, education officials said Tuesday, in a pilot project designed to nurture the nascent robot industry.

The robots, which display an avatar face of a Caucasian woman, are controlled remotely by teachers of English in the Philippines -- who can see and hear the children via a remote control system.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Sweet Revolution <http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/03/110103fa_fact_gopnik?currentPage=all>
Adam Gopnik, New Yorker

The power of the pastry chef.

**** Making Books Do Things E-books Can't — And Vice Versa <http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-fi-slow-reading-20101230,0,123088.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+features%2Fbooks+%28Los+Angeles+Times+-+Books%29>
David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times

As digital publishing grows, there's reason to push each medium to be more than just a receptacle for words. Publishers strive to create an experience.

**** The Holocaust's Uneasy Relationship With Literature <http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/12/the-holocausts-uneasy-relationship-with-literature/67998/>
Menachem Kaiser, The Atlantic

Literature and the Holocaust have a complicated relationship. This isn't to say, of course, that the pairing isn't a fruitful one—the Holocaust has influenced, if not defined, nearly every Jewish writer since, from Saul Bellow to Jonathan Safran Foer, and many non-Jews besides, like W.G. Sebald and Jorge Semprun. Still, literature qua art—innately concerned with representation and appropriation—seemingly stands opposed to the immutability of the Holocaust and our oversized obligations to its memory. Good literature makes artistic demands, flexes and contorts narratives, resists limpid morality, compromises reality's details. Regarding the Holocaust, this seems unconscionable, even blasphemous. The horrors of Auschwitz and Buchenwald need no artistic amplification. 

**** The Original Birth Of Freedom <http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_4_history-of-freedom.html>
André Glucksmann, City Journal

So to write the history of the idea of freedom is to navigate between two shores, one tragic and critical, the other epic and euphoric. Each epoch cultivates its own relation to freedom. Each, moreover, imagines its own Greece, for it was ancient Athens that first enacted—in the public square, the agora—our relation to freedom, or rather our conflicting relations with freedom. Epic ages (the early Renaissance and the Enlightenment, for example) picture a Greece of original harmony. Times of chaos (such as sixteenth-century Europe, the twentieth century, and probably the dawn of the twenty-first) see Greece as the mother of all crises. This tragic vision—of freedom and of Athens—is surely the wiser of the two.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Time For A New Formula? <http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC101230-0000157/Time-for-a-new-formula?>
Thian Tai Chew, Today

It is a vicious cycle and as long as we continue to attract more foreigners into Singapore, the only outcome for such a formula is that the property tax would go higher and higher. 

As an owner-occupied property owner who does not partake of the rental market, I do not see why I should be taxed based on the actions of other people who are renting out their property.

**** Singapore: Fine Particles A Growing Concern Though Air Pollution 'In Good Range' <http://www.eco-business.com/news/2010/dec/30/singapore-fine-particles-growing-concern-though-ai/>
Eco-Business.com

When it comes to good, clean air, Singapore trumps many of its South-east Asian neighbours, but its air quality still falls short of world standards.

**** Reviewing Military Education In SAF <http://www.eurasiareview.com/analysis/reviewing-military-education-in-saf-29122010/>
Bernard Fook Weng Loo, Eurasia Review

**** Fresh Youth Attacks Mar Christmas Festivities <http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/12/30/fresh-youth-attacks-mar-christmas-festivities/>
Angela Lim, Yahoo!

As merrymakers in Singapore were busy celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day over the festive period, another spate of violent attacks took place across the island.

**** Mandai Orchid Garden To Move To Kranji <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1101946/1/.html>
Seet Sok Hwee, Channel NewsAsia

**** The Truth Behind The Detentions <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4468-the-truth-behind-the-detentions>
Singapore Democrat Party

Hard, historical facts are the greatest antidote to fear mongering by the state and to the use of national security as a bogey to suppress freedom and democracy.