[MyAppleMenu] Feb 10, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
====================================

**** iTunes Price Increases Mean Slower Sales For Music Labels <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/09/itunes_price_increases_mean_slower_sales_for_music_labels.html>
AppleInsider

Since Apple granted music labels the flexibility to set individual song prices between $0.69 and $1.29 on the iTunes Music Store, growth of digital music sales has slowed, one music executive revealed Tuesday.

**** Apple Investigating Mac Pro Performance And Heat Issues <http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/apple/~3/otw69L5Hapg/apple-investigating-mac-pro-performance-and-heat-issues.ars>
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica

Last week, we told you about some unusual issues affecting Nehalem-based Mac Pro models, characterized by abnormal performance degradation and CPU power draw when using on-board audio circuitry. Several sources have told Ars that Apple support technicians are now saying the problem is known, and that the issue is being actively investigated by Apple engineers.

**** Enable Missing Snow Leopard Services <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=455ea0d4d21977801a07d4be2931546c>
Rob Griffiths, Macworld

Re-enable a few missing entries from the Services section of the contextual menu in Snow Leopard.

**** Apple Releases iLife, Raw, And Aperture Updates <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=5c1f73fcca271d38da58d423143a669a>
Ramu Nagappan, Macworld

In the wake of Apple’s release of Aperture 3 on Tuesday comes a flurry of related image software updates: iLife Support 9.0.4, Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.0, and Aperture SlideShow Support Update 1.0. All are available now via your Mac's Software Update.

**** Microsoft On iTunes In 2003: 'We Were Smoked' <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10450080-27.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
Matt Rosoff, CNET News

Getting back to Dick Brass's criticism of Microsoft, I find it fascinating that top Microsoft executives were aware almost immediately of the threat the iTunes Music Store posed to the whole Windows Media ecosystem, but Microsoft was still unable to stop it. This matches what I've seen time and time again in my last 10 years following the company.

**** The Microsofting Of Apple? <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703546004575055184080144688.html>
Wall Street Journal

Pundits have wondered what might become of Apple once its chief aesthete and perfectionist is no longer calling the shots. An Apple that rolls out increasingly junky devices merely to lock more and more customers into the iTunes-App Store mall is one gloomy possibility.

**** Disney Joins Rush To Embrace Apple's iPad <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/02/disney-apple-ipad.html>
Dawn C. Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times

Iger told Wall Street investors during Disney's earnings call Tuesday that the Burbank entertainment conglomerate plans to develop casual games and other forms of entertainment for the portable device, including digital books and a new and improved version of ESPN's ScoreCenter app on the iPhone, which provides real-time sores for more than 500 sports leagues around the world.

**** Apple's Ecosystem <http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/09/intel-nvidia-htc-technology-business-intelligence-apple.html?boxes=techchanneltopstories>
Brian Caulfield, Forbes

While Jobs touts that Apple is different because it makes the "whole widget," the company actually relies heavily on outside innovations.

**** Top 10 New Features Of Aperture 3 <http://www.thomas-fitzgerald.net/2010/02/10/top-10-new-features-of-aperture-3/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ThomasFitzgeraldnet+%28thomas+fitzgerald.net%29>
Thomas Fitzgerald

Aperture 3 is an amazing upgrade. People had begun to worry about the future of the software, as it was two years since the last version came out, but I can see now that they’ve been doing some major work under the hood.



The Tomorrow Weblog
====================================

**** Google Tries To Get Some Good Buzz <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=6bc05b37719e246147122c66e7d56f2a>
Roy Furchgott, New York Times

A new social-network aggregator, Google Buzz, begins its rollout this week.



MyAppleMenu Reader
====================================

**** The Dull New Global Novel <http://blogs.nybooks.com/post/379987448/the-dull-new-global-novel>
Tim Parks, The New York Review of Books

As a result of rapidly accelerating globalization we are moving toward a world market for literature. There is a growing sense that for an author to be considered “great,” he or she must be an international rather than a national phenomenon. This change is not perhaps as immediately evident in the US as it is in Europe, thanks to the size and power of the US market and the fact that English is generally perceived as the language of globalization, so that many more translations go toward it than away from it. However, more and more European, African, Asian and South American authors see themselves as having “failed” if they do not reach an international audience.

**** A Calculus Of Writing, Applied To A Classic <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=25190e1849cba1d05072dd6258730b7e>
Larry Rohter, New York Times

Zachary Mason, author of the critically praised first novel “The Lost Books of the Odyssey,” is a computer scientist eager to understand “thought with computational precision.”

**** The Big Lie About The 'Life Of The Mind' <http://chronicle.com/article/The-Big-Lie-About-the-Life-of/63937/>
Thomas H. Benton, The Chronicle Of Higher Education

One reason that graduate school is for the already privileged is that it is structurally dependent on people who are neither privileged nor connected.



SingaporeSurf
====================================

**** Reason Pastor Not Arrested <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100210-0000103/Reason-pastor-not-arrested>
Leong Wee Keat, Today

The three youth who posted racist comments on Facebook were arrested by the Police. Pastor Rony Tan, who insulted the beliefs of Buddhists and Taoists, was called up by the Internal Security Department (ISD). Why the different treatment, some are wondering. In reply to media queries, deputy prime minister and home affairs minister Wong Kan Seng said the bottom-line in such cases is to ensure that the out-of-bound markers are "clear and that transgressions are dealt with in a balanced and professional manner".

**** DPM Wong Says "Glad To Note" Pastor Tan Realised His Mistake <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1036460/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

Home affairs minister Wong Kan Seng has said he is glad to note that Pastor Rony Tan has realised his mistake and has met the Buddhist and Taoist leaders to personally apologise for his actions.

**** Public Flats: Misperceptions About Supply And PRs <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_488647.html>
Lily Chan-Wong Jee Choo, Housing & Development Board, Straits Times

**** Many Singaporeans Want To Migrate – Why? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/02/many-singaporeans-want-to-migrate-why/>
Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen

Is it any wonder why so many Singaporeans may be thinking about migrating to New Zealand?

**** 乌节新商场初一初二也开市 <http://www.zaobao.com/sp/sp100210_012.shtml>
陆彩霞, 联合早报

在激烈的竞争下，不少商场都不打算在农历新年关闭，而是趁势争取春节消费大饼。

**** More Choices <http://mohsingapore.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-choices.html>
Khaw Boon Wan, Ministry of Health

This morning, MOH announced the Medisave liberalisation but with some conditions. In particular, the overseas hospitals must have a formal arrangement with a Singapore operator. Medisave will only deal with the Singapore operator and patients have to be properly counselled prior to admission.

**** Temasek Said To Start Its Own Investment Company <http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-09/temasek-said-to-start-multibillion-dollar-investment-company.html>
Netty Ismail and Bei Hu, Bloomberg

Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s state investment firm, is setting up a wholly owned multibillion dollar investment company to invest in assets from stocks to bonds, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

**** Singapore Is Scared Stiff Of Immigration <http://www.londonpatriot.org/2010/02/09/singapore-is-scared-stiff-by-immigration/>
Giuseppe De Santis, London Patriot

**** Singapore Professionals Most Optimistic Of Economic Recovery: Berkley Survey <http://mis-asia.com/news/articles/singapore-professionals-most-optimistic-of-economic-recovery-berkley-survey>
MIS Asia

**** SingPost To Stop Collecting & Delivering Mail On Saturdays <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1036617/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

The postman will stop collecting and delivering mail on Saturdays from the middle of this year. From May 15, SingPost will scale back collection and delivery due to falling mail volumes from changes in lifestyle and mailing habits.

**** U.S. Prof Lambasts Singapore’s “Temasek Model” For Investing In Failing Individuals And Products <http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/02/10/u-s-prof-lambasts-singapores-temasek-model-for-investing-in-failing-individuals-and-products/>
The Temasek Review

Beijing-born Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) political economist Professor Huang Yasheng had criticized Singapore’s state-linked enterprise model dominated by its two giant sovereign wealth funds GIC and Temasek Holdings as a “sure-fire way to stifle the economy in the long run.”

In a recent speech made at the Civil Service College, Prof Huang urged Singapore to “rethink” the “Temasek model” and warns that Singapore’s state management model has “milked this system for all it is worth.”

**** Temasek's New Firm May Give Greater Say To Singaporeans <http://in.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idINSGE61902N20100210>
Kevin Lim and Saeed Azhar, Reuters

Temasek has set up a multi-billion dollar investment company, in what may be a small step towards allowing ordinary Singaporeans greater say in the affairs of the city-state's wealth fund as co-investors.