[MyAppleMenu] Feb 22, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Tokyo's Hidden Museum Of Apple Macs <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7273233/Tokyos-hidden-museum-of-Apple-Macs.html>
Hunter Skipworth, Telegraph

The Japanese love for all things retro has led to many searching and collecting old Mac computers. Internet message boards are springing up across Japan, with its tech-obsessed youth competing for the rarest finds. Buried away in Tokyo's Akihabara district, pretty much the technological hub of the world, lies a busy shop crammed full of forgotten Macs.

**** Hey, Is This An Apple Store, Or A Computer School? <http://consumerist.com/2010/02/hey-is-this-an-apple-store-or-a-computer-school.html>
Laura Northrup, The Consumerist

Should training sessions be given priority over browsing customers? Is the mission of an Apple Store to sell computers, to indoctrinate users further into the Cult of Mac with hands-on training, or some combination of the two?

**** Apple Posts Two New iPhone Ads <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/02/22/apple-posts-two-new-iphone-ads/>
Michael Grothaus, TUAW

Apple has posted two new iPhone ads tonight. Both ads seem to target Joe Average and spotlight situations we find ourselves in every day.

**** iPhoto To Aperture: The Carryover Features Compared <http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20000084-248.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
Josh Lowensohn, CNET News

Apple got a lot of things right in iPhoto '09, and in the latest version of its higher-end, $200 Aperture software it's tried to replicate that same success. But did it work?

The short answer is yes. What might be more surprising to an iPhoto user is how similarly easy to use these features are in Aperture, despite being far more powerful.

**** One Mac, Two Time Machine Backups <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=522d3ef3aa423c893b7a7aa52984266d>
Christopher Breen, Macworld

Why yes, it is possible to use two Time Machine backup drives with your Mac.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Textbooks That Professors Can Rewrite Digitally <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=954e2fdb8437fdf63bdb0e751c85b1ff>
Motoko Rich, New York Times

In a kind of Wikipedia of textbooks, Macmillan, one of the five largest publishers of trade books and textbooks, is introducing software called DynamicBooks, which will allow college instructors to edit digital editions of textbooks and customize them for their individual classes.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Preachers Warn <http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2010/03/01/100301po_poem_simic>
Charles Simic, New Yorker

**** Dream IV <http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2010/03/01/100301po_poem_stern>
Gerald Stern, New Yorker

**** Appetite <http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/03/01/100301fi_fiction_sayrafiezadeh>
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, New Yorker

**** Blending Tea And Hearts <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=a9918b8dc1da5ee5110edf18d6127206>
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Helen Simonson’s first novel has intelligence, heart, dignity and backbone.

**** The Deflationist <http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/03/01/100301fa_fact_macfarquhar>
Larissa MacFarquhar, New Yorker

How Paul Krugman found politics.

**** Poem Of The Week: A Letter To A Brother Of The Pen In Tribulation By Aphra Behn <http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/E8Pmn5P7iDI/poem-of-the-week-aphra-behn>
Carol Rumens, The Guardian



SingaporeSurf
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**** Singapore Exchange Eyes Global Opportunities <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6ac6f76c-1f15-11df-9584-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1>
Financial Times

**** No Service Charge, No Tipping, The Way To Go <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_493129.html>
Lawrence Loh, Straits Times

Service staff are paid by their employer. Customers are patrons who support a company's business so that the employer thrives and staff keep their jobs. Patrons are not obliged to augment staff's wages.

**** Price Of Subletting Food Stalls To PRs <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_493123.html>
Shahul Hameed, Straits Times

Food at hawker stalls is more expensive now, even though it should be cheaper than at other commercial food outlets.

**** How Serious Are You? <http://hardhitting-nobs.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-serious-are-you.html>
Musings From the Lion City

Just how serious is the Singapore Government in cooling down the property market?

**** New HDB Measures To Come <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_493298.html>
Joyce Teo, Straits Times

News of potential measures affecting the public housing market could come as soon as next month, hot on the heels of curbs announced last Friday aimed at cooling the private property market, minister for national development Mah Bow Tan said yesterday.

**** Improving Ties With Singapore Through Visits <http://www.nst.com.my/articles/8bent/Article/index_html>
New Straits Times

Close cooperation between Malaysia and Singapore grassroots leaders should be enhanced to create better understanding on issues involving both countries. Pulai member of parliament Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said informal discussions were more effective in tackling issues that could crop up.

**** Singapore Government's FY2009 Budget Deficit Was $2.9b <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1039014/1/.html>
Lin Jiamei, Channel NewsAsia

The Singapore government incurred an overall budget deficit of S$2.9b for financial year 2009. The figure, at 1.1 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is lower than the deficit of S$8.7b budgeted a year ago.

**** Singapore Won't Tolerate Abuse Of Diplomatic Immunity: Minister Yeo <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1039011/1/.html>
Evelyn Choo, Channel NewsAsia

Foreign affairs Minister George Yeo says there are due processes of law in Singapore and Romania to deal with the hit-and-run accident linked to Romanian diplomat Silviu Ionescu. He told Parliament on Monday that Singaporeans should not speculate on the accident on December 15 last year.

**** Singapore To Spend S$5.5 Billion To Spur Productivity <http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-22/singapore-to-spend-s-5-5-billion-to-spur-productivity-update1-.html>
Shamim Adam and Andrea Tan, Bloomberg

Singapore will spend S$5.5 billion ($3.9 billion) in the next five years to boost productivity in the city state, finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.

The government will pledge S$1.1 billion annually through tax benefits, grants and training subsidies to improve efficiency, Shanmugaratnam told Parliament today in the nation’s budget speech. The target of 2 percent to 3 percent productivity growth a year for the next decade will be a “major challenge,” he said.

**** Singapore To Slow Down Hiring Of Foreign Workers <http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gYxV7YxABU5-hIOSQLo63NKE1NYA>
AFP

Singapore said Monday it will raise levies to curb the hiring of foreign workers, amid growing unease among locals over the influx of guest workers and immigrants in recent years.

The phased-in increase from July 1 is aimed at reducing dependence on foreign workers, who already comprise almost a third of the city-state's total workforce, finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.

**** HDB: 95 Per Cent Happy With Their Flats – Really, Or Just Half The Story? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/02/hdb-95-per-cent-happy-with-their-flats-%e2%80%93-really-or-just-half-the-story/>
Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen

Instead of just a press release fill with HDB’s selective findings and conclusions, may I suggest that the full report be made available to the public so that we may try to figure out the whole story?

**** Government To Introduce Progressive Property Tax For Owner-occupied Residences <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1039040/1/.html>
May Wong, Channel NewsAsia

All HDB flat owners and a majority of private property owners can expect to pay lower taxes through a new progressive property tax system introduced for owner-occupied residential property.  The new system will apply for property tax payable from January 2011. 

Finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that this will replace the current scheme of property tax rebates introduced in 1994.

**** Revised Registers Of Electors Open To Public For Inspection From Feb 23-Mar 8 <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1039055/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

The revised Registers of Electors for all 23 Constituencies (14 Group Representation Constituencies and nine Single Member Constituencies) have been completed and will be open for public inspection from February 23 to March 8.

**** Minister George Yeo's Replies In Parliament, 22 Feb 2010 <http://app.mfa.gov.sg/2006/press/view_press_email.asp?post_id=5810>
Singapore Government

What we do next will depend on the outcome of our Coroner's Inquiry and the Romanian Government's response to our requests. We are closely monitoring what the Romanian authorities are doing. We expect their actions to match the words of the Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesman and the assurances that the Romanian Ambassador has given us. But I must stress that whatever we do in Singapore must always be in conformity with our legal system and our international law obligations.

**** Rise In Foreign Worker Levies <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_493425.html>
Wendy Lim, Straits Times

Foreign worker levies will be gradually raised and the tiers tightened over the next three years, as the Government moves to reduce dependence on foreign workers.

Delivering his 2010 Budget Statement in Parliament, finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said with foreign workers comprising almost a third of the total workforce, there are 'social and physical limits to how many more we can absorb.'

**** More Duty-free Booze <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_493427.html>
Straits Times

To give flexibility for travellers, the duty-free allowance will be raised to two litres of wine and one litre of beer, or two litres of beer and one litre of wine, announced finance minister Shanmugaratnam in in his Budget Statement on Monday.