[MyAppleMenu] Jan 4, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** A Review Of The Mac Mini With Snow Leopard Server <http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2010/01/mac-mini-with-snow-leopard-server-review.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss>
Glenn Fleishman, Ars Technica

Is the Mac mini server and OS X Server the right match for your office? It certainly depends. In my weeks with the combo, I found much to praise, and many elements improved significantly over the 10.5 release. For a straightforward start-to-finish setup, this combination seems like a steal at the price, despite the problems I found—and especially if you take my advice for tweaking spam-filter settings.

As with many Apple products, I would prefer if the experience were less frustrating at points at which the company should have tested and anticipated problems. But overall, Apple has kept most of the rough edges and hidden much of the configuration madness from the potential smaller-office audience.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Trying To Add Portability To Movie Files <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/technology/04video.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Brad Stone, New York Times

Hollywood and its high-tech partners are trying to create a digital standard that would let consumers buy or rent a movie once and then play it on any device.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** This Is English, Rules Are Optional <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/books/01book.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Neil Genzlinger, New York Times

It’s getting harder to make a living as an editor of the printed word, what with newspapers and other publications cutting staff. And it will be harder still now that Jack Lynch has published “The Lexicographer’s Dilemma,” an entertaining tour of the English language in which he shows that many of the rules that editors and other grammatical zealots wave about like cudgels are arbitrary and destined to be swept aside as words and usage evolve.

**** Poem Of The Week: Medea In Athens By Augusta Webster <http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/Gy1wx44dxGY/medea-athens-augusta-webster>
Carol Rumens, The Guardian



SingaporeSurf
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**** Special Needs Boy Treated Differently In Sec 1 Posting <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_473278.html>
Tan Lee Kiang, Straits Times

Singapore has always prided itself on its meritocratic education system. Why should a child with special needs - who has strived for his future and done as well as or better than some of his counterparts - be disadvantaged because he was not in the mainstream system?

**** YPAP Member: “Blame On Your Karma Or Your Forefathers…” <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/01/ypap-member-blame-on-your-karma-or-your-forefathers/>
The Online Citizen

**** What's New In Education <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_473368.html>
Straits Times

The Ministry of Education (MOE) will announce changes to the teaching and testing of the Chinese language during the Committee of Supply debate in Parliament in March. Some things which are set to change include a more systematic look at a student's language abilities from Primary 1, with teaching modes that will vary right through secondary school.

**** Sugar Prices Rise, But Some Coffee Shops Absorb Hike <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1028325/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

One merchant association is also advising members to bear the costs, saying the price hike is not significant.

**** Singapore Economy Shrinks As Manufacturing Falters <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abYuJyUxj74s&pos=2>
Shamim Adam, Bloomberg

Singapore’s economy shrank for the first time in three quarters as weaker manufacturing output interrupted the island’s recovery from its deepest recession since independence in 1965.

**** Is Multiracialism Also Just An Aspiration? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/01/multiracialism-an-aspiration/>
Seelan Palay, The Online Citizen

Is foreign talent just a myth, a disguised form of racism which Lee Kuan Yew vehemently opposed when Singapore was in Malaysia? Are Mr Lee’s multiracial, multireligious and multilingual concepts also figments of his imagination?

**** Be A Cyclist In Singapore? No Chance At All <http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/Motorworld/Story/A1Story20100102-189303.html>
Tan Hui Yee, Straits Times

Instead of erecting speed limit signs and slapping yet more penalties on errant cyclists, perhaps the authorities should be looking in the other direction. Perhaps the spaces - be they walking or cycling trails or secondary roads - should not be so clearly demarcated in the first place.

**** 李光耀和南大 <http://opinions.sinchew-i.com/node/12962?tid=18>
林明華, æ˜Ÿæ´²æ—¥å ±

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**** Singapore's Patchy Recovery May Push Back Tigher Policy <http://in.reuters.com/article/marketsNewsUS/idINSGE60300820100104>
Neil Chatterjee and Kevin Lim, Reuters

Singapore's recovery from its worst recession faltered in the fourth quarter, leading some economists to suggest the central bank may hold back from tightening monetary policy until later in the year.

**** æ–°åŠ å¡çš„å»‰å¹¶éžé«˜è–ªæ‰€å…» <http://guancha.gmw.cn/content/2010-01/04/content_1032025.htm>
光明网

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**** Should Singapore's Home Minister Be Thrown Into A Vietnamese Jail? <http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2010/yax-1095.htm>
Yawning Bread

Yes, our own government has been more than just turning a blind eye to human trafficking; they have been complicit in it.

**** HDB Prices Hit New High <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_473477.html>
Straits Times

Prices of Housing Board resale flats continued its relentless climb, rising 3.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year to hit a fresh record.

**** Probe Will Be 'Thorough' <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_473505.html>
Straits Times

The police are carrying out "very thorough" investigations into the hit-and-run accident linked to a Romanian diplomat, said foreign minister George Yeo on Monday.