[MyAppleMenu] Jun 1, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Apple Sells 2 Million iPads In Under 2 Months <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/05/31/apple_sells_2_million_ipads_in_under_2_months.html>
AppleInsider

Apple said Monday that iPad sales have topped two million in less than 60 days since it first launched in the U.S. on April 3.

**** The Apple Tablet Is Still A Work In Progress <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/putting-ipad-through-its-paces/story-e6frgakx-1225873739513?from=public_rss>
Stuart Kennedy, The Australian

The iPad is very much a work in progress. The OS 4 update will add multitasking, the local iBookstore should soon carry the latest books and there's an army of developers and designers working on fresh apps, bags, cases and other add-ons for the gadget.

**** Book Publishers Agree Change Coming; Details Murky <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64R5F820100528>
Mark Egan and Christine Kearney, Reuters

Giants and upstarts of publishing gathered at the annual BookExpo America here this week agreed e-books will transform the business, although exactly how it will all shake out remains unclear.

**** Apple To Direct Subsidies To Foxconn Workers <http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/05/31/said.to.stem.from.internal.investigation/>
Electronista

Apple is planning to redistribute some of its product profits back to Foxconn workers, claims a Chinese news site. The change in Apple policy is said to be the result of a corporate investigation exploring the connections between suicides and factory working conditions.

**** Apple Is Not The Microsoft Of Mobile <http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/feature/1651578/apple-microsoft-mobile>
Clive Akass, The Inquirer

Apple is not having everything its own way and mobile evolution has a long way to go. As Jim Zemlin, president of the Linux Foundation said, "We are in the first five minutes of a very long game."

**** He Vowed He Was Done With Upgrades, Then Along Came The iPad <http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_15159336?nclick_check=1>
Pete Carey, San Jose Mercury News

**** Wolfram Alpha Finds iPad Niche <http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/25441/?ref=rss&a=f>
David Talbot, Technology Review

The Elements app suggests a future direction for the "knowledge engine"--e-book interactivity.

**** Adobe Reveals Magazine iPad-izer Software <http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20006401-264.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
Stephen Shankland, CNET News

Flash Player may be banned from the iPad, but that's not keeping Adobe Systems from other efforts to leave its mark on the Apple devices. The latest development: new viewer software announced Monday that lets publishers create splashy digital versions of their magazines.

**** Dr. Mac: It's True, The Best Apps In Life Are Free <http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7030732.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+houstonchronicle%2Ftechdrmac+%28HoustonChronicle.com+--+Dr.+Mac%29>
Bob LeVitus, Houston Chronicle

**** Why Is There No IT Focus At Apple's Developers Conference? <http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9176627/Why_is_there_no_IT_focus_at_Apple_s_developers_conference_?source=rss_operatingsystems>
(Ryan Faas), Computerworld

**** The Secret Of Monkey Island: Special Edition <http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=1086>
Franklin Pride, Inside Mac Games

It really just comes down to this. Are you willing to spend $10 on one of the best adventure games ever made, with upgraded graphics, voice acting, and a hint system as freebies? If you like adventure games at all or if you just want to add another classic game to your collection, The Secret Of Monkey Island: Special Edition is a must-buy.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Cellphone In New Role: Loyalty Card <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/technology/01loopt.html?ref=technology>
Claire Cain Miller, New York Times

Loyalty cards — those little paper cards that promise a free sandwich or coffee after 10 purchases, but instead get lost or forgotten — are going mobile. And merchants are looking for ways to marry the concept to games that customers can play to earn more free items and, it is hoped, spend more money.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Not Dead Yet <http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/not-dead-yet?nopager=0>
P. J.  O'Rourke, Weekly Standard

One bright idea isn’t going to solve the problems of the American newspaper industry, but it’s one bright idea more than the American newspaper industry has had in 40 years. What I propose is “Pre-Obituaries”—official notices that certain people aren’t dead yet accompanied by brief summaries of their lives indicating why we wish they were.

**** No Secrets <http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khatchadourian>
Raffi Khatchadourian, New Yorker

Julian Assange’s mission for total transparency.

**** Anti-Socialist Realism <http://www.tnr.com/book/review/actually-existing-social-realism>
Michael Weiss, The New Republic

Not least among Vasily Grossman’s great achievements as a Soviet writer was his ability to fashion a true art form out of the procrustean genre of socialist realism. His technique was as simple as it was subversive. Rather than employ his characters as monotone metaphors acting in the service of revolutionary fantasy, he made them into variegated people besieged by revolutionary reality. As the protagonist of Everything Flows, Grossman’s third novel, puts it: “The literature that called itself ‘realist’ was as convention-ridden as the bucolic romances of the eighteenth century. The collective farmers, workers, and peasant women of Soviet literature seemed close kin to those elegant, slim villagers and curly-headed shepherdesses in woodland glades, playing on reed pipes and dancing, surrounded by little white lambs with pretty blue ribbons.” Grossman let war, persecution and genocide serve as his backdrop but he was most preoccupied with the fate of ordinary human beings caught up in extraordinary circumstances. Down to the last battlefield commissar, guilt-ridden informant, or NKVD agent, his characters were imbued with a psychological and moral complexity rare for any age, much less a totalitarian one that forced an artistic parade ground upon what Max Eastman once witheringly termed “writers in uniform.”

**** Books <http://www.slate.com/id/2255556/?from=rss>
Campbell McGrath, Slate Magazine

**** After Reading Wallace Stevens <http://www.wolfmagazine.co.uk/22poem3.php>
Anna Smaill, The Wolf

**** Heat And Desperation <http://www.threepennyreview.com/samples/hirshfield_su10.html>
Jane Hirshfield, The Three Penny Review



SingaporeSurf
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**** Offer Seniors Genuine Concessions To Offset Reduced Wages <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_533724.html>
Paul Chan, Straits Times

The seniors in our society deserve genuine concessions. They have no desire to be treated as 'load-fillers' by public transport operators and 'lull-period customers' by commercial businesses.

**** Singapore-Malaysia Cross-Border Transport Agreement And Opportunities <http://reinventingtransport.blogspot.com/2010/05/singapore-malaysia-cross-border.html>
Reinventing Urban Transport

The KTM corridor would make a wonderful "rails to trails" type project. It would be tragic not to preserve this right-of-way for non-motorised transport. Such a park connector could provide a direct, flat, bicycle route free of road-crossings all the way to the edge of the financial district at Tanjung Pagar from Woodlands via Upper Bukit Timah, Ghim Moh/Holland Village, Biopolis and Queenstown.

I support this suggestion.

**** Reform In The UK, Regression In Singapore <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/3773-reform-in-the-uk-regression-in-singapore>
Singapore Democrat Party

The tragedy is that while the rest of the modern and democratic world continue to prepare their societies to embrace and compete in an environment where change is the constant, Singapore is stuck with an regime bent on holding on to power even if it means holding the country back.

**** Last Tranche Of GST Credits To Be Given Out On July 1 <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1060268/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

The government will be giving out the last tranche of GST credits on July 1 for all eligible Singaporeans who have already signed up or who sign up by 18 June.

**** Three Reasons why The Singapore Government Has More To Fear From Church Leaders Than Transsexuals <http://leonalo.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/three-reasons-why-the-singapore-government-has-more-to-fear-from-church-leaders-than-transsexuals/>
Leona’s Blog

**** Risking Life And Limb As A Conscript In The Lion City <http://military-life.blogspot.com/2010/05/saf-commando-shot-by-thai-villager.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FOnPU+%28Military+Life%29>
Military Life: Memoirs Of A Conscript In The Lion City

Conscription is an anarchronism in today's world. It is less about mobilising the citizenry to military defence than a mechanism to enslave the young male citizens to a system of compliance, obedience and fear of authority.

**** Cambodia's Trade With Singapore Rises 84 Pct <http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Newsfeed/Article/113962371/201006010014/Cambodias-trade-with-Singapore-rises-84-pct.aspx>
Xinhua

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Singapore increased 84 percent in 2009, driven by sand exports from the Kingdom, local media reported on Tuesday, citing a Ministry of Commerce (MoC) official.

**** National Library Board Responds <http://www.raviphilemon.net/2010/06/national-library-board-responds.html>
Ravi Philemon

"NUS History Society (NUSHS) had indicated that Junior College and Upper Secondary students were the target audience and that academics would form the line-up of speakers. The initial line-up provided by the NUSHS for NLB's support were academics from the local tertiary institutions researching on these areas. The academic exploration that the seminar would pursue was also in line with NLB's programming objectives to seek insights into Singapore's history through research and study. The late inclusion of Mr Vincent Cheng, by the society was not consistent with the direction of the initial proposed line-up, of academics, by NUSHS."