[MyAppleMenu] Jun 10, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Among E-Readers, Competition Heats Up <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/technology/personaltech/10TAB.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Joanna Stern, New York Times

**** Google Protests Apple's iPhone Developers Agreement <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65850Q20100609?type=technologyNews>
Gabriel Madway, Reuters

Google Inc said on Wednesday recent changes to Apple's developers agreement would effectively cripple Google's advertising tools for the iPhone, creating "artificial" barriers to competition.

"This change is not in the best interests of users or developers," Omar Hamoui, founder of mobile ad company AdMob, said in a blog post. AdMob was recently purchased by Google.

**** Apple's IAd Service Is Like Dealing With The Devil <http://dvice.com/archives/2010/06/proof-that-appl.php>
Kevin Hall, DVICE

While the details are still coming together as Apple gets its iAd service together, the message is clear: if you want to advertise on any product with an Apple logo, you better be comfortable with the company having hands in both your pockets.

**** Forcing Office Web Apps To Open On An iPad <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20007230-56.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
Ina Fried, CNET News

Now, again, creating and editing Office documents on an iPad is not supported, so it's not surprising it doesn't really work in the mobile version of Safari. That said, with iPads flying off the shelves, it probably should be a supported browser. And Microsoft might want to rethink that decision not to create native apps for the iPhone and iPad as well.

**** User Accounts On Apple Devices <http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/user-accounts-on-apple-devices/>
David Pogue, New York Times

**** Good User Interface Design On Mac OS X And The iPhone OS <http://cocoasamurai.blogspot.com/2010/06/good-user-interface-design-on-mac-os-x.html>
Colin Wheeler, Cocoa Samurai

**** Automatically Log Out Idle Users <http://www.macworld.com/article/151900/2010/06/logoutidleusers.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Macworld

**** Safari 5 Extensions Start To Appear, 1Password Updated For Compatibility <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/09/safari-5-extensions-start-to-appear/>
Dave Caolo, TUAW

Just 48 hours after Safari 5's release, the first extensions are appearing; safariextensions.tumblr.com is keeping track and listing new ones as they become available.

**** A Photographer's Workflow For The iPad <http://www.macworld.com/article/151911/2010/06/cameraconnection_workflow.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Derrick Story, Macworld

The iPad might not be the final destination for your images, but with Apple's Camera Connection Kit, it can be a great stop along the way. You can preview your photos on its large screen, build dynamic presentations with them in Keynote while you sip coffee at a cafe, or publish your favorite pictures online—all without cracking open a laptop.

Here are some ways enthusiast photographers can build a decent workflow right now using the iPad with the optional Camera Connection Kit.

**** Chat Services Take Wait-and-see Approach To Adopting Apple's FaceTime <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/06/09/chat_services_take_wait_and_see_approach_to_adopting_apples_facetime.html>
AppleInsider

After Apple this week announced its new open standard for video calling, dubbed FaceTime, major online chat providers have expressed interest in the new standards-based technology, but do not yet have plans to adopt it in their own services.

**** AT&T Website Hack Leaks iPad 3G User Emails <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/06/09/att_website_hack_leaks_ipad_3g_user_emails.html>
AppleInsider

Black hat hackers have exploited a security flaw on AT&T's web servers which enabled them to obtain email addresses from the SIM card addresses of iPad 3G users. 

**** Researchers: Windows 7 And Mac OS X Both Hit By Fundamental Flaws <http://www.macworld.com/article/151913/2010/06/osx_securityhole.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Brenno de Winter, WebWereld

Windows 7 and Mac OS X each have a new, fundamental flaw that will be presented at the Hack in the Box conference in Amsterdam in July. These security holes are so close to the core operating systems that fixing them may be very hard.

**** Legacy iBook Turned Into iPad Stand <http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/06/ibook-turned-ipad-stand/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AppAdvice+%28AppAdvice%29>
Bryan Wolfe, App Advice

Numerous articles have popped up showing users hollowing out their old iBook screens and putting in its place, a new iPad. In addition, a new aluminum keyboard is installed where the iBook’s keyboard used to be.

**** Apple Safari 5 <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364858,00.asp>
Michael Muchmore, PC Magazine

Safari is already a fast, beautiful browser, but the new Reader view makes it even more appealing. Leading support for HTML 5 features will also be important, but you can already get that in Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, and soon in Internet Explorer 9. Safari's strong bookmarking, RSS reader, and vivid new-tab page will appeal to many, but Chrome is still faster, and our Editors' Choice Firefox is more customizable.

**** Deal With Apple 'Easy,' Microsoft Executive Says <http://www.pcworld.com/article/198404/deal_with_apple_easy_microsoft_executive_says.html>
Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service

Microsoft may be the biggest software company in the world, but like everyone else who does a deal with Apple, it too was sworn to secrecy.

"We agreed not to disclose our terms," said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president, online audience business at Microsoft. Mehdi said that Apple was impressed with some new Bing features that are in store for iPhone users."

**** On This Safari 5 Reader Hysteria <http://nikf.org/post/681542046/on-this-safari-5-reader-hysteria>
Nik Fletcher

Perhaps instead of flamebait posts of ‘Apple are out to get us’ media companies should be asking themselves ‘how did reading content online become so sucky’?

**** Benchmarks: Safari 5 Shows JavaScript Boost <http://www.macworld.com/article/151140/2010/06/safari5_speed.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Roman Loyola, Macworld

When Safari 5 was released last Monday, Apple claimed that the "world's fastest" Web browser is now faster. Macworld Lab performed a performance test on the new Safari, and our results didn't exactly match those claimed by Apple, we did find a boost in performance.

**** What’s Missing From iPhone 4 Is Part Of What Makes It Great <http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/09/iphone-4-missing-features/>
MG Siegler, TechCrunch

Most companies, seeing their competitors already doing something, would feel forced into releasing their own solution as quickly as possible. Not Apple. And I suspect this ends up being a big benefit for the users.

**** Safari Reader: A Dislike Button For Online Ads <http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20100609/safari-reader-a-dislike-button-for-online-ads/>
John Paczkowski, Wall Street Journal

This seems to be an elegant compromise between readers and publishers. Activating Reader requires additional navigation and a click of the mouse. In other words, it requires motivation.

**** Safari 5: Fast Like A Cheetah, Tame Like A Housecat <http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20007312-12.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
Seth Rosenblatt, CNET

Speed is important, but it's not the only judge of a good browser. With the exception of the unique Reader feature, Safari 5 does more to bring Apple's browser into line with other browsers than actually forging any new ground, and even with the improvements made to this version Safari still lacks many of the small but useful features competitors offer. For raw JavaScript speed, Safari is at the head of the pack for now, but Apple's focus on other user needs is remains less than exemplary.

**** iPhone 4 Does Not Have A Resolution Higher Than The Retina (or Does It?) <http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/iphone-4-does-not-have-a-resolution-higher-than-the-retina-or-does-it/8586?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zdnet%2Fhardware+%28ZDNet+Hardware+2.0%29>
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet

**** Foxconn Makes No Profits On iPhones: Activists <http://www.zdnet.com.au/foxconn-makes-no-profits-on-iphones-activists-339303764.htm?>
Mahesh Sharma, ZDNet Australia

Apple secured a "zero profit" deal to receive iPhones from Chinese technology manufacturer Foxconn, according to a worker rights activist group, which has linked the factory's poor wages and working conditions with a number of young worker suicides.

**** Resolving The iPhone Resolution <http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/06/10/resolving-the-iphone-resolution/>
Phil Plait, Discover

Let me make this clear: if you have perfect eyesight, than at one foot away the iPhone 4’s pixels are resolved. The picture will look pixellated. If you have average eyesight, the picture will look just fine.

At the very worst, you could claim Jobs exaggerated; his claim is not true if you have perfect vision. But for a lot of people, I would even say most people, you’ll never tell the difference. And if you hold the phone a few inches farther away it’ll look better.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** A Tablet To Let Students Replace Notebooks And Textbooks <http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/a-tablet-to-let-students-replace-notebooks-and-textbooks/?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Miguel Helft, New York Times

The Kno is a new twist on the tablet and e-reader concept, aimed at the college market; it allows students to view textbooks on two digital screens much as they would view them in their analog versions, with text, color images and graphics.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** 13 Stripes And 51 Stars <http://www.slate.com/id/2256250/?from=rss>
Chris Wilson, Slate Magazine

If Puerto Rico were to become the 51st state—and granted, that's at least four ifs away—federal law requires that a new star be added to the American flag. One can't help but wonder: Where would we put it?

**** You Can’t Run From Past, but You Can Rewrite It <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/books/10book.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Carolyn Parkhurst’s third novel is about Octavia Frost, a woman who is famous for her best-selling novels. Octavia deserves to be equally famous for being unpleasant. And Ms. Parkhurst deserves credit for twisting her character’s sourness into an unlikely selling point for “The Nobodies Album,” just as she made human-canine communication a boon for her first book, “The Dogs of Babel.”

**** A Salute To Al Cassell, L.A.'s Burgermeister <http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-cassell-20100610,0,4902471.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Ffeatures%2Ffood+%28L.A.+Times+-+Food+%26+Dining%29>
Lawrence Dietz, Los Angeles Times

Fresh meat and made-on-the-premises sides added up to the best hamburger in town. Thanks, Al, you'll be missed.

**** The Chemical Weapons Of Onions And Garlic <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/dining/09curious.html?ref=global-hom>
Harold McGee, New York Times

What do garlic and onions have in common with gunpowder? A lot. They’re incendiary. They can do harm and they delight. Sulfur is central to their powers. And they helped inspire the work of a chemist who has just published a welcome treatise on the smelly yet indispensable allium family.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Correction Expected In Singapore's Property Market: Industry Players <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1062154/1/.html>
Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia

Industry players have said Singapore's property market is in for a correction in coming months.  Tell-tale signs include a plateau in home prices and a drop in transaction volumes.

**** Govt Must Come Clean On MRT Security Blunder <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/3800-media-release-govt-must-come-clean-on-mrt-security-blunder>
Chee Soon Juan, Singapore Democrat Party

Mr Wong must take responsibility for the security lapse and tell the public what went wrong. The Government must be completely transparent about the matter. The Minister's silence, like his silence in the Mas Selamat, is indicative of the the confusion and/or lack of transparency at the Ministry under his charge.

**** Flyers - The New Chewing Gum <http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC100610-0000096/Flyers---the-new-chewing-gum>
Eric Chia Kuan Meng, Today

The last time round, one of our weapons in our fight against littering was a total ban on chewing gum. Today, our fight must include the total ban on flyers - a cheap, inconsiderate form of advertisement.

One man's junk mail is another man's freedom of expression. Where do draw that line?

**** Lessons From Singapore <http://howestreet.com/articles/index.php?article_id=13680>
Tony Sagami, HoweStreet.com

What did you do last weekend? I spent mine with 25,000 Singaporean investors.

**** School Tracks Down Student's Vulgar Tweet, Tells Her To Remove It <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100610-0000081/School-tracks-down-students-vulgar-tweet,-tells-her-to-remove-it>
Alicia Wong, Today

Unhappy with her school's dress code, she whipped out her mobile phone, logged into her Twitter account, and tweeted a furious message, containing a vulgarity, criticising her school.

A few weeks later, the 20-something student got a call from her school. They had tracked her down and told her to remove the vulgar tweet.

**** Vandalism: Why Did SMRT Delay Informing Public? <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_538086.html>
Tim Mou Hui, Straits Times

Considering that the incident was brought to public awareness only after video footage of the vandalised train was uploaded onto YouTube, one cannot help but wonder whether SMRT intended to avoid public discussion of the embarrassing episode entirely if it could indeed have done so.

**** Odd Juxtapositions <http://natasha-ahsatan.livejournal.com/36786.html>
natasha_ahsatan

No seriously, guess where Zion street ends?  The "Great City Mall."

**** Singapore's Government Attempts To Defend Its Harsh Drug Laws <http://www.ihrablog.net/2010/06/singapores-government-attempts-to.html>
Harm Reduction & Human Rights

In any case, the government of Singapore fails to publish detailed crime data, and data on executions it carries out, makes Mr Teo’s claims about the effectiveness of its policies impossible to test independently. In fact, drug offences of any kind are conspicuously absent from Singapore's official crime data. Given that Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau regularly reports on major trafficking arrests on its website, this seems an odd omission.

**** Why SMRT’s Apology Is Unacceptable <http://tauhuayboy.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/why-smrt-apology-is-unacceptable/>
Want Some Tau Huay?

For all the talk of how safe Singapore is, this incident has thrown a spotlight on Singapore’s defence vulnerability.

**** Tom Plate's <i>Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew</i>: Some Wise Words for Dysfunctional Western Democracies <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-gardels/tom-plates-conversations_b_606014.html>
Nathan Gardels, The Huffington Post

When the history of the 21st century is written, Afghanistan will matter little. But the rise of China modeled on the pragmatic, soft-authoritarian template of Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore will be seen as the game changer of our time. Plate has had the uncommon vision, for a Western journalist, to see this. And his book could not be more relevant at a moment when recession, debt and dysfunction are plaguing the West while Asia strides boldly into the future.

**** 1 In 10 In Singapore Have iOS Device, Highest Penetration In The World <http://www.imerlion.com/2010/06/1-in-10-in-singapore-have-ios-device.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheSingaporeIphoneGuide+%28The+Singapore+iPhone+Guide%29>
Jimmy Yap, iMerlion

**** 越来越多汽车 装闭路摄像机 <http://www.zaobao.com/sp/sp100610_005.shtml>
陈锦柏, 联合早报

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**** 海外军团抢滩内地 æ–°åŠ å¡å‰§â€œè¢«å¤å…´â€ <http://ent.qq.com/a/20100610/000164.htm>
李帅, 腾讯网

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**** Highline Park As Inspiration For Disused Railway <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/highline-park-as-inspiration-for-disused-railway/>
Yawning Bread

We could make a tourist attraction in Singapore out of the disused ribbon of land the way New York has made one out of its  track. All it takes is flair.

**** Town Councils Fare Generally Well In First Management Report <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1062280/1/.html>
Mustafa Shafawi, Channel NewsAsia

**** Singapore Stops Chicken Man Staging Anti-KFC Protest <http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-06-10-singapore-stops-chicken-man-staging-antikfc-protest>
AFP

Edward Basse, a Manila-based campaigner for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said he was whisked away in a police car after he arrived by taxi outside the restaurant in a working-class district.

"I am now in my hotel room. I am under functional house arrest. I will stay in my hotel room under police surveillance until I leave tomorrow," 24-year-old Basse told Agence-France Presse by telephone.

**** Firms Still Cautious About Wage Increases, Says Survey <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1062352/1/.html>
Mustafa Shafawi, Channel NewsAsia

Companies are still somewhat cautious about wage increases, according to a survey conducted by the Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI) and Remuneration Data Specialists (RDS).