[MyAppleMenu] May 1, 2010

applesurf at myapplemenu.com applesurf at myapplemenu.com
Sat May 1 18:59:00 EDT 2010

MyAppleMenu
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**** Developer: Why WWDC 2010 Doesn't Add Up For Me <http://www.macworld.com/article/150962/2010/04/griffiths_wwdc.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Rob Griffiths, Macworld

Assuming that WWDC 2011 is more focused on Mac OS X—I’d imagine 10.7 will get a lot of coverage—then we’ll be there. But for this year, at least, we’re taking a pass on buying our WWDC passes.

**** WindowShade X For Snow Leopard Arrives <http://www.macworld.com/article/150965/2010/04/windowshadex.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Ted Landau, Macworld

WindowShade X is a System Preferences utility that (among its several useful features) “rolls up” a Finder window to its titlebar with a double-click. This functions as an alternative to minimizing a window to the Dock (which you can still do if you want). For quickly and temporarily getting an open window out of your way, there is nothing better.

**** Middleware And Section 3.3.1 <http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/middleware_and_section_311>
John Gruber, Daring Fireball

de Icaza’s perspective — that these decisions and risks should be up to individual developers to make — is utterly sensible. Siracusa is exactly right that this is a wager from Apple. Apple is betting its entire mobile future that their developer platform is better than everyone else’s.

**** The Real Reason Why Steve Jobs Hates Flash <http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/04/why-steve-jobs-hates-flash.html>
Charles Stross

Unless they can turn themselves into an entirely different kind of corporation by 2015 Apple is doomed to the same irrelevance as the rest of the PC industry — interchangable suppliers of commodity equipment assembled on a shoestring budget with negligable profit.

The PC revolution is almost coming to an end, and everyone's trying to work out a strategy for surviving the aftermath.

**** First Look: iPad Wi-Fi + 3G <http://www.macworld.com/article/150966/2010/04/firstlook_ipad_3g.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Dan Moren, Macworld

**** AT&T On The iPad 3G Video Restrictions: “That’s Something You Need To Ask Apple” <http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/30/att-ipad-3g-streaming/>
MG Siegler, TechCrunch

Reports are already coming in that some of the most popular iPad apps — the ones that stream video — are being restricted on the new iPad 3G.

**** iPad Guts Approach To PC Design, Says ISuppli <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20003834-64.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
Brooke Crothers, CNET News

The iPad does not follow conventional PC design because the user interface is the starting point, said Derek Lidow, chief executive at iSuppli, in a research note released on Thursday. "Apple started by designing the screen, the touch pad and the battery," he wrote. Less focus was placed on chips and where they should be designed into the system. "This design is what gives the product a unique feel and functionality," according to Lidow.

**** Ins And Outs Of The 3G iPad AT&T Service Plans <http://db.tidbits.com/article/11251?rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tidbits_main+%28TidBITS%3A+Mac+News+for+the+Rest+of+Us%29>
Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Sony's Dash: The Upgraded Alarm Clock <http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/sonys-dash-the-upgraded-alarm-clock/?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Stephen Williams, New York Times

Sony’s newly released “personal Internet viewer,” the Dash, is a sort of sleek alarm clock in overdrive.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** A Guy Walks Into An Oval Office <http://www.slate.com/id/2252557/?from=rss>
Christopher Beam, Slate Magazine

When politicians tell jokes, some kill. Others kill their chances of ever becoming president.

**** The Paper <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/books/review/Buckley-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Christopher Buckley, New York Times

This first novel by Tom Rachman, a London-born journalist who has lived and worked all over the world, is so good I had to read it twice simply to figure out how he pulled it off. I still haven’t answered that question, nor do I know how someone so young — Rachman turns out to be 35, though he looks even younger in his author photo — could have acquired such a precocious grasp of human foibles. The novel is alternately hilarious and heart-wrenching, and it’s assembled like a Rubik’s Cube. I almost feel sorry for Rachman, because a debut of this order sets the bar so high.

**** "She Does A Better Job Than Map Quest!" <http://www.slate.com/id/2252161/pagenum/all/>
Julia Turner, Slate Magazine

Wonderful hand-drawn maps from firefighters, club-hoppers, Boy Scout dads, grandmothers, and Alexander Calder.



SingaporeSurf
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**** The Productivity Of The MCYS <http://kixes.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/the-productivity-of-the-mcys/>
Funny Little World

“The question is how best to fix this.” Yes, Dr Balakrishnan, that is a good question. A great question. The crucial question. Unfortunately for him, this time he decided the answer was to publicly humiliate a defenseless couple and challenge those who had done good deal more research than he had. Now he’s got grade-A egg all over his face.

So perhaps instead of being worried about the productivity of the average Singaporean, we should be more concerned about the wisdom and productivity of Dr Balakrishnan, who plays a crucial part in our nation’s social welfare system? After all, people’s lives and lifestyles are depending on him.

**** GRC, NCMP Vs Proportionate Representation <http://singaporealternatives.blogspot.com/2010/04/grc-ncmp-vs-proportionate.html>
Goh Meng Seng, Singapore Alternatives

The GRC system is unsustainable and unstable in the long run. I guess when MM Lee talked about having "freak elections results", he understood the risks of the present GRC system.

**** Mah Bow Tan Exposes Reason For Low Birthrate <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2010/05/01/mah-bow-tan-exposes-reason-for-low-birthrate>
Yawning Bread

Families may feel so hardpressed about servicing loans that a feeling of financial insecurity sets in. This especially as Singapore’s economy moves in quite dizzy boom and bust cycles. Your DSR may be an “affordable” 25 percent today, but next year when you lose your job, it’s a different matter.

**** CPF Contribution To Be Raised By 1% Point This Year <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1053749/1/.html>
S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia

The government has decided to raise CPF contribution rate by one percentage point. Employer's contribution rate will go up from 14.5 to 15.5 per cent.

**** Minister Balakrishnan Scolds Al Jazeera And Bloggers ...Part 2 <http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2010/05/minister-balakrishnan-scolds-al-jazeera.html>
Diary of A Singaporean Mind

The govt has more than enough resources to do this but is limited by ideological belief that 'welfare is a dirty word' and 'subsidies are bad'.....but these subsidies are neccessitated by the huge income gap which is a function of economic policies adopted by the PAP.

**** The Chase Is On For Big Ticket Items <http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?col=insightdownsouth&file=/2010/5/1/columnists/insightdownsouth/6159411&sec=Insight%20Down%20South>
Seah Chiang Nee, The Star

A potential asset bubble, especially in property, is causing concern that Singaporeans who have over-paid may be burned should the foreign money leave or another crisis hit the city.

**** Where Isolation Is A Perk, And The Point <http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/travel/02Next.html>
Gisela WIlliams, New York Times

About 50 miles from Singapore, yet a world away, Nikoi — encircled by palm trees and soft white sand — is the kind of tropical fantasy that burned-out managers keep a photograph of for their screen savers.

**** Do Unto Them But Not Unto Ourselves <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/3670-do-unto-them-but-not-unto-ourselves>
Singapore Democrat Party

if ministers and judges need to be paid handsomely in order that they yield not to temptation why can't Madam Letchmi, for similar reasons, be paid adequately?

The controllers of the system certainly know how to make life an extravagant splendour for themselves while they continue to insist on "deterrent sentences" for those who offend out of economic desperation.

This is why the Singapore Democrats insist on introducing just and fair wages for Singaporeans - wages that are commensurate with today's cost of living, wages that would lead workers not into temptation.

**** 國大院長：越來越多去新加坡‧須制止醫學系畢業生外流 <http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/158908?tid=1>
星洲日報

國民大學醫學院院長兼國大醫藥中心主任拿督洛曼醫生表示，政府必須採取措施制止剛畢業的醫學系學生，尤其是獲得獎學金的畢業生到國外行醫，他們必須履行在國內實習3年的規定。

**** Twitter Is Top Channel For Tech Conversations In Singapore <http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=51452E59-1A64-67EA-E44D2D1E14240939>
Anuradha Shukla , IDG News Service

Over the past few years, Twitter has grown steadily in popularity among Singaporeans who use this online forum to connect with each other.

**** My Clarification On The Al-Jazeera Issue <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/05/my-clarification-on-the-al-jazeera-issue/>
Ravi Philemon, The Online Citizen

As a volunteer I have neither the capacity nor the resources to fact-check every story thoroughly. Sometimes, the government departments we call to verify certain information, do not even reply to us, which makes fact-checking even more difficult.

Under such circumstances, I together with other individual volunteers, offer whatever assistance we can.




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