[MyAppleMenu] May 12, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Researcher Reveals Safari Zero-day Bug For Windows <http://www.macworld.com/article/151164/2010/05/safari_windows.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld

Apple’s Safari browser contains a critical, unpatched bug that attackers can use to infect Windows PCs with malicious code, researchers at US-CERT and other security firms said Monday.

**** Apple To Fix iPad Wi-Fi Issues <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/05/11/apple-to-fix-ipad-wi-fi-issues/>
Michael Grothaus, TUAW

**** Prevent Excessive Resyncing In iTunes <http://www.macworld.com/article/151161/2010/05/stopitunesresync.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Macworld

A bug in iTunes 9.1 can cause it to recopy every song on your iPad everytime you sync. Here's how to stop it.

**** Mac Gems: LaunchBar 5.0.2 <http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/508552/review/launchbar_502.html?expand=true&lsrc=rss_main>
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld

If you want a tool that will streamline your workflow, LaunchBar has long been as good as it gets—and this latest version makes it even better. You’ll need to take some time to understand just how much it can do, but once you start using it, I’d bet you’ll never want to give it up. I’ve been using LaunchBar for what seems like forever, and I simply couldn’t use a Mac without it.

**** Does AT&T Have iPhone Exclusivity Until 2012? <http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20004713-260.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Apple>
Erica Ogg, CNET News

COO Tim Cook has said two different times that though Apple has seen increased sales in countries where it has added a secondary carrier, it doesn't mean the results would be the same in every country.

That could be Cook avoiding giving any real hints about Apple's plans. Or it could be the sign that Apple has plenty of room to renegotiate its carrier contracts.

**** What You Can Do When Junk Apps Invade The App Store <http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/05/what-you-can-do-when-junk-apps-invade-the-app-store.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss>
Chris Foresman, Ars Technica

**** Apple Approves Previously Rejected App Unprompted <http://www.macworld.com/article/151174/2010/05/clock_approved.html?lsrc=rss_main>
David Chartier, Macworld

Remember that analog clock iPad app Apple rejected for “having limited functionality,” despite plenty of apps like it already in the App Store? Apple doubled back, unbidden, and approved it.

**** Apple Fudges iPhone Sales Figures By Bundling iPod Touch Numbers Into The Mix <http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/apple-fudges-iphone-sales-figures-by-bundling-ipod-touch-numbers-into-the-mix/8290>
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, ZDNet

It seems that yesterday’s NPD data which suggested that Android had a 28% market share and the iPhone a 21% touched a nerve at Apple HQ and prompted a response. But Apple’s response interestingly bundles the iPod touch in with iPhone sales, seriously fudging the numbers.

If you are comparing devices, you cannot lump all the Android devices (mostly phones) together. Especially since they are all running different operating systems and with different UI. If you are comparing OS, you cannot exclude the iPod Touch and iPad. I think Apple is more right than wrong in this case.

**** Some Perspective On Apple's Impressive Performance <http://seekingalpha.com/article/204380-some-perspective-on-apple-s-impressive-performance>
Seekingalpha.com

**** Apple & The Dark Cloud Of Censorship <http://www.asktog.com/columns/083Apple&Censorship.html>
Bruce Tognazzini, AskTog

**** Review: Portal For Mac <http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/509134/review/portal.html?expand=true&lsrc=rss_main>
Chris Holt, Macworld

A triumph of gameplay—Valve launches on the Mac with a bang.

**** Apple Sued Over Safari Web Browser On iPhone, iPod Touch <http://www.loopinsight.com/2010/05/12/apple-sued-over-safari-web-browser-on-iphone-ipod-touch/>
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop

Apple is being sued for patent infringement by Softview over the way it displays mobile content on its iPhone and iPod touch devices.

**** Review: InDesign CS5 <http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/464056/review/indesign_cs5.html?expand=true&lsrc=rss_main>
Lesa Snider, Macworld

**** Five Tips For Speeding Up iPhoto <http://www.macworld.com/article/151183/2010/05/iphotospeedtips.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Derrick Story, Macworld

If you find that iPhoto is running a bit sluggish on your Mac, here are a few suggestions for speeding it up—some tried and true such as rebuilding the library, and others a bit more esoteric such as vacuuming the database.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Swipely Is Latest Start-up To Promote Sharing Purchases Online <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/05/meet-swipely-another-startup-that-wants-to-tell-the-world-what-you-buy.html>
Jessica Guynn, Los Angeles Times



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** How To Save The News <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1969/12/how-to-save-the-news/8095/>
James Fallows, The Atlantic

Everyone knows that Google is killing the news business. Few people know how hard Google is trying to bring it back to life, or why the company now considers journalism’s survival crucial to its own prospects.

**** Delhi’s Not So Public Libraries <http://blog.livemint.com/livelounge/2010/05/04/delhis-not-so-public-libraries/>
Cordelia Jenkins, Wall Street Journal

“I’d like to take this book out please,” I began, smiling encouragingly. “No,” said the man. “It is not possible to take books. You must read it here,” he nodded as if that were an end to the matter. Faced with this kind of negative certitude, some might have been dissuaded. Not me. My prior experience of worldwide library protocol gave me the courage to insist. I repeated the question a couple of times receiving the same response (Einstein’s definition of insanity) and finally opened the front of the book to point out the borrowing stamps in violet ink. “Yes,” said the librarian, cheerfully contradicting himself, “you must be a member to take books away.” Here we go, I thought. “I’d like to become a member,” I said.

**** Sea Level <http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=adfc78b7a68cf115bca293da8ee94ca5>
Kim Van Voorhees, Slate Magazine

**** Why I Got Kicked Out Of A Restaurant On Saturday Night <http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/why-i-got-kicked-out-of-a-restaurant-on-saturday-night/?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Ron Lieber, New York Times

A dinner at Restaurant Marc Forgione raises the question, when a chef screams at his staff, is it O.K. to ask him to stop?

**** Nukes For Sale <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/may/13/nukes-sale/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nybooks+%28The+New+York+Review+of+Books%29>
Jeremy Bernstein, The New York Review Of Books

Proliferation was inevitable and had been predicted. What had not been predicted was the extent to which it would be abetted by espionage. The German-born physicist Klaus Fuchs, who had been part of the British delegation at Los Alamos and returned to England where he worked on nuclear weapons, gave the Russians what was essentially the blueprint of the bomb the US used at Nagasaki. He is in the unique position of having helped three countries build nuclear weapons. Nor did anyone foresee that proliferation of nuclear weapons would become a commercial enterprise, which is the situation that we find ourselves in at the present time.

**** How Do You Listen To Short Stories? <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/may/12/short-stories-technology-record-player?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
Michelle Pauli, The Guardian

Preserving the short story from technology is the claim of a new project. Interesting idea - but you'll need some equipment.

**** Ralph Ellison's Never-Ending Novel <http://chronicle.com/article/Ralph-Ellisons-Never-Ending/65399/>
Jennifer Howard, The Chronicle Of Higher Education

For Bradley, the answer has something to do with Ellison's subject matter: America itself. "He sits down to write this just as the civil-rights movement is taking shape," Bradley says. After Invisible Man, Ellison wrote through the rest of the 1950s and on into the 1960s, through the assassinations and the legislative and social milestones and the Vietnam War. Time moved on; decades passed; America changed, so the novel had to keep changing, too.



SingaporeSurf
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**** The Damage Caused By Singapore's Insatiable Thirst For Land <http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/481729/the_damage_caused_by_singapores_insatiable_thirst_for_land.html>
Tom Levitt, The Ecologist

While logging and deforestation has gained global attention the growing sand mining sector is being largely ignored. Fuelled by Singapore’s land and construction demands it is wreaking environmental destruction across south-east Asia.

**** Singapore’s Public Transportation: In A Fix Over Priority Seats <http://guanyinmiao.wordpress.com/2010/05/12/singapore%e2%80%99s-public-transportation-in-a-fix-over-priority-seats/>
Guanyinmiao's Musings

It is a pity that we live in a society where mud-slinging is encouraged; where voyeuristic attitudes are allowed to manifest with people snapping away to condemn the slightest mistakes. As we continue to educate our young on the relevant moral values on courtesy and graciousness, should we not begin to view the glass as half-full, and begin to show our appreciation to individuals who do marvellous deeds upon public transportation?

**** Straits Times Ducks Chee's Challenge <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/3700-straits-times-ducks-chees-challenge>
Singapore Democrat Party

**** NParks To Conduct Coastal Protection & Restoration Works At Pulau Tekong <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1055878/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

It is the largest of Singapore's outlying islands and is used exclusively for army training.  Now, more than 1,000 mangrove trees on the north-eastern coastline of Pulau Tekong are at risk of falling due to coastal erosion. 

To protect the coast and mangroves in the area, the National Parks Board (NParks) will be conducting, for the first time, coastal protection and restoration works at the north-eastern coastline of Pulau Tekong.

**** Victoria Theatre And Drama Centre To Be Managed By The Esplanade? <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100512-0000082/Victoria-Theatre-and-Drama-Centre-to-be-managed-by-The-Esplanade?>
Mayo Martin, Today

Discussions are under way as to how The Esplanade will take over its management, as well as that of the Drama Centre. There are also concerns from the arts community that - under the new management - existing staff of Victoria Theatre and Drama Centre will be retrenched and then invited to reapply for their former positions.

**** $9,000 Fine For Rojak Stallholder <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100512-0000089/$9,000-fine-for-rojak-stallholder>
Claire Huang, Today

More than a year after one of the worst incidents of food poisoning here in recent years, the man whose Indian rojak was the cause of it all was fined $9,000, the maximum sentence he could have gotten as a first-time offender.

**** Was It Our Wrong Impression Or Their Strategic Retreat? <http://yawshinleong.blogspot.com/2010/05/was-it-our-wrong-impression-or-their.html>
Yaw Shin Leong

It seems that the choice of Minister Ng’s original words were so confusing that even its fellow governmental run feedback mechanism perpetuated a wrong impression to fellow Singaporeans.

Note that normally, when the Singapore press misquoted or misrepresented government ministers words, there is usually a quick reply from the government that is published in the press. In this case, there wasn't any.

**** Drug Lords May Gain From Death Penalty <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_525429.html>
Tan Chin Aik, Straits Times

While I do not argue against the tough stance of a death sentence, to have it as a mandatory sentence against a strict liability offence can be most unwise.

Some of the offenders' culpabilities may not be such as to deserve a death penalty, and some of the less culpable ones deserve to have their lives spared and be rehabilitated. They could even possibly rat on the drug lords.

**** Reform Party Chief On Impasse With SDA <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_525431.html>
Kenneth Andrew Jeyaretnam, The Reform Party, Straits Times

**** Singapore Deprives Falun Gong Practitioners Of Rights <http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/35187/>
Huang Siyuan, The Epoch Times

According to Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore, close economic and political ties to the Chinese communist regime have prompted the government to deny practitioners their lawful rights of peaceful protest and freedom of speech. Several practitioners have been charged with trumped-up violations, with court hearings set for May 13, 14, and 31.

**** Singapore Mother-Tongue-Tied <http://thinkingbetterthinkingmeta.blogspot.com/2010/05/singapore-mother-tongue-tied.html>
Sam Ho, Sam's Thoughts

**** Against The “Trade-Off” <http://theinkhorn.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/against-the-trade-off/>
Ambiguity

A trade-off. The certain destruction of one life to prevent the potential decimation of 10, or 100, or 1000, or perhaps only 3. The definite and deliberate murder of one man, to ensure that the possible, because that’s all it is, the probable death of others doesn’t happen. Mr Shanmugam has effectively disguised the mandatory death penalty as a means of prevention, and has justified it by labeling the process a trade.

**** Issue Work Permits To Sex Workers <http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_2010/yax-1110.htm>
Yawning Bread

Regulation, not eradication, should be the answer. Get real, you cannot eradicate commercial sex.

**** Temasek Invests In Chesapeake, Spends $1.2 Billion On Resources <http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-12/temasek-invests-in-chesapeake-spends-1-2-billion-on-resources.html>
Netty Ismail, Bloomberg

The Singapore company is making forays into resources as Asian demand increases. Temasek is “very interested” in investing in copper, platinum, iron ore and coking coal, Nagi Hamiyeh, managing director of investments, said in March. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have said demand for commodities is improving and a 6.5 percent drop in prices this year has created a buying opportunity.

**** Straits Times Plays Along With HDB’s COV Striptease <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/05/straits-times-plays-along-with-hdbs-cov-striptease/>
Leong Sze Hian & Wong Chun Han, The Online Citizen

**** Singapore Investment Strategy An Eye-Opener For Malaysia <http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsbusiness.php?id=497667>
Manik Mehta, Bernama

Instead of just wooing Indian companies in India for investments, technology and other expertise, Singapore is now courting the cash-rich Indian diaspora in the US. This could be an eye-opener for Malaysia which could learn a lesson or two from Singapore's strategy.

**** Singapore Hits Back Over Sand Report <http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2010051239019/National-news/singapore-hits-back-over-sand-report.html>
Sebastian Strangio And Vong Sokheng, Phnom Penh Post

Global Witness questioned the extent to which Singapore had taken steps to ensure the transparency of its trade with Cambodia, given Singapore’s apparent awareness of its effects elsewhere in the region.

The statement also said it was “strange” that Singaporean officials were not informed of Cambodia’s sand ban, since the city-state was the primary market for Cambodian sand. It also pointed out that a government agency – the Building and Construction Authority – made a statement to the press after the ban was announced.