[MyAppleMenu] May 15, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** An Update On iPad Wi-Fi Reception Problems <http://www.macworld.com/article/151265/2010/05/ipad_wifi_update.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Ted Landau, Macworld

**** Coming Soon To Air Travel: The iPad <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20004998-17.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Apple>
Don Reisinger, CNET News

Bluebox Avionics, a company that offers in-flight entertainment products to airlines, said this week that it will start delivering its service on Apple's iPad in July.

**** Under The Gavel: I Sue You, You Sue Me <http://www.macworld.com/article/151275/2010/05/gavel_monkey.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Dan Moren, Macworld

It’s a sue-or-be-sued world, or so the lawyers would have you believe. You can’t get to be as big as Apple and not expect to hear the distinctive slap of lawsuits from time to time. That’s a sound that can only mean another issue of Under the Gavel, our semi-regular look at who’s going toe-to-toe with the folks from Cupertino.

**** Adobe Vs. Apple: Pray Both Lose <http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/05/adobe_vs_apple.html>
Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek

Let market forces rather than a Jobsian decree decide Flash's fate.

And why isn't Apple part of the market force?

**** This Witch-hunt Will Hurt Adobe More Than Apple <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/14/adobe_apple_witchhunt/>
Andrew Orlowski, Register

**** Word For Word: The Apple & Adobe Letters <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/word-for-word-the-apple-adobe-letters/?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Nick Bilton, New York Times

**** Is iPad Supercharging E-book Piracy? <http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-18438_7-20005008-82.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
David Carnoy, CNET News

**** iPad Is No Proxy For MacBook Air <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20004984-64.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
Brooke Crothers, CNET News

The iPad cannot be considered a replacement for the MacBook Air, which offers a long list of advantages over the tablet.

**** Has Apple Won The Web Video War? <http://www.zdnetasia.com/has-apple-won-the-web-video-war-62200030.htm>
Victoria Ho, ZDNet

With Apple declaring war against Adobe's hold over Web video, some reports say the Cupertino company has already won.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** On The Perils Of Travel Writing <http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-stories/on-the-perils-and-popularity-of-travel-writing-20090704/>
David Farley, Worldhum

I can pinpoint the exact moment this shift in attitude toward me occurred: Jan. 28, 2007. That’s when the New York Times travel section published an article I’d written about the village.

**** Groping In The Digital Dark <http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2010/may/06/groping-digital-dark/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nybooks+%28The+New+York+Review+of+Books%29>
Wyatt Mason, The New York Review of Books

The small magic of the movie is one of character and its excavation, the presentation of lives that possess all the multi-dimensional reality we seem to be seeking in the digital dark.

**** Tiepolo Pink By Roberto Calasso <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/15/tiepolo-pink-roberto-calasso-review?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
Andrew Motion, The Guardian

The merit of these pages lies in the way they allow us to think of Tiepolo's pictures – for all their flaunting and sociable engagement with the viewer – as describing a world which is parallel to the real one. Not just in the sense that they are filled with angels and mythical figures absent from ordinary life, but because these figures reappear with great regularity throughout his work, giving the impression of a whole society which is at once on display, and in various ways encoded.

**** The Saturday Poem: A Note On Barber's Adagio <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/15/barbers-adagio-poem-john-matthias?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
for Dónal Gordon, by John Matthias, The Guardian

**** Malevolent Design <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/books/review/VanderMeer-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Jeff Vandermeer, New York Times

In this fantasy, machines and a magician threaten humanity.

**** Censors Without Borders <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/books/review/Parker-t.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>
Emily Parker, New York Times

As China’s influence spreads throughout the world, so does a willingness to play by its rules.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Pondering On… <http://rachelzeng.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/pondering-on/>
Rachel Zeng

It saddens me deeply that our judiciary remains coldly inhumane. It seemed to me that it is ok for them to remain so because they are merely administrators to carry out what has been written down black and white. No compassion, no considerations of mitigating factors for the marginalised, the misguided ones and the ones who have succumbed to whatever reasons or temptations for them to commit their crimes. Every criminal that appears will just be another figure, just another distant lesser mortal.

**** Caught In A Linguistic Dilemma <http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2010/5/15/columnists/insightdownsouth/6258731&sec=insightdownsouth>
Seah Chiang Nee, The Star

The rising disenchantment in Singapore stems from frustration at being forced to learn – often by memory – a language that they feel is less useful in preparing them for the new high-tech world.

**** 本地私立博物馆 一年添5所 <http://www.zaobao.com/fk/fk100515_001.shtml>
莫美颜, 联合早报

过去一年来本地出现了5æ‰€ç§äººåšç‰©é¦†ï¼Œä½¿æœ¬åœ°æ´»è·ƒçš„ç§äººåšç‰©é¦†å¢žåŠ åˆ°17所。这些博物馆分别由商业机构、非营利团体或个人经营管理。私人博物馆道路崎岖难行，它们要如何排除万难，才得以生存下去？

**** What Are We, Chopped Liver? <http://callantham.org/blog/2010/5/15/what-are-we-chopped-liver.html>
Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp

I guess all of this negative publicity is useful after all, compared to the stenography tightrope that their precious mainstream press have to walk.

**** Mandatory Death Penalty Ruled Constitutional <http://callantham.org/blog/2010/5/15/mandatory-death-penalty-ruled-constitutional.html>
Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp

The judiciary is there to interpret laws enacted, to judge if legislation is constitutional; this is their job. To avoid judicial interpretation, especially in such a narrow context, because of a potential clash with Parliament is not deference; not avoiding it is not judicial activism, but a responsibility of our judges and our courts. Executive interference or not, this "deference" by the Court of Appeals is egregious.

**** Death Penalty Serves No Demonstrable Criminal Justice Purpose <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/05/death-penalty-serves-no-demonstrable-criminal-justice-purpose/>
The Online Citizen

The International Harm Reduction Association (IHRA) has expressed its deep regret at the decision of the Singapore Court of Appeals to retain the mandatory death penalty for drug offences, a judgment that forecasts the execution of Yong Vui Kong for an offence committed while he was only a teenager.

“Numerous UN human rights monitors have found both the mandatory death penalty generally, and the death penalty for drugs specifically, to violate international human rights law. We regret that the Court has chosen to support a practice that not only violates human rights, but that serves no demonstrable criminal justice purpose.”

**** Is Cambodia Dredging Its Rivers To Death? <http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1989047,00.html>
Christopher Shay, Time

Since splitting off from Malaysia in 1965, Singapore has become one of the world's wealthiest countries, and as its importance has grown, so, too, has the country. According to Global Witness, since the 1960s, the island of Singapore has increased its size by 22%, or 130 square kilometers (50 miles), and the country has plans to expand at least another 50 square kilometers (20 miles). This has made Singapore one of the world's biggest importers of sand. After Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam limited or banned sand exports because of the environmental impact of dredging, Singapore has increasingly relied on Cambodia, the report says.

**** Prejudicing A Fair Trial? The Yong Vui Kong Case <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/05/prejudicing-a-fair-trial-the-yong-vui-kong-case/>
Pritam Singh, The Online Citizen

Shanmugam’s ill-timed remarks a mere week or so before the Court of Appeal’s judgment on 14 May 2010, effectively pulled the rug from under their feet. And thanks to Shanmugam, the Singapore judiciary’s has unfairly come under the spotlight, with doubts cast over whether the Law Minister’s words had any effect on their judgment.

**** Should There Be A Lower F1 Levy On Hotel Room Rates? <http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20100514-216322.html>
Business Times

With race day looming and a full house at stake, some hotels are not so keen on the cards they've been dealt. Several hotels are lobbying for a reduction in the Formula One (F1) levy on hotel room revenue, according to sources, in hopes that it will be further cut from four days to three.