[MyAppleMenu] Nov 19, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Carrier Organization Changes Rules To Allow The “Apple SIM” <http://gigaom.com/2010/11/18/carrier-organization-changes-rules-to-allow-the-apple-sim/>
Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOM

The GSMA, the organization representing most of the world’s mobile operators, today changed its rules to allow for a programmable SIM card much like we described Apple building with Gemalto a few weeks back. It also set up a task force to create rules around how carriers will provision the remote-activated SIM cards with the goal of completing such rules by Jan. 2011. In a release, it said it expected devices with such remote-activated SIMs to be in devices by 2012.

**** Apple In Higher Ed: It’s All About Mobility <http://www.cultofmac.com/apple-in-higher-ed-its-allabout-mobility-apple-in-education/69575>
Adam Rosen, Cult Of Mac

“The trend in higher education computing is this concept of mobility” said Greg Smith, George Fox University’s chief information officer, “and this fits right in.”

**** Mozy 2.0 For Mac Speeds Up Backups And Offers Native Looks <http://lifehacker.com/5693166/mozy-20-for-mac-speeds-up-backups-and-offers-native-looks>
Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker

While the majority of changes are quiet, background algorithm and efficiency improvements, the app now has a more native, Mac-like look, and queries to choose files are more advanced.

**** Id's Rage Locks And Loads For iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad <http://www.macworld.com/article/155789/2010/11/rage_iphone_ipad_shooter.html?lsrc=rss_main>
David Chartier, Macworld

Itching to make some fast cash in the mutant-hunting trade, but worried about ruining your favorite pair of jeans? id Software, the folks that popularized the first-person shooter genre, has some Rage for you.

**** Apple Releases Safari 5.0.3, 4.1.3 With Bug Fixes, Security Updates <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/11/18/apple_releases_safari_5_0_3_4_1_3_with_bug_fixes_security_updates.html>
AppleInsider

Apple on Thursday released an update containing bug and security fixes for its Safari Web browser, with version 5.0.3 for Windows, Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard, and 4.1.3 for Mac users running Tiger.

**** OmniFocus 1.8 For iPhone Gets Multitasking Update, More <http://www.macworld.com/article/155784/2010/11/omnifocus_iphone_update.html?lsrc=rss_main>
David Chartier, Macworld

**** Exclusive: Woz Misquoted! 'Almost Every App That I Have Is Better On The iPhone' <http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/18/exclusive-woz-misquoted-almost-every-app-that-i-have-is-bette/>
Nilay Patel, Engadget

Some comments attributed to Steve Wozniak caused quite a kerfuffle this morning -- according to Dutch paper De Telegraaf, Woz said that "Android phones have more features," which would help Google's OS become the dominant smartphone platform. Obviously, a statement like that from Apple's co-founder rocketed around the web, and it's set off yet another round of furious Android-vs-iOS debate. There's just one problem, though: Woz never said anything like that. Turns out Woz is an Engadget commenter just like you, and when we saw that he'd left a clarification on the post, we called him up for a quick chat to sort everything out.

**** Software Superstore <http://www.macworld.co.uk/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=3249251&blogid=8>
Andy Ihnatko, Macworld UK

And the thing is, Apple has never hesitated to make the Big Play when it think’s it’ll increase the user experience. Will Apple still allow desktop users to retain their freedoms a year or two from now, when the Store controls 95 per cent of individual app sales and the company has come up with a Great Idea for improving the Mac OS user experience that requires everybody to give something up in return?

Well, if Apple ever truly earns the title of Evil Company, at least we can be sure that it’ll only be evil like the machines in The Matrix as opposed to the aliens in Alien. Apple wants us to be blissful and happy like a babe in a womb. Google and Facebook want to lay their eggs inside our chests until their next product tears its way through our sternums.

**** Apple And Business Revisited <http://www.technightowl.com/2010/11/apple-and-business-revisited/>
Gene Steinberg, TechNightOwl

The long and short of it is that the enterprise suddenly looms as a major and surprising source of growth for Apple.

**** Free: The Best Mac Money And Budget App <http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/free-the-best-mac-money-and-budget-app/>
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360

**** Free: The Best Mac, iPhone, And PC Notes App <http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/free-the-best-mac-iphone-and-pc-notes-app/>
Alexis Kayhill, Mac360

**** Apple Updates Boot Camp, MacBook Firmware <http://www.macworld.com/article/155842/2010/11/macbook_efi_firmware_bootcamp_update.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld

The 3.2 Boot Camp software—available in two different flavors for users of 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, respectively—adds support in Windows for the ATI-Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, Apple USB Ethernet Adapter, and MacBook Air SuperDrive, and addresses a variety of unnamed critical bug fixes. Apple recommends all users of Boot Camp 3.1 upgrade to this new version.

**** How D7 Consulting Uses The iPad At Work <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/11/18/how-d7-consulting-uses-the-ipad-at-work/>
Mike Schramm, TUAW

**** European Carriers Threaten Apple Over Embedded SIM Option <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/11/18/european_carriers_threaten_apple_over_embedded_sim_option.html>
Josh Ong, AppleInsider

Carriers in Europe are threatening to cut subsidies if Apple releases an iPhone with an embedded SIM card, a new report claims.

**** MacBook: The Great Compromise <http://www.macworld.com.au/blogs/buying-guide/macbook-the-great-compromise-19617/>
Blair Hanley Frank, Australian Macworld

If you’re looking for an affordable Mac laptop that does everything you need without sacrificing quality, look no further than the MacBook. All things considered, it’s the best Mac for the average consumer.

**** Mac OS X 10.6.5 Addresses Display Issues On New MacBook Air <http://www.macrumors.com/2010/11/18/mac-os-x-10-6-5-addresses-display-issues-on-new-macbook-air/>
Eric Slivka, MacRumors.com

**** Microsoft Monoculture Hurts Tablet Users <http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2010/11/133_76628.html>
Kim Tong-hyung, Korea Times

It appears the Apple iPad is going to be a huge hit here. It’s hard to imagine, however, Korean consumers being all smiles once they begin using their trophy gadget. 

This has nothing to do with what Apple’s new tablet can’t do, but rather how the local computing environment has users stuck with badly-aged Microsoft technologies in computer operating systems and Web browsers.

**** NoMenuBar 1.1 <http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/727622/review/nomenubar_11.html?expand=true&lsrc=rss_main>
Dan Frakes, Macworld

The program forgoes all but a single menu of its own, leaving the rest of the menu bar free for other uses. Whenever you want to access a menu-bar icon that’s been overrun by menu titles, just switch to NoMenuBar.

**** Economist Comes To iPad, iPhone With Audio Features <http://www.macworld.com/article/155850/2010/11/economist_ios.html?lsrc=rss_main>
Joel Mathis, Macworld

The publication will be available for download each Thursday by 4 p.m. Eastern, with the full print edition, and all articles are cached for offline reading. The app also includes the magazine’s audio edition, which is read by professional newscasters, so that users can switch between reading and listening.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Thinking Outside The In-box <http://www.technologyreview.com/web/26756/?ref=rss>
Erica Naone, Technology Review

One of the Internet's oldest tools is getting a whole new set of functions.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** The Last Bohemian <http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2010/01/10/just_kids/index.html>
Laura Miller, Salon

When Patti Smith first began to release albums in the late 1970s, she seemed to have magically eluded all of the shackles imposed on women in the rock 'n' roll world. She was neither angelic muse nor bad-girl sexpot, a tomboy willing to be photographed in a pale peach slip, flashing a patch of unshaven armpit hair that shocked the record-store boys I knew more than just about anything any girl had ever done. Rumors went around that she claimed to masturbate to photographs of herself, a concept that baffled me; I was so naive I didn't understand yet that people (i.e., men) masturbated to photographs, and the idea of being sufficiently aroused by one's own image to do so was unfathomable. Fascinated, I turned out to see this intimidating person at an in-store appearance, only to have my copy of "Easter" signed by a soft-spoken urchin with a luminous smile.

**** Typo Analysis <http://www.bookforum.com/inprint/017_04/6675>
Ed Park, Bookforum

The evolving narratives hidden in a classic style guide.

**** A World Cracked Open <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/dec/09/world-cracked-open/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nybooks+%28The+New+York+Review+of+Books%29>
Alan Hollinghurst, New York Review Of Books

Michael Cunningham’s novels have tended to be airy, open structures, covering large spans of time and space. They are narrative experiments, multivoiced and wide-ranging, with a romantic sense of the adventure of the inner life and a brilliant eye for the details of the everyday world; it is not surprising that Virginia Woolf has been so important a presence for this midwestern New Yorker.

If Specimen Days, enjoyable though it was, seemed an adventure too far, Cunningham’s new novel By Nightfall is by contrast disconcertingly conventional in subject and technique. It is seen entirely through one consciousness, takes place in and around New York City, and unfolds over a period of a few days (albeit bulked out with substantial flashbacks).

**** The Worst Of Times <http://www.slate.com/id/2275108/>
Jesse Wegman, Slate

Cookbook writers are ridiculously bad at guessing how long it'll take to prepare a meal.

**** Avoiding The Void: A Brief History Of Nothing(ness) <http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2010/11/17/131383533/avoiding-the-void-a-brief-history-of-nothing-ness>
Marcelo Gleiser, NPR

We all know the aphorism that one can see a glass filled to the middle with water as half-full or half-empty, the optimistic versus the pessimistic views. What about an empty glass? Of course, everyone knows that it’s filled with air. Can we, however, contemplate total emptiness? And if we can, does it really exist? Is there such a thing as a complete void in Nature, the absence of everything?

**** The Case Of The Vanishing Blonde <http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2010/12/vanishing-blonde-201012?currentPage=all>
Mark Bowden, Vanity Fair

After a woman living in a hotel in Florida was raped, viciously beaten, and left for dead near the Everglades in 2005, the police investigation quickly went cold. But when the victim sued the Airport Regency, the hotel’s private detective, Ken Brennan, became obsessed with the case: how had the 21-year-old blonde disappeared from her room, unseen by security cameras?



SingaporeSurf
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**** Please Take Action And Support One Of Our Authors, Alan Shadrake <http://gbgerakbudaya.com/2010/11/please-take-action-and-support-one-of-our-authors-alan-shadrake/>
GB Gerakbudaya

Alan wrote a very important book entitled Once A Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock which we published earlier this year. Based on the best traditions of investigative journalism and with a wealth of empirical evidence, Alan’s book was a fair appraisal of the injustices of Singapore’s use of the death penalty.

As readers and supporters not only of SIRD but also of the principles of democracy and free speech we call upon you to support Alan and take action. Every gesture from each individual is important.

**** Marina Bay: Singapore's Flashy New Neighborhood <http://www.time.com/time/travel/article/0,31542,2032002,00.html>
Neel Chowdhury, Time

Marina Bay is itself something of a gamble, of course. As with nearly every instance of urban engineering of this magnitude, be it London's Canary Wharf or Shanghai's Pudong, Marina Bay's commercial success or failure will be decided years, maybe even decades, from today. But right now the cost-accounting perspective is hardly front and center. Instead, Marina Bay is all about providing entertainment. After nearly half a century of relentlessly pursuing affluence, and now attaining it, Singaporeans are ready for some fun.

**** IRs Put With 'Other Services' <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_604941.html>
Robin Chan, Straits Times

The two integrated resorts (IRs), including Universal Studios theme park, are being lumped in with activities such as visits to the zoo and performances at the Esplanade, said permanent secretary for trade and industry Ravi Menon on Thursday.

The Department of Statistics has said the figures are being included in a section of the national accounts called Arts, Entertainment and Recreation - a sub-section of Other Services Industries.

**** We Should Love Our Country - With No Strings Attached <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_604816.html>
Robert William Straughan, Straits Times

My ancestors settled here and I was born here. As Singaporeans, we may have differing opinions about Singapore becoming a global city, but we must agree on one thing: that this will be our nation, for better or for worse.

**** Stateless Man Fights For Singapore Citizenship <http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/19/stateless-man-fights-for-singapore-citizenship/>
Ewen Boey, Yahoo!

“I believe that this situation is the fault of the ICA. If they had handled the situation well, there would not have been this miscommunication. Instead, they do not even want to admit that they have any fault to play at all. I believe that all humans make mistakes, and I’m seeking an apology from their side on this mix-up before I apply again.”

**** PAP Has Utterly Lost Its Way: Dr Vincent Wijeysingha <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/11/pap-has-utterly-lost-its-way-dr-vincent-wijeysingha/>
The Online Citizen

**** Currency Controls In China, Singapore, Taiwan Cause Global Problems, US Fed Says <http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/news/currency-controls-in-china-singapore-taiwan-cause-global-problems-us-fed-says/story-e6frg90x-1225956591415>
Jon Hilsenrath, The Australian

China and other nations are causing global problems by preventing their currencies from strengthening, Ben Bernanke says.

The Fed chairman's message, though scholarly in tone, was unusually blunt in laying blame for inflationary pressures in emerging markets and for tensions over currencies on countries like China. A chart accompanying his comments also pinpoints Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand as aggressively trying to hold their currencies down, while India, Chile and Turkey are not.

**** Academic Freedom In Singapore, Or Lack Thereof <http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/nov/19/academic-freedom-singapore-lack-thereof/>
Joel S. Fetzer, Yale Daily News

President Levin’s naïve assertion in the November/December issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine that scholarly publications at the National University of Singapore are not censored does not accord with academic reality in the country.

**** British Minister 'Dismayed' By Author's Singapore Jail Term <http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jKUY3xUHpVR97pR2Qdbsj5JZrobw?docId=CNG.7eddc6a51feddbde3d2014b78a92b8a8.641>
AFP

Foreign office minister Jeremy Browne said in comments posted on the website of the British High Commission in Singapore that author Alan Shadrake's views on the judicial system should be covered by the right to freedom of expression.

Browne added that the commission "would continue to call on all countries, including Singapore, to recognise the right to freedom of expression as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights".

**** Teen Slashed In Ang Mo Kio <http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/11/19/teen-slashed-in-ang-mo-kio/>
Ion Danker, Yahoo!

The Ang Mo Kio slashing is the third incident after a teen was slashed to death at Downtown East and six people were involved in the Bukit Panjang clash.

**** Anti-gay Laws Continue To Be Used Selectively, Despite Assurances <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/11/anti-gay-laws-continue-to-be-used-selectively-despite-assurances-m-ravi/>
M Ravi, The Online Citizen

Far from approaching the issue in a mature and liberal way, befitting a nation that prides itself on being part of the First World, Singapore continues to languish with the rump of countries that sees nothing wrong with retaining on its statute book, an ancient, irrelevant, discriminatory, and (according to the Constitution) illegal provision. A provision that then allows policemen and public prosecutors to give free rein to their personal prejudices if they choose to.

**** Dry Run For New Route To Singapore Starts On November 26 <http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=544150>
Bernama

The short term access to Singapore through the Sultan Iskandar Building would be phased out in stages starting November 26 when a new route was opened. The 2.1km short term access route, called "F1 Track" due to its many winding routes, will be replaced with a medium term link that stretches 1.2km and will have four straight lanes.

**** Singapore Currency Undervalued To Boost Exports: Bernanke <http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2010/11/singapore-currency-undervalued-to-boost-exports-bernanke.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rana+%28Pressrun.net+%28originally+Blowin%27+in+the+Wind%29%29>
Pressrun.net

**** MM Lee Stresses Need For S'pore To Keep Pace With Technology <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1094482/1/.html>
Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia

**** Restore Ogawa Ryuju’s Citizenship <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/restore-ogawa-ryujus-citizenship/>
Yawning Bread

If the government does not act fast to rectify Ogawa Ryuju’s citizenship, someone somewhere will make political hay of it. And not just for the present; this is the kind of case that has the potential to be cited again and again for years to come to make a political point.

It does not take much for someone to tell voters: See? The Singapore government is laying out the red carpet again to total foreigners simply because they are part of elite ranks while treating true-blue Singaporeans like dirt. If you have an N-level, they don’t even want you to be a Singapore citizen. But before they chuck you out, they extract two years of National Service from you first.