[MyAppleMenu] Sep 23, 2010

applesurf at myapplemenu.com applesurf at myapplemenu.com
Thu Sep 23 18:59:00 EDT 2010

MyAppleMenu
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**** The Real Secret Of Apple’s Product Philosophy <http://stagetwo.com/2010/09/the-real-secret-of-apples-product-philosophy/>
Stage Two

**** Mailplane 2.2 Adds Several Key Features <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/09/22/mailplane-2-2-adds-several-key-features/>
TJ Luoma, TUAW

Mailplane, the native Mac app for Gmail and Google Apps email, has been updated to version 2.2, adding several new features and improving on others.

Leading the charge is support for the recently-released "Priority Inbox." You can now tell Mailplane to open either your regular inbox, Priority Inbox, or a custom label.

**** Remotely Control A MacBook <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=ab2218b2c0fd5d2ea63bcfa2769813e9>
Christopher Breen, Macworld

Regrettably you waited a little too long as MacBooks released at and after late 2009 (the polycarbonate model, not the MacBook Pro) don’t carry an IR port and therefore don’t work with Apple’s remote. But you’re not completely out of luck.

**** Writer For iPad Wants To Focus On Your Writing <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=8831f0eded62428394694f967de18ed2>
David Chartier, Macworld

The iPad offers a fairly distraction-free writing environment, thanks to iOS’s one-app-at-a-time design and emphasis on minimal interface. But Information Architects wants to help your inner writer become even more focused with Writer, its new iPad app.

**** Review: Premiere Elements 9 <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=bcf00a84a3889d7ed17090a07b68e2ca>
Jeff Carlson, Macworld

Adobe Premiere Elements 9’s strengths lie in its multi-track editing capabilities, along with editor-friendly features such as Smart Trim and DVD creation and burning capabilities within the program.

If you’ve been looking for a replacement for iMovie HD 6, but haven’t wanted to jump into Final Cut Express, Premiere Elements 9 offers a way to make the transition toward more advanced video editing techniques. However, the Sceneline mode might present too many irritations for longterm use. Still, the program does offer a wealth of video editing capability at a competitive price.

**** NBCU Unlikely To Join Apple 99-cent Rentals <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2225715320100922>
Yinka Adegoke and Jennifer Saba, Reuters

NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker said on Wednesday his company is not likely to follow rivals to make its TV shows available for Apple Inc's new 99-cent rental service unveiled earlier this month. Offering NBC's shows for that price on the Apple TV service would undermine the value of their shows, he said.

**** Apple Updates IWork For iPad With New IDisk, Office Support <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/09/22/apple_updates_iwork_for_ipad_with_new_idisk_office_support.html>
AppleInsider

Apple on Wednesday released a significant update to its iWork suite of productivity applications for the iPad, delivering support for copying files to a Mobile Me iDisk and exporting documents in native Microsoft Office formats.

**** Ringtone Makers Being Allowed Into Apple's App Store <http://www.slashgear.com/ringtone-makers-being-allowed-into-apples-app-store-22103844/>
Evan Selleck, SlashGear

While seeing a ringtone maker in the App Store may not seem like a big deal, it goes a long way to show that Apple is doing something (whatever it is, who knows), to make the App Store a somewhat more inviting place, and to slough off those bad remarks that have plagued it since it started denying or removing applications for seemingly no reason.

**** Study: Apps Aren't Helping Smartphone Sales <http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20017265-17.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
Don Reisinger, CNET

Apps don't appear to be helping companies sell more smartphones, a study from international accounting and consulting firm Deloitte suggests.

**** An American In Paris Says Au Revoir To His Laptop <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703860104575507892265552372.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond>
Walter S. Mossberg, Wall Street Journal

Lots of people are wondering whether a touch-based tablet computer that doesn't have a physical keyboard or run a traditional operating system can replace their laptops on the road. So I decided to find out.

Earlier this month, my wife and I took a 10-day working vacation to Paris, and for the first time in many years, I decided to go away for a week or more without a laptop. Instead, I resolved to rely on only an Apple iPad tablet, my smartphone and a small digital camera.

**** The Origins Of Angry Birds <http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/216646/the-origins-of-angry-birds/>
Ryan Rigney, Game Pro

Mikael Hed, CEO of Finnish game studio Rovio, discusses how their immensely successful iPhone hit, Angry Birds, began with just a simple screenshot of an unhappy bird character.

**** Buyers Send iPhones On A Long Relay To China <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/technology/23iphone.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss>
Nick Bilton, New York Times

They show up in the early-morning hours: Chinese men and women, waiting silently and somewhat nervously outside of Apple stores in New York. On some days the lines they form can be a block long.

These are not typical Apple fans. Instead they are participants in a complex and curious trade driven by China’s demand for Apple’s fashionable gadgets — products that are made in China in the first place and exported, only to make the long trip back.

**** 'Apple Peel' Inventors Defend Device Turning iPod Into iPhone <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-23/-apple-peel-inventors-defend-device-turning-ipod-into-iphone.html>
Tim Culpan and Margaret Conley, Bloomberg

Pan Lei and Pan Yong, the Chinese brothers who invented a device to convert Apple Inc.’s iPod Touch into an iPhone, say they are innovators, not copycats.

Their Apple Peel 520 is a case including a circuit board and battery that wraps around the iPod Touch media player, allowing calls to be made after software is installed. The device, which requires breaking into Apple’s operating system, isn’t a counterfeit iPhone, Pan Lei, 25, told Bloomberg Television.

**** Apple's Market Cap Hits $262.88 Billion <http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/09/23/apples-market-cap-hits-262-88-billion/>
Philip Elmer-DeWitt, Fortune

**** iPads On College Campuses? Maybe Next Year <http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/09/23/ipads-college-campuses-maybe-year/>
Alec Liu, FOXNews

At the iPad's January launch, Apple CEO Steve Jobs eagerly touted the iPad as a game-changer for education. "The iPad isn't just the best device of its kind -- it's a whole new kind of device," the Apple website says, explaining that the iPad is "poised to change the learning landscape."

Not so fast.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Dancing Robot Swan Makes People Misty-eyed <http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20017286-1.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20>
Leslie Katz, CNET

**** Turning Thoughts Into Words <http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=349b772fb8b1a9c5202b1ae8053d8334>
Duncan Graham-Rowe, Technology Review

Brain-computer interfaces could someday provide a lifeline to "locked-in" patients, who are unable to talk or move but are aware and awake. Many of these patients can communicate by blinking their eyes, but turning blinks into words is time-consuming and exhausting.

Scientists in Utah have now demonstrated a way to determine which of 10 distinct words a person is thinking by recording the electrical activity from the surface of the brain.

**** Another Wireless PC-to-TV Idea <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=4a27ce9c74bfd94f82fc62e1773bd560>
Paul Boutin, New York Times

Watching Internet video on your living-room TV shouldn’t be hard. The stuff already plays on your laptop, so why not just connect your laptop to your TV? A new $99 gadget called Veebeam, launched a few days ago, promises to make that easy to do.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** The Age Of Citation <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/books/review/Orr-t.html>
David Orr, New York Times

But if the epigraph’s prevalence is a product of history, it also reflects the specific needs of our own literary moment.

**** The Meat Eaters <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/the-meat-eaters/?ref=opinion>
Jeff McMahan, New York Times

Viewed from a distance, the natural world often presents a vista of sublime, majestic placidity. Yet beneath the foliage and hidden from the distant eye, a vast, unceasing slaughter rages. Wherever there is animal life, predators are stalking, chasing, capturing, killing, and devouring their prey. Agonized suffering and violent death are ubiquitous and continuous. This hidden carnage provided one ground for the philosophical pessimism of Schopenhauer, who contended that “one simple test of the claim that the pleasure in the world outweighs the pain…is to compare the feelings of an animal that is devouring another with those of the animal being devoured.”

**** "It's Like A Safari, And We're The Zebras" <http://www.slate.com/id/2267350/>
Jeremy Stahl, Slate

Inside the bizarre tourist trade at Harlem's Sunday church services.



SingaporeSurf
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**** In Singapore, Embracing The Humidity <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/garden/23location.html>
Naomi Lindt, New York Times

Stephen Fisher, a banker with J. P. Morgan and a native Australian, wanted to embrace the tropical climate. He had been in Singapore for a decade, and he missed the outdoor life in Sydney, where he grew up.

So in 2005, when 40 plots of land became available on this resort island 20 minutes from the city center, he snapped one up, paying 3.5 million Singapore dollars (or $2.6 million) for the 7,800-square-foot lot.

**** 马哈迪的双重标准主义 <http://www.zaobao.com/yl/yl100923_003.shtml>
黄世泽, 联合早报

事实上，在新加坡的种族平等政策下，马来人证明了他们的能力，与其他民族同等卓越，甚至新加坡国会现任议长正是马来人。今年世界盃，代表新加坡执法的国际球证Shamsul Maidin，也是马来人。在新加坡种族平等制度下，马来人可以爬上世界顶级位置，为马来民族争光，而不是像马来西亚的某些当政者，老是为马来民族出丑。

事实胜于雄辩，种族平等才能为国家带来发展机会，新加坡证明了这点，美国也证明了这点，美国白人为主的选民才选了奥巴马当总统，就像新加坡和马来西亚的前宗主国英国，有名种族歧视得厉害，也不得不委任一名原籍巴基斯坦的穆斯林担任保守党主席兼内阁阁员，这是在英国历史上破天荒的，平等机会才是提升国家实力的唯一道路。马哈迪医生等人不听李光耀的忠告，仍然坚持错误的道路，除了为他们的朋党带来好处，笔者看不出对基层的马来人有什么帮助？

**** Alternative Orchard Site For New Library <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_581864.html>
Evelyn Lau, *Scape, Lim Theam Siew, National Library Board, Straits Times

NLB and *Scape had explored the possibility of setting up this library in *Scape but it did not materialise.

NLB has since identified an alternative site for a new library in the Orchard area, which will be easily accessible. NLB will provide more information when the details are finalised.

**** New Tenure Scheme The Culprit For NTU's Drop In Rankings <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_581873.html>
Michael Heng, Straits Times

THE Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) dramatic fall by 101 places in university rankings was not surprising given its controversial promotion and tenure exercise which has been carried out since 2007.

The exercise resulted in the departure of many professors who were responsible for NTU's higher ranking prior to 2007.

**** We Don't Need The Winter Games <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_581866.html>
Tan Aik Fong, Straits Times

We don't need the Winter Olympics because the summer Olympics has enough sports for Singaporeans to strive for.

This attitude is what's wrong with our school system, and extend to every facade of our life. Instead of asking how we, as a society, can groom every individual to their best of their ability and interest, we pigeon-hole them into what we want them to be. And if you doesn't fit, you go be a low-skilled worker, and we have Work Fare upgrading programmes for you.

**** Rudderless In A Choppy Sea, Part 2 <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/rudderless-in-a-choppy-sea-part-2/>
Yawning Bread

The sorry thing about the whole affair is that by failing to do propose the ending of censorship and a greater loosening of classification, the committee has contributed to damaging Singapore’s national interests.

**** Is It Time For An Ombudsman? <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100923-0000025/Is-it-time-for-an-ombudsman?>
Richard Hartung, Today

Even though competition and cooperation have worked well in the past, times may have changed. Today more companies appear to put their own interests first. Toy importer Tai Seng, for example, simply told the media that checks on toxicity are "not within our jurisdiction".

If cooperation is no longer as effective in today's sometimes disconnected markets, maybe it's time for an ombudsman that actually has some clout. Rather than companies simply apologising for consumer inconvenience and even financial loss, an ombudsman could compel them to make amends.

**** Seeking Bank Secrecy In Asia <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/business/global/23swiss.html?_r=1&src=busln>
Lynnley Browning, New York Times

Richard Murphy, a founder of the Tax Justice Network, a British research firm focused on offshore havens, said that amid the changes, “Singapore is where the Swiss can now find the banking secrecy they’ve lost at home.”

“It is my impression that lots of the money that left Switzerland went to Singapore,” said H. David Rosenbloom, a tax lawyer at Caplin Drysdale in Washington.

**** Malaysian Gov’t Gets Windfall As Singapore Settles Land Row <http://bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=18215>
AFP

The prime pieces of land Singapore will give a Malaysian-led consortium to resolve a long-standing dispute is worth up to S$7 billion (US$5.25 billion), a leading property analyst said.

**** 免费巴士组屋区载客 到机场第三搭客大厦 <http://www.zaobao.com/sp/sp100923_004.shtml>
赖诗琳, 联合早报

樟宜机场集团开辟来往组屋区和樟宜机场第三搭客大厦的免费巴士服务，以吸引更多新加坡人到樟宜机场购物。

**** 捍卫广东话 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/fk/fk100923_004.shtml>
联合早报

K第一天踏进课室，就微微地吓了一跳。怎么大家都在用广东话讨论问题，这不是写明是英语教学的课程吗？只是“微微地”，而不是大大地吓一跳，因为在这以前，她已经从大学的校园刊物中认识到，广东话教学在香港中文大学里是有不少捍卫者的。

**** Home Team NSmen To Undergo Mandatory HIV Screening <http://sg.yfittopostblog.com/2010/09/23/home-team-nsmen-to-undergo-mandatory-hiv-screening>
Faris, Yahoo!

All national servicemen (NSmen) from the Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Civil Defence Force will now have to undergo a mandatory HIV screening.

However, the new policy has raised some eyebrows over confidentiality, with regard to how information gained on an NSman’s HIV status will be handled.

**** Singapore Inflation Rate Climbs To Highest In 18 Months Amid Record Growth <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-23/singapore-inflation-rate-climbs-to-highest-in-18-months-amid-record-growth.html>
Stephanie Phang, Bloomberg

Singapore’s inflation accelerated to an 18-month high in August as record economic growth in the first half of the year spurred demand for goods and services.

Housing prices, the biggest component of the consumer price index, climbed 3.1 percent from a year earlier in August, and transport costs increased 9 percent. Food prices rose 1.7 percent, today’s report showed.

**** 45% Of Expats' Pay Top $265K <http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20100923-238686.html>
AsiaOne

Singapore has the largest proportion of expatriate high earners compared to 24 countries around the world, says a HSBC survey.

**** YOG Committee Apologises For Error In Certificates <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1082993/1/.html>
Evelyn Choo, Channel NewsAsia

Approximately 45,000 certificates bored sample signatures of the committee chairman and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge instead of the actual ones.

**** The Word: Luck <http://dlzj.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/the-word-luck/>
Icarus Flew Too High




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