[MyAppleMenu] Sep 27, 2010

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** IOS Alarms Broken For New Zealand Users After Daylight Savings <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/09/26/ios-alarms-broken-for-new-zealand-users-after-daylight-savings/>
Chris Rawson, TUAW

We just started Daylight Saving Time in New Zealand yesterday. Since then, many iOS users here have experienced what's probably one of the weirdest bugs I've ever seen: our alarms are now going off an hour early.

**** The Evolution Of The Apple Mouse <http://mashable.com/2010/09/26/evolution-apple-mouse/>
Mashable

The evolution of the Apple mouse makes for an interesting design journey that includes the loss of its tail, moving from a single button to touch, and of course going from beige to multi-colored and back to a monotone.

**** The Carriers’ Rebellion <http://www.mondaynote.com/2010/09/26/the-carriers’-rebellion/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+monday-note+%28Monday+Note%29>
Jean-Louis Gassée, Monday Note

**** Apple's Weakest Link Is At Its Core <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/sep/26/the-networker-john-naughton-itunes-apple>
John Naughton, The Guardian

This is what the industry calls "feature creep" on an heroic scale.

**** Time To Spit Out More Praise For Apple <http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/77c8e4cc-c823-11df-ae3a-00144feab49a.html>
Lucy Kellaway, Financial Times

Mr Jobs may be a slightly unpleasant piece of work, scary and arrogant. But if these messages are his, I congratulate him on his clarity, his tetchiness and on being entirely in the right.

**** New iPhone 4 Creates Battle For Sales <http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90778/90860/7150305.html>
Li Qiaoyi, People's Daily Online

China Unicom is selling the handset with a two-year contract, but Apple stores are offering the phone with no-strings-attached. Buyers are free to use the services of any telecom provider.

Consumers have so far voiced little interest in being tied to a contract. Apple Inc is also undercutting China Unicom's price for the new iPhone.

**** Lucky Few Get New iPhone 4 <http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/?id=450266&type=Business>
Pan Xiaoyi, Shanghai Daily

**** Beware: Chinese iPhone 4 Comes With A Crippled Maps App <http://www.ogleearth.com/2010/09/beware_chinese.html>
Ogle Earth

I soon discovered that the Chinese version of the iPhone 4 comes with an aggravating quirk, though: The built-in Maps app is crippled. My phone's base map is hard-wired to Google Maps' censored dataset for China, where the depiction of China's borders complies with the official propaganda of the Chinese government. It does not, for example, show the region of Arunachal Pradesh as being disputed by China and India. On my phone, it belongs to China, even though the facts on the ground belie it — it is currently administered by India.

**** Study Finds That Apple Dominates Tech News <http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=b8bc6c8dd9146f8ad71b0e061309d951>
BRIAN Stelter, New York Times

A new study confirms what some in the technology industry have long sensed: that Apple commands an inordinate amount of the media’s attention.

A yearlong look at technology news coverage by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found that 15.1 percent of tech articles were primarily about Apple; 11.4 percent were about Google; and a meager 3 percent were about Microsoft.

**** Feature: Parallels Desktop 6: The Ars Review <http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/apple/~3/xf191QWmF_8/parallels-desktop-6-the-ars-review.ars>
Dave Girard, Ars Technica

Parallels has had their eye on Windows 3D gaming from the start and, with this release, they've finally converted me.

**** Apple Threatens Search Giants' Mobile Ad Shares <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2010/tc20100926_023792.htm>
Olga Kharif, BusinessWeek

**** Collusion In Silicon Valley: How High Does It Go? <http://www.salon.com/technology/dan_gillmor/2010/09/27/tech_collusion>
Dan Gillmor, Salon

Big tech companies agreed not to poach each others' employees; are key investors making anti-competitive deals too?

**** Users: FaceTime In UAE Killed By IOS 4.1 Update <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=863e62dc1192b8682d3c78d035be7ee3>
Magnus Nystedt, Macworld Middle East

At the end of the first day of iPhone 4 officially going on sale in the United Arab Emirates, it seems like the update of iOS to 4.1 is what is disabling FaceTime on iPhones in the country.

**** New Apple TVs Prepared For Shipment <http://www.tuaw.com/2010/09/27/new-apple-tvs-prepared-for-shipment/>
Steven Sande, TUAW

**** Review: MarsEdit 3.1 <http://rss.macworld.com/click.phdo?i=7cc176aac03b730c74b18d0ecad01fc5>
Lisa Schmeiser, Macworld

Bloggers who value efficiency will appreciate MarsEdit 3.1's ability to write, preview, save, schedule, and publish entries from within one application, rather than having to jump from one Web-based entry page to another. For people maintaining multiple blogs, MarsEdit can be a very powerful tool for simplifying your workload—if you can get all the blogs configured correctly.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** How To Ask Awkward Questions And Annoy People <http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/reviewofbooks_article/9632>
Angus Kennedy, Spiked

Socrates’ relentless questioning of received moral wisdom and authority, his struggle to apprehend real existence in consciousness, would make him many enemies.

**** The Anatomy Of Ghosts By Andrew Taylor <http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/GAerIOb0u6I/anatomy-of-ghosts-andrew-taylor>
Alison Flood, The Guardian

As the days edge further into autumn, what better way to pass the time than with a good old-fashioned ghost story? Andrew Taylor's The Anatomy of Ghosts provides just that, as grieving bookseller John Holdsworth is coerced into attempting to disprove the existence of "an alleged apparition" in a corrupt, crumbling 18th-century Cambridge college.

**** The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood | Books Review <http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/JRaFbV7GXxI/the-handmaids-tale-margaret-atwood>
Charlotte Newman, The Guardian

Atwood's chilling tale of a concubine in an oppressive future America is more vital than ever.

**** Small Change <http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell>
Malcolm Gladwell, New Yorker

Why the revolution will not be tweeted.

**** The Dungeon Master <http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2010/10/04/101004fi_fiction_lipsyte>
Sam Lipsyte, New Yorker



SingaporeSurf
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**** Singapore's Lesser-known Tropical Fruits <http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/eat/singapores-lesser-known-tropical-fruits-266005>
Lay Leng Ang, CNNGo

**** PAP Govt Tells Others The "Singapore Way" Of Helping The Poor... <http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2010/09/pap-govt-tells-others-singapore-way-of.html>
Diary of A Singaporean Mind

**** Too Early To Tell If S'pore Will Continue Hosting F1 Races: S Iswaran <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1083504/1/.html>
Shaffiq Alkhatib, Channel NewsAsia

Senior minister of state for trade and industry, S Iswaran, said it's still early to tell if Singapore's contract to organise the Formula One races will be extended beyond 2012.

**** R21 Movies Should Not Divert Attention Away From Other Issues In Censorship Review <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1083507/1/.html>
Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia

While interest has centred on lowering restrictions on R21 movies, acting minister for information, communications and the arts Lui Tuck Yew said it should not divert attention away from the other recommendations made. 

"We don't want a particular issue to hijack the attention of everybody and divert it from all the other issues that also bear serious attention,' said Mr Lui.

**** In Principle, Workfare Is Better Than Minimum Wage <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/in-principle-workfare-is-better-than-minimum-wage>
Yawning Bread

The cost of poverty-reduction via a minimum-wage scheme is borne by business entities. Firstly, it is economically distorting; secondly, it doesn’t seem to hold the state responsible for the welfare of its people when the cost is passed off to business.

**** Keep Rentals Low To Raise Quality Of Hawker Fare <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_583434.html>
Joseph Khoo, Straits Times

While upgrading hawker centres is a good idea, raising rentals simply makes the hawkers' life harder.

In addition, turning over the running of hawker centres to private operators is a bad idea as their main motive will always be to maximise profits. They will bid high to get the right to run the centre and then squeeze the hawkers to recoup their investments.

The government's introduction of middlemen in all sorts of businesses has severely raised the cost of living in Singapore.

**** Impersonations Of Its Officers Prompt NEA Review <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100927-0000075/Impersonations-of-its-officers-prompt-NEA-review>
Saifulbahri Ismail, Today

Recently, six men impersonated NEA officers and robbed a member of the public. NEA said it took a serious view of the incident and will work with the police to prevent repeat incidents.

**** Raise Your Hand, If You Are Against R21 Films In Heartlands <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC100927-0000050/Raise-your-hand,-if-you-are-against-R21-films-in-heartlands>
Teo Xuanwei, Today

Of all the suggestions made by the Censorship Review Committee (CRC), this was the one that grabbed the headlines.

By a show of hands, the majority of the 150 or so residents in the hall at Fuchun Community Club were against R21 films appearing in heartland cinemas - similar to the CRC's findings in its nationwide survey - and on free-to-air or pay-TV.

**** Dr Chee Soon Juan: The Stakes Have Never Been Higher For Singaporeans <http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/09/26/dr-chee-soon-juan-the-stakes-have-never-been-higher-for-singaporeans/>
The Temasek Review

“The stakes in the next general election have never been higher for Singaporeans,” quipped Singapore Democratic Party’s secretary general Dr Chee Soon Juan at the SDP pre-election rally last Saturday which drew a larger than expected crowd of nearly 400 people.

He warns that Singaporeans will have no future in Singapore if the PAP is allowed to remain in power without any opposition to check on it.

**** 天方夜谭的防恐广告 <http://www.zaobao.com/yl/yl100927_009.shtml>
洪为煊, 联合早报

防恐工作不能是天方夜谭，雷声大雨点小，而是在每一环节上，都须有切实可行的方案。

**** 回应 南大世界排名并没有滑落101个名次 <http://www.zaobao.com/yl/yl100927_003.shtml>
å¾å† æž—ï¼Œå—æ´‹ç†å·¥å¤§å­¦, 联合早报

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**** Minister Balaji Has Died <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_583621.html>
Straits Times

Senior minister of state for foreign affairs Dr Balaji Sadasivan, who was battling colon cancer, died early on Monday morning. He was 55.

**** Vincent Cheng: ISA Victims Must Speak Out <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4167-vincent-cheng-isa-victims-must-speak-out>
Singapore Democrat Party

**** The Case Against Minimum Wage <http://newasiarepublic.com/?p=20857>
Ho Say Peng, New Asia Republic

Minimum wage laws are a violation of an employer’s property rights.

**** ‘Jueteng’ Lords Clean Money In Singapore  <http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100927-294494/Jueteng-lords-clean-money-in-Singapore>
Marlon Ramos, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Gambling lords have found “creative methods” of laundering billions of pesos generated by their illegal operations in the country, a lawyer of a late suspected jueteng operator said Sunday. The methods range from auctioning off paintings in Singapore to moving funds through the underground “Binondo Central Bank,” Ferdinand Topacio said.

**** New Twist To The By-Election Question, But Don’t Hold Your Breath <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/09/toc-op-ed-new-twist-to-the-by-election-question-but-don’t-hold-your-breath/>
The Online Citizen

This time round Mr Lee will be hard-pressed to deploy the same explanation in Dr Balaji’s case. Due to his duties as PM, Mr Lee would already have had less time for constituency work than ordinary MPs; it is thus unlikely the prime minister can be tasked to make up for Dr Balaji’s constituency work.

Further, the assertion that the rest of the GRC MPs can cover for someone’s duties raises the obvious and uncomfortable question: are an MP’s duties really that important if he’s so dispensable?

**** Prices Of Landed Homes Outside Prime Areas Hit New High <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1083650/1/.html>
Mok Fei Fei, Channel NewsAsia

**** Singapore GIC's Average Rate Of Return Rises <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704654004575517713334061130.html>
Costas Paris And P.R. Venkat, Wall Street Journal

The Government of Singapore Investment Corp. said its average rate of return had picked up pace in the year ended March from the previous year as global equities markets rebounded but warned that significant challenges remained ahead.

GIC's portfolio stands close to 270 billion Singapore dollars (US$204.17 billion), according to people familiar with the fund. It is one of the world's biggest sovereign-wealth funds in terms of money managed.

**** GIC Recovers Losses From Previous Year, Sees Higher Returns <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1083694/1/.html>
May Wong, Channel NewsAsia

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) said on Monday that it has significantly recovered its losses from the previous year. 

No figures were given, but the comment came in its latest annual report for the year ended March.