[MyAppleMenu] Mar 1, 2011

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** How Much Money Can You Make On The App Store? <http://blog.riverofnewsapp.com/2010/10/how-much-money-can-you-make-on-app.html>
River of News Blog

It's not a bad income for a month and factoring in the lack of benefits and extra taxes it's around the median for a US household. But I can earn twice as much in the corporate world. (Software engineers are paid well.)

**** Apple's Tim Cook Hints At Cheaper iPhone, Prepaid Possibilities To Come? <http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/28/apples-tim-cook-hints-at-cheaper-iphone-prepaid-possibilities/>
Sean Hollister, Engadget

Apple COO Tim Cook got all buddy-buddy with Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi this week, talking about Apple's business strategy -- nothing out of the ordinary there -- but this morning, that analyst decided to publicly paraphrase an intriguing part of the interview. Guess what? It sounds like a cheaper iPhone may indeed be in the cards.

**** Alfred For Mac Enhances Apple's Finder <http://www.tuaw.com/2011/02/28/alfred-for-mac-enhances-apples-finder/>
Dave Caolo, TUAW

Alfred is a utility for Mac OS X that's part app launcher, part navigation tool and part web service. In short, it's a productivity tool that sits quietly in the background until you need something -- fast.

**** Apple's Strategic Advantage <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380962,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121>
Tim Bajarin, PC Magazine

**** Hands On With GoToMyPC For iPad App <http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/220884/hands_on_with_gotomypc_for_iPad_app.html>
Tony Bradley, PC World

The iPad is an awesome mobile computing tool, and it can take the place of a PC for most tasks, but when push comes to shove, it's still not a PC. Citrix is bridging that gap, though, by enabling users to remotely connect to and work with their PC on the go from an iPad using the GoToMyPC for iPad app.

**** In Depth With Apple's FaceTime HD Webcam <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381136,00.asp>
PJ Jacobowitz, Cisco Cheng, PC Magazine

**** Mac OS X Lion Hands-on Preview <http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/28/mac-os-x-lion-hands-on-preview/>
Nilay Patel, Engadget

We installed the dev build on one of our MacBook Pros and used it over the weekend, and while we won't be able to see any huge changes in day-to-day workflow until our favorite apps are updated to take advantage of Lion, we did see plenty of interesting system-level features and additions -- and yes, iOS's influence is all over the place.

**** Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: File Vault Full Disk Encryption And Cloud Key Storage <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/02/28/inside_mac_os_x_10_7_lion_file_vault_full_disk_encryption_and_cloud_key_storage.html>
AppleInsider

In Mac OS X Lion, Apple has completely revamped FileVault, removing it as a simple encryption of users' Home folders and reinstating it as full disk encryption solution, with an apparent option to save disk encryption keys with Apple, likely via MobileMe. 

**** Inside Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Server: Remote Lock, Disk Wipe And Administration <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/02/28/inside_mac_os_x_10_7_lion_server_remote_lock_disk_wipe_and_administration.html>
AppleInsider

In Mac OS X Lion Server, Apple brings iOS-like remote management features to the Mac, including "Find My Mac," remote wipe, and remote software and profile settings via push notifications. 

**** Free Up Your Hard Drive Space With DaisyDisk 2 <http://www.macworld.com/article/158219/2011/03/daisydisk2.html#lsrc.rss_main>
David Dahlquist, Macworld

If you’ve found yourself wondering where all your once-plentiful hard drive space has seemingly vanished to, a utility like DaisyDisk Team’s DaisyDisk could prove invaluable in helping you free up long-lost disk space. Recently upgraded to version 2.0, DaisyDisk scans your disks and presents their content as interactive maps that make it easy to spot unusually large files and remove them to free up more space.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Investors Are Drawn Anew To Digital Music <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/business/media/01music.html?ref=technology>
Ben Sisario, New York Times



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** 'The Last Brother' By Appanah <http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-0301-book-appanah-20110301,0,2466116.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+features%2Fbooks+%28Los+Angeles+Times+-+Books%29>
Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

This deeply affecting work, first published in French in 2007, is the fourth novel by Nathacha Appanah, a journalist who grew up in Mauritius. All of her novels deal with injustice — the injustice of poverty, class, indentured Indian workers in Mauritius and, in "The Last Brother," the terrible suffering of two young boys.

**** With A Few Tweaks, Shaking Up History <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/books/01book.html?ref=arts>
Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

In his shrewdly written, often riveting new book, “Then Everything Changed,” the veteran political journalist Jeff Greenfield ponders some smaller-scale and more plausible what-ifs: three events, he says, “that came within a whisker of actually happening.” What if an actual attempt on John F. Kennedy’s life, shortly after his election to the White House, had succeeded? What if Sirhan Sirhan had been thwarted in assassinating Robert F. Kennedy in 1968? What if President Gerald R. Ford had corrected a misstep in the 1976 presidential debates and defeated Jimmy Carter?

**** It’s (Gasp!) Alive, Not To Mention Peeved <http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/02/26/theater/reviews/26franken.html>
Ben Brantley, New York Times

Bet you’ve never seen baby pictures like these. In the thrilling first moments of the National Theater production of “Frankenstein,” directed with rough magic by Danny Boyle, a newborn tumbles hard from the womb and straight into the struggle that is life. Oh, the muscle-clenching pain of it, as this still inchoate being tries out its lungs, its limbs, its voice. When it takes its first wobbling steps, it’s an act of exultation, and we want to roar with it.

**** Poem About Heaven <http://www.slate.com/id/2286541/?from=rss>
David Blair, Slate

**** To A Mountain In Tibet By Colin Thubron – Review <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/20/mountain-in-tibet-colin-thubron?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
Joanna Kavenna, The Guardian

Travel writing – or any writing that seeks to express something beyond the bare bones of a journey, to dramatise as well the mind of the traveller – must struggle with certain dilemmas. The traveller is untethered from their quotidian assumptions, buffeted from one encounter to the next. How, then, to evoke the so-called real, as it gets destabilised by solitary travel, even at times merged with the imaginary? How to write about such indeterminacies without becoming unreadably indeterminate yourself?

**** 1 Million Workers. 90 Million iPhones. 17 Suicides. Who’s To Blame? <http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_joelinchina/all/1>
Joel Johnson, Wired

It’s hard not to look at the nets. Every building is skirted in them. They drape every precipice, steel poles jutting out 20 feet above the sidewalk, loosely tangled like volleyball nets in winter.



SingaporeSurf
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**** No Monopoly On ‘Quality’ Candidates <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/no-monopoly-on-quality-candidates/>
Yawning Bread

Yet many Singaporeans are afraid to put these opposition representatives into parliament. They buy into the propaganda that only the PAP has “quality” candidates, propaganda that can only be sustained if the media blackout is kept up. Because once you see them up close and hear them talk you will know you’ve been lied to all these years. Interestingly though, now that Channel NewsAsia has hardly any viewers left, they can relax a bit and let three of them (but not Chee Soon Juan) appear on the telly, secure in the knowledge that nobody would notice and thus have their minds changed.

**** Elections Department And Election Commissions <http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2011/02/elections-department-and-election-commissions.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rana+%28Pressrun.net+%28originally+Blowin%27+in+the+Wind%29%29>
Pressrun.net

The Elections Department of Singapore, according to its website, “is a department under the Prime Minister’s Office”. That makes it different from the election commissions in America, Britain and India. All of them are independent bodies not under the prime minister or the president.

**** No Rabbits From Hats In Singapore? <http://prbblog.org/index.php/2011/02/28/singapore-fertility-rate-drop/>
Carl Haub, Population Reference Bureau

**** Bread-and-butter Issues In The Spotlight <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110301-0000233/Bread-and-butter-issues-in-the-spotlight>
Leong Wee Keat, Today

Hot button election issues such as housing, foreign workers and the widening income gap were given an early airing in Parliament yesterday during the first day of the Budget debate.

**** Up Chances By ... <http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC110301-0000226/Up-chances-by-,,,>
Tay Koon Quie, Housing & Development Board, Today

We regret that we are unable to build more flats in mature estates due to shortage of land. Hence, those who are selective in their flat applications, preferring only popular flats in choice locations, would have less chance of selection and would have to wait longer, as these flats are in short supply. 

**** 'Foreign' Doesn't Always Mean 'Talent' <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_639924.html>
James Ang, Straits Times

**** Shark's Fin: Marine Group Rebuts Trader's Claim <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_639922.html>
Jennifer Lee, Project: FIN, Straits Times

The issue of shark's fin does not merely pivot on the cruelty of live finning, but on marine sustainability as well, especially when we remove a slow-breeding species from the wild which is also a prime predator, acting as the pillar of support for our marine ecosystem.

**** Inflation Prompts Subsidy Spree <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703749504576172200331597110.html>
Patrick Barta, Wall Street Journal

As prices for food and energy climb, a growing number of governments—most recently in Asia—are expanding subsidies, imposing price controls or embracing other short-term fixes to protect consumers that many economists fear will prove counterproductive and lead to higher inflation in the end.

Subsidies and handouts let governments avoid more painful moves, such as big interest-rate increases, which many governments fear will slow growth and attract more speculative capital that could destabilize their economies. But over the long haul, economists warn, the programs may help drive prices higher by encouraging consumers to spend. Price controls, meanwhile, discourage farmers and manufacturers from producing more food and other goods—which is needed to help bring prices down—and can create other distortions.

**** 王雅兴刘程强针锋相对 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110301_029.shtml>
联合早报

工人党议员刘程强（后港区）在国会上发言后，人民行动党议员相继反驳是预料之中的事。昨天在国会上首名挑起这项“任务”的是议员王雅兴（义顺中区），两人以华语一来一往地针锋相对的一幕，是精彩之中也带着轻松，不时惹得其他议员忍不住掩嘴而笑。

**** 刘程强批评是大选年预算案 招来5行动党议员反驳 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110301_028.shtml>
联合早报

刘程强在13åˆ†é’Ÿçš„å‘è¨€ä¸­ï¼Œé™¤äº†æ‰¹è¯„é¢„ç®—æ¡ˆæœªèƒ½è§£å¼€å›½äººçš„å®žé™…æ”¶å…¥å¦‚ä½•åœ¨åå¹´åŽå¢žåŠ ä¸‰æˆçš„é—®é¢˜ï¼Œä¹Ÿæ— æ³•æœ‰æ•ˆå¸®åŠ©å›½äººå¯¹æŠ—é€šè´§è†¨èƒ€çš„å†²å‡»ä¹‹å¤–ï¼Œè¿˜æå‡ºå‡ é¡¹å»ºè®®ï¼ŒåŒ…æ‹¬å‘¼åæ”¿åºœè°ƒä½Žæ¶ˆè´¹ç¨ŽçŽ‡ä¸¤ä¸ªç™¾åˆ†ç‚¹ï¼›æ°¸ä¹…å–æ¶ˆå¥³ä½£ç¨Žï¼›ä»¥åŠä½¿åŠ³åŠ¨åŠ›æŠ¥å‘Šæ›´åŠ é€æ˜Žï¼Œå¹¶æ¸…æ¥šåŒºåˆ†å›½äººå’Œæ°¸ä¹…å±…æ°‘çš„å°±ä¸šæƒ…å†µã€‚

**** 哈莉玛: 单身者照顾父母也应享估税回扣 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110301_026.shtml>
联合早报

裕廊集选区议员哈莉玛建议，让照顾年长多病父母的单身者也享有为鼓励生育而推行的外国女佣税估税回扣，使这一措施“一箭双雕”。

**** 不是老掉牙的论点 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110301_023.shtml>
蔡添成, 联合早报

**** å·¥äººå…šçš„â€œæ ¹â€æ‰Žåœ¨åŽæ¸¯åœ°åŒº æž—ç‘žèŽ²åé©³å´èµ„æ”¿åå¯¹å…šâ€œæ— æ ¹â€è®º <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110301_010.shtml>
周殊钦, 联合早报

å·¥äººå…šæ˜¨å¤©åé©³å›½åŠ¡èµ„æ”¿å´ä½œæ ‹æ‰¹è¯„åå¯¹å…šâ€œæ— æ ¹â€ä¹‹è¯´ï¼ŒæŒ‡é€‰åŒºèŒƒå›´æ£€è®¨å§”å‘˜ä¼šæŠŠå®ƒå¤šå¹´æ¥è¾›è‹¦è€•è€˜çš„åŽŸå±žé˜¿è£•å°¼é›†é€‰åŒºçš„éƒ¨åˆ†èŒƒå›´åˆ’ç»™å‘¨å›´å…¶ä»–é›†é€‰åŒºï¼Œå·²ä¼¤å®³äº†å®ƒçš„â€œæ ¹â€ã€‚

**** 预算案出手阔　刘程强“甜头”论引起反击 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110301_003.shtml>
郭丽娟, 联合早报

政府在新财政年出手慷慨，与全民分享高达66äº¿å…ƒçš„è´¢æ”¿ç›ˆä½™ï¼Œä¸å°‘å›½äººéƒ½è‡ªç„¶è€Œç„¶åœ°æŠŠå®ƒçœ‹æˆæ˜¯â€œå¤§é€‰å¹´é¢„ç®—æ¡ˆâ€ã€‚ç„¶è€Œï¼Œå½“å·¥äººå…šç§˜ä¹¦é•¿ã€åŽæ¸¯åŒºè®®å‘˜åˆ˜ç¨‹å¼ºæ˜¨å¤©åœ¨å›½ä¼šä¸Šé“å‡ºè®¸å¤šæ–°åŠ å¡äººéƒ½æŠŠä»Šå¹´çš„é¢„ç®—æ¡ˆè§†ä¸ºæ”¿åºœåœ¨å¤§é€‰å‰åˆ†æ´¾â€œç”œå¤´â€ä»¥äº‰å–é€‰ç¥¨æ—¶ï¼Œå´å¼•æ¥äººæ°‘è¡ŒåŠ¨å…šè®®å‘˜çº·çº·åå‡»ã€‚

**** Same Budget. Different Outcome? <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4618-same-budget-different-outcome>
Singapore Democratic Party

Given that the PAP prides itself in having a 'helicopter vision' for the country, it is amazing that its ministers cannot see this bigger picture and allocate our financial resouces in a manner that would reduce the wealth divide, boost productivity, and increase our fertility rate.

**** Election Fever <http://modernburrow.lah.cc/2011/02/28/election-fever/>
For Want Of A Better Title

The one thing I have learnt from studying US Foreign Policy is that “all politics is local.”

**** Making Babies: Statistically Flawed Thinking? <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/03/making-babies-statistically-flawed-thinking/>
Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen

If the “population czar” in charge of improving our procreation keeps citing arguably “statistically” ïndefensible conclusions, is it any wonder our procreation policies keep failing?

**** PSD: “Civil Servants May Volunteer To Serve In Grassroots Organisations” <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/03/psd-civil-servants-may-volunteer-to-serve-in-grassroots-organisations/>
Andy Ong, Prime Minister’s Office, The Online Citizen

Civil servants may volunteer to serve in grassroots organisations as these provide opportunities to contribute to the community as well as understand ground issues. The Public Service Division is not in a position to comment on media speculation about potential political involvement.

**** Is Raising Foreign Worker Levy The Answer? — Conrad Raj <http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/breakingviews/article/is-raising-foreign-worker-levy-the-answer-conrad-raj/>
Conrad Raj, The Malaysian Insider

Increasing the levy is not going to solve the foreign labour problem, nor is it going to force most firms to upgrade. Levies have been in force for decades but most industries appear to have found it cheaper to just pay up rather than spend the money to upgrade. This, despite various incentives and encouragements to upgrade. So I have little faith that the new incentives will work too.

**** Chiam See Tong: Budget 2011 Does Not Address Country’s Major Problems <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/03/chiam-see-tong-budget-2011-does-not-address-countrys-major-problems/>
Chiam See Tong

**** GE: Opposition Parties Plan To Discuss Constituency Allocation <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1113647/1/.html>
S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia

Some of Singapore's opposition parties are planning to meet on Wednesday evening to decide on the allocation of constituencies for the coming General Election.

A council member of the Singapore Democratic Alliance said the key opposition parties plan to meet once again on Saturday if no decision is reached on Wednesday.

**** Budget 2011: Improving Productivity "Is Like Brisk Walking" <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1113671/1/.html>
S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia

Nearly S$500m of the S$1 billion in the National Productivity Fund has been used on productivity initiatives in the past year. Deputy prime minister Teo Chee Hean, who is also the chairman of the National Productivity and Continuing Education Council, said this during the Budget debate in Parliament on Tuesday.

**** Health Minister Replies 3M And Drug Subsidies Queries <http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_640135.html>
Straits Times

Singapore's basic healthcare model of Medisave, MediShield and Medifund paid for almost one-quarter of the total cost of hospital stay in 2009, according to latest figures.

The government picked up 51 per cent of it in the form of subsidies, while employers and patients paid the remaining 27 per cent, health minister Khaw Boon Wan said in a written reply to a parliamentary question from Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim.

**** Wong Kan Seng The Population Czar & Goh Chok Tong The Crabman <http://singapore-lighthouse.blogspot.com/2011/03/wong-kan-seng-population-czar-goh-chok.html>
Singapore Social And Political Thoughts

**** GE: Opposition Parties Welcome To Contest In All GRCs, Says Education Minister <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1113695/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

Dr Ng said: "We are looking forward to the contest, we are looking forward to one or two or even three parties coming into our GRCs. I think it is good for the people, it is good for us as MPs and the branch activists, as well as good for the opposition, so we are looking forward to the competition."

**** They Have Crossed The Line <http://singaporedesk.blogspot.com/2011/03/they-have-crossed-line.html>
Singapore Notes

Man, 30 odd years and they are still asking for more time.

**** Budget 2011: Some Singaporeans Left Out Of Budget, Say MPs <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1113711/1/.html>
Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia

Day two of debates over the Budget statement saw MPs voicing concern that some groups of Singaporeans had been left out. MPs also appealed for more flexibility when implementing the measures.