[MyAppleMenu] May 10, 2011

applesurf at myapplemenu.com applesurf at myapplemenu.com
Tue May 10 18:59:00 EDT 2011

MyAppleMenu
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**** Apple Needs To Get Its Head In The Cloud <http://www.macworld.com/article/159742/2011/05/head_icloud.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Christopher Breen, Macworld

With however-many-umpteen billions in the bank and an astonishing streak of successes, Apple hasn’t really had to worry about its Web strategy. I believe those days are coming to an end. And for two reasons: Syncing and media.

**** Condé Nast To Roll Out iPad Subscriptions, Starting With <i>The New Yorker</i> <http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/05/conde-nast-to-roll-out-ipad-subscriptions-starting-with-the-new-yorker.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss>
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica

iPad users will soon be able to subscribe to a number of Condé Nast magazines via Apple's in-app subscription system, starting with The New Yorker. Condé Nast—parent company to Ars Technica—announced Monday that it would bring eight magazines to the device by the end of May, with existing print subscribers getting access to the iPad versions for free. The New Yorker's iPad app has already been updated to reflect the new subscription system, with new users being able to subscribe to the iPad version for $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year.

**** Skype Pushes Update To Mac Client For Security Flaw <http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/09/skype-pushes-update-to-mac-client-for-security-flaw/>
Michael Rose, TUAW

As of today, there's a new hotfix (5.1.0.935) that is being provided for all Skype 5 users; it closes the security holes and also fixes a few bugs, including video issues on high-bandwidth networks. Skype recommends that all users update to the new build.

**** Android App Streams Music And Video To Apple TV <http://www.macworld.com/article/159770/2011/05/android_app_streams_music_video_apple_tv.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Lex Friedman, Macworld

With the right apps installed on your Android phone, you can then use DoubleTwist to send music or video to any Apple TV on the same Wi-Fi network.

**** Adobe Releases Photoshop Companion Apps For Apple's iPad <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/05/10/adobe_releases_photoshop_companion_apps_for_apples_ipad.html>
AppleInsider

Adobe's three Photoshop CS5 companion applications for iPad -- Adobe Ezel, Nav and Color Lava -- are now available for purchase on the App Store.

**** Want To Write In LOGO? There's An App For That <http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/10/want-to-write-in-logo-theres-an-app-for-that/>
Chris Ward, TUAW

**** Microsoft To Buy Skype For $8.5 Billion <http://tidbits.com/article/12165>
Adam C. Engst, TidBITS

Although it’s understandable to wonder about the future of the Mac and iOS Skype clients (among many others), Microsoft says it will continue to invest in and support Skype clients for non-Microsoft platforms. If Microsoft really loves us, they’ll throw out the Skype 5 interface as an initial gesture of goodwill.

See also: What Microsoft's Skype purchase means for Mac, iOS users [http://www.macworld.com/article/159789/2011/05/microsoft_skype_mac_ios_users.html], by Lex Friedman, Macworld.

**** Apple's Other Growing Platform, The Mac <http://blogs.computerworld.com/18253/apples_other_growing_platform_the_mac>
Jonny Evans, Computerworld

When it comes to the Mac, Apple has enjoyed 20 consecutive quarters of higher than marketshare growth. Mac unit sales grew by 28 percent year-on-year in Q1 2011. The PC market contracted by 3 percent.

Apple is no longer a niche player. Get over it.



The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** A Touch Screen That Plays Sticky <http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/37546/?ref=rss&a=f>
Kurt Kleiner, Technology Review

An experimental touch screen that uses variable friction to make different areas feel sticky or rough could point the way to a new paradigm in interfaces.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** The Names <http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2011/05/16/110516ta_talk_paumgarten>
Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker

Like Administration officials recounting the milestones in the bin Laden search, Daniels enumerated some of the now surmounted obstacles. The big break in the case, it turns out, was the invention of an algorithm for sorting the dead.

**** The Whole Truth <http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2011/04/philosophy-of-lying-truth-ian-leslie/>
Julian Baggini, Prospect

A new book argues that human beings are born to lie: that we cannot live without deceit. Is this true—and does it matter?

**** Reading The Living Archives: The Witness Of Literary Art <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/article/241858>
Carolyn Forché, Poetry Foundation

To hell and back, with poetry.

**** Pupukea Shell <http://www.slate.com/id/2293500/?from=rss>
Garrett Hongo, Slate



SingaporeSurf
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**** Mrbrown On Polling Night Of The Singapore General Elections <http://www.cnngo.com/singapore/life/say-what-mrbrown/mrbrown-polling-night-singapore-general-elections-126614>
Mrbrown, CNNGo

And when it was finally confirmed that Aljunied had indeed fallen to the opposition, cheers (and tears) could be heard throughout Singapore. Some of my friends left to join the party at Hougang Stadium, where the victorious Workers' Party had gathered.

Pursuant to Section 49, Subsection 7E, Paragraph A of the Parliamentary Elections Act, I declare the 2011 General Elections the best GE ever.

**** Fellow Singaporeans, I Think We Have Made A Big Mistake..... <http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2011/05/fellow-singaporeans-i-think-we-have.html>
Diary Of A Singapore Mind

As soon I heard Vivian Balakrishnan say that PAP's problem is not its policies but communication of its "right" policies, I realised that the PAP has gone into relapse and denial just 2 days after polling.

As for MM Lee's remark that the young are a generation that "does not remember whence we came", it is not true. It is precisely because the young today know how things have worked in the past - good affordable housing, drive to higher productivity, strong national identity and social cohesion, the time before GRCs + upgrading carrots, reasonable ministerial salaries etc - that they know that the Singapore govt has lost its way.

**** But Which Ground To Work? <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/but-which-ground-to-work/>
Au Waipang, Yawning Bread

The Workers’ Party has worked out a very clever strategy which other parties would do well to emulate. They work the ground across a contiguous part of Singapore island.

**** Apple Releases iOS 4.3.3 WebKit Source, But Stretches The Spirit Of The LGPL <http://www.tuaw.com/2011/05/09/apple-releases-ios-4-3-3-webkit-source-but-stretches-the-spirit/>
Richard Gaywood, TUAW

**** Meritocracy Needs A Social Net <http://sgpublicpolicy.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/meritocracy-needs-a-social-net/>
Scrutinizing The Singapore Government

Such a system would also mean that those who can’t catch up end up being left behind further and further away as the nation continues to move forward. We should enlarge our social net to catch the increasingly number of needy people who fell through the cracks.

**** The Singapore Cabinet Is PG-rated <http://harishpillay.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/the-singapore-cabinet-is-pg-rated/>
Harish Pillay, Life One Degree North, One-O-Three Degrees East

**** Singapore Elections: No Going Back <http://lowyinterpreter.org/post/2011/05/10/Singapore-Elections-no-going-back.aspx>
Michael Barr, The Interpreter

The main problem for the government was that it was being challenged on its own preferred terms and found wanting. It has set up an education and social system based on ruthless competition, but argues that competition is bad in politics. It proudly sets the pay scales for ministers by the standards of the CEOs of multinational companies, but then argues that neither individual ministers nor the Cabinet as a whole should be held to account when they make mistakes.

**** HDB To Work With WP Aljunied GRC MPs On Tenancy Of Town Council Offices <http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/Singaporeinbrief/EDC110510-0000076/HDB-to-work-with-WP-Aljunied-GRC-MPs-on-tenancy-of-town-council-offices>
Joanne Chan, Today

The offices of Aljunied Town Council, located in Hougang, Bedok and Serangoon North, have three-year tenancy agreements that expire between November this year and May next year.

An HDB spokesperson told MediaCorp this last night in reply to queries, following Workers' Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang's comments that his team would like to use the existing Town Council premises. But she was unable to comment on details at this point, as the HDB has not received any specific request.

**** PM Lee Stresses The Role Reserves Play During Financial Crisis <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1127720/1/.html>
S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia

Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that during the financial crisis in 2009, the government had to use, in some cases, the entire quantum of the country's reserves, to back the Singapore dollar.

"We need to hold fast to these prudent policies and to maintain and continue gradually to build up these reserves for a rainy day. What reserves we have accumulated, we have to invest prudently and shrewdly with a long-term view - rationally, professionally and insulated from political pressures - so that we can make right investment decisions in the long-term interests of Singapore."

**** When Opposing Is The Loyal, Royal Thing To Do <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/05/when-opposing-is-the-loyal-royal-thing-to-do/>
Edmund Tee, The Online Citizen

Mr Lee will always be one of the founders of Singapore, and when he passes, I will mourn the loss of a great man, and an even greater leader. What I will not miss, however, are his admonitions and threats. It is time for us all to grow up and write a new chapter for Singapore – the younger PAP members, the opposition, and especially the rest of us who hire, and maybe fire, them.

**** Tin Pei Ling’s Facebook Posting On Cooling Off Day <http://blog.dk.sg/2011/05/10/tin-pei-lings-facebook-posting-on-cooling-off-day/>
Dee Kay Dot As Gee

Whatever mistakes her subordinate made is also considered her mistake. That is because she is the one who appointed the person as the administrator. She should be responsible for her subordinate’s error. But no. Tin Pei Ling did not accept responsibility for the mistake made by her subordinate.

**** Apple Details iPhone Location Tracking For Congress <http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_18027375?nclick_check=1>
Jordan Robertson, Associated Press

Apple is telling Congress that its iPhone location tracking is meant to improve service, not stalk customers.

**** Social Networks Offer A Way To Narrow The Field Of Friends <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/technology/10social.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss>
Jenna Wortham And Claire Cain Miller, New York Times

Path, which limits friend groups to 50, is among a new crop of Web services that allow people to connect with a handful of friends in a private group. Users get the benefits of sharing without the strangeness that can result when social worlds collide on Facebook.

**** 报喜不报忧是致命伤 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/yl/yl110510_005.shtml>
谢世顺, 联合早报

人民行动党到了大选期间，才恍然大悟，发现民间有许多不满，甚至怨声载道，实在是令人大惑不解的事。

执政50余年，基层组织遍布全国，党员不计其数，为什么对人民的不满与怨气，到了临急关头才觉察，迫使领导人连忙道歉。

**** Counting Agent Me Too <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/counting-agent-me-too/>
Au Waipang, Yawning Bread

Sylvia Tan was also a counting agent, but assigned to a counting centre different from the one I was in. She submitted a set of drawings last night to show what marks were considered valid or invalid at the centre where she was. Like several comments to the earlier post Counting agent me by readers who were also counting agents, her observations reinforce the picture we have of considerable inconsistency in the way ballots are adjudicated.

**** 部分选民要求波东巴西补选 学者: 请愿补选没法律根据 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110510_013.shtml>
刘丽仪, 联合早报

**** 大选2011 杨荣文团队将当阿裕尼基层组织顾问 <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp110510_007.shtml>
黄慧敏 萧佳慧, 联合早报

虽然败选，杨荣文、陈惠华、再诺、潘惜玉和王乙康将继续留守阿裕尼集选区，担任基层组织顾问。至于是否参加下届大选，一切则等总理决定。

阿裕尼集选区市镇会原主席潘惜玉担心工人党接管市镇理事会后，基层组织如要在市镇会管理的组屋底层等公共场所举办社区活动，会不获批准。

**** Singapore Wealth Fund Sees Major Crisis If US Loses AAA Status <http://theedgesingapore.com/the-daily-edge/business/28967-singapore-wealth-fund-sees-major-crisis-if-us-loses-aaa-status.html>
Reuters

The world could face another major financial and economic crisis if the United States loses its AAA sovereign rating, a top official at Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC said on Monday.

**** Singapore PM Signals Tougher Immigration Stance To Continue <http://theedgesingapore.com/the-daily-edge/business/28966-singapore-pm-signals-tougher-immigration-stance-to-continue.html>
Reuters

Singapore cannot keep adding foreigners to its workforce and will have to grow the economy by raising productivity, the city-state’s prime minister said on Monday, two days after his party lost ground in an election fought over, among other issues, immigration.

**** Polling Day Reflections <http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/singaporescene/polling-day-reflections-040845739.html>
Mr Miyagi, Yahoo!

**** A New Hope <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/05/a-new-hope/>
Steffen Toh, The Online Citizen

**** Foreign Minister George Yeo Leaves Politics <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1127882/1/.html>
Tan Qiuyi, May Wong, Channel NewsAsia

Foreign minister George Yeo said on Tuesday he will not be contesting Aljunied GRC at the next general election. As for his role in public life, he said he will 'contribute in whatever modest way possible'.

See Also: George Yeo's Press Statement [http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/05/george-yeos-press-statement/]

**** The Battle For 2016 Starts Now <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/05/the-battle-for-2016-starts-now/>
Yong Yang, The Online Citizen

This is the precious opportunity that we have been waiting for. One that will define the next generation of voters. Succeed in Aljunied, and we can sway those sitting on the fence towards us, and grow in numbers. Fail and we are back to square one.

**** NSP Supporter Sacked From Jurong Town Council After Being Caught Selling NSP Merchandise At Rallies <http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/05/10/nsp-supporter-sacked-from-jurong-town-council-after-being-caught-selling-nsp-merchandise-at-rallies/>
The Temasek Review

**** 新加坡大选：瓶水终有满溢时 <http://news.sina.com.cn/w/2011-05-10/082922436315.shtml>
陶短房, 中国日报

李显龙的风格和乃父有不少差异，在确保人民行动党掌权的前提下，他更愿意给反对党较多活动空间，尽管过程漫长曲折，但执政党显然已经意识到，时代变了，政治思想和结构也必须与时俱进。

然而这个过程注定不会一帆风顺。虽然经过多次改革，但新加坡选举体制中最大的弊端——得票率和议席数不成比例，却没有丝毫改观：反对党的总得票率将近40%，可获得的议席却连10%都不到，在未来的日子里，反对党和执政党势必围绕这一问题展开交锋。

**** Why PAP Should Feel Liberated <http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/13azm9/Article/>
Azmi Anshar, New Straits Times

In fact, the Workers' Party victories are loaded with sensibility and earnest expectations, unlike the Pakatan Rakyat that regards every election -- general, state -- as well as insignificant by-elections as clarion calls to thrash or topple the ruling party, no matter how egotistically glib or shallow their pronouncements are.

You'd have a sneaky feeling that the younger Lee is elated with the results, not just for his party's triumphant stranglehold, but also for the opposition which has finally given him the challenge that he needs to boost further the Singapore agenda.

Lee, too, can further foster right-thinking arguments and open-minded debates on the web as he engages his newly-minted rivals the same way Najib has rightly done so with the new rebellion.

**** Aljunied Left In Limbo? <http://satayclub.net/2011/05/aljunied-left-in-limbo/>
Nigel Tan, Satayclub.net

Just two days after the opposition Workers’ Party claimed victory in Aljunied GRC at the general election, reports are surfacing all over the internet that the town council seems to have suspended its services.

**** Time To Depoliticise Community Organizations <http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/2011/05/time-to-depoliticise-community.html>
Chua Chin Leng, My Singapore News

Aren’t the community centres and the CCCs non political organizations, neutral social or govt organizations that would continue to operate to serve the people no matter which political party comes to power? For the good of the country and the people, and the staff concerned, it is better that such institutions be made to be apolitical and will not have to suffer the fate of political changes.

**** The Apology Manifesto <http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/the-apology-manifesto/>
Au Waipang, Yawning Bread

If you look carefully at what he said, the errors he admitted were errors of execution or implementation. Nowhere did he concede that any of his government’s policies were wrong or had caused suffering. His promise to “do better the next time” was one of smoother implementation of the same policies, not of changing course.

To mean anything, these words have to be backed by action. I think the following ten-point plan should be the minimum proof of sincerity.

**** SDP's Tan Jee Say Approaches NSP On Possible Merger Of Parties <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1127980/1/.html>
Monica Kotwani, Channel NewsAsia

The National Solidarity Party's secretary-general, Goh Meng Seng, says he has been approached by the Singapore Democratic Party's Tan Jee Say to discuss a possible merger between the two parties.

Mr Goh says the idea was put forth after the General Election, and he will raise it for discussion at his party's next Central Executive Committee meeting on Thursday. He expects the discussion to take some time.

**** NCMP Seats Offered To Best-losing Opposition Candidates <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1127962/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia

They are being offered to the Singapore People's Party (SPP) candidate for Potong Pasir, Lina Chiam, the Workers' Party (WP) candidate for Joo Chiat, Yee Jenn Jong, and a member of the WP's East Coast GRC team.

**** Welcome To New Tanjong Pagar GRC! <http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2011/05/welcome-to-new-tanjong-pagar-grc.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mrbrown+%28mrbrown%29>
mrbrown

In 2016?

**** 60 Per Cent Vote Not A Big Drop For PAP <http://www.pressrun.net/weblog/2011/05/60-per-cent-vote-not-a-big-drop-for-pap.html>
Pressrun.net

The PAP’s polling figures since the 1980s have been usually stuck in the 60s.

**** Singapore Is Taking The First Steps To True Democracy <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/10/singapore-election-democracy-new-media>
Chee Soon Juan, The Guardian

To be sure, there is still much fear among the people, especially the older generation who have witnessed the heavy hand of the PAP's patriarch and "minister mentor" Lee Kuan Yew. But it is also Lee who is generating much of the resentment against the government of which his son, Lee Hsien Loong, is prime minister.

And it is this resentment, buttressed by the new media which has enabled citizens to come together, if only online, that has caused many Singaporeans to shed their fear.

There is no turning back now. The road to freedom is without doubt still long and arduous. But Singapore has taken that first crucial step to making parliamentary democracy a reality.

**** Police Stopped Potong Pasir Petition For By-election; Threatened Arrest <http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/05/10/police-stopped-potong-pasir-petition-for-by-election-threatened-arrest/>
The Temasek Review

The petition was supposedly held today from 1600 – 2000 hours at the Void Deck near Mr Chiam’s Office, Blk 108, Potong Pasir Ave. 1, but was put an abrupt halt by a group of uniformed police officers who threatened the residents there with arrest for “illegal assembly” if they do not disperse immediately.

**** Singapore To Explore Bolder Investments Of Reserves <http://www.mysinchew.com/node/57270>
AFP

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) will explore bolder ways of investing the country's foreign reserves, its chairman Lee Kuan Yew said in remarks published Tuesday. The 87-year-old former prime minister said the GIC, known in the market for conservative investments, cannot keep following conventional practices as it grows.

**** SDP Happy To Work With All Opposition Parties <http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/4825-sdp-happy-to-work-with-all-opposition-parties>
Singapore Democratic Party

With reference to newspaper reports about Mr Tan Jee Say approaching the NSP for a possible merger of both parties, the Singapore Democrats wish to clarify that Mr Tan bumped into Mr Goh Meng Seng and during a casual chat there was mention that opposition should show closer cooperation. This is what the SDP has been advocating all along. We are happy to work with all opposition parties to achieve our objective of strengthening the opposition in Singapore.

The state media should not resort to sensationalism and exaggeration.

**** A Win-win Election? <http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2011/05/singapores_election>
The Economist

Mr Yeo and his colleagues aside, both opposition and government can claim some sort of satisfaction from the election result, as can voters. Singaporeans, who seem still to trust the PAP to do an efficient job, in the aggregate want not an alternative government but a stronger opposition. And they have got one.

The danger for the opposition, as Cherian George, author of an excellent book on the politics of Singapore in the 1990s, pointed out in an online column, is that having succeeded in teaching the PAP a lesson at the polls, it will now “have to face the daunting possibility that the government actually learns it.”




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