[MyAppleMenu] Nov 4, 2011

applesurf at myapplemenu.com applesurf at myapplemenu.com
Fri Nov 4 18:59:00 EDT 2011

MyAppleMenu
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**** Apple Expands In-store Pickup To All Of California <http://www.tuaw.com/2011/11/03/apple-expands-in-store-pickup-to-all-of-california/>
Steven Sande, TUAW

**** Managing Battery Life For iOS 5 Devices <http://www.macworld.com/article/163372/2011/11/managing_battery_life_for_ios_5_devices.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Christopher Breen, Macworld

If you've been having battery-life problems with your iOS 5 devices, you could sit back and wait for Apple’s promised iOS update to fix the problem. But if you’re more inclined to take an active approach, there are some things you can do to track down—and maybe even tackle—the source of your power problems.

**** iNet Is A Must-have For Network Monitoring And Troubleshooting <http://www.macworld.com/article/163386/2011/11/inet_1_2_1_mac_gems.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

The program is a network viewer and troubleshooter that provides insight into the many different kinds of activity constantly occurring on any Ethernet or Wi-Fi network. This includes Bonjour activity, in which devices and services continuously say, “Hello! Hello! Hello!” to announce what they can do; active devices on the network and information about them; and a vast array of well-presented data for each Wi-Fi base station on the network to which you’re connected.

**** Avid Updates Media Composer And Symphony <http://www.macworld.com/article/163394/2011/11/avid_updates_media_composer_and_symphony.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Jackie Dove, Macworld

Media Composer 6 and Symphony 6 have been rebuilt on a new 64-bit architecture that promises to boost performance and flexibility. These applications feature a sleek, new interface and include support for third-party hardware, AVCHD and RED Epic with Avid Media Access (AMA), Avid DNxHD 444 codec, and Avid Artist Color.

**** Solo Diners Find A New Companion Right At Their Fingertips <http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/solo-diners-find-a-new-companion-right-at-their-fingertips/2011/10/19/gIQAFPrCPM_story.html>
J. Freedom Du Lac, Washington Post

Heather E. Henderson sat down for lunch one recent afternoon at Bourbon Steak, the Georgetown Four Seasons restaurant where she’s a regular. She ordered raw oysters, Singapore noodles and one of the head bartender’s house-made apple sodas.

Then, she engaged her lunch companion: the iPhone that has commanded — or at least divided — Henderson’s attention on countless eating excursions.

**** Apple's Siri Service Hit With Another Outage <http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-57318010-248/apples-siri-service-hit-with-another-outage/>
Josh Lowensohn, CNET

**** How Innovative Is Apple's New Voice Assistant, Siri? <http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228365.300-how-innovative-is-apples-new-voice-assistant-siri.html>
Jacob Aron, New Scientist

Yes, says Boris Katz, an artificial intelligence (AI) researcher at MIT. He says Apple has created a "very impressive piece of engineering" by combining established techniques from fields such as voice recognition and natural language processing.

Phil Blunsom, who researches machine learning at the University of Oxford, stresses that Apple hasn't just put together existing techniques. But he has reservations: "The difficulty is that each one of these systems makes errors, and when they are fed into each other the errors multiply."

**** Apple's Supply-Chain Secret? Hoard Lasers <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/apples-supplychain-secret-hoard-lasers-11032011.html>
Adam Satariano And Peter Burrows, BusinessWeek

Most of Apple’s customers have probably never given that green light a second thought, but its creation speaks to a massive competitive advantage for Apple: Operations. This is the world of manufacturing, procurement, and logistics in which the new chief executive officer, Tim Cook, excelled, earning him the trust of Steve Jobs. According to more than a dozen interviews with former employees, executives at suppliers, and management experts familiar with the company’s operations, Apple has built a closed ecosystem where it exerts control over nearly every piece of the supply chain, from design to retail store. Because of its volume—and its occasional ruthlessness—Apple gets big discounts on parts, manufacturing capacity, and air freight. “Operations expertise is as big an asset for Apple as product innovation or marketing,” says Mike Fawkes, the former supply-chain chief at Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and now a venture capitalist with VantagePoint Capital Partners. “They’ve taken operational excellence to a level never seen before.”

**** Real Security In Mac OS X Requires Apple-Signed Certificates <http://blog.wilshipley.com/2011/11/real-security-in-mac-os-x-requires.html>
Wil Shipley, Call Me Fishmeal

Meanwhile, we need to address real security in Mac OS X. We all want to feel as comfortable putting apps on our Macs as we do on our iPhones. I certainly admit requiring all apps come from the Mac App Store would do it, but giving developers access to their certificates is much less draconian and wouldn’t chase the free thinkers off Apple’s platform.

**** Apple Unveiling Redesigned Fifth Ave Glass Cube On Friday <http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/11/03/apple_unveiling_redesigned_fifth_ave_glass_cube_on_friday.html>
Josh Ong, AppleInsider

Apple will temporarily close its flagship Fifth Ave retail store in New York on Thursday evening in preparation for the unveiling of the newly redesigned glass cube on Friday at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

**** Apple's New Fifth Avenue Store Cube Fully Revealed <http://www.macrumors.com/2011/11/04/apples-new-fifth-avenue-store-cube-fully-revealed/>
Eric Slivka, MacRumors

**** Can FileVault 2 And Find My Mac Foil Thieves? <http://www.macworld.com/article/163387/2011/11/can_filevault_2_and_find_my_mac_foil_thieves_.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Glenn Fleishman, Macworld

Put these things together, and it means that whenever someone is using your Mac via the Guest User feature, your Mac can connect to the Internet, log in invisibly to your iCloud account, and report your location via Find My Mac.



MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** The Fiction Of Literary Friendship <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/04/literary-friendship?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Fbooks%2Frss+%28Books%29>
Wayne Gooderham, The Guardian

Under the cover of fiction however, things are not quite so rosy. Indeed, one gets the distinct impression that scores are being settled and psychological boils are being messily lanced.



SingaporeSurf
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**** Preserve The Spirit Of Majestic Theatre <http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_730170.html>
Maria Goh, Straits Times

**** Three Cheers For TR <http://atans1.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/three-cheers-for-tr/>
Thoughts Of A Cynical Investor

Whatever their faults (and they are many), they were very aggressive in publicising the names and contact numbers of companies (local and MNCs), managers and employment agents discriminating against true blue S’poreans.

**** An Interesting Bhutanese Blog <http://blogging4myself.blogspot.com/2011/11/interesting-bhutanese-blog.html>
Blogging For Myself

And before our ministers go boasting that they are trying to learn from us, I think they learn from everyone. Unlike us, they will will not transplant what we have into their society. They will take their time to do it right for themselves. Clearly unlike our government they don't live in fear or feel the need to get their people to "eat bitterness"

**** Chee Soon Juan ‘Exposed The Pretensions Of PAP’ – CALD Chairman <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/11/chee-soon-juan-exposed-the-pretensions-of-pap-cald-chairman/>
Rajiva Wijesinha, The Online Citizen

**** System Makes It Easy To Hire Foreigners At Expense Of Locals <http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/11/system-makes-it-easy-to-hire-foreigners-at-expense-of-locals/>
The Online Citizen

During my tenure at Hewlett Packard, I was on several government IT projects. Over 90% of my 100+ person team were foreigners. Like many other companies, how HP cleverly circumvented being “obvious” was to use “contractors”. Our contract was with the employment agencies who, in turn hire almost only foreigners. Hence, the headcount was never really seen. Of the 100+ person who was staffed on this one particular government IT engagement, less than 10% were full-time employees hired directly by HP.

In addition to my own personal experience, I know with absolute certainty that many of my close non-Singaporean friends who head up IT divisions within the banking sector have similar preferences of hiring foreigners over Singaporeans. While I cannot condone such practices, the system makes it far too easy for this to happen. They claim that it is better to hire foreigners because these foreign workers are more than likely to stay as almost all of them want to ultimately obtain Singapore citizenship.

Rather than formulating workable incentives to keep Singaporeans at their jobs, management takes the easy way out. Is this how a country takes care of its own?

**** Discrimination Against Singaporeans.... <http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2011/11/discrimation-against-singaporeans.html>
Diary Of A Singaporean Mind

Tan Chuan-Jin's idea of warning employers not to advertise just for PR and Work Permit holders and to include Singaporeans is a superficial move that will not solve the problem. Employers will just get applications from everyone, select foreigners and toss the resumes of Singaporeans into the waste paper basket.

**** 也谈什么才是“负担得起” <http://www.zaobao.com.sg/yl/yl111104_009.shtml>
陈果丰, 联合早报

今时今日，年轻人要买一间四房式组屋，政府也还是那句老话“确保房价是人们负担得起的”。可是，这些年轻人已经不可能像我那样在五年内还清放贷，恐怕得从大学毕业找到工作后就开始还房贷，直到退休才能还清。既然他们也能凭自己的本事还清贷款，要说是“人人都负担得起”也没错，但那可需要大半辈子的时间，

**** Bhutan: Shangri-la With A Price Tag <http://singaporegirl.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/bhutan-shangri-la-with-a-price-tag/>
Food Fuels Me To Talk...




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