[MyAppleMenu] Aug 17, 2012

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Are Apple Stores Overstaffed? ****
<http://www.asymco.com/2012/08/17/are-apple-stores-overstaffed/>
Horace Dediu, Asymco


> The accusation that employment is being sacrificed for the sake of profits seems disingenuous. The stores were never designed as a profit center. They have to be profitable in the sense that they have to justify themselves. But we need to recognize that they on a brand and product mix that is unique to that store. In return, they are designed to sustain that brand and offer a service rather than merely a sales channel.



**** Teaching Programming On iOS ****
<http://speirs.org/blog/2012/8/17/teaching-programming-on-ios.html>
Fraser Speirs


> In a sense, yes, I'm cheating in that I'm not actually programming on the iPad itself but so what? The entire point of mobile devices is that a good proportion of their power comes from being always connected to the Internet. You wouldn't say that you can't search the web with an iPad just because you can't store and search Google's index database on the device.

> The idea of not owning infrastructure is really interesting and important to me. I want to stay as agile as possible with our technology and buying only what I need when I need it is an important part of this.



**** Get Rid Of Harmful Browser Cookies With Cookie Stumbler ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1168182/get_rid_of_harmful_browser_cookies_with_cookie_stumbler.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Shelly Brisbin, Macworld


> Like antivirus software, Cookie Stumbler combines an application with a subscription to regularly updated definition files. These definitions identify known advertising and tracking cookies, and delete them, based on your preferences.



**** Twitter Hands Down New, Strict Rules For Third-party Developers ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1168183/twitter_hands_down_new_strict_rules_for_third_party_developers.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Lex Friedman, Macworld


> Developers aren’t necessarily panicking yet, and users shouldn’t either. But Thursday’s new rules are Thursday's new rules, and it remains possible that Twitter could crack down even more strictly in the future.

> It’s clear that, in the near term, Twitter isn’t going anywhere, even if its support for third-party clients is. But the company’s lastest changes mean that your favorite Twitter app may one day no longer be supported by its third-party developer, and that may well give you at least 140 moments of pause.

Also:
• <a href="http://www.marco.org/2012/08/16/twitter-api-changes">Interpreting some of Twitter’s API changes</a> (Marco Arment): I sure as hell wouldn’t build a business on Twitter, and I don’t think I’ll even build any nontrivial features on it anymore.
• <a href="http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/08/16/twitter-drop-dead?utm_source=loopinsight.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+loopinsight%2FKqJb+%28The+Loop%29">Twitter to Client Developers: Drop Dead</a> (John Gruber, Daring Fireball)
• <a href="http://rc3.org/2012/08/16/on-twitters-api-changes/">On Twitter’s API changes</a> (Rafe Colburn, rc3.org): I don’t think that the people who run the company are really in touch with what its users love the most about it.


**** Improve Usability With A Black Status Bar And Rounded Corners ****
<http://blog.edwardmarks.com/post/9859783254/improve-usability-with-a-black-status-bar-and-rounded>
Edward Marks


> The use of a black status bar and rounded corners can increase the usability of your iPhone application by bounding your content and thus separating it from the viewport.



**** Apple, Microsoft, Google And The Sad State Of TV ****
<http://gigaom.com/video/apple-tv-set-top-box/>
Janko Roettgers, GigaOM



**** Apple In A Rush To Get Fingerprint Technology, SEC Filing Suggests ****
<http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-fingerprint-technology-apple-20120816,0,3535378.story>
Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times


> The filing never explicitly says that Apple is interested in the fingerprint technology piece of AuthenTec's portfolio of products, definitely the coolest of its offerings.

> In additon to the obvious security benefits of fingerprint technology, AuthenTec's sensors can associate different functions with different fingers, so in theory, you could teach your phone that if you touch it with your right pinky finger it will open your email inbox, or speed dial your mom if you swipe your right thumb across the screen.

Maybe Apple can even tell whether you are touching with your left hand or right hand, and can adjust the UI accordingly.


**** Instagram 3'S New Photo Maps Feature Adds Location To Your Photo Stories ****
<http://www.tuaw.com/2012/08/16/instagram-3-0s-new-photo-maps-feature-adds-location-to-your-pho/>
Steven Sande, TUAW



**** Apple's Retail Focus Should Be On Customers, Not Cash ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1168178/apples_retail_focus_should_be_on_customers_not_cash.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Serenity Caldwell, Macworld


> Though I stopped working for Apple in 2009, I still believe that, at its heart, the Apple Store is about caring for its customers, not its cashflow. It’s about the person who’s never even seen a Mac before, walking in and interacting with an iMac. It’s the about the woman who couldn’t turn her computer on when she started coming to the store for workshops, but just walked out with a self-created slideshow movie for her daughter’s wedding.



**** Apple Retail Leadership Tells Stores It 'Messed Up' Employee Working Hours, Refutes Layoffs ****
<http://www.nasdaq.com/article/apple-retail-leadership-tells-stores-it-messed-up-employee-working-hours-refutes-layoffs-20120816-00774>
Ian Sherr, Dow Jones


> Apple Inc.'s retail boss told employees that the company made mistakes with its staffing levels, leading to news reports that the company was cutting employees, according to two people familiar with the matter.






The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Discover Plays Nice With Google Wallet, Adds Easy Signup Method And Other Amenities ****
<http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/16/3247216/discover-google-wallet-support-reward-points>
Dante D'Orazio, The Verge






MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Is There A Limit To How Tall Buildings Can Get? ****
<http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2012/08/there-limit-how-tall-buildings-can-get/2963/>
Nate Berg, The Atlantic Cities


> But surely there must be some physical limitations that would prevent a building from going up too high. We couldn't, for example, build a building that reached the moon because, in scientific terms, moon hit building and building go boom. But could there be a building with a penthouse in space, beyond earth's atmosphere? Or a 100-mile tall building? Or even a 1-mile building?



**** Humanities Aren’t A Science. Stop Treating Them Like One. ****
<http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/2012/08/10/humanities-arent-a-science-stop-treating-them-like-one/>
Maria Konnikova, Scientific America


> Yet, over and over, with alarming frequency, researchers and scholars have felt the need to take clear-cut, scientific-seeming approaches to disciplines that have, until recent memory, been far from any notions of precise quantifiability. And the trend is an alarming one.



**** Chicken Of The Trees  ****
<http://www.chicagoreader.com/gyrobase/why-eating-squirrels-makes-sense/Content?oid=7215952&showFullText=true>
Mike Sula, Chicago Reader


> The rural eastern gray squirrel has long been a valued food source, but what about its urban cousin?






SingaporeSurf
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**** US Report On Human Rights In Singapore ****
<http://chemgen.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/us-report-on-human-rights-in-singapore/>
Chemical Generation Singapore


> So what is this whole US human rights report and MFA response circus about? Nothing but rhetoric from both sides and business is as usual.



**** MFA's Rebuttal Of US Country Report Is Red Herring ****
<http://www.raviphilemon.net/2012/08/mfas-rebuttal-of-us-country-report-is.html>
Ravi Philemon


> In the USA, even if the Government has the power to detain citizens it has classified as 'enemy combatants', the citizens have a right to challenge the 'enemy combatant' status before an impartial judge.

> In Singapore, even if there is a legal framework and prescribed rules for citizens of Singapore detained under the Internal Security Act, they do not have this right to appear before an impartial judge to challenge that they are not 'Euro Communists', or 'Marxist Conspirators', or 'Jemaah Islamiyah members'.



**** Day-long Delays For NEL Commuters ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1220715/1/.html>
Sharon See/Alvina Soh, Channel NewsAsia


> Service was hit, first by a fault in the traction power system between HarbourFront and Outram Park stations and then later in the afternoon by a signalling problem.

> What this meant for commuters were delays that stretched throughout the day.

Twitter was buzzing with complaints that the actual delay experienced by commuters was so much worse than the expected delay announced by SBS Transit.


**** MRT Train Delays – Poorly Handled ****
<http://new.acperience.net/2012/08/17/mrt-train-delays-poorly-handled/>
New Acperience


> So please, have some better contingency handling in place. And let people know! Deal with it!



**** North East Line Train Service Delayed Due To Power Fault ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1220595/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia


> One caller to the MediaCorp news hotline said he had to wait an extra one to two minutes at every stop.



**** Singapore Issues National Climate Change Strategy ****
<http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/08/16/singapore-issues-national-climate-change-strategy/>
National Geographic



**** MOF Replies To Ideas On Government Procurement ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120817-0000062/MOF-replies-to-ideas-on-government-procurement>
Lim Bee Khim, Today