[MyAppleMenu] Jan 25, 2012

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Bring Back The Stylus! ****
<http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/01/ipad_stylus_steve_jobs_hated_it_but_apple_s_touchscreen_gadgets_could_use_a_pseudo_pen_.single.html>
Farhad Manjoo, Slate


> But just because the stylus doesn’t work on a phone doesn’t mean it won’t work anywhere else. Lately, I’ve discovered that the stylus can be a perfectly useful and sometimes even transformational doohickey.



**** Apple Execs Are 'Actively Discussing' What To Do With Nearly $100B Cash Hoard ****
<http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/01/24/apple_execs_are_actively_discussing_what_to_do_with_nearly_100b_cash_hoard_.html>
Neil Hughes, AppleInsider


> "We're actively discussing uses of our cash balance, and have no specifics to share," Oppenheimer said. "In the meantime, we continue to be disciplined with cash, and are not letting it burn a hole in our pockets."



**** Tim Cook: Tablet Market Will Eventually Exceed PC Market ****
<http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/24/tim-cook-tablet-market-will-eventually-exceed-pc-market/>
Megan Lavey-Heaton, TUAW



**** Apple Reports Record Revenue, Profit For Fiscal First Quarter ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/164973/2012/01/apple_reports_record_revenue_profit_for_fiscal_first_quarter.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Philip Michaels, Macworld


> Record-breaking iPhone, iPad, and Mac sales rang in a stellar start to the 2012 fiscal year for Apple. The company said on Tuesday that it tallied $46.33 billion in sales and $13.06 billion in profit for the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 31.

> Both the revenue and profit figures were quarterly records for Apple and blew away the numbers recorded in the year-ago quarter. Sales rose 73 percent from last year’s figure of $26.74 billion; profits more than doubled from the $6 billion earned in the fiscal first quarter of 2011.



**** iPod Line Experiences Major Decline Year-over-year ****
<http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/24/ipod-line-experiences-major-decline-year-over-year/>
Erica Sadun, TUAW


> Unlike iPhones, iPads, and Macs, all of which experienced terrific gains, the 11-year-old iPod line experienced a 21% unit decline year-over-year, from last winter's quarter.



**** First Look: Audiobooks.com Is Netflix For Audiobooks ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/164964/2012/01/first_look_audiobooks_com_is_netflix_for_audiobooks.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Kirk McElhearn, Macworld


> There’s much to be said for this type of service, where for a fixed monthly fee, you get all you can listen to. The cost is fair, given the price of audiobooks, but whether it’s worth it for you depends on how many books you find to listen to. 



**** Flexibits Releases Fantastical 1.2 ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/164958/2012/01/flexibits_releases_fantastical_1_2.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Dan Frakes, Macworld


> Version 1.2 provides full localization—including language detection and comprehension—for French, German, Italian, and Spanish. It also includes improved parsing of repeating-event descriptions across all languages.






The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Sharing A Screen, If Not A Classroom ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/nyregion/sharing-a-computer-screen-if-not-a-classroom.html?ref=technology>
Kyle Spencer, New York Times


> But Edward’s tutor was not in the classroom. His school, a 20-minute walk from the nearest subway stop in a crime-plagued neighborhood, has long had trouble finding tutors willing to visit. “It is hard to get anyone to volunteer,” said the school’s principal, Luis Torres, who sometimes cancels fire drills because of the gunfire he hears outside.

> Now, newly designed software for the tutoring of beginning readers has bridged the gap, allowing volunteers to meet students online from a distance. P.S. 55 is testing the program with students in its four first-grade classes.



**** Collision In The Making Between Self-Driving Cars And How The World Works ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/technology/googles-autonomous-vehicles-draw-skepticism-at-legal-symposium.html?_r=1&ref=technology>
John Markoff, New York Times


> Even as Google tests its small fleet of self-driving vehicles on California highways, legal scholars and government officials are warning that society has only begun wrestling with the changes that would be required in a system created a century ago to meet the challenge of horseless carriages.






MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Let The Robot Drive: The Autonomous Car Of The Future Is Here ****
<http://www.wired.com/magazine/2012/01/ff_autonomouscars/all/1>
Tom Vanderbilt, Wired


> The object, vaguely pink, sits on the shoulder of the freeway, slowly shimmering into view. Is it roadkill? A weird kind of sagebrush? No, wait, it’s … a puffy chunk of foam insulation! “The laser almost certainly got returns off of it,” says Chris Urmson, sitting behind the wheel of the Prius he is not driving. A note is made (FOD: foreign object or debris, lane 1) as we drive past, to help our computerized car understand the curious flotsam it has just seen.






SingaporeSurf
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**** Former SCDF Commissioner And CNB Director Arrested ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120125-0000155/Former-SCDF-commissioner-and-CNB-director-arrested>
Teo Xuanwei, Today


> Former Central Narcotics Bureau director Ng Boon Gay and former Singapore Civil Defence Force commissioner Peter Lim Sin Pang were arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act on Dec 19 and Jan 4 respectively, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) confirmed today.



**** Singapore Dec. Inflation Slows As Expected ****
<http://www.nasdaq.com/article/singapore-dec-inflation-slows-as-expected-20120125-00008>
RTTNews.com


> Singapore's consumer price inflation eased as expected in December largely due to a smaller increase in the cost of private road transport, data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed Wednesday.

> Annual inflation came in at 5.5 percent in December, down from 5.7 percent a month ago. Month-on-month, consumer prices remained flat after rising 0.6 percent in November.



**** 'Durian' Plots Growth Amid IR Competition ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120125-0000003/Durian-plots-growth-amid-IR-competition>
Neo Chai Chin, Today


> Two years after the opening of the integrated resorts, Singapore's iconic "Durian" has taken a financial hit as long-running and blockbuster commercial productions gravitate to the snazzy new lifestyle destinations.

> But the Esplanade remains upbeat about its prospects, and is finding renewed purpose in helping to develop regional and local arts groups.



**** Singapore’s Civil Defense, Narcotics Heads Under Investigation ****
<http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-24/singapore-s-civil-defense-narcotics-heads-under-investigation.html>
Andrea Tan And Kyoungwha Kim, Bloomberg


> “Major bribery scandals dent Singapore’s reputation for clean government,” said Richard Cassin, author of “Bribery Abroad: Lessons From the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” “The enormous corporate and personal wealth in Singapore is bound to create more temptation.”

> “Singapore doesn’t have a reputation for leniency toward white-collar criminals,” Cassin said. “What it may need, however, is more oversight in some of the government agencies, more checks and balances and financial accountability. That might slow down the wheels of government a bit, but that’s the cost of better financial controls.”



**** View: Singapore Has The Cleanest Gov’t Money Can Buy ****
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-25/why-singapore-has-the-cleanest-government-money-can-buy-view.html>
Bloomberg


> Such still-fat paychecks may give pause. Yet let’s applaud Singapore for what it’s trying to achieve by paying top salaries to leaders and ministers: attracting the best and brightest to public service and reducing the temptation to engage in graft. Done properly, such initiatives can make government more efficient and economies more vibrant. Transparency International has ranked Singapore among the world’s top five least-corrupt governments since 2001, and according to Worldwide Governance Indicators, an index supported by the World Bank, it has also been among the best governed.



**** Education System A High Stakes Board Game ****
<http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/education-system-a-high-stakes-board-game/>
Alex Au, Yawning Bread



**** News Submerged In “Ponding”? ****
<http://atans1.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/news-submerged-in-ponding/>
Thoughts Of A Cynical Investor


> So it seems that no detailed studies were done on the catchment area that resulted from the new Marina Barrage.  So how can it be claimed by the authorities that the barrage did not cause the “once in 50 yrs” Orchard Rd floods.

Government agencies, when they make assertions like the Marina Barrage didn't cause the recent floods, must be held to the same standards as scientists: publication, and peer reviews.


**** This Search Engine Sucks! Instead Of IDA’s “Enhanced Singapore Government Online Search”, Just Google. ****
<http://otterman.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/this-search-engine-sucks-instead-of-idas-enhanced-singapore-government-online-search-just-google/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OttermanSpeaks+%28Otterman+speaks...%29>
N. Sivasothi, Otterman Speaks...


> As a user, this aberration on Singapore government webpages doesn’t make sense. Especially since the button to initiate a sucky search is near the word “Excellence”.



**** Extra Charges On Medisave Withdrawals Should Be Waived ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120125-0000006/Extra-charges-on-Medisave-withdrawals-should-be-waived>
Lau Swee Kwong, Today


> Government services are funded by countless taxes. Why are extra charges imposed on Medisave withdrawals, making the poor pay more for using the programme, which is supposed to reduce their expenses?