[MyAppleMenu] Jul 28, 2012

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** Apple Officials Said To Consider Stake In Twitter ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/28/technology/apple-is-said-to-discuss-an-investment-in-twitter.html?_r=3&hp&pagewanted=all>
Evelyn M. Rusli and Nick Bilton, New York Times


> Apple, which has stumbled in its efforts to get into social media, has talked with Twitter in recent months about making a strategic investment in it, according to people briefed on the matter.

> Apple has considered an investment in the hundreds of millions of dollars, one that could value Twitter at more than $10 billion, up from an $8.4 billion valuation last year, these people said. They declined to be named because the discussions were private.

I wonder what would a skeuomorphic version of a Twitter client look like.


**** Apple Digs In To Protect 'App Store' Name ****
<http://gigaom.com/apple/apple-digs-in-to-protect-app-store-name/>
Jeff John Roberts, GigaOM



**** Mountain Lion’s New File System ****
<http://informationarchitects.net/blog/mountain-lions-new-file-system/>
Oliver Reichenstein, Information Architects


> Apple has been working on its file system and with iOS it had almost killed the concept of folders — before reintroducing them with a peculiar restriction: only one level! With Mountain Lion it brings its one folder level logic to OSX. What could be the reason for such a restrictive measure?



**** Can I Get Your Address? ****
<http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/2672/can-i-get-your-address>
Daniel Jalkut, Red Sweater


> It would be far preferable if there were an API mechanism through which an app could request specific content from the Address Book, along with a dynamically stated explanation. But this is better than nothing.



**** Software Base Station In Mountain Lion Finally Adds Modern Encryption ****
<http://tidbits.com/article/13158?rss>
Glenn Fleishman, TidBITS



**** Do I Care What Apple Does With RSS? ****
<http://scripting.com/stories/2012/07/27/doICareWhatAppleDoesWithRs.html>
Dave Winer, Scripting News


> I don't think the browser guys ever understood RSS or liked it very much. Their idea was to try to sweep it away, or make it look like a website, but they couldn't make up their minds, and their implementations were all over the map. I'd say they hurt the cause by adding all that confusion. So when Apple pulls back, I'm okay with that.






The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** At Defcon Conference, Hacking And Fashion Design Merge ****
<http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/07/defcon-fashion-statement/>
Dan Goodin, Ars Technica


> The annual Defcon hacker conference is all about using software and hardware smarts to make a statement. In the case of one attendee who goes by the handle Loather, it was about making a fashion statement.



**** Can Creativity Be Automated? ****
<http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428437/can-creativity-be-automated/?ref=rss>
Christopher Steiner, Technology Review


> Computer algorithms have started to write news stories, compose music, and pick hits.



**** Far From Silicon Valley, Tech Industry Finds An Oracle ****
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/us-usa-chips-anandtech-idUSBRE86Q05120120727>
Noel Randewich, Reuters






MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** The Piano ****
<http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.4/alexandra_thom_aura_estrada_contest_winner.php?src=longreads>
Alexandra Thom, Boston Review



**** Who’s The Man? ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/books/review/man-made-and-how-to-land-an-a330-airbus.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss>
Henry Alford, New York Times


> Modern man, it’s possible to contend, has grown effete. Between the country singer Keith Urban’s buttery highlights and the average suburban dad’s struggle to program his DVR, the current state of masculinity does not exactly produce a froth. Indeed, as life’s gradually constricting walls close in on the contemporary male, threatening to crush him in the manner of Marcel Marceau’s shrinking box, some of the other mimes in the audience have started to lift their gloved hands and wail, “<i>Où sont les hommes d’antan</i>?”



**** How To Blurb And Blurb And Blurb ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/books/review/a-j-jacobs-on-his-blurbing-problem.html?partner=rss&emc=rss>
A. J. Jacobs, New York Times


> My friend, the writer Andy Borowitz, sent me an e-mail that said: “I had the strangest experience today. I went into Barnes & Noble and saw a book that you didn’t blurb.”

> I have a reputation.



**** “Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle Of 101 Remarkable Meetings” By Craig Brown ****
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinion/hello-goodbye-hello-a-circle-of-101-remarkable-meetings-by-craig-brown/2012/07/27/gJQA2JVcEX_story.html?wprss=rss_books>
Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post


> This deliciously clever and amusing book is an extended riff on that old chestnut of cocktail-party conversation, “Small world, isn’t it?” or, of slightly more recent vintage, “Six degrees of separation,” or from no less than Shakespeare, “Strange bedfellows.” This last, it turns out, is also the name of a parlor game, as we learn from one of the many strange encounters (all of them true) that Craig Brown has assembled here.






SingaporeSurf
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**** Aljunied-Hougang Town Council Not Raising S&C Charges ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1216274/1/.html>
Saifulbahri Ismail, Channel NewsAsia


> The Aljunied-Hougang Town Council said it has no plans to raise Service and Conservancy (S&C) charges but is monitoring costs very closely.

> It said it's mindful that in the current inflationary environment, residents are also facing cost increases.



**** Town Councils Raising Fees ****
<http://blogging4myself.blogspot.sg/2012/07/town-councils-raising-fees.html>
Blogging For Myself


> With the revelation of how misspending could arise from the recent NParks purchase of Brompton Bicycles, we must not take these leaders at their word. I would urge them to prove their case and with enough data for some of us to verify their claim.



**** Forbes Rich List Scratches The Surface In Singapore ****
<http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/07/27/forbes-rich-list-scratches-the-surface-in-singapore/>
Shibani Mahtani, Wall Street Journal


> Flashy displays of wealth – particularly on the part of foreigners – have also created a tense atmosphere at times in the city-state, with some locals feeling disgruntled that more wealthy foreigners are now residing in the city state, and possibly helping push other costs higher as they spend more.