[MyAppleMenu] Jun 21, 2012

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
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**** A Tiny Projector To Beam Your iPhone Onto The Big Screen ****
<http://allthingsd.com/20120621/a-tiny-projector-to-beam-your-iphone-onto-the-big-screen/>
Bonnie Cha, All Things D



**** MacBook Air Review (13-Inch, Mid-2012) ****
<http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/21/3096254/macbook-air-review-13-inch-mid-2012>
David Pierce, The Verge


> Still, the MacBook Air comes with some of the best hardware, software, and performance on the market. If you bought last year's Air, I'm not sure there's enough here to make you want to upgrade, but if you're in the market for a new laptop and don't need the power (or the price tag) of the new Pro, you'd be hard-pressed to do better than the Air. It may not be as ground-breaking a laptop as it was a year ago, but it’s still every bit as appealing.



**** Move iMovie Files Around To Save Space On Your Mac ****
<http://www.cultofmac.com/174938/move-imovie-files-around-to-save-space-on-your-mac-os-x-tips/>
Rob LeFebvre, Cult Of Mac



**** Customize Your Mac's Battery Warnings With Low Battery Saver ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1167363/customize_your_macs_battery_warnings_with_low_battery_saver.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Dan Moren, Macworld



**** Launch Center Pro Review ****
<http://www.macstories.net/news/launch-center-pro-review/>
Federico Viticci, MacStories


> What Launch Center does – and Launch Center Pro tries to improve upon – is adding the convenience of collecting a user’s most-accessed apps and actions into a single interface that isn’t an app – it’s a powerful link to other apps installed on a device,



**** TextExpander 4 First Casualty Of Mac App Store Sandboxing ****
<http://www.macstories.net/news/textexpander-4-first-casualty-of-mac-app-store-sandboxing/>
Gabe Glick, MacStories


> TextExpander 4 also marks Smile’s break from the Mac App Store due to the sandboxing rules that went into effect on June 1st, making it the first major casualty of the new restrictions. Fortunately for Mac App Store customers, Smile has gone the extra step to ensure a smooth upgrade from the MAS version to their direct sale version. Once TextExpander 4 has been downloaded and launched, it will recognize existing MAS versions of TextExpander 3 and offer users the same discounted upgrade price as direct customers. As of this writing, TextExpander 3 is still on the Mac App Store and has not been updated with information about TE4 or the upgrade process.

Nobody has created a different app store?


****  ****
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2012/06/21/article02/>


Rumor: Apple <i>finally</i> launching the iTunes <a href="http://e27.sg/2012/06/21/rumor-is-apple-launching-an-itunes-store-in-asia-soon/">music store</a> in Asia.


**** Apple App Store Downloads In China Triple, But Revenues For Developers Still Lag ****
<http://www.pcworld.com/article/258081/apple_app_store_downloads_in_china_triple_but_revenues_for_developers_still_lag.html>
Michael Kan, IDG News


> Although China has a billion mobile phone subscriptions, the country has also been plagued by piracy. In the case of the iPhone, users sometimes choose to jailbreak their iPhones, allowing them to install paid apps for free.

> In China, this means every iOS app download generates about US$0.03 when comparing gross revenue against total downloads, according to App Annie. In comparison, an iOS app download in the U.S. generates $0.28.



**** With Siri And New Alliances, Apple Takes On Google Search ****
<http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/21/idINL1E8HL08620120621>
Poornima Gupta, Reuters


> The relationship between Apple and Yelp illustrates the power struggle over how people find what they are looking for on the Internet. Much more than just a clever feature, Siri is emerging as a key tool for what some in the industry call "casual search" - quickly finding routine information such as a restaurant location.

> This can bypass Google and other traditional search engines. That serves the interests of Apple, which sees an opportunity to muscle in on its rival's core business and build related advertising revenue.

> Siri is also a potential lifeline for Yelp and other content companies, which have found themselves competing with Google.



**** Raises In Store At Apple ****
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304765304577478903919636114.html?mod=googlenews_wsj>
Ian Sherr, Wall Street Journal


> Apple Inc. is raising hourly pay for employees at its U.S. retail stores by as much as 25%, following an internal review period earlier this year.

> Employees said they were appreciative of the move, though they considered the raises had been a long time coming. The increased wages, one person said, more accurately reflected Apple's position as a high-end retailer.



**** Surface: Between A Rock And A Hardware Place ****
<http://daringfireball.net/2012/06/surface_between_rock_and_hardware_place>
John Gruber, Daring Fireball


> Microsoft Surface is <i>not</i> fundamentally about Microsoft needing to control the entire integrated product in order to compete with the iPad on design. It’s about Microsoft needing to sell the whole thing to sustain its current profitability.

It is both, I'd argue.
No OEMs will be able to make something like the MacBook Pro <i>with Retina Display</i> without the cooperation of Microsoft to bake new code and APIs into Windows. No OEMs will be able to make MacBook Air <i>with PowerNap</i> without Microsoft's involvement.


**** A Laptop Screen That Promises An Eyeful ****
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303836404577476531283672616.html?ru=MKTW&mod=MKTW>
Katherine Boehret, Wall Street Journal


> This move to a better screen, all-flash storage and the elimination of a physical slot for discs shifts the company ahead in its typical, pack-leading style. Power users will be thrilled by the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Average users will now consider the MacBook Air more seriously.



**** Struggling With Interface Issues ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1167357/struggling_with_interface_issues.html#lsrc.rss_weblogs_mac911>
Christopher Breen, Macworld


> Wonderful as our gadgets and their interfaces are, there are times when they’re not entirely fathomable—particularly when you’ve clicked in the wrong place or pressed a key one time too many. Today I look at three issues caused by interface confusion.



**** Like Tinkering With Your MacBook Pro? Non-retina May Be Where It's At ****
<http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/like-tinkering-with-your-macbook-pro-non-retina-may-be-where-its-at/>
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica



**** Hands-on: Apple's Thunderbolt Gigabit Ethernet Adapter ****
<http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/hands-on-apples-thunderbolt-gigabit-ethernet-adapter/>
Iljitsch Van Beijnum, Ars Technica


> Fast and energy efficient, but it may get in the way of your external display.



**** MacBook Pro With Retina Display Can Drive Four Screens Simultaneously ****
<http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/20/3104640/macbook-pro-retina-display-three-external-monitors>
Dante D'Orazio, The Verge


> We plugged in two 1080p monitors using DVI to Mini DisplayPort adapters and connected another 1600 x 900 monitor over HDMI, and all of the displays lit up with Lion's well-known Andromeda Galaxy wallpaper.

And you can do real work on all of them.


**** Review: The 2012 MacBook Air Soars With Ivy Bridge ****
<http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/review-the-2012-macbook-air-soars-with-ivy-bridge/>
Jacqui Cheng, Ars Technica


> The 2012 MacBook Air doesn't look any different than its last couple of predecessors, but the upgrades on the inside are what make the machine. Although Apple elected not to try and squeeze a "retina" class display into the MacBook Air this year, such a change would have come with great sacrifice to performance and battery life. And let's be honest—with the MacBook Air, there's very little wiggle room on either of those metrics. For me at least, I would rather have the performance and battery life.

> For someone like me upgrading from a 2010 MacBook Air, or even a MacBook Pro from the last couple years, it would be no question: go ahead and buy one of Apple's latest MacBook Airs. The performance increase is noticeable even during everyday use (even while using the lowest-end 2012 machine), and Apple finally gives users the option to upgrade from the soldered-on 4GB of RAM to 8GB of RAM in the Air.



**** Review: Found ****
<http://www.macstories.net/mac/review-found/>
Lukas Hermann, MacStories


> Yes, it doesn’t really do much more than Spotlight and in fact it does miss some of Spotlight’s neat extras like solving simple mathematical questions, immediate results and the “alt+shift+click” feature to locate the chosen file in the Finder. But it extends the pool of data you can search to include Dropbox, Google Docs, Drive and Gmail. It also works fast and reliably at combining local and online storage into one easy and fast-to-use interface – but is that enough to make you want to use Found? To me it seems like Found might not offer enough unless you are deeply integrated into the Google ecosystem.



**** MacBook Air 2012 SSD Performance Up To 217% Faster Than MacBook Air 2011 ****
<http://osxdaily.com/2012/06/19/macbook-air-2012-ssd-benchmarks-vs-macbook-air-2011/>
OS X Daily



****  ****
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2012/06/21/article01/>


MagSafe to MagSafe 2 Adapter: the <a href="http://www.onefoottsunami.com/2012/06/20/the-magsafe-to-magsafe-2-adapter/">unboxing</a> in reverse.


**** Hacking Paid Upgrades In The App Store ****
<http://david-smith.org/blog/2012/06/20/hacking-paid-upgrades/>
David Smith


> So long as you don’t actually delete the old version of the app within iTunes Connect you can continue submitting updates to apps even while they are in the <i>Developer Removed from Sale</i> state. Whether this is intentional functionality is unclear but I have verified that it does in fact work and the resulting approved updates are available for customers.

Simple steps to do a new paid version of your software in the app stores.


**** Bento 4 For iPad - Personal Database Review ****
<http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=1221486&expand=true>
Jeffery Battersby, Macworld


> While I do have some quibbles, none are significant or insurmountable. Bento 4 for iPad is a great app for collecting and managing all your personal data.






The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Pinterest Gets More In-board Actions, Gives Attribution To SoundCloud, Etsy, Others ****
<http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/20/pinterest-attribution/>
VentureBeat






MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Traveller Of The Century By Andrés Neuman – Review ****
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/21/traveller-of-century-andres-neuman-review>
Juan Gabriel Vásquez, The Guardian


> <i>Traveller of the Century</i> doesn't merely respect the reader's intelligence: it sets out to worship it.



**** How To Tell A True Story ****
<http://therumpus.net/2012/06/how-to-tell-a-true-story/>
Caedra Scott-Flaherty, The Rumpus.net


> This isn’t coming out right. Not like I expected. What I imagined: after finally writing this, I would be cured. Not only cured, but I would cure other people with my words. I would feel it was the best thing I’d ever written. It would come out vignette-style and poignant. Striking in ways I couldn’t understand, but that my writing group would inform me of. It would just come right out. Almost perfect.



**** The French Still Flock To Bookstores ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/books/french-bookstores-are-still-prospering.html>
Elaine Sciolino, New York Times


> The French, as usual, insist on being different. As independent bookstores crash and burn in the United States and Britain, the book market in France is doing just fine. France boasts 2,500 bookstores, and for every neighborhood bookstore that closes, another seems to open. From 2003 to 2011 book sales in France increased by 6.5 percent.






SingaporeSurf
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**** What Singpore Can Teach About Healthcare ****
<http://www.mhcasia.com/managedcare/what-singapore-can-teach-about-healthcare>
MHC



**** MFA Reviewing Procedures For Approval Of Expense Claims ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1209102/1/.html>
Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia


> "We are currently reviewing our procedures to see what additional safeguards may be necessary. As investigations into this case are on-going, we cannot comment further and we should not pre-judge the outcome of the investigations on the causes of Mr Lim's transgressions," said a ministry spokesperson.

Looks like the pendulum is swinging towards more layers of bureaucracy in the ministries.


**** Singapore-China Military Ties Not Mutually Exclusive, Says Ng Eng Hen ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1209073/1/.html>
Maria Siow, Channel NewsAsia


> Singapore's defence minister Ng Eng Hen says Singapore's efforts in intensifying military relations with China are not mutually exclusive with its longstanding military ties with the United States.



**** Singapore Still Struggling To Sign-up High-speed Broadband Subscribers ****
<http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=474476>
Mary Lenighan, Total Telecom



**** Singapore And Her Millionaires – Does It Matter? ****
<http://asiancorrespondent.com/84622/singapore-and-her-millionaires-does-it-matter/>
Kirsten Han, Asian Correspondent



**** More Singaporeans Came To Speak Up Against Xenophobia ****
<http://sgmoderateobserver.blogspot.sg/2012/06/more-singaporeans-came-to-speak-up.html>
Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining



**** NTUC Sets Wage Targets For Cleaners ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1209015/1/.html>
Saifulbahri Ismail, Channel NewsAsia


> It wants to reach out to 100,000 low-wage workers by 2015. 



**** High Nursing Home Cost Over-burdens Singaporeans.... ****
<http://singaporemind.blogspot.sg/2012/06/dire-consequences-of-policy-of-over.html>
Diary Of A Singaporean Mind



**** Who Wants An Independent Media II? ****
<http://www.myapplemenu.comhttps://politicalwritings.wordpress.com/2012/06/21/who-wants-an-independent-media-ii/>
Political Writings



**** Petir: Towards Higher Wages, Higher Productivity For All? ****
<http://leongszehian.com/?p=1653>
Leong Sze Hian


> Isn’t it rather obvious that the starking lesson we can draw from the United States, may be that higher productivity does not necessarily lead to higher real wages. Isn’t this somewhat of a self-contradiction to the consistent rhetoric that wages can only go up with higher productivity?

Employers will pay what they can get away with.


**** Probe Cutting Of Hair Of Singapore's Sikh Prisoners: Akal Takht ****
<http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-19/chandigarh/32316840_1_akal-takht-singapore-government-inmates>
Yudhvir Rana, TNN


> The Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, has marked an inquiry into complaints and allegations that Sikh prison inmates in Singapore are being forced to cut their hair against the community's 'maryada' (code of conduct).



**** Borrow iPads And Kindles At Bedok Public Library ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120621-0000086/Borrow-iPads-and-Kindles-at-Bedok-Public-Library>
Today


> The public can now borrow iPads, TumbleBooks Playaways and Kindles at the Bedok Public Library, as part of the National Library Board's (NLB) efforts to help bridge the digital divide among Singaporeans. 

I thought Kindles are not officially available in Singapore?


**** Senior MFA Official Suspended, Investigated By Police ****
<http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_813411.html>
Straits Times


> Chief of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), Mr Lim Cheng Hoe was suspended on Tuesday and the ministry referred the case to the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) on Wednesday.



**** US Human Trafficking Report Not Objective: Singapore ****
<http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120620-354204.html>
AsiaOne



**** The Elephant In The Room ****
<http://theonlinecitizen.com/2012/06/the-elephant-in-the-room/>
Elijah Pear, The Online Citizen


> Certainly there are flaws in globalisation and the free market. We are told that without economic growth, our confidence will be dented and there is no chance of improving collective wellbeing. Singapore; without natural resources undoubtedly limits directions available for economic growth.  But what transpires would entail dependence on foreigners; in tandem with that imposition that constraints political rights, press freedom and accessibility to higher education fetters foundational progression.  This not only leaves the country vulnerable without foreigners, but also hinders society’s advancement.



**** Singapore, Hong Kong GDP Face Greatest Risk From Euro Crisis: Economist ****
<http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2012/06/20/singapore-hong-kong-gdp-face-greatest-risk-from-euro-crisis-economist/>
V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch



**** Southeast Asian Haze: Who’s To Blame? ****
<http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/06/20/southeast-asian-haze-whos-to-blame/>
Celine Fernandez, Wall Street Journal


> “The haze comes from Sumatra and Kalimanthan. Which companies own the estates? Malaysian and Singaporean as well as local plantation owners,” he said. As a result, “Malaysian and Singaporean companies in Indonesia also have to bear the responsibility of open burning, of slashing and burning, that is happening within their estate territories.”

> Moreover, he added, “it is the respective governments’ responsibility to take them to task. Just because they operate in a foreign country, they can’t wash their hands and say it does not affect us” when it actually does.