[MyAppleMenu] Jun 22, 2012

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
====================================
**** New Apple Laptop's Display Shines, But For A High Price ****
<http://www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton/ci_20911961/wolverton-review-macbook-pro-retina-apple-laptops-display-shines-high-price>
Troy Wolverton, San Jose Mercury News


> Unless you are a creative professional who's looking to replace a desktop or a similarly high-end laptop, you likely don't need the Retina Pro. If all you need is computer for regular office tasks, but you want one that's thin, light and quick to boot, you can get a MacBook Air -- or a similar Windows-based ultrabook -- for as little as $1,000.



**** Apple’s New MacBook Pro Is The Best Laptop You Can Buy - But You Probably Shouldn’t Buy One ****
<http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/apples-new-macbook-pro-is-the-best-laptop-you-can-buy-but-you-probably-shouldnt-buy-one.php>
Fredric Paul, ReadWriteWeb


> If you really need the MacBook Pro's Retina display capabilities now, go ahead and bite the bullet and buy one. If you absolutely have to impress your geeky friends, this’ll do the trick. If money is not an issue, there's no question that this is the computer you should own. Whatever the reason, you won’t regret having it - except maybe after you’ve schlepped it through the International Terminal for the sixth time in eight days.

> But for most people, the MacBook Pro with Retina display is not exactly a practical choice. In a year or so when the price comes down, sure, but not yet.



**** Meet The New Mac Pro, About The Same As The Old Mac Pro ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1167386/meet_the_new_mac_pro_about_the_same_as_the_old_mac_pro.html#lsrc.rss_main>
James Galbraith, Macworld


> If you need to have multiple internal hard drives or PCI-Express cards for your video or audio workstation, the Mac Pro is without a doubt the most configurable Mac available. If your workflow includes one of the few applications that can take full advantage of 12 cores, then the speed increase may warrant spending the extra cash for a Mac Pro. But even for most power users, a new non-retina display MacBook Pro with its full complement of up-to-date connection types, may offer a better mix of upgradability, connection flexibility and processing power.



**** Can Apple Refuse To Sell A Laptop To An Iranian Citizen? Maybe. ****
<http://www.myapplemenu.comhttps://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/06/can-apple-refuse-sell-laptop-iranian-citizen-maybe>
Jillian C. York, Electronic Frontier Foundation


> While we hope this may have cleared some things up for those following the Apple story, the fact remains that the sanctions rules and other export controls remain unclear to many companies and individuals, even as the Internet and new technologies mean that goods and services cross borders more than ever before.  To that end, we are continuing to work on this issue as it pertains to communications technology and services. While there have been some improvements, the U.S. sanctions and export regimes still deny too many critical tools to activists working to secure freedom in repressive countries.

> As for Apple--which, as of 2:55pm on Wednesday, was still refusing comment on the story--we hope that the company will issue an apology immediately, help Sabet get her iPad if she still wants one, and further clarify their own policies to both the public and to their employees to insure an incident like this doesn’t happen again.



**** iPad Not For Creation? Martha Stewart Disagrees ****
<http://gigaom.com/apple/ipad-not-for-creation-martha-stewart-disagrees/>
Erica Ogg, GigaOM


> How timely: right as we seem to be reopening the debate over whether or not the iPad is a consumption or creation tool, Martha Stewart, the high priestess of crafty creativity, has launched a brand new iPad app called CraftStudio.



**** Government: Apple's Trying To Rush Antitrust Case ****
<http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06-21/government-apples-trying-to-rush-antitrust-case>
Larry Neumeister, Associated Press


> In its own letter, Apple said its approach reflects a "special urgency" in resolving the case because of public interests at stake and to vindicate its conduct. It repeated its "unequivocal position: it believes it has done nothing wrong and seeks a speedy resolution of the Department of Justice's lawsuit on the merits."

> "It is also a reality that the mere existence of litigation of this type creates marketplace uncertainties, which impact competitive conditions and the public interest," it said.



**** The iPad As A Keyboard-Centric Device ****
<http://the.taoofmac.com/space/blog/2012/06/22/0023#the-ipad-as-a-keyboard-centric-device>
Tao Of Mac



**** It Costs Just $1.36 To Charge An iPad For A year ****
<http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/It-costs-just-1-36-to-charge-an-iPad-for-a-year-3653255.php>
Jonathan Fahey, Associated Press


> That coffee you're drinking while gazing at your iPad? It cost more than all the electricity needed to run those games, emails, videos and news stories for a year.

> The annual cost to charge an iPad is just $1.36, according to the Electric Power Research Institute, a non-profit research and development group funded by electric utilities.

I am seriously surprised by this.


**** Does Apple Actually Understand The Export Restriction Laws? ****
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/06/21/does-apple-actually-understand-the-export-restriction-laws/>
Tim Worstall, Forbes



**** Hivedock – Not Nearly As Stupid As You’d Think ****
<http://macenstein.com/default/2012/06/review-hivedock-not-nearly-as-stupid-as-youd-think/>
Macenstein


> Thanks to a perfectly angled Fresnel lens, the HiveDock actually <i>does</i> magnify the image on an iPhone’s screen to the point where it feels like you are watching about an 8-inch screen.

You want a bigger screen on your iPhone? Here you go.


**** Apple’s Passbook, Payments And The Power Of Trust ****
<http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/06/20/apples-passbook-payments-and-the-power-of-trust/>
Matthew Panzarino, The Next Web


> Passbook is one of those announcements that is simply more than the sum of its parts. There is a lot of meat in this seemingly one-dimensional repository for scannable barcodes.



**** Can't Wait For iOS 6? Renegade Developers Trade Access For Cash ****
<http://waxy.org/2012/06/cant_wait_for_ios_6_renegade_developers_trade_access_for_cash/>
Waxy.org


> Apple may not like it, but all of these back-alley transactions are clearly meeting a market demand. The software may be buggy, incomplete, and not ready for mainstream consumption, but a sizable class of power users doesn't care and is willing to pay to use it.

Crazy.


**** GoodReader 3.15.0 ****
<http://www.macstories.net/links/goodreader-3-15-0/>
MacStories



**** Launch Center Pro Review ****
<http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=1221492&expand=true>
Lex Friedman, Macworld



**** ‘Why Apple Is Making The Mac Harder To Use’ ****
<http://brooksreview.net/2012/06/sandboxing-apps/>
Ben Brooks, The Brooks Review


> Users should be able to make the reasonable assumption that anything they download from the App Store cannot and will not mess up their computer in any way that uninstalling the app won’t fix their computer. Now, TextExpander probably won’t screw up a persons computer, but then again, what if a user can’t figure out how to stop TextExpander from launching snippets, because they hid the dock icon and menubar icon — perhaps they don’t even know that TextExpander is the culprit? And there’s your problem.

So long as Mac OS X and Gatekeeper provide an option to install and run apps outside of Apple's App Store, I'm fine.
And why hasn't anyone built a third-party kick-ass app store?
Also:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.macdrifter.com/2012/06/litter-boxing/">Litter Boxing</a> (Macdrifter): I would like a control in the preferences app to allow App Store apps to override core OS functionality and escape <i>some</i> of the sandboxing rules.</li>
</ul>


**** Retina MacBook Is Apple’s Best, But Could Be Better ****
<http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/13192283-452/retina-macbook-is-apples-best-but-could-be-better.html>
Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times


> A MacBook Air buyer is giving up upgradeability and onboard ports, but they’re getting something wonderful in return. It’s a fair trade. A dongle-fied Ethernet connector seemed like a trivial tradeoff for a computer that easily fit inside the newspaper pocket of my smallest bag.

> With the 15-inch Retina MacBook, all they’re getting is an extra quarter-inch of space in the large laptop bag that they’re still going to need to carry around. The consumer is giving something up and getting nothing of value in return. I argue that the Retina MacBook would have been a better product if it were made thick enough to accommodate Ethernet, socketed RAM, and more options for mass storage.






The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** A Breakthrough In Speech Recognition With Deep-Neural-Network Approach ****
<http://blogs.technet.com/b/next/archive/2012/06/20/a-breakthrough-in-speech-recognition-with-deep-neural-network-approach.aspx>
Steve Clayton, TechNet



**** An Invisibility Cloak With An On-Off Switch ****
<http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428296/an-invisibility-cloak-with-an-on-off-switch/>
Technology Review






MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** Rereading Stephen King: Week Three – The Shining ****
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/22/rereading-stephen-king-the-shining>
James Smythe, The Guardian


> I hold the movie and book in equal measure. I remember moments from both, where neither medium is more valid than the other. They're both stories about hidden evil emerging when the snow sets in; when a family is isolated and broken, and when a man with buried darkness finally collapses and becomes what he was always, inevitably, going to be. Neither is the correct version: one is the original, and one is a cover; a different take on the same powerful, terrifying material. Neither stands in the way of the other's brilliance: and, if allowed to, each can help the other to … well, shine.



**** Reading And Guilty Pleasure ****
<http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/reading-and-guilty-pleasure/?gwh=8937AD86DEF7BA2F0C903CC3820A4DF7>
Gary Gutting, New York Times


> But the sign of a superior text of whatever genre is its ability to continue rewarding—with pleasure—those who work to uncover its riches.



**** Can Modern Women “Have It All”? ****
<http://www.salon.com/2012/06/21/can_modern_women_have_it_all/>
Rebecca Traister, Salon


> A new Atlantic cover peddles one of the most dangerous myths about modern women.



**** Why Women Still Can’t Have It All ****
<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-can-8217-t-have-it-all/9020/?single_page=true>
Anne-Marie Slaughter, The Atlantic


> It’s time to stop fooling ourselves, says a woman who left a position of power: the women who have managed to be both mothers and top professionals are superhuman, rich, or self-employed. If we truly believe in equal opportunity for all women, here’s what has to change.






SingaporeSurf
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**** Singapore Dismisses Malaysian Media Allegations Of Interference In Politics ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1209273/1/.html>
S. Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia


> In a statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said its officers were present at the Bersih 3.0 rally as impartial observers. The spokesperson added that's "part of their normal professional diplomatic duties."

> He said the officers also did not wear yellow to avoid being mistaken as rally participants.

This differs from <a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/6/22/nation/11528571&sec=nation">the earlier explanation</a> (as reported by <i>The Star</i>). High Commissioner Ong Keng Yong earlier said that the three officers "went in their personal capacities and were not on any official assignment."


**** PM: Govt Will Verify If S'pore Diplomats Took Part In Bersih Rally ****
<http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/6/22/nation/20120622184933&sec=nation>
Razak Ahmad, The Star


> Malaysia will determine if there is any truth in the reports that three Singaporean diplomats had attended the April 28 Bersih 3.0 rally, before deciding on the next course of action, prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.



**** Woffles Wu And Singapore Law	 ****
<http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4622&Itemid=195>
Paul Karl Lukacs, Asia Sentinel


> In other words, the Singaporean government can bring whatever criminal charges it wants according to a secret set of guidelines from which it can depart at will – and defendants are not entitled to know about or challenge the decision. The system has certainly worked to the benefit of Woffles Wu, plastic surgeon.



**** Smokey Haze From Indonesian Fires Engulf Southeast Asia ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/23/world/asia/smokey-haze-from-indonesian-fires-engulf-southeast-asia.html?_r=1&gwh=E6272FA12C828DFA454ADD648190E13F>
Liz Gooch, New York Times



**** Circle Line Disruption Probe Findings Released ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1209253/1/.html>
Channel NewsAsia


> LTA said the faulty power cables had affected traction power to the trains. 

> As LTA's findings show that SMRT is not at fault for the damaged cable, no penalty will be imposed on the operator for this incident.



**** Who Is Telling The Truth – STOMP Or SMRT? ****
<http://theonlinecitizen.com/2012/06/who-is-telling-the-truth-stomp-or-smrt/>
Cheong Yaoming, The Online Citizen



**** Beware Of The Sensational In Anti-xenophobia ****
<http://unbrandedbreadnbutter.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/beware-of-the-sensational-in-anti-xenophobia/>
Unbranded Bread N Butter



**** Inflation Here To Stay Sticky, Say Analysts ****
<http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Story/A1Story20120622-354536.html>
Gerrard Lai, My Paper


> Inflationary pressures in Singapore's economy will not be shaken off easily this year, even though inflation will be milder than the 5.2 per cent recorded last year, according to DBS Bank.

> Apart from lingering inflation woes, growth is expected to be sluggish in the second half of this year, DBS projects.



**** Singapore – Safe Haven For Asian Fugitives? ****
<http://theonlinecitizen.com/2012/06/singapore-safe-haven-for-asian-fugitives/>
John Green, The Online Citizen



**** Use Machine, Make More Money? ****
<http://berthahenson.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/use-machine-make-more-money/>
Bertha Harian


> We don’t want a case of people being promoted or become more productive, and still earn the same because the bosses always have this argument at hand: We have to keep costs down and stay competitive.



**** Hougang Resident's Offer To Prime Minister ****
<http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_813819.html>
Straits Times


> The Hougang resident who wants the High Court to make a declaration on the prime minister's calling of by-elections has offered to withdraw her bid if the PM declares in Parliament that, when a seat falls vacant, he must call a by-election within three months, or a reasonable time.



**** Singapore Prison Service Came In Defense On Allegation Of Cutting Hair Of Sikh Jail Inmates ****
<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/Singapore-Prison-Service-came-in-defense-on-allegation-of-cutting-hair-of-Sikh-jail-inmates/articleshow/14323981.cms>
Yudhvir Rana, TNN


> Singapore Prison Service Jimmy Lee in an e mail send to TOI on Thursday stated that " The SPS has a long-standing policy where Sikh inmates who had kept their hair unshorn at the point of admission to prison are allowed to continue keeping their hair unshorn during the period of incarceration".



**** What Is Singapore’s Role In The Asian Tech Ecosystem? ****
<http://pandodaily.com/2012/06/21/what-is-singapores-role-in-the-asian-tech-ecosystem/>
Tom Limongello, PandoDaily


> For any city that considers itself part of the world of entrepreneurship, the fundamental question is whether it can turn up the heat such that the new behavior your companies create influences the rest of the world. If there’s a city that knows how to handle the heat, it’s this one.



**** Singapore Envoy: Our Personnel Were Not At Bersih To Support Protesters ****
<http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/6/22/nation/11528571&sec=nation>
Paul Gabriel, The Star


> Three Singapore High Commission officials who attended the Bersih 3.0 rally did not go there to support the protesters, High Commissioner Ong Keng Yong said.

> He explained that the three his deputy Ariel Tan and first secretaries (political) Regina Low and Philomena Aw went in their personal capacities and were not on any official assignment.



**** 期盼改善兀兰关卡环境 ****
<http://www.zaobao.com.sg/yl/jl120622_006.shtml>
黄雪如, 联合早报


> å¸Œæœ›æ”¿åºœèƒ½æ”¹å–„å…€å…°å…³å¡å‘¨å›´çš„çŽ¯å¢ƒï¼Œè®©ä»Žå…€å…°å…¥å¢ƒçš„å¤–å›½æ—…å®¢ï¼Œä¹Ÿèƒ½åƒä»Žæ¨Ÿå®œå…¥å¢ƒçš„æ—…å®¢ä¸€æ ·ï¼Œç¬¬ä¸€çœ¼å°±å¯¹æ–°åŠ å¡äº§ç”Ÿäº†å¥½å°è±¡ã€‚

Visitors entering and leaving from Woodlands checkpoint don't buy duty-free goods or sit down for meals or pay anything like airport tax. (Except, maybe, vehicle tax.)


**** 27%外国人缴交所得税 ****
<http://www.zaobao.com.sg/yl/jl120622_005.shtml>
林美琴，财政部, 联合早报


> 以除去外国女佣外的所有受雇非居民来计算，约27%åœ¨æœ€è¿‘ä¸€æ¬¡çš„ä¼°ç¨Žå¹´ç¼´äº¤æ‰€å¾—ç¨Žã€‚å¦‚æžœåŠ ä¸Šå¥³ä½£ï¼Œè¿™ä¸ªæ¯”ä¾‹åˆ™æ˜¯22%ã€‚å¤–å›½äººå æ‰€æœ‰ç¼´äº¤æ‰€å¾—ç¨Žçš„äººçš„äº”åˆ†ä¹‹ä¸€ï¼Œæˆ‘ä»¬å¾æ”¶çš„ä¸ªäººæ‰€å¾—ç¨Žæ€»é¢ä¹Ÿæœ‰è¶…è¿‡å››åˆ†ä¹‹ä¸€æ¥è‡ªå¤–å›½äººã€‚



**** Can An Innocent Individual Be Sent To The Gallows In Singapore? ****
<http://rachelzeng.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/can-an-innocent-be-sent-to-the-gallows-in-singapore/>
Rachel Zeng


> No matter how uneducated, ignorant or poor, these criminals are human beings with flesh and blood, with pounding hearts, who eat, sleep and breathe the way you and I do. They might not be the cream of the crop but they do have families who love them. How can you be so irresponsible, while supporting the use of the death penalty in Singapore? We might have already executed many who are innocent and I am not sure that I really buy your ‘ignorance’, but please, kindly be more involved in the capital cases we have here in Singapore. You are afterall, too well paid and too qualified to be ‘ignorant’.



**** Raising Wages: Use A Ladder, Not A Floor ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120622-0000047/Raising-wages--Use-a-ladder,-not-a-floor>
Tan Weizhen, Today


> Under the new concept, the tripartite movement will work out wage targets for a group of workers, and these targets would be met when the workers undergo skills upgrading and improve their productivity.

This "progressive wage" system is, in my opinion, overtly complicated and naive.
Employers don't raise salary because skills and productivity are improved. They raise salary only when they cannot find people or machines to do the job.