[MyAppleMenu] Jun 27, 2012

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
====================================
**** Where Have All The Fart Apps Gone? ****
<http://www.techhive.com/article/2000175/where-have-all-the-fart-apps-gone.html>
Armando Rodriguez, TechHive



**** Illustrator CS6 Highlights Interface Overhaul And New Capabilities ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1167171/illustrator_cs6_highlights_interface_overhaul_and_new_capabilities.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Chris McVeigh, Macworld


> Adobe Illustrator continues to be a capable and comprehensive vector illustration package. Users of Illustrator CS4 (and earlier) will find a lot of compelling reasons to upgrade to version CS6, but the decision isn’t as clear-cut for users of CS5. Overall, Illustrator CS6 feels less like a full upgrade and more like a refinement of the previous version. The updated user interface is gorgeous and there are modest performance gains, but those benefits alone are hardly worth the $249 upgrade price. 



**** iTunes Tip: Find A File On Your Hard Disk ****
<http://www.mcelhearn.com/2012/06/27/itunes-tip-find-a-file-on-your-hard-disk/>
Kirk McElhearn, Kirkville



**** Trickster Review ****
<http://www.macworld.co.uk/macsoftware/reviews/?reviewid=3366454&olo=rss>
Nick Spence, Macworld UK


> A cool, customisable interface, visible when you choose, shows users recently used documents, folders and applications so you don't need to go digging around when you need them again. Cleverly, users can drag and drop files from Trickster to Finder or any other application, open files and applications from Trickster, preview them or reveal them in your Mac's Finder.



**** Working With Sheepshaver ****
<http://www.mathdittos2.com/columns/bh/bh120627.html>
Steve Wood



**** Why I Have Renewed Respect For The Apple Retail System ****
<http://gizmodo.com/5921270/why-i-have-renewed-respect-for-the-apple-retail-system>
Molly Oswaks, Gizmodo


> Essentially, Apple loaned me a brand new laptop—which I purchased and was ultimately reimbursed for as a form of collateral—until I was able to order the upgraded computer I <i>actually</i> wanted, the one we all knew it made more sense to buy.

Seriously, I bet an Apple hardware subscription service will sell well.


**** Apple Boosts All GCT Shops ****
<http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/apple_boosts_all_gct_shops_x3Sr2L1ivkvnq8IPpuXq7I>
Jennifer Fermino, Natasha Velez and Kenneth Garger, New York Post


> Shops in the teeming transit hub have seen an iBoost in their bottom line ever since the world’s biggest Apple Store opened there late last year, averaging a 7.5 percent hike in profits, MTA officials said yesterday.



**** Apple Creates Program To Assist New Employees On Apple Careers ****
<http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-apple-pathways-retail-employees-20120625,0,2683339.story>
Salvador Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times



**** Three-Minute Tech: Thunderbolt ****
<http://www.techhive.com/article/2000165/three-minute-tech-thunderbolt.html>
Loyd Case, TechHive


> For about a year, Macs have been shipping with a fancy new port on the side called Thunderbolt. We're just on the cusp of seeing this new port on Windows-based PCs, too. What exactly is Thunderbolt, and should you make sure your next computer has it?



**** The Joy Of Demo Crashes ****
<http://kensegall.com/blog/2012/06/the-joy-of-demo-crashes/>
Ken Segall's Observatory


> Steve laughed — but he rejected it immediately. He said that demo crashes are an unavoidable part of the business, and that his own demos could fail as easily as Gates’. He didn’t want to taunt Gates for something that was beyond his control.



**** Fragmentation And Segmentation ****
<http://www.ben-evans.com/post/25018870345/fragmentation-and-segmentation?4d039930?f7fb7cb0>
Benedict Evans


> What you <i>can</i> do is vary the <i>Apple</i> supplied features, without varying the hardware and API platform that your third-party developers are targeting. 

Isn't this the same as what Microsoft did, ending up with a million and one flavors of Windows? Isn't Siri a good enough draw for iPhone 4S already, without having to remove VIP list from iPhone 3G?


**** Music And Movies In Singapore ****
<http://www.myapplemenu.com/2012/06/27/article01/>
Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu

Apple is now selling <a href="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/06/26Apple-Launches-iTunes-Store-in-Hong-Kong-Singapore-Taiwan-Nine-Additional-Countries-in-Asia-Today.html?utm_source=loopinsight.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+loopinsight%2FKqJb+%28The+Loop%29">music and movies</a> in more countries, including Singapore, which is where I live.
Apple TV, on the other hand, is still not available in Singapore yet.


**** Yojimbo iCloud Transition Update ****
<http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/06/26/yojimbo-icloud>
John Gruber, Daring Fireball


> Long-term, the switch to iCloud should make for a better-than-ever syncing solution — not just for Yojimbo, but for Mac apps in general. Short-term, however, this is confusing for users and an enormous headache for developers, especially those with apps that predate the Mac App Store.



**** iCloud And App Store Transition: Yojimbo ****
<http://ihnatko.com/2012/06/26/icloud-and-app-store-transition-yojimbo/>
Andy Ihnatko


> That’s what many Mac developers are dealing with right now. An app does syncing through MobileMe. Now, it needs to do it through iCloud. Fine. But Apple won’t let an app use iCloud unless it’s sold in the App Store. Fine. But Apple won’t approve an app for the App Store unless it’s sandboxed. And for many developers, sandboxing means that half of their app’s features will either no longer work at all, or will need to be dumbed way, way down. Selling your app there also means being cut off from any kind of simple and direct line of communication with your users.



**** Hands On With Apple's Podcasts For iOS ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1167438/hands_on_with_apples_podcasts_for_ios.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Dan Moren, Macworld


> It’s nice to see podcasts get the same kind of attention as ebooks, though Apple does have a tougher row to hoe here, thanks to full-featured competitors like Downcast and Instacast. Still, a standalone Podcasts app goes a long way towards decluttering iOS’s media playback capabilities, a trend which has already seen Apple split the iPhone’s iPod app into Videos and Music.



**** One More Lame Analogy About The App Store ****
<http://ihnatko.com/2012/06/26/one-more-lame-analogy-about-the-app-store/>
Andy Ihnatko


> At minimum, the new rules represent a major (and hopefully only temporary) setback. It's going to take some time — maybe even a couple of years — before developers learn how to do everything they need to do under App Store restrictions, and Apple learns which of these restrictions could stand some loosening up. And until that happens, there will be some very real limitations on how good a Mac app can be.

I simply don't see that, because we can still get Mac apps <i>outside</i> of Mac App Store.
I see the downward pressure on pricing as more of a influence on the quality and type of software.





The Tomorrow Weblog
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**** Why I Believe That This Will Be The Most Innovative Decade In History ****
<http://singularityhub.com/2012/06/27/why-i-believe-that-this-will-be-the-most-innovative-decade-in-history/>
Vivek Wadhwa, Singularity Hub


> Why am I so optimistic? Because of the wide assortment of technologies that are advancing at exponential rates and converging. They are enabling small teams to do what was once only possible for governments and large corporations. These exponential technologies will help us solve many of humanity’s grand challenges, including energy, education, water, food, and health.



**** A New Ride-Sharing Service Turns Private Cars Into Taxis ****
<http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/a-new-ride-sharing-service-turns-private-cars-into-taxis/?gwh=CB1C49A3870F8471A86106B0A9B143A5>
Joshua Brustein, New York Times


> The service allows people seeking a ride to use a smartphone app to find someone willing to give them one in their own car.



**** webOS 'Community Edition' Released For TouchPad, But It Isn't Open webOS ****
<http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/26/3119486/webos-community-edition>
Chris Ziegler, The Verge


> HP's march to an open source webOS continues this week with something of a side trip: the release of a so-called "Community Edition" release, which the Open webOS Project is quick to note isn't the same thing as Open webOS proper. Instead, webOS Community Edition is essentially an open source cut of the version of webOS that's running on the TouchPad (3.0.5), which the team says will allow you to "modify your TouchPad experience and then apply that learning to Open webOS 1.0 in the future."






MyAppleMenu Reader
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**** The Most Amazing Bowling Story Ever ****
<http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2012/July/The_Most_Amazing_Bowling_Story_Ever_Bill_Fong.aspx?page=1>
Michael J. Mooney, D Magazine


> In a bowling alley one night, Bill Fong came so close to perfection that it nearly killed him.



**** My Book Was A Bad Idea ****
<http://www.salon.com/2012/06/27/my_book_was_a_bad_idea/>
Corinne Purtill, Salon


> The short answer is that I did write a book, I couldn’t get it published, and these days I am much more familiar with failure than talk-show green rooms.






SingaporeSurf
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**** Founder Of Singapore’s Biggest Church In Hot Water ****
<http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/06/27/founder-of-singapores-biggest-church-in-hot-water/>
Sam Holmes, Wall Street Journal


> The arrests aren’t the first time Singaporean authorities have clashed with church leaders. In a country where about 40% of elected lawmakers identify themselves as Christian–higher than the 18% share of the resident population–Christian activists and leaders have at times found themselves at odds with the prevailing pluralistic ethos of the state, which seeks to maintain the religious and ethnic harmony of its diverse population through secular policies.

> While religious freedom is mostly respected, government leaders have at times put curbs on some religious displays in order to maintain social cohesion and preserve the secular nature of the city’s civic spaces, especially as Christian congregrations have grown.



**** Time To Increase NSmen's Pay? ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120627-0000159/Time-to-increase-NSmens-pay?>
Gerald Yeo, Today


> The increased NSmen's pay can be funded by a defence tax on working adults, including foreigners, who do not serve NS.

The downside is that this will place a (cheap) dollar value on NS.


**** Lighting-up For Gay Love In Singapore ****
<http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lighting-gay-love-singapore270612>
Anna Leach, Gay Star News


> ‘Singapore remains one of the few - if not only - developed country in the world where homosexuality (specifically consensual sex between two men) remains illegal, and there remains tight control in local media over positive representation of homosexuality,’ says Paerin Choa, spokesperson for Singapore’s Pink Dot.

> It is that unique position, and the fact that public protest is illegal in Singapore apart from at Speaker’s Corner in Hong Lim Park, that makes Pink Dot an unusual LGBT pride event.



**** Would Paying Politicians More Attract Better Politicians? ****
<http://www.freakonomics.com/2012/06/21/would-paying-politicians-more-attract-better-politicians/>
Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics


> I am not willing to argue that paying U.S. government officials more would necessarily improve our political system. But, just as it seems a bad idea to pay a schoolteacher less than a commensurately talented person can make in other fields, it is probably a bad idea to expect that enough good politicians and civil servants will fill those jobs even though they can make a lot more money doing something else.



**** KL And Singapore To Both Handle Case Of Diplomats At Rally ****
<http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/6/27/nation/11557316&sec=nation>
Bernama


> Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said Singapore and Malaysia had agreed that the respective ministries handle the matter pertaining to the illegal rally held on April 28.



**** Singapore Homes Most Affordable As Rents Climb: Mortgages ****
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-26/singapore-homes-most-affordable-as-rents-climb-mortgages.html>
Pooja Thakur and Sanat Vallikappen, Bloomberg


> “The clincher in Singapore is that monthly installments toward repayment of your loan are lower than what you would pay in rent,” said Anantharaman, a private banker at ICICI Bank Ltd., who took out a S$1.04 million mortgage for his S$1.3 million property late last year. “It’s one of the few countries in the world where that is possible,” because of the low interest rates, he said.



**** Singapore Pastor Charged For Funds For Wife’s Pop Career ****
<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-27/singapore-pastor-charged-for-funds-for-wife-s-pop-career.html>
Andrea Tan, Bloomberg


> The founder and senior pastor of Singapore’s City Harvest Church was charged with three counts of dishonestly using the charity’s funds to finance his wife’s singing career.

> Financial irregularities of at least S$23 million ($18 million) from the charity’s funds were discovered, Singapore’s Commissioner of Charities said in a statement on its website yesterday.



**** Former Joo Chiat Police Station To Be Conserved And Restored ****
<http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_815258.html>
Amanda Tan, Straits Times



**** Some Work Permit Holders Pay Income Tax ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120627-0000032/Some-work-permitholders-pay-income-tax>
Lim Bee Khim, Ministry of Finance, Today


> Work permit holders, such as domestic helpers, are generally semi-skilled or unskilled. They are unlikely to earn annual incomes above the taxable threshold of S$20,000. Even so, about 10 per cent of work permit holders paid income tax last year.



**** Tiered Pricing Fairer For 3G/4G Users With Different Usage Volumes ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120627-0000049/Tiered-pricing-fairer-for-3G/4G-users-with-different-usage-volumes>
Ng Sook Fun, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, Today


> With 3G and 4G services, the operators offered 12-gigabyte data bundles on their own accord, and not due to the IDA's intervention, in 2009. 

> Similarly, they must have the flexibility to adjust the bundles, to react to market conditions and usage patterns.



**** Shell Stations To Take Down Price Boards ****
<http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_815531.html>
Christopher Tan, Straits Times


> Oil giant Shell will stop displaying pump prices at petrol station entrances, ending its seven-year solo campaign to raise price transparency in the industry.



**** Half Of The World's Kids Fear The Online Bully, Report Says ****
<http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-online-bullying-report-20120626,0,6297251.story>
Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times


> The two exceptions to this rule were China and Singapore. The researchers found that 80% of kids in China say they worry about being bullied online and 70% of kids say they have been bullied online. Both numbers are way above the worldwide average.

Do we consider STOMP to be a bully online?


**** Education In Singapore: Teachers Cannot Do It All ****
<http://guanyinmiao.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/education-in-singapore-teachers-cannot-do-it-all/>
Guanyinmao's Musings



**** Apple Launches iTunes Store In Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan & Nine Additional Countries In Asia Today ****
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/06/26Apple-Launches-iTunes-Store-in-Hong-Kong-Singapore-Taiwan-Nine-Additional-Countries-in-Asia-Today.html>
Apple