[MyAppleMenu] May 8, 2012

[applesurf at myapplemenu.com]

MyAppleMenu
====================================
**** Results Make Up For Awkwardness Of iPhoto For iPad ****
<http://www.suntimes.com/technology/12383842-478/results-make-up-for-awkwardness-of-iphoto-for-ipad.html>
Andy Ihnatko, Chicago Sun-Times


> Although my first day with iPhoto was filled with many Whiskey Tango Foxtrot moments, by the end of the week I acknowledged that there’s nothing wrong with an app that requires you to actually learn some new things.



**** How To Beam Photos In iPhoto For iOS ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1166432/how_to_beam_photos_in_iphoto_for_ios.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Karissa Bell, Macworld


> Using the Beaming feature, users can wirelessly share edited photos across devices without iCloud, Dropbox, or other cloud-based services. Instead, Beaming uses a shared Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection to allow users to share photos between devices with the iPhoto app installed.



**** Why Microsoft's Anti-iPad Strategy Will Backfire ****
<http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/why-microsofts-anti-ipad-strategy-will-backfire-192577>
Galen Gruman, InfoWorld


> Simply put, Windows 8 could be the ball and chain that drags down Office and SharePoint, as iPad and Android users discover there's life without Office and SharePoint.



**** Build And Manage A Website From Your iPhone With Weebly ****
<http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/255175/build_and_manage_a_website_from_your_iphone_with_weebly.html?>
Tony Bradley, PCWorld



**** Amtrak Enlists iPhones As A Service Tool ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/technology/amtrak-to-use-iphones-to-streamline-service.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all>
Brian X. Chen, New York Times


> Old-school train conductors are finally ready to give up their hole punchers to try something new: the iPhone.



**** Too Naked For Apple: Focus Tones Down Cover ****
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-mct-brief-too-naked-for-apple-focus-tones-down-cover-20120507,0,7337429.story>
Andre Jahnke, DPA


> The German news magazine Focus announced Sunday that it has altered the digital version of its current issue, screening the bared breasts of the female front cover model to avoid a possible run-in with Apple.



**** Michelin App - Solar Walk ****
<http://sirloinapple.blogspot.com/2012/05/michelin-app-solar-walk.html>
Sirloin Apple



**** Where Did I Come From? The Origin(s) Of My MacBook Pro ****
<http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9226958/Where_did_I_come_from_The_origin_s_of_my_MacBook_Pro?taxonomyId=12>
Josh Fruhlinger, Computerworld


> But take a minute to contemplate that word "assembled." Those Chinese factory workers aren't making Apple products from scratch; they're putting them together from pre-existing components -- components that weren't built in the same factory, or even in the same country. Curious about how the family tree of a typically complex piece of computer equipment, I decided to try to track down the origins of the major components in that computer -- a mid-2010 13" MacBook Pro model. Where did it come from before it got to me? How many parents did it have? The journey travels over much of Asia, of course, but there are also components that come from right here in the U.S.A.



**** iTunes In Luxembourg ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/opinion/itunes-in-luxembourg.html>
Georges Schmit, Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office, New York Times


> In the European Union, every iTunes customer, or customer of any other Luxembourg-based business to consumer e-service provider, pays value-added tax (VAT) — a consumption tax similar to the United States sales tax — at the same, lowest possible rate. This is not the result of these e-service providers’ intent to cheat the taxman.

> Luxembourg and iTunes S.Ã .r.l. simply apply prevailing E.U. tax law in a well-functioning Internet-based E.U. single market.



**** Three Classic Games For OS X On The Cheap ****
<http://www.macgasm.net/2012/05/07/three-classic-games-for-os-x-on-the-cheap/>
Grant Brünner, Macgasm



**** Safe In Its Shell ****
<http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/05/opinion-dash-applesecurity/>
Anil Dash, Wired


> Users howled when Microsoft tried to lock down Windows. Now Apple is upping its own security — and everyone loves it.

Perhaps it's <i>how</i> you do it?


**** Are Publishers Waking Up From Their Dream About Apps? ****
<http://gigaom.com/2012/05/07/are-publishers-waking-up-from-their-dream-about-apps/>
Mathew Ingram, GigaOM


> But I think Pontin is right when he says that many of these technical or structural issues weren’t even the biggest problem for content apps. The biggest problem is that apps are walled gardens by design — most allow you to share articles through social media, but they don’t contain links and in most cases they don’t have comments either. And that just doesn’t fit with the way many people consumer content now, especially the assumption that users will download a single app or subscribe to a single provider instead of using aggregators or apps like Flipboard and Zite.



**** Personal Lets People Get The Most Of Their Small Data ****
<http://gigaom.com/2012/05/07/personal-lets-people-get-the-most-of-their-small-data/>
Ryan Kim, GigaOM



**** Half Of All Macs Will Lack Access To Security Updates By Summer ****
<http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9226949/Half_of_all_Macs_will_lack_access_to_security_updates_by_summer?source=rss_operatingsystems>
Gregg Keizer, Computerworld


> If Apple continues this policy, Snow Leopard users will stop seeing patches about the time Mountain Lion ships. Apple has not set a hard date for OS X 10.8's debut, although it has pegged "late summer."

> But Snow Leopard currently accounts for 41.5% of all versions of OS X, according to Web metrics company Net Applications' latest statistics. Assuming Snow Leopard's share continues to drop at the average pace of the last six months, it will still power 34.4% of all Macs in August or 32.6% in September.



**** Twitpic Releases iPhone App ****
<http://www.macstories.net/links/twitpic-releases-iphone-app/>
MacStories



**** Remotely Transfer iPhoto Images To iPhone ****
<http://www.macworld.com/article/1166694/remotely_transfer_iphoto_images_to_iphone.html#lsrc.rss_main>
Christopher Breen, Macworld



**** Apple Releases iOS 5.1.1 ****
<http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/05/07/apple-releases-ios-5-1-1/>
Jim Dalrymple, The Loop






The Tomorrow Weblog
====================================
**** Quantum Computers Are Leaping Ahead ****
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/may/06/quantum-computing-physics-jeff-forshaw>
Jeff Forshaw, The Observer


> Quantum computers are ever closer to becoming a reality, and when they arrive they will revolutionise computing power.



**** MasterCard Jumps Into Mobile Payments With Own Digital Wallet ****
<http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12261_7-57429181-10356022/mastercard-jumps-into-mobile-payments-with-own-digital-wallet/>
Roger Cheng, CNET


> The No. 2 payments processor today unveiled PayPass Wallet Services, its own take on the digital wallet. Initially, it will pop up in the form of a payment icon at merchant Web sites. The wallet will allow users to store all of their cards, and MasterCard plans to distribute developer tools to allow other wallets to work with its network. The move is an attempt to broaden PayPass beyond contactless payments and into something more ubiquitous.






MyAppleMenu Reader
====================================
**** The Gruesome History Of Eating Corpses As Medicine ****
<http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Gruesome-History-of-Eating-Corpses-as-Medicine.html?c=y&story=fullstory>
Maria Dolan, Smithsonian


> The last line of a 17th century poem by John Donne prompted Louise Noble’s quest. “Women,” the line read, are not only “Sweetness and wit,” but “mummy, possessed.”

> Sweetness and wit, sure. But mummy? In her search for an explanation, Noble, a lecturer of English at the University of New England in Australia, made a surprising discovery: That word recurs throughout the literature of early modern Europe, from Donne’s “Love’s Alchemy” to Shakespeare’s “Othello” and Edmund Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene,” because mummies and other preserved and fresh human remains were a common ingredient in the medicine of that time. In short: Not long ago, Europeans were cannibals.



**** The Great Recipe Swindle ****
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/may/08/the-great-recipe-swindle>
Nicholas Clee, The Guardian


> Just as a novel tells a story ("Oh dear yes", EM Forster complained), so a cookbook has recipes. And just as some novelists, such as Forster, have felt that a story is a regrettable element of fiction, so some cookery authors feel that recipes are regrettable elements of food writing.



**** Could The Internet Save Book Reviews? ****
<http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/05/could-the-internet-save-book-reviews/256802/>
Sarah Fay, The Atlantic


> Even as print publications are getting rid of reviewers, websites and podcasts offer new ways of approaching literature.



**** Night Train To Lisbon ****
<http://www.bookslut.com/unamerican/2012_05_018932.php>
Christopher Merkel, Bookslut


> It was a night <i>bus</i> in my case, and I read <i>Death in Venice</i>. And other than that short book, I hadn't read anything by Thomas Mann.



**** Soldier Is Defeated By War Abroad, Then Welcomed Back By Racism ****
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/books/home-a-novel-by-toni-morrison.html?_r=1>
Michiko Kakutani, New York Times


> This haunting, slender novel is a kind of tiny Rosetta Stone to Toni Morrison’s entire oeuvre.

> “Home” encapsulates all the themes that have fueled her fiction, from the early novels “Sula” and “The Bluest Eye,” through her dazzling masterwork, “Beloved,” and more recent, less persuasive books like “Love” and “Paradise”: the hold that time past exerts over time present, the hazards of love (and its link to leaving and loss), the possibility of redemption and transcendence.



**** Poem Of The Week: Inviting A Friend To Supper By Ben Jonson ****
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/07/poem-week-ben-jonson>
Carol Rumens, The Guardian






SingaporeSurf
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**** Singapore Inflation Worrying: ING Bank Economist ****
<http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_796589.html>
Aaron Low, Straits Times



**** OpenNet Points To SingTel, ISPs For Its Unsatisfactory Performance ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120508-0000122/OpenNet-points-to-SingTel,-ISPs-for-its-unsatisfactory-performance>
Tan Weizhen, Today


> In its first press conference held since a series of disputes and problems started more than a year ago, the consortium tasked to install and activate high-speed fibre broadband in Singapore today pointed to its dispute with key sub-contractor SingTel to explain its unsatisfactory performance.



**** Unconditional Pay Rise Vital In Tackling Income Inequality ****
<http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_796338.html>
Xiao Fuchun, Straits Times


> These companies are telling us that they have problems finding Singaporeans for certain jobs.

> Is it not surprising that, while the law of supply and demand dictates that wages should then go up, we actually have a situation where wages are suppressed, exacerbated by handouts in the form of abundant foreign labour?



**** Let Higher Progressive Tax Rates Pay For It ****
<http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_796334.html>
Calvin Cheng, Straits Times


> Perhaps all better-off Singaporeans should be willing to put their money where their heart is and support higher progressive income tax rates for all.

> These tax rates can then fund subsidies that help both low-wage workers and their low-income employers. If we believe there is a social inequity to be corrected, all better-off Singaporeans should be brave enough to foot the bill, and not just businesses owners.



**** Tharman Has A Point ****
<http://atans1.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/tharman-has-a-point/>
Thoughts Of A Cynical Investor


> If this isn’t BT telling Tharman off, I don’t know what is?



**** NEA Replies To Spraying Of Chemicals On Chek Jawa ****
<http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2012/05/nea-replies-to-spraying-of-chemicals-on.html>
Wild Shores Of Singapore


> For such ecologically sensitive areas, NEA prescribes the use of environmental manipulation and biological control tool wherever possible. For environmental manipulation, drains were built to drain away stagnation of water and breeding habitats remove. For biological control, <i>Bacillus thuringiensis serovar israelensis</i> (Bti) is used. Bti based products have been widely tested and used worldwide in mosquito control projects. Bti will only kill mosquito larvae specifically and a few flies species such as chironomids and blackflies.



**** LTA Engineers Unaware Of Dislodged Rail Claws Prior To Disruptions: COI ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1199981/1/.html>
Chnnel NewsAsia


> This was the case as there was no specific requirement for SMRT to report such instances to LTA, even though the rail claws needed to hold up the power rail had dislodged in the past.

> Mr Soo said there are also no key performance indicators for SMRT but LTA will flag SMRT on any non-conformity and give feedback where necessary.



**** Maids Die In Singapore; Indonesia Calls For safety ****
<http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/08/maids-die-in-singapore-indonesia-calls-for-safety/>
Associated Press


> Hong Kong, another popular destination for Indonesian maids, sees far fewer accidental maid deaths because most apartment buildings outsource window cleaning to professionals while 80 percent of Singaporeans live in public housing blocks that don't provide that service, Yuwono said.

> Many Singaporeans who hire maids would likely resist a ban on chores such as cleaning windows or hanging laundry, said Theresa Low, a homemaker who has employed Indonesian maids for 10 years. "Singaporeans want to get their money's worth," Low said. "They really do work the maids very hard. Singaporeans don't value them, don't treasure them as much as they should. It's a tragic thing. That's somebody's daughter."



**** Inflationary Pressures Likely To Persist In 2H ****
<http://sbr.com.sg/economy/news/inflationary-pressures-likely-persist-in-2h>
Singapore Business Review



**** MTR Spoil ****
<http://www.jaywalkonline.com/2012/05/mtr-spoil.html>
JayWalk


> For starters, it does not break down as frequently. They take each incident more seriously and are more transparent to the public.

> When things go wrong, the management have enough balls to step up and face to public to apologise instead of cooking up some lame-assed canned responses and tried to pass them off as a form of apology.



**** AirAsia To Start Singapore Hub Soon, Widening Its Network ****
<http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/airasia-to-start-singapore-hub-soon-widening-its-network>
Jahabar Sadiq, The Malaysian Insider


> AirAsia has received Singapore’s approval to start a hub in the island republic soon, say sources, allowing the Malaysian airline to expand its network in the growing regional low-cost market segment just a week after Putrajaya aborted its share swap with loss-making Malaysia Airlines (MAS).

> <i>The Malaysian Insider</i> understands that Singapore has informed AirAsia it will get an air operator’s certificate (AOC) as soon as possible, ending years of lobbying by Asia’s biggest low-cost carrier to set up operations in the city-state, a leading Asian financial centre.



**** Creativity In Restrictions ****
<http://jeremyyew.com/2012/05/07/creativity-in-restrictions/>
Jeremy Yew


> In other words, you first set yourself the fixed parameters in order to allow your creativity to flourish.

> And I found the premise extremely meaningful.



**** Ambassador Chan, There Is Simply No Excuse To Sacrifice Democracy ****
<http://www.tremeritus.com/2012/05/07/an-unnatural-countrys-take-on-democracy/>
Ng Kok Lim, TR Emeritus


> Besides Singapore, all other First World nations have embraced democracy without sacrificing economic development. Economic development need not come at the expense of democracy.

> Whether it is governance, non-corruption, egalitarianism, unnatural geopolitical situation, tendency of small nations to corporatize or the need to maintain competitiveness and economic development, there is no lack of examples of countries that have either outperformed us or are in a more dire situation but have not sacrificed democracy. There is simply no excuse to sacrifice democracy.



**** Government Study On Option Of Building Below Ground ****
<http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_796453.html>
Grace Chua, Straits Times


> Reservoirs, power plants and other facilities such as landfills could be put together beneath the ground in order to save precious land, under an option to be studied by the government.



**** Singaporean Loses HDB After Foreign Wife Runs Away ****
<http://theonlinecitizen.com/2012/05/singaporean-loses-hdb-after-foreign-wife-runs-away/>
Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen



**** 地铁故障 ****
<http://www.zaobao.com.sg/sp/sp120508_004.shtml>
李静仪, 联合早报


> åŠ å…¥SMRT有11å¹´çš„å¼ ä¼Ÿæ°ä¾›è¯æ—¶å¼ºè°ƒï¼ŒæŽ¥é©³å·´å£«å¹¶éžè¦â€œå¤åˆ¶â€åœ°é“æœåŠ¡ï¼Œè€Œæ˜¯æä¾›æ›¿ä»£äº¤é€šï¼Œè®©ä¹˜å®¢ç»­ç¨‹åˆ°ç›®çš„åœ°ã€‚SMRT共经营1000è¾†å·´å£«ï¼Œå¸‚åœºå æœ‰çŽ‡ä»…25％，由于资源有限，最快能调动到的第一批接驳巴士是40辆。

A public transportation system that is planned, intentionally, to remove <i>all</i> redunancies will, of course, not be able to handle any unexpected situations.


**** Unable To Leave Singapore, Dr Chee Soon Juan Records A Video For The Oslo Freedom Forum ****
<http://asiancorrespondent.com/82059/unable-to-leave-singapore-dr-chee-soon-juan-records-a-video-for-the-oslo-freedom-forum/>
Kirsten Han, Asian Correspondent



**** Concerns Over Asset Price Bubbles In Singapore ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1199803/1/.html>
Linette Lim, Chnnel NewsAsia



**** Replace Holidays That Fall On Saturdays, Too ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120508-0000011/Replace-holidays-that-fall-on-Saturdays,-too>
Leow Zi Xiang, Today


> Is it not peculiar that public holidays which fall on a Sunday are automatically replaced, while those which fall on a Saturday are not, since both are non-working days? Why should employees have to rely on their employers' goodwill, which is not always forthcoming?



**** Joo Chiat Who? Let Our Roads Bear Full Names ****
<http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120508-0000009/Joo-Chiat-who?-Let-our-roads-bear-full-names>
Khng Eu Meng, Today


> Who is this Ann Siang or Joo Chiat, one may well wonder. And, given the absence of surnames, it is harder to trace their history.

Paving the way for a Lee Kuan Yew road. After all, you don't want a Kuan Yew road, right?


**** More Singaporeans Setting Up Cooperatives ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1199824/1/.html>
Melissa Chong, Chnnel NewsAsia


> More like-minded Singaporeans are coming together to set-up cooperatives rather than rely on help from government or charities.

> Many are setting-up profit-making businesses, with a social mission.

Next step: a workers' union with real bite?


**** In A Market Economy, Wages Aren’t Determined By Wishful Thinking ****
<http://yawningbread.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/in-a-market-economy-wages-arent-determined-by-wishful-thinking/>
Alex Au, Yawning Bread


> Talking about using productivity improvements (if you can even measure them for different grades of workers) to guide wage adjustments is just so much theory; it cannot overcome these operational realities.

> Let’s get real. Salaries for the lower grades of staff will go up when they have bargaining power. Failing that, when the state takes the side of workers. Whistling on and on about productivity improvement as the only yardstick is really quite meaningless. Dreaming, almost.



**** Adjusting To Aging Population At The Workplace ****
<http://newasiarepublic.com/?p=38222>
Donaldson Tan, New Asia Republic


> It is with utmost importance that second career placement must be part of the long-term strategies the private sector put in place to cope with an aging population. In this way, a good number of people will have multiple career paths from which to choose. An increasing number of people will change careers in their mid-forties and again when they reach their early seventies and shift to part-time work.



**** IPS - The Population Conundrum ****
<http://blogging4myself.blogspot.com/2012/05/ips-population-conundrum.html>
Blogging For Myself


> We must have faith. I like it that the future is unknowable, unpredictable. We cannot ignore such findings but we mustn't fear them either. Far more than analysts, we need courageous leaders. Not the kind we are making in our talent factory.



**** Old Railway Land Converted Into Car Park ****
<http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1199804/1/.html>
Chnnel NewsAsia


> A plot of land near Jalan Bukit Merah where the parking lots were built used to be former railway land.