The curious case of the missing iPad 3 home button-Yahoo! Singapore(News)

Apple iPad 3 invitation. (CNET/Apple)

Eagle-eyed readers have been pointing out a curious omission on the imagery of Apple's iPad-themed invite that went out this morning: there's no home button in sight. The simplest explanation here is that it's a photo of (what is presumably) an iPad 2 on its side, something that's not that much of a stretch given that the iPad's been designed to work the same no matter which end is down.

Yet it's also curious given rumors of Apple ditching the home button on the iPad, an option that came to light when the company introduced multi-touch gestures to developers in iOS 4.3, and later as a feature for users in iOS 5. One of those is a full hand pinch that brings users back to the iPad's home screen, just like what would happen if you clicked on the home button.

Readers might be scratching their heads at the familiarity of this all, though. Two months before Apple took the wraps off the iPad 2, there was a story coming from Boy Genius Report saying that Apple's next iPad would be the first iOS gadget to ditch the home button for gestures, with others like the iPhone and iPod Touch to follow.

That didn't happen though.

The case for phasing out a home button has become less clear though. It's a pivotal part of using Siri on the iPhone 4S, and if Siri makes its way to other iOS devices (including future iPads), it would be unusual to get rid of it. Apple has also kept the multi-touch gesture feature something that is optional, specifically to keep games and applications that make use of multi-finger gestures from being broken by the system.

On top of all this, there were also those mysterious iPad 3 home buttons that made the rounds late last year, alongside what was alleged to be the glass front of the device, which--yep--had a spot for the home button.
One thing's for sure. We'll know the full story next week, when Apple's event goes down.

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Hougang resident files court application for PM Lee to call by-election-Yahoo! Singapore(News)

An Hougang resident filed a court application requesting PM Lee to call for a by-election. (Yahoo! file photo)


An Hougang resident has filed a high court application on Friday requesting the Prime Minister to call for a by-election in the ward within three months.

The 42-year old part-time cleaner, Vellama D/O Marie Muthu, filed the application via her lawyer M Ravi.
The application called for the grant of declaration that the Prime Minister does not possess the "unfettered discretion to decide when to announce by-elections in Hougang SMC and must do so within three months or within such reasonable time as this Honorable Court deems fit".

The affidavit also stated the plaintiff be granted a mandatory order enjoining the prime minister to advise the president to issue a writ of election mandating by-elections in the single member constituency.

Since Worker's Party's Yaw Shin Leong's expulsion from the party on 14 February over rumours of extra-marital affairs, the seat has been vacant. His seat was officially declared vacant on 28 February by the Speaker of Parliament after Yaw decided not to appeal the decision.

Vellama is the sole breadwinner for her family of two daughters and an alcoholic husband deemed unfit for work. She is also supporting her 77-year old wheelchair bound mother and her 52-year old diabetic sister. All are dependent on her meager monthly salary of $300.

She is receiving financial assistance from the Community Development Council (CDC).

Vellama previously voted for Yaw and was seeking his assistance to help her family. She added that "I no longer have the opportunity to do that because Hougang does not have an MP".

She expressed shock at PM Lee's response "that 'other issues on our national agenda' are more important than allowing me to exercise my right to elect a representative of my choice".

Vellama said that her frustrations are borne out of the urgency for her problems to be addressed, and she feels like a "second class citizen" having to rely on other MPs at the moment.

She had been experiencing difficulties paying her monthly mortgage installments and said the banks had threatened her with foreclosure.

What now for the MP-less Hougang SMC?
According to CNA, PM Lee said the day after Yaw's expulsion that there is no fixed time within which he must call for a by-election.  He further said that there are other issues on the national agenda then. His statement was made before Budget 2012.

Vellama questioned, "Why am I denied this opportunity? Why is it taking so long for the PM to decide on this? Why is it that the PM is even saying, as I am advised, that he even has the power not to call a by-election when he says to the media that he would consider carefully 'whether…to hold a by-election'?"

Debate on what the Constitution says
What followed was a heated public exchange between Nominated Member of Parliament, Assistant Professor Eugene Tan, and People's Action Party (PAP) MP, Hri Kumar Nair.

Tan expressed in his article published in the Today newspaper that while there is no fixed timeline to call for a by-election, PM Lee has to call it within "reasonable time" and without "inordinate delay".

Shortly after on 1 March, the Workers' Party also urged the prime minister to call for a by-election. Party leader Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim said in the Straits Times that the decision to call for a by-election is "not optional" as dictated by the Constitution.
Bridget Welsh, Associate Professor in Political Science at Singapore Management University (SMU) said of this case, "This case brings the by-election issue to the courts, widening the call for representation and illustrates a broadening of the increasing contestation for political rights in Singapore to the courts."

"This legal initiative reflects the reality of new politics in Singapore, where citizens not only expect engagement but are angered by an approach that shows disrespect to their voices," she added.

Welsh said there are four possibilities for this case's outcome: (1) A by-election is called and the legal case is withdrawn, (2) Questions will be raised about judicial independence if the People's Action Party delays calling the by-election, (3) the case is thrown out "for some reason" or buried, and (4) the legal case is won and "PAP faces another public defeat and goes into a by-election further weakened".

There is a definite dilemma for the Prime Minister now, but Welsh warned the longer PAP delays calling a by-election, "the more it sends a signal that it does not respect voters in Singapore, particularly those in Hougang".

She added that "Questions may be asked whether the PAP is afraid of facing the polls again, which will weaken the perception of the government."

Former PAP candidate for Hougang SMC Desmond Choo, the Prime Minister's Office and Workers' Party have yet to respond to Yahoo! Singapore's queries.

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New winged roller coaster ‘the Swarm’ rips the arms off crash test dummies-Yahoo! Singapore(News)

The Swarm roller coaster (ThorpePark.com)

A theme park in London is set to debut a powerful new winged roller coaster this month, but only after first figuring out how not to dismember its riders. Time reports that Thorpe Park has been conducting test runs of its new coaster, the Swarm, even enlisting fighter pilots who described the ride as "gut-wrenching."

The self-described "flight through apocalyptic devastation on Europe's tallest winged rollercoaster" propels up to 28 riders at a time with their arms and legs dangling freely at 62 miles per hour and includes trips through an inverted 127-foot drop and several close encounters with walled structures that are designed to make passengers feel like they are about to crash.

The ride's designers ran some test runs with crash test dummies, leaving many shocked when the dummies returned from the experience missing arms and legs. A team of former British fighter pilots were then brought in as the coaster's preparation neared completion. Mark Cutmore, team leader of the Blades, a stunt pilot organization, told the Metro: "I am a self-confessed adrenaline junkie, but even as a pilot used to G-force there were some gut-wrenching moments, and I have to admit the near miss element is eye-watering -- you really do feel as if you are going to crash into the structures."

You can watch a simulated video of the Swarm here:


Winged roller coasters have been gaining popularity in recent years, but may be trumped by one California designer's plans to create the world's first "zero-gravity" coaster, which would imitate the simulators that NASA uses to train its astronauts.

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S’pore needs to attract new immigrants: DPM Teo-Yahoo! Singapore(News)

Identifying the year ahead as a "demographic tipping point" for Singapore, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Teo Chee Hean emphasised the need for the country to continue attracting new immigrants.

According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), Teo said this is because the first cohort of post-war baby boomers — those born between 1947 and 1965 —will start turning 65 from this year.

Singapore will experience an "unprecedented age shift, as over 900,000 baby boomers, more than a quarter of the current citizen population, retire from the workforce and enter their silver years" from now till 2030, Teo explained, as reported by CNA.

Speaking in Parliament during the Committee of Supply Debate, the Minister of Home Affairs also said that without immigration, more than 1 in 4 citizens will be 65 years old and older in 2030 given the current birth rates.

According to CNA, the median age of Singapore citizens will rise to from 39 today to 47, then to 53 post-2030.

Without immigration, Singapore will face a shrinking workforce and economy, DPM Teo Chee Hean says. (Yahoo! file …

This means that there will be fewer working adults supporting the older citizens.

"Without immigration, we will face a shrinking workforce and the prospect of a shrinking economy," said Teo. "This challenging situation is compounded by the need to support a significantly larger elderly population at the same time."

What is most important now is to "develop a sustainable population strategy that will maintain the vitality of Singapore, strengthen our harmonious multi-ethnic society, and enable Singaporeans to achieve their life aspirations", added the DPM.

When asked by Intan Azura Mokhtar, MP for Ang Mo Kio, if the ministry grants permanent residence (PR) more easily to the foreign spouses of Singaporeans, Teo said that it is not a given.

Various factors are taken into consideration when the application for PR for the non-citizen spouse is assessed, including the duration of marriage, his or her length of stay in Singapore and whether the married couple has children who are Singapore citizens.

Citizens who sponsor their foreign spouses for PR status will also have to show that they are able to support them financially, Teo added.

Those who do not qualify for PR status may be granted a Long Term Visit Pass, which allows them to seek employment here.

The ministry is currently studying how to further help Singaporean families with foreign spouses, especially those with children who are citizens, Teo added.

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New asteroid could hit earth in 2040-Yahoo! Singapore(News)

London, Feb 29 (IANS) A new asteroid, identified by NASA, could potentially hit the earth Feb 5, 2040, even though it is much smaller than the one -- nine miles across -- which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

The UN Action Team on near-Earth objects, which has taken note of the 460-ft asteroid, placed the odds of its hitting the earth at one-in-625, though that could change nearer the time.

Scientists have not yet been able to work out much more about it than its size as they have only been able to observe it for half its orbit. But between 2013 and 2016 they will be able to monitor from the ground and will make a more detailed assessment.

In 2023 the rock will make a 'keyhole pass' of Earth, which is an area it passes through on the orbit before it would hit Earth. This will be within a mere 0.02 astronomical units of our planet, or 1.86 million miles, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.

NASA's infrared sky-scans track space objects such as asteroids. A recent scan with the NeoWISE instruments found that there were 19,000 'mid-sized' asteroids within 120 million miles of Earth, the Daily Mail reports.

According to NASA, among the ways of deflecting it are putting a probe onto the rock and using the extra gravity the craft generates to steer the asteroid away over millions of light years. Another option would be sending a probe into it so that the impact has the same effect.

Nuclear weapons have also been discussed, but this would create a shower of rocks instead of just one.

Mid-sized refers to asteroids in a size range between 330 and 3,300 feet wide, which could destroy a city-sized area were they to hit Earth.

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'Dad, I got torched'-Yahoo! Singapore(News)

SUNGAI BULOH: In pain after being doused with petrol and set ablaze by his abductors, Mohamad Syahirudin Mohd Shauki, 19 — clad only in his singed underwear — walked out of a oil palm plantation in Sungai Tengi, Gedangsa, near Kuala Kubu Baru, to seek help.

He had trekked for more than 400m before he chanced upon Kampung Sepakat Gedangsa, Hulu Selangor police chief Supt Norel Azmi Yahya Affandi said.

"Luckily, a villager found him when Mohamad Syahirudin knocked on his door at about 6.40am on Sunday," Norel Azmi said.

After giving him bread and water, the villager contacted an ambulance and allowed Mohamad Syahirudin to use the telephone.

"Ayah, saya kena bakar... (Dad, I was torched...)" were the parting words he uttered to his father over the telephone before losing conciousness while being whisked away by the ambulance to the Sungai Buloh Hospital.

"Before that, the teenager had told the villager he was abducted from his home at Kota Damansara and was taken to the oil palm plantation 94km away," Norel Azmi said.

"He said he was able to put out the fire after the assailants left the scene."

Norel Azmi said Mohamad Syahirudin lost consciousness as he was being taken to hospital, where he has been warded in the Intensive Care Unit.

The teenager, suffering from 80 per cent burns, is on life support and fighting for his life.

Norel Azmi said police went to the scene and found Mohamad Syahirudin's half-burnt shirt near the Bukit Tagar Toll Plaza.

Police believed Mohamad Syahirudin was taken by three men in a car at about midnight on Sunday and failed to return home after that.

At the hospital, Mohamad Syahirudin's sister, Sri Wahyuni, 25, said the family did not realise he had left home that night.

"He usually went out late at night to meet friends, having supper or playing futsal but he would usually come home two to three hours later," she said.

When he did not come home on Sunday, Sri Wahyuni said the family thought he was spending the night at his friend's house.

"Only when father received a call from him at about 8am did we realise what had happened."

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Naked maids, accountants take (it) off in South Africa-Yahoo! Singapore(News)

Maids who buff in the buff and plumbers who strip off more than just the grime in your pipes -- these are the services on offer at a new South African company.

Natural Cleaning Co., which bills itself as "the world's only all-naked service company," was founded a month ago by Jean-Paul Reid after he struggled to find work as an accountant in a country with a 23.9 percent unemployment rate.

The company offers housekeeping, accounting, legal, computing and other services, with a twist -- staff show up either topless or fully nude, depending on the client's request.

"Cleaning is the popular one, and then handyman services for the ladies," Reid, 29, told AFP.

He said he currently gets about one client per day, typically white middle-aged men.

His employees, who are featured in various work for him part-time and have day jobs ranging from model to personal trainer to law student to accountant.

The service is "purely entertainment", Reid stressed, saying: "We don't offer prostitution or anything like that."

The company's website, naturalcleaning.wozaonline.co.za, features a svelte shirtless man thrusting a vacuum across a rug, a slender young woman ironing in nothing but socks, a nude chef with a tastefully placed salad bowl, and a host of other naked services available in the country's four largest cities.

Prices range from 175 rand ($23, 17 euros) per hour for "semi-naked services" to 450 rand for professionals like lawyers, accountants and plumbers.

"You choose your service provider and what they wear," the site advertises.

Reid said he takes about 20 percent and workers keep the rest.

"I'm making ends meet," he said. "I'm not making lots of money, but I'm covering the expenses. It's still early days."

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