Summary of this week:

Google+ already has 4.5 million users, ooops make that 10 million
Google to introduce its eBook reader next week
Apple now third biggest computer seller in America
Feds spend $350,000 per household to provide rural broadband access

Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday

Monday July 11, 2011

120MegaBitsPerSecond WiFi 802.11ac demonstrated.

Acer shows a couple of new pico projectors. This report claims that the pico projector has not been much of a commerical success.

A prosthetic eye with digital video camera. For a person who has lost an eye, this could be a big deal.

If you are doing researching on social networks, are you violating the privacy of others? Well, those others put their information on the Internet. I don't think the researchers are breaking passwords and such to gather the information.

CentOS 6 has been released.

Let the engineers run the business, not the MBAs. Of course I like this idea as I am an engineer. I love this qoute, "Learning that China plans to open 40 new graduate schools of business in the next few years, Lutz quipped, 'That's the best news I've heard in years.'"

Google+ already has over four million users. When will I receive an invitation?

And to top that, 50 million blogs are powered by WordPress. 50 million? That is a large number.

Here is the course material for Stanford's CS 101 class. They are now starting with JavaScript.

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Tuesday July 12, 2011

Byte magazine is back - sort of.

A look at a new line of motherboards from GigaByte.

Another round of the best intentions with unintended consequences - and yes, the government is once again involved in these stories. Our Congress wants ISPs to retain records. Those records can be hacked. Predators - the kind of folks who prey on children - love large databases of children.

The browswer with a telephone attached. That is how a quarter of smartphone owners treat their phones.

Coming next week from Google - the irive Story HD (what a name) eBook reader. $140. When will someone learn to sell these things for $25 and make their money on the book sales?

And here is an eReader tablet from Panasonic.

Maybe one day we can harvest power from the RF waves in the air. Maybe some of these research projects will work.

Microsoft has sold 400 million Windows 7 licenses.

because this is what Christians do - the Chaplains of South Sudan.

Photos from the 1989 Academy Awards. Many of those in the photos are now dead. Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Lucille Ball are a few.

Things certainly have changed in China in the last generation.

Now this is clever, placing new products into reruns of old TV shows. Digital magic.

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Wednesday July 13, 2011

Tiny cameras and other new technologies have enabled us humans to learn much more about how birds fly. Look for new, small, UAVs.

Can Apple conquer the world of television? Perhaps. They did go from a music player (the iPod) to the king of worldwide cell phones.

How will moving to the cloud affect IT departments? Probably a lot less than people think. Inertia of organizations as old as IT departments is quite strong, so don't look for much change. If, however, you start a new company with no IT department, the cloud will be a big change.

The Chinese will launch the first module of their space station in September. Let's see, China is launching and America is retiring. The trend is ... obvious.

Hooray, there is a bill in Congress to repeal the incandescent light bulb ban. If other bulbs are much better, people will buy them.

Google+ hits ten million users.

JP Morgan has built an FPGA-based supercomputer.

LinkedIn is now the #2 social network in the U.S.

If you thought the Greek economic crisis was bad, wait for the Italian money crisis...then wait for the California crisis.

MIT yet again improves the manufacture of solar power. This is just another small increment, but one day these things may be something practical.

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Thursday July 14, 2011

Do you "migrate" to an new OS or start clean? Per this post, I think I have mostly started clean with each new update. That takes more time, but I feel better when I'm finished.

Someone hacked into servers held by Booz Allen Hamilton and retrieved the email accounts of 90,000 military personnel. Is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

Have some spare time this weekend? Build your own Batmobile powered by a turbo engine from a helicopter.

Nissan's plant in Tennessee is just about ready to produce its electric car Leaf. These people haven't received the memo from the White House that Americans will be buying the Chevy Volt. Besides, how can Nissan do this without receiving tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers' money?

Viewsonic's 7" tablet is on sale now at Amazon for $230.

And here is a small tablet with a pico projector.

A woman publishes a book of 12 years of text messages (SMS).

A history of the humble pizza box.

I like this desk - frost glass top with lights inside.

U.S. banks are spending $100million this year to replace aging computers. This happens about every ten years.

I like this one - people take a realistic not just optimistic look at public works projects. Believe it or not, some projects are being cancelled because of the realistic appraisals. Good.

While there is hope in some places, the government continues to flounder in most other areas. Remember all that money going to rural broadband access. This study shows that in some areas it cost $350,000 per home to get broadband access. Your tax dollars at waste.

Apple is now the third biggest computer seller in America. They are up to 10.7% of the market. Their growth is astounding. How did they do it? They made a music player - but that doesn't make any sense.

A new wave power plant from Scotland. Keep the ideas coming.

And what would a week be without another TSA airport story? A Tennessee woman is arrested after refusing to let TSA employees pat down her kids. Have these people no shame?

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Friday July 15, 2011

Apple will now use TSMC to make the A6 processor for its mobile devices.

The Internet - as an online repository of information - is changing the way we use our memory. Do duh! The same was true writing and then the printing press and then the telegraph and then the ...

What should we be eating? Protein? Carbs? I have to take this post seriously as "eat less meat and more bread" is 25 years old while the opposite has thousands of years behind it.

The Chinese government shut down 41% of all Chinese web sites in 2010.

Maps of the world's undersea cables. This could be a dangerous map.

Google had a big financial quarter.

Some history of Ethernet (that is EEE-ther-net, not IN-ter-net).

I didn't know people had to write posts about the benefits of husband and wife eating dinner together at home, but I guess that is life in the early 21st century.

And why haven't we been doing this all along? Virgin Atlantic provides water faucets so that passengers can fill their water bottles. This is all thanks to the TSA and their idiotic policy about no liquids.

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Saturday July 16, 2011

Internet Explorer 9 appears to be good at blocking malware. Good for Microsoft.

This is disappointing - a Federal Appeals Court says that TSA body scanners are okay.

A look at rugged pocket cameras. One key for these things is the ability to use "throw-away" batteries, a.k.a. AA or AAA. If you are hiking through the Grand Canyon or somewhere else where a rugged camera is good, you don't have any AC power to use your battery recharger.

A portable computer with two 17-inch screens. There are applications for such machines. I don't have any, but some people do.

This is good news - the online Khan Academy is changing education. Now we have to hope that a teacher's union doesn't find a way to ban the use of such resources in the classroom.

Ford is experimenting with networked cars.

Hotmail is banning common passwords.

The era of the iPod is fading. Why buy a music player when you can buy a device where the music player is a small part? The iPod, however, changed the world.

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Sunday July 17, 2011

Wait, the Federal appeals court said the TSA was wrong in how it installed full-body scanners. The TSA, however, doesn't have to stop the practice. The judge also said that the scanners do not violate the Fourth Amendment. (I lost the link to the Cnetnews.com story.)

Unemployment grows in America, but tech is booming - maybe even approaching a bubble. Should the employed tech sector care about everyone else?

The incandescent light bulb may live after all. It passes through as an amendment or something. Politics as usual. My view is to let people choose. If something is more economical and works just as well, people will choose it. If something is more economical, but doesn't work as well, people will choose based on personal trade offs.

Using the emacs editor in writing. I use the vi(m) editor to write.

A study shows that older programmers are better programmers.

Wonderful writing tips from Mark Twain. I love: (1) damn and very and (2) the adjective.

It seems that many of the names in Harry Potter come from real words. Most of us Americans have never heard them. And a cute summary of all the films including mention of holes in the story line. I have never been a fan, but the series has done fine without me.

How long is a novel? 50,000 words is a short one. 90,000 words is about average.

Do you like diagrams? Do you like to make diagrams that help you write? Check the list of links to such diagram here.

I (sort of) like this title - suck it up and write.

Make a "steal" file. This is also called keeping examples of excellent writing.

Your writing matters. Your life matters. Here are a few reasons why.

Some inspiration and practical ideas on marketing as a freelance writer.

Jerry Weinberg continues his series on change. Jerry has a talent for letting his readers write the most powerful parts of his posts.

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