Dwayne Phillips ' Day Book

Items I happen to view each day. Science, Techonology, Management, Culture, and of course Writing

This is my day book for this week. I have modeled this after science fiction and computer writer Jerry Pournelle's view, or as he calls it, his Day Book. I encourage you to see Jerry Pournelle's site and subscribe to his services.

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This week: August 29-September 4, 2011

Summary of this week:


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


Monday August 29,  2011

Someone has hacked into the Nokia developer communitry of course obtaining information that no one was supposed to obtain. It is only Monday, but is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

Interesting use of iPhone and other technology at MIT. They are mounting iPhones on the dash of cars and monitoring the traffic lights to adjust their driving. They are cutting fuel consumption by 20%. Good results.

I like these questions from Seth Godin about maintaining the status quo.

A Federal Appeals court says it is okay to video police officers. It seems like a long way to go to have the courts acknowledge that the public can record the actions of public employees paid by the public doing public duties in public places.

Someone has finally made some clothing with antennas sewn inside.

The British are thinking about how to return manufacturing to Britain in the information age. Good for them. The U.S. should do the same. This is a criticial item for the "already developed" world.

I love this little index card post - breathe.

Here is a look at eye-tech, cutting-edge prosthetics. Many of these are stunts or illustrations now. In ten years, I hope, these will be in the reach of those who need them.

Bias lighting improves your ability to work. This example is for games, but can be applied to more serious endeavors.

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Tuesday August 30, 2011

Some rumors tells us that Windows 8 will depart from Apple's OS X. That is a risky move for Microsoft, but they are and have been losing, so why not try something?

Toshiba is expected to announce a new, thinner tablet computer this week.

Great slow motion video of surfing.

I smiled when I saw this simple desk photo.

Our Federal government is now protecting us from ... guitars. A raid on the Gibson guitar company. Your tax dollars at waste.

A suitcase-size nuclear power plant for the moon and Mars.

The weather men predict the path of a hurricane pretty well, but not its intensity.

It is not yet available to the public, but AT&T has its 4G LTE network up in Chicago.

There is lots of talk this week about Tim Cook, the new CEO at Apple. My prediction is that he is an interim CEO. He will sit there until a new visionary comes along and will be remembered as the guy between Jobs and ??????

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Wednesday August 31, 2011

All Yale Medical school students will be issued iPads. This is to reduce paper. I like this.

Will robots start working on the farm? If yes, this could change the economy of large parts of the U.S. and then the world.

More about the HP TouchPad and how it became a hot item after it was disontinued.

This is what the earth and our moon look like from six million miles. I like it.

And for some reason, I like this video showing London fashions from 1911 to 2011.

I am not sure what to do with this, but here it is - a 2 TeraByte USB memory stick.

Technically feasible doesn't mean it's going to happen. But many of us want it to.

Tools for editing PDFs.

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Thursday September 1, 2011

So what do you do with that $99 tablet from HP? Put Android or Ubuntu on it. The tablet is, after all, a computer that runs software.

Ah, a multi-tool that clips to your pocket. I guess there are some uses for this thing.

In the "I guess there is a use for this thing" vein, here is a mount that allows you to make movies and such with your iPad.

The fake Apple stores are spreading - now there is one in Iraq. These fake stores are the ultimate compliment to Apple.

The new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet (the name is too long). If they price it at $99, they will have a winner, but I don't think they will do that.

And three new digital cameras from Samsung. The prices keep falling and the specs keep rising.

HP is starting an ad campaign about how they are spinning off their PC business. This is a little strange.

Here is a look at Acer's Ultrabook.

Our government wants to block the AT&T and T-Mobile merger. Too late.

The ten immutable laws of computer security.

Again, an Apple employee loses an iPhone prototype in a bar. I don't know what to write about that one. Perhaps Apple should read the ten immutable laws above.

Hackers steal 200 digital certificates. Is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

Pollution at a Chineses factory. This is not news as the Chinese are slowly killing themselves. The news is that Apple is attached to this one.

Parallels 7 is out.

The iPad is moving into baseball. I can't wait to see a angry pitcher destroy an iPad in the dugout on the way to the showers after being yanked by the manager.

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Friday September 2, 2011

Intel may be backing out of the operating system business. I think that is a good move on their part.

Someone has hacked into Texas law enforcement and has leaked 3GigaBytes of emails. Is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

Is the PC dying or evolving? I am sitting in an office with three PCs. It isn't dead.

Lenovo shows a 7" tablet running Android - $199. They are supposed to sell these for $99. Has anyone learned anything from HP's recent experience?

Some notes about the Pentagon and non-competitive contracts. The biggest reason for non-competitive contracts is time. The government competition process is S L O W and P A I N F U L. Reform that process, and we would have much more competition.

Some thoughts on warrant-less wire tapping and national security.

"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle" - George Orwell. I had breakfast with some fine gentlemen this morning. Much of the one-hour conversation could be summarized with this.

Yes, I want one of these Microsoft tables at the coffee shop. I would pay a few dollars an hour to use it.

This is an interesting mix of a solid state disk and a spinning disk drive.

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Saturday September 3, 2011

This is really clever - a little camera dolly that is well made and provide smooth tracks for little video cameras.

This is how to build a PC for $200. Why buy a case? Put it in a cardboard box.

I like this idea of a $25 PC. The one thing that doesn't make sense is they claim it is the price of a college textbook. Hey, college textbooks cost over $100.

More scattered discussion about if the U.S. has enough engineers. Silliness.

Samsung shipped a million tablet computers, but only sold 20,000 - I believe that is only 2%.

In Illinois, a man may go to jail for 75 years for video-ing Police. I would have thought that by now all the states would have learned how stupid it is to have such laws.

Some information on the rumored Amazon tablet.

An analysis of terrorism since 9-11-2001. We have spent an inordinate amount of time, money, attention, and other resources. Why?

I like this - animated sheet music. Listen to the music as the notes appear on the screen.

Excellent thought on counter terrorism and blame in our world of "we have to sue somebody for this." Any institution delegated with the task of preventing terrorism has a dilemma: they can either do their best to prevent terrorism, or they can do their best to make sure they're not blamed for any terrorist attacks.

Some lessons learned from travelling with no baggage.

Will Google ever release the G-Drive? I doubt it.

A description of the New York Stock Exchange data center.

A pleasant look at Steve Jobs, the guy who lives in the neighborhood.

There are no close captions on the screen in a movie theatre. Hence, someone invented these glasses. The close captions are displayed in the corner of the visual area. Now what we really need is a computer in the frame of the glasses that hears sounds, does a voice-to-text translation, and displays the text in the visual area. That way the hearing impaired can read what anyone anywhere is saying.

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Sunday September 4, 2011

Apple now has 13.5% of the U.S. PC market.

There is potential energy all around us; we just have to start using it. See, for example, the subway train.

Someone is finally making a Segway clone for $3,500. My question is, if there were no regulations on safety, what could it cost? Sometimes I have the feeling that the bicycle would never have been invented in our current regulatory and law-suit climate.

AT&T is selling a 4G phone for $100. Good for them.

Apple continues to win lawsuits against Samsung preventing the Samsung tablets from being sold and even displayed in Europe. Is this a good thing for Apple to be doing?

I like this post about short stories. They have disappeared from magazines, but have a future in eBooks or eShortStories or something like that.

Here are some good reasons why freelance writers aren't making as much money as they want or as they could. Marketing and relationships are important, and they are two things that most of us writers don't like to do.

Jerry Weinberg has another change artist exercise. This one is giving affirmations to people who are doing something that you want them to do. This sounds really easy and it sounds like something that should happen all the time. It isn't in either case.

This is an example of a sort of silly conversation. There is, however, lots of reality in this. For some reason, many people assume that book authors are rich.

I highly recommend this post for writers. It is about building your writing muscles. Maybe the analogy isn't a good one, but the advice given here is.

Some thoughts on structure in writing. Posts like this can be very helpful when you are struggling to find a place to start.

Are you writing or are you telling stories. Both are great.

Escapism. When did that become a bad thing? That's what writers provide many people - a chance to escape to another place, time, and people.

A look at the Chicago Manual of Style. This is a big, thick reference book. I have one copy at home and one copy at work. Everytime I have a question, I find the answer in that book.

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