Summary of this week:

Apple sold 2 million iPhones in China over the weekend.
Kodak sells its patents for $525M
Zuckerberg donates $500M of stock to charity
Samsung and Apple are spending Billion$ on facilities in Texas

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

Monday December 17, 2012

What technology should be about: the capability of mind-controlled robotics continues to advance.

Apple sold more than two million new iPhones in China over the weekend.

One person is building an open laptop computer - all designs and such are published with no non-disclosure agreements.

In Europe, a majority of consumers now have smartphones.

This is a homemade, self-balancing powered unicycle. Great stuff for the home.

Excellent mash up video - 300 films from 2012 mashed into 7 minutes. I guess someone should sue someone for copyright or something. One alternative is to enjoy it and watch people spend money seeing your movie again inspired by this video.

Since 2010, the prices on solid state drives (SSD) has dropped 300%. Good for us consumers.

Google is struggling to meet the demand for its Nexus 4 and cites supply problems.

A grad student has shown how to turn your telephone into an eavesdropping device. This is all due to security flaws in the software. Is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

The Chinese government is tightening the great firewall on its subjects with new technology.

The Raspberry Pi store is open.

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Tuesday December 18, 2012

No Internet viewing today as I was traveling.

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Wednesday December 19, 2012

The famous photo of the Wright Brothers' first flight was beginner's luck. The "photographer" had never seen a camera before that day let alone taken any photographs. The photo is one of the most famous in American history. There is a lesson in here somewhere about fame and fortune and freelancing and all that.

How LinkedIn added some Katy Perry to their redesign. Keep your eyes open to ideas from everywhere, especially from places that have nothing to do with you.

Minteye has a new scheme to make sliding captchas and defeat the hackers. Currently, hacksers have about a one in three chance of breaking through captchas.

And a new threat to banking systems is on the horizon. Is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

It seems that police departments are using UAVs in America without much thought or oversight.

It appears that the FBI should not have investigated Broadwell, Kelley, Patraeus, et al after all. Could we all just forget what we heard and put people back in their jobs? Perhaps not.

And we have to have a TSA story: the TSA detains a 12 year old girl with brittle bone disease for an hour. Sigh. It must be a conspiracy because people can't be this stupid, can they?

Oh, and by the way, the TSA is finally investigating a "small cancer risk" in its full body scanners.

Here is a big productivity tip: manage your morning.

It is okay, according to a judge, for law enforcement to track your location via cell phone towers without a warrant.

Those dastardly (not) folks at Google have scanned the Dead Sea Scrolls and put them on the Internet for everyone to see.

The Practical Extraction and Reporting Language turns 25.

The DoD claims to be moving to open-source products. Maybe they mean it this time, maybe not.

Samsung is now the world leader in cell phones. Nokia held that spot for 14 years.

Mark Zuckerberg donated $500M of Facebook stock to charity. Good for him.

Twitter has 200 million active users. The definition of success has changed.

84% of Kickstarter best projects ship late. They are inventing things that don't exist, and that isn't easy.

Kodak sold its imaging patents for $525Million to a group of companies.

Cadillac will have an all-electric car in 2014. Isn't this great in America? We take taxes from the middle class, give it to GM, and have GM build electric cars that only rich people can afford. Your tax dollars at waste.

If you rent or lease a computer, you should understand that the owner has software tracking everything you do and everywhere you go.

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Thursday December 20, 2012

Samsung is progressing with its $3.9Billion factory in Texas.

And Apple has broken ground on its new Austin, Texas facility.

Google is improving its indoor maps.

And Google is improving its conversions from Office files to Google Docs.

After four years in office, the administration announces an information sharing strategey.

We now have a Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents. That is probably a good thing.

Time Magazine names Barack Obama 2012 Person of the Year. I am not sure why, but that is their choice.

Software that Leo Babauta puts on a new Mac.

This year's Super Bowl will (finally) be live streamed on the Internet.

More advances in the DARPA AlphaDog from Boston Dynamics: voice command.

Was 2012 the best year in the history of mankind. Here are rational arguments for a "yes."

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Friday December 21, 2012

Things are slowing on the Internet as the holiday weekend approaches.

It is that time again: the fill-in-the-blank stories of 2012. This one is about, let's see, web media - whatever that is.

The best viral videos of 2012.

Combine a Raspberry Pi with a little keyboard, screen, and chasis and you have a $400 (what?) little computer.

Nevada approves the self-driving car from German company Continental.

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Saturday December 22, 2012

Building cookie cutters with a 3D printer. My wife spent the last two days cutting cookies with our grandson.

29 years of photos from Landsat 5.

Considering being location independent? Eight questions.

Google is designing a smartphone for 2013 that will rival Apple and Samsung.

I like the new Apple commercial with the girl singing her grandfather "I'll be Home for Christmas." My 18-month-old granddaughter loves to "sing."

A 16-year-old was arrested because he had drawings of firearms in his notebook. Connecticut was a travesty. I don't see how this incident helps anyone.

Six trends that (may) drive IT in 2013.

Apple retakes the lead in U.S. smartphone sales.

New tech words for 2013. I don't like them, but that is just me.

Law enforcement officials will start reading Facebook etc. posts to find killers before they snap and kill. The rate of false negatives might be alarming and disturbing. We shall see.

Outstanding visualizations - 100 diagrams that changed the world.

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Sunday December 23, 2012

A hacker gets 3 million Verizon customer records. Is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

John Steinbeck on getting started writing today.

BMW is building 4G and mobile WiFi hotspot into its cars.

Some traits of remarkable writers.

The U.S. and Russia come to several important trade agreements including one on intellectual property theft.

A way to open a story, "What have I got in my pocket?" or any other little question.

A conversation with Seth Godin about writing, part 1 and part 2.

Some thoughts on music and how it affects your writing.

Here is a writing prompt: the Mayans were right.

Six ways to inspire yourself. My favorite way is to sit and observe people.

How writing helps us heal. The paper never tires of the pen scratching on it. It is forever patient.

Some "essentials" for freelance writing success. I cannot argue with the list.

How to write letters - far more creative and artistic than email.

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