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: May 6-12, 2013

Summary of this week:


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


Monday May 6, 2013

The movie "Iron Man 3" has a huge weekend at the box office. Let's see, Hollywood's best is a remake of a remake of an old comic book. Creativity?

It appears that Google will start pay-for-view channels on YouTube this week.

LinkedIn is 10 years old today.

Enstitute - an alternative to college - sets up basically apprentiships in the tech world. There are fields in IT where this works. I don't, however, think you'll learn the calculus, chemistry, and physics you need to be an functioning engineer.

A former FBI agent claims that all citizens' digital communications are being recorded and stored by the government.

"You don't need more time, you just need to decide." - Seth Godin.

Barnes and Noble cuts the price of the nook (for Mother's Day only).

ASUS sold 3 million tablets in the first three months of 2013.

The Samsung Galaxy Core - a lower-cost lower-performance smartphone.  The specs, however, show that it would have been a top-of-the-line phone a couple of years ago.

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Tuesday May 7, 2013

Apple jumps 11 spots on the Fortune 500 list to land at number 6. That is a lot of jumping in only one year.

Microsoft has sold 100 million Windows 8 licenses in six months. Many people see the product as a failure. The definition of failure has also changed.

And Microsoft now has 250 million users of its SkyDrive.

Thoughts on license plate readers and what law enforcement agencies are doing with the data they collect and what they are not sharing with citizens. More on the story.

The Senate passed the Internet sales tax bill.

It is official and unclassified, the US government accuses the Chinese government of cyber-spying.

Flying cars are inching towards reality, but not practicality.

Panasonic has a new communications chip aimed at low-power sensor networks.

Tablets are about to become cash registers.

Google maps has labeled an area on the map as Palestine. Will that help or hurt the peace process? What can it hurt?

Yes, you can grow old and keep up with technology. And employers out there, don't assume that old people are ossified.

Adobe is following Microsoft to the subscription-based cloud-base software model. Creative Suite is out, Creative Cloud is in.

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Wednesday May 8, 2013

A researcher put up a phoney industrial plant, and hackers starting hacking it. Yes, this happens, so it appears that hackers are hacking real plants all the time. Is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

Google to have a new interface for Google Maps - real soon now.

Microsoft announces Windows 8.1 - what people have been calling Blue. Developers will see it in June, consumers at some later date.

The Internet has been blacked out in Syria for a while now.

Advice on an IT career - number one - stay healthy.

Ray Harryhausen has died at 92. His visual effects inspired several generations.

More on the tech industry aspects of new immigration legislation. This is complex and, as usual, the ones with the best lawyers will win. Guess who has better lawyers - the government or Facebook?

It will never be up to date, but for $30 you get all of Wikipedia in the palm of your hand.

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Thursday May 9, 2013

Hiring at an Apple supplier in China increases the rumors of a lower-cost iPhone coming this year.

The FBI believes it has the authority to read the email of citizens once the citizen has opened it. These guys aren't kidding. They believe this and they do it.

Sony is profitable for the first time in five years.

How photographers fixed photos before Photoshop.

Microsoft may buy the entire nook system for $1Billion.

GIFs that explain how a car works. Good.

Nielson says the number of U.S. households with TVs continues to grow.

Should there be an age limit on the sale of caffeine?

Amazon warehouse employees are suing the company over the security lines they must pass before going home.

The NSA guide to finding things on the web. I wonder how much this Google help tutorial cost the taxpayers?

Oh won't this be fun. Senators have already filed 300 amendments the immigration bill.

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Friday May 10, 2013

No viewing today.

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Saturday May 11, 2013

Western Digital and San Disk partner to produce Solid State Hybrid Drives - SSHD. That is a new acronym for me.

Next week, the Pentagon will allow its employees to use iPhones and iPads.

Experiments show that tablets can interefere with implanted  cardioverter-defibrillators. This is a colossal failure of what is known as  electromagnetic  compatibility and electromagnetic interference  EMC and EMI. Someone was not doing their testing.

Apple will break into an iPhone for the Police if requested (properly). But Police has to wait 7 weeks for the backlog to clear.

How to steal $45million in a few hours. Is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

Buy your own drone that will hover and follow you. Clever, but of course it is impractical. If they sold this to 0.01% of the population there would be constant collisions and view pollution. But a few people will buy and play with these. Toys for the rich.

The story behind the Nest Thermostat. Secure? I doubt it, but there aren't enough of them out there to be worth the effort to hack.

Amazon's Cloud Drive Photos now connects to iOS devices.

The President signs an executive order requiring government use open data formats in all work.  Of course,  this is laughable in the wake of  phoney internal investigations at the Department of State and the Internal Revenue Service revealed this week.

How long is a PhD Dissertation? See the chart. The soft sciences put much more words in their descriptions of their so called "work."
 
Several famous executives have left Zuckerburg's FWD.us lobby group.

The seven-minute workout. I'll have to try it.

In a government move that cries out "why did it take so long?", the International Space Station switches from Windows XP to Linux.

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Sunday May 12, 2013

Books of prompts for those days when you need someone to prompt the writer.

The use of direct, precise, and active verbs.

There are many days when I don't want to write. There are many days when I don't want to work. Taking a nap on the couch is more pleasing. It isn't, however, writing.

An article on working from a co-work location.

Sometimes a writer "needs" permission to write about something. You have the permission, just do it.

Thoughts on writing short stories for those who write long novels.

It is now an official rumor - Google Games is coming real soon now.

Dystopia is here - a California legislator wants to regulate 3D printers. We have found a device that is too powerful for individuals to possess. It threatens government everywhere, and they cannot abide by it.

There was an accident at a garment factory in Bangladesh this month. 1,000 people died - that's 333 times more people than died in Boston, 20 times more than the people who died in Texas. It was just another day in Bangladesh. Garment workers make 30 cents an hour, and the clothing is sold in high-end stores in the U.S. to rich people. The shame. The shame.

On how Letters of Introduction worked well for one freelance writer.

How to use Google Hangouts to broadcast yourself to a group. Excellent.

How to write and publish an eBook with Scrivener.

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