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: July 1-7, 2013

Summary of this week:


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


Monday July 1, 2013

Google Reader is still here today. I guess it will not be here tomorrow.
And there are many last-minute advice posts today - here is one.

The NSA leaks continue to drip. Snowden took a large bundle of material with him. His helpers are dripping out the information astutely.

I like this: download the drawings for the Mozilla office in Japan and build your own furniture etc.

Still, Android has nearly 70% of the world smartphone market.

The iPhone is now six years old.

Something may come of this: facial recognition software may spot confusion, frustration, etc., among students and other learners.

The world's first Firefox OS smartphone enters the market in Spain.

The 4th of July is this week, and that means that Washington D.C. slows to a crawl. In this lull, the tech industry is making its big push at the House to pass its favorite immigration reform. Computer science students, prepare to be servers in restuarants.

Windows 8 now has 5% of the OS market.

The Linux 3.10 kernal has been released.

Wear stealth clothing and masks in public so that surveillance  cameras and such don't detect you. In Louisiana, it is  against the law to be in public with a mask. This is a relic of the KKK era. Note, the mask law doesn't seem to hold during Mardi Gras celebrations.

Google is accepting request to use the Street View backpack, a.k.a., Trekker. You can walk and photograph your favorite hard-to-reach place.

This story is all over the Internet this morning, so it must be important. In Japan, Apple has applied to trademark "iWatch."

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Tuesday July 2, 2013

Limited Internet viewing this morning as I am traveling.

In seven months, Windows 8 reaches the 100,000 app mark.

CEO pay continues to rise. At some point, some CEOs will decline extra pay. They will soon be the most hated people in America bypassing even Congress.

Apple continues to push solar energy as it will build a solar farm at its facility in Reno.

Apple starts its annual back-to-school campaign. This is a great annual deal for teachers.

Retiring an old Apple computer can be complicated. Here are some tips.

A Russian rocket carrying three navigation satellites exploded just after launch this morning.

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Wednesday July 3, 2013

On the road with little Internet access.

The State Department spent $630,000 to get more "likes" on Facebook. Your tax dollars at waste.

In a major change to the world's most-used encyclopedia - Wikipedia now has a visual editor so you don't have to learn the wikimedia editor.

More discussion on immigration reform, H-1B visas, and the plight of American programmers. When foreign programmers come to America to work, they are entering a work camp. You eat, sleep, and work. That is your life, because your life - family, culture, recreation - are 10,000 miles away. You are in the work camp to work, be paid, and learn everything you can. People who attempt to work AND have a life cannot compete. I have been on the other side - a foreigner shipped in to work and do nothing else. Inhabitants of work camps are and have always been more productive workers.

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Thursday July 4, 2013

Staying with my mother, who has no Internet access, and all the local Internet coffee shops are closed for the holiday.

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Friday July 5, 2013

Traveling today, so no Internet viewing.

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Saturday July 6, 2013

The Ed Snowden story continues as a couple of countries offer him asylum. It seems he is living in the transit area of the Moscow airport.

Everyone is working on a "smart" watch. I'm not sure what a smart watch is, but I guess it has a computer, well watches have had computers for over 30 years, and I guess that computer commuicates with a lot of other gadgets or something like that.

Print some pieces, snap it together, and you have your own drone. See video.

The rumors continue to build for a lower-cost iPhone.

The Ikea Foundation produces a housing unit that you snap together for refugees.

Working on ideas for teaching American kids programming. Now if we could just work on Congress and its immigration policies so that American programmers will be able to find a job in America.

Governments in the U.S. are trying to adapt analysis software used afar to track gangs in the U.S. It sounds like someone is trying to resell their product locally. Did it really work well outside the U.S.?

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Sunday July 7, 2013

It is summer, and there are far fewer interesting items posted on the Internet. I guess this is more than an accidental co-occurence.

There is now 4G service at the base camp of Mt Everest. Some people will pooh-pooh this, but it may save a few lives.

A new video of a SpaceX test of a rocket's vertical take off and landing. They are balancing a rocket on a marble. Amazing.

Tips on finding ideas for your business and your writing.

This is an excellent piece for writers to read. The methods, locations, and tools a writer uses change with time and circumstance - often daily. Use what is working.

A developer receives a Google Glass, unpacks it, and starts using it.

Finding the time to write - it is there for the taking.

Writing the final chapter first. A good technique.

Dean Wesley Smith on pushing short story fiction so that people buy what you write.

One writer experiments with early morning writing - 6:30 AM. Is that early? I thought something like 4 AM would be early.

"How's that working for you?" That is a simple question - at least I think so. I am amazed almost daily how few people will ask themselves that question. Writers should also ask this question.

Some thoughts on being a full-time freelance writer.

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