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: December March 31-April 6, 2014

Summary of this week:


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

Monday March 31, 2014

Next week, the appearance of 32million Wikipedia pages will change slightly.

The coffee cafe business is booming in America.

The state with the highest percentage of cellphone-only homes is: Idaho. What?

Time to rewrite the history books: humans, not rats, spread the plague.

Autism in America continues to rise. The data brings many questions about the entire industry.

"a host of high-profile tech firms are now offering incredible business and consumer services at impossibly low prices." And salaries are stagnant and creative writers are paid almost nothing and Wal-Mart and McDonald's workers can't live and what else?

What the rest of us can learn from the college student lifestyle. Frugal.

Google is battling the government of Turkey in an effort to reach the subjects of Turkey.

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Tuesday April 1, 2014

Today is April Fool's Day, so there will be many items on the Internet today that are "jokes" such as this item where Seth Godin and Ed Snowden are working on a Worry app.

HTC and Samsung coincidentally have the same April Fool's Joke - a glove computer.

And so beware of anything I put here as I may have been fooled. Such is life in the fast-changing world—silliness sounds true or the other way around. Examples of April Fool's products that would be really neat actual products.

Government is here to rescue us: in 2018, all new cars must have rearview cameras. I like rearview cameras. Some car makers now offer them. That is how it should be: if the consumers want this, they will have it. Forcing it via law…I don't like.

Speaking of government rescue, the state of Maryland spent $125million on a health care website. Nothing worked.

Big improvements in WiFi speed coming with new spectrum allocated to it.

The car hackers are here, and they are easily hacking the Tesla.

Data on the H-1B visa program shows that offshore outsourcing companies are the major visa holders. So, by this data, the program takes American jobs from Americans and gives them to lower-paid foreign citizens. No doubt, some will dispute the validity of the data and the conclusions presented in the article.

Microsoft's stock is up.

Microsoft follows Google and Amazon and cuts its cloud computing prices.

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Wednesday April 2, 2014

The history behind Google's gmail: it almost didn't reach the public.

Interested in a Computer Science degree? Go to a state school, not a over-priced private school. Interested in Computer Science? Study and practice on your own.

Mark Zuckerburg's salary goes to $1 a year.

Apple updates its iWork software for the iCloud.

Obamacare has widened the price gap between rural and urban areas. It has become a luxury for the rich to live in a rural area.

The controversy at Mozilla continues. It seems that America is for free speech until your speech disagrees with mine.

The New York Public Library has put 20,000 old maps online.

Social media, i.e., Facebook, changes how the Mexican drug war and all wars are fought.

The single-board computer is giving way to the SD Card Computer. Here come the wearable computers.

Google is advancing its mobile cameras and photo processing software.

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Thursday April 3, 2014

Amazon moves into the televisor streaming business with Fire TV.

Engadget takes a closer look at the Fire TV.

Android 4.4 (KitKat) doubles its market share.

Now will Apple update its "hobby" Apple TV product?

Microsoft announces its Windows Phone 8.1. Will MS ever have a phone that sells?

Microsoft will issue Windows free for mobile devices smaller than 9 inches.

Windows XP support stops in a week, but 28% of web surfers still use it.

Microsoft will update the Kinect for Windows this Summer.

Our President punishes the Russians by prohibiting NASA from talking to the Russians.

The somewhat violent protests against tech shuttles continue out west. If you don't like someone, vomit on their vehicle; it is the new American way.

If your computing device has a keyboard, Windows 8 will now start up in a mode suitable for keyboards.

Yahoo joins other services providers by encrypting all data at its servers.

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Friday April 4, 2014

No Internet viewing today.

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Saturday April 5, 2014

Here is how to waste money in college—pick the wrong major and pick the wrong college.

Mozilla continues to swirl about their new, and now former, CEO.

Apple's WWDC begins June 2nd. There is a lottery if you wish to attend.

Microsoft Office for iPad has 12million downloads in its first week. And some people said it wouldn't work.

Not content to sit still, Google is revising everything for the coming wearable computing market.

Advice for millennials, and older people, who have to work with people from a different generation.

A look at Google's snap together Ara smartphone project.

The Amazon Dash: do all your grocery shopping from your kitchen. We have finally reached the Sci-Fi kitchen. Why did it take so long?

This is the 50th birthday of the IBM System/360 computer. That was one of the most significant computers in the history of man. No, it wasn't a smartphone.

The compute cloud: essentially renting instead of buying computers. It is BIG business.

The UK government is paying Microsoft $9million to extend support for their Windows XP operations.

In a test flight, a Google balloon circled the earth in a record 22 days.

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Sunday April 6, 2014

Android TV is here; what is it?

Intel has a new $99 single board computer.

Internet use rises, church participation drops for 25 years. Coincidence?

How and why the technology culture drives out women.

Now from Microsoft: Windows in the car.

The real cost of all the Mozilla arguing: people won't say or do what they think because they are afraid.

A writer spends a month in Paris and learns a few things that we can all apply to writing from our kitchen.

The difference that allows some writers to earn money with their writing.

Even if you are not one of those mythical "morning persons," start the day strong.

Given today's Internet and tools, it is much easier than ever to write, and there are more markets for writing. I caution would-be writers that there is not more money available to the average writer. The middle class of writers is extremely small. The vast majority of us make little money.

One writer's process for creating and writing a story.

A different way to format web pages and other content. Here is an example of Alice in Wonderland. Great stuff.

Tips on building a writing business while still working your full-time job. I strongly advise to go this route. Writers don't make a lot of money freelancing—especially the first few Y E A R S.

A look at the technical writing market.

As writers, we do and don't do lots of things, but most importantly, writers write.

Notes about Kickstarter for writers.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
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