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 November 17-23, 2014

Summary of this week:

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


Monday November 17, 2014

Look for prices of Android-Intel tablets to rise as Intel will no longer subsidize them.

Times Square unveils America's biggest digital billboard.

Glen Larsen dies at 77. He created Battlestar Galactica.

Is a "Facebook for work" coming? More details on the concept.

Schools are using computers to track and record child behaviour. What could possible go wrong?

Our Department of State has turned off its email system due to hacking.

A measure of Apple's worth: Apple is more valuable than all of the Russian stock market.

We are all eating so much chocolate that Mars cannot meet the demand.

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Tuesday November 18, 2014

Thoughts on the change and possible demise of design in the next generation.

How to scrunch more passengers into an airliner and make you like it.

Starting in 2016, Samsung will be making the processors for Apple's mobile devices.

Microsoft shows Sway: a PowerPoint killer. Here is the Sway site.

The Dutch experiment with a Dementia Village to provide comfort to elderly suffering from that.

New York City is changing payphone into WiFi and charging stations. A public utility. And the WiFi is supposed to run at gigabit speeds.

A program at San Quentin to teach convicts web programming.

Researchers at Google and Stanford claim a leap in image understanding.

Nokia shows a new iPad clone.

Intel is merging divisions as the lines between desktop and mobile blur.

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Wednesday November 19, 2014

One item I haven't mentioned yet is that I read Recode's MustReads every morning. I rarely repeat one of their links because they expand on them so well I have nothing to add.

Starbucks leaps into the wireless charging market wit Powermat Technologies devices in their cafes.

Facebook launches its own technology news feed.

The shuttle bus drivers for Silicon Valley's tech giants have lousy jobs. And those companies have billion$.

Apple releases its WatchKit to developers. And we learn a few things about how the watch works.

The cost of building and installing photovoltaic panels is falling so that they might be affordable in 2016.

Sometimes I wonder if somone puts a chemical in the water at government buildings that makes people stupid. Police run shooter-in-the-school drills that traumatize kids and their parents. Stupid—just plain stupid.

littleBits releases a house-friendly kit that makes automating your house much easier.

Nest releases their first TV ads for home automation, a.k.a., surveillance.

Microsoft shows a little about its new Office 365 Video: an easier way to make, store, and share video at work.

Oregon experiments with college financing: free tuition, but you pay 3% of your salary for 20 years.

Hello Kitty is 40 years old and $8billion rich.

This belt and buckle have batteries built into them so you can charge your mobile stuff. Simple idea.

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Thursday November 20, 2014

Our Dept of Justice falls into FUD (fear uncertainty doubt) and predicts that Apple encryption will kill kids. Again, does someone put something in the water at government buildinds that causes stupid?

With cool weather comes the three-month shopping season and WalMart specials on Apple products.

The government regulatory machine is fight itself over the use of remote-control aircraft—even little toy ones.

Mozilla and Google end a ten-year deal for the default search engine for the Firefox browser.

All that $$$ and tech industry lobbying didn't get NSA reform passed.

Qualcomm, which dominates the mobile processor world, now wants to build processors for servers.

Layoffs at Microsoft are driven by required skills, not sales (so they say).

Looking ahead to the next iPhone model and the biggest leap in camera technology ever.

Safari Books Online (O'Reilly) now free to every K-12 student in America. Good for O'Reilly.

Facebook shuttle-bus drivers vote to joint the Teamsters Union. Too bad for them. Facebook will merely switch its shuttle bus contract to a company with  non-union drivers. Facebook drivers are contractors, not Facebook employees.

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Friday November 21, 2014

No Internet viewing today.

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Saturday November 22, 2014

A far-off future of self-driving cars. See my short story of same.

It is a start, meager, but a start: a muscle suit goes on sale in Japan $5,000 12pounds.

Intel launches a new ad campaign with Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory.

The processor in the iPhone 6 can power a 4K display.

Moleskine teams with Adobe to enable easier scanning of sketches made on paper.

The tech lobby wanted much more from our President on immigration.

Microsoft is using robots for physical security in Silicon Valley. Just a set of mobile cameras and other sensors that troll about doing an extremely boring job.

This is what happens when a First Lady tries to improve school lunches and teens have smartphone cameras and Twitter and hashtags. The kids are learning in school. There are times, however, when what adults want kids to learn and what kids learn aren't quite the same.

Someone proves it with yet another study, but there is a minimum amount of time required to develop software. All the snake oil in the world doesn't speed the grind.

Google continues to evolve its Project Loon with the ability to launch longer-flying balloon much faster. Okay, this is what FEMA should do: put Google on a retainer. When a Hurricane or such clobbers a region, move Google in the first hour and launch a dozen communications enabling balloons.

Amazon leases a lot of space in a Manhattan office building.

If you buy a Chromebook this year, Google will give you 1TeraByte of drive storage. That is a $250 value.

Amazon gives Kindle owners free Washington Post. Note: both companies are owned by the same guy.

This is the best description of the danger of the Presidential executive order that I have found. Saying that a previous President did the same kind of thing doesn't make this kind of thing right. I wish Congress and other adults challenge this practice and end it. We have, or had, a representitive democracy, a.k.a., a republic. We don't need a monarchy with a for-comment-only parlament. At least that is what I think about America.

This story is all over the Internet, so it must be important. Tina Fey's next TV show will be on Netflix; not NBC or those other old guys.

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Sunday November 23, 2014

Alienware releases their game console.

This guy built a Linux computer on a breadboard with a 68000 processor and lots of time and brains.

The preponderance of jerks as successful Silicon Valley business starters.

What our passwords reveal about ourselves.

One writer's experiments in the world of creating an outline first before writing.

"Productive people are never 'free.'" Or is it that we are always free? Sometimes I confuse the two.

How one person blogged into a living wage.

Steinbeck: just write a page today. It doesn't have to be in any order.

Tips for finding more ideas for writing.

Physical health is an oft-forgotten essential of working for yourself.

A look at how academic writing differs from other types of writing.

Write. Experiment. Stumble. Fall. Move on.

When writing—finish. I usually learn something unexpected when I push myself to the last period.

The in-demand skills for IT jobs—programming and managing projects.

Intel steps into wearable fashion with the MICA.

The advancement of Evernote into new areas of productivity.

There is more to writing for a living that "do what you love." Much more.

A simple tutorial on managing communications.

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