Summary of this week:

More State Department polictical appointees used personal email systems
Food shortages in oil-rich Venezuela
Apple has their big Watch event
Apple introduces ResearchKit for medical applications
Stanford has 10,000 people register overnight
Apple introduces the new MacBook—a big leap forward

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

Monday March 9, 2015

More news of appointed officials at the State Department using personal email accounts. Yes, the IT at the State Department was outdated. Yes, using gmail was not secure. At some point national security trumps personal preference. If, however, you are a political appointee the rules that govern everyone else don't apply to you (not).

A bill proposed in the UK would hit highly profitable American tech companies with a special Google Tax. Yes, it will pass because a European country taxing an American company in Europe is bound to be popular.

Will Vivaldi be the world's next great browser?

Yes, very soon now anyone with a phone will be able to livestream to the world. Will anyone watch?

A California Federal judge rules that police need a warrant to get location data from your smartphone.

Major museums around the wold are banning selfie sticks. Can I bring a walking cane or an umbrella?

Old programmers know a few things that no one teaches in any school.

There are food shortages in oil-rich Venezuela. Drastic tech measures are being taken to prevent buying too much food.

Apple is holding its big Watch event today. I thought they had their big Watch event a few months ago.

Layoffs continues at Yahoo.

Thoughts on Bug Bounty programs. Of course you can cheat these and make lots of money.

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Tuesday March 10, 2015

No Internet viewing today as I drove five hours for a traffic court date.

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Wednesday March 11, 2015

Apple had its big Watch event.

The new MacBook is an impressive piece of hardware. It is far more impressive than the Watch. It has an excellent display and only one I/O-power port. Excellent. The reduction of such ports is an engineering acheivement that greatly enhances integrity of the system. This is not an evolution in the product but a leap.

A look at the USB 3.1 or USB-C port used on the new MacBook.

Some people hate the new MacBook.

Quietly, Apple upgrades the MacBook Pro and the Air with better processors etc.

I believe the most significant Apple announcement is ResearchKit. This is a real use of real data that people can sense using the data-gathering computer in their pocket.

There is much squaking over Apple's $10,000 Watch. Rich people routinely buy $10,000 watches. A watch is a piece of jewelry, and rich people buy expensive jewelry.

Apple donates $50million to increase diversity in tech. Discriminating to end discriminating is troublesome.

Apple Pay is accepted at 700,000 locations including 50,000 Coke machines.

LaCie already has an external disk drive for the Apple USB-C port.

The GigaOm blog closes.

Hillary Clinton discusses her private email server and convenience. As many have said, if you don't like Hillary this episode furthers your dislike and vice versa. Still, a person performing public duties for the public while being paid with public funds uses private materials for convenience…of course she will "get away with it."

As expected, security experts say that the Clinton private server is full of security holes.

The University of Oklahoma expels students for racist remarks. If the students challenge, they will win in court as a government organization cannot tell citizens what they can and cannot speak. There is such a thing as the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

Wikimedia is suing the NSA on Constittutional grounds.

Apple joins Facebook's Open Compute Project.

Apple retail stores are charged less rent because they draw people to shopping areas.

The silliness of job postings from tech companies.

Our President claims that there are over half a million unfilled IT jobs. Yes, there are also plenty of jobs that will pay Albert Einstein minimum wage, but no one can fill those either.

Thicke and Pharrell forced to pay $7million in a plagiarism case.

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Thursday March 12, 2015

Google launches the online Google Store.

Google offers Nearline storage for businesses; it is a hybrid on online and offline backups.

Google debuts the 2015 version of the expensive Chromebook Pixel.

Maybe this indicates the demand for the Apple Watch, Chinese knockoffs are already hear for $50.

Apple had a 7-hour iTunes and App Store outage yesterday. No wonder I couldn't use them.

Stanford had 10,000 people signup overnight to participate in their cardiovascular study using Apple's ResearchKit. This is great.

NASA makes a great video of a rocket engine test. At this rate, we will be able to put a man in space by the end of the decade. Wow (not). Your tax dollars at waste.

The new USB-C port is coming to Android phones real soon now.

The AP, after many FOIA requests were ignored, is suing our Department of State over emails of you know who.

This is an excellent site listing resources in computer vision and related areas.

A Dutch judge declares that privacy is more important than, well, all other things.

The Apple Watch may affect employment in Switzerland or traditional-watch-land.

In quiet upgrades, the 13" MacBook Air gets double fast SSD; the 11" model doesn't.

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Friday March 13, 2015

No Internet viewing today.

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Saturday March 14, 2015

Here is a low-cost, bionic prosthetic for kids. This is what we should be doing in technology.

Extensive testing shows that SSDs last longer than rated. So, go ahead and buy them.

Maybe people will learn that Wikipedia edits can be traced; NYPD caught editing out bad news.

The Apple car is traced to a shadow company called SixtyEight. Yes, there is an Apple car, but we may never see it on the market.

More news on the overnight success of Apple's ResearchKit.

This morning I stumbled on two pieces about the crisis in single-parent families. Some feel this is "blame the victim." Observation, not theory, seems to indicate that it is a crisis. Here is one piece. Here is the second.

Google closes Google Code.

Lockheed is trying to move into reusable space launch vehicles.

The BBC's Micro Bit computer to help teach computing. It is simpler and cheaper than a Raspberry Pi.

Society has acheived some sort of great and grand glorious goodness: a 3D printer for fancy pancakes.

A look back at the history of calculators in the classroom. I lived it.

The FCC releases its 300+ pages of Internet regulations under the label of net neutrality.

What programming languages pay the most? The data are murky.

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Sunday March 15, 2015

The hot gadget at this year's SXSW is the selfie stick. Doesn't say may good for the industry.

The job title "electrical engineer" is disappearing.

Microsoft will release a Cortana version for iOS and Android.

Microsoft is having trouble bringing test versions of Windows 10 to the public.

Xtra-PC: a product that eases loading Linux on an older home computer.

When writers started writing and such: Frank McCourt didn't write until he retired at 65.

The magic of writing is pretending to be someone else. If you do this without writing, people tend to call you crazy.

Writers, have someone other than an editor read your material before you send it to a publisher.

The benefits of taking a nap. We should all do more of this and less eating.

Do tools matter? If you are spending time arguing about this, we aren't writing.

How to make the most of a writing critique or feedback (this stinks). Ouch. Stop, breathe, listen, think.

Creativity on command and junk in our lives.

The Examen exercise for writers—created in the 1500s.

Excellent, short post: there's always time to write a book.

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