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: March 16-22, 2015

Summary of this week:

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


Monday March 16, 2015

With all the people hating the Apple Watch, it is doomed to succeed.

And we have more detail on the USB 3.1 spec and its twists and turns. Take it for granted that the port on the new MacBook will just work.

Some thoughts on the challenges that older engineers face in job interviews. Yes, it is age discrimination, but HR people are clever enough to stay out of jail.

A beta version of Windows 10 has peer-to-peer app updating. No one is sure if the final version will.

A real flying car will be here real soon now (2017).

Take care with putting drone video on YouTube as our FAA, having little to do these days, will come after you for such dastardly deeds.

Our FCC chairman will face Congress this week. The 400-pages of regulations are now public.

Yahoo releases source code for email encryption.

There was an anti-robot protest at SXSW. They are too late.

Love this headline, "Scientific Study Finds There Are Too Many Scientific Studies"

The market for traditional PCs continues to shrink. People use a PC at work; we use everything else at home.

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Tuesday March 17, 2015

A team begins the first coast-to-coast trip in a self-driving car (yes, they are taking precautions).

Sirius: intelligent personal assistant software that is open source.

Straight from fiction or reality: "Bombshell report alleges Argentina, Iran, and Venezuela were once all bound together by sex, drugs, and nuclear secrets"

Employees sue McDonald's over workplace hazards. Low wages is the real issue.

Stronger rumors that Apple will have its own TV subscription service real soon now.

Thoughts on the continuing decline in the ability of governent to do just about anything.

Forward to the past: disk space once again is scarce, so MS Windows 10 will compress files.

An early look at MS Office 2016 shows lots of new color. What else are they going to do to a word processor?

Microsoft will finally kill the brand name "Internet Explorer."

Our National Archives seeks volunteers to turn images of documents into text.

Western civilization is saved: we can now control Chromecast with a regular TV remote. I guess there is nothing bad about this, but really, is this what engineers and scientists spend their time doing?

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Wednesday March 18, 2015

If it is in the Wall Street Journal, it is no longer a rumor: Apple to launch a $40/month TV service this fall with 25 channels.

The adoption of Apple Pay continues.

Giants join forces—Nintendo to make games for the iPhone.

The head of our FCC defends the process he used to regulate the Internet.

A look at Dell's Linux laptop with 4K display. This is for Linux developers, not basic users.

Coming with Windows 10: face recognition login.

Leap: a double-price, luxurious bus service in San Francisco. This is open to anyone who will pay the fee.

Microsoft tells us that Windows 10 is coming "this summer." Summer ends on 23 September.

Nvidia's latest graphics processor costs $999.

It seems that the USB-C interface has plenty of security holes.

Will we save money by switching from cable to Apple TV, Hulu, Netflix, et al?

If you have a PC running Windows, you will upgarde to Win10 free. So says Microsoft.

Premera Blue Cross was hacked exposing data for 11million users. Yeah, let's put all our health care stuff on the Internet. It will be just fine.

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Thursday March 19, 2015

Starbucks will test delivery of coffee to your desk or door in Seattle and New York.

Target agrees to pay some $$ to those whose credit cards numbers were stolen in 2013. I was one of those unlucky many.

Software will replace doctors and lawyers(?). It will aid doctors, but lawyers can pass laws protecting their own jobs.

Nintendo's stock price continues to rise after announcing it will make games for the iPhone.

Yahoo closes its China office and fires several hundred people.

Germany bans Uber.

Law enforcement raids Uber offices in several countries. You get the impression that some people don't like Uber.

SXSW tries to address the lack of diversity in itself and the tech industry.

The headline says it all:  Obama administration sets record for censoring and denying transparency requests.

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Friday March 20, 2015

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Saturday March 21, 2015

Monica Lewinsky impresses everyone with a TED talk about bullying and adult shaming and our current toxic culture.

The Hillary Clinton email scandal is not fading from public attention.

And no, there is no intent on hounding the Clintons with these first two items. They are simply what appeared on the Internet.

GM claims their new smart car will keep teenager safe and avoiding stupidity. Outlandish.

Our US Customs is now taking our pictures at Dulles airport and using facial recognition on us.

After several years, Apple is updating the hardware in the Apple TV.

HBO and others are looking for net neutrality loopholes to get fast lanes through the Internet.

Chinese subjects are trying to evade censorship by using American cloud services.

Acer updates its Chromebook with newer Intel processors.

Tesla promises self-driving cars by Summer 2015.

Google tries to make TV ads like Internet ads—tailored to your viewing habits.

TAG Heuer, Intel, and Google are working together on a smarterwatch that looks like a normal watch.

FCC members admit that the new rules do allow them to set ISP rates.

More of the H-1B visa argument. Yes, cheaper employees is the goal.

Researchers at Pwn20wn hacked into everything including all the popular browsers.

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Sunday March 22, 2015

One person used a Chromebook to work because it diminished distractions.

Delphi shows its self-driving car.

Woe to you if you are an unemployed engineer and have to sit throught one of these terrible job interviews.

"Pay People More" Will that become a new cry in America or just a fantasy?

Someone has made a documentary about Apple and Steve Jobs  that is not all rosey and smiley. The truth often hurts.

A couple hundred $$$ worth of easy-to-buy stuff and you can break into any iPhone.

Arkansas is the first state to require public schools to offer computer science. This doesn't require students to take computer science; it doesn't require the classes to be any good, and, well, there are lots of "and" statements to attach to this. Will this do any good?

The case for everyone at  a company knowing the salary of everyone else.

The history and reasoning behind the decline of cable TV in the market.

The GNU Manifesto turns 30. Richard Stallman changed the world.

How Kodak is attempting to survive as a science and technology company.

Word counts for various types of novels.

Rules for proposing articles and how to break them.

Tips on writing better article proposals.

"A memoir is about what happens when our normal lives are turned upside down"

Yet another ten things list for writers.

Suce$$ful freelance writers still do it the old way—find publishers, learn what they publish, and propose material to them.

Can you fall out of writing shape?

A long list of posts about trying to make money as a freelance writer.

The tools one writer uses to write novels. Note the use of paper notebooks and a timer.

Writers, "When is it the right time to return to your old work?"

Often, writers need to waste time.

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