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.

Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page
Email me at d.phillips@computer.org

This week: May 25-31, 2015

Summary of this week:

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

Monday May 25, 2015

Today is Memorial Day in the US.

It seems that law enforcement in the US routinely ignores the Bill of Rights and all that old stuff.

More advances in brain neural implants that control machines. This is how we should be using technology.

The pendulum is swinging back to lockstep salaries—everyone at the same "level" is paid the same.

If there is a tech bubble and it bursts, of course employees will hurt the most. The rich are protected by their riches.

Trying to visualize how computing power has increased with decreased size and costs.

More expert opinion that this time is different: tech advances are killing jobs, not creating them.

Deep learning with neural networks—you still only need 8 bits.

In the next two weeks, Google and Apple will hold events to herald the age of smart everything in the home.

Welcome to the world of, uh, er, I don't know what to call it. CBS made a pilot episode for Supergirl. Everyone is watching it 6 months before release.

An early look at Google's new Android photo app.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Tuesday May 26, 2015

Technical details of how a computer keyboard works—not for the faint of heart.

The responsibility we have as software engineers, as human beings. Sometimes someone has to stand up and say, "that is wrong."

Apple creates position of Chief Design Officer and gives it to Jony Ive.

I guess WWII is over as Japan joins a U.S.-Australian military exercise for the first time.

The world has turned upside down. Freedom? Liberty? An #encryption company moves from the US to #Switzerland to be free of US mass surveillance.

Rumor: Google to buy Twitter.

More Starbucks hacking: a security researcher finds free coffee and Starbucks.

Google I/O is later this week.

Google studied why girls don't go into computer science and found the culprit to be parents. I tend to agree.

Cut down on the RF; Philips installs LEDs in grocery stores that communicate with your smartphone.

Fortune Magazine best graduate degree: a PhD in Statistics. Good jobs and lower stress.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Wednesday May 27, 2015

International law enforcement arrests corrupt FIFA officials. The corruption has been known for decades. I guess it took that long for law enforcement to figure out how to make all these international arrests. The Swiss played a key role in this. A great example of a clash of cultures.

Macadamia Nut Cookie—that is the name of Google's next Android version. There must be something about these naming schemes that I don't understand because Google and Apple and everyone else just don't make sense to me.

ooops, an IRS site is mined for 100,000 persons personal information.

Everyone is announcing that the NSA will stop bulk phone collection on 1 June. They don't seem to understand how government agencies operate.

A Chinese man buys to solid gold Apple watches for his dog. Of course he is wealthy. And this surprises some people.

Google funds research to "build awareness, identify solutions and help create universal access for people with disabilities." Good for Google. This is the kind of work the rich and successful should be doing.

The new FCC rules on net neutrality are confusing everyone. No surprise here.

Researchers continue to advance towards biodegradable electronics.

Surprise, the Internet runs on undersea cables that are easy to hack and break.

People riding in self-driving cars watch the road. Time will adjust this practice.

Europe continues to struggle with a wave of immigrants.

Snapchat has 100million daily users. The definition of success has changed.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Thursday May 28, 2015

The un-greening of the American suburb has begun—get rid of that green lawn. Caution, proceed slowly and thoughtfully.

Video capture from your Windows screen. And from your Mac screen.

A reminder from Seth Godin to concentrate on the good people in your life, not those who tell you that you are no good.

Before you let your car park itself, or anything else by itself, ensure that you bought that feature.

Our President wants our Congress to renew our government's ability to spy on ourselves.

The latest IRS hack has been traced to Russia.

GoPro announces a six-camera sphere and a coming drone.

Lenovo announces a $49 media streaming hockey puck.

Lenovo releases new laptops and convertables.

Avago Technologies is in talks to buy Broadcom for $35billion.

Nebraska abolishes the death penalty. It appears that it costs tax payers less money to house a prisoner for life than to go through all the legal challenges associated with the death penalty.

ooops, the Pentagon sent live anthrax via FedEx, a clerical error.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Friday May 29, 2015

Apple's newest MacBook Pro 15" can support 4K and 5K external monitors for the first time.

The world has officially turned upside down: IBM employees can have a Mac on their desk at work. What next? The Federal government?

Google's Photos app is now here with unlimited synching across systems. More details on Photos.

There appears to be some disagreement at SourceForge over who is running the GIMP open-source project.

Amazon Prime extends free same-day delivery to 14 metropolitan areas. I check, and it includes me—some 20 miles outside Washington D.C.

GoPro builds a 16-camera, 360-degree array for Google, and we can buy it real soon now.

A summary of the Google I/O keynote address. Google is still pushing their cardboard VR viewer. Another summary.

"How much does a terabyte of photo storage cost? On iCloud, $240 a year. Dropbox, $100. Microsoft OneDrive, $84. Google, $0."

Excellent blog post about the dangerous place the world's culture is going regarding children.

The death toll in India due to unusually hot weather reaches 1,500.

The market reacts positively to GoPro moving into the drone business.

Amazon will soon put its own label on commodity groceries and other products.

There are now 900million active Gmail users. The definition of success has changed.

Our FCC wants to give money to Americans to pay for broadband access as part of Lifeline program.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Saturday May 30, 2015

Once again, Apple ranks first on Consumer Reports' survey of customer satisfaction for support.

Tim Cook donates $6.5million in Apple stock to undisclosed charities. Good on him.

Levi's signs with Google in connected fabric wearable technology.

Facebook will now support GIFs.

10,000 web sites block Congress from access. All attempts go to a protest page.

Ericsson is demonstrating 5G in the US—2GigaBitsPerSecond.

Ross W. Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road is sentenced to life in prison.

Convertable Chromebooks are coming? Let's not forget the idea of inexpensive path to the Internet.

Finally, some practical advice about passion and competence and life.

Kindle now has a much better font for reading. I used it this week—big improvement.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Sunday May 31, 2015

A look at the first 20 Facebook employees—mostly rich Ivy League kids who are still rich. Is anyone surprised that coming from rich families they are still rich?

This week's Google Photos continues the race to zero in cloud computing.

The Chrome browser now has more than 1billion active users. The definition of success is changing.

A look at Intel's Compute Stick—still a beta product for tech experts to experiment.

Even with all the cloud storage you could buy for $0, external hard drives still have a place.

This post has excellent coffee shop marketing tips.

Write what you love—do you want a business (income) or a hobby?

Everybody wants to write a book, or is it that everybody wants to have written a book?

Thoughts on finishing a piece of writing. Just tell yourself that it finished for now. You can always go back to it.

One person's experience at a month-long writer's residency. Gosh.

Thoughts on writing for business and plain English.

Another post showing how little most freelance writers earn $$$.

Doing your research as a writer. I recently read the memoir of Louis Lamour who considered the research to be the most enjoyable part of writing.

Places to look for blogs and stories.

Writers should always be noticing and noticing everything; yes, that type of thing, too. Yes, even that.

Lessons to keep the story going and the reader reading.

Not writing can bring enormous benefits to your writing.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page