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: September 7-13, 2015

Summary of this week:

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


Monday September 7, 2015

Finally, home designs are going back to where they used to be, multi-use rooms.

Microsoft will completely remodel its headquarters in Redmond at a cost of billion$.

Stronger yet rumors—this weeks Apple TV will focus on playing games.

Germany—Europe's richest folk—are taking in Syrian refugees rejected by the rest of Europe.

Among other things, the Ashley Madison hack reveals that people still use silly passwords like 12345 and password.

Larry Lessig receives $1M in donations, so he is running for president. "Our government doesn't work."

ZTE doubles its US smartphone market share in a year. Its phones are cheaper and use 2-year-old technology.

Canon shows a 250MegaPixel sensor that will be your DSLR in a couple of years.

How bad is our space program? SpaceX heavy lift rocket, next year's model, still can't match the 50-year-old Saturn V.

We will be receiving Pluto data for the next year. This is the classic data exfiltration problem. It is also the classic data reduction problem. It is also the classic systems engineering problem. It is also...

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Tuesday September 8, 2015

The new school year (finally) begins in Fairfax County Virginia with my grandson starting first grade. Watch out world, here he comes.

Apple is hiring people with expertise in machine learning.

Bestsellers right now: sleep and relaxation music.

Near Stonehenge, archaeologists have found a stone monument even bigger, but buried.

Amazon to release a $50 6-inch tablet before Christmas,

Wozniak talks about Steve Jobs: he didn't know hardware or software, but did want to know business. Finally, someone else says it.

One immigrant's tale of a 12-year path to citizenship in Silicon Valley.

Airbnb claims 17million guests this summer alone. The definition of success keeps changing.

The official Raspberry Pi 7" touchscreen $60 is now available.

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Wednesday September 9, 2015

Apple's big event is today. The rumors are flying.

Tests of Verizon 5G show it's faster than Google fibre. Wait for 2017.

Our government believes that computers in other countries fall under our jurisdiction. I guess I am too stupid to understand the logic.

John McAfee: Presidential candidate of the Cyber Party.

Okta: where Silicon Valley turns for cyber security.

Microsoft and Dell become partners trying to bring the Surface tablet into the workplace.

NASA, which can't put a man in space yet, can take really cool photos. Well, what do you expect?

2015 has been a pretty good year for IT spending and hiring.

Intel drops its sponsorship of the Science Talent Search—$6million a year.

Attaching solar panels to the outside of a jacket. Why not?

Samsung laysoff 10,000 in Korea. Yes, that hurts the US economy, too.

Queen Elizabeth breaks the record for longest-ruling monarch.

The EU considers mandatory quota system of accepting refugees. If it is mandatory, is it still charity?

The problems of the rich are solved: same-day home delivery of groceries from both Google and Amazon.

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Thursday September 10, 2015

Apple had its big event, and there are lots of stories about it.

Here is a story about the big iPad Pro. Of course I want one, but what to do with it?

Microsoft announces changes to Office for the iPad Pro to use all that extra screen space.

Here is a story about the new Apple TV, no longer just a hobby.

Here is a story about the updated iPhone and how it senses light, medium, and hard pressure.

The Apple "Live Photo"—brings 1.5 seconds of video with each still image. There goes all your memory.

The slow chemistry movement. It is a lot like aging and it is much more efficient than what we do now.

Electronic noise and the Internet of Things. Its called EMC and EMI—old guy stuff.

The brick-laying robot—rearrange the letters to spell unemployment.

Somehow, Amazon sold all its Fire Phone inventory. One day we will see these in a museum of sorts.

The power of information: refugees use Google maps to find their way and avoid brutal human trafickers.

California courts deal another blow to Uber. Maybe one day the drivers will have better pay and benefits. Maybe one day the drivers will all be sitting at home again with nothing to do and no pay. We shall see the unintended consequences.

A look at the tech boom in Vietnam.

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Friday September 11, 2015

No Internet viewing this morning as instead I had breakfast with some fine gentlemen.

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Saturday September 12, 2015

MIT ranks very low in the security of its computing systems.

A New Hampshire public library gets an email from our DHS about its use of Tor.

Apple pays the government of China $71million in back taxes.

We have more photos of Pluto and more experts astounded at what they are seeing. It wasn't supposed to be this way. At least these guys aren't like the climate researchers who choose to modify the data to meet the prediction.

A look into Apple's iPhone update plan—pay $omething every month instead of lump sums.

Most organizations don't have nearly as much big data as they claim. Same old story.

Fender guitars looks to digital tech to help beginners move to intermediate instead of quiting.

Microsoft Office 2016 will be here September 22 (2015).

Ellen Pao drops all her legal cases against everyone.

"Computer Science Courses that Don't Exist, But Should" Excellent.

Chinese software companies are hiring cheerleaders to motivate programmers. The idea has merit.

An example of how citizens who work for our government separate themselves from the rest of the citizenry. Frequent trips to real America should be required.

Recalling the birth of WiFi and the wireless local area network.

Google introduces Android Pay to compete with Apple Pay.

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Sunday September 13, 2015

It appears that Dell is making a clone of the Microsoft Surface or has Dell been making the Surface for Microsoft?

Marshall—the guitar amp company—builds a cell phone.

The AltSchool—yet another attempt by Silicon Valley millionaires to reinvent education for their kids. No, it won't school to all of the country or the world.

The Qualcomm Flight: a business-card size single board computer that is the brain of the next-generation of drones.

How Uber bought the robotics lab at Carnegie Mellon and what that means for fundamental, university research.

The Companion app: Excellent idea for personal safety.

I love this, all about internal social networking. Yes, write internal blogs and tweets and facebook posts and all that.

The role of the journal in personal writing. I recommend journal writing to everyone. I find it to be one of the few universally applicable practices.

How to write about topics that are new to you. Research. Learn. Write. Think. Repeat.

The peril and pleasure about telling your family what you think, a.k.a., writing memoirs.

Thoughts on creating a scene.

Thoughts on creating your own writing apprenticeship program.

Candid, common-sense thoughts about keeping your day job while you write. Such thoughts are rare.
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