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: January 4-10, 2016

Summary of this week:

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

Monday January 4, 2016

CES is this week, so expect many product announcements.

Ars Technica rounds up the portable computers with more more more memory.

Lenovo refreshes its entire ThinkPad lineup: more power, thinner, less expensive.

One of Lenovo's new entries is a Chomebook at $400 (too expensive).

The Ford Motor Company, yes them, has made several moves to improves its telematics.

Got $50,000? Get this 100MegaPixel camera.

Guesstimate is a spreadsheet that allows for estimates. This should be required use in government, but it won't be.

The Saudis severe diplomatic ties with Iran.

English is still the majority language of the Internet, but no longer the dominant one.

This story is all over the Internet, so it must be important: Mark Zuckerburg is going to write the world's most important AI software all by himself this year. There must be something hidden in this story becuase believing it is laughable.

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Tuesday January 5, 2016

Acer shows less-expensive Chromebook while Lenovo shows more-expensive one.

A look at Alphabet(Google)'s Sidewalk Labs.

Here comes WiFi HaLow to replace Bluetooth and fix the Internet of Things in our homes.

Nividia shows its Drive PX 2 lunch-box size “world’s first in-car AI supercomputer for self-driving cars."

IPV6 is 20 years old, but still has penetrated only 10% of the market.

The government of the Netherlands is for strong encryption and no back doors. They are in the minority.

It appears that Microsoft monitors our use of Windows 10.

Lego updates its WeDo Robotics Kit.

The HP EliteBook Folio—just like a small, thin MacBook but for Windows 10. Cool factor very high.

HP updates the displays on its Spectre x360 convertible.

Our President unveils a new government hiring program at FBI and BATF couched as something to do with preventing gun violence.

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Wednesday January 6, 2016

"Design thinking" applied to many aspects of life.

A YouTube presentation on GNU Radio and its applications.

Twitter is considering longer tweets—10,000 characters is an arbitrarily large number.

The PRK (claims to) explodes a hydrogen bomb. 70 years behind state of the art, but still quite effective.

Not to be outdone by HP, Samsung shows its super-cool, super-thin portable computer to compete with the Apple MacBook.

Intel gives a technology demonstration of its Real Sense camera on a drone that follows you without any controlling on your part.

A VW executive apologizes to a CES crowd about their cheating on emissions tests.

Sony sold about 6million Playstation 4 units for the holidays.

Our President orders more study on smart-gun technology. More Federal jobs couched as some sort of gun violence reduction thing.

FitBit pushes into the style category with a much-less-expensive Apple Watch competitor.

Samsung: see inside your refrigerator from the store using your smartphone. I guess this solves a big problem for some people.

Nikon introduces a 360-degree 4K action camera. No hint on price.

HumanEyes introduces a 360-degree 4K action camera at $800.

Intel says its button-sized Curie computer will ship this quarter at $10. The big news is they have announced partnerships with everyone from ESPN to Lady Gaga.

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Thursday January 7, 2016

Razer shows a new Ultrabook gaming machine with an accompanying external GPU.

A look at the Chevrolet Bolt: our tax dollars provide a $7,500 bribe to buy one. Aren't we nice to GM?

Intel updates its Next Unit of Computing. No prices available yet.

Intel updates their Compute Stick, but the prices are too high.

LG shows its clone of the MacBook.

ASUS has a new Chromebook that you can take apart—easy to replace battery, keyboard, etc. This makes it easily repairable and durable for classroom use.

Stock markets around the world are having a bad, bad week. China is the hardest hit.

The pay is pretty good is you can get a job as an Apple executive.

The Apple app store sold $20billion of apps last year.

Yahoo to lay off 10% of its workforce—1,000 Silicon Valley jobs gone.

Netflix expands to 130 new countries.

Our government releases new dietary guidelines. As usual, the guidelines are silly.

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Friday January 8, 2016

Java comes in first as the most-used programming language of 2015.

Our government goes to Silicon Valley and asks for help in fighting terrorists. That's odd as their are Federal employees who daily suggest how to use technology to fight terrorists and are ignored by their managers.

Experts predict another financial meltdown like 2008.

The Motorola name and brand is about to disappear. We loved it for decades.

Google and Lenovo team to build a smartphone with breakthrough depth-perception technology.

ProPublica opens a news site on the dark web.

4K is surpassed by 8K and the Super Ultra High Definition TV or something like that.

ooops, Time Warner is hacked and loses 320,000 customer email accounts.

Samsung teams with Microsoft to help build Internet of Things devices that use Windows 10.

Android comes to our x86 PC via the Remix OS from Jide. I like the idea.

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Saturday January 9, 2016

Have a desk job? Look at and use these Yoga poses to help your back. Back pain is no joke for office workers and everyone else, too.

How our Federal government is requiring states to issue national identity cards with the "Real ID" program.

Zeiss finds a way to have augmented reality glasses that look like normal glasses.

We have failed to deploy broadband as fast as our FCC says we should. Or perhaps the FCC is poor at estimating deployment rates?

A comprehensive forecast of Alphabet(Google)'s research programs for 2016.

Our FTC blows the privacy of those attending an FTC privacy conference. You can't make it up—it's government.

SpaceX moves back out to sea to attempt a landing of its booster rocket.

Taking the world by storm in only 48 hours: Peach.

Google self-driving cars are in fewer accidents. The rate, however, is not zero, so will the lawyers allow them on the road?

Advances in the humble USB thumb drive boosts capacity and speed.

A summary of Raspberry Pi news for December 2015.

Detailed pointers on programming in the C language in 2016.

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Sunday Janurary 10, 2016

Maybe, just maybe, computer-aided teaching and learning can bring the equivalent of one-on-one instruction. And I learn that what I've been talking about for years is called "mastery learning."

The $79 desktop computer from Endless.

This is a video-editing computer box doo-dad. I guess if you shoot a lot with your GoPro this might come in handy.

Tesla downloads new software so that your super-expensive car can park itself. This is a good feature. Too bad it is only for the plutocrats.

One freelancer learned, the hard way, about money from freelancing. This is good information if you want to jump into freelancing.

Here are some software products to keep the freelance writer looking at only the necessary.

The case against the New Year's resolution.

Seven aspects of freelance writing that you should consider before moving to it. Freelance life may not be for you or me.

Freelance writers who hate marketing will need to change the things they hate as marketing changes again.

Good thoughts on the memoir.

The art of simplification in blogging.

Bill Gates reads 50 books a year. As a writer, how many books do I (we) read ?

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