Summary of this week:

• Presidents Day starts the week
• Google medical research has breakthrough using eye scans to determine cardiovascular health
• Billy Graham dies at 99
• SpaceX finally launches its first Internet-beaming satellites
• I take a quick trip to Alaska

Monday February 19, 2018

Today is Presidents Day in the US. We used to honor George Washington, but I guess he wasn't perfect, so we had to change the holiday or something.

This is a different kind of post with a lot of good thoughts on what it means to build systems that satisfy users. The center of this one is Apple, but most other things apply.

The folks at MIT have a small breakthrough in exploiting temperature swings to produce energy.

Here is a new sensor that attaches to your neck to help stroke victims recover. Facebook? Who cares? Let's work on technology that matters.

Amazon tries to move into the health care business. Why? That's where the money is.

The Internet Archive may start using encryption advance to keep persons from changing history right under their nose.

15million persons earned $6Billion on Internet platforms in 2016 writing and creating and all that. That is a lot, but only $400/person.

Has the job market killed the entry-level programmer? How stupid are we?

Tuesday February 20, 2018

Apple updates all its operating systems supposedly over a rarely used character. I hope the MacOS fix fixes the recent update that broke my iMac.

News Flash (not): If you AI is based on supervised machine learning and you don't give others the exact data you used, they cannot replicate your results. Of course not.

Researchers at Google's Verily have developed a technique of assessing cardiovascular conditions via simple eye scans. This is a breakthrough.

In a first, Israel will regulate crypto-currencies as property, not money. Will other countries follow the lead?

Our nation's capital gives Elon Musk a digging permit. Why did we do this? Why are we letting him dig on OUR property?

Samsung breaks all world records with a 30TeraByte Solid State Disk. Now we can store ... well, we'll have to find something that big to store.

Wednesday February 21, 2018

Billy Graham dies at 99.

News Flash (not): The Russians are running confusion campaigns on social media Adults should believe none of what they read and only half of what they see.

Another News Flash (not): Social media companies make it easy for anyone to start an account. The more accounts, the more advertising dollars.

This person seems to understand the unemployment coming with every-increasing automation. It is different this time. This isn't the automobile replacing the horse-drawn carriage.

Broadcom is still trying to buy Qualcomm.

After a lot of growth, Walmart falls back in its ecommerce business.

Microsoft releases more details about the limitations of Windows 10 on ARM processors.

Sling now has 2.2million subscribers. This makes it number 1 in some odd category about live Internet something or other.

The crypto miners out there are "borrowing" everyone else's computers to mine gold. They did it to Tesla/Amazon.

Something we didn't need: a game that teaches how to spread rumors. This is called gossip, and people have been doing it since the invention of people.

Headline says it all: The Car of the Future Will Sell Your Data. Of course they will. How else will they  make money?

..... Email me at d.phillips@computer.org 
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Thursday February 22, 2018

Twitter delves into censorship—tread carefully there—and clobbers lots of real American users.

Amazon's CreateSpace was ripe for and used for money laundering. I had a bad experience with that group.

YouTube stumbles into censorship—again tread carefully—by removing a fakenews video about phoney students and actors and all such. People are lying about lying or some such.

Apple moves into the cobalt-mining business. They need it for batteries, especially car batteries.

..... Email me at d.phillips@computer.org 

Friday February 23, 2018

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Saturday February 24, 2018

News Flash (not): persons will re-tweet something they like and ignore things they don't like. Somehow this astounds some persons.

Bitmain: A Chinese company that makes processor chips that do nothing but mine crypto currency. And they are making piles of cash doing it.

New York City passes a law requiring machine learning systems reveal their results. NYC just passed a law killing jobs in NYC.

Faking images is easier than detecting faked images. Hint to all: don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. The latter believability is decreasing daily.

Intel moves into 5G modems and promises "always connected" Windows 10 PC via 5G. Is this the end of WiFi?

Amazon will open more no-employee stores this year. Locations are To Be Announced.

Moleskine tries yet again to send your handwriting to your computer. Perhaps one day this will all work in a practical manner.

State-of-the-practice for portable computers and "creatives." Not sure what a "creative" is, but maybe I are one.

SpaceX finally launches the first two Internet-spreading satellites. Only a few thousand to go.

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

Sunday February 25, 2018

Invest in cryptocurrency? Half of those started in 2017 have already failed. This is not good for a medium of exchange.

Competition in rockets and launching satellites is increasing. Thank SpaceX for pushing older companies and thank the older companies for pushing back.

Thoughts on the concept of computer programming as a craft.

Sexual harassment and the Bro culture at Google. Pity any fool who harasses my granddaughter. Pity them. Pity them a lot.

HP's first entry into the always-connected PC is here. $999 is a bit pricey, but it runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and promises 22 hours of battery life.

Strong rumors that Apple will have its own headphones on the market this year.

Trouble focusing on writing? Perhaps you shouln't be writing or trying to write.

Some tips on writing a short story: First draft—do it all in one sitting. Now wait a week. Now do the second draft. I can't seem to do the entire first draft in one sitting. My typing hands cramp.

"It’s a not-so-hidden secret that many (if not most) of us count hearing that a reader was moved to tears as a success." I always have. I learned many years ago that I could write thank you notes and things that short that brought persons to tears of joy. I liked that experience.

"As writers, one habit can change everything for our careers, too...What is that one habit? It’s the habit of changing what you do until you get the results you want."

Excuses for not hitting a writing deadline. Getting drunk and telling someone that was food poisoning has to be the best (or worst) for an adult to use.

More thoughts on writing a memoir. I guess I want to write one as I keep noting these posts.

..... Email me at d.phillips@computer.org