Items I happen to view each day. Science, Technology, Management, Culture, and Writing

    This is my day book for this week. It is a log of things I see on the Internet.

This week: 9-15 July, 2018

Summary of this week:

• Everyone trapped in the cave in Thailand is rescued
• Microsoft releases the $399 Surface Go
• Tesla to build big car-manufacturing plant in China
• Broadcom buys CA Technologies
• Apple updates the MacBook Pro
• PC sales up for the first time in six years
• Special counsel Mueller indicts more Russians

Monday 8 July 2018

Identity impersonators on social media: yet another trouble that comes with fame and fortune.

Fitness apps become possible the most dangerous surveillance tool in the world.

Do you know how to follow people with technology and pry into their lives? You have a market with the government of China, who can't seem to get enough data on its subjects.

The British are using facial recognition software to spot criminals as they walk the sidewalks. The trouble is ... there is nothing but trouble as the software isn't working... at all.

Stanley Kubrick explains the ending to 2001. It is the old science fiction story of the aliens running a zoo and a human is put there.

Tuesday 9 July 2018

Microsoft releases the $499 Surface Go with a 10" screen. The lowest-price, smallest device from Microsoft.

More details on the computer.

Some details on the technology used in the Thailand cave rescue efforts. It appears that the rescue will be successful. This sets a precedence for ultra-costly rescue efforts. Those who do not receive such magnanimous efforts will cry foul.

Samsung is building the world's largest cell phone production facility in India.

Half of crypto currency companies fail in the first four months. This is indeed the shakeout period for this "industry." If you guess correctly, you will make a fortune.

Headline says it all: Apple releases iOS 11.4.1 and blocks passcode cracking tools used by police.

Next headline erases the first one: Apple’s iOS passcode cracking defense can be bypassed using a USB accessory.

YouTube claims to have improved news viewing by providing links to more sources on any breaking news.

Nothing has changed in the four decades I have been doing research: engineers and others of our kind believe just about any "psychological" research we see.

The Chinese are now producing x86 processors based on an IP deal with AMD.

Wednesday 10 July 2018

The push to build processors aimed at AI has stirred the processor industry and may make new giants.

Slack greatly improves its search capability making All Conversations and Knowledge actually a Searchable Library.

Apple reorganizes all its AI-related work under John Giannandrea—formerly of Google.

Our FBI charges a former Apple employee of stealing trade secrets and taking them to China. Industrial espionage lives on.

Another European regulator slaps another large fine on another successful American company. This time most people cheer as it is Facebook and its Cambridge Analytica problems.

California retailers use license plate readers. Eventually, the data goes to the vilified ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement). Let's remember what the E in ICE means. It is a Federal Law Enforcement agency. If we don't want laws enforced, why do we elect persons who create them? Perhaps we have too many of them, but again, we elect those who create them.

Venture capital investment in the US is up. Not bad for the worst President in the history of the world.

I like this article on using web sites to convey information without all the fluff we often see today via Brutalist Web Design.

Lenovo's always-connected PC is now available for purchase at about $900.

Thursday 11 July 2018

We finally have the first experiments to replace our traffic lights with vehicle-to-vehicle communications.

Strong rumors about new Apple hardware this fall including several new iPad Pros.

Facebook is giving researchers a million GigaBytes of "anonymized user data" to study and learn something about misinformation campaigns. They could go to the library and read some WWII history.

Broadcom is buying CA Technologies for $19Billion.

China is sending an army of entrepreneurs into India.

Facebook will point to Fox News as a reliable news source. Some find this disturbing while others welcome it.

A Federal court rules that TSA agents are not law enforcement officers and cannot be held legally accountable for their, well, you know sometimes they do stupid things on the job.

YouTube releases a Copyright Match tool to catch uploaded full videos that violate copyrights.

The Swedes have built a fully-electric powered, driverless logging truck.

Want to run an app on Facebook in the post-Cambridge Analytica era? Guess what you have to sign. It's a secret.

According to some, the tech plutocrats are pushing Universal Basic Income because they know they are creating masses of unemployed persons who one day, they fear, will revolt.

Google has made Site Isolation the default setting for the Chrome browser.

Friday 12 July 2018

After months of preview, Microsoft releases its collaborative Whiteboard app.

Apple's back-to-school program returns and so does the free Beats headphones. Yes, you have to buy a computer for doing that homework stuff, but that;s the pain for the gain.

Experts agree—for the first time in six years the sales of personal computers is growing. Back to the computer (do I get free headphones?).

The nation-less corporation moves forward. Apple will push renewable energy on its subcontractors in China.

Microsoft invests some money in improving its good old Notepad text editor.

In a court ruling that seems to have not needed a court ruling...yes, a Facebook account is inherited just like a diary or anything else.

In what must be the biggest Internet news of the day, Fortnite has its fifth season update. Civilization is safe again.

Facebook continues to stumble through its censorship efforts (a good thing).

I highly recommend Seth Godin's "catastrophe journal." I highly recommend any kind of journal. Keep it on actual paper. Some things are important, but should only be shared slowly.

If you like cars, computing, or both, must-see videos about an autonomous race car.

Saturday 13 July 2018

Facebook's censorship stumbling continues. They will never satisfy any majority of persons. History shows us that outlandish "fake news" is often true.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded that Russians were interested in the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential election. How much did that conclu$ion co$t u$ taxpayer$?

At least for a day our Department of Commerce says it is okay to sell parts to China's ZTE.

The tech companies and the ACLU want a stop to using facial recognition by US law enforcement. Of course this will change the next time a "good" use is shown. If the technology catches the person who hurts me, it is a good use. If the technology falsely points to me when my neighbor is hurt, it is a bad use. The trouble is, no one can predict the good and bad uses.

One person uses a low-end Android phone and "lite" apps. Awful. Well, we do become accustomed to how good things can be and then eating at McDonald's isn't fun anymore.

It seems that the keyboard for the updated MacBook Pro is only thing tickling everyone's interest. I guess I am unique in that I don't care.

Got an extra $200,000? Buy a ticked on SpaceX tours into space.

Coming soon (rumored): fully functional PhotoShop on the iPad. Amazing computing power in a small package.

Who saw this coming? The hottest "tech" business in the world is little electric scooters.

News Flash (not): open office plans are lousy. I have sat in such for most of 30 years. (1) Why did it take so long to know this? (2) Will anyone change anytime soon?

Current research shows...software filters trying to remove content (1) are expensive and (2) don't work.

How "tech workers" are donating time and talent in political campaigns. Odd how you can donate expensive talent that is not subject to campaign finance laws.

Sunday 14 July 2018

I like this: the Just Code Challenge. Write a piece of software every week. It doesn't have to do great big things, but just code.

This paper is 20 years old. It is an excellent paper on what new technology brings. Life and technological innovation are not fair.

The software rebuild: Yikes. My group just did this and we had all the problems listed here. We are still trying to dig out of the hole.

ooops, someone forgot to consider total cost of ownership on renewable energy. Retiring wind turbines once they are useless is really, really expen$sive.

The teens who fled Facebook are now on "local Twitter."

How is it that some writers write for years? What else would they do?

Examples, practical examples, of how to use Twitter to sell your writing.

Thoughts on setting priorities.

Forget the silly title. This is an excellent post on earning money as a writer.

Of course you write an outline before writing the book. You don't have to use the outline; you don't have to make the outline look like an outline, but sketch out something. I have to, but, then again, I'm not very smart.

One writer's complete guide to writing a book.

Here, no charge is my complete guide to writing a book. Sit, put your hands on the keyboard. Start writing. Do this everyday until you are finished with the book.

I find this to be excellent advice. Don't write a book. Don't write a whatever. Instead, write a paragraph a day with a point to learning and improving. In a month or so, I will be a better writer.

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make more art."—Andy Warhol

Ways to play with time in your fiction writing.