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: 1-7 April, 2019

Summary of this week:

• More hype and nonsense about 5G networks
• Google requires subcontractors to pay benefits
• Walmart teams with Google to have voice-activated online ordering
• Verizon turns on a 5G network in a couple of US cities
• Google creates then un-creates an AI Ethics Board
• The Bezos divorce releases some details (she is rich, he retains control of Amazon)
• Netflix still profitably mails DVDs to 2.7Million Americans

Monday 1 April 2019

Microsoft updates the Surface Book 2 with newer Intel processors.

More hype and nonsense about 5G networks in the US. Call me when I have a little 5G tower in my neighborhood.

Our Drug Enforcement Agency has been collecting data on us illegally. Somewhere along the line, some of us decided we were better than the rest of us and took liberties with our liberties. Bad for all of us.

I guess I need to get serious with my Instagram account. It has replaced the telephone number.

Fortnite: we knew it when it was just a game. Watch out as the creators plan for it to be the next Google or Facebook or something.

Going to Europe this summer. It will be the first summer of widespread electric scooters. Invest now in hospital emergency rooms as they will set a new record for patients as this will be the first summer of widespread electric scooter falls.

Tuesday 2 April 2019

Abbreviated Internet viewing this morning.

DeepMind develops a system to quickly find eye disease. Interesting to see if the medical profession will adopt such this time around. Many of these systems were available in the 1980s, but were not used due to fear of malpractice suits.

Burger King begins testing a meat-free Whopper. I trust they know what they are doing with these experimental foods.

Don't like fake news? Move to China. They know how to take care of that stuff.

Researchers demonstrate how to trick self-driving cars into driving the wrong way. Yes, it is pretty easy.

Wednesday 3 April 2019

Maybe this will begin trend among the big, successful tech companies: Google requires its subcontractors to pay better wages and give employee benefits.

A Chinese woman was carrying a malware-laden thumb drive into restricted area at Mar-a-Lago. She was arrested.

Now we can shop Walmart online by voice. Google powers the technology. It is easier and easier to spend more faster.

Facebook proudly censors speech in India around elections. I guess there is a point to all this.

It is early, but Apple seems to have succeeded with its news service.

Microsoft releases VisualStudio 2019 for Windows and Mac. Download it free. Back in the good old days, these things costs lot$ of money.

Our Dept of Justice has decided that it can tell the AMPAS (the Oscars folks) how to run their little movie competition. If you don't give Oscars to Netflix, the G-men will come knocking. The last time Congress told Hollywood what to do (red scare), Congress won.

Our TSA may now permit the traveling subjects to keep our laptops in bags and not have to use four bins to walk through security.

Boeing hits a few snags in the software fix for the model 737 aircraft.

I love this. Someone made a Hollywood scify video of an advanced Amazon blimp releasing a swarm of delivery drones. All computer-generated (and well done), but harken back to Welles' War of the Worlds as everyone panics.

Thursday 4 April 2019

Verizon turns on a 5G network in Minneapolis and Chicago. There is only one phone (when boosted with an attachment) that will work at 5G speeds.

ooops, 540million Facebook users had their records left out in the open. I have lost track about which has been the biggest spill of user data.

Fascinating story of science and confounded conclusions. The last time CO2 levels were this high (and how did we know this?), we had trees on the South Pole. Hence, CO2 levels don't determine much of anything, which is the opposite conclusion drawn.

Adobe's video editor now auto-magically removes objects from video.

Run for President. Introduce outlandish bills that will never pass.

Researchers show how easy it is to hack into medical systems and alter the results of tests and procedures. Security?

Amazon is moving out of Seattle to nearby Bellevue.

Google created an AI Ethics Board. What could possibly go wrong? Just about everything.

Us older folks are moving to the Internet, and you know us old folks, we are being tricked and fooled and scammed right and left.

The Captain Marvel movie just crossed the Billion$$$ mark at the box office. The definition of success has changed.

Friday 5 April 2019

Some details from the Bezos divorce are released. His ex-wife is now one of the richest women in the world, but he retains control over Amazon.

Coming real soon now—Alexa in our ears via wireless earbuds.

Ian Goodfellow leaves Google and joins Apple. He is one of the top  names in the deep learning branch of AI in the world.

And Google completely cancels its AI Ethics Board. It was only one week old.

Everyone (it seems) is asking Amazon to stop selling its somewhat-flawed facial recognition software to law enforcement. Law enforcement groups are believing the hype and not using human safeguards as needed.

Women working at Microsoft are banding together in their complaints about the workplace.

Saturday 6 April 2019

Shenanigans in the US Senate. Fire people, they come back to grab and publish your information. Of course someone is breaking the laws.

Facebook, with its advertising "algorithm" (let's blame a thing instead of a person), continues to shoot itself in the foot.

Project Kuiper: private companies will send 3,000 satellites into orbit to provide an Internet, i.e., communications blanket over the planet. Does anyone remember Iridium. I guess it worked technically, but not commercially.

Apple Music continues to grow about 3% a month. It is quickly becoming a dominant supplier in the market.

Netflix still profitably mails movies on DVD to 2.7Million US customers. That is a lot of money. The definition of success has changed.

A recent study by Oxford University shows...all that "screen time" by today's kids isn't hurting them after all. Fussy old people, however, may be harming them with all the nagging (not part of the study, just tidbit from me).

Microsoft doubles the number of persons who can join a video chat to 50.

The 2019 version of Dell's XPS 13. The "perfect laptop."

YouTube slowly shifts from the garage creative persons to big business. Let's see if they still allow the unknown to rise to stardom.

The US had almost 200,000 layoffs in the first quarter of calendar year 2019. I suppose more persons were hired in new jobs as unemployment continues to fall.

Sunday 7 April 2019

This is what happens to a US citizen upon reentering the country. This is bad for all of us.

Newspapers and others exist on the First Amendment and Free Speech. Then there are "others" out there who shouldn't enjoy such. "They" need to be watched and silence now and then. This, too, is bad for all of us.

The shame of colleges charging high costs for online degree programs. The Online Program Manager (OPM) companies are taking a 60% cut. Education? Learning? Simply money.

One prediction of the future of drone delivery. This could work.

News Flash (not): People are happier when they receive a check from the government every month than when they are just plain broke.

The 2019 iMac computer from Apple allows us to increase the memory. Watch this video. It is pretty easy.

How the heart rate monitor on a Apple Watch alerted a person and the early alert probably saved a life.

A look at the Billion-dollar industry of romance novels.

Considering the memoir as a piece of fiction. In other words, write it better.

How one writer creates and uses a Story Bible, i.e., a book about a book or writing project.

Is the typewriter the new or old tool that a writer must have?

What is the best place to writer. The answer is obvious: where ever works for you. Some studies show that going outdoors to a partk or the woods helps. And of course that contradicts all the example of great works written in prison cells.

"Faith is the invisible fuel that propels us forward in the face of critique and rejection." 

Writing those meeting documents at Amazon.

A few basic tasks you can do that provide more time for writing. Get out of bed. Write now. Bang away.

Procrastination? Perhaps you simply didn't want to do that thing. Find something you want to do. You will find yourself doing it.

Sometimes we all have to wait for something to be right. This holds for engineering, analysis, and all other forms of art.

Need to create a cover for that story? Look at this one: BookBrush.

Tracking the writing. This isn't fun, but the results may be encouraging.

Why do you write? Really. No kidding. Why? Most of us do it because that is just what we do.

Why pay all that money for a Masters of Fine Arts. The world is in front of us. Soak it in. Work hard! Soak it in.

Some thoughts and exercises of Free Writing.