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: 11-17 May, 2020

Summary of this week:

• Qualcomm updates Snapdragon for better gaming and 5G
• Eric Schmidt leaves Google
• Apple has been hiring cloud computing talent
• Twitter announces telecommuting forever if you wish
• Dell updates XPS 15 and 17 models
• Intel releases 27 new processors
• Epic Games releases new game engine
• Chrome browser to allow Groups of Tabs
• Nvidia shows new processors, 54Billion transistors on a chip
• Nvidia blows the doors off of the industry

Monday 11 May 2020

The current President is in talks with makers of silicon to open new factories in the US. The current virus from China has startled some persons with the lack of US manufacture of essential goods.

A look at Facebook's new Oversight Board. Nice gesture. Perhaps some good will come of it one day.

Considering the lack of a rush to Virtual Reality systems. Given we are working from home, the same two-dimensional, flat video conversations suffice. Will VR every really take hold?

Our FBI and DHS are about to issue indictments against agents of the Chinese government for attempting to steal research on the virus and possible vaccines.

Qualcomm updates its Snapdragon line of processors to provide better gaming and 5G for mobile devices.

More talk about the "Plandemic" video. Whatever was in the video (I didn't see it before it was pulled), the reaction to it is far more telling. This is an election year. Let's see if anyone grasps the significance and grabs the opportunity.

Lessons Learned: we kind of like working from home.

In the UK, persons continues to set 5G towers ablaze.

Given that machine learning algorithms are so popular, several companies are trying to build processors customized for them.

Tuesday 12 May 2020

Note to everyone: Amazon does not call you at home to talk about fraud on your account. Those are scammers trying to access your computer. Amazon only contacts you by email.

In Wuhan—home of the Wuhan virus—the government vows to test all 11million subjects.

A study of websites shows that the vast majority look the same. Someone found a formula that works, and everyone copies.

Apple has been hiring top talent in the cloud computing world. It appears that something may be coming from them.

Some hidden blessings coming out of the current situation: we may demand and receive more space in the office building. Also, companies may spread from the single giant headquarters building.

Eric Schmidt leaves Google for other pursuits.

Elon Musk opens his California factory against all local regulations.

"What the U.S. really needs to do is reconstitute its communities of engineering practice. That will require treating manufacturing work, even in low-margin goods, as fundamentally valuable." And reduce many government regulations.

And you really should watch Some Good News each week. An Emmy award or something is coming to that endeavor later this year.

Wednesday 13 May 2020

In the other direction, Apple is bringing more employees back into the office.

Once again, we were told the self-driving car would let us nap while commuting. Once again, well, not so much.

This is how bored we are: Tony Hawk's skakeboarding video games are being remastered for today's hardware. And everyone is reading about it.

Once again, Disney saves western civilization as it brings "Hamilton" to Disney+ on July 3rd.

Facebook puts up $52million for moderators who went berserk filtering the trash.

For music pros, Apple has a major update to Logic Pro X.

This is fascinating—state regulators want employers to violate Federal laws on medical privacy. The fringe becomes the norm.

The biggest surprise for me this year is that became okay to declare "the end of the world is nigh." That went from "you'll start a panic" to "okay, fine."

The fringe becomes the norm: in Washington state, as you enter a restaurant, you must give them your private info so they can track you. Fascinating. We have taken the ancient Chinese curse of living in interesting times.

Thursday 14 May 2020

Amazon updates its high-value HD 8 tablet. They are letting the price creep up to $90, and that may be a big mistake.

Dell updates the XPS 15 and 17 models. More better stuff. Everyone is switching to USB-C.

Its official as our FBI and DHS legally accuse the government of China of hacking medical research facilities in the US.

It appears that the upgrade-able Alienware Area-51M wasn't upgrade-able.

Next week's Chrome browser will allow us to Group Tabs into Groups. Files of files and such. Let's get organized!

Intel releases 27 new processors.

Friday 15 May 2020

Sony builds an image sensor that is built into a chip with processor, memory, etc. This is a computer vision system on a chip. Maybe we'll call these things CVSoC.

With 54Billion (that is a B) transistors on the chip, Nvidia's new A100 processor has 20 times the power of the prior generation. AI supercomputer on a chip. This isn't for the home.

Nvidia updates its line of processors on single-board computers. $400 buys a lot of processing power in a fist-sized package.

This could be the year that the bicycle with an electric motor becomes common.

A little late to the party, but now here...Facebook's Messenger Rooms allows 50 persons to gather. No charge.

"The cost of something is largely irrelevant, people are paying attention to its value. Your customers don’t care what it took for you to make something. They care about what it does for them."—Seth Godin

If your Silicon Valley employer says you can work from home as long as you wish, how about moving to Utah where rent is half.

Elon Musk has been teasing a new super battery. Perhaps he has the chemists and physicists who know how to do this. Let's hope.

Saturday 16 May 2020

The US Space Force unveils its flag. Of course it looks like Star Trek. Military emblems have always borrowed from icons of popular culture. See, e.g., the many created during WWII.

Live if rural America, no masks, no other stuff. Here in Reston, Va., we are still in lock down as the metro DC area has a 3x rate of infection compared to rural Va. There is safety in sparsity. We have known that for decades.

It doesn't pay to be too successful in America. Our Dept of Justice and many Attorneys General across the land are about to take Google to court for succeeding in advertising.

Facebook buys Giphy. Only $400million. I would have guessed a much higher price.

A closer listen to Microsoft's new earbuds and headphones.

Golf courses open to the pubic again. Neighborhood playgrounds and basketball courts are still closed. The rich take care of the rich. This virus episode highlights the rich vs poor divide. I am surprised that the journalists are not reporting this, but then the journalists are rich and aren't about to comment on their own actions.

The rise of the soybean. Meatless meat sales are up over 200%.

Facts on the spread of coronavirus in a choir. Note, at no time in our past have we tested for the spread of an infectious ailment like this. The numbers are meaningless. For example, a marching band goes on a trip to a parade. A flu bug spreads through the bus. What % of people are infected? No one knows because we never tested everyone. We just shrugged and moved on.

Some official numbers on the collapse of the retail sector of the US economy.

Jumping ahead of regulators doesn't work. Our FDA halts a quick home test for Wuhan virus.

Sunday 17 May 2020

Fascinating story, if you like orbital dynamics, of a Chinese rocket just missing New York City as it fell out of near orbit.

Amazon Web Services makes its Arm-based processor available. It is called the Graviton2, and how can you miss with a name like that?

Where the money is. A cybergang (not sure what that is, but sounds nefarious) hacks law firms and releases documents on celebrities.

If there is no Bill of Rights, you get this: police where helmets that monitor something on the subjects. The concept of thermal monitors to see if a person has a fever isn't legitimate. A first-year biology student can explain why.

Take every opportunity...basic theft gets a boost as it is now polite to wear a mask and hide your identity while you rob others.

A look at how video gamers in Singapore and Romania brought the market demand for high-speed broadband access for everyone.

Mining cryptocurrencies costs a lot of computing power, so some simply steal computer time.

In praise of dictatorship: how Vietnam controlled the virus and had zero deaths from it. Amazing that any news organization would run this story.

ooops, in the state of Arkansas, the site for unemployment claims is easily hacked and exposes the social security numbers, names, bank accounts, and favorite color of flowers of 30,000 persons (just kidding about the flowers).

The above story shows how the panic response to a virus overloaded the unemployment systems of states and localities. They were not built for such unemployment.

Refunds? College students paid full price for in-person classes. Online classes aren't the same. Class action lawsuits are happening nationwide.

How one writer edits their novels.

"I decided to start a specific journal, a kind of ‘ journal of the plague year’. This one’s specifically about my personal experience of the present situation" We write about our lives in one way or another. Even non-fiction writers do this. This year a gift was presented to all of us. Will we use it?

The problems an editor sees in novel after novel.

" you can’t write a truthful memoir without hurting your relatives." Oh well.