Summary of this week:

Amazon is shipping the Kindle 2 early
Microsoft announces Elevate America - some technical training for Americans
Apple's high-end portable computers are its biggest sellers
I am sick all week. Fatigue catches me and I cannot post the latter have of the week.

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

Monday February 23, 2009

Amazon is shipping its Kindle 2 a little early.

Samsung introduces two 12-megapixel cameras.

Hackers closes a site used by Federal government employees. Yes, that national electronic health records project will sail smoothly through to deployment - NOT!

Computers are missing from Los Alamos again. This is not news, it is routine. Control of computer inventory is quite simple - put a mean person at the door with a pencil, paper, and clipboard. To really get serious, sit a pit bull next to the mean person.

IBM is opening an IT center in Dubuque, Iowa. Is Dubuque, Iowa a real place. Being from the south, it sounds like a stereotype town in the midwest. I guess it is real, and it is probably a fine place to live and have a family. The idea is simple and good - put jobs in low-cost-of-living places. Reduce costs and have happy employees.

This will stimulate the economy - NOT - taxing downloads. I struggle to understand what some people in government are thinking.

This will stimulate something - Chicago plans to have surveillance cameras everywhere.

There are different ways to measure the same thing. This person opines that the U.S. is the world leader in broadband use. He makes some sense.

The Dell mini 10 is now up on its web page. You can buy it this week.

There is debate on the net about using a billion dollars to stimulate growth in new industries instead of propping up old ones. Thomas Friedman wants money to go to venture capitalists. Others disagree. It is all a nice academic debate because the money is going to GM and Chrysler, their failed management, and their tired unions.

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Tuesday February 24, 2009

I am still fighting a cold or something. The waking hours are shorter and the concentration of the mind a bit foggy.

The market for the really small portable computers is shifting. One result is falling prices for now. My good old Apple iBook G4 (four years old) has a 12" screen. The market on the really small portables has shifted up from 7" to 9" and now to 10" and 12" screens. Soon, my old computer will be at the leading edge of a trend. Does that make sense? Maybe.

This post chronicles the story of how the One-Laptop-per-Child project led to the really small portable computers. These were aimed at relatively poor people, but the people with money bought them as extra luxury items.

This editorial opines that Apple will never enter the cheap computer market. Why? They are doing quite well in the high-end luxury market. No debts and $25billion in the bank. Apple could bail out GM, but why would they want to do that? The U.S. government has the monopoly on rewarding failing companies. Congress will figure out a way to take some of Apple's money away from them.

Auren Hoffman blogs on the human tendency to over correct and thus swing like a pendulum. Yes, that is us or at least many of us. This comes right from general systems thinking.

BASH 4.0 is released. BASH lives on in the Apple computers.

Microsoft announces "Elevate America." This is a service intended to help people learn technical skills for jobs. I don't know how this will work, but I give credit to Microsoft for trying something.

Scott Berkun discusses the basics to consider when quiting your job and becoming an independent consultant.

I like George Will's editorial on the intent of the U.S. Constitution and efforts by recent officials to correct it. There was a lot of wisdom put into the original document. I am afraid that convenience rules recent attempts to change it. I am glad the framers made it fairly difficult to change it.

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Wednesday February 25, 2009

I am still fighting a cold or something. Poor sleep at night, headaches, congestion, the whole thing. I hope some of this makes sense.

E veryone seems to agree that Apple is gaining market share with its computers, but as usual, figures don't lie, but liars do figure.

Apple's Safari browser version 4 is coming. It appears to be much faster than other browsers - somehow someone determined that it is 42 times faster at some things.

This evidence argues that Apple should stay away from low-cost computers. Its best sellers are its premium portable computers.

How many hours a day to you work? How about four? This poll of 20,000+ people concluded that four hours work a day is average. I must agree with that figure. Knowledge work - and that is what these people do - is relatively new. Management schools have yet to understand it well, and supervisors - well the pointy-haired boss on Dilbert comes from real life, not the imagination of man.

Some interesting thoughts on Starbucks and McDonalds for WiFi and work access. For me, (1) free WiFi, (2) good coffee (I don't like McDonald's coffee, I can tolerate it, but I don't like it), (3) served in a ceramic mug - not paper and not styrofoam (McD's and Starbucks both lose), and to top it off - I love places where the employees don't wear corporate uniforms.

A new acronym from Intel - CULV Consumer Ultra Low Voltage. These are processors made just for the really portable computers and smartphones and whatever else they can sell.

Fuel cells and other batteries from Sony. Keep the imagination churning. Maybe something useful will come.

This bodes ill for the travel industry and possibly good for consultants and their families. Teleconferencing and such are here, it works, and people are tired enough of airports to use it.

Some reminders of being economical, i.e. cheap, as a writer. I have done most of these things for years. Print on both sides of paper. I used to love it that the printers had a draft mode where they would print and use half the ink.

Back to basics for writers - paper and pen. A blank piece of paper and a pencil. I draw mind maps before I put fingers on the keys of a computer. Dozens of papers and a half dozen books started that way. A hardback blank book and a fine tip fountain pen with black ink. Problems slowly melt. Also see http://dwaynephillips.net/workingup/2009/02/notebooks/

Some notes from the Linux front:
(1) a $100 Linux server that looks like a wall wart - a hunk thing that you plug into the wall outlet. This could be to servers what netbooks have been to the notebook market.
(2) one third of the Dell mini 9 really small portable computers are being sold with Ubuntu Linux instead of Windows XP.
(3) Red Hat will try to move back into the consumer desk-top computer market.

I really like this short post on four types of meetings. Excellent.

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Thursday February 26, 2009

Whatever bug I have lingers. I have concluded that the medicine I take for nighttime has caused my sleepless nights. That gives me debilitating headaches and fatigue in the day. I will try something different tonight.

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Friday February 27, 2009

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Saturday February 28, 2009

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Sunday March 1, 2009

I feel like I am coming out of the mental fog that has plagued me all week. Maybe it was a touch of the flu, perhaps a series of bad sinus headaches. Whatever, I had no energy. I am not sure how I was able to post anything earlier in the week, but I will conclude the week with one more day without posting. I feel that tomorrow I will be back to a sense of normalcy. That, at least, is the plan.

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