Dwayne Phillips ' Day Book
Items
I happen to view each day. Science, Techonology, Management, Culture,
and of course Writing
This is my day book for this week. I have modeled this after science
fiction and computer writer Jerry Pournelle's view, or as he calls it,
his Day Book.
I encourage you to see Jerry
Pournelle's site
and subscribe
to his services.
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Email me at
d.phillips@computer.org
This
week: August 29-September 4, 2011
Summary of this week:
- Federal Appeals Court says it's okay to video police
- Windows 8 goes to a ribbon interface (we are told but not shown)
Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
- Saturday
- Sunday
Monday August 29,
2011
Someone
has hacked into the Nokia
developer communitry of course obtaining information that no one was
supposed to obtain. It is only Monday, but is everyone ready for
national electronic health records?
Interesting use of iPhone and other technology at MIT.
They are mounting iPhones on the dash of cars and monitoring the
traffic lights to adjust their driving. They are cutting fuel
consumption by 20%. Good results.
I
like these questions from Seth Godin about maintaining the status quo.
A
Federal Appeals court says it is okay to video police officers.
It seems like a long way to go to have the courts acknowledge that the
public can record the actions of public employees paid by the public
doing public duties in public places.
Someone
has finally made some clothing with antennas sewn inside.
The British are
thinking about how to return manufacturing to Britain in the
information age. Good for them. The U.S. should do the same. This
is a criticial item for the "already developed" world.
I
love this little index card post - breathe.
Here
is a look at eye-tech, cutting-edge prosthetics. Many of these are
stunts or illustrations now. In ten years, I hope, these will be in the
reach of those who need them.
Bias
lighting improves your ability to work. This example is for games,
but can be applied to more serious endeavors.
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Tuesday August 30,
2011
Some
rumors tells us that Windows 8 will depart from Apple's OS X. That
is a risky move for Microsoft, but they are and have been losing, so
why not try something?
Toshiba
is expected to announce a new, thinner tablet computer this week.
Great
slow motion video of surfing.
I
smiled when I saw this simple desk photo.
Our
Federal government is now protecting us from ... guitars. A raid on
the Gibson guitar company. Your tax dollars at waste.
A
suitcase-size nuclear power plant for the moon and Mars.
The
weather men predict the path of a hurricane pretty well, but not its
intensity.
It
is not yet available to the public, but AT&T has its 4G LTE network
up in Chicago.
There is
lots of talk this week about Tim Cook, the new CEO at Apple.
My prediction is that he is an interim CEO. He will sit there until a
new visionary comes along and will be remembered as the guy between
Jobs and ??????
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Wednesday August 31, 2011
All
Yale Medical school students will be issued iPads. This is to
reduce paper. I like this.
Will
robots start working on the farm? If yes, this could change the
economy of large parts of the U.S. and then the world.
More
about the HP TouchPad and how it became a hot item after it was
disontinued.
This
is what the earth and our moon look like from six million miles. I
like it.
And
for some reason, I like this video showing London fashions from 1911 to
2011.
I
am not sure what to do with this, but here it is - a 2 TeraByte USB
memory stick.
Technically
feasible doesn't mean it's going to happen. But many of us want it
to.
Tools
for editing PDFs.
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Thursday September 1, 2011
So
what do you do with that $99 tablet from HP? Put Android or Ubuntu on
it. The tablet is, after all, a computer that runs software.
Ah,
a multi-tool that clips to your pocket. I guess there are some uses for
this thing.
In the "I guess there is a use for this thing" vein, here is a
mount that allows you to make movies and such with your iPad.
The
fake Apple stores are spreading - now there is one in Iraq. These
fake stores are the ultimate compliment to Apple.
The
new Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet (the name is too long). If they
price it at $99, they will have a winner, but I don't think they will
do that.
And
three new digital cameras from Samsung. The prices keep falling and
the specs keep rising.
HP
is starting an ad campaign about how they are spinning off their PC
business. This is a little strange.
Here
is a look at Acer's Ultrabook.
Our
government wants to block the AT&T and T-Mobile merger. Too
late.
The
ten immutable laws of computer security.
Again,
an Apple employee loses an iPhone prototype in a bar. I don't know
what to write about that one. Perhaps Apple should read the ten
immutable laws above.
Hackers
steal 200 digital certificates. Is everyone ready for national
electronic health records?
Pollution
at a Chineses factory. This is not news as the Chinese are slowly
killing themselves. The news is that Apple is attached to this one.
Parallels
7 is out.
The
iPad is moving into baseball. I can't wait to see a angry pitcher
destroy an iPad in the dugout on the way to the showers after being
yanked by the manager.
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Friday September 2,
2011
Intel may
be backing out of the operating system business. I think that is a
good move on their part.
Someone has hacked into Texas law
enforcement and has leaked 3GigaBytes of emails. Is everyone ready
for national electronic health records?
Is
the PC dying or evolving? I am sitting in an office with three PCs.
It isn't dead.
Lenovo
shows a 7" tablet running Android - $199. They are supposed to sell
these for $99. Has anyone learned anything from HP's recent experience?
Some
notes about the Pentagon and non-competitive contracts.
The biggest reason for non-competitive contracts is time. The
government competition process is S L O W and P A I N F U L. Reform
that process, and we would have much more competition.
Some
thoughts on warrant-less wire tapping and national security.
"To
see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle"
- George Orwell. I had breakfast with some fine gentlemen this morning.
Much of the one-hour conversation could be summarized with this.
Yes,
I want one of these Microsoft tables at the coffee shop. I would
pay a few dollars an hour to use it.
This
is an interesting mix of a solid state disk and a spinning disk drive.
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Saturday September 3,
2011
This is really clever - a
little camera dolly that is well made and provide smooth tracks for
little video cameras.
This is
how to build a PC for $200. Why buy a case? Put it in a cardboard
box.
I
like this idea of a $25 PC.
The one thing that doesn't make sense is they claim it is the price of
a college textbook. Hey, college textbooks cost over $100.
More
scattered discussion about if the U.S. has enough engineers.
Silliness.
Samsung
shipped a million tablet computers, but only sold 20,000 - I believe
that is only 2%.
In
Illinois, a man may go to jail for 75 years for video-ing Police. I
would have thought that by now all the states would have learned how
stupid it is to have such laws.
Some
information on the rumored Amazon tablet.
An
analysis of terrorism since 9-11-2001. We have spent an inordinate
amount of time, money, attention, and other resources. Why?
I like this -
animated sheet music. Listen to the music as the notes appear on
the screen.
Excellent
thought on counter terrorism and blame in our world of "we have to sue
somebody for this." Any
institution delegated with the task of preventing terrorism has a
dilemma: they can either do their best to prevent terrorism, or they
can do their best to make sure they're not blamed for any terrorist
attacks.
Some
lessons learned from travelling with no baggage.
Will Google
ever release the G-Drive? I doubt it.
A
description of the New York Stock Exchange data center.
A
pleasant look at Steve Jobs, the guy who lives in the neighborhood.
There are no close captions on the screen in a movie theatre. Hence,
someone invented these glasses. The close captions are displayed in the
corner of the visual area.
Now what we really need is a computer in the frame of the glasses that
hears sounds, does a voice-to-text translation, and displays the text
in the visual area. That way the hearing impaired can read what anyone
anywhere is saying.
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Sunday September 4,
2011
Apple
now has 13.5% of the U.S. PC market.
There is potential energy all around us; we just have to start using
it. See,
for example, the subway train.
Someone
is finally making a Segway clone for $3,500.
My question is, if there were no regulations on safety, what could it
cost? Sometimes I have the feeling that the bicycle would never have
been invented in our current regulatory and law-suit climate.
AT&T
is selling a 4G phone for $100. Good for them.
Apple
continues to win lawsuits against Samsung preventing the Samsung
tablets from being sold and even displayed in Europe. Is this a
good thing for Apple to be doing?
I
like this post about short stories. They have disappeared from
magazines, but have a future in eBooks or eShortStories or something
like that.
Here
are some good reasons why freelance writers aren't making as much money
as they want or as they could. Marketing and relationships are
important, and they are two things that most of us writers don't like
to do.
Jerry
Weinberg has another change artist exercise.
This one is giving affirmations to people who are doing something that
you want them to do. This sounds really easy and it sounds like
something that should happen all the time. It isn't in either case.
I
highly recommend this post for writers. It is
about building your writing muscles. Maybe the analogy isn't a good
one, but the advice given here is.
Some
thoughts on structure in writing. Posts like this can be very
helpful when you are struggling to find a place to start.
Are
you writing or are you telling stories. Both are great.
Escapism.
When did that become a bad thing? That's what writers provide many
people - a chance to escape to another place, time, and people.
A
look at the Chicago Manual of Style.
This is a big, thick reference book. I have one copy at home and one
copy at work. Everytime I have a question, I find the answer in that
book.
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