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.

Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page
Email me at d.phillips@computer.org

This week: September 23-29, 2013

Summary of this week:


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

Monday September 23, 2013

More how-to instructions for iOS 7. Odd, Apple says this interface is natural or something. Why does everyone need extra instructions?

California is now regulating ride-sharing services. Why not? It reduces traffic, reduces pollution, increases health - so it must be regulated, right?

It seems that 1,500 people have died in the last ten years from too much Tylenol. It also seems that the margin between enough and too much is small. And it also seems that the folks in the government who are supposed to tell people about this aren't.

Oracle shows a technique to speed data retrieval by 100x.

Big businesses are spending money on big data, but not using the data for anything.

The big LG Vu3 smartphone.

We have heard this rumor before, so maybe it is true this time...The FAA will allow us to have our electronic devices turned on during takeoff and landing. Shh, don't tell anyone, but I have never abided by the policy, and I am the only person to be so contrarian.

So much for "independnt" panels reviewing the NSA.

That didn't take long...hackers break the iPhones fingerprint reader with a copied fingerprint.

Apple released an update to its TV, then pulled it back as the software did all sorts of unintended bad things. So much for testing.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Tuesday September 24, 2013

Microsoft has announced the second version of its tablet computers. They will be available 22 October.

Apple has, supposedly, fixed its TV software and put it back online.

Apple sold nine million new iPhones their first weekend. The definition of success has changed.

The more expensive 5S is outselling the 5C three to one.

Due to problems in China, the price of memory chips is at its highest in two years.

Android is five years old today.

Red Hat's Fedora is ten years old this week.

Is the classroom lecture dead? Dying? Probably something in there.

Adobe updates Photoshop and Premiere Elements for the Mac.

More Americans are going to disability payments as a form of long-term unemployment. This is especially true in rural areas.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Wednesday September 25, 2013

The story of Twitter, a Russian President, and the move to Java.

More Firefox OS smartphones are coming to the U.S. next year.

How about a smart smoke detector for the home, one that connects to the Internet and your smartphone? I wish they will make it secure?

Amazon announces updates to their line of Kindle devices. The model to buy is an older one whose price dropped to $139.

Energy from the Ivanpah solar steam plant. Ony $1.6Billion in taxpayers' money. I'm (not at all) sure it will pay for itself one day.

Clothing factories are returning to America, but with machines not jobs.

One way to reduce unemployment: cuts everyone's job and pay to 30 hours and share jobs. There are, of course, drawbacks to this idea.

Boeing is bring F-16s out of mothballs and having them fly as drones. Great idea.

A good infographic on drinking coffee to lose weight. No argument in that the practice works, but does it hurt?

The revolving door of the rich and powerful continues: Obama nominates Apple's top lobbyist to a State Department. This is terrible for the country. Politicians wonder why voters are cynical, and people turn their backs on their country. This is terrible for the country.

Much of the software needed to implement Obamacare is being written by non-citizens. There is unemployment in America, and we are hiring foreign citizens to perform work for our government. Our tax dollars are being sent out of the country. Absurdity exemplified.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Thursday September 26, 2013

Despite all the complaints, adoption of iOS 7 has been quick.

Students in Los Angeles as using their school-issued iPads at home. The school district doesn't like that. The students have gone so far as the hack past the school's security measures. It seems to me that the students are learning a lot. We can't have that! (not)

Hackers for hire. They are available and they are good at what they do.

Founded in 1734, Loyd's List is the oldest continuously printed newspaper in the world. It is going all digitial - no more paper.

Some people don't use the Internet. It is irrelevant in their lives and too difficult to use.

Some in Congress are trying to limit the NSA's surveillance. It seems rather simple, but I suppose that I am rather simple as well.

The Location Independent Professional is about to hit the road again - worth following.

Some people produce 10 times what others produce in the mental fields. Right? Or is that a myth based on faulty studies?

Samsung will have a smartphone with a curved display. The novelty will sell a lot of units, but is there any value in this?

Google turned language translation into a math problem - and then solved it.

Thoughts on college education and the self-educated.

The Pebble smartwatch is now available for $150.

People are having fun bashing Apple, but the recent iPhone sales show the silliness of it.

Bill Gates discusses the history of the Control-Alt-Delete.

An interesting infographic about "smart" people.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Friday September 27, 2013

Photographic evidence is worthless. You must see these "pictures" - they are all synthetic.

imgur has 100 million unique visitors each month. The definition of success has changed.

The new toy for the plutocrats - the personal submarine - only costs about $3million.

Google recently changed its core search algorithm. They cannot sit still and grow old with the world.

Los Angeles schools have already lost 71 iPads. It is only the beginning. Funny how things that are "free" are treated as worthless. Perhaps there is a greater lesson here?

Twitter is quickly becoming a Tumblr - photos photos photos.

An FAA panel recommends letting us keep our stuff turned on during takeoffs and landings. Now all they have to do is make it through a dozen more panels, Congress, the White House, and the unions of the pilots and flight attendants. Good luck with that.

The UN's IPCC is certain the mankind is responsible for global warming. When was the last time an international committee was certain of anything?

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Saturday September 28, 2013

A look inside Apple's new A7 processor.

More history of the Control-Alt-Delete keys.

A look back at the Skinner Box or Air-Crib. Put you infant in a super-clean, super air controlled box.  Can I have one for me?

China has recently eased restrictions on Internet and video games, but only in the free trade zone in Shanghai. Interesting how the Chinese have re-established the extra-territoriality  and foreign zones of the 1800s.

See every Google doodle in one video.

Iran hacked into the U.S. Navy's computers. Is everyone ready for national electronic health records?

It's not who you know, it's who you help.

Law enforcement continues to ask Microsoft for user data - tens of thousands a year.

Free UNIX - Richard Stallman, September 1983.

How practical are you? Really? Here is a line of wearable luggage. Yes, you look odd (maybe even stupid), but you miss all the problems with luggage and airline travel.

Advances in mind-controlled prosthetics. Excellent use of technology.

The age bias in Silicon Valley, and almost every place where tech is the center of the job.

IBM was caught abusing the H-1B visa system.

The software for the 1 October milestone in Obamacare is not ready. Chalk it up to yet another major government software failure. The answer? Poor management on the government side. The answer is always the same.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page

Sunday September 29, 2013

It is Sunday, International Coffee Day. Starbucks, where I am, does not have free coffee. Why? Be that is it may, as usual I put here many links to posts on writing that I accumulate during the week.

How to charge your laptop's battery to extend its life. I have been doing it wrong forever.

Efforts to avoid government surveillance lead to "islands" of secure data outside of national borders.

Looking a new ideas in the backpack. I like the designs.

A four-foot autonomous boat has made 1,000 miles on its crossing of the Atlantic.

It seems to be a bad idea if you are starting a new company to hire former Google employees.

Facebook groups for writers.

Tips to find (better) paying writing jobs.

How to write more precisely. This is critical in most technical fields.

How the freelancers can survive in just about any economy.

A writing exercise for writers groups - groupomodoro.

Tips on how writers can use Twitter.

There are times when the writer goes back to work in a real day job.

Lessons from two years as a writing and entrepreneur.

The idea of a writing plan - like a training plan for running and such.

Becoming a writer through practice AND learning through the practice. Writing junk over and over and over does not make it.

Place to go, and avoid, when looking for freelance writing jobs.

A look at mind mapping. I use this technique often.

Challenge #1: get out of bed.

This post attempts to explain Obamacare to the freelancers.

Finish your first draft, even it you know it is bad.

Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
Go to Day Book Home and pointer to previous weeks
Go to Dwayne's Home Page