Summary of this week:

Apple passes Coca Cola as the biggest brand in the world
The U.S. government closed on October 1st
Tom Clancy dies at 66
Twitter has its IPO

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

Monday September 30, 2013

It is Monday, and it appears to be a slow week in the things I read. The big news, or the big question in the news, is if the US government will "shut down" on Tuesday. The government has not had a budget since Mr. Obama took office. He is too principled to sign a budget that disagrees with him. That is one point of view. Another is that he doesn't undestand what it means to hold office in the Executive branch of government and how to work with the Legislative branch of government. That is a great shame for the nation.

In space news, SpaceX used an upgraded launch vechicle to put a Canadian satellite into orbit. And the Orbital Sciences Cygnus craft docked with the ISS to deliver supplies.

This story is everywhere, so it must be important: Apple bumps Coca-Cola as the world's most something-or-other brand. I guess this is important to those who feel that brand is everything.

Toshiba is struggling in its TV business, so it laysoff a few thousand people.

Several well known .gov sites will go down if the government shuts down tomorrow.

Must see video: an unscientific but fun speed comparison of every iPhone ever made.

How smartphones are becoming the tech innovation for the blind. This is what we should be doing with technology.

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Tuesday October 1, 2013

It is October 1st and the U.S. government is closed or something like that. How many people remember the days when there were adults in the White House and Congress?

The government shutdown affects many persons who work on government contracts. They will lose their salary and, unlike the government employees, have no hope of being paid back later.

The online health care exchanges are up today. Expect many problems. But don't you just love the models they photographed to represent real Americans?

Comparing Apple vs Microsoft to Apple vs Google.

Google Drive has a new, smaller user interface. I hadn't noticed the change, but it is there.

Ikea will start selling solar panels. I like that.

Microsoft joins Amazon in having its cloud services authorized for government use (if the government ever re-opens).

DropBox continues pushing to be the place to put all our photos.

These smartphones can be re-charged in ten minutes.

The FarmBot project: FarmBots are open-source, scalable, automated precision farming machines.

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Wednesday October 2, 2013

A close look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014) tablet. They need to work on the name.

There have been a lot of iPhones being traded in lately.

The President compares the HealthCare.gov glitches to Apple. He must have been joking because his comments are laughable.

Schools in Los Angeles are repossessing iPads they gave to students. So much for that experiment.

The shutdown of Federal government web sites appears to be arbitrary. This means that politics instead of pragmatics is ruling in government. That is a great shame for the taxpayers. It only breeds cynicism and distrust among the citizens. A great shame for us all.

A little late, but the FCC wants to fine phone vendors for abusing the Obamaphone program.

It took KFC two years to develop its Go Cups. This is not as simple as it may appear.

It appears that 70% of intelligence community employees are sitting at home during this government shutdown.

If the shutdown continues, perhaps they can go to work for Amazon for the Christmas holidays.

Must see video on the history of the rock guitar solo.

draw dot io provides a drawing tool online. And why should we buy Visio or anything else?

One of Nike's best selling shoe lines is the old Converse Chuck Taylor. I own a pair. I didn't know I was so fashionable.

A tool that scores the emotional content of a story. This application may seem a bit silly, but the tool can be used in far more serious situations, e.g., intelligence analysis for a nation and law enforecement.

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Thursday October 3, 2013

Tom Clancy dies at 66. Here is one report.

ooops, you can't buy Obama insurance on the Internet if you don't have Internet access - and millions of rural residents don't.

Google has bought Flutter, which has an app to control your computer with gestures.

Facebook, Cisco, and some retailers have setup a free WiFi system for stores. You check in at the store and you have free WiFi.

Dell updates its Windows 8.1 tablets.

Dell also announces a couple of Android tablets - inexpensive.

HarperCollins has signed a deal to put some of its books on Scribd.

Xposed allows you to create your own version of Android.

"I should suppose, in short, that the hallmark of a truly effective internal security system would be the maximum possible disclosure, recognizing that secrecy can best be preserved only when credibility is truly maintained." - Justice Stewart, New York Times v. United States, 1971.

"If you’re given 8 minutes, take 8 minutes minus 7 seconds, not 9 minutes. The extra minute is selfish." Seth Godin

Facebook is developing housing for its employees in Menlo Park.

Tech from the 1980s. I still have my Sony Walkman.

LG also plans to sell a smartphone with a curved display this year.

Intel partners with Arduino in another attempt to enter the Maker market.

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Friday October 4, 2013

Dell updates their line of portable computers with better processors and much better displays.

Arduino TRE - the most powerful platform to date with a Texas Instruments A8 processor.

Someone hacked into Adobe and compromised 2.9 million accounts, but don't worry, all that information you enter into the Obamacare web sites will be absolutely secure.

A look at an Internet-only radio station.

This Boston Dymanics robot runs at 16mph - faster than the vast majority of humans.

Thoughts on how new tech does not reduce jobs. The discussion will continue.

Micromanagement is a legitimate technique that works. The term is often confused with nit-picking management - a bad practice.

Twitter has its Initial Public Offering.

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Saturday October 5, 2013

Our government investigated Apple for four months and found nothing wrong with its taxes and overseas holdings. Don't we all feel better this morning?

Thoughts on self-driving cars - they are accident-free so far. The key to the adoption is if persons will have the patience to sit and let the car drive the speed limit and not change lanes every two seconds.

This story from MIT is all over the Internet, so it must be important. These cube robots assemble themselves into new shapes to do new tasks. The cubes move without any external moving parts. They have flywheels spinning on the inside that provide locomotion.

Testing the little human transporters from Honda and Toyota. So far these are stunts, but they have the great potential to provide mobility to people whose muscles no longer function.

It appears that the Intelligence Community of the U.S. has furloughed 70% of its employees. How to comment?

Love this story about a man who made $50K renting his apartment on airbnb. I have no doubt that someone in our government will now go after him for commiting some terrible crime against humanity.

Twitter only has about 50million active users in the U.S. Only? The definition of success has changed.

HHS runs the Obamacare websites. HHSs website was hacked several months ago. I am not the smartest guy in the world, but I can see the train wreck coming. Surely, someone else can as well.

Yes, government contractors are furloughing thousands of employees as well.

Look at this: see how much sugar is in common drink and food.

More people are going to rural libraries to use the Internet. This trend will continue as rural residents with no Internet access will try to register for health care insurance. I recently used the Loranger, Louisiana library to print something - only 25 cents.

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Sunday October 6, 2013

MIT issues a lessons on Aaron Schwartz article. Brilliant young minds deserve guidance. I am astounded that prestigious universities have forgotten that.

Tech companies are reaching down to high schools to find brilliant new minds and ideas. Is the university dead? Has the world moved beyond the need for the university? Or maybe, perhaps, university administrators misshaped the place until it became useless.

A map of Internet freedom. Not much of the globe is free. There is something to this concept of liberty and such.

Cameras, cameras everywhere and the results find the Internet. A home security camera catches a USPS person driving on a lawn.

Encouragement and techniques for writing succinctly.

Sometimes we writers cripple ourselve with these statements.

Writing is not all fun. There are scaring and ugly things that writers face.

Monday can be a wasted day for freelancers. Here are some ideas on keeping it productive. Monday is one of my more productive days. Substitute these tips for that day of the week that seems to be a drag.

Some ideas of how to use mind maps while crafting a novel.

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