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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This
week: November 18-24, 2013
Summary of this week:
- Raspberry Pi sells its 2million-th unit
- Samsung sells 800,000 smartwatches in two months
- Nokia introduces its first tablet - a Windows 8 machine
- Apple wins $290million from Samsung in patent case retrial
Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
- Saturday
- Sunday
Monday November 18, 2013
This guy uses a 20-year-old IBM keyboard. Where can I find one?
Google Drive still isn't available for Linux users. It will be here real soon now.
This backpack comes with a large battery and internal wiring to recharge your devices. At $200, it is expensive, but practical.
Apple buys PrimeSense, the company that helped create the Kinect motion sensor.
A look at Lenovo's tablet with a built-in stand. The cylinder on the edge allows the rest fo the tablet to be thinner. Good idea.
As winter, and the winter storm power outage season, approaches, a look at UPSs.
An
excellent commentary on the culture of the English-speaking world, our
heritage from Brittain, and our decline (still reversable).
The Anki Drive toy robot cars. Wow! The future in miniature.
Back to full size: Google lets The New Yorker inside its self-driving car.
This story has been all over the Internet the last week (with no photos or artist depictions), so it must be important. Samsung is supposed to have a smartphone next year with the display wrapping around the thin edges. So who cares? I don't get it.
The sales of Raspberry Pi computers are accelerating. They've sold over 2million and their initial goal was a few tens of thousands.
The benefits of napping. At least now we have a study we can show our overlords. I have pushed for naps at work for decades with no success.
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Tuesday November 19, 2013
Today is my 55th birthday.
This story is all over the Internet, so it must be important. The word of the year for 2013 is selfie.
Honda begins tests in the US with their Walking Assist device. This is what we should be doing with tech advances.
Toshiba's latest Ultrabook has 22 hours of battery life.
The Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to the NSA domestic spying program. This is a terrible event for the nation. The courts are here to protect the citizens from the government.
Google and Apple are generating a lot of solar energy in North Carolina. What is missing in the stories is if all this power will pay for itself in our lifetime.
Next year, Yahoo will be encrypting all data moving between its data centers.
Samsung has sold 800,000 smartwatches in two months. Some call that a great success (I would), others call it a flop.
WalMart employees hold a food drive to give food to other WalMart employees.
Nvidia and IBM team up to build a supercomputer from Nvidia's graphics processors.
A new way to waste taxpayers' money: the Pentagon continues to buy stuff it already has and doesn't need.
Automated flying systems have rendered commercial pilots incapable of flying themselves.
Silicon Valley keeps pushing Congress for immigration changes. They want the influx of talent to keep salaries lower. That is simple math, and these guys are pretty good at math.
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Wednesday November 20, 2013
Apple receives approval to begin building its spaceship campus. This may be the doom of Apple.
The folks at Wikipedia don't like paid wiki writing and editing. I have to agree with them, even though I wouldn't mind being paid to write on Wikipedia.
Someone hacks Cupid Media and exposes 42million passwords. Of course this will happen on Health Care dot Gov. Anyone who pretends not is merely pretending.
The "city" with the fastest broadband in the US is Ephrata, Washington. I have no idea where that is.
A look back at Windows 1.0 in 1985.
TenCent of China is offering 10TeraBytes of free cloud storage to users. Take great care what you put there.
A closer look at the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 2 Pro (they have to shorten the name).
The failure rates of portable computer makers. The most reliable machines come from Asus - that is a surprise.
A good list of tools for the Macintosh user.
LG Smart TVs are "spying" on their owners. Of course the technology is all there.
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Thursday November 21, 2013
Starting to see more of these devices. Power outlets that you turn on/off over WiFi. This is to help you run your house over the Internet - I wish there is some security in this stuff.
Man-in-the-middle attacks have been diverting massive amounts of Internet data.
Like Internet on airliners? Fly Southwest as they offer connectivity as soon as you board.
Someone at Microsoft thinks it a good idea to sell t-shirts that say Google steals your data.
Forget
Google Glass, these glasses help medical personnel see your veins below
the skin so they only have to poke you once. Great stuff.
The Mastermind Group:
The coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who
work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony...No two minds
ever come together without thereby creating a third, invisible
intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind.
The Windows support scam on the telephone continues.
I recently received a call that was a variation of this. I don't recall
the details, but it was the same thing: go to you computer, type a few
commands, tells us the answers so we can hack you.
Nokia introduces its first tablet - a Windows 8 machine.
This story is all over the Internet, so it must be important: Winamp, an old music playing application for the PC, ceases to exist in December.
A school in the UK was tracking movements of its teenage students the last three years.
It sounds as if they had good motives: understanding and improving flow
of traffic among campuses, but they have run afoul of the law and
parents.
Some signs that women are moving into the tech industry. Good.
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Friday November 22, 2013
In the patent retrial of the still young century, Samsung owes Apple $290million. A small amount for these two.
I can't wait for this (NOT), the FAA may soon let people talk on their cell phones in flight.
Qualcomm is laying off employees - happy holidays everyone.
Americans die too young for the amount we spend on health care. One conclusion: we waste money on ineffective health care.
I like this one: Circuit Scribe lets you draw working electric circuits on paper. Great for circuit designers and educators.
Apple puts up a "Life on iPad" page to highlight some unusual ways people are using the iPad.
One school in Ireland tried an Windows 8 tablet instead of textbooks. It was bad. Note, this is one school in one place at one time. The sample size is pretty small.
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Saturday November 23, 2013
Apple starts selling a GSM, unlocked iPhone 5s. You supply your own SIM card and travel outside the U.S.
Honda and Apple team to bring us iOS in the Car.
There was an idea afloat to open Apple stores on Thanksgiving - Tim Cook prevailed so that people can be home. Good for him. Someone places a little human dignity above profits.
Some people are already camping in line outside of Best Buy stores for black Friday.
This is cute: a British Airways billboard has a photo of a child point to planes as they fly over and show what flight it is. I guess there is something here that is beneficial to someone, but it is probably nothing more than a little ad stunt.
Put 18 electric motor rotors on a cab and you have something that looks like a helicoptor, but it isn't.
Mexico employs the deaf to watch security camera monitors. They can read lips. Aha.
People who own electric cars love them, but no one else will buy them. Hint: they cost too much.
John Carmack, who founded id Software - think Doom and Quake - resigns.
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Sunday November 24, 2013
The USB Disk Pro app for moving files among Mac and mobile Apple devices.
Switzerland and the maximum wage ratio. There is much good to consider here.
As there is much good to consider in stopping the development-aid industry that kills local business and jobs.
It seems that a lot of Americans don't want cellphone use on airliners.
HP will have a 7" Android tablet called the Mesquite sell for $89 at WalMart on Black Friday. How can you lose?
The evolution of Apple's iWork applications from a package to free individual apps and the web.
The one-of-a-kind red Mac Pro sold for about $1million at charity auction.
Turn your life story into a book. Just one book?
Is the 10,000-hour rule true? Does it apply to writing? My answer to both is, "probably."
What do you write first? "It sometimes depends on deadlines, but I've found that the most efficient thing is to write what you want to write."
An opposing view to the idea that you should write and publish daily.
A few thoughts on short stories.
As a freelance writer, try to have a dozen different things going at once. This doesn't work for everyone.
Progress, or lack thereof, of the plain writing in government program.
The concept of the story Bible to keep all the details of everything.
Writing fiction is telling a lie. It is an okay lie to tell, but it is lying. It is not easy for most of us to make that leap.
Here is another writing niche: freelance public relations writing.
Showing how time passes in a story.
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