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: December March 10-16, 2014

Summary of this week:


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

Monday March 10, 2014

A person uses the Mophie Space Pack for a month. Again, a smartphone's case has more computing power and utility than the smartphone.

HP and Microsoft are trying to build the business tablet market. Good luck with that one as businesses, at least big ones, have big IT departments that don't speak tablet, yet.

Looking towards a future of big data and preventing health problems.

The Archival Disc: a new format from Sony and Panasonic that promises 300GigaBytes per disc in 2015. Later, 1TeraByte per disc.

Forward to the past: the monocle is returning to fashion.

Thoughts on female computer programmers and public perceptions.

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Tuesday March 11, 2014

The collision of augmented reality and children's books. I have a great interest in both. We shall see what happens.

One person's experience with a MOOC. She failed the class—the first time for that in her life. The completion rates for MOOC are terrible, below 10%.

iOS 7.1 is now out.

Guess what? Many of our government officals who regulate technology don't know anything about it.

Here is a growth industry: online travel services.

Later this year, Intel will be selling 800GigaBitPerSecond cables to data centers and supercomputing centers.

Our government wants to renew its efforts to constantly monitor its employees. This is terribly short sighted as unemployment will have to triple before people are desperate enough to be a government employee.

Rural America is still without broadband. What happened to the billion$? It went to the suburbs who masqueraded as rural.

Shuttle continues to show everyone how a really small desktop computer can run really powerful processors.

Microsoft to sell a cover for its tablet that doubles the battery life. Once again, the device's cover has more capability than the device.

An audio processor board for the Raspberry Pi. Excellent.

There is a little-known alternative to H-1B visas, and companies are using it. Can the students spell u n e m p l o y m e n t ?

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Wednesday March 12, 2014

Google launches the Add-on store for Docs and Sheets. This will greatly expand the features of Google Docs.

The WorldScienceU web site.

Augmented Reality and the soldier. Sometimes soldiers, and their equipment, are captured. Then the enemy can use the captured network device to hack into the network, and ... well, you know. Perhaps we should think this one through a bit more.

And a look at a motorcycle ride through the lens of augmented reality Google Glass.

Rolling Stone interviews Dong Nguyen. Who is he? He wrote Flappy Bird over a holiday weekend.

US companies are holding $2Trillion outside the US. Our Congress passes laws, and then we suffer the outcomes.

The cycle repeats: computer science enrollment is up this year.

Our Federal government is a money transfer machine with 70% of expenditures being money sent to individuals. Take from some, give to others. I believe that is the definition of redistribution.

Some of our government employees have been watching the non-government citizens. Now some government employees will be watching all the other government employees. Some government employees don't like this surveillance now that it is aimed at themselves. Are you confused, too?

Someone hacked 162,000 WordPress sites. Don't worry though as Health Care dot Gov is secure.

And someone has shown how to read everyone else's WhatsApp messages.

A Bill of Rights for the Internet. I doubt it will happen as the topic of rights has little backing worldwide.

Coming this year: Microsoft Office for the Mac 2014.

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Thursday March 13, 2014

More on the add-ons for Google Docs.

iOS users have quickly moved to version 7.1.

United Airlines will stream video to iOS devices free this year. It will take all year for all airplanes to have the needed systems. Android is out of luck.

If you want to raise a lot of money on Kickstarter, have a celebrity endorse you.

Yet another report on the attitudes of the millennial generation.

A look at the state of the art in consumer disc drives: LaCie $1,300 1TeraByte drive.

Real soon now, Starbucks app will let you pre-order your coffee, that is if you, like me, drink something as mundane as coffee at Starbucks.

A look back at the start of what we called desktop publishing. For you younger folks, that means printing your Word docs so they look nice. That was a rare thing in 1984.

It seems the young and old engineers in Silicon Valley aren't talking to one another, and it shows in the products.

A review of those external batteries for the smartphones.

Aha, some environmentalists finally get it: don't like coal? Buy the industry and close it. Simply use your money to change things.

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Friday March 14, 2014

No Internet viewing today.

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Saturday March 15, 2014

The smart car will be hacked. Yes, see my short story that predicts it.

The price of Amazon Prime goes up to $99.

It has only been a week, and we already have a list of the best Google Drive Add-ons.

An excellent Add-on is EasyBib that creates the correct citation for a work you cite in your paper.

From gas station to $1million sales on Facebook.

Some perspective on the astronomical growth of data storage.

Will Apple ever upgrade the Mac Mini? Intel and others have released smaller form factor computers. What is happening at Apple?

At last, Google Street View takes you down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Wonderful. Will this reduce the number of people who want to see it first hand or increase that number?

After 45 years, Goodyear updates its blimp fleet with a new design.

This body painting and optical illusion stuff is getting out of hand. Of course you can hide something if you spend enough time at it.

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Sunday March 16, 2014

The progressive consumption tax. Makes sense to me.

Small crawling robots and flying drones can go places we can't and allow us to see amazing things. Here is video of an erupting volcano.

Sexism and other personnel problems continue in the technology industry. Let's behave and act and treat others as human.

The city of San Antonio has approved Google Fiber construction. Why won't Google come to Reston, Virginia or at least the George Mason University area of Fairfax?

Google drops the prices of its Google drive cloud storage. I guess I've never reached the 15GigaByte limit of free storage, and I use Google drive a lot.

But if you want much more storage, Seagate has a 32TeraByte system for you.

Writers are rejected—often. Here are a few ways to work through rejection.

Thoughts on writing from Hemingway. Still, all you need is some paper and a pencil.

Notes on a writer traveling alone.

Inspiration is everywhere. Stop and notice.

The "write from the middle" method of novel writing and story telling.

Some thoughts on smart devices and stupid situations, or is it the other way around?

One thing you learn in a writing class is hearing other people say how bad your writing is and learning that the world didn't end.

Some methods of possible earning money from your blog.

The Location Independent Professional is about to hit the road again: a checklist.

It doesn't look like much, but this is the room where the Internet was born.

One writer's thoughts after a year as a full-time writer. It isn't easy.

Thoughts on quiting your job and becoming a freelance writer. I don't like much in this post. I find the advice dangerous, especially parts that describe guaranteed writing jobs you can do while you wait for your fiction to sell. There are no guaranteed writing jobs. I have looked for them in vain.

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