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 April 7-13, 2014

Summary of this week:


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

Monday April 7, 2014

Given everyone wants a big smartphone or a small tablet, it may be a surprise that the Ultrabooks still exist and are improving every season.

A look at our military's use of drone deliveries of supplies.

The close relationship between Apple and chipmaker Micron Technology.

The story never changes: don't buy a phone this year; wait till next year's Qualcomm processors.

Great news for people like me who hang out in coffee shops: Coffee shop WiFi speeds will triple (after you buy  new Qualcomm hardware).

A look at the "hot" computing jobs in 2014: programmer is still #1.

One manager's experience of quickly returning to programming.

The anti-tech hatred continues in San Francisco, a place where tolerance used to be the theme.

How Google and Facebook try to be America-OnLine, i.e., be the Internet.

Thoughts on the new unemployment problem; it is more complex than old unemployment problem.

The big growth in mobile apps used by churches.

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Tuesday April 8, 2014

A look at the future of Hadoop and the big data warehouses.

The future is mobile, no duh, but mobile apps, not the mobile web.

More on Google's strategy with Android TV.

Success leads to government regulation leads to failure: airbnb in San Francisco.

A cellphone battery that recharges in 30 seconds. Yes, it is still a prototype.

Seagate releases a 6TeraByte disc drive. It is great to be a consumer at this time. I am not sure what you would do with this drive, but someone will find a use quickly.

Adobe shows us newer photo editing software for the iPad: Lightroom Mobile.

Companies are moving to smaller cities for faster fiber optic broadband services.

Guess what? If you put an easier-to-read font in cars, drivers spend more time looking at the road. Of course this is true, and I have to wonder why it took so long for some people to realize it.

Government to the rescue: the FAA bans use of little drones for search and rescue of citizens. Someone has to ask someone at the FAA if they are really as stupid as they sound.

As expected, 85,000 H-1B visas issued in one week.

Raspberry Pi is moving into commercial applications. I hope this doesn't destroy the concept and the product.

Pushing the 3D printer down to $300 for the home.

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Wednesday April 9, 2014

Microsoft ends its support for Windows XP. XP is one of the most successful products in Microsoft history.

LAPD officers break the hardware installed to monitor their performance.

The worst company in America is...Comcast!

Google Glass helping those who suffer from Parkinson's disease. This is what we should be doing with higher technology.

WiFi speeds on airliners are going up.

The world is safe again: DirectTV and The Weather Channel resolve their dispute, TWC is back on the dish.

Toyota is bringing people back into their factories.

A little move towards open-source, no-cost college textbooks. I like it.

One company's move to Chromebooks and Google Apps.

The Heartbleed virus disrupts the entire Internet.

Twitter's interface will soon resemble that of Facebook. Start the combination jokes: TwittBook, Facer, TwittFace, FaceTwitt, etc.

bing.com/travel no longer has the price precdictor. I noticed that this week as I booked a flight.

Amazon is now the #3 streaming video provider in the world.

Facebook has 100million users in India alone.

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Thursday April 10, 2014

Many of us keep a To Do list to nag our minds. Not many keep a Done list to show our progress.

The Apple rumors will run rampant for the next few months as Apple is to introduce many new products in the fall. I don't often mention the Apple rumors on here as what is the use?

And it seems that everyone wants to buy a new iPhone this year. I do, but that is because the camera on my current iPhone broke.

Tinkerbots: a new and capable entry in the market of robotic toy building sets.

How collaboration tools are changing while remaining the same.

The tech scene in New York City is booming, and almost half of those employed do not have college degrees. Good for them, but bad news for colleges who seem to be falling into the don't care mode.

Tales of Silicon Valley, acqui-hiring, and leaving the girl behind because she has a rich boyfriend.

HP will pay $108million in fines for bribery in other countries.

A look at Dell's entry into Chromebooks: high quality for $299.

DropBox now has 275million users. The definition of success has changed.

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Friday April 11, 2014

Seth Godin on creating and keeping lifetime customers. So few organizations are able to do this.

How do you bring Linux into the workplace? Do nothing. Over half of your employees already have Android (Linux) phones.

We should encourage more girls to learn programming, but not reward that at the expense of also teaching boys.

Our government claims 7.1million Obamacare enrollees, but the numbers aren't believeable.

Speaking of that debacle...Our Secretary of Health and Human Services resigns over the healthcare.gov site failure. Look at the bright side of this mess: it wasn't really something critical. It was only a progressive experiment in social engineering.

The world is safe: Stephen Colbert will replace David Letterman. Silly? Yes, but there is value in having people that help us laugh.

Condoleezza Rice joined the board at DropBox. Immediately, people want her out as they fear a surveillance connection with big government.

Speaking of surveillance: surveillance is the business model of the Internet - Bruce Schneier. It is the old model of the magazines and newspapers—sell the identities of your subscribers to marketers. The money chases the money around in circles.

Google opens the sale of Glass to "everyone" (with $1,500) on 15 April.

Could this be the reinvention of the printer? A robot print head crawls across a piece of paper. If this works, you can carry a printer in your pocket.

We are slowly moving towards aircraft that can stay aloft indefinitely.

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Saturday April 12, 2014

I love this phrase: Photography is the new "driving while black."

Congress is working on a law to prohibit the government from selling free documents to other parts of the government. You can't make up this stuff.

It seems the NSA has been using the Heartbleed error to get into other people's stuff for years.

We may soon allow spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the country as well.

Almost have of Twitter accounts have never tweeted.

Staples will have 3D printers in some of their stores—pay per use.

Amazon is actually developing little delivery drones.

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Sunday April 13, 2014

The cliche: don't use it unless you are writing fiction and the character is a lazy person who cannot say what they mean.

Some ways to acommplish more writing in the same amount of time.

The use of a storyboard in writing.

How do you make someone hate reading? Send them to an American High School. Ouch.

Thoughts on writing a novel.

A guide to working as a freelancer after you retire. If you have a keyboard, you can write.

A review of Scrivener.

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