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 June 23-29, 2014

Summary of this week:

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

Monday June 23, 2014

Google's developer conference (I/O) is this week. Expect announcements.

A visit to the LinkedIn offices in Mountain View. Yes, some people actually work at places like this.

In a bad turn, watching people at work is becoming more common.

The future is in the past: the favorite app of kids in high school is SMS. It was this way before the smartphone when high school kids used thos text pagers and used SMS all day.

The EFF has a router tool to open your WiFi to anyone while still letting you have private use.

Our military now has an x-ray gun. It is simply a portable x-ray machine.

Odd movements at Microsoft regarding their Windows 9 development and the Chinese government.

Sunnyvale, Ca. is the only Silicon Valley town to make the snootiest in America list. I used to visit Sunnyvale often. I found it a pleasant place, and the Motel 6 I stayed in was anything but snooty.

The barcode is now 40 years old.

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Tuesday June 24, 2014

My Internet viewing is curtailed as I attend an AWS Symposium on government, education, and non-profits in Washington, D.C. The commute makes it an 11-hour day.

Mint 17 is a good alternative to Ubuntu.

Microsoft cuts the price of storage in Offive 365. The cloud continues to be cheaper.

Microsoft introduces it's first Android phone.

Nest thermostats are the center node in Google home control.

oops The Nest has been hacked, so your home is now open to everyone.

The Russians are dropping Intel in favor of their own processors.

USF library has drones you can borrow.

This robot,i.e., vehicle carries your stuff and follows you-no doubt at great expense./a>

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Wednesday June 25, 2014

The most powerful man in mobile, hence in the world, is Google's Sundar Pichai(?).

Google's I/O event begins today. Here are the latest strong rumors: yet more TV predictions. Everyone wants to rule TV, but I am not sure why.

Speaking of rumors, the next iPhone may have image stabilization for the camera. Is this a phone or a camera or an everything?

I guess we can call this Glass version 2 as Google upgrades the hardware. This is still not a consumer product, but it is moving in that direction.

Some owners of the Google Pixel Chromebook were cheated on data plans, so Google is giving them money to try to make amends for another company's goof.

Microsoft, and others, continue to fight the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

This could be silly or it could shatter the world as we know it. This is a rumor that Google is working on micro-robots small enough to swim through a person's blood stream. All silliness aside, this type of technology will change the world when it happens (not if it happens). Such robots will cleanse the body from disease from the inside as the disease develops, i.e., this will be the near-perfect implentation of the sage advice, "Act early, act small."

A visit to DropBox offices—yet another dream workplace.

A clever electric skateboard that folds into its own case. Still about $1,000, so not practical.

Those teenagers cannot make up their minds. Teens are returning to Facebook in big numbers.

Firechat (peer-to-peer mesh networking) keeps the Internet running in censored Baghdad.

A researcher presents a new, better technique for hiding information in a cell phone.

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Thursday June 26, 2014

Google had a big event at Google I/O. The only thing I found fascinating was the ability to edit MS Office files directly in Google Docs, but that isn't here yet. It will be here real soon now.

Google ended their show with a piece of cardboard that makes a smartphone into a virtual reality viewer.

Google showed a new design language called Material Design.

Facebook releases their workforce diversity  numbers, and the numbers are just as bad as everyone else's.

The US Supreme Court rules that what Aereo does is illegal.

The Germans are breaking records for the amount of renewable energy they are generating. No, this couldn't be done in the US. The US is much to diverse both geographically and culturally to do what the Germans do. Neither is better, but differences abound.

Kaplan buys Dev Bootcamp to move into another segment of education.

A veiled look at the Moto 360 Android watch. They seem to have understood that watch is a piece of jewelry—not a time piece and not a computer.

A proposal to build 1,000-foot tall walls in the US tornado alley to stop the formation of tornados. The stuff of science fiction that allows us to ask, "what if?"

Audi found a way to generate power and charge an electric car using the car's suspension system. This is yet another example of turning physical motion to electric power, and there is physical motion everywhere for the harvesting.

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Friday June 27, 2014

Now that Aereo is illegal, Dish's AutoHopper is being pursued in court.

Apple drops the Aperture photo processing app and puts all its efforts into the Photo app.

Apple releases a new version of the iPod touch.

WatchESPN had 1.7million people watching the US vs Germany World Cup match.

The iPhone will be seven years old this Sunday.

WalMart slashes the prices of the iPhone 5s and 5c ($29).

One tester's complaint about Google Wear smartwatch: it does too much.

ASUS to make a $99 Google Wear smartwatch.

Our Centers for Disease Contol blames 10% of deaths on alcohol related incidents.

Can gender discrimination in programming education end gender discrimination is programming employement? Google seems to think so.

A great chef knife: Wusthof Classic 8-Inch Cook's Knife. A great value in a chef knife: Victorinox Swiss Army 8-Inch Fibrox.

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Saturday June 28, 2014

GoPro has an initial public offering, and all goes quite well.

How machine learning is coming to dominate research in drones.

Despite rumors, Google will continue its line of Nexus phones and tablets.

The Internet of things (if it ever happens) will mean many more jobs for programmers.

The $35 Raspberry Pi as web server.

Germany has an energy crisis: too much of it has driven prices too low to sustain plants.

Instragram moved 200million photos for Amazon servers to Facebook servers this year. Did you notice?

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Sunday June 29, 2014

Facebook did a psychology experiment on 700,000 of its users. Yes, there is lots of data there for the using.

More thoughts on the test that everyone is discussing on a Sunday morning.

Thoughts on education, college, and online offerings. Things must change as the cost of traditional college has exploded.

The Authorpreneur.

To write humor, don't try to be funny. Write about things that are funny.

A writer's fear: no one will read and no one will care.

If you want to be a freelance writer, don't do these things.

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