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 30-July 6, 2014
Summary of this week:
- Discussion continues regarding Facebook manipulating emotions of users
- Samsung releases new line of low-priced smartphones
- The last plasma TV builder drops it
- Microsoft smartwatch just another fitness band
- Happy Birthday America
Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
- Saturday
- Sunday
Monday June 30, 2014
The discussion of the Facebook psychology study continues. It seems that Facebook made a big mistake.
Here is a "scientific" description of the test.
It appears that many tech companies have gone too far on the side of "culture fit" in their hiring.
The past and possible future of Second Life. It was a victim of its early success and too much hyperbole from the media.
Rochester, NY is falling apart a few years after the fall of Kodak. This is quite a shame.
Google's little cardboard stunt last week could have lasting implications. Good.
Boston tries out solar-powered smart benches. Yes, it is a stunt, but maybe one day spinoffs will become something practical.
Google's Eric Schmidt visits Cuba.
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Tuesday July 1, 2014
Samsung releases several low-price smartphones aimed at China and India.
Samsung has a new line of sold state disks.
Major TV networks? What were those? Yahoo will continue a show dropped by NBC and stream it the Internet.
Apple is pouring resources into better speech understanding.
Google tried to work with US auto makers on self-driving cars. The cultural differences were too great. Just wait, in 20 years GM may be a memory while Google or a spinoff from Google will be the dominant company in US autos.
Our Supreme Court won't hear Google's appeal about its collecting open WiFi information.
If someone is openly broadcasting information, other people cannot
listen to it. I guess there is much about this that I don't understand.
In Los Angeles, the schools stumbled with one-iPad-per-student, so let's try something different.
Microsoft hinting at Windows 9 and the desktop computer.
It appears that Microsoft is moving away from the mobile OS that you
will love on your desktop computer. That idea didn't work.
Headbones: this could change the way we listen to everything.
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Wednesday July 2, 2014
Ars Technica visits inside HP in Houston.
A solar-powered farming robot is working in Australia. Yes, it is a stunt, but there might be something in the future for this.
The biggest, most shocking Snowden documents are delayed. Is this Hollywood or Washington, D.C. Perhaps the world is such that we can't tell anymore.
The IRS, the 501(C) organization, and free and open source software. The IRS doesn't seem to like the combination. We lose.
Amazon lowers the price and performance of low-end elastic compute cloud services.
Amazon sues an ex-executive for moving from Amazon cloud to Google cloud.
Silicon Valley and the "tech" community continue to wallow in the mire of sexual harassment.
Aereo turns to its customers to call their Congressmen. Aereo had 100,000 paying customers in NYC alone. There is a strong market for what they were doing.
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Thursday July 3, 2014
Chumby is back. Did anyone miss it?
The plasma screen televisor is gone as the last manufacturer quits the technology.
The history of the Sony Walkman. I bought the original model in the Tokyo airport. I still have it, but the motor quit working many years ago.
Microsoft is making a smartwatch that is really just one of those fitness wrist bands.
ooooops,
unintended results. In Europe, the right to be forgotten means that the
news media is being dropped from Google searches.
Sanberg apologies for Facebook data psychology emotion whatever study. They should have communicated better. This falls under the heading of "no duh."
Government to the rescue. A judge stops Uber and Lyft from operating in Pittsburgh.
Social scientists to the rescue: colleges should have courses in dating and romance.
Qualcomm moves into WiGig by buying Wilocity.
Yahoo stops several of its low-performing services.
This post argues that robots are not reducing jobs. I disagree.
The Reading Rainbow Kickstarter campaign goal was $1m. The final total was $5.4m.
The camera(s) will soon be a standard feature on cars. I like that.
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Friday July 4, 2014
Happy Birthday America.
Apple hired a designer of high-end, high-fashion watches. They may be doing it right.
The NSA targeted people who read Linux Journal online.
A look at FreeDOS—an MS-DOS open source clone. Single-user, single-task operating system. Secure.
For the first time, our FDA approves an exoskeleton.
The HummingBoard: another entry in the small, inexpensive single-board computer market.
Since its the 4th of July, here is how hot dogs are made (including ingredients). I love hot dogs, so do my grandkids.
Great GoPro photos. I like the Eiffel Tower shot.
New term for me: #JerkTech—startups that exploit small businesses and public infrastructure to make a buck and aid the wealthy.
Survey says: biggest future threat to the Internet is big government and big business.
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Saturday July 5, 2014
People are still fussing over the Facebook emotion psychology experiment.
If you want to read about abuse of big data, health care organizations are mining credit card data to predict who will become ill.
The European right to be forgotten has become one big mess. Governments often have good intentions, but rarely think things through to logical conclusions.
Little drones with video cameras fly places too dangerous for people like in the middle of a fireworks display.
One person's experience in cutting all the chords to the tech giants.
Trying to restore the meaning of the world "hacker."
Put on this shirt, touch your chest, and play Tetris.
Put a 17-ton telescope on a 747, fly to 45,000 feet, and avoid 99% of atmospheric interference.
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Sunday July 6, 2014
The IEEE ranks programming languages. Good old C is still #2.
A visit to The Battery—a private social club in San Francisco. All cities have these places.
Seth Godin on the folly of asking the crowd to do something.
Tech companies poured million$ into lobbying Congress for favorable immigration laws. That failed. Tech companies now look to President for executive actions on immigration. And the jobs are not for Americans.
A consultant uses a new Surface Pro 3 for a couple of weeks. It's a good laptop and a lousy tablet.
On the lighter side, scientist do DNA exam on Big Foot hair samples. Sorry, no Big Foot. Horse, cow, bear, etc.
There are many good reasons to write the ending first.
Qoutes from the famous on simple writing. To which I add something about brevity and clarity.
Steps to becoming better at writing. Write and read.
Want to be a freelancer? Control your finances, in particular your spending.
Thoughts on writing faster and better. There is much to the idea of planning what you will write before putting your hands on the keys.
New skills for writers? Perhaps, really just things you have to do today that Charlie Dickens didn't have to do.
How to set a time limit on whining, learn lessons, and move on.
The chore of marketing and how it can affect your writing.
Cliche endings. Turn the story upside down or something. It's just a story.
A study about how you think of a story as you write it.
Doing something you want can be wonderful. It will cost you, but that is your choice.
Tips on writing your life story. Expect pain from yourself and disappointment from those around you.
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