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 8-14, 2014
Summary of this week:
- Ralph Baer dies at 92—he helped invented the home video game
- McDonald's experiments with touchscreen, custom hamburgers
- Pirate Bay is raided and closed
- Instagram passes Twitter with 300million users
Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
- Saturday
- Sunday
Monday December 8, 2014
Apple introduces this year's Christmas ad campaign. Not nearly as good as last year's Misunderstood.
It seems that the claim that Google surpassed Apple in education was false.
The HP Stream 11: a $200 laptop computer.
This little device reminds you to sit right and breathe better. Excellent for programmers, writers, and those who sit all day.
Ralph Baer dies at 92. He helped invent the concept of the home video game.
Each year in America a million smartphones are stolen.
I like this idea: make your own t-shirt with a map on it.
Einstein archives go online.
The birth of Apple Computer from employee #1.
How
good is your company's holiday party? Facebook had theirs at SF's
AT&T Park with the World Series trophy on hand for selfies. I hope Facebook's employees realize how fortunate they are.
Keep your smartphone and tablet away from your young children. They will learn soon enough, and by the time they are 18, those things will seem like the brick phones of the 1980s.
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Tuesday December 9, 2014
McDonald's is experimenting with and expanding a build your own burger service.
Our President supposedly writes a line of software as a stunt for something or other.
Amazon has been testing one-hour delivery of packages in NYC via bicycle messengers.
Amazon wants to test drones. Our government is balking, so Amazon may take the testing and the jobs elsewhere.
The great Sony hack keeps leaking private information about famous people.
And the hackers finally ask for Sony to pull "The Interview"—a comedy about North Korea.
The city of Portland shuts down Uber.
Google releases Android Studio 1.0—a stable IDE. Here is Google's site.
The good old C programming language remains relevant.
I once hated it, but I have to love it now as it is something from my
past that remains in the news. So long FORTRAN IV, WATFIV, and Ada.
Don't replace your Rolex, just add a smart band to it.
IT workers displaced by H-1B visas often sign silence agreements as part of being fired.
Linux 3.18 is released.
The Dept of Justice report on the Cleveland police is as bad as it could be.
This is a terrible, continuing tragedy in America as citizens employed
by government separate themselves from citizens who are not.
Fashion experts will start appearing in Apple Stores. It will be easy to tell them apart from the usual geek employees.
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Wednesday December 10, 2014
Apple and Bose have settled enough of their differences to bring Bose back to the Apple store.
The state of Illinois is fiddling with laws to prevent recording public officials performing public duties in public places.
We are watching the death of Uber as it seems everyone is suing them. Perhaps, just perhaps, someone will resurrect the concept of ride sharing as a way to live at a lower cost.
Das Keyboard: harkening back to the days of real keyboards and IBM.
The FIDO Alliance completes its standards for accessign devices securely without passwords.
This story must be important because it is all over the Internet: Swedish police raid and close Pirate Bay.
The hotest gift this Christmas is a used iPod Classic. Why did they stop making them?
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Thursday December 11, 2014
The Mod Notebook: when you fill it with whatever writing, scribbles, sketches you mail it back and it is scanned. The notebook, scanning, mailing, and app are all included in the price.
It seems that we scroll past the initial display while surfing the web.
The Sony hack has revealed some of the dirty inner workings of Hollywood.
Instagram now has more users than Twitter—300million. That is a large number. The definition of success continues to change.
United Airlines is issuing the bigger iPhones to its flight attendants.
Our government plans to have 35 different agencies share our health data to improve things. As they ask in all risk management plans, "What could possible go wrong?"
Hardkernel offers an alternative to the Raspberry Pi for $35.
No, AI artificial intelligence won't exterminate us.
AI is an area of research. The home thermostate was once thought of as
AI. Many early automatic control systems were once thought of as AI.
The list goes on. R E L A X.
The first apps from the IBM/Apple partnership arrive.
Seagate builds a disk drive for 3cents a GigaByte. It is slower, but has its place in the memory hierarchy.
Stem
cell treatments and athletes. Athletics has replaced warfare as the
testing ground for "advances" in medical, and all other, science.
The coffee wars: hacking a Keurig coffee maker so it users cheaper coffee pods.
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Friday December 12, 2014
No Internet viewing today.
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at
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Saturday December 13, 2014
The possible use of drones in confined warehouses. This one makes sense.
Thoughts on design and engineers. Sigh, most "designs" today are merely statements of requirements—they are not designs.
The possible return of the wooden skyscraper.
Iowa is moving to a smartphone-based driver's license. I hope they have thought this through.
In a PR move, Google donates $2million to homeless groups in San Francisco. Good move regardless of motive.
Apple will start manufacturing millions of watches next month.
Look at the face of the American CEO.
Daring rumors for Apple in 2015. The paper-thin iPad can't be too many years away.
Here is an actual hoverboard made from leaf blowers and duct tape.
YouTube now has its own GIF creator tool.
Workflow: an app that automates what you do on your mobile device. UNIX's cal comes to the world.
Ford's Sync moves from Microsoft to QNX.
The Sony leaks reveal Hollywood's political war against Google.
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Sunday December 14, 2014
We are watching television die right before our eyes.
An actual working flying car. No, you can't buy and fly it in the US, but watch the video.
a capella singing takes over Silicon Valley. There is more to life than programming.
The best long reading of 2014.
How to succeed in business with out really trying—updated for this century.
Taylor Swift turns 25 and does it with much grace.
Some good news—at least one person knows what artificial intelligence is not.
We all have the same amount of time in a day. Writing takes time. Writing means that we neglect something else that takes time.
New Year's resolutions for writers. The best one is to backup your computer (and do that every week).
Top ten skills all employers want: given this, if you have written anything, you are in demand. Of course, reality doesn't always agree.
Excellent thoughts about that clean sheet of paper from Seth Godin.
One writer lists why writers should not be bloggers and write blogs.
A flowchart about writing talent and the life that some of us have that we must write everyday or else life ends.
Places to look for things to write when you seem to have been left empty.
There comes a time when a writer has to stop editing and call it finished.
Break everything when writing fiction. The story should not end as the reader expects.
Does a writer need a Masters in Fine Arts? I don't think JK Rowling had one.
Tips for new authors from older authors.
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