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: October 12-18, 2015

Summary of this week:

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


Monday October 12, 2015

Today is Columbus Day in the U.S. I suppose it is fashionable to hate Columbus these days.

Dell buys EMC for $67billion (that's billion with a b).

The latest Steve Jobs movie is out. Here is one review. Here is another. I suppose Jobs will set some sort of record for most films made about him or something.  I guess someone keeps track of that stuff.

Much of the key parts of the Steve Jobs movie are fiction. I guess you can put fiction into a movie that is "based on a true story." It is Hollywood.

This is all ugly, and someone needs to be held accountable. Inflamatory Wikipedia page edits of several members of Congress were done from a US Department of Homeland Security building. Those who cite conspiracy are citing conspiracy. Others are silent. This cannot happen in a government that is operated by citizens for citizens.

Acer adds a battery to a desktop computer to make it portable.

This is not news, but some people need to hear it again. You cannot replicate the results of economic studies.

Google is now supporting more tech immigrant visas in the UK.

HP and SanDisk partner to work on a new technology for memory chips.

A look at how Silicon Valley plutocrats are working with the Democratic party to win elections. This could become scary as voting systems become more tech oriented and vulnerable.

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Tuesday October 13, 2015

Yes, some EMC executives made million$ in the sale to Dell.

Dell-EMC is a privately owned not publicly traded company. That gives them lots of freedom.

Pepsi, yes the cola company, will sell a line of smartphones in China.

Apple is starting a retail store presence in India.

It appears that Microsoft didn't tell all its PC partners that it was making a laptop of its own.

The governemtns of Turkey and China continue to be anti-free speech on the Internet.

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Wednesday October 14, 2015

A Wisconsin court finds that Apple stole from a University patent in its A7 and A8 processors. $900million at stake. Need I write that it is not a surpise that Wisonsin residents (jury) decide that a California company stole from a Wisconsin publicly funded school and that the California company now owes the Wisconsin taxpayers a lot of money. Oh, and by the way, the California company has more cash in the bank than anyone in the world. $$$ rules.

Apple updates its iMac computers with 4K and 5K displays. Want a brilliant 27" display.

Apple also updated its keyboard, mouse, and trackpad.

Facebook's efforts to help the blind understand the photos shown on Facebook.

The Microsoft Surface Book laptop is sold out on the Microsoft site. No one knows the actual count.

Despite business in other areas, sliding PC sales hurt Intel's profits.

A Github page that keeps up with the free offerings of Amazon Web Services.

Will security be the end of the datacenter and the final reason to go to the cloud?

The slow and sure emergence of Apple as the best processor design shop in the world.

Cyberwar costs a lot less than nuclear arms racing. Hence, everyone is jumping into the race.

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Thursday October 15, 2015

Yes, you can jam WiFi networks and thereby disable all sorts of home security devices. Life with the Internet of unsecure Things.

If you are rich enough to own a Tesla, Tesla downloads some auto-driving features overnight, but don't let go of the wheel yet.

Apple expands its restricted stock unit program to some retail employees.

Notify: the forthcoming Facebook news service. What happened to the journalism world?

FanDuel and DraftKings—yes, they are probably too good to be true or legal.

German police advise people to stop posting photos of their kids on Facebook. I agree with them. Take care with this folks, it can be dangerous out there.

Privacy? What was that? The business of watching and marketing.

A look at some old Apple products that are long gone and mostly forgotten.

What has happened? Intel, Microsoft, HP, Dell and Lenovo team to run ads for personal computers.

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Friday October 16, 2015

Dropbox launches Paper–an app like Google Docs.

Eric Schmidt bemoans the EU court that struck the Safe Harbor data sharing agreement.

No surprise here: a Nevada court rules that daily fantasy sports are gambling and require a Nevada license to continue there.

If you live in Chattanooga and spend $300/month, you can have 10 GigaBitsPerSecond super duper broadband.

Dell shows a 13" screen Chromebook—expensive at over $400.

The Intel Curie is now available in a $30 Arduino board.

Apple's ResearchKit is making inroads into medical research.

Macs and PCs: 5% of Mac users call the help desk while 40% of PC users do.

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Saturday October 17, 2015

Our President is spending $700,000 on standing desks. You tax dollars at waste.

The headline says it all: The 50 most desireable employers in the U.S.

Intel's efforts to become a bigger supplier to Apple. What happened to the world?

The PC industry is quietly enraged about Microsoft building its own PC.

Our Department of Transportation is about to require everyone to register their drone. Do they have any idea how silly that is?

What started as a good idea—sharing resources—led to Uber and all the mess that comes with it.

About half a million STEM workers quit their jobs every year in the U.S.

FullStack announces a programming school just for women. More disciminating by gender to end discriminating by gender.

Drought-plagued California has a plan: bring in beavers, yes those little guys who destroy trees.

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Sunday October 18, 2015

Apple to pay Univ of Wisconsin $234million for patent infringement; this is a decrease of $600million.

In light of the ad blocker revolution, online advertisers agree to "lighten up."

How to turn an old laptop into a Chromebook. I suppose there are some advantages to this.

The state-of-the-practice in portable computers as of October 2015.

Help on emotional help in writing a basic essay.

Working on your Unique Selling Proposition.

The art of turning a phrase. Beautiful.

Thoughts on where we go to turn these phrases.

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