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: March 7-13, 2016

Summary of this week:

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

Monday March 7, 2016

Nancy Reagan dies at 94.

Researcher show how to hack the fingerprint scanner on smartphones.

Ray Tomlinson—the inventor of email—dies at 74.

Another court rules that police need a warrant to spoof your cell phone.

There are now alternative to the Raspberry Pi educational computing unit.

Avoid the inexpensive phone chargers and external batteries. They will damage your device.

The role of the accident in innovation.

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Tuesday March 8, 2016

Several stories this morning about ow tech execs attended a conference on how to stop Donald Trump. Here's a tip: spread the wealth, hire Americans, reduce the angst in the US now.

Apple must pay $450million in an e-book antitrust case.

I don't like this: a government agency loses in a government court. So the government agency appeals to another government court. The government agency will eventually find a favorable government court. The private citizens? Oh well, too bad.

There was a time when people were computers, i.e., a "computer" was a person who did computations all day so great thinkers could spend their time thinking. Good article about the Harvard computer ladies and work in astronomy.

JK Rowling releases stories about wizardry in America.

Google opens its Project Fi service to everyone.

The smartphone app market is saturated; money makers are now scarce.

Microsoft brings SQL Server to Linux.

TechHire: nonsense. There is always a shortage of high-qualified people who will work for low wages.

More unemployment nonsense, this time with cybersecurity. There are plenty of qualified people who don't have the long list of junk certifications employers are foolishly requiring.

If you are going to have an old-school, under-the-table PC it should look like this one. Must see.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is the first to legalize daily fantasy sports.

Step-by-step instructions to install CloudReady on an old PC and make it a Chromebook.

Our FCC proposes broadband subsidies to the poor. Who will pay the bill?

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Wednesday March 9, 2016

Intel buys Replay Technologies—the company that makes those instant replays in sports that rotate around the action.

Google Destinations: to help us plan vacations. Mobile devices only.

Microsoft is leading the industry in detachable-keyboard tablets. This could mean something.

This is a (not so) new idea: constant training helps organizations keep staff.

Microsoft joins the Eclipse Foundation.

Software developers are worried about being replaced by AI.

Google changes the name of its imaging satellite and processing company to Terra Bella.

A different take on the future of work.

The FBI and NSA secretly change their secret arrangement for exchanging secret data. Details are secret.

Seagate shows what will be the world's fastest SSD (coming this summer).

This story is all over the Internet, so it must be important: Google's DeepMind computer defeats a Go champion.

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Thursday March 10, 2016

A look at Steve Jobs' widow who is now one of the richest women in the world.

Google joins the Open Compute Project—bad news for those companies that make servers.

Microsoft to contribute networking software to the Open Compute Project—SONIC.

Facebook adds cool face-swapping software.

Google releases the Android N developer kit early.

Google cuts the price of the Pixel C tablet to encourage developers to get one and develop.

The economy and immigration. I was taught at a child that the US welcomes educated, productive immigrants—people who work hard and improve our country. Somewhere through the years this all became twisted with lots of ignorant shouting.

Our government admits that it has been using US military surveillance drones in the US to watch US citizens (or have we become subjects?).

MIT produces a new algorithm that loads web pages 34% faster. Funny, as computing power increases we become more efficient. Where was all this efficiency when we needed it?

The government of China squashes Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.  That is how a government treats its subjects.

A look at the Intel Compute Stick.

Google updates Docs with an outline tool.

Facebook Lite for Android hits 100million users.

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Friday March 11, 2016

Apple and the FBI continue to war with words. Once again, I look at the relative competence of the two groups.

Google indicates it wants its fiber service to jump three orders or magnitude in speed.

This $20 gadget makes the MacBook so much easier to plug into a wall outlet. I find it amazing how the "wall warts" ruin computers and other electronics. Why is it beyond the capability of computer companies to understand this?

March 21—Apple's next big event is official.

HP Enterprise puts is Haven OnDemand machine learning platform on Microsoft's Azure.

And now we have MLaaS (Machine Learning as a Service).

The F-35 becomes the new C-17: an airplane laden with software problems. The C-17 program eventually got it right, but at extreme costs. I fear the same resolution for the F-35.

Apple sort of removes the Genius Bar from its retail stores.

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Saturday March 12, 2016

A detailed look at an Intel NUC. I have one and am impressed.

The SSDs in Apple computers are about to become much faster thanks to Intel.

Google greatly improves its offline speech recognition technology.

Dell is now selling its XPS laptops with Ubuntu installled.

In a remarkable and remarkably rare moment, our President shows a firm grasp of the obvious.

LibreOffice is released—version 5.1.1.

GM bought Cruise Automation for $1billion to keep up with Google and Apple. Our tax dollars.

Comparing older Google search to newer AI-enhanced Google search.

Our President: "If in fact you can't crack that all, if the government can't get in, then everybody is walking around with a Swiss Bank account in their pocket." And what would be wrong with that?

Our President: the government has right to know what is in our phones.

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Sunday March 13, 2016

Thoughts on how the world is moving away from the nation state towards the elite. I had similar thoughts in several of my short stories.

The layoffs are coming for the rest of us. Hmm, didn't Apple once use that phrase?

Hertz replaces qualified Americans with H-1B visa workers and brings in Sheriffs on layoff day.

Interesting video about how to send an email in 1984. I sent emails in the mid-1980s.

A look at the people at Google's DeepMind.

code.org is hacked.

The case for ending the national nonsense known as Daylight Savings Time.

Common questions from new and would-be writers. They help old writers rethink things.

You write something, and someone tells you it is terrible. It is something you wrote, not you.

The Punctuation Guide: excellent website for writers.

This post about being a writer today has a lot in it; much of it is not about writing.

Some typesetting lessons for writers.

Tips on creating cover art. Yes, you will have to make a cover for your book.

Here is a long list (192) of publications that pay a little money to writers.

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