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: June 20-26, 2016

Summary of this week:

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

Monday June 20, 2016

After 2 1/2 generations, the city of Cleveland gets a major sports championship. Where are all those sportswriters who voted Steph Curry (17 points in game 7) the only unanimous MVP in the history of the league? Where are all those experts who proclaimed that basketball is different and everyone should shoot from 30 feet? The losing Warriors flop and score only 13 points in the fourth quarter.

In praise of Ham Radio—a reliable backup comms network with IP addressing and all.

“[Apple] has not written one research paper or attended any external research meetings, such as working groups, government-funded workshops, or held their own onsite research meetings with external scientists in the way Google, Microsoft and Facebook often do.” Nicholas Negroponte

Nvidia brings its Tesla GPU to PCI-Express.

About how cloud computing is changing how companies attempt to sell their software to other companies.

Will self-driving cars destroy the auto insurance business? Let's hope so.

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Tuesday June 21, 2016

Dartmouth engineering just graduated more women than men. This is a first in US history.

Google's Chrome browser's big fault: power consumption. And Microsoft is telling everyone.

Google starts moving into its new luxury offices in London.

Dell sells its software division for $2billion.

LinkedIn survey tells us the companies that are difficult to get in and, once in, you never want to leave.

Google is about to drastically change the search results when we search on health issues.

Everyone in the music industry gangs up on YouTube (Google (Alphabet)).

We have probably reached the limit in giant container cargo ships.

Want to improve your brain? Sugar cubes are just as good as Luminosity.

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Wednesday June 22, 2016

Questions for the FBI concerning domestic terrorists. I doubt anyone at FBI will answer these. The answers are all embarrassing.

Our FAA's new drone rules render drones pretty much useless for all but play and novelty.

The iPhone is dying. Evidence? Apple slows its "major redesign" cycle.

Instagram now has 500million users—80% are outside the US. The definition of success has changed, so has the definition or marketplace.

China leapfrogs back into the lead in the supercomputer race.

Tesla offers to buy a part of itself (SolarCity). Stock dives. I guess they know what they are doing.

Brexit: If Britains vote yes, the ripples will be far and wide and mostly unpredictable. And the Britains who vote won't be worrying about those ripples.

"Zuckerberg joins other hacker luminaries who tape over their webcams, including FBI director James Comey and NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden."

Practical diet advice: eat real food, drink water, and less of everything.

In Muslim countries, people are tweeting things that are against the law, e.g., blasphemy against the prophet. When found out, they are jailed. Some trolls are helping the government find these blasphemers.

Witnessing the death of the headphone jack. Is this all an awful mistake?

The FBI has been quietly stepping over the lines by asking companies for user information and doing it for years. Why is it that some US citizens feel empowered to abuse other US citizens?

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Thursday June 23, 2016

Our tech industry meets with our Federal government on cyber security. Our tech industry is far more respected and successful and financially sound that our Federal government. Who is teaching and who is ignoring?

Here comes macOS Sierra, and most of us will like the changes.

Google Fiber buys WebPass to bolster its market share.

Google and Udacity build an Android app course—no prior programming experience required.

The Brexit vote is today. Everyone hold your breath.

Uber drivers don't make nearly as much money as Uber says. And then their is car maintenance.

Linux use on Microsoft Azure cloud is up to 33%.

Banks are rushing into biometrics for authentication.

The Silicon Valley van dwellers. Rent is just too high. Another instance of the wealthy poor.

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Friday June 24, 2016

The British vote to leave the European Union. Now we see what happens.

A post-nationalist sheds tears over the Brexit vote. Guess what? Some people still long for the nation state.

Apple is adding industry experts to its digital health sector.

Facebook continues to mask its political bias with political bias training.

Twilio has an old-fashioned IPO where everyone gets rich on day one.

A Federal court rules that our Federal government needs no warrant to hack our personal computers. What is wrong with us?

How to control your home computer from your phone via Google Chrome Remote Desktop.

Google again changes its search algorithm. Now they use their RankBrain machine learning system.

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Saturday June 25, 2016

SanDisk updates its portable, durable, tough external SSD. $250 seems a bit high, but...

What is a week without yet another unbelievable revelation about Hillary Clinton's email server. Hillary's email server caused State Dept to turn off email spam filters and open the State network to all sorts of mischief.

Standing vs sitting—no difference in calories burned. Walk, walk, walk.

The Wikimedia Foundation has a new director.

Here's a way to make the world hate the US—DHS wants authority to get everyone's social media accounts.

Can SourceForge make a comeback?

Self-driving cars. Is the big player Nvidia, the maker of the processors?

The new economy—hire someone to do it for you. Upstairs/Downstairs in America in the 21st century.

The high cost of living in Silicon Valley means, "don't come here to start a business."

Terrorist watchlists, due process, the US Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and "we just want to punish somebody for this latest atrocity."

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Sunday June 26, 2016

Y Combinator begins its basic income experiement in Oakland.

Got $350? Get the Bose Quiet Comfort 35s wireless headphones and beat the iPhone no headphone jack blues.

Hardware is a commodity; the thrill is the software application.

Bill Cunningham, a longtime photographer for The New York Times, died on Saturday at the age of 87.

This is a good piece in the New York times about the current work in Artificial Intelligence. Much of the work is based on training computers to choose the way a person would choose. The "person" the machine is imitating, however, may not represent the person I am or you are. I hate it when someone else's prejudice is built into a machine.

HP leapfrogs Apple for the thinnest, more powerful portable computer. How this do we want?

How one freelance writer learned to earn $5000 per month.

Working from home: the reality is you still have to WORK.

Thoughts on creating the writing life you want by design.

Dealing with those who dislike what you write and feeling good about what you write.

Big writer mistake: you can separate your writing from your life and make it just like any other 9 to 5 job.

"Writing is a funny thing. The thought of doing it brings up an onrush of doubts. Sometimes, for some people, just the idea of writing sends a doubt tsunami crashing upon their heads so strong that they let the thought of writing go and get on Facebook instead."

Want to write more? Do one thing at a time, a.k.a., single task. Yesterday, I wrote ten blog posts in two hours.

"A growth mindset transforms writing into a journey of discovery."

Another post praising yet another benefit from journaling.

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