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 24-30, 2016

Summary of this week:

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

Monday October 24, 2016

Simple yet strong passwords that are easy to remember.

Reviewers show that Google's new Assistant works better than Apple's Siri.

More criticism for the Microsoft tablets on the NFL sidelines. The outdoor conditions are harsh, too much for the tablets.

Fedora 25 is now running on the Raspberry Pi.

The iPod is 15 years old. It changed the world.

Testing 16 chain businesses on their free WiFi performance. Starbucks (Google) ranks #1.

The antiquity of the US voting system. Yes, there is much room for improvement.

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Tuesday October 25, 2016

Google buys Eyefluence—a small company with eye tracking technology. This is the future of user interface.

The future is coming, and it will have fewer women in computing.

Hack a 3D printer, put defects into printed parts, cause systems to fail. Fact, not fiction.

Facebook Messenger to soon allow PayPal payments.

Google teams with Visa and Mastercard for Android Pay.

Twitter to lay off hundreds of persons this week. Economic recovery?

Coming early next year: WiGig. A short-er range and much higher speed WiFi.

ooops Sales of the Apple Watch are down 71% from last year.

Obamacare premiums go up 25%. Promises? What promises of more affordable health care?

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Wednesday October 26, 2016

Microsoft releases its Cognitive Toolkit machine learning framework.

Google surprises everyone with the Jamboard—a smart whiteboard.

An official but unofficial leaked photo of Apple's MacBook Pro with a Magic Toolbar.

Funny, a great read, a take on the Devil's Dictionary this time for educational technology.

The Uber Otto self-driving truck drives itself across Colorado. Unemployment coming.

How AT&T is getting taxpayer$$$ with warrantless surveillance of us.

Google Express—its home delivery service—now reaches 90% of the US population.

Google underestimated the demand for its Pixel phone. Buyers are waiting and waiting.

Not everything Google tries works well. Google Fiber is struggling with layoffs and flops.

After a year of trying, Chipotle has not recovered from its food poisoning problem.

If you can't buy them, beat them. Microsoft Teams will be their attempt to beat Slack.

People are disappointed that Apple only sold 45.5million phones last quarter.

Apple revenue declined for the first time in 15 years.

WikiLeaks reveals a close relationship between Hillary Clinton and Facebook's managers.

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Thursday October 27, 2016

Our (un)presidential campaigns sinks to a new low as the Democrats sue the Republicans for being mean. America waits for someone's mommy to come along and straighten out this whole mess.

Microsoft announces the Surface Studio. A new kind of desktop computing? It does have new features.

Here is a closer look at the new Surface Dial. Place it on the screen, turn the knob, and things change.

Microsoft updates its Surface Book with leading edge graphics at $2,400.

Microsoft changes MS Paint to 3D.

An internal leak or rumor shows Amazon's plan to open grocery stores everywhere.

More news on the decline of the Google Fiber dream. Lost jobs and more unemployment in our economic recovery.

Intel announces a set of processors aimed at the Internet of Things industry.

The falacy of productivity in the open office continues to be revealed. Irritation grows.

Giphy now has 100million daily users. The definition of success has changed. Giphy?

Is it real or is it old video passed off on Facebook Live. Never underestimate what some persons consider fun.

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Friday October 28, 2016

I'm having Internet troubles here this morning. Struggle through or something.

Apple had a big event and showed new portable computer. This post examines the Touch Bar.

Australia's Red Cross is hacked with half a million personal health records exposed. Now, remind me, who was it who kept asking if we were all ready for national electronic health records? Oh, yeah, me.

Alphabet (Google) has a good financial quarter despite lost adertising revenue.

Amazon's financial quarter was not as good as expected. So we punish Amazon instead of punishing the predictors who were wrong.

Vine is going away. The six-second video app lost its lead to competitors who kept moving forward.

A UK court rules that Uber drivers are employees. This basically kills the Uber model in the UK.

The great Soylent food-replacement poweder comes to an end.

Amazon learns that the Prime two-day free shipping is killing their expenses. And the more customers, the more they lose money.

The personal computer has bit bottom on price. Now we go up and up and up. Where are the Chromebooks?

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Saturday October 29, 2016

Making the case for Apple's Touch Bar instead of a complete touch screen.

Got $5,500? Tesla's updated PowerWall has twice the storage of the first version.

Tesla shows its new solar roof shingles. No price announced.

LinkedIn has a good financial quarter.

Facebook allows advertisers to exclude users by race. Let's consider that one for a while.

The new Apple portable computers have an extra ARM processor for security and the Touch Bar.

Our FBI has re-opened its investigation of Hillary Clinton and emails. Solid money is that they will confirm Hillary Clinton is still Hillary Clinton.

How to install Moodle on your own site in two minutes.

Our (lameduck) President has a plan to train laid off coal miners as cyber security experts. Truth is stranger than fiction.

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Sunday October 30, 2016

Successful companies that started at Google, but broke away to become successful.

The simple, non-technical methods hackers used on Podesta and Powell. The smart aren't so much.

Linux makes a small but notable gain in the desktop computing world.

The Twitter feed and the surveillance society. There are many in power (some in the US) who abuse this and their  fellow man daily.

How Wikipedia has become less open and more civil. Will anyone else watch and learn?

A review of a bunch of online writing job sites.

Some tools for helping go through NaNoWriMo.

How one writer got noticed and grew a business.

There are some alternatives to writing a 50,000-word novel in November.

How outlining your novel can help you through NaNoWriMo.

The writer and criticism. Some tips. Try this, "You don't like my writing. You are not saying anything about me."

Marketing for writers: skips the Internet and meet readers in real life.

Brevity and politeness in emails.

Using Reddit to market your writing.

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