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: 9-15 January, 2017

Summary of this week:

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

Monday January 9, 2016

Our EPA announces a fix for some VW diesels. All the affected cars will be past end of life before the EPA finishes.

The Amiga computer: 30 years later it still has fans like Star Trek.

A look at the Dell XPS 13 Linux model or DE (Developer's Edition). Great Linux portable computer.

Last week's CES showed how voice interface is hot right now. Will Apple catch up?

Here is a good summary of last week's CES.

The emergence of Amazon and Nvidia at CES. Amazon used to be a store. Nvidia used to be for graphics programming geeks.

Waymo, a Google spinoff, will release its own Chrysler autonomous minivans this year.

California taxpayers are pay to layoff California residents and send their jobs to India. What?

DDoS attacks hit the Drudge Report.

Apple executives take a pay cut because 2016 was such a "disappointing year."

Thoughts on "getting stuck" at work and in life.

The iPhone is ten years old today.

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Tuesday January 10, 2016

Internet viewing cut short this morning as we have guests in from out of town.

Clemson wins the college professional football national championship.

Has Best Buy become an arm of our Department of Justice and FBI? Difficult questions here.

Big Yahoo news: Marissa Mayer will leave Yahoo after the Verizon merger is complete.

Yahoo/Verizon will call itself Altaba.

Twitter is being sued for providing a communications network for ISIS so it can murder people.

The American technology industry is looking for protection from China.

Once again, Apple is called "the greenest company in the world."

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Wednesday January 11, 2016

Some exercise is better than none. We now have proof.

GIGABYTE builds new graphics cards that fit in smaller computers and still use Nvidia's latest GPUs.

Got $5,000? You can order Dell's coming 8K display this Spring. Of course the picture is better than anything ever before.

Strong rumors: Apple is working with Zeiss on top-quality, augmented reality glasses.

We have more no-longer-secret secret reports about the Russians, the Democrats, the Republicans, and other embarassing information. Note to public: some people can't be embarassed.

The Dutch claim that all their electric trains run on wind-generated power.

The Zuckerburgs move closer to the Obamas and the Democratic Party. Perhaps they can bring some security knowledge with them.

Whew!  A pretty darn big asteroid just passed between us and our moon. And we saw it one day before it arrived.

Hasbro is letting us decide whether to change to Monopoly pieces to newer, cooler things.

If this would only come to fruition: a drug that causes teeth to repair themselves without fillings.

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Thursday January 12, 2016

White hat hackers find new security hole in browsers' autofill feature.

Facebook launches a Journalism project. It still doesn't address yellow journalism in the "real" media.

For ten years now, the iPhone industry has paid Apple $100billion a year.

The government of China knows all about its subjects and SELL$ that information. I guess that is a combination of communism and capatalism.

Testing in Las Vegas: fully autonomous shuttle buses. This is a first on-the-street test in America.

Seth Godin reminds us that people create algorithms and write software. Stop blaming a nameless machine.

Microsoft has an Online Safety Team to monitor child porn and extreme violence. They didn't train their employees for what they might see. Former employees are suing for PTSD.

Alphabet ends its development of solar-powered, Internet-beaming drones.

Can't deny it: big cable TV companies remain the most hated in the country. The nature of the technology requires maintenance and customer service. The cable companies never spent enough resources on these things.

Rural libraries are loaning MiFi devices so that patrons can have WiFi hotspots based on cellular service. Rural areas are notorious for not having cable modems, DSL service, or reliable satellite service.

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Friday January 13, 2016

Let's start today with the silly—the photo of this sweater pretty much says it all.

The comma-seperated variables conference. Everything for the data minded.

Another reminder that if you forget the return trip, the realm of possibility explodes towards infinity.

Coming in March, the Nintendo Switch game console.

Amazon plans to add 100,000 high-tech jobs in the US in the next 18 months.

Upon further review, Consumer Reports recommends the Apple MacBook Pros and their battery life. Apple claims real-life testing and CR claims Apple fixed a problem.

Strong rumors that Apple will soon be producing its own programs—that's entertainment.

Of all things, the cassette tape is making a comeback. What's next? The 8-track tape?

"the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections." Who was president the last 7 years and 11 months?

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Saturday January 14, 2016

Lyft lost $600million last year. Uber lost more. When will this ride-sharing business hype stop?

Amazon starts the Anime Strike channel at $5/month.

Our outgoing President makes a big Federal land grab during his last week.

Microsoft aqui-hires Maluuba—an AI, deep learning company.

Our outgoing FCC chief claims that all wisdom of net neutrality begins and ends with him.

Big news everywhere: Star Wars will not give us a digital Carrie Fisher. They will let her die.

Facebook is working AI to make a conversational bot that beats everyone else's.

A new bill in Congress would raise H-1B salaries to $100K minimum.

Most of us are still using 12345 as a password.

The Pardon Snowden Petition has over a million signatures.

Udacity starts a deep learning nanodegree program.

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Sunday January 15, 2017

Microsoft is officially testing its Windows 10 Game Mode.

SpaceX, grounded since the fall of 2016, launches from California and lands on a barge in the Pacific.

WalMart tries to join its retail stores and online presence. Technology is the integrating factor, but will it work?

Macy's and Sears are closing stores and laying off over 10,000 persons. Obamanomics continues.

More Obamanomics: "millennials earn 20 percent less than boomers did at the same stage of life"

Debian 8.7 is released.

Amazon's Echo is now an industry of its own and the ca$h is rolling in.

How one writer writes more by dictating to Dragon Naturally speaking.

The micro-jounalling alternative to writing in a joural. Just another journal, but it may work better for you.

Some persons struggle when working from home. Here are some tips.

Here is something different: ten YouTube channels for writers.

How to start writing? "Finish one story. Share it with someone (in addition to your mom) and listen to the feedback. Then start another and finish it to the end. Keep going."

The Hedgehog Concept to finding your area of writing.

One freelancer's plea to keep the Affordable Care Act.

Thoughts on how to create an outline of a novel. Practice by outlining a novel you just read.

Write that (first draft)  book in 100 days or less.

Some ideas on how to start a new habit (like writing) or re-start an old habit.

A writer's—any entertainer's—greatest asset is the audience. Always treasure the audience. Always serve the audience. Criticize with great care.

How to plan a writing retreat.

Do you want to be a writer? Do you WANT to be a writer?

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