Summary of this week:

• Google proposes its giant, future headquarters in Silicon Valley
• India lost 56,000 IT jobs in 2017
• Apple apologizes about iPhone batteries
• The Holidays continues and the news is slow

Monday December 25, 2017

It is Christmas Day in the Christian culture. Not much happening in the news as people are mostly with family today.

CNN cancels its SnapChat daily news show because no one watched. Here comes the comment: no duh! Why would anyone watch more of CNN?

The most wonderful time of the year(?)! Hackers go full speed on holidays—it is fun and joy for them. Security teams work overtime to limit the affects.

Not to be outdone by Apple's spaceship...Google proposes a million square foot office complex that looks like the tower of Babel, a.k.a., a ziggurat.

Big tech in 2017. Look at the photo on this linked page. Mark Zuckerburg in jeans and a t-shirt. For me, that summarizes big tech now. Will some of these guys grow up and become adults?

The Free Software Foundation adds PureOS to its list of approved Linux distributions.

Hooray! More Linux tools coming to Windows 10. Why did it take so long?

NASA, not one to actually send persons into space, is thinking about starting to plan to plan or planning an interstellar mission in 2069. I can't wait for the actual planning.

.....

Tuesday December 26, 2017

Several news stories this morning tracing back through the Russian Internet trolls.

Those who loved Obama and hate Trump of course claim golden vigilance under our prior President and gross incompetence under our current one.

The ties between the sex industry and the tech industry. Of course substitute "just about any" for "tech" in the prior sentence and you have the non-news-but-real-news headline.

The Chinese government continues to shut down its subjects' websites and stop speech on the Internet. More non-news-but-real-news.

Ideas for filling the empty shopping malls across America. It still takes money and customers.

Seth Godin on the value of simply being smarter.

How some pre-processing software opens hacking doors in deep learning projects. Once again, is anyone checking their results? Can't check them because you are processing too much data? Then you are processing too much data.

People aren't buying smartwatches. I guess aliens or robots are buying them because Apple et al are selling millions of them. The definition of success if changed.

..... Email me at d.phillips@computer.org 

Wednesday December 27, 2017

The news continues to be slow this week as the holidays move on.

Internet pioneers regret their invention—the Internet. No need for regret. We have access to knowledge and wisdom like never before. Sure some folks misbehave, but some folks have always misbehaved.

Maybe, just maybe, by the end of this decade the United States will be able to put a person into space. What went wrong with NASA?

Vietnam has a 10,000-person crew on watch to ensure its subjects don't have the "wrong views." Take note Facebook, just add manpower.

Due to sheer volume, the Library of Congress has stopped archiving every tweet in the world.

One person's good experience buying an Apple computer via the refurbished store.

..... Email me at d.phillips@computer.org 
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Thursday December 28, 2017

Another Christmas sales season and another big win for Apple with Samsung coming in a profitable #2.

The toil of looking at Facebook and other posts to weed out the bad stuff. Facebook promised to do this years ago, but gave up when it ate into profits. Then the floodgates opened. All because of profits. Then Zuckerburg tours the world lecturing everyone about misuse of his software. Profit$.

News about renewing the FISA Act and surveillance on US citizens and all such things.

India lost 56,000 IT jobs in 2017. The prospects look bad for 2018.

George Will on the benefits of smoking. Uh, er, smoking does benefit government coffers while it puts its participants in premature coffins.

It appears that people trust Uber to deliver their groceries more than they trust Uber to deliver their selves.

Amazon sold a ton of their little speakers that converse with people. Here comes the nuisance.

Coming soon at no cost: the Lisa operating system and applications from Apple. I saw a Lisa operate, slowly, back in the day.

..... Email me at d.phillips@computer.org 

Friday December 29, 2017

Apple was slammed for basically enabling iPhones to last longer before having to be replaced. Now they are offering a lower-cost battery replacement.

Saudi Arabia is about the only rich place on earth where Apple and Amazon don't have official offices. That may change soon.

Tim Cook was paid $12.8Million this year, which is a lot less than Roger Goodell, and Apple made a lot more $$$ than the NFL. Go figure.

If you think our Federal government is reaching too far into our lives, read this story about personal identification, our TSA, and the lot. If I want to fly from northern Virginia to southern Virginia, how is it that the Federal government must approve my travel? What happened here?

The two richest people in the world live in a place called Medina, Washington.

A study shows why so many junk patents are awarded in the US. It comes down to bad policies and management in our Federal government.

Amazon Web Services, i.e., "the cloud," keeps rolling in the money. Yes, they charge too much for what they provide, but...

..... Email me at d.phillips@computer.org 

Saturday December 30, 2017

The big two app stores did $200Million in business on December 25th.

The Wichita shooting—a tragedy for America.

The iMac Pro is now in Apple retail locations.

Something to experience: a pragmatic guide to signal processing with data, tools, and examples.

..... Email me at d.phillips@computer.org 

Sunday December 31, 2017

The government of Iran shuts down Internet and cell phone services to keep its subjects in line.

Calls for an API at the IRS that would automate credit approvals. Don't hold your breath. Such big changes drag their way through government.

The really, really big data centers are popping up all over the world in record numbers. There is no slowing in 2018.

A "study" of one village in Kenya shows that basic income works. Of course, one village hardly constitutes a study, but those who sit in seats of government won't let that bother them.

The growth in the use of airbnb has been great in the last eight years: 140thousand to 3million for just the New Year's weekend.

One writer's retrospective on 2017.

One of the more important things they don't teach you about writing in school is how to maintain your health. If you are ill, you don't write, you don't have income, you don't...well things go down hill quickly.

..... Email me at d.phillips@computer.org