Items I happen to view each day. Science, Technology, Management, Culture, and Writing

    This is my day book for this week. It is a log of things I see on the Internet.

This week: 20-26 May, 2019

Summary of this week:

• Google, Intel, and other big players are ceasing ties with Huawei
• The next generation Google Glass is here
• More Chinese tech companies to be banned
• USPS experiments with driver-less, long-haul delivery
• SpaceX launches its first 60 satellites for Internet beaming

Monday 20 May 2019

Google pulls out of business relations with Huawei. There are many Internet posts on this issue today.

Intel, Qualcomm, and Broadcom also pull out of deals with Huawei.

Game of Thrones didn't quite clean up the sets before shooting the final episodes. ooops, someone is supposed to notice these things.

When you make your living in makeup, things can go wrong all at once. This is a silly story, but it involves million$$$.

The government of South Korea is changing its office machines from Windows to Linux. All that matters these days is if the machine will run a browser.

People are now riding in the Waymo (Google) driverless taxis in Arizona.

The inter-network of networks is breaking into national and regional pieces with Russia and other we've-got-to-get-a-grip-on-our-subjects ne'er-do-wells leading the way. And we are applauding censorship in America. Proceed with caution.

Tim Cook speaks at Tulane's graduation and warns about reinforcing already held beliefs.

Tuesday 21 May 2019

Google releases a new generation of its eye wear computer, Glass.

Texas is about to be the 11th state to outlaw traffic light cameras.

A visit to the robotics laboratory at Facebook. I suppose there is some reason that Facebook is spending some of its money on robotics.

oooops, 50million Instagram users had their information leaked via a security hole.

Who needs advertising? Video game makers instead are paying professional players to show their games.

A new wave of 3D-printed firearms is emerging. They aren't asking for permission or approval.

No surprise here: Google has software that detects lung cancer from imagery and does it better than most humans.

The Stanford Robotics Club produced a robot kit for a walking little Doggo.

GM is backing out of its experiment with a car-sharing service as it closes Maven in eight of seventeen cities.

In sort of a comeback for traditional cable TV channels, HBO sets a viewer record with the last episode of Game of Thrones.

Wednesday 22 May 2019

Windows 10 May update is here and brings the Windows Sandbox.

Comcast is working on a device to monitor elderly persons in the home. The technology is old and I'm surprised this isn't commonplace by now.

Apple updates the processors and yet again tries to fix the keyboard on the MacBook Pro line of portable computers.

Microsoft is having its Sharepoint Conference this week and is debuting Sharepoint Home Sites and much quicker response of the software suite.

We could be seeing the birth of the local or community social network with "community" having a broad definition.

The current administration is considering bans on more Chinese companies involved in surveillance technology. This brings the question, "Why now? Why didn't we do this  a long time ago?"

More insight into the US-China tech trade war escapades. At some point in the past, persons overlooked the concept that China is a Communist country. How did that one slip by all these really smart persons?

Our Postal Service is now experimenting with autonomous, long-haul trucks. There will be a few test runs between Dallas and Phoenix with humans at the wheel "just in case."

The celebrity CEO plutocrats continue to while about in their own little universe. Do any of them ever have real conversations with us just plain folks?

Seven years of using an iPad as the main computer. Interesting.

Some new insight into the history of the spreadsheet and how VisiCalc was born and gave birth to Apple Computers.

Real news that is not news: an established company wants more government regulation that would practically prohibit new companies from entering an industry.

Thursday 23 May 2019

Heading into elections, major political parties and top candidates still don't seem to know how to lock their computers and accounts and all that cyber stuff. Junior high kids can hack these guys. Russian expertise isn't needed.

A Federal judge rules that Qualcomm violated anti-trust laws.

Another Federal judge rules in favor of anonymous commenting and fair use of copyrighted material.

Two words: cloud-based gaming. The market is exploding and will be in the billion$ in a couple of years.

Walmart jumps into the market of low-cost and high-value tablets with a $64 Onn model. It runs real Android and has access to far more applications than the Amazon Fire models.

Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a year old. Predictions of woe for big tech didn't come true—the opposite has happened. Not shocking as government regulation is usually good for established companies and bad for new competition.

Royal Caribbean cruise lines is using facial recognition to speed the board process. Customers like it.

The world's first digital circuit breaker promises all sorts of goodness. No details. What is this?

Friday 24 May 2019

Finally, SpaceX launches its first 60 satellites of its Internet-beaming constellation.

Google teams with food delivery companies and ties its Assistant in all the endeavor.

Facebook reports on their censorship efforts. You build a system to allow persons to broadcast to the world...and then you wonder why people use it.

How Amazon is working in Europe with the best European researchers to gain in AI .

GitHub starts its Sponsors program which makes it easy to contribute money to persons whose source code you use and appreciate.

Seth Godin has an excellent post on the defective apologies of customer service everywhere. "The challenge that organizations have is that they haven’t trained, rewarded or permitted their frontline employees to exert emotional labor to create human connection when it’s most needed."

Real news that's not really news: Zuckerburg took the ad money knowing that they were phoney ads.

Will you buy this $150 hand-held video game?

Facebook proudly censors 2.2Billion accounts in three months. If you believe the numbers, that is 180million a day.

Saturday 25 May 2019

And another ooops, First American Financial—a real estate title insurance really big company—had a security hole and millions and gazillions of accounts and information and all that were leaked.

China takes a big step forward in maglev train technology. Nice train, but the real use of advancing the technology is in military-grade weapons.

CrossFit—a diet, health, exercise, and all that company—leaves Facebook and Twitter claiming those social media giants promote unhealthy living. If you have your own channels to reach people, you don't have to tolerate some other channels.

Palantir delays public financing until next year.

There appears to be a race among the tech plutocrats to see who can spend the most on personal security.

For some reason...Elon Musk is paid more than everyone else by an off-the-chart margin..$2.3Billion last year. What happened?

Summer camps to teach kids...wait for this...how to be YouTube stars. $1,000 a week.

Treating wood to make it stronger and to regulate heat and cooling.

Sunday 26 May 2019

Sofar Sounds is a company that arranges concerts in private homes. They make a lot of money. No one else makes much of anything. They are the middle man. Want some of the money? Do the work yourself.

Ne'er do wells have taken a cyber tool built by our NSA and is holding US cities et al for ransom with it. Nearby Baltimore is one of the notable victims. Of course this could have all been avoided if...

A look at the economic system of the podcast. It has moved out of a little niche for tech geeks into the realm of, "This is easy. Let's make some money."

The "gig economy," a.k.a., temporary work, a.k.a., day labor. Yes, driving Uber is the same as hanging out at the 7-11 waiting for someone to pick you up, take you to their house, and pay you $20 to clean up all the construction waste.

A look at the exploding cost of college. While food and housing hasn't changed much, tuition—the soft or we're-not-sure-what-this-really-is—has gone wild. Government regulation is the primary driver there.

Great video of the the new SpaceX Starlink satellites flying past. If you know when and where to look, you can see all sorts of things in the night sky.

He who has the gold makes the rules. Rich kids are far more likely to receive extra time to take their college entrance exams.

Housing prices in Silicon Valley are pushing highly paid tech employees to live in RVs and vans. Residents—those who live in old-fashioned houses—are tired of this.

How one freelance writers spends the day. Hint: WORKING!

This is an excellent piece on writing and how difficult or not difficult it is. Show up every day and work. Words don't come everyday. There are things a writer does before recording words. Some quotes:

"Let me say that again: the writing builds the world as I show up, day by day. I have to show up and start writing for that to happen.

"What if creativity is completely natural and learning how to use it means simply giving it space and time to breathe?

"What if instead of suffering, we counter with the idea that creativity is healthy and expressive, and if we practice giving it space and time, it will bring great joy and peace into our lives (and no doubt the world)?

"Unfortunately, all of those artists were mentally ill, depressed or bipolar or schizophrenic or alcoholic. Most likely, they produced their work in spite of their demons, not because of them."

Freelance work and money: when we have income...save save save and then save some more.

The concept of "constrained writing." Some of us call this FOCUS! Limit what you are doing so you can do it instead of falling into analysis paralysis.

Do you want to make money writing? For many, the answer is "no," but if it is "yes," here are some business tips.

Love doing your work? Someone is apt to spot that and exploit it—don't give them permission.

Survey says: 71% of college students P R E F E R to use a Mac computer—but only half of those have the money to afford one.

How one writer became a financially successful freelance writer.

One writer's procedure for trying to earn more and be more productive.

Note while editing: It’s not your job to fix it! Your job is to help the writer fix it.

Some of the basics of writing an outline. I was taught most of these when I was in elementary school. I guess I liked the concept as I never forgot them.

Writers are often good at being kind to one another. Not always, but often.