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: 6-12 January, 2020

Summary of this week:

• The earth resumes rotating on its axis
• CES is this week
• Lots of advances in monitors
• Lenovo teams with Qualcomm for a 5G connected laptop
• Intel and AMD have new processors
• Google and Intel partner on Chromebook hardware
• Ivanka Trump at CES: jobs, skills, and education

Monday 6 January 2020

This NFL season has seen the practical end-of-career for Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and Ben Roethlisberger. From the rich high school football traditions of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, California, and Ohio, these five have been linked throughout their careers. Fatigue and gravity always win. It would be good to see them all enter the Hall of Fame together, but those are the things of fairy tales, and their careers have provided enough fairy tales to us already.

The weeks of Christmas and New Year have passed. It is time for the earth to resume rotation on its axis. And CES is this week. Let the games resume.

Google, Amazon, and Facebook are (not so) quietly moving into New York City. And they aren't going after the inexpensive side of time.

Tuesday 7 January 2020

Lenovo shows a laptop computer that is quite ordinary except that it has an eInk display on the outside cover.

Qualcomm shows major advances in autonomous vehicle systems.

AMD shows their 64-core Threadripper processor.

"As promised last year" Lenovo shows a laptop powered by Qualcomm that incorporates 5G communications. Due out real soon now.

Buried under the guise of the smart home is a lot of surveillance tech at CES.

The current administrators issue guidelines for regulating AI with an emphasis on staying out of the way.

Intel shows their new Tiger Lake processors. More speed, graphics, and AI capabilities.

Don't look now, but the operator of the world's largest satellite network is SpaceX.

Samsung shows SelfieType. The selfie camera of a mobile device looks at your fingers on the table and imagines a keyboard. You type by tapping the table.

Facebook bans manipulated content. No one is sure what that is or how they will do it, but...let the games begin.

Firefox 72 is released.

Here comes a Lithium-Sulphur battery that solves all the problems and delivers great stuff. We shall see.

Wednesday 8 January 2020

We now have companies that specialize in disinformation. We used to call that advertising. Then we called it humor, e.g., Mad Magazine.

MSI shows the world's first laptop screen that uses "mini LED" backlighting for a much better picture.

Google claims 500million users of its Assistant. That is a large number of persons. The definition of success keeps changing.

Intel and Google partner on the design of processors for the Chromebook system.

A bigshot at Facebook openly admits that he loathes our current President, but vows that Facebook won't interfere in the 2020 election.

Zume—they made the pizza-making robot—is basically going out of business. It just didn't work at this time.

The Communications Workers of America: remember that union. Computer programmers and others may one day join it.

Mercedes shows a concept vehicle. It goes sideways and has no steering wheel. One day on Mars...

Consider the amazing financial success of the Apple AirPods. I still think they look goofy, but $12Billion in revenue can't be all wrong.

Fake news coming out of Finland about a four-day work week and a six-hour day. Don't laugh at the Finns. They are the last nation to defeat the Russians in a land war.

Notes on Ivanka Trump's appearance at CES. Despite naysayers, there was much content concerning jobs, skills, and such.

Thursday 9 January 2020

At $4,000, we have a home water recycler. Give how well our current systems work, this isn't practical more 98% of us, but it is a good first step to help a few million persons.

Lots of us are riding these eScooters. Lots of us are falling off these eScooters and going to the hospital.

Machine learning software can create faces of persons who don't exist—like cartoonists have done for centuries. These new faces look like photographs, and there are lots of money opportunities for using photographs of faces, especially if you don't have to pay a person.

The average US salary is $62K. Some earning $300K can't pay their bills. Building wealth is spending less than you earn over a long period of time. There is no free lunch. There. I should win the Pulitzer in economics.

4K or 8K TV. The eyes can't tell the difference. The prestige is something else. See, e.g., above story of those who earn $300K but spend $310K on wireless this and that and 8K TVs.

Thunderbolt 4 is coming this year, but USB still does the job.

Apple Pay and other wireless payment systems. Persons are walking "too close" to gates and being charged.

ASUS shows a new laptop computer that is 865 grams (1.9 pounds) or less than a quart of milk.

Got $14,000? Get this gamer seat thing machine or whatever it is.

Want a good smartphone with really good camera? This one from Alcatel costs $155. That is not a misprint. $155.

Friday 10 January 2020

Microsoft previews additions to the Teams software.

Someone gets a copy of a catalog from a surveillance products company. Featured are the tombstone cam and the vacuum cleaner cam. Basic technology. These are old devices, but the danger some see is that they are now being sold to local law enforcement.

The Vermont legislature is considering a bill that would ban smartphones for those residents under 21. I am old enough to think that this might be a good idea.

Technology to help us sleep better. Some of these look practical while others aren't.

Saturday 11 January 2020

The city of San Diego ends a 7-year trial of face recognition in law enforcement. To date, no one was arrested due to these tools.

Survey says, one in five of us are wearing fitness tracking devices. Survey doesn't say which one in five. Theory suggests it is the same persons who would be exercising regardless while those who need it most...well, you know.

Walmart progresses with "robots" fulfilling grocery orders in warehouses. Humans are still aiding, but for how long?

Internal emails (stories that start with those two words never end well) at Boeing show all sorts of troubles with the 737 MAX.

It appears that an edgy Iranian air defense person shot down an airliner. Sometimes it is best not to raise tensions with persons who aren't competent. Persons get hurt by accident.

Despite all the promise, virtual reality has not taken hold in the marketplace. Is it the next 3D TV?

CNN is given a record high fine by the National Labor Relations Board. CNN is a bastion of liberal thought, but thought stops at the bank. Ho hum. I am actually disappointed in them. Yet another hypocritical outfit.

Security researchers have for years warned doctors about storing x-rays on systems that are not secure. The practice, however, continues.

Sunday 12 January 2020

According to one survey, the fastest growing programming language last year was good old C. Funny how small and efficient keeps returning. Some problems still need efficiency.

Mother Nature (as some call it) in Australia has burned fires that put more CO2 in the air than over 100 nations. It has always been this way. Natural forces that are destructive (short term) dwarf anything humans do. Yet we blame humans for everything.

In this decade, the US will build a new particle collider on Long Island, New York.

Facebook's value reaches a new high. All the fussing in the news has practically no affect.

Once again, let's hear about a new quarterback who will revolutionize the NFL. Same story. Blocking and tackling. And blocking allows a big person to run over smaller persons. Football is still about the big fellas' who play on the line and allow the smaller fellas' to run around.

Wired states the obvious (often necessary for someone to do so): if you use a tool incorrectly, you have a problem, especially in medicine.

Baby tech: things that help babies sleep and all sorts of other parts of life. If it helps parents sleep, it is probably a good thing.

Some information of what freelance writers are paid for various types of writing. This is problematic as some places pay far more for far less work than others.

Some bad ideas are truly bad. Others, however, are pretty good. Don't throw them away. Set them aside for a while.

Trends in AI in 2020. Watch for more data and how to blend data science and AI. Come to think of it, this is not new. Think.

If you are a writer who is broke and desperate, you are desperate. Desperate folks tend to fall for scams. Here are a few common ones. Beware.

Markets that pay at least $100 for writing.

Where you write and the concept of prospect-refuge. Put your back to a safe wall so you can see all the entrances and the exterior.

Writing, writing to sell, and selling. It is hard work folks.