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: 3-9 August, 2020

Summary of this week:

• Google releases Pixel 4A
• Google announces two 5G phones coming real soon now
• Samsung announces new phones, tablets, watches
• SpaceX safely returns two persons from orbit
• SpaceX has successful 500' test flight of Starhopper
• Apple updates iMacs with Intel processors and better cameras
• 
  

Monday 3 August 2020

SpaceX brings its two astronauts safely back to earth as we return to the era of the splashdown.

William English dies at 91. He helped invent the mouse (the computer kind, not the rodent).

In weather trivia...Dark Sky is a weather app and website. Apple recently bought them. Their app no longer runs on Android.

In the browser wars, Chrome controls the marketplace at about 70%. Microsoft is gaining in the battle for a far-distant second place. Firefox and the remaining entries are remaining in the far reaches of nothing.

Tuesday 4 August 2020

I don't recall seeing this story in the Washington Post, but during the year of the virus, high sales of firearms are breaking all records. This is a leading indicator of general unease and uncertainty.

Google pours million$ into ADT in a partnership with a company that has 20,000 technicians who can install Nest and other home computing systems.

Apple (or the Chinese government) removed 30,000 apps from its app store in China. Censorship at its finest.

Google releases one smartphone and announces two more coming real soon now. Buy the $349 4A model and use it as an Android computer plus camera plus television. Add a $50 bluetooth keyboard. There you have it.

All those predictions that the tablet computer was dead were wrong. Sales are up 20% this past quarter.

For those who understand finance (I don't), Alphabet issues $10Billion in bonds.

I love this one. Univ of Chicago researchers have a tool (Fawkes) that alters your face photo just enough to foil facial recognition systems. The alterations are indiscernible to humans.

Microsoft updates its Xbox store.

Seth Godin's common advice that is not commonly followed, "If it doesn't ship, it doesn't count."

The head of our Tennessee Valley Authority replaced 200 Americans with H1-B foreign persons in IT. Our President removed said person.

Wednesday 5 August 2020

Contrary to everyone else, Facebook is renting more office space in New York City.

The bug bounty industry: Microsoft has paid $14million in the last year. This is a cost-effective method of improving the software that we all use.

Square has a booming financial quarter with everyone using peer-to-peer payments and their other services. Yet another tech company prospering in the year of the virus.

Another company prospering in the year of the virus is Disney. The Disney+ service reached its five-year goal for subscribers in only eight months. That is 650% better than expected.

Samsung will have a big event today and promises to announce five new devices. Here comes yet another powerful and expense phone.

Researchers from UCLA team with Apple on a new study of depression. Let's use the monitoring tech we have to improve the lives of persons who live next door.

The battle over the marketplace of India. Silicon Valley goes at it with the Communist Party of China. Let's cheer for the valley in this one.

Must see video: SpaceX successfully flies its Starhopper to 500 feet and back. The video doesn't give a good visual scale. This object is 30' in diameter and over 100' tall.

Virgin Atlantic Airways has filed for bankruptcy protection. The Chinese virus continues to take its toll.

It appears that everyone is going to buy TikTok or not. I formally declare that I am not trying to buy TikTok.

One of the more desired positions in tech, become an Apple Fellow. Be paid lots of money and just sort of float around.

Amazon's robotics engineers are building robots in their garages. Not allowed to "go to the office," they are improvising. They are also being compensated, well.

Thursday 6 August 2020

The Commonwealth of Virginia is the first to use the COVID tracking system from Apple and Google.

Our Dept of State is offering rewards for information related to foreign actors meddling in our elections.

More from our Dept of State as it seeks to ban untrusted Chinese apps from our app stores.

The state of California continues to attempt to push Uber and Lyft out of the state.

The reason behind the reasons Microsoft wants to buy TikTok: the data that is available.

Real news that is not news: wireless charging is inefficient. I am happy to see someone publishes a study on this. There is no magic behind wireless charging.

If you have the resources and the desire, you can fool facial recognition systems any way you wish. The two requirements are pretty big.

In an effort to push into the TikTok market, Instagram (Facebook) launches Reels.

Microsoft improves the ability to run Android apps in Windows 10.

We move towards the day when 5G will sort of replace WiFi. Let's see how this plays out.

Facebook is now a company with medical expertise. They are able to discern good medical advice from bad for every person who might look at Facebook posts.

Friday 7 August 2020

Forget the hockey puck adapters and such, Americans are buying smart TVs. They now outnumber the just plain old TVs.

The public beta of MacOS Big Sur (not sure if I typed that correctly, it gets so complicated) is out.

DropBox joins the list of tech companies prospering in the year of the virus.

All the inside scoop on the four tech companies whose CEOs "appeared" before Congress last week. "AntiTrust" has little meaning these days.

Microsoft Excel rules the world. Don't think so? Scientists rename genes because Excel read the names as dates. Just change your profession to suit Excel.

In a year when we have both a US election and a Chinese virus, YouTube deletes a few thousand Chinese accounts.

Mark Zuckerburg is now worth over $100Billion (with a B). The year of the virus has been quite good to some.

The year of the virus and our reaction to it will ensure higher travel prices in the future. This will pass one day, it may be ten years, but it will pass.

Saturday 8 August 2020

Rushed day with limited Internet viewing.

Facebook removes a QAnon group with 200,000 members.

How to use Microsoft Teams to talk to family and friends. It is a business app, but you can use it otherwise.

A look at the state-of-the-practice in laptop computers that cost less than $500.

Sunday 9 August 2020

Someone has a grasp of the obvious. Facebook et al. let people carry on because it attracts viewers and viewers bring in advertising money.

A look at how Tim Cook took Apple far beyond the vision of Steve Jobs. The genius of Apple is that it hired brilliant people like Cook (who ignored Jobs' theatrics). Jobs was a front man. If it wasn't for Wozniak, Jobs would have sold used cars.

The Linux Foundation starts the Open Source Security Foundation.

Speculating on the return to the office building or not. Many working from home miss the perks offered at the building by some companies. Free lunch, free childcare, free lots of things.

Bill Gates on everything related to coronavirus. The testing done in the US is pretty much all wrong. The Federal bureaucracy has made it lucrative to do it incorrectly.

Mental illness described well by a person who has it and can describe well.

Self-publishing options for novelists.

A review of Bonsai: a tool to help freelance writers be organized in their daily tasks that can overrun their writing time.

Practical ideas of how writing can bring you through tougher times. Write notes to other persons.