Dwayne
Phillips' Day Book
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.
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Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
This week: 24-30 August,
2020
Summary of this week:
- Zoom had a major outage
- Windows 95 turns 25 years old
- Worldwide smartphone sales drop 20%
- Walmart involved in buying TikTok
- HP has a good financial quarter
- So does VMWare
Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday
- Thursday - Friday - Saturday
- Sunday
Monday 24 August 2020
This
story must be important because it is all over the Internet: Apple to open
a floating dome-shaped store in Singapore. All we have are drawings, but
waiting for actual photos.
And
now we have 23 million-year-old leaf fossils that show CO2 levels (of
course the news is bad for us and requires more money for leaf fossil
research).
I
doubt this report, but it claims that 70% of our movie theaters have
opened.
More
computer science students are skipping online college this year and
taking jobs. College this fall barely resembles college and simply isn't
worth the expense in money and time.
....
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me at d.phillips@computer.org
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Tuesday 25 August 2020
Zoom
had major outages yesterday. So what do we do when the online meetings
cease? (a) get work done. (b) take a nap.
Some
photos of the floating Apple Store in Singapore.
Coming
real soon now, "Airplane Mode." It is a game that lets you sit still for
six hours and experience economy class flight on an airliner. Of course
it is boring. That is the idea.
Today is
the 25th anniversary of the introduction of Windows 95. It did change
things.
This
could be a breakthrough in elderly care in the home. MIT's CSAIL
developed what is basically a radar that works in the home and tracks
activities. You can monitor your elderly loved one without putting
cameras everywhere.
Coming
next year, a 4K-capable Nintendo Switch.
.....
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me at d.phillips@computer.org
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Wednesday 26 August 2020
Sometimes
you do the simplest thing, it works, and everyone wonders why it took so
long to do it.
ASUS
shows its latest camera with flip-up, triple-lens camera.
Fitbit
shows several new watches.
From
Gartner: global smartphone sales down 20% this last fiscal quarter.
Microsoft
adds a nice dictation and transcription feature to MS Word online.
Chrome
85 is released.
Amazon
opens a large office building in Hyderabad.
Guess
what? When you put on a mask, facial recognizers don't recognize you
much. Someone had to do a study to prove this.
....
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me at d.phillips@computer.org
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Thursday 27 August 2020
More
news on more AI research institutes to be funded in the next couple of
years.
Facebook
tries to improve is Messenger Rooms as Zoom continues to dominate the
video teleconference market in the year of the virus.
Google
tries to move its Nest Hub into motel rooms. That is a huge market
opportunity. It is also a slow-moving market.
It
appears that the real battle between Apple and Epic is over the use of
its "Unreal Engine" that powers hundreds of games from other developers.
Our
FDA authorizes the use of a $5, 15-minute COVID-19 test. Let's see how
this works and how it affects behaviors in the year of the virus.
I'll
just quote the article: "LG has officially announced a portable air
purifier that you wear on your face like a mask."
Don't
buy a new TV; buy an Nvidia gadget that makes the picture look better.
Clearview
AI CEO claims that 2,400 police agencies are using its facial
recognition technology.
....
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me at d.phillips@computer.org
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Friday 28 August 2020
The
simple, single-page website makes a return. With all the social media
sites censoring everyone outside the middle, these simple websites are now
homes to protestors and activists of all comings.
It
appears that everyone—in this video LG—is making a smartphone with more
than one screen.
HP
had a better-than-expected financial quarter. People are buying more
laptop computers as they and their kids have to stay home in the year of
the virus.
VMWare
also has a better-than-expected financial quarter. More demand for
virtual this and that in the year of the virus.
A
few peaks and leaks of Sony's forthcoming new smartphone.
It
appears that Walmart is involved in the effort to give TikTok an
American owner. I suppose keeping TikTok alive is something critical to
the survival of civilization.
In
western China, we have " the largest-scale detention of ethnic and
religious minorities since World War II." And we wonder if such
political leaders would create a cold virus to mess with other countries.
....
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me at d.phillips@computer.org
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Saturday 29 August 2020
As
we stroll through the year of the virus, Pinterest cancels the lease of
490,000 sq ft of office space in San Francisco. This is one of the first
big moves in the coming crash of the commercial real estate market.
Meanwhile
in Saudi Arabia...women are playing serious video games. This is a big
deal there.
Computer
simulation has changed the way researchers make and test new drugs. IBM
has a new drug-making lab "in the cloud" and all that.
Another
"from humble beginnings" story as Roku is now a dominant player in
streaming entertainment into the home.
I
don't understand this story, but it is all over the Internet. It is
something to do with Elon Musk, robot surgery, and putting enough wires
into a brain so that we can control things merely by thinking. What
could possibly go wrong?
"Persistent
commitment doesn’t lower the urgency of the moment, it acknowledges
it."—Seth Godin
I
am intrigued by how NBA players work for social justice by cancelling
their written agreements. Lying to promote justice...hmmm, a new world.
This
is another one of those ideas that is so simple that I wonder why it
took the smartest people in the world so long to see it: test the waste
water coming out of buildings to detect the virus without any individual
tests (that take two weeks for results).
Real
news that isn't news: a person catches a virus twice. Who'da thunk such
was possible? Answer: anyone who has ever had a cold twice in one year.
An
advance in aviation technology as the "bullet plane" takes a big step
towards reality. Too bad CNN doesn't know how to express numbers.
The
year of the virus has been very good to US tech companies as their value
now exceeds the entire European stock market.
....
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me at d.phillips@computer.org
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Sunday 30 August 2020
Having troubles with the Internet connection at Starbucks this
morning.
Video
of a flying car test flight. It isn't practical, but it is a step.
The
year of the virus has been good for readers and writers on Medium dot
com.
The
concept of concise writing.
Some
ways to attempt to create the coffee shop writing experience at home.
Nice suggestions.
Making
mostly invisible tasks visible. I have worked in "invisible" tasks for
decades and have written about visibility methods for as long.
Narrative non-fiction and the path to a Pulitzer for journalism.
....
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me at d.phillips@computer.org
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