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: 26 October–1 November, 2020

Summary of this week:

•  Amy Coney Barret confirmed to SCOTUS
• Facebook starts its own cloud gaming system
• The year of the virus continues good for tech companies $$$
• Microsoft adds custom data types to Excel

Monday 26 October 2020

ooooops, mail-in ballots require some sort of signature verification. There isn't enough time for persons to to this, and the software isn't accurate enough. How about we just go vote in the old-fashioned way?

Researchers at Samsung and Stanford have create a 10,000 pixel per inch display.

Breathless Headlines: Facebook is Planning for Unrest! Is Facebook paying the "news media" for all this free publicity that proclaims Facebook to be the gatekeeper to all political power in the world?

The world is safe: Facebook's Internal Oversight Board is now operating.

He who makes the intestines of the information age will rule the world. Or something like that. Governors worldwide are paying attention to where integrated circuits are made and who might be making them.

Tuesday 27 October 2020

Microsoft, Adobe, and C3.ai team to build a better customer relationship management system.

New studies shows there is more water on the moon than "we thought" and it is easier to access than "we thought." Wake me when we are making coffee with moon water.

Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, et al, are free to use. No cost. It is a gift, folks. How can you sue someone when they don't give you something for free?

Facebook enters the cloud gaming marketplace. We can play on PCs and Android, but not Apple iPhone.

It appears that a small amount (estimated at 3%) of Starlink satellites failed. No communication, no maneuver.

Wednesday 28 October 2020

Thursday 29 October 2020

AMD

Pinterest

eBay

Samsung

Microsoft

An in-depth look at the new Nvidia 3070 GPU.

Forward to the past: Harley Davidson shows their first electric bicycle. No price yet.

AMD releases its Radeon RX 6800XT GPU. It is priced to compete with Nvidia's new 3080.

Starlink moves to a public beta test: $500 install fee and $99 a month.

Apple is working to have its own search engine on the iPhone etc.

Friday 30 October 2020

The year of the virus continues to be good for tech companies.

Facebook has a good financial quarter (as expected).

YouTube has a big financial quarter with $5Billion in ads.

Intel acqui-hires SigOpt—a company that optimizes AI models.

Apple's stock price falls a little on the news that it is only making a $Billion a week in profits. The definition of success has changed.

A virus-weary world is anxiously awaiting the second season of The Mandalorian.

Microsoft makes a major addition to Excel with custom data types.

Google adds a VPN to its Google One subscription.

Showing that autonomous vehicles can drive just as badly as humans, this "roborace" car drives into a wall.

Where the money is: hackers steal $2.3million from the Wisconsin Republican Party.

Saturday 31 October 2020

Chevrolet will sell electric motors and batteries and all that to drop into our old gas-burning vehicles. This will happen real soon now.

The year of the virus has been very good to the rich, especially the billionaires. They had the resources to sell and buy stocks at the right time. Is it right for anyone to have enough money to live in luxury for ten lifetimes while others just get by? Of course not, but we have to ask if it is right for me to decide who has money and who doesn't.

Federal law enforcement officers are readying to protect public property (paid for by you and me) in the wake of the election. I have to side with them. Public buildings are owned by the public. One percent of the public doesn't have the right to destroy the property of the other 99%.

I have to hope that Mr. Biden is declared the next president on Wednesday. If Mr. Trump is re-elected, there will be riots, destruction, and death. Mr. Trump's supporters—even the "radicals"—are closer to "civil" than the other side.

Planting trees with drones. This might be something useful. Of course, human tree planters are out of jobs, and that isn't a good thing.

Sunday 1 November 2020

Intel releases its first GPU for laptops. Look for these chips to be used in GPU cards real soon now for lower-priced desktop computers.

The Wayback Machine is introducing fact checking information attached to older Internet content. "Facts" often change and "conspiracy theories" often become facts. Let us take care with all this.

The switch from standard the daylight savings time has document health affects. Losing an hour of sleep (spring forward) causes hearth attacks. Gaining an hour of sleep (fall back) reduces heart attacks. It is about rest, which is good for us all.

Rockets that put objects into space are complex machines. Attention to detail is not a nice-to-have, it is a requirement.

How one writer overcame the thought of "writer's block." I never have writer's block. I guess I don't know any better.

A lawyer writes about registering a copyright. This involves lawyers, so the post is self serving. Too bad.

A writer discusses what it means to be "a writer." Often, would be writers look at official publication as the goal. Other writers look at lots of money as the goal. If you write, you are a writer. The end.

Health insurance for writers and other freelancers. If you, as a freelancer, are the income for your family. You must have health insurance for you first, later for everyone else. If you are out sick, everyone suffers from no income. Take care of yourself first.

Some writers need a separate room dedicated to writing. As with most other practices, try it. If it works for you, use it.