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: 28 December 2020–3 January 2021

Summary of this week:

• Xiaomi's new smartphone with new Snapdragon processor
• Sweden and Norway lead in new Bitcoin mining
• Apple and Amazon values up 80% this year

Monday 28 December 2020

We are in the second of what is usually a two-week break for many in the US. I anticipate another slow news week. Let's try to find some jewels out there.

Our President signs spending bills. $600 to qualifying individuals, but promises of another bill real soon now that ups that figure.

Predictions of the "Roaring 20s." Some are technical while most are social. Lest we think that the outcome of the Wuhan virus will be staying at home, remember the outcome of the 1918 flu was the Roaring (19)20s.

The makers of "Wonder Woman 1984" claim it was a big success (only $16million at what is left of the box office), but will a really big big audience online. Of course the third movie is coming.

Researchers at Oxford turn CO2 into jet fuel. Of course it only works in small quantities in the lab, but maybe something will come of this.

"It’s worth putting in regular effort to remind ourselves of what we’ve already got and how it has served us in the past."—Seth Godin

Indoor vertical farming claims lots of promise. The video shows them growing leafy plants which have terrible yields of calories per acre.

Microsoft announces a Windows 10 Cloud PC Desktop-as-a-Service.

MacStadium now offers the Mac Mini with the Apple Silicon M1 processor.

Tuesday 29 December 2020

It appears that all the laws we have about cellphone privacy don't apply to motor vehicles and all the data the vehicles hold.

Xiaomi just showed its newest, bestest smartphone. Noteworthy is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor.

The low price of electric power in hydro-electric-rich Sweden and Norway has drawn Bitcoin miners. The highest-ever "value" of Bitcoin has made this all worth while again. Scoop all those new Nvidia processors while you can.

Our FAA issues new regulations on commercial and recreational drones.

Coming sooner than most of us are wanting: telepresence robots to boost Zoom meetings.

Real news that isn't news: Chinese tech firms are connected to the Communist Party of China and feed it intelligence from all over the world.

Good for Apple: the company has started a mentorship program to help first-generation college students.

The Wuhan virus has spread more than a Chinese biological disease; it has spread government surveillance of subjects.

Machine learning and AI have yet another fundamental problem: the state-of-the-art "models" require enormous amounts of electricity. To date, such electricity has been plentiful and inexpensive.

Wednesday 30 December 2020

Must-see video: watch the robots dance. Cute video, but the technology demonstrated is astounding. Perhaps Boston Dynamics will find a way to make a profit one day.

The year of the virus continues to be an outstanding one for many tech companies.

Apple and Amazon stock prices rose 80+% this year of the virus.

Buying stuff on the app stores of Apple and Google rose 30+% this year of the virus.

(Rich) People at home read books this year, making the year of the virus a good one for book publishers.

Now the $2,000 relief check is mixed in with repeal of Section 230. Mixing poison with poison is a practice of both parties.

Headline says it all: Apple supplier Lens Technology accused of using forced Uighur labor. American tech companies dove into selling to and working with the Communist Party of China. Their eyes were not wide open at the time.

It appears that the girlfriend of the Nashville bomber warned police of this mess a year ago. People are busy; people don't often listen to such. And we reap what we sow.

Apple dominated the sale of smartphones at Christmas with various iPhone models taking the top nine spots.

Thursday 31 December 2020

The year of the virus was VERY GOOD to these billionaires.

A doctor had the first vaccine shot, then contracted COVID-19 before the second shot. We are told that "it takes a while" for the vaccine to take affect.

It appears that there are several hundred million PCs out there still running Windows 7. It worked well; it still works well.

Friday 1 January 2021

Based on the Julian Calendar, we begin a new year today.

Farm Ville officially closes its doors. For better or worse, it ushered a new era in social activity online.

A ten-year study finds no correlation between playing violent video games and bad behavior in real life. I guess some people needed such a study.

Yes, the year of the virus was very good to the big tech companies. It was so good that you almost....naw, couldn't be.

More fear and loathing about Facebook. Really folks?

Scale AI sells labelled data to those who want to use AI. Its customer list shows the future use of AI. For 2021, just about everyone will give it a try. Gotta' keep of with the neighbors.

Amazon is expanding its "Amazon Future Engineer" program in India and elsewhere.

Saturday 2 January 2021

LG has built transparent displays. They claim to have many uses for them. Let's see when they arrive at Starbucks. They would be an expensive buy good replacements for all those plexiglass shields in all retail locations.

The year of the virus was very good to the big streaming services with subscriptions up 50%.

Support ends for Adobe Flash. It was a good run.

Sunday 3 January 2021

The value of Bitcoin rose 50% in December moving it to an all time high. This surge makes it worthless as a medium of exchange (its original purpose) and transforms it to just another stock for speculation.

Tech predictions for 2021. The year of the virus accelerated trends. Nothing amazing in the article. I do want to buy a sweater that sounds an alarm when someone is standing too close to me. That would be really obnoxious.

LG has a "bendable" big screen. Keep it flat for movies, curved for gaming. Ready for production.

I guess this is called "activism." The leaders of our Congress could not agree on more relief $$$ in the year of the virus. Persons vandalized their homes. Odd that no one did the same to Dr. Fauci's home.

GE erects a 853-foot-tall wind turbine. Later models will be bigger. I assume that someone studied this and found that one giant turbine works better than many small turbines.

The great software stagnation: only the huge tech firms can afford R&D. All the startups, and isn't everyone a new startup(?), have to hustle to keep the payroll going. Everything is short term and 98.6% is short sighted.

The importance of rhythm in writing: breaths and pauses.

One writer lists here business goals for 2021. I guess there is some good with accountability and the sort in this type of thing.

New Year's Resolutions are a treasure chest of writing ideas.