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 May, 2021

Summary of this week:

• VW to build its own processors for self-driving vehciles
• Bill and Melinda Gates divorce
• TSMC to build several plants in Arizona
• SpaceX has first successful landing of a Starship
• IBM hits the 2 nm mark

Monday 3 May 2021

Early rumors that Apple will have a folding phone in a few years.

VolksWagon moves into the computer processor industry and promises to make its own processors for its self-driving vehicles.

Google has "invented" a desk that has preset height, title, etc. stored. You scan your badge on the desk and it goes to your preferences. This had to be "invented?"

Someone proposes big data as a solution path for autism. Five million Americans have autism, and there is no known treatment.

The Burning Man event goes online only for the second straight year.

Does invasion of privacy know no limits? Senators propose gather college data and income data and telling everyone their potential earnings from everything they do. Fourth Amendment? Bill of Rights?

How to bring high-tech jobs to your state. Give rich companies money.

Tuesday 4 May 2021

After 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melina Gates are divorcing. The Gates Foundation will continue.

In New York City, tech jobs are the fastest growing in the wake of the year of the virus.

America On-Line is still a successful company. They have 1.5million users paying $10/month for tech services. $15million in monthly revenue is a large number.

Intel is upgrading its New Mexico fab at $3.5Billion.

"How social media recommendation algorithms help spread hate" I hate that headline. It shows a great lack of understanding about both hate and algorithms.

Airports and solar panels. It seems like a good match, but...no not really.

"Experts" (here we go again) now say we will never have herd immunity in the US. Vaccinating the most vulnerable will return us to normal. And it took a year to reach this brilliance (not).

A new study claims to detect early signs of dementia from driving habits. No treatment, only detection.

Warnings about Nvidia owning ARM and coming monopolies and such.

oooops, researchers show how a drone can hack into a Tesla and other "smart" cars.

For some reason, this XKCD comic brought a big smile to my face.

Wednesday 5 May 2021

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) will build several more plants in Arizona. Good outcomes of the year of the virus.

Microsoft has a tool called "Counterfit" which tests the security of AI machine learning systems. Microsoft released it as open source.

The Workplace version of Facebook now has 7million users. That is a relatively small but growing number. Slack is about 15million users while the various Microsoft Teams et al are around 145million.

Much is being made of our prior President having a blog (instead of a $10million book deal).

Must See Video! A demonstration of using a jet pack to board ships. The test pilot is skilled, brave, or just plain crazy to attempt this.

Someone has hacked the IT network of the government of Belgium.

Once again we wonder if the Fourth Amendment is still in effect as our Dept of Homeland Security considers monitoring social media for "extremist thought" without warrant.

Thursday 6 May 2021

The rulers of China know a thing or two about supply chains and not depending on foreign suppliers.

ooops, researchers find security holes in Peloton systems.

America's Top Forty... Billboard Magazine teams with Twitter to create a list of pop songs based on Twitter mentions.

SpaceX has its first successful Starship landing with a prototype.

The Nintendo Switch has sold more units than expected. Now they face parts shortages.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sets it first manned flight for 20 July. You can buy a ticket to the edge of outer space.

Perhaps this story means something, perhaps not: China is now the biggest buyer of Cuban cigars.

America has a new national AI website.

For gig work, our current President reverses our prior President who reversed ... and on it goes.

Something of importance from an Oxford study of 430,000 10 to 15 year olds: little association of technology use and mental health.

Sony steps out of the Digital Single Lens Reflex camera market.

Friday 7 May 2021

IBM researchers hit the 2nm mark in integrated circuits.

Electrical power consumption and crypto mining: as usual, it's complicated.

HP updates its desktop all-in-one PCs with sensors to tell when you are there and when you walk away. It also adjusts with lighting, noise, level, and voice level for those Zoomer Teams calls.

We have a video game Hall of Fame. The latest inductees are: 1982's Microsoft Flight Simulator,1985's Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, 1998's StarCraft and 2001's Animal Crossing.

The Internet is all excited about new icons in MS Windows. I guess this solves some problem.

The world's leading polluter is now China.

And the Internet is all excited about Amazon delivery drivers being told to turn off safety features and drive recklessly to deliver packages.

We have a new 3D printer that uses sawdust to make wooden objects that are fit for sanding and finishing. This is purported to save trees.

Saturday 8 May 2021

Microsoft cancels Windows 10X. Is that like a double ten? Friends from Taiwan understand the joke.

The US joins the Christchurch Call to Action.Once again, our current President overturns our prior President. This will be overturned by our next President, and so on.

Engineers at Tesla admit that the marketers have exaggerated the "self-driving" abilities of their cars.

NASA releases a video of its helicopter flying around on Mars. The significant thing is the sound of it.

It appears that several more COVID vaccines are almost here. I am hesitant about vaccinating the whole world so quickly. It violates almost every principle of general systems thinking. Mankind needs to sequester a large-enough group of healthy and un-vaccinated persons as risk mitigation.

Our CDC again revises its "thinking" (term used loosely) on the virus. It appears that the virus creators did quite a good job of creating a weapon. More evidence suggests that is the actual origin.

"Hustle culture" or running your own businesses is overrated. I have several close relatives who went bankrupt doing such.

Strong rumors that Apple's next laptop computers will come in colors. I know some who will rejoice when this happens. Me? Whatever.

Sunday 9 May 2021

In an effort to show that we living today are superior to all our ancestors, we wax and wane on how tough we are for surviving a virus that has a 1% or less death rate and is not easily transmitted.

Another oddity of our current virus from China: I meet persons who have been vaccinated, but will not associate with the non-vaccinated as "I might carry the virus and give it to the other person." These words coming from persons who have always enjoyed "kidding" with others and picking on them to no end. Now, they are extremely concerned for the well being of others. They, however, express their concern in an odd way, "I will associate with you if you agree with me on this item and do exactly as I do." That's concern? I guess I am confused by the entire round-and-round situation.

It appears that most of that Chinese rocket fell into the Indian Ocean.

The governors of Salt Lake City are building a tiny home village so the homeless would have a place to live. Cute, but inefficient and anyone who knows efficiency knows that this is a stunt.

Hackers close a major US pipeline. Those who know about such techniques are boggled that anyone would connect such resources to the Internet. It really isn't that complicated.

We rush into a permanent work-from-home world. Of course rushing causes stumbling, and this rush will bring major problems as we trip and fall face first into the muck and mire.

Six documents that changed the history of Wester civilization.

I once wrote a book using only Google Docs. here are some tips I didn't know that make life easier there.

Some thoughts on writing, ambition, and purpose.

Things to do before and during writing that help make the writing a little easier. No need fighting your chair.

Four voices or points of view in a memoir.

I like this... is an excerpt from the memoir Word for Word: A Writer's Life by Laurie Lisle

Thoughts on how to write the first draft of fiction FASTER.