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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This week: 28 June-4 July, 2021

Summary of this week:


Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday


Monday 28 June 2021

TikTok and videos from factories in China. I guess this is some new version of "How Its Made."

Rumors that Apple will build iPads with 14" and 16" screens real soon now.

We now have "security robots" in the US. They are little more than camera platforms that move in a programmed route. And they look cute.

Lenovo announces an Android tablet that is also a portable extra monitor with a 13" screen.

A lesson in basic economics (enlightened persons please pay close attention): unemployment is dropping faster in states that refused the extra Federal unemployment money.

The back-to-the-office push has lost some "evidence" as studies show no evidence of greater innovation when people see one another and have "chance meetings."

The Linux 5.13 kernel is released.

In America, law enforcement agencies are requesting data on citizens from tech companies in increasing number.

In the search engine marketplace, DuckDuckGo passed Bing to become #2.

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Tuesday 29 June 2021

More calls for "we did just fine working from home and not commuting, let us be."

Dell releases Omnia, a software stack that is open source and aimed at AI, data, and high-performance computing. Let's just quote this, "The Omnia software stack announced today is meant to automate the provisioning and management of HPC, AI and data analytics by creating a single pool of flexible data center infrastructure resources that can sustain diverse workloads."

More power! Nvidia updates its HGX AI machine with more powerful processors and the like.

In South Korea, a local court rules that a successful American company (Netflix) must pay local ISPs lots of money.

Facebook releases Bulletin. That is a system for publishing newsletters.

Qualcomm updates its Snapdragon 888. More processing power for the newer smartphones.

Microsoft has released a Windows 11 preview to a few folks. Reviews to come soon.

Microsoft's xCloud (game streaming over the Internet) is here for everyone (Yes, Mac users too).

The prolonged year of the virus pays off for Facebook as it reaches the $1Trillion (with a Tr) value mark.

Microsoft announces improvements for Office just for Windows 11.

Amazon creates a "Vinyl of the Month Club." Pay a fee, get a vinyl LP every month.

To the sublime, Heineken has a Beer Outdoor Transporter (BOT). A little "robot" that has a 12-can cooler and follows you.

In case you haven't noticed, gasoline is at a seven-year high price. The last time it was this high, our President was a a Demo... hey wait, is there a pattern here?

The Pacific Northwest is having a once-in-a-1000-year heatwave. That means this has happened before and will happen again.

Expert analysis shows that China's cyber capabilities are a decade behind America's.

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Wednesday 30 June 2021

I am unable to view the Internet and make notes.

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Thursday 1 July 2021

I am unable to view the Internet and make notes.

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Friday 2 July 2021

I am unable to view the Internet and make notes.

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Saturday 3 July 2021

Flying on United Airlines, instead of giving us a bag of pretzels, they bive us a clear plastic bad that has a small clear plastic bottle of water with a cookie wrapped in plastic and pretzels wrapped in plastic. Before the year of the virus, such packaging and distribution would have been vilified as a horrible use of petroleum (fossil fuels) and landfill. Now, hoever, these sanitary wrappings are wonderful life savers. Funny how we've changed what we consider "good and evil." We are an odd lot.

In Russia, we have a new law requiring successful American companies to open offices in Russia.

HPE acqui-hires Zerto to gain cloud management technology.

Dell was selected as one of the winners in India's push to boost local manufacturing of computers.

Our Dept of Homeland Security is hiring several hundred cybersecurity professionals and still has 2,000 openings.

This story must be important as it is all over the Internet: Microsoft replaces its "blue screen of death" with a black screen.

HP has a new lighter laptop, the Pavilion Aero 13.

In the biggest story of the year (for some), TikTok boosts the length of videos from one to three minutes.

130 nations agree to a global minimum tax on corporations. This is good news to those nations not in the 130 as successful global companies will now move their base of operations.

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Sunday 4 July 2021

Today is Independence Day in America. We still celebrate this. I hope we do for at least the rest of my life.

Strong rumors that Apple will updates its MacBook Pro machines in September.

Parallels Desktop tells us that when Windows 11 is here, it will have a system that will run 11 on the Mac.

Qualcomm and Apple, once partners, are drifting into competition.

The World Health Organization tells us that virus mutations are spreading fast. This is the norm with viruses. Predictable and predicted.

Jeff Bezos "retires" with about $200Billion (with a B) in stocks and such. We hear constant calls to "tax" these billionaires. Well, I guess we should walk through that idea. They don't have their money in the bank. It is stock that rises in value. Hence, to "tax" Bezos you have to force him to sell some stock and confiscate the money from the sales. That would alter the stock price and bring less money than anticipated. Then we would have to consider if the government has the authority to confiscate property as a tax. I don't the Constitution (remember that document?) provides the government with that authority.

One of our US Senators believes that Bezos and others like him have abused retirement finance laws. New legislation is needed. Then one compares the legal and financial resources of US Senators and billionaires. The billionaires have smarter lawyers and tax accountants than the Senators. Hence, the billionaires will find the loopholes in the new laws.

Thoughts on how Microsoft survived and changed direction after a decade of mistakes.

Dr Fauci (a government administrator, not a practicing scientist) talks about science and anti-vaxxers and other things outside his expertise.

Some thoughts on clarity in writing and a few proven techniques in this area.

A few techniques to help me remember what happened years ago and improve my memoirs.

Using AI and other tools to help a writer start writing. Interesting topic. Without AI, there are still many good techniques that cost no money and do the same thing.

If a writer looks, he will find plenty of things that say, "Don't write today." A few tips on working around these.

"When the public gets tools, they use them, without regard for the rules that might have come before."---Seth Godin

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Email me at d.phillips@computer.org
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