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: 12-18 July, 2021
In Taiwan, Foxconn and TSMC are buying millions of vaccine doses. In America, we decided that our grandchildren would buy ours.
The future of work after the year of the virus. We did a one-year experiment and maintained the status quo. That is all. Drawing grand conclusions is an act of arrogance.
Combine external hardware with machine learning AI and you can play a video game better. I suppose there are worse thing to do with time and technology.
Trying to operate a restaurant after the year of the virus.
....This rollback is from Disney via ESPN.
As permanently working from home becomes a reality, PC shipments worldwide continue to grow.
It's called free speech. If we are going to have it, we are going to have it. We can't say, "Oh, that's not free speech, that's disinformation," and then ban it. These non-Chinese persons are singing the praises of China's government. It's free speech.
The Internet Association fades from view.
A story of note: in Ukraine, a building is raided by police because occupants are stealing electricity. They are crypto mining. And they are using 5,000 video game devices to do so.
In search for the next remake that becomes a big hit, Popeye's adds chicken nuggets.
Along with the electric cars come the lithium mines in the southwest corner of the US. We repeat law one of economics: there is no free lunch.
.....I wrote about his five years ago.
Amazon makes a push towards satellite Internet services by hiring experts from Facebook. I trust that someone is considering the problem of space junk.
Apple anticipates a boom as it ups production of iPhones by 20%.
There are questions about Amazon's inside influence in our Dept of Defense.
.....As more and more folks are not wearing masks, I am seeing more and more faces and more and more expressions. ooooops, many expressions on faces give me the urge to say, "If you aren't going to smile, please put the mask back on."
Can you find Kazakhstan on a map (or spell it?)? Crypto miners booted from China are going there.
What did we do during the year of the virus? We played video games.
TikTok reaches 3Billion (with a B) mobile downloads. That is a large number.
Angst over facial recognition technology in retail stores.
Amazon announces Kindle Vella. This has something to do with reading a little of a book free, then paying for the rest of it.
This is a disturbing story. Our current President is asking cell phone carriers to stop private text messages that contain "misinformation." I fear that we are getting better at censorship in America.
.....Several sources today report that members in our current President's office are pushing Facebook to push more against virus "misinformation." We note that the current President had a vaccination goal that was famously not reached. The hunt for scapegoats is on, and Facebook is one of the usual suspects to be "rounded up."
Got information on "foreign state-sanctioned malicious cyber activity?" Get $10million from our State Department.What could possible go wrong with this program? (Lots)
Amazon moves its HealthLake service into general availability.
The vacation was nice, but "tech workers" are return to the San Francisco area.
The year of the virus was very good to Xiaomi as it becomes the #2 seller of smartphones (passing Apple). We pause to wonder about a Chinese virus that brought such great benefits to a Chinese company.
The smartphone has not eliminated the handheld, special purpose, video game console.
In a first, a paralyzed man thinks and complete words appear on a computer screen. This is what we should be doing in technology. Not that silly faking voices and videos.
Netflix is pushing its way into the video game market.
Google wants its programmers back in the office buildings. The challenge is how to have collaborative office buildings without the destructive commute time.
Strong rumors that Intel is to buy GlobalFoundries for about $30Billion.
.....Our President is upset with social media companies for not censoring "misinformation." I am not sure what to make of a President who calls for censorship. There is the obvious angle that he had a vaccination goal that was not met and he needs a scapegoat. Still, wanting someone to shut up someone in America is not good for any of us.
Facebook replies to our President, "we will not be distracted by accusations which aren't supported by the facts." We are an odd lot.
We have a thriving business in fake vaccine cards. Some claim to have hacked vaccine databases as well. Silly me. I posted several times advising persons to not show photos of their vaccine cards online.
Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, our governor vows to use Federal funds to provide broadband for all residents. Rural areas may need help. The counties near Washington D.C. are the hub of Internet traffic in large areas of the world. Our only request for help is with the Xfinity/Comcast service line.
The legislature in California passes a bill to build the state's own fibre optic network. No indication of where they will find the billion$ to do this.
.....Facebook's data refutes the charges of our current President regarding misinformation. By now, Facebook should realize that President's rarely deal in data.
TurboTax (Intuit) leaves the free tax filing program run by our IRS.
The mask mandates are returning. I was skeptical of those who felt this entire pandemic was an attempt to see how far people would go when told to do things by regulators. I am not quite as skeptical now. "Do this and it will be over" has been followed by "we know more now, so do more now." I don't like this and I find it is hurtful to all of us.
This is a thoughtful post on the role of writers and maintaining a national identity.
A list of magazines that pay travel writers. Many are small, small markets.
A university's press will often have a peer review of materials. This is not always good.
Some tips on finding an editor to work with you on your writing.
Another post about writing when you don't feel like writing. If your writing pays your bills, tough it out and write. If you write for pleasure, write when you feel like it. Use those two guides and stop all the worrying.
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