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: 9-15 August, 2021

Summary of this week:

• NSA awards cloud computing to Amazon, Microsoft protests
• NASA spacesuit flop delays a moon mission
• Next iPhones to have better image and video processing
• Samsung has a big event with new products
• Our vaccines aren't really vaccines after all
• Boeing and NASA flop again
• The Taliban conquers Afghanistan, again

Monday 9 August 2021

The Washington Post chimes in on the infrastructure bill and cryptocurrency. Ignorance is bliss.

Notes on how deepfakes are becoming legitimate in the advertising and entertainment industries.

Rocket lab, a private spaceflight company, will launch a satellite to the moon in 2022 from New Zealand.

Yet another list of "know these programming languages to make more money." There may be some merit here.

A closer look at Boxable and the factory-built, shippable housing units.

What are the super rich doing with all that money? Superyachts.

Tuesday 10 August 2021

In Israel, a $1 a day existing medicine seems to be a treatment for COVID-19. I see little hope for this coming to America (already FDA approved) since it wasn't invented here and is not a $20Billion program (like the vaccines).

Samsung announces a new processor for smart watches, the Exynos W920.

Strong rumors about Apple's next iPhones. It is all about the cameras and image and video processing.

Parallels 17 touted to run Windows 11 on all existing Macs.

SpaceX acqui-hires Swarm Technologies, a smallsats companies that knows much about the Internet of Things.

Machine Learning systems are good at detecting a person's race by looking at x-rays. This isn't supposed to work, but it does and persons involved are not sure why. If anyone pays attention to this, it will upset much of what social "scientists" have been saying for a few decades.

Researchers in China have developed a type of glass that can scratch diamonds. So long diamond bit drills.

Wednesday 11 August 2021

In one of the great "gotcha" moves in recent history, Republicans worked with Democrats to have an infrastructure bill. Then Democrats immediately pass a party-line $3.5 Trillion (with a Tr) bill for everything in the world. Fooled ya'.

TCL is now making Google TVs. They will continue to make Roku TVs as well.

Nvidia extends its Omniverse simulation service to new classes of users.

OpenAI releases is Codex software. Codex translates natural language into computer programming languages.

It appears that NSA awarded a (no longer) secret $10Billion cloud computing contract to Amazon. Microsoft quickly filed a protest of the award.

Facebook claims victory at deleting Russian accounts that were spreading anti-vaccine information.

NASA cannot make a spacesuit.

But NASA can explain the weather 10,000 years into the past. NASA seems to have forgotten why it exists.

AMC and Warner Brothers have an agreement to attempt to revive the movie theater business.

HP shows two new "Chomebooks."

In Oregon, there seems to be something happening with high school diplomas and whether "graduates" need to be able to read.

Thursday 12 August 2021

The prolonged year of the virus continues to be good for Foxconn as it makes more and more stuff.

This must be important as it is all over the Internet: Twitter changed the font on its website and app.

Zoom has a new Focus mode that shows a student the teacher, but not all the other students who can clown around and break a student's focus.

Facebook uses what it calls Time Cards hardware and software to keep the time straight. It released the designs for this to everyone.

Samsung updates it folding smartphones with the Galaxy Z Fold 3.

Samsung updates its smartwatch line with the Galaxy Watch 4.

If you want to save a little money, Samsung has the Galaxy Z Flip 3 at "only" $999.

Work for Google? Want to stay working from home? Can you live with a 25% pay cut. This is the new reality. There is no free lunch.

Depending on how you read the words, our COVID vaccines aren't really vaccines as they don't stop the spread of the virus. The vaccines are some kind of "sickness lessener."

Friday 13 August 2021

Thoughts on the gig, creator, and passion economies. What makes it possible to reach large audiences goes in both directions. It is possible to reach large groups of suppliers who lower their prices.

People are using Airbnb again after a disastrous year due to our reaction to the virus.

Nvidia claims that parts of its April presentation was computer generated and not their real CEO. Sounds like an April Fool's joke in one direction or the other.

The prolonged year of the virus continues to be very good for Disney as it continues to grow beyond expectations.

Facebook joins other companies with no return to the office until January.

Wendy's plans to open 700 "ghost kitchens" for delivery-only food. They will span three years and three countries.

Reddit is now valued at more than $10Billion. The front page of the Internet has done all right.

mailchimp also claims a value of $10Billion.

Peraton wins a $1Billion contract from DoD to counter misinformation.

Saturday 14 August 2021

Murder in Chicago. This is a travesty.

The secret is out. Many full-time jobs can be done in a couple of hours a day. A person can do several of these at once.

Job turnover is high. So is stealing intellectual property when moving from one job to another.

We set another record for hottest month. (1) We don't have enough data to draw any conclusions. (2) This shows how superior we are because we can endure such tragedies.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, our President removed us from the place. The predicted is happening. I find it a surprise that some adults are surprised.

And at the American embassy in Kabul, everyone is preparing to abandon a sinking ship.

Boeing and NASA flop again.

Available labor is not keeping pace with demand. Again I am surprised that some adults are surprised.

iBuyer or Instand Buyer. A new term for me. Who knew there was such an "industry."

The IBM PC is 40 years old. It created the Microsoft-Intel world that is still with us.

Sunday 15 August 2021

More information on folks who work several full-time white-collar jobs. Fact is, many folks can do what is required (nothing else) in 2 hours a day.

A jury in Texas says a California company must pay a Texas company $300Million. (Apple is the California company)

Predictable and predicted. The Taliban conquer Afghanistan, again. And there are adults in the White House who are surprised.

Meanwhile at Starbucks, (where I am sitting as I type this) folks order drinks so complex that no one can understand them.

Thoughts on using a constant state of tension in fiction.

A list of "chief engagers" or things that will keep readers reading.

Good advice about reading advice all in the headline. "Take what works, leave the rest."

Observe. Note observations. Write.

"That's great, but some days the mountain is too high."

Interesting characters have flaws. Characters with too many flaws are just too confusing and boring.