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: 11-17 April, 2022

Summary of this week:

• The Russians are still battling in Ukraine
• TikTok is rolling in the money (to China)
• Factories closing in China with more of their virus
• Inflation is in full gear at 8.5% and climbing
• Elon Musk tangles up with Twitter and billion$

Monday 11 April 2022

The Russians are still battling in Ukraine. There are signs of a "Plan B" that recognizes reality. A new commander is in place, the fighting shifts to the east (more favorable to Russia), and everyone is rearming for a big push. It appears that Russia will permanently sieze territory in the east. Just one person's observations from afar.

I suppose it was harder than they thought. Amazon's project to deliver by drones simply isn't working.

I guess this is important news: Elon Musk won't be on the Board of Directors at Twitter.

Virtual Reality for the office: "the future of the kind of casual-but-essential networking, brainstorming and creative play that binds teams together and leads to innovation"?

Almost everyone is putting something into low-earth orbit. It is becoming crowded up there.

The concept of creating a trademark for your one-person business.

Marbles in a jar or cup: this is a simple method to track where you are spending your time and energy. Tru if a while and learn what it is you are doing and not doing during the day.

This post has good ideas for the LinkedIn profile of a freelance worker---and we are all freelance workers.

Thoughts on using a university press. There are many of them, and this could work for you. "A Confederacy of Dunces" won a Pulitzer for a first-time author and was published by the LSU Press.

The concept of walking away from a piece of writing. Come back later. You don't "throw it away," you set it away.

Lower the expectations. Simply write what comes, what is fun. See what happens.

Here is something that I have not been able to do: make money writing on Medium dot com.

More thoughts on "writer's block." Some say it doesn't exist, but call it by other names to say that it does exist while not saying it exists and...Sigh.

Here are some KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of a "successful" writing career. Yes, it is all based on success meaning money. Want money for writing? Get a government job. Everyone writes reports all they time.

Tuesday 12 April 2022

The use of pattern recognition by computers is increasing in US hospitals. As long as the decision are relatively simple, they can be safely automated.

Pandemic profits flowing to China (the source of it all): TikTok rolls in the money.

New term---"new collar." The lack of a college degree is not stopping warehouse workers from moving into IT jobs. Better pay and better etc.

There appears to be trouble in Silicon Valley with emotional stress and such.

And now we have Friday Night Baseball from Apple. Here in the Washington area, the reaction was general negative. Still, it was the first weekend. It can be fixed.

If you disagree with current theories on climate change, don't go to Pinterest. Odd, we are squashing thought and exploration of different ideas. Odd.

Less we think this is all over...mask mandates are returning.

Wednesday 13 April 2022

A company out of MIT develops a drug that regrows hair cells in the inner ear. This restores hearing lossX.

Open Street Map dot org is like the Wikipedia of maps. Everyone updates it daily. Ukrainians are striving to stop updates that help the Russian army.

Intel is expanding its Oregon factory by $3Billion. The move away from China and other unreliable partners continues.

We now have the Operational Technology Cybersecurity Coalition---a group of cybersecurity companies pledging to work together and with our government.

DuckDuckGo now has its own browser that runs on the Mac. It will be publicly available real soon now.

Here we go again: factories in Shanghai are closed due to city-wide lockdown over their virus. China is not a reliable business partner.

CNN's Plus streaming service is flopping in the marketplace.

Office parties and other perks are being offered to bring us back to the building.

Pandemic prosperity rolls on with online advertising continuing to boom.

Toyota's first all-electric car is coming at $42,000. These are luxury cars---status symbols for the rich.

It appears that America's politicians have sent billion$ of taxpayers' money to Ukraine with billion$ more to go.

More tales of Russian tech workers literally fleeing Russia and leaving their families behind.

Thursday 14 April 2022

Got $125,000? Ride in luxury to an altitude of 20 miles (pretty much outer space) lifted by balloons.

Some thoughts on computers generating images and models based on text descriptions. This could go somewhere or maybe not.

While "most folks" don't want to go back to the office building, Google is spending $9.5Billion (with a B) on new office building construction.

The inflation spiral is going straight up. Amazon adds a 5% fuel charge to some orders.

The old ways still work as India's import restrictions on software (TikTok) allows its own software industry to grow and compete.

A new term---"neurodiverse." Some folks cannot function in an office full of other folks. Working from home has been a blessing to them at least a short-term blessing.

A group of US government agencies release new warnings of advanced persistent threat actors creeping into fundamental IT equipment.

Our CDC extends the mask mandate for public transportation yet once again for another time and repeatedly.

Amazon's technology for cashierless purchasing comes to the Houston Astros' baseball stadium. Buy a hot dog ($10), walk out.

More stories of tech talent leaving Russia while they still can.

It appears that in California, the legislature can tell businesses how many hours a week people work. There is a push for a 32-hour work week.

Friday 15 April 2022

We have reached a tipping point or some other metaphor where our Federal government now uses more Cloud IT services than IT services in its own data centers.

Pandemic prosperity continues for the semiconductor industry.

YouTube updates its Shorts (a TikTok clone) to allow splicing in other videos.

ASUS releases its Zenbook 14X OLED Space Edition at $1,999. This is a luxury laptop from a company known for less-expensive models.

We see another example of the reason for state hacking based in North Korea: steal money.

Stronger rumors that Apple will sell several new computers this year with a new M2 processor.

It appears the Elon Musk has $43Billion (with a B) to spare and might buy all of Twitter. That is an arbitrary large number.

Razer and Lambda have an unusual partnership to sell a high-end laptop computer loaded with Linux.

A team from MIT has built a machine that allows doctors to operate on stroke patients. The machine can also be operated remotely so the expert doctor doesn't have to be in the same place as the stroke victim.

Saturday 16 April 2022

Samsung jumps over Intel as the world's biggest chipmaker (in terms of dollars). China's companies all fell from the top ten. The world has realized that China is an unreliable partner.

There is a move afoot (slight at this time) for a three-year college degree to cut student costs.

To its credit, Apple doesn't collect as much data on its customers as other big tech companies. This brings challenges to its engineers. It also brings them money in other ways.

SpaceX is up and down in Europe. It is a hero in Ukraine and now a villain in France.

A look at independent folks who investigate crypto schemes and often uncover scams and theft.

AI (machine learning) uses one type of computation over and over and over. Processors (and their little companies) built to do that computation are getting lots of attention, money, and sales.

A look at Samsung's latest Chromebook. I think companies lost sight of the Chromebook idea (an inexpensive window to the web). I guess I am wrong as these expensive items sell.

Our response to the virus and its ensuing inflation is practically killing the restaurant business.

The 3D printing of housing moves into a new era as army baracks are now being printed. Perhaps these early moves will lead to needed improvements in the technology.

Perception and reality(?): executives perceive that employees who turn off their cameras during those ZommerTeam meetings are not paying attention and won't be employees for long.

I guess we add "developer burnout" to the list of outcomes of our response to the virus.

Sunday 17 April 2022

I guess this is a forgotten skill---how to clean a vinyl record.

Apple retail employees in New York City are collecting signatures to form a union. I trust they know what they are doing.

Richard Stallman on the state of free software and how hardware makers are inhibiting programming.

In case you were wondering, there are free and open-source video conferencing apps available. Here is a review of some of the better ones.

It appears that folks are not adopting Windows 11 very fast if at all. It doesn't help that Microsoft tells us that our computers are not powerful enough to run 11.

Another NASA flop. They failed on three tries to fuel the SLS. Roll it back into the vehicle assembly building and scratch heads and scribble on the chalk board and give glowing press releases.

An in-depth look at how Apple managed to create its M1 processor or "Apple silicon."