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: 4-10 March, 2024

Summary of this week:

• The Russians are still in Ukraine
• Israel-Gaza conflict continues
• The Communications of the ACM is now open for all to read at no charge
• We have Super Tuesday with the same two old guys winning
• Microsoft to have a "future of work" event 21 March
• Daylight Shifting Time begins in America

Monday 4 March 2024

The sky is falling. AI will control the 2024 election (not). There is a Federal Election Commission which is always underfunded. Ever wonder why members of Congress keep the FEC anemic?

Researchers at UC Berkeley claim to have trained a robot to walk around San Francisco using the same techniques as large language models.

A little testing shows that Meta's image generator has the same problems as Google's Gemini.

Real news that isn't news: European regulators fine successful American company $2Billion (with a B) because they can.

Some folks find comfort in chatting with one of these AI chattering bots. 24/7 chat at no cost. This is beneficial to some persons.

Without holding a big event, Apple introduces new MacBook Air laptops with 13" and 15" screens and M3 processors. Faster, better, and all that.

Tech layoffs means its tougher to find a job. Some companies are using the opportunity to get work for free as part of the "interview." Hint, those who do so are unethical. You don't want a job with them.

By accident, some researchers have let experiments with LLMs run for weeks. These brought surprising results. Now what? Oh, not sure.

The concept of static and dynamic characters in fiction.

Using bullet journaling as a writer. Especially a writer with many projects, deadlines, tasks, etc.

Retail sales writing is not fiction writing. Sometimes it is good realize the difference.

Part 2 of self-publishing mistakes.

Tuesday 5 March 2024

THIS IS A BIG ONE: The Communications of the ACM is now open-source. No charge to read any of its half-a-million papers. Okay IEEE, we are waiting on you.

Coming real soon now from Google is "App Mall for ChromeOS."

The nature of current trends in AI research make it different for startups.

There is a glut of research paper publishing. Those who read the papers can't scan them all. Hence, we have social media influencers picking the ones people read. What could possibly go wrong?

"If you ask me what makes me most happy, number one would be somebody saying "I learned something from you." Number two would be somebody saying "I used your software."---Donald Knuth

"But a classical definition of a liberal education is that you know everything about something and something about everything."---Donald Knuth

Meanwhile in America, it's good to succeed in business as long as you don't succeed too much. Google is paying the price of succeeding too much. Nvidia will have their time as well.

Amazon Web Services to invest $5.3Billion in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile at Twitter, everyone is suing everyone else over unpaid severance and firing with cause and who scratched whose car in the parking lot.

And in New York City, it appears that the NY Times targeted employees of middle-eastern descent in investigations.

ChatGPT now has a read-aloud feature that reads its answers to you. Great for the sight impaired.

"Doomsday futurology:" I like that. Whatever it is, Microsoft accuses the New York TImes of doing it.

AMD built less-powerful processors to export to China. The expert regulators in America proclaim the processors are not less powerful enough.

Here is the Nothing phone 2A. It is a $350 smartphone that has everything anyone would need. Yes, it does.

Meanwhile in America, we have one remaining radio stations that blasts news and weather to ships using Morse Code.

Blue Origin boasts that it will land an unmanned cargo ship on the moon in 2025.

Linux hits 4% desktop market share.

Wednesday 6 March 2024

If you can find a practical use for quantum computers, Google will give you $5Million. Good luck.

In an odd moment, one of the founders of Google admits it was a mistake to release their Gemini system that drew awful pictures. Well, no duh.

AWS buys a data center in Pennsylvania that receives all its power from a nuclear plant.

Anthropic releases the Claude 3 model. It is supposed to be the better and best of everything to date.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is to spearhead our President's AI initiatives. They can't hire anyone. They can't remove the mold and rats from their building. This is government.

This piece in the Wall Street Journal does a good job of explaining how Nvidia processors run AI in data centers.

Microsoft is dropping Android from Windows 11.

Don't sue us! We're just doing research!

Accenture is moving into the online education market.

The SAT exam shifts from paper to on a computer. You still have to go to a test center or school to take the test.

Why are people starting to use Linux on desktops. The biggest reason is rapid growth in India, the world's most populated country.

Thursday 7 March 2024

AWS follows Google Cloud Platform in allow for no-cost egress of data out of its services to another cloud service provider.

Coming real soon now from Microsoft are Surface laptops with AI processors built in.

For what it is worth, the value of a BitCoin is at an all-time high.

One company's experience in building Large Language Models in the wild.

One person's experience working inside Apple's Vision Pro for a week.

It appears that Nvidia is about to introduce a 1,000-Watt GPU.

Microsoft continues to work quietly with the rulers of China on maintaining censorship and surveillance of its subjects.

Microsoft schedules a big event for March 21 to show new CoPilot and Windows 11 features and new hardware as well.

Meanwhile in the prompt engineering community, (there is such a thing?) prompt engineering may already be a thing of the past.

Where the money goes: 2023 was yet another record year in people losing their money to online fraud.

Nikon buys high-end camera company RED.

Meanwhile somewhere in the Pacific, America's regulators seized a Russian super yacht. That'll show 'em. Uh, it is costing $1million a month to keep it stored.

Meanwhile in America, the airlines are becoming strick regarding carry-on bags.

We are already distrusting AI companies and their products. That didn't take long.

We say see the resurgence of water batteries or "aqueous metal-ion batteries." Much easier to make. Far less toxic, etc.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has bought a company called Writable. The tool helps teachers grade essay assignments. Teachers love it.

Friday 8 March 2024

I guess this is a good thing. We are closer to a shot that will protect against all snake bite venoms.

It appears that Meta is building a new LLM that will recommend any video.

It appears that we have taken a big step to returning the woolly mammoth from extinction. I guess this is a good thing, something we need?

The combination of the EU, Apple, and Epic Games just doesn't combine.

If you are going to use a LLM to help your employees navigate your documents, use these tips. Structure seems to be the key.

Meanwhile with TikTok, calls flood Congress supporting TikTok. Congress gets mad.

Former President Trump comes out in favor of TikTok (he can count votes).

Engadget reviews the just-released MacBook Air with M3 processor. I am typing on an Air with an M1 processor, which was a big speed upgrade over older Intel processors.

Long-range rumors on a MacBook with a 20=inch foldable screen.

Meanwhile in China, the governors gather an extra $27Billion to fund chip factories.

X (Twitter) introduces long-form posts for some paying customers.

Rivian shows two new electric vehicles.

Meanwhile in Louisiana far south of New Orleans (yes, you can go far south of New Orleans), age-old attempts to divert rivers continues.

Saturday 9 March 2024

Inflection AI claims that its Pi large language model now has a million daily active users.

Programmers at Facebook don't use Git. Instead, they have their own in-house system.

Meanwhile in Australia, researchers have a retina implant that may restore eyesight.

And we have yet another weight loss pill. I am using the air weight loss treatment. It seems to work.

Several new LLMs are now out performing GPT-4 in one way or another. So much of these measures are not measures but opinions.

Microsoft raises the "guardrails" on its CoPilot to make it safer. You either laugh or cry when reading how people describe software systems as if they were something far removed from reality.

Meanwhile at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a new AI expert appointee is a noted effective altruist. Non-appointed employees are upset that this will taint their objective positions.

Marilyn Monroe, seemingly dead for 60 years, has a new show. AI extends life or at least the money-making portions of life. $$$.

Apple reinstates Epic Games account.

Our Dept of Defense once again issues a report that there are no alien spacecraft visiting earth. Move on, nothing to see here.

Palantir is awarded a $178Million Army contract for battlefield intelligence.

The Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are finally a reality on Google Chrome, well sort of.

Sunday 10 March 2024

We spring forward, lose an hour of sleep and move to Daylight Shifting Time. What a farce.

Meanwhile in Germany, the locals like privacy and don't like Google Street View showing photos of their homes. After ten years, they go on the air.

Former President Trump now likes TikTok. He understands business and the flow of funds.

Researchers have founds a better way to multiply matrices on computers. They hope the energy savings is significant. AI uses lots of matrix multiplication.

Farmers in India are using solar-powered pumps to irrigate farms and feed people. Well, the water supply has a limit I guess.

Meanwhile on planet earth, we keep breaking records for warmest month ever. And I thought all that would end with a Democratic White House. Guess not.

Canonical turns 20. The Ubuntu Linux distribution has become the standard.

When do you postpone a football game in cold weather? When people have fingers amputated due to frostbite?

Science research used to be published on paper---something that lasted. All digital publications can be and are being lost.