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: 6-12 May, 2024

Summary of this week:

• The Russians are still in Ukraine
• Israel-Gaza conflict continues
• NASA and Boeing flop again in attempting a manned mission to the ISS
• Apple updates the iPad Pro line and releases the M4 processor
• Filmaker Roger Corman dies at 98
• US passes a law to send military aid to Israel, but our President won't send it

Monday 6 May 2024

A look at TikTok, money, purchasing stuff, and how the videos tell younger Americans how to spend their meager money.

Stronger rumors about tomorrow's Apple event, including that it will only be 35 minutes long.

This is not a new trick, but it is still useful: load all the software needed for a computer on a USB memory stick. Carry around you PC in your littlest pocket.

Real estate in San Francisco and renting bed pods for $700 a month. This is metropolis?

"I think one of my early motivations for writing was that other people's versions of experience didn't gel with my own. It was a gesture toward sanity to try to get the world right for myself. I've since learned that if you get it right for yourself, it often has resonance for others."---STEPHEN DUNN

All I know of grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object being photographed.---Joan Didian

Create dangerously, for people who read dangerously. This is what I've always thought it meant to be a writer. Writing, knowing in part that no matter how trivial your words may seem, someday, somewhere, someone may risk his or her life to read them.---EDWIDGE DANTICAT

Stuck while writing something? Grab a new piece of paper and write about being stuck while writing something. There is no end to this technique.

I'll just quote the title, "How to Write a Book in 100 Days"

Mystery writers: how to drop clues. Non-fiction writers: THERE ARE NO CLUES. Tell people what you want them to know.

How many words in a novel, short story, play, etc? For some writers, word count is meaningless. For others of us, it gives us a boundary and a sense of scope and effort.

Tuesday 7 May 2024

A new company called Alembic claims AI that does not return incorret answers. Well, let's see.

Hugging Face adds a robotics model to its collectino of open-source AI models.TEXT

Meanwhile in Japan, someone has a method to regrow teeth. Trials are to begin real soon now.

Strong rumors that Apple's Siri is one of its services about to receive a big AI update.

Love the title of this post: How to Build a $20 Billion Semiconductor Fab

Our Federal government reminds us how tough it is to be the Federal government and try to do research.

Apple is building its own AI processors sized for data centers.

The Chinese government has hacked into the payroll system of the UK Ministry of Defence. These things used to be called acts of war.

Amazon pours more Billion$ into singapore data centers.

Meanwhile in India, political campaigns are deep faking videos of popular but dead politicians in ads.

The Pro models of the iPhones are leading the sales figures.

Tonight, NASA will put two astronauts in a Boeing Starliner launch vehicle and attempt to reach the space station. Prayers for those two guys in the capsule. NASA and Boeing haven't done well on this.

Never mind, they have already cancelled tonight's launch. Maybe some time after now.

Wednesday 8 May 2024

There was a big red carpet event in NYC yesterday. Leading the highlights were deep fake photos of people who didn't actually go to the event.

Microsoft has invested big $$$ in OpenAI. Microsoft now has developed its own AI models to compete with OpenAI.

Companies are selling carbon credits to each other. What could go wrong? Plenty as they are basically selling air to each other.

The trap of "good enough for now." Temporary gains are okay as long as you go through the work needed in the long term.

Business is booming for the smaller lesser-known cloud computing companies. They have been able to scrounge parts like GPUs and meet demand.

Thoughts on learning things and then delving deeper to understand what you understand.

If you can't beat them, join them: Stack Overflow, once the source of technical knowledge online, partners with OpenAi, now the source of knowledge online.

The layoffs continue at Tesla. Tesla employees now check their email on Sunday evening before going to work on Monday morning.

Once again, managers of programmers say that it is impossible to measure the productivity of programmers. Sigh.

Rumors of a smaller iPhone 17 "Slim" model coming next year.

Meanwhile in China where the adoration of ancestors is a deeply held emotion, there is a booming business in deep fake conversations with dead people.

A new AI company called Tenyx claims to have tuned an open source model to outperform GPT-4. If true, and it probably is true for some situations, this is a first.

It appears that "soft skills" are dominatating hiring interviews these days. The soft skills don't come across well in those ZoomerTeams interviews that are also dominating the hiring interviews.

Someone is getting leaks of Apple's presentation later today. Updates to the Final Cut Pro software that make the updated iPad Air far more of a video studio for conducting live events and editing video.

Here are details on the new Apple M4 processor. Of course its performance is far superior to what has come before. It is a better AI PC than any AI PC on the market. I guess the iPad Pro is the first to have this processor. Time to update my old iPad? Steady, steady, hold onto that credit card.

Less exciting are the new iPad Air models. They are upgraded, but don't have the M4 processors.

Meanwhile in Arizona, Amazon's delivery drones won't fly in temps about 104F. Sorry, plenty of summer days in Arizona are above that level by 9 a.m.

The updated iPad Pro is more powerful than my MacBook Air and my iMac. Maybe more powerful than the two combined.

Thursday 9 May 2024

US and Uk law enforcement identify who runs the LockBit ransomware gang. He is a Russian. Now he is famous and wealthy.

As expected, TikTok sues the US government for a law banning, divesting, or both against the service.

Somehow, the US government has declared that products from Intel, Nvidia, et al are essential to national security and cannot be exported. It seems that the government is now obligated to buy all those parts. I understand export restrictions, but I don't understand them. Our government allows the self-driving technologies in Tesla to be exported. That technology has great military utility for China. What's the difference?

IBM open-sources its Granite models that help programmers write code.

Since the PAN(dem)IC ended, tech companies have lost $1.5Trillion (with a Tr) in value.

Meanwhile in China, there is a network of websites that purport to sell clothing to Americans. There are no clothes. Just a way to get your name, address, credit card number, etc.

It appears the Microsoft made a (no longer) secret LLM for the CIA.

Red Hat adds AI tools to RHEL.

A new company, Upend, releases a search engine driven by generative AI. We are seeing the more and more as Google and the other big companies are slowed by their size in these search engine competitions while new companies with, with no anchors holding them down, pop out new products.

According to some estimators estimate, renewable energy passes 30% of world electricity generated. Calling this "clean" energy is not quite true as the mining or materials and burying of non-biodegradable waste isn't clean. Are dams and running water turning wheels still called "renewables?"

Mitre is building a $20Million super-duper-computer for the US government. I guess there are less constructive ways to spend tax payers' money.

No one seems to understand much about Alzheimers. So, let's just say it is inherited.

Today's AI will be "laughably bad" in 12 months. Let's see.

Wait a minute, we didn't even get a chance to get a degree in AI Prompt Engineering, and now it is already dead.

The state of AI summarized pretty well: the cost of playing in the AI arena is so high that only Google et al can afford it. The US Government doesn't have the money needed to play.

Meanwhile in Iceland, we have the world's largest machine that pulls CO2 from the air. We'll need thousands more of these to do anything measurable. In 50 years, what will people think of things like this?

The appeal of the just-updated iPad Pro. When will Apple sell a laptop and desktop with M4 processors?

OpenAI tries to write a specification for its AI models. Sorry, using big words it is probabilistic, not deterministic.

I'll never understand these things: Arm has a better-than-expected financial quarter and its stock value drops.

Microsoft is closing studios that make XBox games.

Friday 10 May 2024

This person worked remotely from a cruise ship for 21 days. It wasn't easy, but he made it work.

How much money do you need in the bank to retire? I don't know. Inflation clobbers all these calculation as do rising real estate taxes. I am fast approach a house tax that will surpass my original mortgage price.

And now our government wants to claim ownership of AI models to prevent them from being exported.

Now we have Raspberry Pi Connect. It makes it much easier to connect to servers built with Raspberry Pi machines.

Real news that isn't news: the current FCC is imposing more regulations on the Internet and providers.

Survey of young Americans says: give us five days' pay while we work four days a week.

Meanwhile in California, legislators are working on AI regulation laws. Some people don't see all the fuss. You have mid-level lawyers who are elected because they can't get a real job and they are telling people at the leading edge of research how to do their jobs. Fuss?

Google's profits are up. Google salaries are not up. Some people wonder why Google morale is down.

The first brain implant patient was doing quite well. Now there are problems. This is expected. I pray that the patient will be well.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple since 2011, is now 64. Who is the next 50-year-old to run the company. And I think Cook has done a much better job than Steve Jobs ever did.

Always trying really hard but hopelessly behind, out Senate's bipartisan working group on artificial intelligence will release a roadmap "within a few weeks" (that is Senate language for "real soon now" or "some time after now").

This story must be important as it is all over the Internet: Apple has a new iPad add known as "crush." People hate it and are calling it all sorts of mean names. It 's just an advertisement.

Here is the ad. I guess I get what Apple is trying to say and don't take it for much more than that.

Can you generate NSFW material that is age specific or some other safety measure?

This continues a theme from yesterday about new and small companies and AI. Magnific AI is a Spanish startup with only two employees. They just sold themselves for a whole-lotta-money. They predict AI will permit one-person companies that will do similar.

Meanwhile in America, teenagers play video games. Whatever happened to Strat-O-Matic Baseball?

This journalist chatted with 18 AI companions for a month. Well, it's a paying job of sorts.

Strong rumors that OpenAI will release its search engine Monday. Let the games and comparisons and finding fault begin.

Plenty grandiose claims here, but it appears that our Dept of Defense worked with SpaceX to turn off Starlink services to the Russian military in the war in Ukraine.

Here's Apple's strategy for its upcoming AI products. Datacenter servers will use M2 Ultra processors. The iPhones and iPads will do processing on board to reduce the load on the datacenter. This may work. Once again, Apple controls all the hardware and software in the system.

Saturday 11 May 2024

Someone at Apple apologizes for their "crushed" advertisement. Gosh, too violent or negative or something.

Now Apple has a chance to do the New Coke old Coke advertising change and show a wonderful ad about creative tools used through the centuries.

The best ad of all time (in my humble opinion) is the "Misunderstood" ad from Christmas 2013.

Here's some advice for meetings: have the "leader" speak last. That allows for everyone else to express their thoughts.

Meanwhile in climate news, we declare an emergency by noting a change in CO2. We don't have a large enough sample size to declare anything meaningful, but it sure makes a good headline. Most of these folks are well meaning and are trying to earn a paycheck to support their families, but this is why who hope there are some adults in the room that point to the obvious.

Dire warnings or grand hope as 46% of us are "considering changing jobs" this year.

Meanwhile in America, our cars are full of flame retardent chemicals due to a 1970s regulation from our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). And, by the way these chemicals are related to various forms of cancer.

Dell has a data leak that may affect 49million customers.

Stability AI releases Stable Artisan to generate audio, video, and other content.

A new approach to parallel decoders. Faster and more efficient. Make it work, then make it work better.

There is now a $400 price difference between 2024's iPad Pro and Air models. Does that M4 vs M2 processor mean that much money. Okay Apple, this M4 super-duper-computer called the iPad Pro: show me the AI apps I can run on board that no one else can run.

Strong rumors that iOS 18 will bring AI-based voice transcription. It promises to work much better than the current version.

Its a good time to be a dictator as there are plenty of companies worldwide who will sell you software that spies on the smartphones of your subjects.

Meanwhile in India, where there are big elections this year, the newly formed Misinformation Combat Alliance is on the job finding and fighting misinformation. Goodness, have you ever know a politician to say something that wasn't quite true?

The use of AI in cinema is still in its infancy. Don't be surprised if the baby grows up quite quickly.

News that isn't new: "streaming is becoming cable TV all over again and getting crummier in the process."

This is a story about online dating. More than that, this is a story about software using other software. The owner of the used software will then charge the owner of the using software money. Some people will be spending lots of money and getting nothing in return. Take great care with this.

John Wayne. Richard Widmark. Those are the sign and countersign from silly movie I saw when I was a kid. That is just one simple method to defeat deepfakes. If you see a video of someone doing something they don't normally do, its probably a fake. Simple.

High-bandwidth Memory Chips: write that down. That is what will enable AI in datacenters. Maybe it will all be a bust, but if it booms, that technology will be at the heart of it.

Give credit to Apple. They didn't pioneer AI chattering bots, but when Apple saw the world go that way, they didn't deny reality. Instead, they worked very hard to catch up.

Thank the pandemic for showing that China is not a reliable trade partner. Tech companies are now investing in southeast Asia instead.

This opinion piece is a call for employees to break the law and tell when their company has a defense contract. Okay, do so and go to jail for it. Otherwise you don't believe in what you are doing.

Sunday 12 May 2024

Seth Godin shows how to fix the Apple "crushed" commercial and make it something inspiring.

Superyachts are like any other boat: they are a hole in the water in which you constantly throw money.

The drone war in Ukraine: many of us predicted this (it was a simple thing to predict) years ago. $100 drone, hand grenade, death and destruction.

Meanwhile in India, outsource IT expertise has been a lucrative industry for several decades. Will these chattering bots cut into that flow of money and jobs?

I'll just quote this, "the automotive Cold War between China and the West is fully underway." In 1980, I visited a Chinese trade show in San Francisco. The American auto industry was reeling from a decade of losses to Japanese car imports. Absent from the Chinese trade show were any cars. A sigh of relief. Well, 44 years later, it is here.

Roger Corman dies at 98. He made movies, hundreds of movies with no names who became big names and no names who never made it. Unique in American entertainment.

Waymo claims 50,000 paid rides a week of its robotaxi service. Slow and steady wins the race.

You're Bill Gates. You have $153Billion net worth. What do you do with all that money?

Research shows that several AI systems have learned the art of deception.

For the past several years, Microsoft and Red Hat have been working together on cloud technologies.

Several Linux distributions were updated this week to include: RHEL and Alma. These include new boosts to AI systems.

This is good news for all of us. A new technology called Connected Vehicle to Everything (C-V2X) is spreading. Using this, a vehicle tells all other nearby vehicles of its presence. Bicycles are also using this so that out-of-sight bicycles are causing beeps in your car. Watch out!

Businesses are still using floppy disks. And there are supplies still selling them. Gosh. I have some 5 1/4" floppies but have no way to read them.