Filter pass!

Hmmm...  NASA completes rocket design review for future Mars journey.  Including starting development on the new Space Launch System.  That's great, but, somehow my money is on SpaceX to get there faster, cheaper, better.  I believe the best way for government to accomplish "big things" is to pay private industry to do it for them, maybe by establishment of appropriate prizes rather than time-and-materials-plus-margin vendor relationships.  Anyway I guess it IS great that we're talking about launching stuff again.  But I worry that this is just a boondoggle and not serious tech. 

How to explain Donald Trump?  "To explain the inexplicable rise of Donald Trump is to calibrate the anger of fed-up crowd that is enjoying the come-uppance of an elite that never pays for the ramifications of its own ideology."  I don't think he'll be the GOP candidate, and I certainly don't think he'll win, and I also don't agree with a lot of what he says.  But boy has he struck a nerve. 

Meanwhile: Carly Fiorina: Here's what I will do as Commander in Chief.  A pretty compelling straightforward speech, laying out exactly what she believes and will do.  How great would it be to have a President like that?  If you're at all curious about her, I encourage you to watch this talk.  At least you'll know who she is. 

Google retires G+ as a requirement, starting with YouTube.  Yay.  My sloth in ignoring Google+ seems to have been rewarded.  It will be a case study in how not to launch a social network.  So interesting that even Google could not cram this down our collective throats. 

Today is Windows 10 Day.  So be it.  The reviews are pretty lukewarm, of the "well it's not as bad as Windows 8 variety", and I'm not compelled to rush out to install it.  Are you?  Seems like waiting for a couple of patch releases might be a good idea. 

Mary Jo Foley: Windows 10, Fine for laptops but not for desktops.

Oh no ... C you never!  Apple scraps plans for 4-inch iPhone 6c.  This isn't a fact, of course, just an analyst prediction.  If true, it means I'll have to hold onto my iPhone 5s a bit longer.  I am not interested in a bigger phone, in fact, I wouldn't mind a smaller one. 

Logitech to rebrand as "Logi".  These marketing repositioning effort never work, right?  The messaging is highly confused. 

Are you ready?  Friday will be a blue moon.  (The second full moon in a calendar month, which is rarely actually blue.)  This is the first one since August 2012 (where were you?) and it won't happen again until January 2018, so make the most of it :)