BRUCEB NEWS
The $240 Question: Is Free AI Good Enough?
In the last article I ordered you to subscribe to a $20/month plan for ChatGPT or Google Gemini. I didn’t explain why and in hindsight I shouldn’t have phrased it as “Follow and obey me, you low-bandwidth peasantry.” That was rude. Let’s talk some more about that….
MEDIA IN THE LIVING ROOM
Your photos are on your computer. Your music is on your computer. It makes sense that computers should be able to record TV shows – it’s kind of a computery thing to…
THE BIG MONEY, SOUNDUNWOUND
Two new sites have been added to the bruceb favorites page. The Big Money is a business web site created by the editors of Slate, intended to be an authoritative source of…
COMCAST POWERBOOST & SPEED TESTS
I was testing Speed.io, a new site for measuring the speed of an Internet connection and displaying it in a lovely way. (I’ve put in on the bruceb favorites page under…
Outlook Shortcuts
Here’s a tip for getting around in Outlook: it’s possible to switch between mail, contacts, and calendar using hotkeys on the keyboard instead of reaching for the…
APPLE BLUESCREEN FOLLOWUP
Apple reacted quickly to the reports that the latest iTunes update has caused some Windows systems to crash badly. Last night Apple posted another version of iTunes that rolls…
iTUNES 8 UPGRADE CAUSING CRASHES
New slogan for Apple: iTunes ain’t done till Windows won’t run! After its iPod conference this week – more of a non-event than usual for Apple – a new…
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 7
Adobe is taking orders for its annual upgrade to Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, the photo and video programs for consumers. Over the years I’ve found it hard to…
RESTORING A CRASHED COMPUTER WITH WINDOWS HOME SERVER
Windows Home Server deserves more recognition. It had a nasty bug that took too long to cure but that’s over now and it’s back to being the helpful tool that I…
DELL INSPIRON MINI 9 – 2.28 POUNDS OF FUN
I speculated a couple of days ago about a cheap device that might run Google’s Chrome Internet browser – and here’s the reality, right in front of us. Dell just…
SETTING UP LIVE MESH
Microsoft’s Live Mesh service, now in beta testing, has the most promise of any of the online services. With an easy setup, you can make your files available on multiple…
GOOGLE CHROME & IE8
There are new Internet browsers available in the news – Microsoft made a beta release of Internet Explorer 8 available last week for testing, and Google caused a fuss when…
OFFICE LIVE WORKSPACE – NOT PERFECT YET
I’ve stopped using Office Live Workspace for now. It’s a service with a lot of potential but a few areas that are rough around the edges. Although I encourage you to…
XO COMMUNICATIONS & CARL ICAHN
The New York Times has an article today about XO Communications, a company that most of you have never heard of. It gave me a little wave of nostalgia – XO is irrelevant…
GRANDCENTRAL & GOOGLE BLACK HOLE
GrandCentral is a wonderful free service for handling phone calls. When you sign up, you pick a new phone number and do a few minutes of easy setup. Then when someone calls that…
SETTING UP A WINDOWS LIVE ID
Windows Live ID is a single sign-on service from Microsoft that allows people to log into many websites and services with one account. A Windows Live ID is an email address and a…