BRUCEB NEWS
AI Consumer Basics
Here’s your human-generated summary of the latest AI news. Mankind has never lived through a period of technological change like this. It arrived overnight, it is constantly changing and evolving, and its impact is so multifold that we literally can’t comprehend it…
LITTLE BROTHER
Cory Doctorow is one of the most interesting science fiction authors working today, as well as an editor and frequent contributor to Boing Boing, one of the most popular blogs in…
FLASH PLAYER SECURITY WARNING
Adobe Flash Player is installed as an add-on to Internet Explorer on almost everyone’s computer. It’s become the ubiquitous way to display online videos from YouTube…
AT&T DSL & MAIL WOES
AT&T has a special place in my heart. One of my clients is a small business with its own domain name and several users receiving POP3 mail addressed to that domain name…
VISTA vs. XP
I’m starting to get annoyed when I sit down at a Windows XP computer because it’s missing so many things that I take for granted in Vista. I just reformatted a hard…
DELL LAPTOPS & POWER MANAGEMENT
On a Dell laptop, it is crucial to DISABLE one “power-saving” feature guaranteed to drive you mad. In Vista’s “Power Options” panel, the bottom item…
VISTA POWER MANAGEMENT
Vista is very smart about power management! Use the default settings, you might be pleasantly surprised. As always, the goal is to make a computer more like other appliances…
NORTON ANTIVIRUS & XP SP3
A number of people have had the same problems after installing Windows XP Service Pack 3: Device Manager is empty System Restore is empty the Network Connections screen is empty…
GOOGLE WEB HOSTING
If you’re looking for a quick way to get something online, take a look at what Google is doing. There’s no shortage of ways to get started online with a web site, a…
USB HD PREVENTS BOOT
The same problem has now turned up twice in two weeks. So far I’m not aware of any recent update or change that makes this happen, but keep this in the back of your mind in…
GRANDCENTRAL GOES OOPS
GrandCentral is a phenomenally useful service for some people. The service assigns you a free phone number; you can route calls so when that number is dialed, the phone rings at…
ADWARE – NOT DEAD YET
The best security software will not protect you if you click “OK” and install something from a web site. Adware/spyware was at epidemic levels until a couple of years…
WINDOWS 7 WILL BE SWELL!
The latest wave of media overcoverage concerns Windows 7, the followup to Vista, which Microsoft hopes to have ready in 2-3 years. The theme of many blogs and news articles is…
WINDOWS VISTA TOOLS
We have learned a lot about Windows XP in the last seven years. I can work deeply in Windows XP with confidence, and I’ve developed a pretty good collection of tools for…
EMAIL NO LONGER RELIABLE BUSINESS TOOL
An interesting problem has developed, and there’s no good answer in sight. Email is no longer a reliable business tool. We’re going to keep using it but there will be…
CELL PHONE DREAD
The world of cell phones has some things in common with the computing world, including the sense of dread and helplessness that weakens the knees when we walk into the stores….