BRUCEB NEWS
The History Of The Snark: Notes On Lewis Carroll
On July 18, 1874, Lewis Carroll was on a morning walk when a sentence popped into his head: “For the Snark was a Boojum, you see.” That thought led to one of the greatest works of English literature that you’ve never heard of. It had been ten years since Alice’s...
Make A Note To Try Microsoft To Do
I want you to add something to your to do list. Okay, what popped into your mind as the place you would put that? A notepad on the refrigerator? A post-it on the steering wheel?...
Tips For Saving Files In Word & Excel
There are three completely different screens that can come up when you’re saving files in Word and Excel. I’ll help you recognize them so you know what to do next with each one....
Advertising At The Speed Of Light
The advertising business doesn’t work the way you think it does. You figure you’ve pretty well got it - you watched Mad Men, right? Back in the 1960s, cigarette-smoking men from...
Cybercrime Is Boring
The phone rings. It’s a scammer. “I’m calling from Microsoft about a problem with your computer.” “I’m calling from the IRS to discuss your past-due tax bill.” “Would you like to...
Windows Can’t Find My OneDrive Files
Windows Search has a problem with my OneDrive files. It can’t find them. It’s supposed to be able to find them. There’s a tempting new option in Windows Settings / Search that...
Why Is It So Hard For Facebook To Remove False Covid Information?
What should the social media companies do with false information?Two years ago YouTube had a surge of videos encouraging teenagers to eat Tide Pods because they are secretly...
Arguing At Cross-Purposes About Tech Policy
“If people are at cross-purposes, they do not understand each other because they are working toward or talking about different things without realizing it.” Definition of “at...
Windows Tip: Use Alt-Tab To Switch Programs
I don’t want to make you feel bad, but I don’t think you’re using Alt-Tab to switch programs, and I’m not sure I understand that. I use Alt-Tab a hundred times a day, but I...
A Cautionary Tale About Always-Connected Computers
This is a fun and interesting story that ends with me so angry that I want to feed my laptop into a wood chipper. Fair warning: to get there, you have to read a bit more about...
Microsoft Doesn’t Care That Windows Is Declining
Microsoft is failing at adapting Windows to modern ARM processors – and it doesn’t care. Microsoft will never acknowledge the decline of Windows, but it has already pivoted the...
Windows Is In Its Declining Years, Macs Are Entering Their Second Childhood
These events have paved the way for Apple to dominate personal computing in the next five years. Intel has failed at keeping up with the needs of a mobile population. The best...
Apple & The Future Of Personal Computing
Anyone who tries to predict the future is a fool. We can’t predict what will happen next month, much less next year or five years from now.So I’m going to make a prediction.In...
The Outlook Is Grim For Microsoft Updates
If you're an Outlook user, there's a good chance that the program crashed when you tried to start it yesterday (Wednesday, July 15, 2020). Microsoft uses the word "Outlook" to...
How To Make Windows Less Annoying
This is a collection of default settings in Windows that I change to make computers less annoying. It reduces the number of ads for Microsoft disguised as "tips" and...
How eBay Prevented Me From Starting A Life Of Crime
I was going to sell collectible books on eBay. I've got first editions and small press limited editions. I know how to pack books so they arrive safely, and I intended to price...