BRUCEB NEWS
Windows 11: The View From 11,000 Feet
Microsoft will release Windows 11 later this year. It is an incremental upgrade to Windows 10, with a facelift so it looks nice and a few small changes that mostly appear to be for the better. I want to talk about Windows 11 a little bit – first to give you some...
WINDOWS VISTA SP1 PREVIEW
There's a frequently repeated piece of conventional wisdom: many businesses have delayed buying computers with Vista because they never purchase Microsoft's first release of an...
GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS & ADVERTISING
Solicitations arrive constantly in my mailbox offering to help move bruceb.com to the top of search engine results (where it so clearly belongs). It is easy to become confused...
WIRELESS HEADACHES
The Wall Street Journal wrote an article last month about wireless networks, expressing a sentiment many of you have probably felt - namely, they're a pain in the neck. It...
DELL & VISTA
In the last couple of weeks I've set up several Dell Optiplex computers running Windows Vista from Dell's small business division. Dell has seriously cut back on preinstalled...
ONLINE FILE HOSTING & SHARING
Slowly but surely the world is migrating away from software running on your computer to services hosted online. The only divisions at Microsoft that are profitable rely on sales...
OS STATISTICS
As you can imagine, different people interpret these statistics differently. I've seen articles in the last few days that reach dramatically different conclusions. You decide...
GOOGLE AND WIRELESS BROADBAND
In 2009, new frequencies will become available in the US for handling voice and data. The frequencies are currently being used for analog television, but the FCC decided years...
VERIZON BROADBAND FOR THE HOME
Broadband coverage is stalled. If you don't have access already to DSL service or cable Internet service, there's no reason to think it will be available tomorrow, or next year,...
USING SKYPE
Skype is well-known free software for making phone calls from your computer. Most people use it to make calls to other Skype users - always free, anywhere in the world. Calls are...
NOISE CANCELING HEADPHONES
I had my first experience with noise canceling headphones on airplanes and was impressed by how effectively they cut down the effects of jet lag and made the flights more...
BRUCEB RETURNS
A pleasure to be back! I assume you turned off your computers while I was gone; feel free to turn them back on again now.I apologize if anyone sent me an e-mail message and got a...
BRUCEB ON VACATION JULY 6-23
I will be on vacation starting Friday, July 6. I'll be back in the office on Monday, July 23. (Look for us on the webcam: http://tinyurl.com/3369d8) Please don't do anything that...
WHY CAN’T IT JUST WORK (REVISITED)
You've heard me complain about things that don't work - programs that are badly written, hardware that breaks, things that conflict in mysterious, unreproducible ways, USB...
GOOGLE ACQUIRES GRANDCENTRAL
Google announced on Monday that it has acquired GrandCentral, the remarkable collection of telephone services. Here's Google's announcement of the acquisition, and here's...
VIRUS ALERT – IT’S RAINING POSTCARDS
The latest barrage of virus-laden spam e-mails announce that you've received "a postcard from a family member." Here's a security vendor confirming what you already knew - if you...