BRUCEB NEWS
Chatting With AI: Synthetic Empathy
A lot of people talk to their AI buddies as if they have little friends that live in their phones. It doesn’t come naturally to me. I’ve been using ChatGPT and Gemini as if they are amazing upgrades to Google search. It doesn’t occur to me to open my phone for a…
NEW APPLE ADS
Apple has some clever new commercials, featuring John Hodgman, the resident “expert” on The Daily Show. Very likable ads comparing PCs and Macs, showing the PC guy…
NET NEUTRALITY
“Net neutrality” is a hot topic in Washington. The Internet was developed with a guiding philosophy that Internet service providers would treat all traffic equally….
MEDIA CENTER PCs AND INTEL’S VIIV
Many people are buying new computers with Windows XP Media Center Edition – it’s the version pre-installed on most consumer PCs these days. Its most visible feature…
EXTREMELY PORTABLE HARD DRIVE
It’s long been a stereotype that technology keeps making things smaller. Here’s the latest example: a 60Gb ($149.99) or 100Gb ($199.99) Maxtor OneTouch III Mini…
SKYPE AND WEBCAMS
Skype has a hard-earned reputation for handling Internet telephone calls with style – simple interface, great voice quality. Installing the software is a snap. Calling…
TOP TEN WEIRDEST KEYBOARDS
For a grin, take a look at this article showing the Top 10 weirdest keyboards ever. There are some genuinely weird computer accessories out there!
DESKTOP SEARCH UPDATE
There are several programs that can index your files and Outlook folders and allow you to find something in them instantly – a name, a scrap of text, a number. It is…
WIKIPEDIA
Wikipedia occasionally gets in the news when one of its entries is hijacked by pranksters or political operatives. As a result, there have been endless discussions in the media…
UNINTENDED SIDE EFFECTS
This is the year of unintended side effects. Let me tell four stories from the last two weeks. The common theme is that in each story, nothing is broken and nothing is at fault….
BETTING ON SONY
Sony is gearing up its marketing department behind Blu-Ray DVDs, its next-generation disc for high definition movies. Toshiba and its partners are lined up behind HD DVD, a…
WORD REDACTION TOOL
There have been several embarrassing incidents recently in which information was learned from electronic documents because they were not adequately secured. In some cases, the…
NEW DELL WIDESCREEN NOTEBOOKS
Dell will roll out new business notebooks today, the Latitude D620 and D820, with two interesting features. Here’s an article about the rollout. First, they will have…
WINDOWS LIVE ONECARE UPDATE
If you’re using Windows Live OneCare, it was recently updated to include protection against spyware as well as viruses. Here’s info from the Windows Live OneCare team…
WINDOWS DESKTOP SEARCH
Microsoft has released an updated version of Windows Desktop Search, its program for indexing files and Outlook folders for lightning-fast searches. Here’s the home page…
PLAYSTATION 3 DELAY
Sony confirmed today that the Playstation 3 will not appear until November – a potentially disastrous setback for Sony’s struggling electronics division. Sony is…