BRUCEB NEWS
Is Zoom Safe To Use?
The world has adopted Zoom for video chats with friends and family while we shelter, for good reasons: it's free or inexpensive, it's easy to use, and it works very well. Naturally, there's been a backlash, because, I don't know, good things must be punished? So there...
802.11b R.I.P.
The standard for wireless products has been 802.11b, capable of reliable but relatively slow network speeds. Shortly after the 802.11b standard was finalized, products flooded...
TAKE HOME A CONCERT IN YOUR POCKET
Hey, old-timers - remember The Jetsons? Disneyland's House of the Future? We're here. It's the future. Watch it happen, right before your eyes. A club in New Jersey is installing...
DRUG PRICE INFORMATION ONLINE
The government has revamped www.medicare.gov. Among other things, it now has comprehensive information about prices on a variety of prescription drugs in thousands of pharmacies,...
SECURITY AND CHOCOLATE
The New York Times has an article today reporting on a British survey that underscored another gaping security hole in our computer lives - namely, that most people don't think...
GOOGLE GMAIL OPENS TO BLOGGER USERS
If you use Blogger (as I do for this news page), you're invited to test Google's new Gmail service. Visit blogger.com for details.
OUTLOOK SEARCHES
There's a new utility being developed that might be your new best friend. X1 indexes Outlook e-mail and contacts, as well as all your files, and does lightning-fast searches for...
A9.COM SEARCH
Amazon.com has unveiled its own search engine, www.a9.com. Search results are drawn from Google as well as Amazon, and include search results from inside books indexed by Amazon....
MEDIA CENTER 10
Media Center 10 is the new version of the program formerly known as Media Jukebox - software for playing and organizing your music files. It is a long-time favorite among power...
MORE FUN WITH THE RECORDING INDUSTRY
Once you've built a reputation for being evil and stupid, it has to be hard to find new ways to live up to the reputation. The American recording industry deserves credit for its...
NIGHTMARE ON ADWARE STREET
Here's an article about a tech-savvy journalist who decided to see what happened if he allowed some adware onto his system. He clicked OK on a few dialog boxes that popped up...
GATEWAY STORES TO CLOSE
Gateway announced today that it will close all of its remaining retail stores on April 9, ending an expensive and difficult experiment for a company that has been struggling to...
GOOGLE E-MAIL
Google has begun testing a free webmail service named GMail. Here's a press release from Google about the new service. Google intends to offer each user essentially unlimited...
ADOBE & APPLE DRIFTING APART
Apple fans are increasingly hard-pressed to justify clinging to a product with an insignificant, dwindling market share. The conventional wisdom is that Apple computers have some...
OUTLOOK 2003 SPAM FILTER UPDATE
If you're using Outlook 2003, go to the Office Update site and install whatever updates it suggests. Among other things, you'll get a brand new update for the spam filter in...
MICROSOFT PASSPORT TO NOWHERE
Microsoft's Passport was envisioned as a central place for your personal information, safeguarded by Microsoft, which would then be accessed during your online shopping so you...