BRUCEB NEWS
Security Tip: Are You Available For A Scam?
An email comes in from a co-worker, usually someone higher up than you. It's short, just a few words: "Are you available? I need your help as soon as possible." "Are you available" messages are a scam. Your email response will go to a criminal. The next message will...
DOWNLOAD CAPS ON CABLE BROADBAND
Time Warner has begun tiered pricing for cable Internet access in a few areas. The idea is that a cable subscriber chooses a monthly download limit – 40Gb, for example. If you go...
AMAZON, APPLE, AND MUSIC
Amazon has been eyeing the market for downloadable music for years, wondering how to jump in. The issue isn’t technology, it’s the business model, availability of content and...
BROADBAND SERIES PRESERVED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
I wrote some notes a couple of weeks ago about choices for broadband access in rural Sonoma County. It’s scrolling off the news page now, but it’s such stunningly lucid prose...
MICROSOFT TO PAY AOL $750 MILLION
You might have seen the news that Microsoft will pay AOL $750 million to settle AOL’s antitrust lawsuit. AOL acquired Netscape in 1998 and sued Microsoft in early 2002 for...
KAZAA SECURITY UPDATE
There will be an important update for Kazaa within the next 24 hours. They’ve identified a security vulnerability and they’re urging users to patch their systems quickly. Here’s...
TIME MATTERS 5.0
Time Matters and Amicus are the market leaders for law office case management. Time Matters just rolled out its first new version in two years, version 5.0, along with a new...
HARDWARE WARS
Dell continues to dominate the computer market, of course. Here’s what some of the other players are doing. Sony just announced its summer lineup, loaded with multimedia...
HISTORY LESSON
Mark Minasi occasionally writes a column for a newsletter from Windows & .NET Magazine. Today he makes an interesting point to support his contention that Windows NT 4.0...
THE MATRIX RELOADED
You can read the conversation between Neo and the Architect here, in case you missed anything the first time. (For goodness’ sake, don’t read it if you haven’t seen the movie...
MESSAGE FROM “SUPPORT@MICROSOFT.COM” CONTAINS A VIRUS
The latest virus making the rounds purports to arrive from "support@microsoft.com." The file attachment contains a virus. It's not from Microsoft. You shouldn't have to think...
COREL ACQUIRED BY VECTOR CAPITAL
Corel announced today that it has agreed to a takeover bid by Vector Capital, a San Francisco-based company that already owns a substantial stake in the company. At $1.06 per...
FIBER TO YOUR HOME, AND OTHER PIPE DREAMS
The phone companies – Baby Bells and Verizon – got a lot of press today for their announcement that they’ve agreed on a “standard” for rolling out fiber to your homes, enabling...
MEDIA MONOPOLIES
I was looking for this the other day - here’s a list of the companies owned by AOL Time Warner. It’s extraordinary. You can get similarly chilling information about other media...
ADOBE ACROBAT READER 6
Adobe released Acrobat 6 today, including a new version of the free Acrobat Reader. Download Acrobat Reader 6 here. Acrobat PDF format is starting to be used everywhere – you...
SPAMMER TESTIMONY
Yesterday a notorious spammer testified in front of the Senate Commerce committee. Here’s the Washington Post article about his testimony. Ronald Scelson, an eighth-grade dropout...