BRUCEB NEWS
Rules For Computer And Online Safety 2020
These are the rules for computer and online safety in 2020. You can download a copy here. Only your vigilance will protect you against bad guys. You will be safe if you are cautious. Stop and think before you click on links, before you call unfamiliar phone...
BROBECK COMMITS SUICIDE
Lawyers are probably aware that mega-firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison announced yesterday that it’s closing its doors. Here’s an interesting analysis of the firm’s rise and...
FANS OUTRAGED AT ADDITION OF NEW CHARACTER TO THE RETURN OF THE KING
A recently leaked trailer for The Return of the King has Tolkien fans outraged over the apparent addition of a new character - Jar-Jaromir, the half-brother of Boromir and...
ANOTHER REASON TO HATE REAL ONE PLAYER
Learn to live without Real One Player. You won’t be able to play some audio and video streams – but your computer will thank you. Real Networks has earned a special place for its...
BACKUP PROGRAM FOR WINDOWS XP HOME
Windows XP Professional includes a backup program – reasonably good, although not as flexible as my favorite, BackupMyPC. It’s not installed by default with Windows XP Home...
CNET RADIO GOING OFF THE AIR
CNET Radio (AM 910) has been my constant companion for the last year or more. It’s delivered technology news and talk all day, every day – and now it’s closing up the radio...
KAZAA COUNTERSTRIKE
Kazaa decided if it was going to be dragged into US federal courts, it would go in with guns blazing. It filed its own lawsuit yesterday against the major record labels and movie...
RIAA v. VERIZON
The federal court decision in RIAA vs. Verizon on Tuesday was a very bad thing. Legal background: the DMCA has a very unusual provision, allowing copyright owners to obtain a...
WORM ATTACK SLOWS ENTIRE INTERNET
Worldwide Internet traffic suddenly slowed down dramatically for hours on Saturday, after a fast-spreading computer worm clogged major servers. Experts called it the most...
HILARY ROSEN STEPPING DOWN AS RIAA CHIEF
At the end of the year Hilary Rosen will step down as chief of the Recording Industry Association of America. She bears a great deal of responsibility for its reign of terror,...
IOMEGA AS A TAKEOVER TARGET
Iomega never recovered from the double blow of manufacturing defective Zip drives and failing to foresee the world of cheap, ubiquitous recordable CDs. It has no growth products...
COPYRIGHT UPDATES
If you’re interested in the ongoing intellectual property turmoil, pick up this month’s issue of Wired Magazine – an interview with RIAA chief Hilary Rosen, an article with a...
SBC TELEMARKETING
It took me a while to figure out what the recording meant when calling Pacific Bell – the one where they asked permission to “access your records.” Most people reacted the way I...
APPLE MYTHS, CONTINUED
An interesting comment today from Paul Thurrott in the Windows Magazine newsletter: ”Because Steve Jobs gave his Macworld address just days before Microsoft Chairman and Chief...
COPYRIGHT DEVELOPMENTS, GOOD AND BAD
The bad news is that the Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Congress did not exceed its authority when it extended existing copyrights for another twenty years. (See my news item...
DELL AXIM HANDHELD
My new Dell Axim PocketPC looks just great. Although the $199 version would be just fine for everyday use, many people will appreciate the extra memory in the $299 version (64Mb...