BRUCEB NEWS
The Nine Billion Windows Keyboard Shortcuts
There are monks in a Tibetan lamasery working patiently to list all nine billion possible names of God, according to a 1953 story by Arthur C. Clarke. By an extraordinary coincidence, there are nine billion Windows keyboard shortcuts. Good news! You already know some...
GOOGLE NEWS
Google is bringing its remarkable technology to harvesting the news. Here’s a link to Google News, presenting the top news stories of the moment without any human intervention....
VIDEO ON DEMAND IS HERE TODAY
The New York Times has an article today with an intriguing premise: the world of video on demand is here, and it’s being delivered by . . . the Post Office. DVDs hold digital...
HOTMAIL SPAM FILTER
It’s not just your imagination – Hotmail accounts get far more spam than any other mail service through any other ISP. Microsoft has finally signed a deal that might cut down on...
ON SALE
Costco has been carrying Sylvania conventional and flat screen monitors for a while now – and they’re perfectly good, in my experience. Today, though, the 17” monitors in stock...
INSTANT MESSAGING IN THE DOLDRUMS
At one time it appeared that instant messaging would be standardized and as a result would become a mainstream tool, widely adopted by businesses and as common as e-mail. Then it...
DICTIONARIES
The Press Democrat just did a feature about the abbreviations invented for text messaging – they’re becoming second nature to many kids, and teachers are seeing them turn up in...
NEW VERSION OF KAZAA
Kazaa introduced a new version of its file sharing software today. It should be available at download.com. I don’t have any information yet about any spyware included in this...
DIGITAL IMAGES
For consumers, the world of graphics software breaks down roughly into two categories: Photo editing programs – for working with images from your scanner or digital camera....
MAC OS X – THE MANDATORY UPGRADE
Apple has a problem – its users aren’t flocking to the new operating system, OS X, as fast as Apple needs. So Apple came up with a plan to fix their problem. Guesses, anyone?...
SERVICE PACKS
Now that Windows XP Service Pack 1 is out the door, almost everybody should be installing one of the recent updates. Although the service packs fix a slew of bugs, their primary...
CHEAP COMPUTERS
Look for cheap Emachines and Compaq Presarios in the stores for your Christmas shopping pleasure. They’ll each have systems at various price points - $399, $499, $599, $750 –...
NEW HP PRINTERS
Hewlett Packard has a line of color printers for business – including “business Deskjets” that don’t turn up often at the neighborhood stores. They feature faster speeds and...
HOW COMPUTER MANUFACTURERS SURVIVE
Here’s an article about rumors that Gateway is receiving unsolicited takeover bids. Gateway’s public stance is that it has no interest in being acquired, but there’s no way to...
RECORD INDUSTRY AND SLUMPING SALES
Dan Bricklin is an old-timer in the computer industry – among other things, he developed VisiCalc, the granddaddy of the spreadsheets. He’s done a lengthy statistical analysis of...
PRIVACY POLICIES
Nobody reads privacy policies. If you’re like me, you assume that a web site’s reference to a “privacy policy” must mean something good. Here’s an ominous reminder that we must...