BRUCEB NEWS
Tech Tidbits
As we enter into the twentieth year third month of the global pandemic, technology news has slowed down as much as everything else. There aren't many things to tell you about! Here are a few bits of tech news that have caught my eye in the moments between bouts of...
KLEZ VIRUS
There's yet another e-mail virus running around loose, the "Klez" worm. It's finding a lot of unprotected systems, and causing the usual problems. Here's an article about the...
WEB SITE HIJACKING
If you own a domain name, make sure its registration doesn't expire accidentally! The number of domain names being allowed to expire--intentionally or accidentally--is at an...
SEGWAY
I feel like I missed something obvious. Maybe you already knew this. Remember the Segway scooter created by Dean Kamen and announced in December? Battery-powered, using computers...
DATAPLAY – THE NEXT BIG THING (not)
Miniature CDs will hit the market this summer, presumably with a heavy advertising blitz. The "Dataplay" discs look like CDs that are one inch across and come in a small plastic...
PRIVACY INVASIONS AND THE PATRIOT ACT
According to this story, the Patriot Act (passed last October) has produced results that might take you by surprise. The Patriot Act gave law enforcement officials expanded...
WILCO AND THE FUTURE OF MUSIC
Wilco's new album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, will be released next week. And if you buy it, you might help improve the future of recorded music. Wilco is one of the few great bands...
COSTCO DEALS
Some good deals at Costco right now. A stack of 100 blank TDK CDRs is $29.99 at the register, and there's a $20 rebate from Costco. (Unlike other rebates, Costco processes rebate...
TRAVEL WEB SITE SHENANIGANS
I had to chuckle (to avoid crying) reading this article about the squabbles between Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia. At first, you'll be sympathetic to the claims that Orbitz is...
RECORDABLE DVDS
Most consumers have stayed away from recordable DVDs, since there's a blizzard of competing acronyms representing different, incompatible media and disk formats. DVD+RW, DVD-RW,...
KAZAA SPYWARE
Kazaa is one of the popular file sharing programs that took over after Napster was gunned down. It had always had a reputation for installing "spyware" - nasty little programs...
TIME WARNER HELL
Two announcements from Time Warner today that should strike fear into your heart, as we move into a future controlled by corporations and inundated by advertising. America Online...
GENDER GRAMMAR
I don't know if this is correct, but it's interesting. The Register quotes from a Microsoft technical note that uses "she" to refer to actions by a potential hacker, and adds...
POP-UP DOWNLOADS
You're familiar with pop-up ads - the windows that appear spontaneously when you visit many web sites. Are you ready for pop-up downloads? Watch for a box to appear asking you to...
GOOGLE TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED
Google has posted a fascinated look at the technology that produces its search results. Google relies on PigeonRank, a system for ranking web pages using low cost pigeon...
XO ON THE BRINK
It's almost over for XO Communications. According to this article, XO is weighing a takeover bid by Carl Icahn, and it may file for bankruptcy soon. More telling to me is that XO...