BRUCEB NEWS
Location Tracking Could Help Combat Covid-19 – But At What Cost?
Health authorities could track your location and use the data to monitor and model the spread of Covid-19. It would help researchers learn how long the virus survives on a surface, what percentage of the population is asymptomatic, and where to target medical...
KODAK AND MICROSOFT
Kodak got a bunch of publicity last month when it attacked Microsoft for not giving its photo finishing software fair treatment in Windows XP. (See my link and comments on July...
BIRTH OF THE PC
Lots of tech sites are celebrating the twenty-year anniversary of personal computing. Here's a bit of nostalgia from my distant past.
GATOR
When you're downloading software, watch for an innocuous item named 'Gator" that will appear checkmarked in the list of items to download. It's an evil piece of software that...
DSL COLLAPSE CONTINUES
In the old days - a year ago or so - DSL was available from many Internet service providers. DSL wholesalers - Covad, Rhythms, and Northpoint - installed and maintained the...
DEFENDING MICROSOFT
I've had an odd feeling of unreality reading the news reports about various politicians, competitors, and special interest groups calling for delays or changes in Windows XP. The...
SATELLITE BLUES
The DirecPC/Pegasus two-way satellite connection has been virtually unusable for a month now. Hughes was stonewalling for most of that time, refusing to acknowledge that there...
CODE RED & SIRCAM
The SIRCAM virus may have come your way - I got several copies in my mailbox. The usual precautions apply - don't open file attachments to e-mail, keep your antivirus software up...
NET ADVERTISING
Ready for the Internet to get more annoying? Watch for several changes in advertising on the web. A number of sites have been experimenting with bigger advertisements, taking up...
AMAZON FINANCIALS
The Los Angeles Times put together an interesting story about whether Amazon.com can survive. "On Monday, Amazon is expected to report its 17th consecutive unprofitable quarter,...
FLAT PANEL MONITORS
Lots of people are interested in LCD flat panel monitors now that the prices are dropping. I've gleaned a few things from the coverage I've seen. Prices for 15" LCD monitors have...
COPY PROTECTED CDS
A timely news article today after my rant yesterday about the copyright wars. Turns out the record industry has been slipping copy-protected audio CDs into stores for a few...
HOTMAIL UPGRADE
Hotmail users will notice that the service has been redesigned. I don't see any important new services, but Microsoft has beefed up the junk mail settings. Everyone will want to...
MEASURING CONNECTION SPEED
I ran across a handy little utility that lets you measure the true speed of your Internet connection. It puts a little icon down by the clock with a tiny graph, and lets you pop...
WINDOWS XP PRODUCT ACTIVATION
Just so you know, the software pirates are hard at work trying to figure out how to break Windows XP Product Activation. The Register reports today on a particularly easy way...
WESTLAW CITELINK
Lawyers: there's a new version of Westlaw Citelink, a free utility that works with Word and WordPerfect to check case citations, construct a Table of Authorities, and the like....