BRUCEB NEWS
Prices And Algorithms: It’s A Game Of Cat And Mouse, And You’re Always The Mouse
You probably have the idea that you can use the power of the Internet to compare prices and find deals. Savvy travelers look for advice about the best time to buy airline tickets for a trip – on a Tuesday, about 90 days before the trip, right? You compare several...
OFFICE XP
I spent ten minutes today looking at Microsoft Office XP for the first time. Two things jumped out as features that might be worth the price of admission, if they work. I'll be...
CDR PRICES TO RISE
Stock up on blank CDRs! According to this article, a combination of circumstances is going to cause the price of blank CDRs to jump significantly in the next couple of months -...
HOMEPAGE VIRUS
There's another virus travelling around quickly this morning. It's similar to the Anna Kournikova "Love Bug" virus - annoying but it doesn't damage your computer. The "Homepage"...
DELL COMPUTERS
As other computer manufacturers fall by the wayside, Dell continues to stand out. They ship promptly, they don't make very many mistakes, and their customer support is as good as...
ORBITZ.COM
Five major airlines are working to bring Orbitz.com online next month as a one-stop source for airline reservations. Every other human being connected with the travel industry is...
EASY CD CREATOR 5 & WINDOWS 2000
Easy CD Creator is the software I use for burning CDs. It's got a reasonably simple interface and it does almost everything most people want to do with their burners. (Out at the...
WINDOWS XP PRODUCT ACTIVATION
Tech types are all atwitter over the "Product Activation" requirement that will be introduced with Windows XP. After you install a retail copy of Windows XP, you won't have...
MORE CHEAP COMPUTERS
Look, this is getting ridiculous. Costco has a few dozen E-Machines today with these specs: Celeron 633MHz processor, 64Mb RAM, 15 Gb HD, plus a DVD drive and the usual...
SATELLITE STORY, PART 5
My purchase order is in for Pegasus Express Plus service. The price has dropped a bit in the last two weeks. Startup costs are about $600 for hardware (including installation)...
CABLE INTERNET ACCESS
AT&T now owns most of the cable system in Sonoma County. They've amusingly named the cable division "AT&T Broadband," and cable Internet service has been rolled out to...
MICROSOFT & SMALL BUSINESSES
Microsoft has revamped its bCentral web site, a collection of services and resources for small businesses. One interesting example is the offer to design and host a web site from...
NEW ADOBE ACROBAT & QUICKTIME
I don't know whether these are compelling upgrades - haven't tried them, don't know about new features - but Adobe has released Acrobat Reader 5.0 and Apple finished work on...
WEB SITE OF THE DAY
You were probably thinking to yourself, gosh, I wonder where I can see stick figures fighting Jackie Chan-style? Aren't you glad I'm around to help? (Requires Flash and a bit of...
BORDERS HANDS ONLINE OPERATIONS TO AMAZON
Did you see that Borders is handing its web site to Amazon? Borders will close its own site, and Amazon will open a new site that features both logos, with Amazon essentially...
LINKS TO PUNDITS
A new addition to the Favorites page (under News / Links): Slate links, a collection of links to hundreds of political columnists, editorial pages, movie critics, book reviewers,...