BRUCEB NEWS
The Windows Laptop Mess
The Windows laptop market is in disarray. There are some good reasons to wait a year before buying a new computer. (Or buy a Mac. They’re pretty magical.) Your next PC might be one of the latest Windows laptops with Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, which feature vastly...
Spotify Daily Mix: Better Playlists Through Algorithms
If you’re a regular Spotify listener, you’ve got to check out the new Daily Mix playlists! Before we get to that, start with the advice: if you listen to music, you should have a...
Stylish Desktop PCs Are Just Myths, Right?
The gently curved triangular cylinder in the above picture looks like a particularly attractive speaker. Wrapped in thick-threaded fabric, a lid that looks like it’s made for...
Don’t Answer The Phone! And Other Advice About Robocalls
It’s not your imagination: robocalls are on the increase. The volume of robocalls has risen sharply in 2016. Complaints are up. The government and big companies are taking new...
Microsoft Starts To Untangle Microsoft Accounts And Office 365 Business Accounts
Background: Understanding Microsoft Work And Personal Accounts Tip: How To Change The Login For Your Microsoft Account (And Why You Should) Last week Microsoft candidly...
Amplifi! Orbi! Luma! Eero! And Other Words About Wi-Fi
“Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!” - First words spoken by Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter...
Google Chrome Steps Up With Improved Battery Life, Material Design
As we move quickly into a post-Microsoft world, Google Chrome is the program where we spend most of our time on our computers. Last week Chrome was updated in a couple of small...
You Can’t Escape From A Ninja
If you have any illusion that privacy means anything, forget it. If you are targeted for surveillance, there is nothing you can do to prevent it. Every keystroke on your computer...
Security Warning: The Bad Guy’s Get Smarter (And Learn Spellling And Grammar)
Virus emails from the bad guys have been steadily getting more sophisticated and harder to spot, but careful proofreaders have almost always been able to find errors in spelling...
Microsoft May Not Recover From Losing Our Trust
Our relationship with technology is built on trust. Self-inflicted errors are causing Microsoft to lose our trust. A series of bugs has emerged in updates to Windows 10. Chances...
Updates From Microsoft Spiral Out Of Control
Microsoft has had a bad month. In this article I’ll tell you about some of the problems with recent updates from Microsoft. In the next article, I’ll take a broader look at the...
Prisma Turns Your Photos Into Works Of Art
Prisma is a free app for iOS and Android that turns your photos into works of art in seconds. In a way it’s similar to the filters that have been around for Instagram and...
Google Duo And Communication Overload
Google introduced a new app for video chats last week. Google Duo makes one-on-one video chats as easy as possible, with nothing required except a phone number and someone on the...
Security Tip: Hover Over Links Before You Click
When you hover over a link in Outlook or a web browser, a small window pops up to show you where the link really goes. If the real link doesn’t match the sender or doesn’t match...
Improvements to Windows Defender In Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Windows Defender is the built in antivirus program included free with Windows 10. It provides all the security that you need, quietly and efficiently. The combination of Windows...
Upgrade Your Computer With A Solid State Drive
You might have an upgrade option that wasn’t practical a year ago. It’s a combination of two things: • Prices have been dropping on solid state drives. • Windows 10 installs...