BRUCEB NEWS
AI Hype In Overdrive
There was a full-page ad in the New York Times on Friday for the new Samsung “Bespoke AI” washer/dryer combo. Seriously. Of course “AI laundry” is marketing crap. I’ll bet some business advertised “Crypto Ovens” a couple of years ago. It’s meaningless and stupid. AI…
The Bizarre, Pointless Google Chromebook Pixel
Google has achieved a rare distinction: it has now launched not one but two of the strangest, most pointless products in the long history of stupid tech products. Last year…
Ransomware, Hackers, And The Java Problem
Another Java update? Really? Sigh. New updates for Java on all versions of Windows this week (Java 6 Update 41 and Java 7 Update 15), following the emergency Java updates last…
Windows 8 Tip: Sign In With A Microsoft Account
One of the first questions asked during setup of a new Windows 8 PC has particular significance. By default, you’ll be asked to sign in with a Microsoft account. If you do,…
A Busy Week For Patches!
Microsoft and Adobe made sure your computer stayed busy this week, with a particularly large crop of patches and security updates. Your computer has probably already restarted at…
Growth In Smartphone And Tablet Markets Continues Unabated (And It’s All Android And Apple)
The number of smartphones and tablets sold worldwide in 2012 is absolutely staggering. The sense of amazement is the same no matter how you measure it – number of units sold,…
Say Goodbye To Windows Vista
Previously: Say Goodbye To Windows XP (2012) Say Goodbye To Six-Year-Old Computers (2010) Time marches on. It’s time to retire computers running Vista. Most of them are five…
Acrobat XI Pro Now Available By Subscription
Adobe has never been shy about charging high prices for its products. Artists and designers have long struggled with the high cost of licenses for Photoshop, Illustrator,…
New Features In Office 2013 – Outlook, Excel, Powerpoint
Previously: Office 365 Home Premium: The View From 36,000 Feet New Features In Office 2013 – UI, Skydrive, Word Continuing our look at a handful of new features in the updated…
New Features In Office 2013 – UI, Skydrive, Word
Previously: Office 365 Home Premium: The View From 36,000 Feet All the attention is focused on the subscription-based licensing of the new Office suite, but at some point you’re…
Office 365 Home Premium: The View From 36,000 Feet
Microsoft Office 2013 is the new version of Microsoft’s flagship suite, with the core programs that most businesses use every day – Word, Excel, Outlook, and Powerpoint. It…
New Directions For Skype
Skype is being transformed this year into an integrated platform available on phones, tablets and computers for a variety of communications tasks. There has been a flurry of…
Skype Fundamentals
Most of you are familiar with Skype, the program that lets you make free calls to other Skype users anywhere in the world. Microsoft bought Skype at the end of 2011 and has been…
Windows 8 Sales Are Slow–And It’s (Partially) The Manufacturers’ Fault
Windows 8 was introduced at the end of October. Although Microsoft claims to have sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses since then, it’s generally conceded that sales have been…
The Vulnerable, Deceptive World Of Java
Ed Bott has written a fascinating article about Java’s bad behavior – not just its security vulnerabilities, which are legion, but also its incessant attempts to install adware…
Windows Tip: Use The Browser Address Bar For Web Searches
You can type web searches into the address bar of your browser and get the same results as if you had typed them directly into Google. This is an old trick but it’s not well…