BRUCEB NEWS
The Secret Life Of Smart TVs: Inside Badbox 2.0
[ Click here for a NotebookLM audio discussion of this topic drawn from my source material.] Google and the FBI took down “Badbox 2.0” last month – ten million compromised TV streaming boxes being used by criminals. Malware on the devices connected them into a botnet…
Perplexity: From Searches To Answers
This is a love letter about my latest crush. I want you to try Perplexity when you look for information online. It’s my new best friend. It represents some important changes in the world happening right now and I want you to see them coming. You’re already seeing…
The Edge Of Annoyance: Microsoft Hijacks Outlook Links
Microsoft added a setting to Outlook to open web links in the Edge browser, even if you’ve set Chrome as your default browser. This is not a recent change. You may have already dealt with it. I still run into it when I set up new computers, and I hear about it from…
How Philip K Dick’s Estate Found A Loophole In A Shoebox
I have a limited edition of Philip K Dick’s novel In Milton Lumky Territory with the legendary author’s signature on the first page. Only 50 copies were signed and bound with the signature and the special quarter leather spine. There’s a fun story about the…
Xreal One & The Future Of AR Glasses
I’m watching Love Death + Robots on a 191” screen hanging in the air four feet in front of me. That’s about the same size as an IMAX screen when you’re sitting in the middle of the theater and the scene fills your field of view and you have to look slightly left or…
Decoding AI Hysteria: Hallucinations, Laziness, & Corruption
This is a story about lawyers and moronicans, laziness and greed, and why blame for bad AI results should frequently rest with people, not technology. You should be skeptical about reports of flaws and problems with AI – but also skeptical about the results you get…
Jolly Tales & Funny Pictures By Mark Twain
Mark Twain fled to Berlin in 1891 with his wife and three little daughters. He had earned a great deal of money from Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and his other writing and lectures, but he invested in ventures that lost most of it and the family was short of funds….
AI And The Gabbling Foreigner Illusion
Foreigners sure talk fast, don’t they? When you listen to someone speaking a foreign language, you’re sure they’re speaking very quickly, far faster than you speak in your more refined native language. It turns out they think exactly the same thing about the way you…
AI Slop And The Enshittification Of Everything
I’ve written about how AI is great and AI research will change the world and you should use it to plan your trips , while cheerleaders kick up their heels and wave their pom poms, rah rah sis boom bah. That’s part of the story. I don’t apologize a bit for being a…
Zero Click Searches & Google AI Mode
AI is taking over online searches. At the moment, that’s good news – the AI summaries are increasingly reliable and helpful. In the long term, they might be so good that paradoxically, they contribute to the enshittification of the internet. It’s a big, complicated,…