BRUCEB NEWS

The Covid Vaccines Started With A Teddy Bear Stuffed With Money
On January 10, 2020, Chinese scientists posted online the genetic sequence of a then-unidentified virus isolated from 41 hospitalized patients in Wuhan. Two days later a team of scientists at Moderna had programmed the RNA sequences that became the Moderna Covid-19...
NETFLIX FFFT ZZZT
Another glimpse behind the scenes, this time by a reporter who was allowed to visit a Netflix distribution center. If you subscribe to the DVD-rental service, the Netflix...
HARDWARE CHANGES AHEAD
When Windows 7 arrives in a few months, it will be accompanied by new hardware that is just now coming into focus. You might find yourself buying more computers than you expect...
Amazon Love
It seems appropriate to say something nice about online shopping, after last week’s rant about Buy.com. I buy everything from Amazon.com. That’s why I have the Amazon search box...
Buy.Com And “Customer Loyalty”
This is a cautionary tale to make you careful online shoppers. It strikes close to home for me because it involves Buy.com, a favorite of mine at one time, but the scam is also...
COMCAST POSTSCRIPT
Ace consultant Brian Dent of CompuDent Systems points out an interesting corollary to the speed increases from Comcast: Just one caveat I’ve run into. A lot of the existing...
COMCAST SPEED INCREASE
Comcast Internet subscribers in the North Bay are getting a free speed increase, and some new choices for even faster Internet connections. Here’s today’s press release. The...
iPHONES AND CARRIERS
I ran across an interesting article about the effect Apple is having on the wireless business. The conventional wisdom has been that AT&T and Verizon are abusing their market...
FIREFOX, CHROME UPDATES
Lots of people have installed Firefox to do their Internet browsing. Sometimes, out of curiosity, I ask people why they use it instead of Internet Explorer. There are people who...
DISABLE INTERNET EXPLORER SECURITY WARNING
There’s some new wording on a security warning in Internet Explorer 8 that nearly drove me nuts. If you don’t like it either, instructions to disable it are below. All too often...
VISTA VS. WINDOWS 7
I’m frequently asked whether to buy a computer now or wait until Windows 7 is available in late October. If you buy a Vista computer now that has the hardware I recommend, you...
INSTALLING USB DEVICES
Microsoft has accumulated a remarkable library of drivers for all the hardware devices and gadgets and gizmos that we hook up to computers with USB cables. The drivers that are...
TIPPING POINT TO 64 BIT
We’ve reached the tipping point. Many of you will buy 64-bit versions of Vista on your new computers from now on, and almost all of you will buy a 64-bit version of Windows 7....
ERRONEOUS SECURITY WARNINGS IN VISTA
Starting on July 14, some Vista computers began displaying erroneous warning messages from the Windows Security Center. If you run Windows Live OneCare on a Vista machine, you...
RICHARD FEYNMAN AND PROJECT TUVA
This is not directly related to computers but it’s a nice thing to know about. Bill Gates announced today that he has made a classic series of lectures by Nobel prize-winning...
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2010 – DETAILS HAZY, ASK AGAIN LATER
The bloggers were buzzing about Microsoft Office 2010 today, after Microsoft gave a nice presentation at a Partner Conference. The new Office suites won’t be on the market until...