BRUCEB NEWS
The Bad Guys Are Gonna Git You If You Don’t Watch Out
Be careful when you read your email! I’ve noticed an increase in phishing messages in the last few months. The bad guys continue to improve their grammar and the presentation of their fake messages, to make it more likely that you’ll be fooled into giving them a...
CHEAP DVD PLAYERS
The Seattle Times has an interesting article about the ultra-low priced DVD players on the market. No-name DVD players were available on sale before Xmas for under thirty...
TOM’S NETWORKING
Tom's Hardware has long been an important source of information and reviews about computer hardware. Tom's has now opened a new site devoted to networking, Tom's Networking, with...
CALIFORNIA BANS FRONT-SEAT COMPUTER USE
A new law effective January 1, 2004 bans the use of laptop computers in the front seat of a car. It applies to a laptop being used by a passenger in the car, but it excludes most...
DAVE BARRY ON 2003
2003: A Dave Odyssey is Dave Barry's annual review of the past year's most important events. "Some other troubling questions from 2003 were: If Californians hated Gray Davis so...
ADOBE READER 6.0.1
Adobe released a minor update to Adobe Reader (formerly "Acrobat Reader"), from version 6.0 to 6.0.1. If you use Reader, you might get a popup notifying you of the upgrade. A...
OUTLOOK 2003 ANTI-SPAM UPDATE
Microsoft Outlook's 2003 has been doing an extraordinary job of filtering my spam - almost no false positives and a 95%+ job of sending spam to the junk folder. My fear, tough,...
REALNETWORKS SUES MICROSOFT
RealNetworks has filed a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, alleging that Microsoft stifled RealNetworks' attempts to develop a market for its RealPlayer software...
WINDOWS XP – THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STANDBY AND HIBERNATE
Notebook computers with Windows XP can be set to "hibernate" when the lid is closed. The system memorizes what the computer is doing and saves that information, then turns off...
COMCAST CABLE INTERNET
Comcast claims to be moving forward to roll out Internet service on its cable systems in Sonoma County. If you're in a rural area and you haven't checked out cable or DSL...
DELL PROMOTIONS & MICROSOFT SMALL BUSINESS SERVER
It's a good week to buy a computer at Dell. Computer prices don't change very much from week to week - they just keep going down at a pretty steady rate. Dell's promotions are...
AMERICA ONLINE WOES
The online-advertising market is beginning to rebound, and profits are on the rise at Yahoo and MSN. Meanwhile, things keep getting worse and worse at AOL. Ad sales were down 50%...
MORE URBAN LEGENDS
Time for our annual reminder that most e-mail warnings of bad things are false, ranging from the intentionally harmful to benign urban myths. An e-mail message is circulating...
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Microsoft has put together a rich source of information about digital photography on this page. It includes a fair amount of advertising for Microsoft products and partners, but...
NEW LOOK FOR HOTMAIL
Hotmail got an overhaul yesterday, including a new interface that resembles Microsoft Outlook 2003. Theoretically the junk mail filter keeps improving, grouping and viewing of...
SPAMMERS HAPPY WITH FEDERAL LAW
As you watch Congress and the President congratulate each other over the new federal anti-spam legislation, keep in mind that the spammers are thrilled with the new law. Here's...