BRUCEB NEWS
Zoom’s Pandemic Success Story
Zoom just reported one of the best quarters in software history, perhaps one of the best earnings reports in the history of American business. The rapid adoption of videoconferencing has been one of the most dramatic technology changes caused by the pandemic, and it...
CHEAP COMPUTERS GET CHEAPER
Prices have been in freefall for a long time, but I still get taken by surprise every time I look at the low end of the market. How about an entire HP system - including Presario...
MICROSOFT READER AND FREE BOOKS
Microsoft Reader is free software designed to display books onscreen in an appealing way. It’s available for Windows computers, as well as being supplied with most Pocket PCs....
THE EROSION OF ONLINE PRIVACY
EBay’s director of law enforcement and compliance, Joseph Sullivan, gave a talk last winter which is only now getting any attention. In it, he offered law enforcement officials...
DSL DISCOUNTS
There’s a bit of a price war going on among the larger DSL providers. SBC has extended its $29.95/month fee until August 31. Verizon discounted its DSL price last month,...
PARENTAL-CONTROL SOFTWARE
PC Magazine just ran a short review of parental-control software that can block Internet sites with inappropriate content when kids are surfing. The magazine liked Cybersitter...
EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES
Your new computer probably includes USB 2.0 ports – physically identical to USB 1.1 ports, but capable of transferring data at much higher speeds. One interesting way to use them...
GOOGLE TOOLBAR 2.0
The Google toolbar is one of the only utilities I allow on my computers. It’s so handy that I’m willing to let it take up a bit of valuable screen real estate. Google will be...
EARTHLINK TOTAL ACCESS
Earthlink is promoting a software bundle called “Total Access.” It includes features that sound tempting – including a popup blocker, something more and more people are looking...
APPLE’S CLAIM TO HAVE THE “WORLD’S FASTEST PERSONAL COMPUTER”
Perhaps you saw the mainstream press breathlessly reporting Apple’s announcement that its upcoming Power Mac G5 system would be the “world’s fastest personal computer,” based on...
RECORDING INDUSTRY TERRORISM
When last seen, the RIAA had been told by a federal court judge in Los Angeles that it could not shut down Grokster and Morpheus by suing the programs’ creators, since they...
MICROSOFT TAKES ON GOOGLE
Microsoft is taking the first steps towards its own search engine, currently using the name MSNBot. It will appear first as a competitor to Google, but Microsoft’s vision...
ICANN, VERISIGN, AND AMERICAN CONTROL OF THE “WORLD WIDE” WEB
ICANN was intended to be an autonomous, independent body charged with making decisions about the World Wide Web, particularly concerning registration of domain names. Its main...
NEW COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT MADNESS
Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said at a hearing on Tuesday that he would favor legislation authorizing copyright holders to engage in...
WIRELESS SPEEDUP
You may not have realized that there are several different flavors of wireless equipment. Most consumer and small business wireless components used the 802.11b standard, capable...
AMERICA’S TWO BOOK MARKETS
Hillary Clinton’s memoirs had the highest opening day sales in the history of nonfiction. The fifth Harry Potter book will undoubtedly have the biggest launch ever for a work of...