BRUCEB NEWS
Location Tracking: They Know Where You Are
You carry a beacon twenty-four hours a day that broadcasts your location. We are being tracked wherever we go by dozens of companies, mostly unregulated. It is an unparalleled surveillance system, but it wasn't created by sinister forces in an authoritarian...
EXCITE@HOME TO SHUT DOWN
The game of chicken poker is over and the loser is: everybody. AT&T drove Excite@Home into bankruptcy, hoping to pick up its assets for $300 million. The bondholders objected...
MICROSOFT REVAMPS SUPPORT SITE
Microsoft has launched a new web site that centralizes all support services. The MS Knowledge Base, an essential tool for tech professionals, is always visible, reducing the...
GONER VIRUS
Another virus is running around today. It comes in as an attachment to an e-mail message with the subject "Hi." The message body begins, "How are you? When I saw this screen...
THE SCOOTER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GINGER
The "Segway Human Transporter" is out in the open now - Dean Kamen's battery-powered, highly balanced scooter that caused a hubbub when some high-tech folks gushed enthusiastic...
CABLE CHAOS
It's anarchy out there. Reports are coming in from all over (DSLReports.com is a good place to watch the action) about the ongoing Excite@Home shutdowns. As near as I can tell,...
KAZAA FILE SHARING IN JEOPARDY
Kazaa is currently the most popular software for file sharing. In addition to being available under the Kazaa name, its software is licensed to MusicCity and Grokster. It is much...
WINDOWS XP CHECKLIST
If you're considering upgrading to Windows XP, it deserves some thought and preparation. Here's the short checklist that will help you avoid some of the problems people have run...
MICROSOFT OFFICE XP – CHEAP!
Microsoft has always had "student editions" of the Office suite - same software, lower price, for full-time students and educators. In the past it's only been available in...
EXCITE@HOME CONSPIRACY THEORY
The December 10 issue of Forbes magazine presents an interesting theory to explain how Excite@Home wound up in its current embarrassing predicament. "A new conspiracy theory...
BADTRANS VIRUS
Another virus making the rounds these days. BADTRANS is the usual - arrives as an e-mail attachment, sends itself back out to lots of people with your name on the message as the...
SEARCH ENGINES
Google is experimenting with different ways to rank web sites when it reports search results. Here's an interesting article about search engines and the extraordinary things done...
EXCITE@HOME MIGHT SHUT OFF CABLE INTERNET SERVICE
Early this year Northpoint shut off DSL service to 100,000 customers with only a few days notice. It caused such a flap that I thought nothing like it would ever happen again....
BOOKS AND BLOGS
I maintain this news page with Blogger, a wonderful free service that makes it easy to publish short, frequently updated posts arranged chronologically. Blogs can be set up to...
AUDIOGALAXY ADDON
If you're an AudioGalaxy user, this addon from Hyperku.com might be of interest. It helps you assemble a complete album from the songs available online, with a single click. I'm...
WINDOWS XP AND CD BURNING
Windows XP supports CDRs and CDRWs. Its ability to burn CDs is relatively basic and many people will wind up enhancing it with another product - Easy CD Creator or Feurio or the...