BRUCEB NEWS
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,...
Bruceb Goes Off The Grid 08/14-08/20
I will be on vacation and off the grid during the week of August 14th. I will not have cell phone service and at best might occasionally have an erratic and unreliable Internet...
The Latest Microsoft Branding Failures
Every month at Microsoft, a team of highly paid professionals writes words on slips of paper. They always include “Microsoft,” “Windows,” “Office,” “365,” “Pro,” “Home,”...
Feel The Excitement Of Windows 10 Shared Experiences
Now that you’re finally getting the “Creators Update” for Windows 10 – you know, the one that was “released” in April – you might have seen the above window appear in the lower...
Outlook And The Never-Ending Password Prompt
This is a frustrating story of a poorly-defined bug with no solution. Feel free to look away if this doesn’t apply to you. Starting a month ago, Outlook began prompting a few of...
The Case Of The Missing Eye
Let’s track down a bad guy. Looking through the clues will help you catch the next criminal that tries to trick you with a malicious email message. I received many reports last...
A Possible Fix For The Excel Slow File Opening Bug
Previously: What To Do When Excel Opens . . . Very . . . Slowly . . . Windows is weird. A year ago I wrote an article about an Excel bug: occasionally there is a 30-60 second...
The Fast And The Slow Of Windows 10 Updates
A few months ago, Microsoft announced that there will be two major updates for Windows 10 every year, in March and September. These are the big updates that bring Exciting New...
It’s Time To Improve Your Passwords! Scary Stories About The Bad Guys
The bad guys aren’t kidding around. They’re after you. Some day soon you will be walking down the street and a 400 pound hacker will galumph out and make a scary face and shout,...
Amazon’s Secret Weapon Is Of Prime Importance
You’re an Amazon Prime member, right? If not, goodness, get over there and sign up. Give Amazon $99 for the privilege of shopping there. You’ll feel that it’s money well spent....
Google And The Quest For One True Answer
The European Union’s head of antitrust enforcement hit Google with a $2.7 billion fine last week because of a shopping service you’ve never heard of. The EU’s action comes after...
Peeking Behind The Scenes At Spotify & The Music Industry
Spotify and Apple Music have helped the music industry recover from a disastrous decade. Here are a couple of interesting perspectives on streaming music – a look behind the...
Google Photos Transforms Your Memories
Google Photos is transformational. Some name will emerge to describe the next wave of technology – “post-Internet” or “A.I.-enabled,” maybe. References to “artificial...
Box Drive: The Next Step In Moving Files To The Cloud
Today Box announced that Box Drive is generally available. We are beginning a profound shift in the way we think about our files. This deserves some attention even if you don’t...
Windows 10 Tip: How To Make PDFs Open In Acrobat
One of the first things everyone does with a new Windows 10 computer is install basic programs and utilities and set defaults so files open in the right program. This is a quick...
Microsoft Hides Control Panel For Your Own Good
The picture above shows the menu that comes up when you right-click the Start button in Windows 10. Many of you haven’t seen it. It’s full of things that burrow deeply into the...