bruceb news

Who’s going to buy an Apple iPad?

Well, not you or me, anyway – not this version, not at $600-800.

It’s not going to revolutionize anything, it’s not going to replace netbooks, but it will find large and devoted audiences, particularly after the price drops and some features get added. It’s easy to imagine version 2 or 3 with the built-in camera that ought to have been there all along, and with the GPS receiver that is driving the most interesting uses of the iPhone. More importantly, a couple of years from now the low-end version of the […] continued

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Google announced today that you will soon be able to store any kind of file online in Google Docs, which until now has been basically limited to text and spreadsheets. Anyone with a Google Account will be able to store 1Gb of files online and access them from any computer.

If you’ve been following along, then this sounds like old news. Microsoft has let you store files online for free using Windows Live Skydrive since 2008, with a current storage limit of 25Gb, not a paltry 1Gb. There are some differences – Google will allow […] continued

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Bing is Microsoft’s new service for Internet searches. As I wrote last month, its search results are more or less comparable to Google and it has some nice design touches that can make it easier to use than Google. You may want to give it a look, especially if you’re doing searches in the categories of travel, shopping, health, or local business information – Bing has particular strengths for those searches to help you narrow in on useful information.

New York Times columnist David Pogue just wrote a column about the comparison between Bing and Google and the […] continued

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Today Amazon began selling a book of photographs and essays about Barack Obama’s campaign for the presidency and his first 100 days in office. It’s not the first book like that but this one has an interesting twist, and the publishing industry is hoping you find it compelling – or if not this one, then another one that uses the same technology.

You see, this one can include some of your own photos and words, interspersed throughout the book. Maybe you have some photos related to the inauguration, or you want to turn it into a personal statement about […] continued

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Vista is more than two years old and has achieved the dubious distinction that Windows XP achieved at about the same time: installing updates on a new computer has become an arduous, time-consuming pain in the butt.

I took two new Dell Optiplex 760 computers out of the box today. They ship with a lean, streamlined configuration that has virtually no craplets (unwanted software) to uninstall.

When Vista is started the first time, if you check the “recommended” box for automatic updates, it immediately starts to download the first round of updates. I’ve learned that the best […] continued

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Windows Live Photo Gallery is Microsoft’s free program for simple photo management, a great choice for doing basic photo editing, viewing slide shows, and sharing photos online. It’s easier to use than the best-known consumer program, Adobe Photoshop Elements. (Almost everything is easier than Adobe Photoshop Elements. Quite a lot of rocket science is easier than Adobe Photoshop Elements. But I digress.)

Windows Live Photo Gallery was updated in February with some bug fixes and a few cool new features – get the latest version if you haven’t updated lately. (Click on Help / About and look for […] continued

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Windows Live Sync replaced Foldershare last month. It’s a good program but the upgrade experience for Foldershare users is pretty miserable.

Windows Live Sync and Foldershare are services that allow folders to be synced so that multiple computers have exactly the same files in them at all times. You can set it up to view your photos on both computers in the house, or have a folder of work files at the office synced with a laptop, or share a folder with a friend so it is identical on both of your computers. That’s great stuff! I’ve written about […] continued

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Microsoft has released Windows Live Sync, a free utility that syncs folders among two or more computers and makes it possible to share synced folders with others. It is the successor to Foldershare – and really not much more than a facelift for Foldershare. It accomplishes an important goal for Microsoft, though, by integrating the service with the Windows Live ID authentication that is driving all the other online services from Microsoft. Here’s the blog from the Windows Live Sync team.

If you’re not familiar with Foldershare, here’s some background and an explanation of […] continued

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Windows Live Skydrive has been updated with a new look, 25Gb of free storage space, and new options for storing and sharing photos. There is some integration with an updated version of Windows Live Photo Gallery but I haven’t yet explored how that works. If you’re not using Skydrive yet, here are my notes about it.

That’s 25Gb of free online storage space. That’s a lot of space! Hotmail users have also been bumped to 25Gb of free storage space for email, in addition to the Skydrive space. You can share files with the world or with individuals and […] continued

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Microsoft is updating and integrating all of its “Windows Live” services. The results are overwhelming and quirky but the changes  include some things that are even attractive for cranky old folks like me that have no idea what to do with a “social network.” (I’m not sure but I think it requires friends, so I have no reason to go there.) In particular, Windows Live Skydrive is getting some exciting new features but there is still some confusing overlap in Microsoft’s services for storing and sharing files online.

The updates are a bit of a blur, really – it will […] continued

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