How To Set Up A New Windows 10 PC Without A Microsoft Account
There are good reasons to set up a new Windows 10 PC without a Microsoft account, even if you intend to link it to a Microsoft account eventually.
The bad news is that Microsoft is pushing its own agenda and using deception to hide the option of setting up a local account instead of a Microsoft account. […] continued
Read moreGoogle, Antitrust, And Zero-Click Searches
When you search for the phone number for Bruceb Consulting, Google shows the phone number.
Does that seem obvious? It’s a relatively recent change. Google only began serious efforts to provide One True Answer to search queries a few years ago. It completely changes Google’s role in the relationship between users and advertisers. […] continued
Read moreHow To Turn Off Unwanted Chrome Extensions
In the last article, I told you how to turn off spam ads that appear as notifications in the lower right corner of your Windows desktop.
After you do that, Chrome might still not be right – maybe it doesn’t open up to the Google search page, maybe search results are odd, maybe you get popups. […] continued
Read moreSecurity Tip: Google’s Lessons About Media Literacy Aren’t Just For Kids
Media literacy – being able to recognize phishing messages, disinformation, and scams – has become one of the most important skills needed to survive in the 21st century. Your children may take classes in media literacy before long; lawmakers and educators are working to elevate the issue in legislatures and schools. […] continued
Read moreGaming 2019: Console & PC Gaming
The traditional picture of a “gamer” is someone using a Sony Playstation, Microsoft Xbox, or a powerful PC, playing one of the AAA blockbuster titles that get all the attention and prestige. The console & PC games industry today is like the movie industry: dominated by a relatively small number of big-budget productions from major studios, primarily sequels in longstanding franchises, each one with a big marketing budget. […] continued
Read moreHuawei And The Dog That’s Not Barking
“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”
“To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
“That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes.
— “Silver Blaze,” The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The United States is spearheading a multinational effort to destroy Huawei Technologies. […] continued
Read moreImprove Your Security By Giving Your Phone Number To Google
Security is complicated.
It turns out that giving your mobile phone number to Google can block almost all phishing attacks and automated bots attempting to hack into your Google account.
Log into your Google account and add your phone number and a recovery email address if they are not already there. […] continued
Read moreBreaking News: Special Google Edition, May 13, 2019
Google, Microsoft, and Facebook held developer conferences last week to showcase new products and services. Google had some exciting announcements. Microsoft and Facebook, not so much.
MICROSOFT Microsoft is an enterprise company. At its Build Conference, it showed off new cloud services for developers and enterprises. That’s it. That’s what it does now. […] continued
Read moreGoogle Docs Adding Support For Microsoft Office File Formats
Google is trying to make the grass look greener in its walled garden, hoping to lure businesses that might otherwise stay loyal to Microsoft. The change it has announced sounds innocuous but might have big consequences in the long run.
Google is adding native support to Google Docs for editing, commenting, and collaborating on files in Microsoft Office file formats. […] continued
Read moreWe Believe In Free Speech Until People Exercise It
We believe in freedom of speech in the US, except when people actually exercise it. Then we discover there are lots of people who should be seen but not heard – and a fair number that we wish we couldn’t see, either.
Governments, regulators and large tech companies are launching into a debate about content moderation that will be long, messy, and unsatisfying. […] continued
Read moreWhy Does Chrome Say A Website Is “Not Secure”?
Uh oh! Bruceb News is “not secure”! Alert readers have probably noticed the “not secure” warning on a few other websites, too. Well, actually more than half of the top one million most popular websites were “not secure” last summer. It’s gotten better since then but in November the list still included ESPN, BBC, MIT, and California’s state government site, according to WhyNoHTTPS.com. […] continued
Read morePrivacy And Trust Part 5: What Can We Do?
A series of articles about privacy and trust in the era of tech overlords.
• Part 1: Data about you is being gathered by the big tech companies (as well as many other companies) in startling ways. Their ability to analyze that data and predict your behavior is more like magic than technology – and it has the potential to change the world, for better or worse. […] continued
Read morePrivacy And Trust Part 4: Facebook’s Unforgivable Acts
A series of articles about privacy and trust in the era of tech overlords.
• Part 1: Data about you is being gathered by the big tech companies (as well as many other companies) in startling ways. Their ability to analyze that data and predict your behavior is more like magic than technology – and it has the potential to change the world, for better or worse. […] continued
Read morePrivacy And Trust Part 3: What Do They Know And How Do They Know It?
A series of articles about privacy and trust in the era of tech overlords.
• Part 1: Data about you is being gathered by the big tech companies (as well as many other companies) in startling ways. Their ability to analyze that data and predict your behavior is more like magic than technology – and it has the potential to change the world, for better or worse. […] continued
Read morePrivacy And Trust Part 2: No Escape!
A series of articles about privacy and trust in the era of tech overlords.
• Part 1: Data about you is being gathered by the big tech companies (as well as many other companies) in startling ways. Their ability to analyze that data and predict your behavior is more like magic than technology – and it has the potential to change the world, for better or worse. […] continued
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