The scoop: HyperSpace, by Phoenix Technologies, about $40 per year (HyperSpace Dual tested, the HyperSpace Hybrid version costs $60 per year).
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I think almost constantly about the degree to which technologies such as e-mail, chat, and instant messaging have changed our lives, and wonder whether the changes are a net positive or not. Today I needed a new keyboard for one of my machines, so I thought, I’ll try the vendor warranty support chat line to see whether it’s any faster than hanging on the phone and speaking with a helpful representative from India reading from a script from which he Must Not Deviate Under Any Circumstances. Read more
Dell announced today that it would be selling popular Microsoft software titles to consumers through its Dell Download Store. Shocking as this may seem, Dell is the first third-party authorized to do so. Prior to today's announcement only Microsoft sold its hottest software titles, like Microsoft Office, to consumers over the Internet. Read more
Microsoft must be none-too-happy about this. Dell released a video this week of the Dell Mini 10v Netbook running the Cupcake update of Android. While there has been much talk of Android-powered netbooks, this is the first hint of one by a major manufacturer. This is not a product announcement, insists Doug Anson, a technology strategist from Dell's office of the CTO. Read more
Or at least that's what everyone's surmising from a posted Bsquare press release (since removed) stating that the small company is working on software for "Dell netbooks running Google's Android platform." Both Dell and Bsquare say the release was issued in error and declined to discuss the possibility any further. But it goes to show. Read more
HP is reportedly testing a netbook that would run Google's Android operating system rather than Windows, The Wall Street Journal reports. Dell and Asustek Computer also also said to be eyeing Android for netbooks. Read more
Back in January, when Dell announced it was working on some iPhone competitors of its own, expectations and excitement were high. Perhaps Dell could leverage its enterprise know-how into building smartphones with enterprise-grade features and functions. But it looks like the excitement was misplaced. Read more
Dell's announcement this week of their high-end Adamo line harkens back to those glorious days of yesteryear, you know, before the crash/recession/ whatever, when flaunting wealth for wealth's sake was all the rage. Read more
Servers are selling like hotcakes made of ground-up Chinese toys. Too flip, you say? Well, seems to me we're at the point where the choices are gallows humor or crying ... and there's no crying in journalism.
An IDC report out yesterday shows that vendor revenue from server sales plummeted 14 percent in the final quarter of 2008.
The Wall St. Journal reported that Dell is busy working on its own smartphone contenders, at least one of which is based on Google's Android OS. But the smartphone marketplace is already full of strong competitors, including Apple, Microsoft, Palm and Google. How can a smartphone laggard like Dell hope to compete? By doing what it always does--catering smartly to the enterprise. Read more
Here’s why I buy shoes exclusively at Nordstrom: customer service. Twice, I had new shoes where something got damaged (my fault) in the first month. On both occasions, I took them back the store to see if they could help arrange a repair and both times, without me asking, the sales clerk handed me a brand new pair of shoes. Bottom line: totally empowered sales clerks and honestly, I will never buy shoes anywhere else. I didn’t get nearly the same customer support experience when I called Dell last month for technical support, but eventually, I got a “Nordstrom-lite” result.< Read more
Friends now but enemies later? Cisco and Dell have extended their global Solution Technology Integrator agreement to include Cisco's Nexus 5020 data center switching systems with Dell server and storage products. Dell has also qualified the Catalyst 4900 Top-of-Rack Switches (ToR) for its EqualLogic SAN arrays. Read more
The scoop: HyperSpace, by Phoenix Technologies, about $40 per year (HyperSpace Dual tested, the HyperSpace Hybrid version costs $60 per year).
Read more
After all the countless rumors of what Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer planned to announce during his CES keynote speech in Las Vegas last night, the speech itself might have been a bit of a letdown. On the one hand, he announced a publicly available version of a Windows 7 beta -- which is what the enterprise is most curious to investigate. Read more
Maybe Microsoft's Steve Ballmer was really serious when he said Microsoft intended to truly compete with Google in the search arena. As the Wall St. Read more
This computer display system isn't just big, its Texas Big. Read more
Delivered promptly in my email inbox this morning was a Micro Center ad heralding the availability of Intel's new generation of desktop CPUs, the Core i7. Get them starting today, Sunday, and Monday at retail locations (in-store pickup only). It's like Christmas morning, but a month and a half early. Read more
Tech heavyweights Google, Microsoft, Dell and others are locked in a tight battle for white space spectrum use vs. some pretty high-wattage star power. Not only have Sen. Read more
Ah, the fruits of the Microsoft/Novell partnership are starting to be displayed and it is hard to see what's not to love about it from an enterprise point of view. (Sure, the Linux-lovers/Microsoft-haters crowd will jeer. And they will have a point if Microsoft uses this to reiterate vague warnings of patent infringement.) Still, a virtualization bundle with full support of Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server running as a guest operating system on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V seems to be a win/win situation for everyone. Read more
I just had to buy a new laptop computer. In the past I've had ones from Dell, IBM, HP, Toshiba, and other now-forgotten brands. The most recent is an HP my wife bought. I have a variety of standard issues with it (she chose an extra-wide screen, the machine gets awfully hot if you actually put it in your lap, both the battery and the Windows installation are now so old as to barely function). But I also was greatly annoyed when I attempted to deal with HP's support organization. Not that I love Dell or IBM support, but my experience with HP was a whole other level of bad. Read more
Rejected! Dell gets denied at the cloud-computing goal line by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. No "cloud computing" trademark for Dell. Dell trying to trademark "cloud computing" would be like Microsoft trying to trademark "desktop computing." Too many companies use the term cloud computing to describe online services for Dell or anyone else to attempt to swoop in and trademark the term right from under the market. It would create turmoil for what is already a generalized and widely used term. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, HP and others all offer what they term cloud computing or cloud services.
Why would Dell lay claim to the term cloud computing? Read more
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