HP acquires 3Com

Oracle, Dell, Xerox and now HP – the high tech world as we knew it is changing fast. Companies that previously stood their ground and was seen as pillars of innovation are know swallowed into mega-companies that will challenge the marketplace with new services, products and offerings. Here is some selected tidbits from BusinessWeek in regards to the deal.

“Through its acquisition of networking gear maker 3Com, Hewlett-Packard will accelerate competition with Cisco Systems (CSCO), especially in China, practically overnight. Then comes the hard part. To make the most of the $2.7 billion deal, HP also needs to revitalize 3Com’s faded brand and persuade Western companies to take a chance on its products, designed largely in Asia.

Analysts were quick to see the logic in the planned acquisition, announced on Nov. 11. HP (HPQ) is attacking Cisco’s dominance of the market for gear that connects computers just as Cisco moves more aggressively into the market for computer systems, where HP is strong. Cisco on Nov. 3 struck a partnership with storage company EMC (EMC) and software company VMware (VMW) aimed atsupplying bundles of computers, storage, networking, and software.”

The article continues…

“HP’s bigger challenge in making the deal a success will be removing the tarnish that remains on the 3Com ’s brand in the U.S. and Europe as a result of years of mismanagement. While 3Com’s data-center networking gear has about 35% of the Chinese market, it’s practically absent from the largest companies in the U.S. and Europe, analysts say.”

Read the full article here.

Other good resources for this topic include: Barrons, WSJ, 24/7 Wall St., Mashable & Techcrunch.

Dell's Inspiron Zino HD now official in Ireland and UK

The Irish may be a few hours ahead of us Yanks, but that’s not stopping us from snooping on their web pages. Dell’s long-awaited Inspiron Zino HD has finally popped official over on the outfit’s IE portal, and considering that it even made a brief appearance on the US site over the weekend, we’re guessing it’s only a matter of hours, minutes and / or nanoseconds before the minuscule desktop shows up everywhere. A total of ten interchangeable colors and designs are being offered on the machine (which gets going at €329), not to mention an integrated HDMI socket and an optional Blu-ray drive. Unlike most of the mini PCs out there today, this one actually has a specs list worth drooling over, and if we can figure out how to get a TV tuner in here, we’d say we just might be looking at our next bedroom HTPC. C’mon US admins — it’s not that early in Round Rock.

[Thanks, Andy]

Update: It’s now live in the UK! Another market down, a few hundred to go…

Gallery: Dell’s Inspiron Zino HD now official in Ireland

Social Networking in Business - Good or Bad?

One of the most vigorously debated issues today is the place of Social Networking in the workplace:
• Should companies be using Social Networking in their marketing mix?
• Should staff be allowed access to Social Networking while at work?

Much of the debate stems from a lack of understanding of what Social Networking is all about and how it should be used, or not used. Many people, in fact, still equate Social Networking with inane information about where somebody is currently sitting doing some introspective navel-gazing, whereas it can – and should – be a highly effective medium for raising the profile of the business, encouraging interaction with all stakeholders and generally enhancing its position in the market.

A great example here is Twitter. While there has been much attention given to an August study from Pear Analytics suggesting that only 8.7% of all Tweets pass along value, the fact is that this misses the point of what a tool like Twitter can really be used for in a business marketing environment. It could, for example, be a wonderful way for customers to get quick status updates on service issues (Direct Tweet the Job Number to your Service Dept) or to see where a shipment is (Direct Tweet a Waybill Number to your Shipping Dept). What about having special-interest customers following a particular product group in your company for news on that product and, possibly, special offers? In fact, the uses for this sort of interaction are limited only by imagination…

Facebook, too, is not simply a tool to show who was drinking too much at the last party. Rather, in the right hands it becomes a great way to promote your business to a wide audience and to gain a set of “Fans” who, by their very presence, are opt-in customers for your marketing efforts. This can be a direct, company page where you share information on your company (or simply a specific product group within your company) and encourage feedback from your “Fans” or can be a more subliminal way of getting your company noticed through making available information of more general use such as the (very topical for this article) Social Media for Small Business set of guides published by Dell.

Of course, if you’re going to open yourself up for public feedback with systems like Twitter and Facebook, it’s essential that you have somebody monitoring your name/page and responding to the inevitable negative comments that will crop up from time to time – thereby turning negatives into easily-seen positives.

Then there are tools like LinkedIn – a great way to find people for your business and to manage your own business profile for those looking at potentially working with you (yes, prospective employees do research your company to see what is out there!).

By tying all of this together with your own Social Networking platform of customers, etc., you can promote your business, conduct online training or product releases, run polls to test issues, manage events and generally make your customers feel part of “your family.” What’s more, you no longer have to contend with outdated mailing lists as your “fans”/customers keep their information updated for you…

So – in answer to the question as to whether companies should be using Social Networking in their marketing mix, an emphatic YES. The secret is to define your objectives and utilise the appropriate tools, remembering, too, that these will evolve and change over time.

And as for the second part of the question – whether employees should have access to Social Networking sites – if this is a part of your marketing mix, your employees need to be a part of it, too. Where there is evidence of individual abuse, as will happen (just as it does with the telephone, coffee breaks, etc., etc.), action against those individuals can be taken – it’s just a question of the right level of monitoring and control, particularly as the lines between work time and leisure time blur in this connected world.

Dell Adamo XPS, el portátil más delgado del mundo al que nadie le importa

Y yo pregunto: ¿A quien le puede interesar el portátil más delgado del mundo si su diseño no esta bien planteado? Esta es la gran apuesta de Dell para la gama de lujo, los Dell Adamo que no han vendido tan bien como esperaban.

No te emociones por este nuevo Dell Adamo XPS, sí que es el portátil más delgado en la actualidad, pero su extraño diseño lo ha matado antes de nacer.

Vamos a echar un vistazo a sus características técnicas. Tenemos un portátil con un grosor de solo 9.99 milímetros de grosor, en comparación con los 1.94cm del MacBook Air. Llega con un procesador Intel Core 2 Duo CULV de 1.4GHz, 4GB de memoria RAM DDR3 de 800MHz, una unidad SSD de 128GB, pantalla WLED de 13.4 pulgadas con una resolución compatible con vídeo en 720p, A-GPS integrado, teclado con retroiluminación, touchpad multitáctil, WiFi 802.11n, 2 puertos USB 2.0, puerto ethernet, salida de audio

Como sistema operativo Windows 7 64bit, claro. Las características, si las lees del tirón te puedes hacer una idea de un portátil que, esta bien, pero que todo cambia al mirarlo. No pesa más de 1.3Kg y sus medidas son de 340 x 272 x 9,99 mm.

No se puede considerar un buen diseño en un portátil cuando el teclado te obliga a estar levantado, en un ángulo que no es nada bueno ergonómicamente. El diseño en sí también es bastante raro, la parte inferior de la pantalla parece que bien lleva todos los componentes o la batería, porque es más gruesa que la pantalla y es donde van las conexiones. Otro gran fallo, no tiene salida de gráficos, ni VGA, ni mini DVI, ni HDMI, nada, no hay posibilidad de conectarlo a una pantalla más grande.

Estará disponible en algunas semanas y aun no se han atrevido a publicar su precio, que ya os aviso será de infarto.

Dell Adamo XPS Hands On: Insanely Thin (and Just Insane)

The Adamo XPS is a daring slice of design and engineering. Quite frankly, it’s batshit insane.

I mean that in the best possible way.

It really is impossibly thin. I felt like I was holding a single sheet of aluminum that was contoured into the curved shape of a laptop. I set it down, gingerly, because I didn’t want to break it, since I didn’t know at the moment that it was $1800. My finger slid across the latch to disengage the heat-sensitive capacitive latch.

There was no visible sign my stroke was the lucky one, so I waited a second before prying the top half upward. It wasn’t entirely seamless—I had to hold the bottom half down as with a single finger as I pulled the display open and the keyboard slid forward, like a notebook out of a Pierce Brosnan-era James Bond era. The metal keys were cold. Which I kind of liked, actually.

When it’s in full bloom, the entire computer is propped up, resting on the front edge of the keyboard and outer edge of the display, so from the side it looks like an L that’s had its foot broken. It’s one reason I think the Adamo XPS is insane—there’s just nothing else like it, and that’s what I love about it, all practical issues aside. Like one I suspected initially, and confirmed when I had to balance it near the window—it’s going to be tricky to actually use in your lap. Do you let the overhang reset against your kneecaps? Or do you perform a balancing act, resting the slim edges on your legs, hoping you don’t lean one way or the other? The design’s not simply to show off your $1800 Ginsu blade by Dell, either—it’s for heat dissipation.

The 1366×768 LED display is sunken, so there’s a rim around it. That’s because the bottom folds up into the top, with a puffy lip, holding the webcam and mic, hanging over it. I worry slightly about the camera lens getting scratched, since it’s exposed whenever the Adamo XPS is closed.

I didn’t get to actually use the computer much, but it’s got essentially the same ultralight guts as the original Adamo, with the important distinction that it’s running Windows 7, so it should be a smoother ride in theory. The 20Whr battery, however, is only rated to deliver 2 hours and 36 minutes of battery life, so it’s going to be a very short ride. There’s a 40Whr battery available that doubles the life, but it murders the whole point of the Adamo XPS. It has 2 USB ports, DisplayPort video out (with an optional HDMI dongle) and a dongle for ethernet.

Really, it’s more a work of art and engineering than a functional computer, but honestly? That’s just fine, though, because it’s a pretty fantastic one.

DELL ANNOUNCES ADAMO XPS, A DAZZLING GIFT IDEA FOR STYLE-MINDED THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
· World’s Thinnest Laptop is 0.4-inch thin · Adamo XPS Reinforces Dell’s Commitment to Craftsmanship and Design

· Advanced Head-Turning Design Offers Full Feature Set for On-The-Go Computing

ROUND ROCK, Texas, Nov 5, 2009 … Last spring Dell set the computing industry abuzz with the introduction of its Adamo brand, and along with it the world’s thinnest laptop PC. Today, the world meets a new champion of thin: The Dell™ Adamo XPS™, measuring 9.99mm or just four-tenths of an inch. Both laptops set new standards for craftsmanship, design and engineering excellence.

Adamo XPS is a stunning laptop whose design provides a unique experience. With the swipe of a finger, the keyboard appears from under the display as the system is open. The feature set challenged engineers to build the latest technology into a compact space, including:

· 4GB* DDR3 800 memory;

· Intel Core 2 Duo (1.4Ghz) ultra-low voltage processor;

· Thin 128GB SSD for faster, cooler, quieter and more durable storage than traditional hard drives;

· A 13.4-inch high-definition display.

The attention to detail is apparent in the black, jewelry box-like packaging that is as striking as the laptop itself. A tug on a cloth loop reveals the Adamo XPS and assorted accessories that accompany the system. The Adamo XPS was recently recognized as the hottest Windows 7 product by leading technology analyst Rob Enderle with Digital Trends.

Adamo, derived from the Latin word meaning "to fall in love," is a flagship in a line of products created to disrupt the personal computing space with the combination of new design aesthetics, personalization choices and sought-after technologies.

The Adamo by Dell brand was launched last March with the first Adamo laptop, which combined high-performance technologies in a finely-machined aluminum case only .65-inch thick.

The pencil-thin Adamo XPS weighs just over 3 pounds** and measures 13.39 x 10.71 inches. Dell expects to begin taking orders and shipping the Adamo XPS with Microsoft® Windows® 7 pre-installed in time for the holidays. The Adamo XPS is priced starting at $1799. More information is available at www.adamobydell.com

[Dell]

Battuto Hosni, il nuovo direttore dell'Unesco è la bulgara Bokova

Battuto Hosni, il nuovo direttore dell’Unesco è la bulgara Bokova – [ Il Foglio.it › La giornata ]

La bulgara Irina Bokova è stata eletta direttrice generale dell’Unesco, battendo il controverso candidato egiziano Faruk Hosni, accusato di antisemitismo.

Negli ultimi giorni lo scontro tra i due si era tramutato in un vero testa a testa tanto che ci sono volute cinque sessioni di voto per individuare il nuovo capo del massimo organo culturale delle Nazioni Unite.

In passato il ministro egiziano aveva infatti dichiarato pubblicamente di voler “bruciare di persona” qualsiasi libro di autori israeliani si trovasse nelle biblioteche del Cairo.

Fonte:
http://www.ilfoglio.it/soloqui/3398

I am Officially Nerd-certified...kinda

Ubuntu 9.10 Boot Up Screen

I was pretty damn giddy for the release of Windows 7 a couple weeks ago, and honestly I have to admit it was hella geeky trying to explain to my friends that Windows 7 is good. But now I am officially a board-certified Nerd. On October 29, Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) came out as a final release. For those that have no idea what Ubuntu is, it is basically a variant Linux Operating System. So yes, I’ve installed Linux on my Dell netbook. And yes, I have completed the Operating System Trifecta of Windows, Mac OS-X, and Linux.

To be honest, I know nothing about Ubuntu/Linux. What I do know is that it is completely open-source and it is free. The installation process was fairly easy as I used my trusty USB key to install Ubuntu on my Dell netbook. The process was pretty fast and in less than 30 minutes I had it up and running. I was pretty skeptical about trying Linux because I have no clue how to use it, but I gotta say Ubuntu made it fairly easy and straightforward to get cozy with. In fact it was so easy to get used that I got bored with it in about an hour. I did run across some problems as Ubuntu did crash on me a couple times, and I had an extremely difficult time trying to get my wireless card drivers to work. It maybe me just getting used to Linux. Really, I have no idea why I installed Ubuntu on my netbook but I do like that it takes up just 2 GBs to run and it is a pretty fast OS (booting up and shutting down). Also I like that OpenOffice was included along with some other useful apps, and there is a simple interface to search for more free applications. I downloaded my favorite media player – VLC – with ease. Out of the box, it is not a flashy OS like Windows or OS-X but for a netbook it is excellent. I hated how slow and bloated Windows XP was on the netbook (THANKS DELL!). Honestly, I wouldn’t install it on my main computer but for a netbook Ubuntu just gets the job done. All I know is right now is perhaps the best time for consumers to pick and choose their OS of choice – Snow Leopard, Windows 7, and Ubuntu 9.10 are all good.

This isn’t the first time I’ve tried installing Linux. WAAAY back in like 1996 my friend Phil tried to install Linux Red Hat on my other friend’s HP Windows 95 computer because we were curious little kids back then. Lets just say it was a complete and utter disaster and never dabbled with it until now. Boy, have times changed…I guess I did it for the nerds.

The UI is like the bastard child of Windows and Mac. Or maybe Windows and Mac got their UI design from Linux. Hmmm...

Log-In Screen