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New Dell netbooks on the way?
Computing giant Dell is about to release some new Atom-based Latitude netbooks in various garish colours including "School Bus Orange" and "Blue Ribbon", according to new rumours.
Tech site Gizmodo posted pictures of the new devices, which it said are aimed at the education market, after they were apparently leaked by a tipster.
"A tipster just leaked these Dell Latitude 2100 'Welch' laptops to us, which have a 10-inch display and are aimed under $600," said the site.
"Here are the details: they're a new Latitude netbook design branded for the education market using the Atom architecture. They can support an optional SSD, hold up to 2GB RAM, hit 1.6GHz and weigh in at under 3lbs"
The new devices also feature three USB ports, SD/MMC slot, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 a/g/n, Bluetooth, 3 and 6-cell battery options and a possible touchscreen, according to Gizmodo.
The netbooks, which Dell is apparently readying for a May launch to coincide with the new school term in the US, come in Red Apple, School Bus Orange, Blue Ribbon and Chalkboard Black, according to the pictures.
The news comes just a month after Dell released its Atom-based Inspiron Mini 12 netbook to mixed reviews.
The product features a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 40GB hard drive, three USB ports, a multi-card reader, and connectivity to networks over 802.11g Wi-Fi or 10/100Mb LAN.
Dell was also in the news a few days ago when it unveiled a new portfolio of enterprise computing products designed to help customers lower costs through efficiency and power management savings.
The new products included servers and workstations based on Intel's upcoming Nehalem-based Xeon chips, storage arrays, an open-standards management console, and additional consultancy services.
No fool like an old fool
Jim Clark, the co-founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape, might be a wizard when it comes to technology but there are serious doubts over his ability to deal with more mundane issues of the flesh. After his third divorce he reportedly swore off marriage in the future to concentrate on business and sailing, but all that has changed.
The 64 year old has tied the knot with his new blushing bride, Australian model Kristy Hinze, 28. The four day wedding celebrations took place on Richard Branson's Necker Island and were followed up today by celebrations for Clark's 65th birthday.
The new Mrs Clark, a former Sports Illustrated and Victoria's Secret swimsuit model, has been reported as saying she first became attracted to billionaire Clark after discovering his brilliant mind and the fact he was so interesting and handsome. She was 25 at the time.
However, it's unlikely she'll have heard those little words that could mean so much to a new bride: "No prenuptial agreement". Clark got stung for over $120m during his last divorce and swore that if he married again it would be under contract.
Tweeting could cost you your job
We've all heard about unfortunate emails that have entered the mainstream but this is the first one I've learnt of from Twitter.
It seems a job applicant had just heard she'd been hired for a job at Cisco, something to celebrate in this foundering economy. Thus she sent the following tweet:
"Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work."
You can guess the rest. The tweet was noticed by Tim Levad, a channel partner advocate for Cisco, who replied:
"Who is the hiring manager. I'm sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web."
Somewhere in Silicon Valley the sound of a scream was heard...
Hacktivism in action
We've spoken before about how the internet has spawned new forms of activism but today San Francisco got a real-world example.
On Friday afternoon news began to leak out that a prominent local activist, Tristan Anderson, had been severely wounded on the West Bank of Israel. He'd taken a metal tear gas cylinder straight to the head and made it to the hospital with an open skull wound.
Anderson was a popular local figure in some eyes. He'd taken part in the two year tree-top protest in Berkeley against the encroachment of development on the local area but had spent years before that reclaiming the streets of the city, while finding time to be an unembedded journalist in Iraq.
San Francisco is a very connected place. There are free Wi-Fi points dotted around, such as in Union Square, and everyone has a mobile phone. But on Saturday the news went digital, hitting the news outlets and social networking sites.
The local paper, the Chronicle, carried the news on the top of page three, a site usually reserved for half-naked teenagers in one UK tabloid. In 36 hours around 3,000 people had signed up to a Facebook group on Anderson and a protest was scheduled outside the Israeli embassy in the city for Monday.
Around 200 people showed up and after spending an hour making their displeasure known outside the building they walked down the main streets to a local subway station, shutting down the main thoroughfare in the city for a while. Similar protests are planned for London on Tuesday.
Ultimately Anderson is in the hands of Israeli surgeons but the speed and effort of response has a lesson for us all.
If, in three days, protests can form over a single issue like this then think about the groundswell of opinion forming in review sites over the months and years. The web has made information sharing commonplace. Companies are going to have to increasingly be on their guard from the angry user.
Now it takes a lot to get people on the streets, but there are plenty of people who will write a poor review from the comfort of their chair.
As the police ushered people away at the end of the protest watching them I couldn't help feeling that with this kind of response in such a short period company analysts are going to have to get a lot better at judging market attitudes, because the response can be swift and deadly.
Twittering twit
San Francisco plans flash mob ban
Now San Francisco is usually seen as a haven of tolerance and open-mindedness but that reputation has been tarnished of late.
Fresh from the ban on gay marriage that passed last November the city authorities are now looking at banning flash mobs following the now-traditional St Valentine's Day flash mob pillow fight.
Flash mobbing, if you aren't aware of the phenomenon, is the sudden grouping of like-minded individuals who don't know each to perform seemingly bizarre actions and then disappear, never to meet again. Think Situationists with cell phones and you're not far wrong.
In the past these have included mass disco dancing while wearing headphones, mass freezes in New York and London and the aforementioned pillow fight.
But it seems last month's frolic, which involved up to 3,000 participants and went on for hours, were too much. The city reports that the cleanup of feathers cost thousands of dollars and it wants the organisers to pay.
However, Sleuth thinks the authorities should beware from being too heavy handed. After all, there may be a way to spontaneously organise off-the-wall protests against such a crackdown...
Red states pornography habits revealed
iPhone lust chez Gates
Melinda Gates has given an interview to Vogue, and revealed her secret heartbreak - that she can't own an iPhone.
"There are very few things that are on the banned list in our household, but iPods and iPhones are two things we don't get for our kids," she said.
"Every now and then I look at my friends and say, 'Ooh, I wouldn't mind having that iPhone.'"
Ah, it's a tough old life. Being limited to the Zune and something running Windows Mobile just to be supportive - now there's devotion.
Spanish
