Dell goes Private...

The Dell issue has been talked about over the past few weeks, with rumors of a buyout.  Now today, AP newswire has confirmed that Dell is going Private in a $24.4 billion dollar buyout.  It looks like Michael Dell himself and a few financial partners (Microsoft is one, Silver Lake Partners another) are buying out his own company in order to take it Private.

There's going to be a lot of speculation on this for the coming weeks...on whether or not this is good for Dell as a whole.  Yes, taking the company private makes them not accountable to anyone but themselves, and will likely allow them the chance to restructure much easier.  Question is, who gets hurt?  In these kinds of deals, usually it is the consumer who is hit with higher prices, reduced service and lack of accountability.  I'm not saying that this can happen to Dell...but I've seen it happen before to other companies.

We in the DMR channel are waiting to hear what it will mean to us.  We don't know yet...it could be very good for us and our clients, or it could spell the end of Dell working with the channel.  Who knows?  We're waiting and watching here.

 

ZDnet asks 10 questions about what is going to happen to Dell here.

HP's Elitepad 900 is almost here!

I think most of you know my history with HP and their Touchpad.  I was an early adopter and loved the merits of that device and WebOS.  It looked to be a good alternative to the iPad, and if marketed/priced right it could have been a great enterprise tool.  However, with the status of executive management at HP in shambles, they bumbled the whole thing, and ended up falling flat on their faces.  A lesser company would have given up and stayed out of that market...or worse, run themselves into the ground with a product that wasn't going to work.  HP let WebOS die a very sad death in the OpenSource internet zone...and have been working on the ElitePad ever since.

Now we're faced with this bad boy, that can take on the enterprise space of IT, and do in the corporate world what the iPad cannot.  Be a native.  What I mean is that it's ready to work with the systems you already have, because let's face it, a VERY LARGE % of businesses do not have an Apple infrastructure.  Those who are using iPads still have to cobble together a solution from companies like Airwatch or MobileIron or Meraki, in order to get the Apple products to play nicely in their space.

But what if you didn't have to do that?

Take a look at the site here.  I had the chance last week to handle the Elitepad 900 and was thoroughly pleased with it.  As many of you know I own a Nexus 7 tablet, and love that too...but if given the chance, I'd give it up for the Elitepad 900.  Why?  Let's count off the awesome features:

• Windows 8 Pro


• 1.8GHz Dual core Atom


• 1.5 lbs / 9.2mm in depth


• 1280x800 / 10.1" gorilla glass


• Micros HCSD card slot


• 8mp rear facing camera/1080p hd front camera


• Built in security features including Computrace


• A bevy of accessories including the awesome Expansion Jacket (with a battery add on that can increase battery life to 24 hours), and the docking station.

Yes, yes I know this looks all well and good.  The Expansion jacket adds USB ports, an HDMI port, and and MMC port...add the battery portion and BLAMMO, this tablet becomes ultra useful in the corporate environment.  Add the display dock & keyboard...and you've got a real mobile desktop setup.

While not cheaper than the iPad on release...come Feb 7 when these are in stock, there will likely be plenty of deals floating around.  Keep your eyes locked here for more details!

Thank you HP for getting your act together and pushing out a product that looks to be extremely good for Enterprise and Business. :)

(click the link for "the iPad"...I thought that was funny)

 

Cisco Sells Linksys to Belkin

Wow.  Well I guess it's now official, Cisco is running screaming with its hair on fire from the consumer market.   What you say?  I thought they owned Linksys?  Not anymore, the sale of that part of their business to Belkin helps cement the move that Cisco has made to get away from the consumer market.

They bought and then trashed the Flip camera (which is still cool btw), because sales didn't meet their expectations (reminds me of HP and the Touchpad debacle,  "What do you mean our lackluster product can't be priced the same as an iPad?)...and now they're jettsoning Linksys after gutting that company for the past 10 years.  I remember when Linksys had products that worked, were good & easy to use, and didn't feel like a chore.  Maybe Belkin who has a softer touch and a good feel for consumer products can better utilize the Linksys brand name...I have hope.

Later this weekend I'll post about the new HP Elitepad, since I got to use one yesterday.  COOL stuff. :)

Special HP/Microsoft/Intel Event in Los Angeles Area!

Howdy everyone!

I wanted to pass this along to all of you...even if you aren't in the immediate area, because it's good to see that these manufacturers are working together.  Here's a link to sign up for this event, and the picture below.

Who's worried about Java? Not this coffee lover!

I always find it amazing when I read negative commentary that "people are worried" about X, Y or Z.  Please...stop losing sleep over if Oracle's patch to Java can protect your computer  from a "serious vulnerability."  I think the average user of a computer is so darn afraid now to do anything they're paralyzed when it comes to updating.  My own tech-savvy mother even wasn't sure about some programs that Microsoft was suggesting to her.  MICROSOFT!

Look, just do the update and let Java fix the two exploits and turn its settings to HIGH.  Then nothing will run without your permission.  If you aren't sure...don't run it right?  Tell your employees that they might not get to play games on their desktop at lunch.  (how about a walk outside instead?)   If you're truly concerned, disable it and wait...don't worry, think, do and be happy. :)

Anyone else note in that Daily Breeze article it was some guy from a German anti-virus company that you've never heard of?   As my younger friends would say, "lulz". ;)

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/6481448" params="" width=" 100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

Possible Dell Buyout...

Wow.  Pretty big potential news.  Here's the primary article over on Bloomberg.

Now there's going to be a LOT of speculation, and a lot of "smart" people are going to say anything to get attention (my current favorite monkey-statement is "windows 8 is what's killing them"  really?  Honestly, I can't even say my real opinion here...email me and we'll talk.)   Most importantly, it is about change...and it scares people.  Heck, PCM just changed its name and people got worried.  We're one of many companies in this role in the channel, and people thought we were going to change everything we did.

Nope...still here doing the same job I was last year. :)

Point is, don't panic.  Let's see how this goes...it could be great for Dell for all we know.

 

Remember, don't be a Button Monkey.  :)

CES Winding down & "brain 'sploded"

Howdy!

I apologize for the lack of posts this week...one of our team is a new daddy (everybody congratulate Josh Fisher and his wife on their new child!)  and I've been backing up his desk while covering mine at the same time.  It's kind of like juggling bowling balls, and having someone toss in a couple of chainsaws. ;)

Originally I meant to cover CES, but double the work meant I had to cut back on posting this week.  Thankfully with 24 min on the clock, I have enough time to jam out a post for y'all. :)

After looking at what might be cool to show off to y'all who didn't go, I skipped all of the Televisions and other gadgets that just seemed the same from last year...and there was a LOT of that.  What I wanted to focus on was 3D printing, which if you haven't seen it yet, this is a field to get into ASAP.  Take a look here over on CNet with this article on the CubeX 3D printer.  While it's not the best of the class, it still can get people interested in it.  Being able to print ANYTHING  (shapeways.com is a pretty cool little site btw look at it) out of plastic feels like something out of Star Trek...and give that time too.

Have a wonderful weekend and we'll get back on track with tech next week! :D

 

ML

Jailbreakers are locked out!

One of the more interesting news items that's come down the pike in the past week was the note that iOS jailbreaking site, Hackulous, shut itself down.  Claiming that their forums are too difficult to maintain because they're a "ghost town" seems a bit nonsensical...so I'm willing to agree with this article here that it's likely because there is no ability to jailbreak into iOS 6.

For those of you who don't fully understand, people "jailbreak" their iPhones in order to put unapproved apps, and pirated apps onto their phone for free.  Illegal and immoral, yes.  Not to mention a great way to brick your phone and make it more useless.

If you can't use it as the manufacturer intended, you should move over to Android since there's a ton of apps for that, and plenty of ways to circumvent that system without creating trouble for yourself.

 

Or...maybe...JUST MAYBE...use the phone like you're supposed to.  I've done my time breaking systems...it doesn't do you any good when you destroy the device you own AND get yourself in trouble.  :)

"Engage" with a new Bluetooth device

Normally I'm not a Star Trek geek or even a fan...but it is a failing of some folks to recognize how those different TV series have affected our technology.  From the flip cellphone, to tablets, it's touched all of us.  Now, these folks here at Indiegogo have created a bluetooth speaker/microphone that mimics the famous Comm Badges from that series...take a look.



This is pretty cool stuff for those of us who cannot stand wearing an earpiece...I've tried for years, and the weight on my ear and something stuffed into it feels wrong.  This little unit seems to be incredibly cool.  Sad thing is that people don't know about this...and I know that if those of us who do know about it should be spreading the word.

For a $75 buy-in on a product like this, it's a steal.  (Note i'm not being paid to endorse this product, I just think it's darn cool and worth being made.)

Enjoy this video and let me know what you think!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/45jOLNy5Yhg]

It's The End Of The Year As We Know It...

And I feel fine...

Here's  a little tech year in review for you from the  folks at Engadget. :)  Really though, I don't get to toot the Meraki horn enough on this blog...but I get to say in IT this was definitely the year of Meraki and real Cloud Computing.

The notion of Cloud Computing isn't new, and a lot of the stuff we're seeing now are actually better envisioned things of the past.  As far back as 1968, developers were talking about a shared data experience...but they had no idea what would occur just over 3o years later.  Many of us now in our daily lives store documents, music and photos in a form of online storage.  (Heck I use Box.net, Dropbox AND SkyDrive!  What can I say, I've got consolidation issues.)

But with Meraki's Cloud Networking model taking off 4  years ago, and then exploding all over the scene in 2011 with their Wireless Cloud Networking, and then expanding into switches and security appliances in 2012...they had hit on something that wasn't just forward thinking.  You see, Forward Thinking will either put yourself out of business, or get you laughed at until the idea actually catches on.  What they did was to make less work for IT people...a natural way to get a product adopted.  With that mantra of less time spent managing routers, switches and the wireless routers...early adopters of Meraki became its advocates as much as we salespeople are.

Now here they stand, being purchased by Cisco (who wants to maintain their leadership of the IT World by having the best technologies available) for $1.26 Billion dollars...and in all honesty, Cisco is going to make that money back in a year.  Everybody wins.

So this little company that I took a chance on (thanks to my now good friend at Meraki, James Enston) has grabbed the brass ring and held on tightly.  The reason is because through them we can see a glimpse of the future where things were just a bit easier on IT personnel...and they could run things smarter.

I may not be right all of the time...but when I'm right, I hit it on the head with a 10lb sledgehammer. :)

Happy New Year!