Dell

Almost two years ago, we closed out our review of Dell’s first Linux-powered Developer Edition laptop with some words of wisdom from my former uber-sysadmin mentor, a fellow named Rick, with whom I worked at Boeing for many, many years. Rick is now retired and living the life of an itinerant world-traveling SCUBA master, but he’s been hacking on Linux since around the time Linus first dropped the kernel on comp.os.minix.

Dell has confirmed that its new curved monitor will go on sale this week. The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, at which the company also unveiled its striking new XPS 13 notebook and the Venue 8 7000 Series, which it calls the "world's thinnest tablet".

The company first showed its U3415W UltraSharp 34 curved monitor back in August, and after a long wait, Dell has said that it will finally go on sale on Thursday. The 34-inch display features an ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio and a curved LCD panel with WQHD (3440x1440px) resolution.

Managing data and applications on mobile devices should be a priority for IT admins, according to Dell.

Businesses need to focus on the software side of things, not just the hardware it is running on, Don Ferguson, VP and CTO for software at Dell told delegates during a panel discussion.

A senior executive at Dell has been voted Woman of the Year by 1,000 IT voters.

Sarah Shields, executive director and general manager at Dell UK, picked up the award at an event organised by PCR in London today.

Shields said: “It’s an absolute honour, especially to be in a room full of such amazing women.  I really am at a loss for words right now, but I think the best thing that I can do is to inspire all women to join IT.”

Michael Dell announced on Twitter in July that his namesake company would let customers buy Dell products using Bitcoins, making the tech vendor one of the largest businesses to accept the digital currency.

A month later, the Dell CEO said on Twitter that the company had received an order for PowerEdge servers worth more than 85 Bitcoins, or about $50,000. There were no details about the customer that bought the systems, but it's likely among the largest Dell has received since accepting Bitcoins as payment.

Dell's been involved in serious networking for years, but never quite like this. The Austin, TX PC and server giant is partnering up with Cumulus Networks to deliver Linux-based, bare-metal networking devices.

My first computer came with a 13-inch CRT monitor. It was enormous, heavy, and flickered -- probably the reason I wear glasses today. When flat-screen LCD monitors started becoming affordable, I bought one post haste. However, It was only this year that I achieved a 1080p display; the awesome 27-inch AOC e2752She. While I thought I was on the cutting-edge of technology, apparently, I am not.

A number of Dell users have complained that their Latitude 6430u Ultrabooks "smell of cat urine". Dell engineers have ruled out biological contamination, and said the smell was not a health hazard.

The problem lay in the manufacturing process, which has now been changed, the company said. Users affected by the issue should send their laptop back for replacement parts.

Microsoft has already hinted strongly that apps made for Windows 8 will be able to run on its upcoming Xbox One game console. However, the company has done nothing more than just hint at this kind of feature and has never talked about how app developers could get their creations published on the Xbox One. Now a pre-order page for the console on Dell's online store seems to confirm that Windows 8 apps will be able to run on the next-gen game machine.

Michael Dell has the won the battle for control of the computer company that he created, after shareholders backed his $24.8bn (£15.7bn) offer to take Dell private and revive the struggling business away from the incessant pressure of Wall Street.

The vote clears the way for the huge buyout, in which Dell is working with private equity partners Silver Lake after seeing off a challenge from activist investor Carl Icahn.