Beleagured Dell Warns of Earnings Shortfall

Dell Warns of Earnings Shortfall: “Dell warned it would miss its earnings and revenue forecasts, blaming pricing actions aimed at reviving sales growth.”
Sorry, I just had to do it again.

But I like being a member of the Cingular Nation

Consumerist:

AT&T is torching their Cingular brand like a gang of boychiks igniting a hobo on their way home from the milk bar. From the ashes, phoenix-like, a new brand is to emerge: AT&T Wireless.
I used to be an AT&T Wireless customer. Not good memories. Cingular is such a distinguishable brand name, for good or ill, whereas for everyone I know and speak to on this issue, AT&T Wireless offers nothing but ill will. Unlike Consumerist’s Ben, I’ve had nothing but good customer service from Cingular. Yes, I realize the “new” AT&T isn’t really anything like the “old” AT&T, corporate-wise, but the bad connotations with the AT&T brand are apparently so bad, we all fear it is. Or will be.
[Wave of the phin to Tom, via IM.]

Beleaguered Dell defends stock decline

I just really wanted to use the words “beleaguered” and “Dell” in the same sentence.
How do you like them apples, Mr. Dell?

Miscellany

I know Lee will be interested in Anil’s observations on web site comments.

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Stop wandering aimlessly through that phone tree, and get a human on the line.

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“This is hot.” New fan-created Firefox ad that’s really good.

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Love coffee? Love cafes, but don’t want to support the corporate monstrosity? Then use Delocator to find local shops near you. And please, if you know of a local cafe that’s not listed on Delocator, add it!

[Waves of the phin to John, Paul, and John at FD.]

Good advice

Terry Pratchett:

Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.

Train the Brain

I so want a Nintendo DS just so I can play Brain Age. This would be great when I hit writers’ block or my ADD tendencies creep up, not to mention trips like our upcoming one to the Granite State. I could honestly care less about the other games. Think my beloved will go for it?

Dvorak to Microsoft: Kill IE

For once, John Dvorak rants on a company other than Apple:

I think it can now be safely said, in hindsight, that Microsoft’s entry into the browser business and its subsequent linking of the browser into the Windows operating system looks to be the worst decision — and perhaps the biggest, most costly gaffe — the company ever made.

I call it the Great Microsoft Blunder.
His solution is for Microsoft to halt any Internet Explorer development, throw some cash to Mozilla, and invest in Opera. Works for me.

Let’s keep the phones off during flight

Word is that Air France is going to experiment with the use of cell phones at 30,000 feet. Leave it to the stereotypically rude French to encourage rude behavior.
One of the many reasons smoking was banned on most airplanes was that it was quite simply rude to your non-smoking neighbor seated two inches to your left or right. Talking on your mobile phone falls in to the same realm of common courtesy. It’s annoying enough that people are already on the phone while the plane is taxiing, much less popping them open the second the aircraft stops at the gate. I certainly don’t want to hear about the business deal you’re on your way to transact (and I’m quite certain your employer and/or client wouldn’t appreciate others knowing about it, either), and I definitely don’t want to hear about Uncle Rosco’s mole removal.
I think the current regulations regarding mobile phone use are fair and reasonable. Sometimes, it pays to have common courtesy enforced, and air travel is one of those times.
[Wave of the phin to inFlightHQ.]

Miscellany

Dan Wade has too much time on his hands.

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Gavin Shearer:

If I were Sony, or Toshiba, or HP, I’d be freaking out right now.

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I cannot begin to express how broken up I am over the fact that Michael Jackson has to restructure his debt. Oh, look, something shiny…

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It’s about time. Pooh is certainly more deserving than most of the blithering glitterati that populate the Walk.
[With a wave of the phin to the Firewheel boys and John.]

Boot Camp

When I was in ROTC, our drill instructor told us…
Sorry, wrong boot camp. And we didn’t really have a drill instructor, since the drilling was done by the uppperclassmen. And there was never something called “boot camp” for ROTC. Anyway
The web is ablaze with the news of Apple’s Boot Camp. (Not to mention Wall Street.) When I first heard the news–from my non-geeky wife, no less–I admit feeling a little sour. It’s one thing for hackers to find a workaround because Apple’s now using the same underlying hardware as the latest and greatest Windows machines, but to actually support it?
Blessedly, reason soon took hold. As I went about my day, mulling this over in the back of my mind, I came to look at this development as a good thing. Yesterday afternoon, looking through some of my feeds in NetNewsWire, I saw I reached conclusions similar to those of people I know and trust.
Michael sums it up perfectly:

[P]eople would have found a way anyway, so it’s better for Apple to make it work right and take the credit than to pretend it isn’t happening.
Amen. This is no third-party hack that could wipe out your entire system. This is a straight-from-the-source solution. (That could wipe out your entire system; but the odds are more in your favor with Boot Camp.)
Tom has a couple of theoretical examples of how the dual-boot nature of Intel Macs can benefit Apple.
I would have to agree with Erik, however, in that if I were to run Windows on my Mac, I would rather have it in the vein of Virtual PC, where I can switch in and out of the different OS environments with a keystroke. As Welch noted on the MacJournals-Talk list, having to quit everything in one environment and boot in to the other one gets old if you have to do it more than two or three times a day. Even then…
As for me, I have a XP box five feet away, on my wife’s desk in our study. It’s the PC I built for her, and I have my own account on it. The reason I have this iMac is so I don’t have to put up with such nonsense such as the USB driver we wrestled with earlier tonight on her machine for an IR receiver. Then again, why would I want to pass up the chance at something like seeing the blue screen of death on my iMac? That’s just aces.