Dell is launching a premium 24×7 warranty service called “Your Tech Team.” It’s the result of customer feedback on IdeaStorm and elsewhere, plus experience we’ve gained with a 30,000-customer pilot project in the New York metropolitan area.

The idea behind “Your Tech Team” is to offer consumers a one-stop, $99 option for all their Dell support needs. For details, recommend you check out Laura Bosworth’s post on Direct2Dell.

So it looks like we had two hits in one this week: the new Studio laptops and the Dell Dock.

We knew Studio’s design and features would catch people’s interest, but Dell Dock, which premiered with Studio, turned out to be a stealth sensation and has its own online trajectory. We even scooped Engadget, with Paul Miller approvingly calling out “app-categorization magic and fairly extensive customization.”

In addition to the surge of interest from Gizmodo’s post, several bloggers singled out Dell Dock for special comment. Plugged in Blog shared some favorable first impressions, and Dell Dock merited not entirely dismissive attention from Lonnie Lazar at Cult of Mac.

Since inquiring minds like jervis961 and helmecj01 want to know more, here are a few updates:

1. Dell Dock will be available on all new Dell consumer PC models (but only with a Vista OS).
2. A downloadable version will be available to current Dell PC owners in the near future.
3. It’s available in:

• English
• Dutch
• German
• Spanish
• French
• Japanese

Thanks to great feedback and suggestions directly from customers on ways to enhance Dell’s (PRODUCT) RED offerings, you now can choose either Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED or the standard version of Windows Vista Home Premium when you purchase a Dell XPS M1330 (PRODUCT) RED or XPS M1530 (PRODUCT) RED laptop.

If you’re unfamiliar with (RED), it’s a global brand designed to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds for the Global Fund, to help fight AIDS in Africa. Companies whose products take on the (PRODUCT) RED mark contribute a significant percentage of the sales or portion of the profits from that product to the Global Fund to finance AIDS programs in Africa, with an emphasis on the health of women and children. Current partners are: American Express (U.K. only), Apple, Converse, Gap, Emporio Armani, Motorola, Hallmark, Dell and Microsoft.

Since its launch in the spring of 2006, more than $100 million has been generated by (RED) partners and events for the Global Fund.  (RED) money is already at work in Swaziland, Rwanda, Ghana and Lesotho.  For more information, visit www.joinred.com.

The contribution to the Global Fund for either the XPS M1330 (PRODUCT) RED laptop or the XPS M1530 (PRODUCT) RED laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium is $25. The contribution for those same systems with Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED remains $50.

The XPS ONE (PRODUCT) RED all-in-one desktop PC with Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED remains Dell’s flagship (RED) offering.  Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED fits perfectly with the (RED) model of creating (RED) branded products with high consumer appeal, and combines (PRODUCT) RED with the best of all Windows Vista features in the most complete version available.

I, like everyone else, want what I want.  I sit in an office, stare at a computer all day and type my fingers to the bone.  When I get home, like you, I want my TV and I want it on my terms.  Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know how great a digital video recorder (DVR) is.  They give you the freedom to watch a show while recording another, they provide an onscreen TV guide and best of all allow you to skip commercials.  Now, what if I told you, you may already have the best DVR available in your home right now, and it doesn’t require any fees.  A Vista Media Center PC is just that, and is hands down the best TV viewing experience I have ever encountered.

Microsoft hasn’t exactly just introduced this.  For years they have built this capability into Windows to organize your music, photos and videos.  The Media Center program was written specifically to view these items on your TV.  This is commonly called the “10 Foot Interface.”  With all due respect to your grandmother’s scrapbooking efforts, nothing compares to seeing your home photos and movies elegantly organized and in high definition with your own custom audio.  All of this available, with the press of a button on your remote control.

The Vista Media Center program seamlessly records the TV shows you choose from the onscreen guide.  You can opt to record more than one show at the same time, simply by installing an additional TV tuner.  Many tuners don’t require the PC to be opened, and can even record free, over the air (OTA) high definition shows as well.  Like a traditional DVR, you can watch one show while recording another.  If you don’t want a PC in the living room, a Microsoft XBOX 360 will work just as well.  The XBOX connects to your TV, which in turns connects to your PC in another room (wired or wirelessly). 

The free onscreen guide is built into Media Center

With my beefy hard drive I can record as little or much as I like.  My measly (by today’s standards) 200 Gig hard drive has over 40 hours of HDTV.  Odds are, I’ll delete much of it, but the shows look great.   Browsing and selecting a TV show could not be easier.  A large visual thumbnail of each show scrolls across the TV with a description and the time it was recorded.  Even my three year old can successfully navigate the simplistic menu to drill into the very exact “Thomas and His Friends” that he absolutely has to watch.
 

Selecting a recorded TV show is simple and elegant

In another post, I’ll describe how you can edit the TV show you recorded, and splice it into a home movie.   Also, I’ll go into how you can rip your DVD collection and integrate it into the experience.

The fact of the matter is, I have a three year old.  So I don’t have lazy Sunday evenings to sit and watch reruns of “American Dad.”  However, at least it is still pretty darn easy to watch TV on my own terms.

PC gaming is an expensive hobby. A good video card can cost $400-$800, a good gaming computer can cost as much as 8-10 grand, your average game title can run $40-$50, and some titles (multiplayer, in particular), charge a monthly fee of $10-$20. These costs don’t even include the monthly power bill increase most gamers end up with!

I am like most people: I live on a budget. If I were to buy every game title that sounded fun, I would go broke INSTANTLY. Luckily for me (and others in my predicament), there are plenty of low to no cost options available for the gamer on a budget.  I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the ones that I’ve tried.

I’m an avid fan of multiplayer online games, and unfortunately, many of the most popular require a monthly fee. One that does NOT (but does require an initial purchase) is Guild Wars, and was the first multiplayer title without a subscription I had played since the Diablo series. Is it any good? I started playing it shortly after release, and still have an account to this day. Though it lacks a persistent world, reminiscent of Diablo II with its instanced adventure areas, the PvP is exciting, and the game is absolutely incredible to look at. The required system specs are also very low, and easily manageable with even 5-6 year old hardware.

A free MMO that’s fairly popular around the office is Silk Road Online. I’ve tried it myself, and was fairly surprised by the high quality of the game. It’s produced by a South Korean company called Joymax, and has a fairly thriving community. It’s your typical Everquest/WoW fantasy MMO based upon the real silk road, the trade route from China to the west, and sports a PvP system similar to Lineage II. Players can buy in game equipment from an item mall in real U.S. dollars, which is how the game developers make money.

Another free MMO that’s caught my attention is Perfect World. This game is absolutely gorgeous, and has a very helpful and active community. This game is heavily based on Chinese mythology and, like Silk Road, offers items for cash in an item mall to support the game. Unlike many MMOs, the grind in this game is quest based, so that your quest rewards provide the bulk of the XP needed for your character to level. When I haven’t been pwning people in Eve-Online, lately I’ve been enjoying this lovely addition to my gaming diet.

For those gamers that aren’t really interested in the MMO experience (yes, I know you exist), Gametap offers free game downloads of older titles. The games offered range from classic arcade games like Joust and Rampage, to titles like Deus Ex, Hitman 2, Myst, and Thief. They offer titles to buy as well, if you find that your budget has a few extra dollars in the entertainment category.

If you’re like me, though, and love a good MMORPG, GameOgre has compiled a fairly extensive list of free MMOs complete with a ratings and reviews system. Looking through them, it doesn’t look like there’s enough time in anyone’s schedule to play them all.

Now there’s almost no excuse. Get out there and GAME!

A lot of us have more than one PC that we leave on for extended periods if not 24/7… All of us know people in our families or even closer in our hearts who suffer from various diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s, Huntington’s and others.

So what’s the connection? A huge project called Folding@Home that uses idle computing power to study the process of amino acids “folding” into proteins. From this research, Stanford University scientists hope to annihilate diseases that kill many humans around the globe.

Currently there are over 120,000 teams consisting of well over 1 million people and a huge number of CPUs, PS3s and ATi graphic cards running this project worldwide in almost 100 countries.

The process requires you to download software (with a very small footprint) to run various projects (called WU or Work Units) while your machine is idle. The client software automatically downloads WUs and, once finished, uploads results back to Stanford’s servers.

The client working on your machine will earn points based on the intensity of work. These points are for no other reason than bragging rights! The point system merely creates a competition within each team and between all teams. The project is fun to watch and addictive — in a good way — at the same time.

If you like to use stability software (like OCCT, Prime95) to test your gaming and over-clocked machines, F@H can really test your machine with its “High Performance SMP” clients.

The team I’m involved with — Team_XPS — was established in July 2007 with fewer than 10 people. Team_XPS was team number 80856 at the time. So the project had grown from nothing in year 2000 to more than 80,000 teams in July 2007. Currently with over 120,000 teams, the project shows a huge recognition as it has grown by an additional 50% in less than a year. Some weeks, there are over 1,000 new teams established.

Team_XPS is currently at the Top_70 Ranking (in points) and still advancing. There are over 150 members, of which about 60 are currently active. When comparing our team to others with 10 to 100 times the number of members, we show our great determination to this project. One member even bought 16 Dell Vostros and an H2C unit to fold with us (we jokingly call it his “Folding Farm”).

Please consider studying up on this project and joining F@H if you can. All you need is a desktop, laptop or PS3 to join. There are varying number of projects that can suit your needs and equipment. More than anything, you will be helping humanity or even someone near and dear to you. If you like you can create your own team, or join any team(s). Again, Team_XPS’ number is 80856 and we will be glad to have anyone Fold with us. Feel free to use the Team_XPS thread stickied at the top of DCF (Dell Community Forums).

Click here for additional info. To monitor the performance of Team_XPS, check out these links:

folding.extremeoverclocking.com: http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/team_summary.php?s=&t=80856

kakaostats.com: http://kakaostats.com/t.php?col=11&t=80856

Drop in and say hello if you need assistance with the project.

School is out and summer is almost here! From vacation plans to relaxing at home, almost every chic geek looks forward to the fun and long days that summer brings. It’s a time to kick up our heels and enjoy the weather, water and family.

One of the things we love to hate about the summer is the heat. Of Zen and Computing put together a great list of tips for Keeping Your Electronics Cool for the Summer. There are some good reminders in this list, regardless of the time of year, including keeping your vents clear and not stacking multiple electronics on top of each other.  Last but not least is my favorite: In Case of Emergency, Shut Down. Well that sounds appealing! Let’s shut down, disconnect and hit the beach!

There are many ways to go chic geek sur la plage this year. Here are seven recommendations for getting there:

(1) Hermés Printed Beach Towel (2) Hermés matching Beach bag (3) Cole Haan AIR BRIA STITCH THONG (4) Amazon Kindle (5) Burt’s Bee’s Wax Super Shiny Lip Gloss (6) Fendi Squared Frame B. Mix Sunglasses (7) Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ10K Black 10.1 MP 5X Zoom Digital Camera

A balanced mix of style and technology will be key to complement the beach experience. Hermés towel with matching beach bag, Cole Haan Thong Sandals and Fendi Sunglasses will keep the chicest of chic’s style in check. Burt’s bee’s Wax Super Shiny Lip Gloss is a must to keep those lips moist and color applied. The Panasonic Lumix camera is a great addition to any vacation day, taking shots of your summer memories.

Most importantly, summer isn’t summer without a great novel. The Amazon Kindle promises to take summer reading to a whole new level. Whether you’re on the beach, a plane or relaxing at home, you can download your choice of more than 125,000 books in less than a minute! And no more huge newspaper to unfold and fold and unfold and fold, while you are eating your bagels and coffee on the beach as you await the heat of the day. This 10.3-ounce technology gem downloads national and international newspapers from around the world, right at your fingertips!

This is definitely my hot pick and must have for the summer. Looking forward to hearing what your favorite beach accessories are for the summer chic geek! 

To follow up on last month’s Your Blog post, there’s a whole lot more to Twitter than reading what your friends had for lunch or what time they hit the sack.

Yes, it’s cool how Twitter gives you a “sixth sense” about what’s going on in your friends’ lives, as Clive Thompson has pointed out in WIRED. In her Life After Web blog, Sherri Leigh asks “Is Twitter Useful?” and proceeds to show how it has. Mack Collier even explains at The Viral Garden blog why he follows over 900 people. But besides connecting you with other people, there are many useful Twitter accounts that can do some neat tricks for you.

For example, TrackThis is a Twitter “bot” (from robot) that can keep you informed of the status of a delivery you’re expecting from any major shipping carrier. MyMileMarker helps you calculate the MPG for your car. IsItNiceOutside will send you the weather forecast for your area. Plus, you can even interact with all these and others through your mobile phone! Oh, and BTW several major news carriers are now using Twitter to deliver breaking news. See? It’s not all inane.

In fact, DellOutlet has even been offering Twitter-exclusive discount coupons for nearly a year. Their current offer, running until Thursday, is for 20% off an XPS One computer, one of Dell’s sexiest. There’s also DellHomeOffers, which lets you know what’s on sale on Dell’s Home & Home Office site and will likely start offering Twitter-exclusive discounts soon as well. Not to be outdone, DellSmBizOffers is about to start providing special savings to small business owners through Twitter any day now.

So, if someone tells you Twitter is a waste of time, you might be able to tell them how Twitter bots not only saved you time, but how Dell’s Twitters saved you some $$$, too!

There were some of you out there who probably thought never in a million years would Alienware become part of Dell and, of all things, end up blogging on a regular basis.  But as part of the Dell family, it was natural for us to participate in the Dell Community so — Ta-Da!

Being part of Dell is actually great.  We’ve got access to a lot of things we didn’t before, and with Dell’s backing, Alienware plans on taking PC Gaming to a whole new level. What that means for fans is that, in the months to come, we’ll have some pretty exciting things to share – especially where it counts: the products. If you think that what Alienware has done so far is amazing, just wait until you get a look at what we’ve been working on now that we’ve had the chance to collaborate with teams at Dell.

We’ll also be showing up here on Your Blog on a pretty consistent basis, along with Gaming Guy John Blain, to give you a heads up on what’s going on in the PC gaming world — as well as share some of the fun yet informative videos we are doing with Alien Network.   There is so much to talk about, the PC gaming industry is getting lots of buzz these days from Intel, NVIDIA, the PCGA and a host of others, and let’s not forget the top anticipated PC games for 2008, such as Fallout 3 and WOW: Lich King. Who better to give you a first look than Alienware, right?

This is going to be the start of something great.

Mozilla is about to release Firefox 3 to the public and users all over the World are getting ready to set a Guinness Book World Record this month - date to be determined - by having the most downloads in a 24-hour period known as “Download Day 2008.” There is a lot of circulation about the download day in spreadfirefox forum. Release Candidate 2 is already available for download testing in more than 45 languages.

Update: Just saw on Techmeme that Mozilla just set the date: Firefox 3 is coming on June 13 June 17. I’ll follow up with another post later today.

There are many improvements with this release compared to previous versions. For instance, FireFox 3 is based on the Gecko 1.0 Web rendering platform that has been in development for the past 33 months. It also has more than 14,000 updates and improvements added in the Release Notes. To run Firefox 3 your system must meet some Requirements.

Once it was downloaded to my Dell Inspiron 1720 system I could see a vast improvement in speed compared to previous versions. The first thought that crossed my mind was, “Hey, Mozilla must have outdone themselves on this version.” I soon realized that I was correct in my assumption and the final version was still being tweaked for release. After playing around for a while I was very pleased with its performance and capabilities. There are way too many additions to mention here (more posts to come, though).

I also have a Dell 1420N Ubuntu system that has the latest version of Ubuntu installed which Firefox 3 beta version is the built-in browser for “Hardy Heron” 8.04. It also works extremely well with this Linux Platform.

Like any new platform, there are some bugs and known issues with this release that will need to be worked out. Mozilla has a site to report any bugs that you may have during the testing phases.

While Firefox 3 isn’t for everyone, I for one think it is an extremely worthy browser and I am looking forward to using it in my day-to-day Internet browsing. I am also looking forward to posting more Firefox info here on Your Blog.