Dell to Pay $3.35 Million to Settle Suit

Dell Inc. will pay $3.35 million to settle a lawsuit with 44 states over allegations of misleading consumers about financing terms, warranties and rebates, according to several states' attorneys general. If you bought a Dell product between April 1, 2005 and April 13, 2009 and experienced any of the Problems with financing, rebate, or servicing, you may be entitled to a settlement.

The lawsuit began last year and highlighted the many ways in which Dell treated its customers poorly, including but not limited to never providing proper refunds, failure to provide prompt repairs, and misleading customers about financing terms.

Apple Projected To Grab 40% of Smartphone Market by 2013

A report from Generator Research, a UK market-analysis firm says that Apple's share of the global smartphone market is likely to grow as high as 40% by 2013, a seismic shift that would unseat Nokia as the world's No. 1 handset manufacturer. The study said Apple was well-positioned to develop its smartphone into a long-term high-growth business based on its very successful music-platform strategy – namely the iPod and iTunes Music Store.

Generator's research finds that with cash reserves exceeding $25 billion, 33% gross margins and the iPhone just about to enter its fastest-growth phase, Apple has the resources, competencies and motivation to invest in the mobile sector just at the time when the economic climate is forcing many established players in the mobile industry to cut back on product development. The impact on some incumbent players could be substantial, with Nokia's share of the smartphone market falling from 40% today to 20% by 2013.

Sony To Post $1.1 Billion Operating Loss

Reports are floating around that on January 29, Sony Corporation will likely post an an annual operating loss of $1.1 billion. The Japanese company has struggled because of the combination of the sluggish global economy, stockpiling inventories and the more expensive yen. If this loss actually happens, it would be the firm's first in 14 years.

Shares of Sony tumbled 9 percent, slicing $2 billion off its market value to $22 billion, while rival Toshiba Corp dropped more than 8 percent after Japanese media said it too was headed for a big loss this financial year.

OCZ Introduces New Apex Series Solid State Drive

OCZ Technology Introduces New Apex Series Solid State Drives, Offering the Ultimate in Extremely Affordable Mainstream Mass Storage Solution Sunnyvale, CA—January 13, 2008—OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today unveiled the OCZ Apex SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drive (SSD) Series, the affordable midrange offering for enthusiasts, system builders, and mainstream computer users demanding the latest technology in

Hardware Roundup

Video:Sapphire Radeon HD 4830 review at Ultimate HardwareSapphire Radeon HD 4870 X2 ATOMIC 2GB video card review @ Elite BastardsPalit GeForce 9800 GTX+ Video Card NE/98TX+XT352 @ BmRMotherboards and Chipsets:NVIDIA Ion Platform Benchmark Preview @ Legit ReviewsNVIDIA Ion Platform Design and Benchmarks @ PC PerspectiveProcessors:AMD Phenom II X4 940: Compared to Phenom X4 9950 BE and Intel Core 2 Q9550 @ InsideHWIntel Core i7 920 Processor @ iXBT LabsPower:Silverstone Fanless ST45NF 450W Power Supply Review

New Dell Smartphone Rumor for 2009

dell_logo We’ve been passing along rumors of a Dell-branded smartphone for years.  Obviously, not one of these rumors has turned out to be true, but as lingering fans of Dell’s long-dead Axim Pocket PCs, we feel compelled to report the latest in Dell Smartphone murmurings.

According to Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Bros., a Dell smartphone device is getting "closer to reality.”  This is based on information gathered by looking into items currently on, or expected to soon be, Dell’s list of ordered components. 

What sort of device might this smartphone be?  Dell has historically sold devices powered by Windows Mobile, but with Palm’s new webOS and Android, Dell has other options.  It’s also possible the computer company could work on its own mobile OS, though this seems highly unlikely.

This could very well turn out to be another baseless rumor, so keep those hopes tethered to the ground.  We’ll keep you posted if we hear anything to substantiate this rumor.

via Electronista

Google Launches Quick Search Box App for Mac

If there is one aspect of the Mac OS that Mac users love to gripe about it is OS X’s desktop search feature, Spotlight, which was initially introduced in OS X 10.4. While it does an adequate job of searching a Mac system’s files, its functionality leaves a lot to be desired. Even with improvements to Spotlight, such as adding Boolean search operators with the release of OS X 10.5 (Leopard), many Mac users still feel that Spotlight is missing a lot of needed functionality; and because Apple has been unable to

Google Launches Quick Search Box App for Mac

If there is one aspect of the Mac OS that Mac users love to gripe about it is OS X’s desktop search feature, Spotlight, which was initially introduced in OS X 10.4. While it does an adequate job of searching a Mac system’s files, its functionality leaves a lot to be desired. Even with improvements to Spotlight, such as adding Boolean search operators with the release of OS X 10.5 (Leopard), many Mac users still feel that Spotlight is missing a lot of needed functionality; and because Apple has been unable to

Google Launches Quick Search Box App for Mac

If there is one aspect of the Mac OS that Mac users love to gripe about it is OS X’s desktop search feature, Spotlight, which was initially introduced in OS X 10.4. While it does an adequate job of searching a Mac system’s files, its functionality leaves a lot to be desired. Even with improvements to Spotlight, such as adding Boolean search operators with the release of OS X 10.5 (Leopard), many Mac users still feel that Spotlight is missing a lot of needed functionality; and because Apple has been unable to

Disaster-Proof Your Data

We all know how important it is to back up our computers regularly. However, an onsite backup can’t protect your data against fire or flood, unless it’s is stored on ioSafe’s new Solo. ioSafe is known for making internal hard drives that can survive extreme heat. Now, with the ioSafe Solo, the company is offering an external drive model that can protect against fire and water. According to the company, the Solo can withstand fires up to 1,550 degrees Fahrenheit, as per the ASTM E119 industry standard. The Solo