Around the Globe

There’s been a fair amount of buzz online about a recent pricing situations in Taiwan, and what Dell has done so far to attempt to resolve it. While there are things I can’t address at this time, it is important to us to address those things we can.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the details, here’s the deal. There were two different pricing errors that occurred in on the Dell.com website in Taiwan. The first was for a 19" flat panel monitor plus other accessories and the second was the Latitude E4300 laptop. We fixed both errors soon after we discovered them and began to reach out to affected customers. We also provided toll-free numbers to call if they have questions, and offered a discount to customers whose orders were affected by the price correction.

This whole thing has resulted in some pretty heated discussions like those found in this Malaysia forum. There's more balanced discussion over at Engadget's recent post in reaction to the pending fine. To be clear on one point, Mark Leach is right in his comment... no orders went through and no customers were billed.

Update: Some customers were billed for the inaccurate price. In those situations, we are contacting these customers to issue refunds.

While I can’t talk directly about government actions taken against Dell, we can say we are working with government leaders to reach a fair resolution to the situation for everyone involved. We apologize for any frustration these pricing errors have caused. I’ll update this post with more information when I have it.

Update 2: Affected customers in Taiwan who have questions can contact Dell here: 00801-863-060 (international toll-free; Monday-Friday 8.30am-5.30pm, Taiwan local time). Or, if you would rather join the discussion online, you can visit this topic on the Dell Taiwan bulletin board.

While the 'CSI effect' has glamorised and highlighted the importance of forensics to the public, it bears little reality to the hard work, long hours and challenges faced by the analysts who extract evidence from digital devices. In the real world, police forces are experiencing major problems when it comes to ingesting, storing and analysing digital evidence. The amount of digital evidence that needs to be reviewed is growing at a huge rate, and this is putting forensic experts under pressure to analyse data quickly and accurately to help secure arrests and convictions. Rather than CSI, the issue reminds me of the scene in Jaws, where - after seeing exactly what they were up against - Brody (played by Roy Scheider) decides that they're "gonna need a bigger boat."

So it was good to be talking about the 'bigger boat' at this year's ACPO conference in Manchester, UK. I was there to launch Dell's digital forensics solution, which I believe will truly transform the digital forensics analysis process. Instead of saving suspect evidence on individual PCs, which can take between 24-48 hours, analysts can save time by storing the evidence directly in the data centre, so that multiple people can access the information. Analysts will be able to multitask as they can work on several cases simultaneously, while running different versions of forensic software from their own individual workstations. A "Google- like" tool will allow analysts to easily search through evidence, link to previously unrelated cases and, because evidence will be available at the touch of a button, it will allow them to share information with other countries, agencies and forces. More details on the benefits can be found in our Digital Forensics Solution Blueprint.

We had lots of people visit the stand to find out more about our solution. We also announced it to the media, and seeing the news travel around the world online was fantastic - as was the amount of tweets, which seemed to go on for days!

We performed three live demos for delegates on our stand. The demos went through how our solution works and what benefits this new approach can yield such as increased productivity, better storage and being able to share data quickly.

You can see highlights from the demos and learn more about the solution by watching the video below:

Note from Lionel: Since we expanded Dell Design Studio options in the United States, we've begun to offer more personalization options in other countries. Below is a guest post from my colleague Gretel Perera who runs our DellenDirecto Spanish blog.

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Earlier this week, we welcomed one of our top designers from our Design Studio line, Tristan Eaton, to Mexico for the official launch of his new designs on certain Dell systems in the country.  The new Studio 15 offers three new limited-edition Tristan Eaton designs that will be sold in Mexico exclusively at Liverpool stores. Five Mini 10 Tristan Eaton designs are also being introduced first in Mexico, before the rest of Latin America.  These new products are part of our Design Studio line, where we have integrated art into technology in order to offer customers the ultimate in personal expression.

More than 150 customers and Dell partners participated in the event, where they were able to meet Tristan and learn more about his inspiration. Here's a link to the post on DellenDirecto, with additional details.

 If you want to see more of Tristan in action, here's a quick time lapse video that shows him completing a mural at the Dell Suites 09 event in France.

Recently I had the pleasure of spending time with the (PRODUCT) RED team as we showed off the full Dell range at the Century Club on London's Shaftesbury Avenue. 

Dell decided to get involved with (PRODUCT) RED in the UK in January and every partner at the event seemed so proud to be involved.  (PRODUCT) RED raises vital money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS in Africa. The statistics on AIDS in Africa are still so huge as to seem inhuman - of the 33 million people living with AIDS across the world, 22 million of them live in Africa.  Every single day 4,100 people will die in Africa as the virus flourishes in poverty. I learned at the event that (PRODUCT) RED had its name chosen as this is a real 'red alert' emergency - action is needed right away.

You can, of course, donate directly to The Global Fund. You can also support the campaign by shopping for (PRODUCT) RED branded items. Something I like about this is that all the partners have agreed that rather than raise the prices of their products, they will donate part of their profits to the fund.  This means the person on the street never pays more for something branded (PRODUCT) RED, but their chosen purchase still helps the fund to grow. So far (since 2006) the companies involved have helped to raise $130 million - a staggering amount in a short period of time.

Alongside the Converse trainers, GAP T-shirts and Armani little black dresses, our own Dell Inspiron Mini 10 in (PRODUCT) RED attracted a lot of attention from the movers and shakers in attendance there. The Mini 10 is a very popular Dell product, but does look truly stunning with a PRODUCT (RED) cover, I have to say.

We have also been lucky that the (PRODUCT) RED team and top artists have given us the okay to make up some fantastic exclusive designs for the Dell Studio 15 and Studio 17. Artists including Joseph Amedokpo, Bruce Mau and Siobhan Gunning have designed some brilliantly original imagery to give a unique purchase that also contributes to the fund.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Dell (PRODUCT) RED range continue to expand throughout the year. We have recently also announced the addition of the XPS One 24 (PRODUCT)RED - a stylish PC designed to fit in your living room. I think it is great the more brands get involved with (PRODUCT) RED and the extra choice this gives people have to support the campaign with their shopping - from trainers and sunshades to high-end lifestyle PCs.

There's something about red. It's a color that brings out the power and excitement in many products. Did you know some insurance companies use to charge you more if your car was red? Their reason? It brings out the fire in us, giving us a charge to get the heart racing. In gaming, red equals dead, be it in World of Warcraft, player versus player or the laser sight from an MP5 in Call of Duty 4.

Is it any surprise that Alienware, the company that brought you the All Powerful M17x is releasing a Nebula Red - Special Edition - Anodized Aluminum version of their fire hot system? We already know about the speed and power this dream rig has and now with additional color options gamers will have yet another change to stun their friends and opponent alike, online and off. 

I have to say the new color looks sweet and this is coming from a guy who loves the color black. Take a look at this set on the Dell Flickr page to see what I am talking about. I think Rob Enderle over at Digital Trends said it best, "If there was ever a laptop that puts lust in the hearts of both engineers and gamers, the M17x is it."

A mere $99 extra dollars will allow you to upgrade and be the first on your block to have this special edition. Join us and learn more about the M17x and our multitude of configuration and customization options at www.alienware.com.