Teknovis

I recently bought a new Dell XPS 17 laptop. It has been years since I last blogged, so I thought that this would be a good time to post something new!

Unboxing

My unboxing experience with Dell has been very positive in recent years, and this was no exception. Having said that, I am not too fussed about the unboxing experience!

A courier delivered my laptop in a normal brown cardboard box. I opened this, and I took out the XPS 17 box.

I assume that the clear plastic wrap was to protect the black box from scruff marks, but I thought that it was an unnecessary use of plastic. Also, the black box looked much better without the plastic wrap.

The box itself is very nice. It is kept closed by a magnet in the flap. I have keep the box for some other (as yet unknown) purpose! The laptop is within this box.

The laptop is also wrapped in clear plastic, but this is probably more worthwhile then the outer plastic wrap on the box.

The charger and supplied adapter (Thunderbolt to USB and HDMI) are underneath the laptop.

I was actually surprised that so little of the box is used. I think that it probably could be less than half of its height.

Perhaps the best thing about the unboxing experience is that the plastic is 100% recycled, and some of it has been salvaged from the sea! Well done Dell!

Accessories

I also bought a new mouse and a wired network adapter.

The mouse is a Microsoft Surface Mobile Mouse. The most confusing thing about buying this mouse was its name, and the difference between it and the Microsoft Surface Mouse!

I generally like Microsoft mice, but this one was a bit a gamble because it is so slim in the vertical direction. Luckily I find that it is very comfortable, and I love that I do not need to use a dongle in my laptop because it is a Bluetooth mouse!

The wired network adaptor is from a brand that was not previously known to me. I use a wireless connection most of the time, but there are occasions when I need to upload/download gigabytes from my local network (e.g., raw photos for post-processing). I will use this adaptor on these occasions.

The only difficulty that I had when buying this adaptor was trying to understand the differences between a Thunderbolt adaptor and a USB-C adaptor.

I bought both the mouse and the wired network adaptor from Amazon Germany.

Tags: Amazon, Dell, Microsoft

I previously wrote about Ask Patents in Ask Patents. It appears that it has just had its first victory, and it was against Microsoft! For more details see Victory Lap for Ask Patents.

I wonder if this is a once off victory, or the start of many victories!

Tags: Microsoft

I hope everybody is having a merry Christmas! I know I am :)

Anyway, here is a nice infographic by MBA Online charting the rise of Android (click image to see larger version):

I have heard it before, but it still fascinates me that Microsoft makes more money from Android than from Windows Mobile due to patent royalties!

Tags: Google, Microsoft

Somebody recently told me about on{X} (part of Microsoft), and its service that enables you to program your Android mobile device without any programming skills. Interesting idea!

For more details see on{X}: The Coolest Thing to Happen to Android. Courtesy of… Microsoft Israel?.

Tags: Microsoft

A few weeks ago I read that AOL was going to sell its 800 patents, and that it hoped to raise about $1 billion. The article I read is AOL may sell off some of its 800 patents for cash. At the time I thought that it was very wishful thinking by AOL.

This evening I am eating humble pie :) AOL has sold all of its patents to Microsoft for $1.1 billion according to AOL Sells 800 Patents For $1.1 Billion To Microsoft [Memo To Staff]! This equates to $1,375,000 per patent!

It will be very interesting to see what Microsoft does with these patents next. Is it intending to go an an offensive against a competitor, or is it building up its own defence?

Tags: AOL, Microsoft

Smart Futures is an initiative designed to encourage students to pursue careers in technology.

Smart Futures is a national campaign for second-level students in Ireland highlighting career opportunities in information and communications technology (ICT) in association with e-Skills Week 2012. It includes a digital content competition, an online careers fair from 23-27 January 2012, and regular updates on our blog about the sector, career stories and competitions.

It is a really good idea, and I think that it is very necessary! There are some very well known companies behind it, including Cisco, Ericsson, HP, Microsoft, Openet, SAP.

Tags: Cisco, Ericsson, HP, Microsoft, Openet, SAP

I recently got multiple phone calls on my landline from a support agent working for a “Microsoft Support Company” in Djibouti. The exact phone number used each time was +253 820 308, and the support agent knew my family name (it is available in the telephone directory). The support agent told me that she could see from her system that my computer was infected, and she was going to help me! Great!

Of course this is a scam, and I have heard of it many times. Unfortunately, not everybody knows this, and I know somebody who was conned in this way.

I had never received such a call before, so the mischievous streak in me decided to play along with the support agent :) I must stress that I knew what I was doing, and in general I would not recommend this! I was also curious to know exactly how the scam worked.

I made myself look like the ideal target for the support agent, because I claimed not to know much about how computers work, and I was very eager to pay for the support agent to fix my problem. I was not doing anything that required too much concentration at the time, so I was willing to waste the support agent’s time. In the end our conversations spanned three phone calls, and lasted for about an hour and twenty minutes in total.

The way the scam works is that the support agent firstly tries to get the victim’s confidence. So I was told about the dangers of computer viruses, and how easy it is to become infected. I agreed with this, and we spent several minutes discussing this. I then confirmed that I had been feeling tired and run-down recently, so I suspected that I had indeed got a virus from my computer. This caused another lengthy explanation :D

Next the support agent gets the victim to download some software that allows the support agent to remotely control the victim’s computer. This took more than half an hour to achieve for a variety of reasons. I was given many instructions for trying to start my Internet browser (such as Ctrl + R, Start + All Programs), but none of them appeared to work. The support agent was becoming frustrated at this stage, so I innocently asked her when I should turn on my computer :D

Over the next half hour the support agent got me to download remote access software from the following web sites:

• http://www.showmypc.com/
• http://www.logmeinrescue.com/
• http://www.ammyy.com/

I do not know if these are legitimate sites or not. Regardless, in each I was asked to download an executable file, and then run it. Much to the support agent’s frustration, the files kept producing errors when I tried running them. I offered several times to pay her there and then by credit card (using a test number of course) for her to fix the problem, but she told me that I needed to run the software first. I helpfully suggested that it was probably due to the virus, but the support agent dismissed this idea :o In hindsight, it was probably because I was using Ubuntu :D

At this stage the customer support agent had to consult with a colleague (for the second time). By the time that she phoned me back I was bored of her, so I told her than I had bought a new computer since the last call. The dismay in voice was noticeable!

The moral of the story – if you get one of these calls you are probably best to tell the support agent that you do not have a computer!

Tags: Microsoft, Ubuntu

Some of Microsoft‘s latest, and more creative, patents are described in Microsoft Patents Manipulation Of 3D Virtual Objects, Throwing Gestures.

I have actually seen very similar ideas presented already, and I am sure these would be invalidating prior art!

Tags: Microsoft

I recently read an interesting article about a Windows compatible operating system called ReactOS. (The article is Russian President Medvedev asked to fund Windows clone.) There is also more useful information in ReactOS.

It is an interesting idea, and I can see the benefits to having such an operating system. However, I do not think that Microsoft needs to start worrying yet ;)

Tags: Microsoft, ReactOS

Unbelievable – Dublin lightning strike zaps Amazon, Microsoft data centres! Surely, having and testing a UPS is really basic data centre management!

This says an awful amount about the data centre in question, and it is yet another self-inflicted blow to Cloud Computing.

Tags: Amazon, Ireland, Microsoft