Dell has launched a new website that allows customers to share ideas on how to improve Dell’s products and services. The site, Dell IdeaStorm, allows Dell faithfuls to share ideas and experiences directly with their peers and the company.

Dell IdeaStorm is an online community where customers can post their thoughts and ideas regarding Dell products, services, and operations. The community “promotes” the best ideas in a Digg-like manner. Dell will then share the most popular ideas throughout its organization to trigger new thoughts and hopefully improve something. Here are some of the recent ideas I encountered upon a quick visit:

Internet Laptop Design Contest
Have Michael Dell in the Dell Commercials
Pay once and get computers for Life
Add User-Generated Content to your StudioDell site

The last idea was interesting because Dell also announced today a new video upload feature on StudioDell in a section …

Last summer I was trying to impress my neighbors, betting that I could hack into their router. After hearing for a few minutes that the mere notion was probably one of the geekiest things they had heard, I proceeded to show them (with their permission of course).

By them having a wireless router, I was able to connect to their unsecured WiFi network with very little difficulty, and then I took a guess that they probably had a Linksys or D-Link router. Guessing at the Linksys model first, I went to the Linksys website, and read the installation instructions to get the management URL and default username and password. Within about 5 minutes I was in and secured the WiFi with my own password that I did not tell them. Now I was in and they were out.

I would not consider myself …

Moore’s Law seems in jeopardy with some recent memory design innovations by IBM. The new design triples the amount of memory on a microprocessor and marks the fastest access times ever recorded with eDRAM (pictured).

The new eDRAM requires about one-third the space of prior designs and vastly improves microprocessor performance in multi-core designs, graphics for gaming, and networking performance. The new memory also has significantly lower power requirements – needing only one-fifth the standby power of conventional SRAM.

SRAM or Static RAM is a fast volatile memory and preserves data only while continuously powered. SRAM has low power consumption but takes up considerable space on chips. DRAM or Dynamic RAM is commonly used in personal computers as a separate chip. Historically, DRAM has been considered too slow to be integrated directly onto the microprocessor.

IBM presented the breakthrough on-chip …

We don’t cover a lot of auto news here at the Brick, but I have always liked Saabs and this seemed like a significant automotive innovation. I still miss my beloved Saab 900 which I traded for a VW many years ago.

Saab has developed an E100 fuel concept car that it is premiering at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The Saab BioPower 100 Concept demonstrates the first production-based engine optimized for pure bioethanol (E100) fuel.

Based on the Saab 9-5 SportCombi, the BioPower concept demonstrates the performance possibilities of bioethanol. The 2.0-liter turbocharged engine develops 300 hp made possible through modifications to the engine management system and internal components. This allows the BioPower 100 to achieve zero to 100 kph acceleration in 6.6 seconds and 80 – 120 kph (fifth gear) in 8.2 seconds.

Saab has already …

In a speech at the 3GSM World Conference in Barcelona on Wednesday, Edgar Bronfman Jr., chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group, spoke out in support of a digital music DRM (digital rights management), most likely in counter attack to the open letter from Steve Jobs of Apple regarding their DRM.

“DRM and interoperability are not the same thing,” said Bronfman. “We believe in interoperability…Consumers want it and should have it. We at Warner, and I hope the rest of the music and content industry, will make it as easy as possible to achieve interoperability.”

Apple has been under some ridicule lately for its music DRM which restricts music downloaded from Apple to be used only on iPods, as well as restricts the number of computers and iPods that the music files can be transferred to.

Some argue that this system is unfair and …

Pictured here is ASCI Red which was the first computer to reach a Teraflops of processing, equal to trillions of calculations per second. ASCI Red did this in 1996 using almost 10,000 Pentium Processors running at 200MHz and using 500kW of power. (Another 500kW of juice was needed to keep the room cool.)

Intel has now announced just over 10 yeas later that they have developed the world’s first processor that will deliver the same Teraflops performance all on one single 80-core chip using less electricity than a typical single-core processor at only 62 watts and small enough to rest on the tip of your finger.

This exact chip design from Intel is not intended to actually go to market, but this processor will be instrumental in looking into the types of interconnections needed for moving this amount of data as well as …

Vodafone can add yet another service to its growing family of mobile applications. In a recent announcement from the mobile telecommunications company, Vodafone Live! will now offer Google Maps for mobile in addition to Google Search.

In the agreement, Vodafone and Google will develop a location-based version of Google Maps for mobile. The service is expected to offer customers access to maps, local listings, local search, and navigation capabilities. Google and Vodafone are also developing a service that provides customers on selected handsets with an automatic user-location capability.

Other enhancements include changes to Vodafone’s multimedia portal, Vodafone live. These changes will include search technology from Google that enables customers to access both on-portal and off-portal sites in the wider mobile internet.

This announcement is another example of how Vodafone is working to bring popular Internet brands and services to the mobile phone. An announcement …

If you want ESPN Mobile, you better have Verizon Wireless. In a recent announcement by the Sports Network, Verizon Wireless becomes the only mobile destination for Mobile ESPN.

With the new multi-year licensing agreement, Verizon Wireless customers who sign up for a V-CAST subscription will receive exclusive access to ESPN content including:

Mobile ESPN – Real-time sports news, scores and information; personalization for favorite teams; scoring alerts and video.
Select ESPN Insider content and ESPN fantasy team management on Verizon Wireless’ V CAST services.
ESPN On Demand mobile video – V-CAST customers get video clips including highlights, analysis, news and content from ESPN-branded shows including SportsCenter, Cold Pizza, Rome is Burning, Outside the Lines, Pardon the Interruption and Around the Horn.

The ESPN mobile service will be included in the standard V CAST subscription at no additional charge.

Mobile ESPN was originally launched back in November, 2005 …

Helio has added a music service to its ever-expanding line of custom-built 3G services. With Helio Music, the company now has a full mobile over-the-air music download service with some innovative sharing features that every music lover should appreciate.

Helio members can find their favorite music in the library by searching for artist, album, or song. Members looking for something new can get recommendations for a particular category or preview Featured Songs, Top Music, and New Releases. Members can also read artist bios, browse images, preview songs, get recommendations, and of course download tracks.

With Artist Alerts, Helio members can be notified when a new song from their favorite band enters the library via text message. Helio members can also find Rings, music videos, and VideoRings for their favorite artists.

Helio members can share music by allowing to “Gift & Beg” full-track downloads. A member can “gift” …

You may want to set a side a little time for some updates and rebooting on Tuesday, February 13th. Microsoft has 12 security updates scheduled in their monthly security bulletin communication that list out various Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft software products.

Eight of the security bulletins scheduled to be released Tuesday affect Microsoft Windows or Microsoft Office with seven of them having severity rating of ‘Critical’ with the rest rated as ‘Important’. The remaining four bulletins range from ‘Important’ to ‘Critical’ and will affect Windows with Visual Studio, Step-by-Step Interactive Training, Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) and multiple security applications that run on Windows including OneCare, Antigen, and Wiindows Defender among others.

Along with these high-security updates, Microsoft will be releasing another update to the Malicious Software Removal Tool and 10 additional non-security related high-priority updates.

These security updates from Microsoft are a common …

Ericsson introduced its new Femto Cell Solution on Friday. The new access point will give consumers using GSM and WCDMA phones the ability to make VoIP calls using their mobile phones at home to take advantage of cheaper rates.

The Femto Cell Solution is a personal-sized home access point with WiFi and ADSL compatibility. Ericsson claims that the solution will give operators the opportunity to offer home-zone packages and strengthen its relationship with subscribers and also provide incentives for all users in a household to have the same mobile operator.

Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio at Ericsson, says: “This is a major technological breakthrough. Ericsson’s Femto Cell Solution enables mobile operators to compete on the fixed access market, offering price-competitive, innovative and secure services to their customers.”

You will have to wait a little while longer to use the …

Earlier in the week Steve Jobs released an open letter via the Apple website addressing some “rubs” against Apple for having a digital rights management (DRM) that restricts iTunes music downloads to be played on only iPods.

In the letter Jobs describes how the DRM came to be through restrictions from the larger music companies who were concerned about users pirating music through the iTunes website. The DRM was made to protect downloaded music from being copied freely across the internet and in turn gain the approval of the music companies which would then allow Apple to sell their music online.

Jobs also points out that Apple is not the only company with a DRM that restricts downloaded music to a device. “Music purchased from Microsoft’s Zune store will only play on Zune players; music purchased from Sony’s Connect store …

A version of YouTube mobile will soon be available to Vodafone customers in the U.K.

The YouTube mobile service for Vodafone will include a new selection of popular videos each day. Customers will be able to upload their own content from their mobile phones, forward links of videos to friends, and search through video content.

“Today’s announcement with YouTube further expands the range of Internet services we’re bringing to the mobile, introducing a seamless experience that allows customers to engage with user generated content on the move,” said Frank H.Rövekamp, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Vodafone. “Through attracting the most popular internet brands onto Vodafone mobile devices we will continue to ensure our customers can access and share the best entertainment anytime and anywhere.”

Vodafone has been on a spree of partnerships of late. Recent announcements include alliances with MySpace, eBay, and even …

A report released from Prudential Equity Group recently indicated that Apple may scrap plans for the next generation hard drive based iPod in favor of using NAND flash memory instead. The change according to the report would result in smaller players and improvements in battery life and durability.

NAND flash memory is a very common source of memory for small thumb drives and memory cards, and is a type of non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory means that it does not need a continuous power source to retain its data, and NAND flash memory is a durable design that works well for long-term use.

Using the flash memory for iPods would also mean less required power since there are no moving parts, and with the continuing improvements in flash technology the devices can be built smaller without compromising …

Information on the new Windows Mobile 6 has been recently unveiled, which is the much-anticipated new smartphone platform to replace Windows Mobile 5, no less.

The new Mobile 6 platform supports a number of new features, including HTML in emails, transferring files through Live Messenger, updated Mobile Office apps, a call history for contacts to help track business interactions like Outlook currently does with emails, further integration with the new Vista OS, and the .NET Compact Framework with SQL Server on board. (Having that database built in will save loads of headaches for developers of mobile applications.) The new software also has a desktop Outlook style calendar to view appointments, additional email shortcut functions, VoIP integration and a feature to make using the smartphone device work as a modem a little easier.

Windows Mobile 6, formerly named “Crossbow”, will have 3 versions: Professional (was Pocket …