In a move to focus on manufacturing PC products, Dell has decided to quit making LCD televisions, according to Taiwan media.

Dell will cease their LCD TV production starting this month. Known for having a diverse range of electronic products, Dell entered the LCD market in 2003 despite strong competition from companies such as Motorola.

Many electronics equipment providers buy the products from third-party manufacturers and apply their brand names on them, but have gradually receded their LCD business in favor of applying most of their resources in manufacturing their core products.

We thought you might be interested to know what specific operating system and applications Dell CEO Michael Dell is running on his personal Dell Precision M90. In case you haven't heard yet, Dell (member of the Fortune 500 companies) will be releasing Dell systems with pre-installed Linux by the end of April.

So, to be precise, the official has these on his mobile workstation: latest version of Ubuntu, VMware Workstation 6 Beta, OpenOffice.org 2.2, Automatix2, Firefox 2.0.0.3, and Evolution Groupware 2.10. You're all familiar with all the others but maybe you're wondering what the heck is Automatrix2.

It is actually an add-on program popular to Debian, Ubuntu, Pioneer, and MEPIS Linux. Once you have this application running, it would be very easy to install the following software among others: Skype, Opera, Macromedia Flash, Google Earth, Picasa, Adobe Reader, DVD support, and WiFi.

Like we've mentioned, Dell is planning to offer systems with pre-installed Linux in the future. However, it is still uncertain which distribution will finally be chosen. While Michael Dell has Ubuntu, the computer company can still go with Novell/SUSE, Red Hat, Fedora, or even openSUSE.

Lastly, in case you want to know, the estimated price of the above mentioned workstation from michael Dell is roughly around US$ 4,703.

 A few days ago, we covered a story about Jobs sparing no words in criticizing teachers and teacher unions. This has caused the California Federation of Teachers to invite Jobs to either attend an annual teacher's convention next month or to offer a public apology for his "insulting comments" to California's teachers.

Jobs, with rival CEO Michael Dell, shares a vision of delivering technology to schools and having "textbook-free" classrooms, but according to him, no amount of technology would ever improve schools until public school principals could fire bad teachers.  The CFT says they will create a new award specifically for Jobs, the "Rotten Apple" award, for the individual who best personifies the need to think differently about public education and teacher unions.

Educators reiterate by pointing out that Apple refused to recognize the Silicon Valley janitorial workforce in the 1990s until Justice for Janitors union sufficiently embarrassed the company and brought it around. CFT President Mary Bergan also cited Albert Einstein's support for the American Federation of Teachers, saying that the genius encouraged intellectuals to work together to be an influential political force. According to Bergan, the real problem in the education system is lack of funding.

Steve Jobs may be a pop-culture icon, but it's interesting to know if this former hippie has been too radical this time.

Business PC manufacturer Dell was notably mustering a workforce for their consumer product unit from other industries, most specifically the handset and electronics manufacturing industry. After their acquisition of Alienware, these new moves became apparent after former CEO Kevin Rollins resigned.

With founder Michael Dell back at the chair of CEO, Dell recently recruited Ron Garriques, head of Motorola's handset group, and Michael Cannon, former CEO of Solectron. Garriques will run a new consumer product unit while Cannon will lead the unit's manufacturing operations.

Michael Dell said:

We are asking Ron to create a new global consumer organization that will set new standards for innovative product design, leadership in providing the best customer experience, and flexibility in how we build and distribute products and services to meet the evolving needs of our customers around the world.

After providing business catered solutions, this surprising move for Dell might have something to do with the new mobile game device they mentioned some time back.

Whatever they do have planned, it's now focused more on the consumer market.

 

Remember that custom Dell World of Warcraft laptop that would be auctioned at eBay? Just to refresh your memory, Michael Dell announced during the concluded CES 2007 that two custom airbrushed Dell M1710 laptops featuring some TBC artworks will be auctioned off on eBay, with the proceeds going to the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the U.S. - Second Harvest. It's for a good cause and it's always nice and a bit heart-warming to follow up on stories that bring back your faith in the human race.

You may ask, how is the auction going? Pretty well, actually. The Mike Lavalle airbrushed Dell M1710, Burning Crusade Edition, which bears the signature of Michael Dell would be open for bids until January 25th. The current bid is US$ 4,250.00. Nice to see that people don't mind coughing up some dough for a good product and a good cause, right?

Anyhow, if you're interested to help out or get the laptop, you could click on our read-link below to check out the actual eBay page.

Michael McWhertor of online gaming site Kotaku reports that two custom airbrushed Dell M1710 laptops featuring World of Warcraft artwork will be auctioned off on eBay soon. Proceeds of the laptop auction will go to the Second Harvest organization, the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States.

This was announced during Michael Dell's keynote speech at CES 07, where Dell expressed continued interest in targetting the 12.5 million MMO players worldwide. Having already infiltrated Second Life, it seems Dell is now looking towards WoW's 7-million-strong player base.

If you're willing to drop quite a sum on a new laptop and help a few people in the process, you might want to check out the auction when it gets underway. Keep checking back here on QJ for more updates.

It's that time of the month, people. For those looking for parties to crash to after the Christmas and New Year's festivities, listen up. We're just giving you guys a gentle reminder of a quiet little event that's taking place this January 8 to 11 next year, at Las Vegas, and we're sure you guys will want to go.

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2007) will be picking where the now-pwned downgraded E3 (Once again, booo! Hisss!) left off.

Now, aside from our previous reports of guest speakers like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Gary Shapiro, we got (by way of IGN) updates on more gamer-friendly features the organizers will be showcasing.

First up are the conferences - 175 total - being given by professionals on what's going in gaming from the latest rends and technologies, to unique topics like "Ultimate Gaming" and "Understanding Female Gamers."

And as for the other events:

• The Gaming TechZone: This section will be featuring several booths manned by famous game-related companies like Majesco, Gameloft, PC Gamer, Maximum PC, Game Quest, Wolfking, and QMotions. Expect more as we near the conference day.
• World Series of Video Games All-Star Festival: This Intel-sponsored event will host hands-on play on new goodies that the guys over at Xbox 360 and Fatal1ty Brands will be churning out. Attendees can also look forward to playing off again last year's World Series winners. 

We look forward to seeing just what sort of event this will turn out to be, and hope you guys enjoy the event's 40th anniversary - about as old as some of you dudes.

The Consumer Electronics Association's senior vice president, events and conferences, Karen Chupka: "With the CES Gaming TechZone featuring top gaming companies across the globe, conference sessions and other special gaming events, the 2007 International CES is the global hub for the latest trends emerging on the gaming market."

This post is here to remind you guys that the 40th International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be held at Las Vegas from January 8-11, 2007. What? You don’t care?

Well, in case you’d like to know, the CES is the world’s largest consumer electronics show. In the event you see the latest consumer tech, which means everything from wireless stuff for laptops and cellphones, to gadgets for your home entertainment needs. Yes, electronic gaming is included. For example, last year, Sony made a few announcements about their PSP. So the event does have gaming significance okay? Happy now?

The event will feature over 30 product technology areas spread across 1.6 million square feet of exhibition space. Big names will be at the event. People like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Gary Shapiro will make a showing. Zerg-overlord, er, we mean industry great and Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates will be delivering the keynote address.

What? You still don’t care? Fine. Here’s a shallow bit of reasoning aimed at readers who have testosterone; five words for you: there are booth babes there.