This is nothing new, global company X finds ways to get money back to parent without being penalised.

IBM and the holocaust is a real eye opener to the extents companies will go to to make a profit and get the money back to the parent company.

But it's not a designed for Linux laptop. It's the XPS 13 for Windows with Ubuntu and an alpha set of tools for developers.

The software tools aren't even even specific to the laptop. The only part that makes this a linux specific machine is dell have tried to get the hardware drivers, which are also in a repository, and pre-install them.

Unfortunately that doesn't seem to have worked well. Looking through the forums, there have been ongoing hardware issues since the release. The biggest benefit for the Linux version is for companies with volume license wanting an i7 Windows machine cheaper.

Buy the Linux Edition, install the corporate VL edition of windows, save money and avoid the Windows crapware... The mandatory 2yr AV subscription in the Windows version is one of the main reasons for the price increase between the Windows and Linux i7

1.875 billion mobile phones Gartner predicts will be sold in 2013...

Can someone tell me how many people there are in the world? Everything I find suggests there's only about 7 Billion....

Unfortunately, like it or not, Zuch does appear to understand his market. The masses will give up anything if they think they get something they need for free.

One the fb phone hits the market i suspect google/apple/microsoft will look like amateurs when it comes to data collection

So what will google turn into closed/paid access only next?

Maybe this is the year Google feel the pressure.

Samsung launch Tizen devices

Amazon launch a phone

Facebook take the lions share of low end phone?

looking around me travelling into work Facebook is the no 1 use of phones. Make a Facebook phone which is free on a low cost contract or payg and it become the fastest selling phone.

While i'm sure it won't be a popular opinion here, my cheap lumia 620 (1/2 the price) out performs my Galaxy Nexus for signal and data on the same network on the same journey to work. No drop-outs or disconnects with the lumia.

maybe i'm wierd because like to talk on my phone, as well as stream radio, so find having a mobile signal useful.

and a way to keep revenue from voice calls once they have thrown the home phone and broadband to Sky...

Become very good friends with ssh and byobu or screen very early, even if running a local vm. Once it's installed and the network is running, switch to ssh. In the past 3 years the only time I've used a console connection on a linux/unix server was on a lights-out console to see a kernel oops in proxmox had caused everything to stop.

Don't be afraid to be creative and break things. Once you've broken it spend time trying to fix it before getting someone else to sort it out. You remember it faster for the next time it breaks.

<search engine of choice> is your friend, nobody expects you to remember everything.

Less is better than More

...but the Acer has Caps Lock and Search keys

So in the Samsung picture... the big key where caps lock would normally be is what? Yes... that big key with the magnifying glass on it.... like the little key on the Acer that is used to search....

Do many people still use caps lock? It's a serious question because I can't even remember the last time I needed caps lock...

The search, ctrl and Alt keys can be remapped in the settings... so you could revert the search key to caps lock, even make the ctrl/alt keys swap or be search, or disable all keys.

I got my Chromebook because it was a cheap, light, silent and decent arm chip based laptop with driver support for linux, so never intended to use it as a Chromebook. I actually use it more than a tablet or my laptop, as a chromebook when on the sofa.

Of course the Acer will be easier to install Linux on, it's an intel chip, but there is little available with a recent Arm chip as a finished product that is simple to install Linux on, even less in laptop form.

As for all the people who haven't tried one saying it's pointless, try using one first. I never expected to use it as a Chromebook, but once I started using it became my main sofa device.

The dumb screen exists...

What most comments here are asking for as a dumb screen still exist and aren't anything new on the market, but they're called Professional/Commercial displays and cost significantly more than the mass market goggle boxes.

I got my screen when Hitachi got out of the custom installer Ultrathin business so it was 1/4 of it's normal price. I was surprised when I found out it had speakers as they weren't listed in the specification. I've still never used the speakers after owning it for over 3 years.

All I require as a 'TV' is a screen with a single HDMI input, support for the appropriate resolutions and minimal video processing to give me control of the picture so I can adjust it appropriately for my south facing room. I know that doesn't sell to the consumer market and it would be a loss making item for the consumer market.

My only hope for when I need a new screen is that monitor manufacturers are doing TV sized screens without pricing them at professional display level.

Top secret, yet it's reported on El-Reg :D

Reminds me of the Stealth Fighter/Bomber denials when Blackbird was taken out of service.

We don't need spy planes anymore, honest, gov.

Oh, those funky shaped black things... nah, don't worry about them, they won't replace our spy plane we don't need spy planes, that's why we're retiring blackbird.

Sorry, but as I said in the previous tax minimisation article...

Nobody in Government can try and name call multinational companies for minimising tax through legal means after the "it was within the rules" excuses that Government ministers pulled when they knowing made immoral claims. This is more "seen to be doing something" and deflect from the root cause.

I'm not going to say that sorting out Global tax laws is a simple task, but trying to whip up public backlash because the laws themselves are broken is just "seen to be doing something" pantomime at it's worst. None of the companies have broken the law, just used them to their advantage in a way the Government didn't expect.

In the same way that Gordon Brown as PM couldn't blame the previous Chancellor for the financial screw up, the Government can't blame companies and individuals for operating inside the law to their own advantage. Doing so would highlight how broken the system and previous decision were,

Facebook T&C is a democracy operating in the users interest???

I'll admit I don't have a facebook account but, user friendly privacy controls, listening and acting on users concerns doesn't sound like the Facebook I know.

Surely now they are publicly listed and have shareholders the demands of the shareholders and making a profit is much higher priority that what the users think/want??

Obviously make the users think they have input and influence, but shareholders and demand for profit is now even more important than user requests isn't it?

"don't visit bad sites" seriously.... wtf?!?!

Who decides what's a bad site? I suspect my list of bad sites is different to yours...

Does that mean don't use the official App stores as well? They have been shown that malware apps are distributed through the official source of Apps. App stores like AV companies are always 2 steps behind. Until the new methods are found and known they can't detect it...

Does that include don't visit any site that has adverts from an ad provider? There have been multiple instances of malware injection on high profile "trusted sites" due to the ad provider being compromised.

You may as well say don't use the Internet...

Even user education won't fix the problem, because people don't talk "english" when explaining boring malware stuff they talk "techno babble"...

Non-IT people don't care, they like the sound of the app and want it. Warning boxes are like the nuisance license screens everyone gets when installing software... just click ok...

For Google they need a secure way to add other app stores without sticking the phone into accept all other sources mode, a bit like adding a new repository to Linux distros. I expect the reality is most people will just click accept to any box that says "are you sure", followed by "are you really, really sure" if means they get something they think they need or is for free.

Maybe it's a LIFO style review and they've omitted your review is based upon the mistakes of your predecessors

Um... ok i'll bite... Apple marketing can make things seem cool...

Dyson can actually manufacture cool... Their blade-less fans are so cool even without a marketing company telling anyone they are... "Look a real working fan I can put my arm into.... how cool is that!!!!"

Also my Dyson DC02 is still going strong and has spare parts available... Why would you want to turn them into a 2 year disposable device company?

Maybe I'm missing something but tax minimisation isn't illegal and many expax/offshore contractors know a good company who can do this for them, not just the SME or globals.

Tax Evasion is illegal and nobody would claim otherwise.

Contractors, SMEs and corporations are usually very careful about which side of the line they operate on and do everything legally but for their own best interests. The primary interest being keeping as much of the money they get as possible.

Obviously global corporations can afford whole departments to move things around, stay within the laws and minimise their taxes. Whether it's morally right or wrong seems a strange objection when they are not breaking any laws.

Legally many government ministers didn't break any laws, morally and ethically their decisions were questionable, but as they tried to defend 'it was within the rules'

If the UK government wants to stop the losses then sort the laws/legislation out. Trying to stir up ill feeling against corporations because they use the rules to their own advantages to minimise their tax, rather than fixing the rules to make it harder for them to do seems like nothing more than 'we need to appear to be doing something'

Regardless of whether people think it's morally right/wrong or distasteful... how can you attack someone for knowing and using the rules to their own advantage...

How many people, including the government, would honestly do any different?

Without the register reports I'd never know I was supposed to be having problems with GG.

Top-ups/Goody Bags work - Check

Texting works - Check

Calls work - Check

Roaming works - Check

Then again I don't live in the devil ring of the M25 so maybe that is why I need to be told about the problems