Dell rise and fall

NEW YORK (AP):

It's easy to forget now, but Michael Dell was the Mark Zuckerberg of his day.

Hailed as a young genius, he created the inexpensive, made-to-order personal computer in his University of Texas dorm room and sold it straight to the public. In the 1980s and '90s, his face appeared on magazine covers, and well before he turned 40, he was a college dropout-turned-billionaire CEO, ranked alongside Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

But that was a long time ago in the fast-moving world of high technology. Now the PC is getting eclipsed by smartphones and tablet computers, and Dell is struggling to save his company - and his legacy.

Tuesday's announcement that Michael Dell and the investment firm Silver Lake have struck a US$24.4-billion deal to buy publicly traded Dell Inc and take it private may well be the founder's last chance to recapture his former glory. The agreement will allow the company to attempt a turnaround without having to worry about pleasing Wall Street with its earnings.

'Grand Theft Auto V' to launch on September 17

NEW YORK (AP):

Video game publisher Take-Two says the next instalment of the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto series will launch worldwide on September 17.

The game was scheduled to go on sale this spring. Take-Two said last Thursday that it is delaying the game to give developers more time to work on it.

With Donovan White, vice-president, marketing and sales, Columbus Communications Jamaica Limited

Tech Times (TT): Name three technologies that have reshaped your world?

Donovan White (DW):

1. High-speed Internet - In 1996, I bought my first home computer, a Packard Belland, which had a 128kbps Internet connection from a company called Colis. Today, I have a 20mbps Internet connection at home thanks to Flow.

2. Smartphones - I was introduced to smartphones through the BlackBerry device in 2005 with the 7290 (The Brick) and I have been a crackberry since, well up to a month ago when I made the switch to the Samsung SIII.

3. Social media - the means of interactions among people in which they create, share, and exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. It is safe to say, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogging have changed the way we communicate forever.

TT: What's one technology currently in its development process that you are looking forward to experience?

DW: The evolution of cable television as we know it to provide mobility of services, where we move our home TV services to our mobile devices, giving the user unfettered access on the go.

Here more of what Donovan has to say on twitter @maninja

Tech problems of the week

Blue screen errors

A blue screen error usually happens when the computer monitor without warning turns blue while displaying an error message.

Cause:

This error message will vary among computers which utilise the Microsoft Windows operating system depending on the usage. Recently, many PC users worldwide have been experiencing blue screen errors of a wide nature.

Possible solution

It is very important to read those error messages as they will help you solve the problem, for example some messages may state that the RAM you have installed could be incompatible with your machine or damaged.

Helpful links www.youtube.com/watch?v=oITxnPGSHvM or http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/blue_screen_survival_guide