CES 2013 : Dell introduces HDMI stick that turns any screen into a thin client PC

Dell acquired Wyse last year and launched a line of cloud computing products that lets you access software data on a remote server. Most of the products in this line look like tiny computers which you can connect to a keyboard, mouse and display.

Now the company is introducing a new thin client that you can put in your pocket, and it’s aimed at the consumer market rather than enterprise.

Dell’s “Project Ophelia” looks like a kind of big USB flash drive. But if you plug it into a TV or monitor it lets you access your music, movies, pictures, and other data stored in your “personal cloud” using Dell Wyse Cloud Client software.

You can also play games, access documents, and perform other PC-like tasks on a TV with a Project Ophelia stick plugged in.

For the most part these apps aren’t actually running on the Project Ophelia — instead you can login to a remote PC or virtualized PC environment. Dell says the software supports Cirtix, VMware, and Microsoft back-end systems.

The stick features WiFi and Bluetooth and it can draw power directly from your display — if your display has an MHL port. If not, you can connect it to an HDMI port and plug in a USB power cable.

While Dell is emphasizing Project Ophelia’s cloud client capabilities, under the hood this thing is running Google Android 4.0 which means you can also use it to surf the web, check your email, play media or run other Android apps without logging into a virtual desktop at all.

In other words, Dell is getting into the Android TV stick business, but unlike the companies selling cheap white box Chinese TV sticks, Dell is positioning its device as a thin client.

via Direct2Dell

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Dell Stated there's no plan's on Windows nor Android Phones & Tablet Market

Earlier this year Dell stopped selling smartphones in the US, but continued offering handsets in China. Now Forbes reports Dell is out of the smartphone business altogether -- and has no plans to re-enter anytime soon.

That means we won’t see any new phones running Android, Windows Phone, or any other operating system anytime soon.

The company also stopped offering Android tablets after lukewarm response to its initial entries in that space.

For now the company’s putting most of its eggs into the Windows basket, withWindows RT and Windows 8 tablets aimed at mobile users. The company also offers a few ultrabooks for customers looking for ultraportable computers in more of a traditional laptop form-factor.

Dell does have one major non-Windows machine in its lineup though. The Dell XPS 13 Laptop Developer Edition is a 13 inch thin and light ultrabook which features Ubuntu Linux. But with prices starting at $1449, it’s not exactly in the same product category as the phones and tablets Dell has phased out.

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