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Dell's Project Ophelia Android stick shows up at the FCC as Wyse Cloud Connect
The summer passed without signs of Dell's Project Ophelia Android stick, but it at last appears to be getting close. The thin client has just surfaced at the FCC branded as the (now expected) Wyse Cloud Connect. While there's no mention of software in the filing, the hardware info reveals an MHL-capable HDMI connector, Bluetooth, 802.11n WiFi, a microSD card slot and USB ports for both power and peripherals. There aren't any clues as to when Cloud Connect will ship. However, the company promises device demos at the Dell World conference in mid-December -- we'll hopefully get more launch details by that point.
Dell's Project Ophelia now shipping to testers, everyone else this fall
If you ever doubted Dell's $100 pendroid would ship, the PC giant is proving you wrong. PCWorld reports that Project Ophelia units have started making their way to the tester community, and the general public can expect them between August and October. Enterprise users can rest assured that the investment won't be in vain, as Dell has said that IT departments will have the ability to manage and secure each Android-based device and can lock down the HDMI gadget at a moment's notice. Your alpaca GIF addiction wont' be private, either: Monitoring capabilities are already in the works and deployed sticks can be wiped remotely. So don't get any ideas.
Dell Project Ophelia USB Android stick to ship in July, priced at $100
We know that "wherefore art thou?" was about Romeo, but if your question was for (Dell's) Ophelia, then it's likely more "when art thou." The answer? July. The Android pendrive / USB computer we saw back at CES may be one of many, but distinctive thanks to its mainstream PC-maker origins. We're still lacking a lot of the specifics, other than that there's WiFi, Bluetooth, Wyse PocketCloud integration, plus, of course, HDMI and Android 4.something. There will likely be a few enterprise-friendly features too (administration tools, remote wiping) reports PC World. As usual, developers will get their hands on them first, with -- interestingly -- some cable and telecoms companies potentially stocking it too -- though no specifics at this time. So, the $100 Dell might not be the portable you'd love for this price, but maybe the USB PC finally crossing over?
Reality Absorption Field: The Mac clone that wasn't
One could say that the Apple of the Michael Spindler era was like today's Apple in name only. However, even that is not quite true. (Apple dropped the "Computer" from its name just over six years ago.) In the mid-'90s, Apple had an aggressive if conflicted Mac cloning program. Beige boxes from the likes of Power Computing, UMAX and Motorola were available. At that time, there had been concerns that licensing the Mac OS to a really big PC vendor would create more competition than Apple could handle. Nevertheless, there were persistent rumors that Dell, for one, was interested. Coincidentally, long after licensing ended, the Round Rock, TX-based PC company was early to offer a "Mini" netbook that could easily be turned into a "Hackintosh." These were aberrations in a long rivalry between Apple and Dell that has been filled with contrasts. As Apple focused on building its own vertically integrated PCs, Dell was a master of supply chain and cost reduction in the PC clone model. Dell was welcomed through the front door by most IT departments; Apples were snuck in by enthusiasts. Dell was an early e-commerce poster child selling its PCs direct online, but Apple ultimately trumped it selling its PCs via its white-walled physical stores. And Michael Dell infamously said during Apple's darkest days that he would close down the company and give the money back to the shareholders. Today, of course, the tables have turned. Apple is one of the world's most valuable companies and Dell has opted to flee public markets, perhaps even veer away from the PCs that are the last vestige of the company's roots as a direct sales pioneer. But a twist of fate may have OS X plastered across the screens of PCs from Dell -- and other PC vendors -- after all. As part of its work with Wyse, the "thin-client" company that Dell acquired last year, the company has developed a device and service called Project Ophelia. Ophelia is a USB stick-sized computer that runs Android. Several of these have come to market. But there would be links to what would presumably be a Dell-powered cloud that could serve up a host of different computing environments similar to how OnLive or CloudOn -- or Wyse's own PocketCloud -- do on the iPad today. Those environments could include Windows, Linux or OS X. Of course, accessing OS X remotely, even in a world that offers ever more prevalent and speedy mobile broadband, is not the same as running it on Apple hardware or even a well-designed Hackintosh. And any number of remote apps can call up an OS X desktop to a Mac, PC, iPad or Android tablet. But Ophelia represents the greatest deviation from standard Windows computing that we've seen from Dell since its short-lived Android tablet dalliance, and the freshest idea from the company in even longer. Time will tell if Ophelia turns out to be, like its tragic Shakespearean namesake, desperate for love, crazy, or even suicidal. But if not, a pocketable Dell device may soon be vying to be your means to OS X access. Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research, a research and advisory firm focusing on consumer technology adoption. He shares commentary at Techspressive and on Twitter at @rossrubin.
Dell's Project Ophelia: an Android 4.0 stick that turns any display into a PC
Dell Wyse, the company's cloud services arm, is worried about your security. It's also thinking that it's time you didn't need to drag that laptop wherever you go. As such, it's working on Project Ophelia, a chunky Android stick that turns any HDTV or monitor into a display. What's different to devices like FXI's Cotton Candy, for instance, is that the hardware is a gateway to a cloud server where all of your content lives. Users can play games, display presentations or finish the last few lines of that essay wherever they are. The company isn't talking about details (or how you'd control such a device), but it's expecting to have it ready for prime-time by the summer.
