ShadowRAM: May 15, 2006

Company prez Marc Harrison, along with Microsoft, Intel, SonicWall and Home Automated Living (among others), donated technology for the new house that would make the average homeowner drool, including fiber to the home (30-Mbps Internet access!), a complete home automation system, and not one but three wireless access points.

The recipient family includes a blind father and grandmother, two daughters who are losing their sight from the same disorder, a deaf son and a mother with cancer. So the installation also includes voice activation, special remotes, GPS units, devices to count money, and so on. I got to traipse around the new digs but can't reveal much more until the episode airs.

UpShot founder Keith Raffel has a second careeras a mystery writer. In July, publisher Midnight Ink will release his debut novel, "Dot Dead." Subtitled a "Silicon Valley mystery," the tale tracks a rising-star tech exec fighting to find the truth and clear his name after he's framed for the murder of a mystery woman.

"It's almost trite to say, 'Write what you know,' but " Raffel says with a laugh. "I tried not to use people I know but to give it the Silicon Valley atmosphere people will recognize from working at these companies."

Raffel, Oracle group vice president of CRM on-demand, has weathered plenty of Valley drama. He sold UpShot to Siebel in late 2003, then stuck around as Siebel was gobbled up by Oracle. While not giving up his day job, Raffel says he ekes out time to pursue his literary ambitions. If he's looking for fodder for tales of hotshot execs wreaking mayhem, working for Oracle should provide plenty of material.

Dell wants some dough back from its Taiwanese panel makers. The company, which already exacts rebates from its Taiwan-based notebook contract makers, wants the LCD suppliers to pay 1.5 percent of their take on sales of Dell machines back to Dell, according to reports.

The panel makers to Dell: Nuh-uh. According to the Chinese-language Commercial Times, the local makers supplied Dell with 20 million LCD monitor panels and 11 million notebook panels. They're not about to part with hard-earned cash.

Pillar Data Systems wants you to know it won a Most Innovative Product Category award. So proud are they of this crystal swag, they are displaying it prominently next to the portrait of the CEO's dog, Clams.

Elsewhere, tongues are wagging about the departure of Keane's CEO following allegations of personal misconduct.