Dell first showed us the Mini 5 at CES this year, but it was a quiet affair. The five-inch tablet has all the trappings of a smartphone in a much bigger package and at a much higher price tag. With the iPad announcement, the Dell’s tablet looks out of place, and it has to get a whole lot cheaper before anyone will take it seriously.

In case you didn’t hear about it (a lot of people didn’t), the Mini 5 is a thousand dollar slate running Android 1.6. As far as I can tell it’s about an iPhone and a half in terms of size. The device has a 5 megapixel camera, Bluetooth and 3G support, all running on a 1GHz Snapdragon. In terms of specs, it’s pretty comparable to the iPad, but look at that price tag. $1,000? For that? Really the only improvement it makes over the iPad is that camera, which is definitely not worth $500. You could argue that Android is the key here, but 1.6? What is this, 2009?

Now that several episodes of MTV’s reality series Jersey Shore have run, advertisers are running scared. Dell is the latest in a group of sponsors who have decided to pull support from the show, citing the stereotypes around which the entire show is based.

Really, Dell, what did you expect? The show is called Jersey Shore. Just look at that cast. Just look at those people. And yes, I mean those people, as in a group of individuals who are so thick-skulled that they’ve created and perpetuated a culture around a totally ridiculous lifestyle. There’s a guy who has named his abs (and seemingly everything else in sight) “the situation.” This is prime TV fodder, especially for MTV’s demographic.

The official word from Dell is that the company does not, “condone or support ethnic bashing in any form.” Way to take the high ground, guys. I’m sure it would have been impossible to predict the content of that show.

Source: TMZ