Dell cuts the ribbon on its new Northern California outpost (Photo: Cade Metz/Wired.com)

Dell is doing its best to turn itself into a hip Silicon Valley cloud startup.

On Wednesday morning, beneath a nearly cloudless sky in Santa Clara, California, the Texas-based IT behemoth pulled out the giant scissors and cut the ribbon on what it calls the Dell Silicon Valley Research and Development Center. The 240,000 square-foot facility will eventually house about 700 employees, as the company expands its Valley workforce to 1,500 bodies over the next year.

In short, this is where the company will move...

U.S. State Department veteran Peter Van Buren has lost his Top Secret security clearance after linking to WikiLeaks. Photo courtesy of Van Buren

Peter Van Buren, who is 51 and has worked for the department for 23 years, had his Top Secret security clearance suspended indefinitely for what the department calls his unwillingness to comply with...