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[techguru]

Along with his co-workers, New Zealand's Richard Liljeberg discovered an odd little issue with his Dell desktop, an Optiplex GX520: Put your cell phone next to the optical drive and send a text message to it. The Dell promptly goes into a suspend mode that can only be broken by holding the power button down for several seconds.

Liljeberg was so enraptured by the odd phenomenon that he made a short video of the magic Dell effect and posted it on his blog. Check it out.

Since this came to light over the weekend, several other stories have cropped up, including this piece, which offers Dell's explanation of the issue. (In a nutshell: Electromagnetic interference can do funky things to a computer.) Commenters on various message boards have confirmed the effect with various Dell models and with some other brand PCs, as well, and not just with texting: The effect seems to happen with regular phone calls just as often. I tried it myself with the trio of PCs (no Dells, alas) I currently have on my desk, however, and none seemed affected by calls or text messages.

I'm still looking for firsthand reports of computers shutting down via text message. If you're so inclined, give it a whirl on your own PC. If anything odd happens, post a comment. (Just remember to save your work first.)

For everyone else, remember that cell phones (and other radios) can cause electronics to behave erratically when placed in close proximity. Dell recommends keeping your phone at least a foot away from your PC. Maybe make it three.