Uh-Oh: Reported Issues Between Verizon LTE Modems And New Sandy Bridge MacBook Pros.

Slashgear has stumbled on to a potentially troublesome issue for owners of Verizon’s Pantech LTE modem and one of the new Sandy Bridge powered MacBook Pros. Apparently, they don’t work together. At least, that’s what the screenshot above would lead to suggest. Anyone else out there have access to both a Pantech LTE modem and brand new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pro?

[CES] MSI computers at CES Unveiled!

MSI was out in full force at CES Unveiled. Even though the whole shebang doesn’t officially start until January 7th, those in attendance at Unveiled certainly didn’t hold anything back. MSI had a slew of gear on hand to poke, prod, touch, and oogle — and oogle we did. Feast your eyes on the gallery below…

Sony *hearts* Google: All Sony Vaios to come with Chrome Browser pre-installed…IE gets the shaft.

While Microsoft’s dominant position on the browser market has been the un-toppable empire, the age of IE is finally (and thankfully) starting to come to an end. Over across the pond in Europe, Microsoft now has to include other options in Windows installs for browser downloads. However, stateside here we’re taking a slightly different approach. Since there aren’t any legal boundaries here, manufacturers are taking a different approach. Sony announced today plans to include Google’s Chrome browser on all Viao computers. However, it’s worth noting that IE will still be included.

While it may not seem like a big deal, having Google Chrome as an aditional browsing option is huge. A good deal of the market who buy computers don’t do anything to customize their environments or download 3rd party applications such as other browsers. They use what is provided to them — the same tactic that more or less gave Microsoft and IE the dominating market share for so many years. Now that Google has a leg up with Sony, are we going to see more deals follow along these lines? Could we even see IE sink further into irrelevance? God…I sure hope so…

Source: Alley Insider

Headin’ to the coffee shop to do a little web crawling? Think again.

Since wireless internet has become available, public access, especially in places such as bookstores and coffee shops has been quite popular. Such locations offer a place to eat, drink, and spend some quality one on one time with your and your computer, filling your brain with whatever it is you fill it with. In recent years, the abundance of public WiFi and rising costs in the current recession has caused many people to turn off their own home based internet and go hunting in the concrete jungle for a free ride. Now I’m not saying everyone or even a majority of public WiFi users are doing so because it is too expensive to pay for home internet use, merely that that occurrence has increased with the economic downturn. Consumers however aren’t the only group to be hit hard, retailers are just as susceptible. Moving back to coffee shops and bookstores, the increasing number of internet users who stay for hours on end all while buying a single cup of coffee are hurting sales and keeping potential customers away because of lack of seating space. Retailers aren’t sitting down (no pun intended) and are actually fighting back — not through violent back alley means, but to the digital techies who frequent such places, the alternative may be worse.

And you thought your MacBook Pro was sleek…

Macs are known for their simplisitc design and sleek lines. Apple obviously knows a thing or two about making gadgets not only work, but making them look good while doing it. However, silver/aluminum just isn’t everyone’s cup ‘o tea. Thankfully, we color loving consumers have Colorware to look after us. Introducing Colorware’s Stealth Matte Black MacBook Pro, a beast of a machine with an equally sinister paint job. Sure $6,000 is a lot to spend on something that would otherwise set you back around $3,000. But hey, bragging rights and beauty don’t often come cheap. Come on in for some eye leaking images courtesy of Colorwares finest.

Alienware M17X the first earthly “thing” to conquer Chuck Norris?

Old and lame Chuck Norris jokes aside, the Alienware M17X, (which was revealed 4 days early by the way), has a spec sheet that will make any gamer anywhere drool, shake, and seize up in pure and utter shock. What exactly does this beast have that is so awe-inspiring? The list is long…take a breather and come on in.

Forget the power cord at home…Gecko Netbook loves batteries

Laptops can be very power hungry devices that often require large batteries for outdoorsy exploration. For the remainder of their lives they are often chained to the wall by means of the old as dirt “technology” of the electrical power cord. No matter where you go or how healthy your battery is, it will eventually die and then you are left either hunting for an outlet or purchasing a new battery – which isn’t cheap. However, the little Gecko Netbook has something that is a tad uncommon in the netbook world.

Nokia laptops coming to a lap near you?

If Nokia’s CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo knows what he is talking about when he was quoted saying ”We are looking very actively also at this opportunity, the answer to that could be a “Yes”.  Hmmm, just think, sitting down with your shiny new Nokia laptop and getting onlookers gathering around you wanting to know what this mystery box is.  It really isn’t that far of a stretch seeing as how they already have the whole cellphone thing pretty well down as well as some notable tablet devices.  Stretch the screen out a tad bit more, add a keyboard and you’ve pretty much got a laptop.  While the laptop cat was let out of the bag, sadly the little kitten following that would leak more information out wasn’t so fortunate.  Looks like something we’ll have to follow.

Source: Phonescoop, Reuters

Matte 17″ MacBook Pro looks naked…slightly odd

Even though glossy screens on laptops aren’t everyone’s cup ‘o tea, Apple went ahead and decided to make them the standard anyway, giving the option for a matte screen only as a $50 add-on option to the highest end MacBook Pro.  Look at the picture above.  While in reality it’s more or less the same as the previous generation MBP’s, after seeing the unibody MBP’s with the black bezel and full glass across the screen, the matte option while costing more, comes of to me anyway as looking cheap…and naked.  Theres no darkness anymore.  Not to mention it *appears* that the display doesn’t have the glass cover.  Did you order a matte unibody 17″ MBP?  What’s it really like?  Let us know.

Source: 9t05 Mac