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What's in the next spin of the MacBook Pro? 0ne answer is obvious, others are guesswork.

The obvious? Intel's newest Ivy Bridge chip. The guesswork? A thinner MBP made possible by ripping out the optical drive, a la the MacBook Air. And here's some more wishful thinking:

Retina display: A Pro (or maybe a new Air at some point?) with a 2,560x1,600 resolution display? That's the resolution that Intel's Kirk Skaugen mentioned this week at an Intel conference in Beijing in connection with the upcoming Ivy Bridge chip. And he specifically used the … Read more

If you've been wondering when Thunderbolt is available for Windows, the answer is now.

LaCie, one of the two storage companies that participated in the introduction of the Thunderbolt standard, told me today that it will be showing off two Thunderbolt devices, the Little Big Disk SSD and the 2big Thunderbolt, at NAB Show 2012.

While these two devices are not new, this is going to be the first time they are demoed on both platforms: Mac and Windows. Up to now, Thunderbolt has been available only to Macs, exclusively. LaCie also revealed that the support for Thunderbolt in … Read more

If you are one of those who want to have a workspace dedicated to specific types of activities, then nSpaces from Bytesignals is definitely the app for you. It helps you set up virtual desktops tailor-made for whatever purpose you choose.

The free virtual desktop application, once installed, requires a little bit of work configuring the different desktops you want to add. However, once this step is done, using the app is quite easy. You can switch desktops by assigning hot keys or launching the Switcher and choosing the desktop you want to use from there. There is also the … Read more

In Silicon Valley time, it's been eons but USB 3.0 support has finally landed in Intel chips.

Intel -- somewhat stealthily -- announced today that its 7-series chipset family is now available and "shipping in mobile and desktop OEM systems and motherboards worldwide...[and] they also integrate USB 3.0."

The new chipsets -- companion silicon to the main processor -- support both 2nd Generation Intel Core processors, aka Sandy Bridge, and 3rd Generation Intel Core chips, aka Ivy Bridge.

With today's announcement of availability, it's been roughly ten years since Intel announced support … Read more

In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is Odin's eight-legged horse. In the hands of Fenrir's developers, it's a fast and stylish Web browser that brings some of the touch-style functionality of tablets and smartphones to your desktop (sort of like Windows 8 -- coincidence?) especially in fullscreen mode. It's built on top of Mozilla's Gecko engine, like Firefox and many other browsers, so it loads fast and renders pages beautifully. But Sleipnir has a unique, attractive style as well as features that set it apart, most notably the way it uses your mouse to simulate touch commands.… Read more

A new generation of slim, lightweight laptops has taken the PC world by storm. These ultrabooks (to use Intel's trademarked marketing term) are exactly what many laptop shoppers have been longing for, a PC version of Apple's MacBook Air that runs Windows.

But despite very strong showings from HP, Dell, Lenovo, and others, there still is not an ultrabook on the market right now that really beats the MacBook Air in a head-to-head shootout. That's not because of price, processing power, or features -- the Air is more expensive, has about the same CPU horsepower, and lacks … Read more

There is a new player in town--a new audio player, that is. The AtomicPlayer from Quux Software is a simple tool that lets you play your favorite audio files, as well as access numerous online radio stations. This free player will never be considered flashy by any means. The publishers have removed emphasis on what they consider to be irrelevant features (i.e., skins, visualizations, etc). What they do offer is a small, no-nonsense audio player interface that is intended as an alternative choice for individuals who just want to listen to music.

The AtomicPlayer may seem to be a … Read more

Skype is one of those technologies that appear in the right place and time to take several trends and combine them into something new and useful. Millions of people around the world use Skype every day to stay in touch. STranslator is a free app that expands Skype's global reach by automatically translating Skype chat messages back and forth between Contacts who speak and write in a different language.

STranslator displays both the original message and the translated version in the message thread. It automatically recognizes chat participants' language based on their Skype account info. Recent updates include support … Read more

If you're an Excel whiz who can throw data into cells and have it all come out perfectly neat, color-coded, and saved as a formula, you'll be impressed by Refinate 3 from AnalogDigital Engineering. This free/free-to-try Excel add-on is simply the most versatile spreadsheet extension we've tried.

While the basic program with reduced features is free, Refinate also installs a monthlong trial of the full version. Refinate's full version isn't cheap, but it's clearly aimed at professional users, especially those in engineering, manufacturing, and purchasing. In fact, it grew out of a printed … Read more