ExternalMonitor
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Toshiba's dynadock U3.0 universal docking station and 15.6-inch Mobile LED Monitor make multi-taskers' lives less messy
Let's face it: if you're reading this site, you're probably armed to the teeth with gadgetry. And with that arsenal of tech comes the need to plug it all in somewhere -- inevitably leading to a massively cluttered work station. Well, that's why Toshiba's releasing two laptop accessories aimed at reducing the desktop chaos while further fueling your electronics habit. The dynadock U3.0 universal docking station offers multi-tasking users an array of six USB ports (two USB 2.0 and four USB 3.0) that can charge phones and portable media players without having to turn your computer on or have it actively connected to the dock. There's also a Gigabit Ethernet connection for high speed data transfer and a built-in full HD digital video card that adds support for up to two extra monitors. The dock is slated to hit sometime later this month and will retail for $180. Less exciting, though no less useful, is the company's USB 3.0 Mobile LED Monitor which boasts a widescreen 1366 x 768 HD resolution, anti-glare coating and weighs around 3.6 pounds. No pricing or concrete availability's been announced for this external display, save for a possible April bow. You can check out the PR after the break for all extended details.
Some Thunderbolt MacBook Pros causing flicker on Cinema Displays, Apple investigates (updated)
In a world of sophisticated electronics these days, there are always risks to being an early adopter. Alas, it appears that our latest victims are owners of Apple's Thunderbolt-laden MacBook Pros. Since launch, a number of frustrated customers have been reporting that their new unibody laptops -- of all three sizes -- are causing random flicker on both 24-inch and 27-inch Cinema Displays when connected via their Mini DisplayPort / Thunderbolt combo port, and now we have video proof to share the pain. Some also confirmed that even replacement machines from Apple are exhibiting the same behavior, though a source of ours says this doesn't seem to be a widespread issue, and that the company's hardware engineers are already looking into this. Either way, we're likely to see a firmware fix for this bug soon -- it's no good having a large monitor constantly blinking at you. [Thanks, Armando] Update: sja3274, the creator of the original video above, informed us that his Cinema Display actually had a faulty connection anyway, but he still saw flicker on a new display -- much like the behavior shown in the second video. As such, we've replaced our first video embed with our second one. Additionally, sja3274 was originally told to expect a software update last Tuesday or Wednesday, but obviously that didn't happen, so perhaps this is a trickier fix than Apple expected.
Simple fix for the USB monitor black screen of doom
If you use a USB display adapter to add a 2nd screen to your Mac, you may have noticed that ever since Mac OS X 10.5.7 came out, they have been mysteriously failing. This morning, after logging out and logging back in, the black-screen-of-doom scenario happened on my Mac mini's second monitor. By searching around, I came across a DisplayLink FAQ that seemed to provide answers. Mind you, I don't own a "DisplayLink". I use an eVGA UV Plus on my mini. Like many other external monitor devices, however, my eVGA uses the DisplayLink chipset and drivers. So even if you think this solution doesn't apply to your USB monitor solution, it very well may. I didn't just upgrade to 10.5.7 yesterday. It's been running on my system for ages. So why did everything fail after my log-out/log-in? I seriously have no idea. Following the suggestions on the DisplayLink site and on several Mac support boards, I re-installed the 1.1 drivers and rebooted. My monitor is now back to life. So, bottom line, if you are using an external USB-powered display on your Mac and it stops working, try re-installing drivers. You'll find the latest Mac drivers here, plus the newest beta releases. You'll need to agree to the DisplayLink EULA before you're permitted to download the software. And you will need to reboot. However, on an annoyance scale between 0 (everything working) and 10 (losing access to your second monitor), a simple reinstall & reboot clocks in at about a 3.
