Today a prototype of the first EV-DO ExpressCard/34 to hit the market, Novatel's X620, arrived here at PC Labs. Tomorrow, I'm taking it out to test throughout New York City, but for now I wanted to tantalize you with a few photos of the card plugged into a MacBook Pro.

Novatel's card is important because a growing number of notebooks - from Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP and others - only have ExpressCard slots, and up until now, high-speed cellular has only come on phones and PC Cards.

Novatel is building the card for both Sprint's and Verizon's networks. I'll be testing it on Verizon's. The card doesn't come with any Mac drivers, but I got it running just fine in Windows XP on our MacBook Pro using Boot Camp, and on an HP Pavilion dv5000. Novatel told me previously that the Mac drivers will come as part of an online update from Apple, once the card is released.

So far, the card works just like a PC Card. Load the new version of VZAccess Manager that comes with the card, pop it in, and it works. I was zipping along at 700 kbps in minutes.

(Click on the photos to zoom. The dongle above the ExpressCard is for the wireless Logitech mouse we use when the MacBook Pro is running XP.)

More soon on pcmag.com.

Peripherals maker Razer sent over a couple of its newest goodies from the Pro|Solutions line for us to try: the Pro|Click v1.6 mouse and the Pro|Pad "mousing surface."

The first thing I must note: These are some good-looking gadgets. The iPod-white aesthetic isn't getting old for me -- not yet, anyway. And my inner child (or my inner moth?) loves stuff that lights up. The mouse gives off a satisfying blue glow.

The Pro|Click's sensor is a swift 1,600 dpi; most mice are somewhere between 400 and 800. The frame rate is over 6,400 frames per second. So it'll work well for gaming, as well as for the professionals Razer seems to be aiming for with this line. And it's got Teflon feet! I'll attest that this mouse is very slippy, especially on the Pro|Pad.

The anodyzed-aluminum Pro|Pad is two-sided: One side is for "demanding graphics applications" and one is for "precision engineering users." One is slightly more textured than the other, but truthfully, I'm not sure which side is for who. Regardless, any mouse should work well with it, and it's a whole lot better looking than that free mouse pad you got from your bank 4 years ago.

The Pro|Click is available for $59.99, and the Pro|Pad is $29.99.

If you can't make it to NYC during the show (runs from April 14 to 23, at the Javits Center), or you just want to know what technology to look for when you get there, take a look at Bill Howard's coverage at TechnoRide. He's there even as I type this, scouting out the cool stuff (and a modicum of odd stuff, too). And he's taking lots of pictures.

According to Bill, hybrids are everywhere, as well as other types of fuel-efficient vehicles. Small and medium-size vehicles dominate; even SUVs are smaller now. And Saturn has the most impressive new models at the show, including the Aura, the Sky Red Line, and the Outlook. 

Do you want to know a secret? It's been a long and winding road, but something happened yesterday. From me to you, let's hope that this is not a rumor: The Beatles have confirmed to release their music through digital music services.

Don't let me down, Paul. This is serious stuff. It's bad enough that Michael Jackson owns the rights to your songs (but according to this Forbes article, Jackson may be forced to sell half of his stake in his music-publishing catalog, which includes 251 Beatles songs).

Apparently, during the Apple Corps vs Apple Computer trial in the UK, Apple Corps label boss Neil Aspinall said that Apple Corps is remastering the Beatles catalog for digital downloading.

In an ironic twist, MacWorld UK reports that Paul McCartney gave video iPods to everyone who accompanied him on his US tour last year.

[Gizmodo, PCMag]

My very last meeting at the CTIA trade show was with Helio, the new cell-phone carrier run by Internet billionaire Sky Dayton. I went in with high hopes. I came out saddened.

Dayton's other company is Earthlink, and he was supposed to bring a fresh perspective to the cell-phone industry. Mobile phone hardware and content development in this country has been stymied by carriers' obsessions with control. Because every phone must be approved by a few carrier apparatchiks, because every game must be vetted for a carrier's deck, we don't see the speed of innovation in mobile phones that we have on the Internet. Nothing can ever grow from the grass roots. Competition brings innovation, but the mobile-phone world is a Soviet-style economy.

Helio was supposed to be open. Helio was supposed to bring the hottest Asian phones to the USA, and hey, if you have a phone they don't sell, they'd let you activate it. Helio was supposed to have full Internet browsing, Wi-Fi integration, open standards, and a focus on freedom via the latest technology. Helio could have blown open the doors and brought the US to the peak of the mobile world.

Unfortunately, what I heard from Dayton this time around was, Helio is Amp'd, a notch upscale. They'll offer two phones (including the Kickflip, at left) without Web browsers or even Bluetooth (even Amp'd has a Web browser and Bluetooth!) and, apparently, lots of BMX and wrestling videos. Or some sort of other similar, usual, walled-garden, "xtreme"ly stupid content that nobody really wants, but that they could get licensing for. Excuse me while I can't decide whether to yawn or to cry.

Helio's tie-ins with MySpace and, more recently, Yahoo! don't improve my mood. They're still coming from the old Soviet perspective of, "you'll use the sites we approve/optimize for you," not the Internet perspective of, "let's put some open standards out and let a million options bloom, including ones we might not have thought of."

I'm hoping I misunderstood. I'm still looking forward to Helio's launch and to reviewing their phones. I want them to change my mind, because I want someone to shatter the old way of doing business. The nation doesn't need another carrier retreading the same worn road in search of the frat-boy market so deeply plumbed by Amp'd and Virgin. The cell phone nation needs freedom; I guess we'll have to look for another champion.

Last week I wrote about seeing the new XM Satellite Radio portables, the Samsung Helix and Pioneer Inno. I also mentioned that Mike Kobrin, PC Magazine's lead analyst for audio, would be reviewing the Inno. His Pioneer Inno review is up today--and it gets a very high 4.5 score and an Editors' Choice award! I can't say I'm surprised.

A lot of people still think that Dell only sells PCs, but the company also sells a huge range of electronics on their web site. While their prices aren't normally anything to email home about, every once in a while, they'll have big percentage off sales that make them among the cheapest reliable stores to buy from. Add in coupon codes that sometimes surface and you get unbeatable prices. That's how I bought my Canon Digital Rebel XT a few months ago. And that's what you can do today with the Nikon D50 digital SLR. It's a PC Magazine Editors' Choice. By combining a 20% off discount with a $60 off $500 coupon reported on SlickDeal.net, you can get the camera with lens for $534.15. Sometimes the coupon codes have limited numbers of uses, but I just tried it and it still works.