As was expected, today Apple updated its lineup of portable Macs with all-new MacBook Pro computers of various sizes and specifications. Although the updates are more evolutionary than revolutionary, that doesn’t mean they aren’t significant.

Some of the new updates include i5 or i7 “Sandy Bridge” processors across the lineup, AMD Radeon HD Graphics, Thunderbolt connector and all of the version have a larger trackpad, have dropped in weight and feature a new “Facetime HD” camera instead of the former iSight camera.

Here’s the full rundown:

13″ MacBook Pro

• 2.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with a 3 MB shared L3 cache or 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache
• 13.3-inch LED-Backlit with 1280×800 resolution; Glossy only
• 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM clocked at 1333 MHz (2×2 GB), supports up to 8 GB
• 320 or 500 GB, 5400 RPM Serial ATA hard drive; optional 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB solid-state drive
• Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384 MB DDR3 SDRAM shared memory
• FaceTime HD camera, 8X slot-loading SuperDrive, Thunderbolt High-Speed E/A and Mini-DisplayPort, 802.11N WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, SDXC, FireWire 800, USB 2.0.
• Starting at $1199

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If you use a Mac and have wished to take advantage of the new hotness from Verizon Wireless (aka the LTE/4G USB Modem) you were out of luck. That is, until now.

This week Verizon Wireless updated its “VZAccess Manager” software to add Mac support for the Pantech UML290 LTE modem. The new update, known by its short and not very sexy name VZAccess Manager version 7.2.4 (2534b), adds support for Apple computers running OS X 10.4 and later.

In case you’re not familiar, Pantech’s UML290 is a USB dongle that allows laptops to connect to Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Until now, the broadband modem could only be connected to Windows-based computers, which doesn’t really seem fair now does it?

The new software is available immediately from Verizon’s website as a free download. Go get it and let us know how it works for you.

If you’re a fan of Apple and its products you know that they are not really on the inexpensive side. Sure, they are well made, well designed and work pretty flawlessly. Of course, all that comes with a price.

Fortunately, Apple too must realize consumers need a deal once in awhile and what better time to offer it than the end of this week during the madness known as “Black Friday.” So, to make this a reality Apple will be offering deals on its website and online store according to a teaser up at the company’s website.

Except for the cryptic text touting “dozens of great iPad, iPod, and Mac gifts for everyone on your list” we’ve really got no clue what these deals may actually be. Still, its just nice to see that even Apple understands the economics of today’s world. People don’t have the money they used to have but they still want to get their hands on Apple’s latest shiny devices. With this sale on Friday, let’s hope they can.

This all starts on Friday, November 26th. If you do plan on taking advantage of these deals, start early as they probably won’t last.

Late yesterday and without so much as a well timed press release, mega-giant seller of all things on the Internet (aka Amazon.com) released the first Kindle application for the Mac. The free application works on Intel Macs running Mac OS X 10.5 and above, and is version number of 1.0.0 beta 1.

The app allows you to download Kindle books you already own and read them on your Mac. In addition, and this is a nice feature, your progress through a particular book is kept synchronized between the application, your iPhone and your Kindle. This is especially great for people like myself who often take their Kindle somewhere but not a Mac. Although, in truth, I usually take both.

The application is defiantly of the simple variety and doesn’t really offer much in the way of bells and whistles. Although, what do you really need? It allows you to read your books on your Mac, adjust the size of the fonts and it keeps track of where you stopped so you can pick the book up later on another device. Plus, did I mention it costs nothing?

This is a great step in the right direction for Amazon. It is a shame that non-Intel Mac users and those not running Leopard or better can’t enjoy the app. But given the way things are moving, maybe those people are going to go ahead and upgrade themselves with a shiny new iPad instead? Hey, with over 150K pre-orders so far, it’s a real possibility.

Speaking of the iPad. I ordered one and will have a full review once its in my hands. Until then, try out this new app from Amazon right here.