Chrome Bug: Launching Incognito Window Loads Black Window

Just documenting a strange bug I’ve been unable to fix in Google’s Chrome browser on my Windows 7 Pro (64 bit).

If I’m in a maximised Chrome window and use the keyboard short-cut CTRL+SHIFT+N to open a new incognito (private browsing) window Chrome loads a completely black windows across both of my DELL U2414H monitors with no toolbar or address bar. The window it loads is unusable, the only thing you can do is resize it and it looks like this:

chrome bug black screen private browsing
The blank black window that loads. No toolbar, no address bar.

If you hover over the Chrome icon in the taskbar

chrome-bug-black-screen-private-browsing-2
It just shows as a new tab in the taskbar

Continue reading “Chrome Bug: Launching Incognito Window Loads Black Window”

Retina Macbook Pro screen going blank/black intermittently/panic

Over the last few days my retina Macbook Pro has been playing up.

It started with a kernel panic (aka Grey Screen of Death GSOD).

retina-macbook-pro-kernel-panic

After which I booted into single user mode and ran fsck -fy to check and repair any permissions, of which there were none. It seemed ok for a day or two, but recently I opened it to wake it from sleep and the screen remained black. They keypad was illuminated but screen completely black, the computer was on though, you could hear volume changes with the volume keys, you could see it on the network and remote screen share into it but the display was kaput and even restarting didn’t kick the screen into life.

There was a quick fix – an SMC reset worked (temporarily):

  • Whilst the computer is off press the left SHIFT+CTRL+OPTION and the Power button together at the same time and then release them. You should notice your charge light on the magsafe adapter briefly change colour.

Continue reading “Retina Macbook Pro screen going blank/black intermittently/panic”

Should you buy a Kindle if you already have an iPad 2?

My inner geek is telling me I need a Kindle. Even before the newer and cheaper models I’ve always been drawn towards a Kindle which is strange because I don’t read books, period!

I have an iPad 2 and several eBooks on that in both iBooks and Kindle app format. I’ve started to read books and then lost interest or been distracted by push alerts for a game of Words with Friends of Twitter alerts. That’s one of my issues with the iPad as a reading device, it’s far too easy to get distracted. I should really turn on AirPlane mode if I want to sit down and seriously read a book on the iPad but I just can’t bring myself to do that and I don’t know why. Continue reading “Should you buy a Kindle if you already have an iPad 2?”