Brian Fagioli

Do you know what the official language of the United States is? The answer may surprise you. If you said "English," you'd be quite wrong. Actually, it's a trick question -- there is no official language of the USA. That's why it's particularly ignorant to get mad at immigrants for not speaking English. Hell, getting mad at people for speaking their native language would be abhorrent even if English was the official language.

With all of that said, a lot of technology -- such as voice assistants -- are designed for English speakers. Today, Google bucks that trend by announcing its Home assistant is leaning a new language -- Spanish.

Continue reading →

Tablets running Chrome OS are actually a thing now, as the Chromebook Tab 10 shows us. While that device is mostly aimed at education, it's only a matter of time before companies offer similar devices for business and personal use too. Since Chrome OS can run Android apps now, some people expect it to replace Android on tablets in the future. I'm not yet sold on that concept -- I still prefer Android running Chrome rather than Chrome running Android, but I'll keep an open mind.

The biggest problem with Chrome OS tablets -- especially for education -- is the lack of a physical keyboard. The Chromebook Tab 10, for instance, is just a tablet -- it does not come with a detachable keyboard. Well, Belkin aims to solve this with the all-new Wired Tablet Keyboard with Stand. As the name implies, it is a USB-C keyboard that props up the tablet for a laptop-like typing experience. In addition, the company unveils a similar keyboard without the stand. That product will work with tablets too, although it is probably better suited for a USB-C enabled Chromebook (when connected to a monitor as a desktop), Chromebase, or Chromebox.

Continue reading →

Amazon’s Kindle hardware and associated online ebook store have revolutionized the reading experience. While some folks are scared of change, and desperately clutch their paper books, the future is clearly digital. Quite frankly, it’s wasteful to produce paper books. Not to mention, they take up too much room in a home.

Surprisingly, Kindle does not support the Arabic language. Today this changes, however, as Amazon launches more than 12,000 ebooks in that language.

Continue reading →

Video game streaming on platforms like Twitch and Mixer is huge nowadays. Hell, it isn't even just a hobby -- some of these players are making serious money by streaming themselves playing popular games online. Of course, it isn't just about gaming -- these content creators also offer intriguing personalities.

Streaming PC games can be quite easy, but what about console gaming? For that, your best bet is to leverage a capture card -- a device that connects the video-out from your console to your PC. Today, AVerMedia launches two such capture cards, and both support 4K -- perfect for PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. Technically only one is a card -- the Live Gamer 4K, which connects using PCIe 4x. The other, called Live Gamer ULTRA, is a USB-C box.

Continue reading →

I'm a big fan of some Surface hardware. Microsoft's own laptops and tablets are often well-made and very elegant. Quite frankly, if you want a Windows 10 PC, the Surface Laptop is a great pick. The Surface Pro is a solid choice too, although it can be difficult to use in a lap -- a non-starter for many. The Surface Book series and Surface Studio are decent choices too, albeit pricey.

Unfortunately, while the latest Surface Pro and Surface Laptop computers are rather great, they have one huge issue -- lack of USB-C. It is mind-boggling that Microsoft omitted this port, but OK, what's done is done. Last year the company promised a USB-C dongle would be released eventually, and it will finally become available this week. The problem? It looks like a clunky joke.

Continue reading →

Nowadays, people take technology for granted. For instance, we aren't far removed from depending on paper maps to find our way while driving -- turn-by-turn navigation is like magic! And yet, many folks just aren't impressed by it -- especially those born after public GPS became commonplace.

Companies like Google could rest on their laurels since mapping technologies are "good enough," but the search giant is constantly innovating and adding new features. While Google Maps is more popular than Google Earth these days, the latter is still used by many. Today, the search giant adds what it calls the "Measure Tool” to Google Earth, and as you can imagine, it is used to measure -- both distance and area.

Continue reading →

When people think of a "smart home," they usually only consider devices inside the dwelling, such as thermostats, lights, and more. A home is more than just a house, however. Most homeowners will tell you that the overall property -- including the yard -- is just as important.

Believe it or not, there are smart devices for outdoors, and not just external security cameras. For instance, Rachio makes a really cool smart sprinkler controller that offers Wi-Fi connectivity. It even has support for Alexa, Nest, and Google Assistant. This week, the company launches a clever companion to its 3rd-generation controller. Called "Wireless Flow Meter," it can alert you to detected leaks and shut down the flow of water.

Continue reading →

Linux and user data collection. Some people will decry such a thing, but they would be wrong. As long as the collection is opt-in, it is totally acceptable and in line with Linux ideology. When is it questionable? When users don't have a choice. With Windows 10 telemetry, for instance, users can opt out of sharing some data with Microsoft, but not all. And that's a problem. Even if Microsoft's intentions are pure, and designed solely with improving Windows 10, users should be able to refuse all data sharing at time of installation.

With Ubuntu desktop, Canonical has started collecting installation data, but it is doing it the right way. It shows the user exactly what data could be shared and lets them choose whether or not they want to send it. It is 100 percent optional -- the way it should be. Guess what? According to the company, 67 percent of users decided to do so. That is an impressive metric in itself. By being open and honest, Canonical achieved what I would call a successful conversion rate. Best of all, it gleaned a lot of interesting data, and it is sharing the analytics publicly.

Continue reading →

It's officially summer and the weekend is here. For some folks, this means spending time outdoors for the next couple of days. If you are a computer guy or gal, however, you may be sun averse -- spending time inside tinkering with your PC could be more fun than the beach or the pool. If that is you (it's definitely me!), I have a suggestion -- why not try a new Linux distribution this weekend? Hell, there are countless such operating systems from which to choose.

Today, a lesser known Linux-based operating system achieves a milestone. Called "Peppermint," version 9 is now available for download. If you are still holding onto some old hardware, you might want to pay attention. Not only is the OS designed to be light on resources, but Peppermint's developers are still maintaining a 32-bit version of the Ubuntu-based distro.

Continue reading →

The invention of the search engine really made the web usable for the masses. Think about it -- if there was no way to search the web, how would you find anything? Say what you want about Google the company, but if its search engine disappeared tomorrow, the world would be a worse place. Of course, Google did not invent the search engine, nor is it the only game in town -- there is also DuckDuckGo, StartPage, and Bing to name a few excellent alternatives.

Speaking of Bing, did you know it's actually really good? It's true! For whatever reason, Microsoft's search engine is considered by some to be a joke, but that is a falsehood. Bing works very well, offering accurate search results. Unlike Google, Bing's interface is very fun and colorful too -- it's a pleasure to use. Today, Microsoft announces it is improving Bing for mobile in a very clever way -- artificial intelligence-powered visual search. What is that, you ask? Well, you can use your smartphone camera to take a picture of an object, and AI will (hopefully) identify it and then launch a search for it. This feature is quite brilliant, as it can be hard to search for something using text when you have no idea what the heck it is!

Continue reading →

An Amazon Prime membership is a great thing, especially if you take advantage of all of its offerings. The free 2-day shipping by itself makes it worthwhile for many, but the Prime Video streaming service puts it over the edge -- there are so many great movies and TV shows available, you could easily forgo Netflix to save money. Following Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods, the membership can even get you discounts on groceries -- only in some areas of the country for now, however. There are even more perks, so ultimately, Amazon Prime is worth the cost, even after the recent price increase.

One of my favorite membership benefits, however, is the Amazon Prime Exclusive Phone program. If you aren't familiar, this is where Prime members can get discounts on quality Android smartphones. There is a small trade-off for the savings -- some Amazon apps and widgets are pre-installed on the device, including Alexa. With that said, the use of the apps is optional, so it really shouldn't be a big deal. Quite frankly, I'm sure some hardcore Amazon users will find having the apps is a plus. Today, two new Motorola phones join the aforementioned program -- the high-end Moto Z3 Play and the affordable Moto G6 Play.

Continue reading →

YouTube is a great video platform -- I have no complaints, really. With that said, I also enjoy watching content on Twitch. Ultimately, competition is a good thing, as it forces companies to innovate rather than stagnate.

Today, yet another video service debuts, and it is backed by a major player in the social network space -- Instagram. Just how major is it? Today, Instagram announces it has achieved 1 billion users! To celebrate, the Facebook-owned photo site is launching a true video platform that goes beyond the short throwaway videos the service currently offers. Called "IGTV," it is aiming to be a true YouTube competitor, allowing users to upload videos up to one hour in length. There is one big twist though -- the videos are vertical only...

Continue reading →

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I remember video games being considered a "boy thing." This was just marketing -- of course girls liked gaming too. Sadly, games that were designed for girls were often terrible. It seemed like developers thought they could use, say, Barbie as a way to sell garbage games to this particular demographic. The truth is, girls enjoyed playing the same games as boys -- Super Mario Brothers, Street Fighter, etc. Ultimately, there was no need to market games based on the player's gender.

These days, the old stereotypes are largely gone, though not entirely. Seeing a girl or woman play a video game should be unremarkable, although there are still trolls that feel threatened by it and harass female gamers. In other words, there is still work to do. Thankfully, as time marches on, girls are being increasingly empowered to embrace video games. Today, wildly popular doll-seller American Girl unveils a really cool accessory kit that reinforces the fact that girls can enjoy gaming. The "Xbox Gaming Set," as it is called, lets the owner turn their doll into a gamer. How cool is that?

Continue reading →

When it comes to Wi-Fi, we are living in very exciting times. It used to be that the majority of homes -- regardless of size -- had one router. Then, depending on needs, people would piecemeal various range extenders and repeaters that would maybe work well. Worst of all, routers of yesteryear were not only slow, but woefully unreliable -- they often required rebooting. I recall TV show South Park once had a joke where the entire internet was fixed by unplugging the power from a giant router and then plugging it in again.

These days, however, many routers are rock solid, requiring a reboot almost never. They are insanely fast too, usually offering performance that surpasses the user's internet speed. The greatest innovation for home networking in recent memory, however, is mesh. If you aren't familiar, this is where several access points work together to blanket a home in Wi-Fi. There are many great mesh offerings on the market, and today, TP-Link unveils its latest. Called "Deco M9 Plus," it is a small disc-shaped Tri-Band access point that offers AC2200 performance -- an upgrade to the existing non-plus version.

Continue reading →

deepin Linux is controversial because its developers are in China. You see, some people are suspicious of a Linux distribution that comes from that country. If you feel that way, that's your business. But you know what? I am personally sick and tired of such xenophobia these days. Let's not forget, many goods come from China -- including personal computers and associated components. Not to mention, the OS is largely open source.

Controversy aside, deepin is a great operating system for both Linux beginners and experts alike. Not only is it stable thanks to its Debian base, but it has a very polished and focused user experience. Today, version 15.6 becomes available, and it is loaded with improvements.

Continue reading →