Brian Fagioli

Whether or not the Surface Hub is a success has been a big question mark. After all, Microsoft hasn't shared exact sales figures. Obviously, the company doesn't have to sell a ton of them to be considered successful, since it has a narrow focus and large price tag. While we still do not have exact sales figures, today we can confidently call the product a success. Why? Well, Microsoft announces something very impressive -- 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies have purchased at least one of them. Keep in mind, this is in addition to companies outside of that group.

True, that could be a total of only 50 Surface Hubs, but the number isn't so important. The truly impressive aspect is that these are high-quality companies that are often seen as trendsetters. In other words, this is exactly what Microsoft should want to be seeing from a fairly niche product. Today, the product gets even more attractive for two reasons. For one, the Windows 10 Creators Update is now available for it. Secondly, Microsoft introduces a new 5-year extended hardware service plan.

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While smartwatches aren't exactly lighting the world on fire as many manufacturers had hoped, it is still a fairly respectable segment. Let's face it, as the smartphone and tablet markets reach full saturation in the USA, companies will turn to things like wearables to hopefully make up for it.

Huawei is one such company that is focusing on smartwatches, but it is also expanding into Windows PCs too. The manufacturer focuses on a wise combination of value and elegance, producing desirable products at affordable prices. Today, Huawei announces that its Watch 2 Classic Android Wear smartwatch is finally available in the USA. The device has a 390x390 AMOLED screen and can play locally-stored music from Google Play. It of course has GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.

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Windows 10 is an absolutely wonderful operating system, and PC manufacturers are producing some gorgeous computers nowadays. Just yesterday, ASUS unveiled the beautiful Zenbook Pro. Last week, Huawei revealed a trio of elegant MateBook Windows 10 devices. Apple is certainly seeing some competition on the design front.

Today, Samsung announces the all-new Notebook 9 Pro convertible Windows 10 laptop. Available in two screen-sizes (13- and 15-inch), both models are powered by 7th-generation Intel Core i7 Processors. The 15-inch variant even gets an AMD Radeon 540 GPU. Both models have fast-charging using USB Type-C. What makes the Notebook 9 Pro particularly cool, however, is the embedded S Pen. Strangely, despite being labeled a "Pro" machine by Samsung, the laptop only runs Windows 10 Home.

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NVMe solid state drives are finally becoming more mainstream, delivering speeds that consumers never imagined. When SATA-based SSDs hit the scene, they too were mind-boggling though -- when compared to mechanical hard drives at least. Nowadays, however, a new SATA solid state drive is rather boring, as they are all largely the same speed.

Today, Toshiba announces an impressive new NVMe SSD with 64-Layer 3D Flash. The XG5, as it is called, uses the 2280 form factor and M.2 connection. Since heat can impact performance, the company has wisely chosen to include a heatsink.

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We are currently in the the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (May 26 - June 24). This is an important time for Muslims all over the world. They will be fasting during daylight -- a very arduous task indeed. In fact, not only do Muslims abstain from food during these hours, but beverages too -- including water! To our Muslim readers, we say Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Kareem!

To mark this wonderful time in the Islamic community, Google is offering some special websites and notifications in its services. This includes Maps, YouTube, Google Play, and more.

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Buying RAM for a desktop PC build should be an easy affair, but sadly, it is sometimes a bit confusing. Not only do you have to pick a brand and the correct type (DDR3 or DDR4), but compatibility with your motherboard can vary. Yeah, you can stick to the RAM tested as compatible by your board's manufacturer (your safest bet), but that could omit working RAM that the company did not get to test.

Today, HyperX (a sub-brand of Kingston) announces that its famed Predator DDR4 Memory kits now come in up to 128GB capacity and 4GHz (4,000MHz) speed -- holy moly! These sticks are designed to work with overclocking on both AMD and Intel platforms, but compatibility can still vary from board to board.

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USB Type-C dongles are a dime a dozen nowadays. Thanks to Apple MacBook laptops that only leverage USB-C, many manufacturers quickly jumped on the bandwagon, producing many adapters, dongles, and other accessories.

As the owner of a 2016 MacBook Pro, I am very familiar with dongles -- I own several. While you might think they are all the same, you'd be mistaken. Not only are they of varying quality, but the features are not the same either. Case in point, the Startech USB-C to HDMI and VGA presentation adapters. They may look like your typical HDMI and VGA dongles, but they have a special feature.

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One of the coolest things about open source software is the ability to fork it. What is forking? Very simply put, it is taking code and altering it so it can be taken in a different direction. This is usually done when people are dissatisfied with the current path of a project. A good example of this is LibreOffice, which is a fork of OpenOffice. As that example shows, sometimes the fork can become better and more popular than the original.

Systemd is a very polarizing topic in the Linux community, so it should come as no surprise that it would lead to a fork. You see, some Debian users disliked systemd so much that they decided to create a version of the OS without it. Devuan is that operating system, and today, the fork finally sees stable release.

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I have been enjoying the Opera desktop web browser lately. In fact, the experience has been so good, that I have been using it on Windows 10, Linux, and macOS. The browser has many great features, plenty of extensions, and it is darn fast too.

As an iPhone and iPad user, I thought maybe it was time to use Opera on mobile. After all, why not use the same app across all my devices? Unfortunately, after searching for Opera in the Apple App Store, I noticed something odd -- none of the company's iOS browsers (Opera Mini and Opera Coast) have been updated in 2017. Since we are almost halfway through the year, I decided to ask Opera what was up. Shockingly, the company told me that it no longer has a team working on iOS.

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Belkin's Wemo smart home devices are absolutely brilliant. Not only does the company offer power outlet and light switch adapters, but it recently introduced a dimmer switch too. The Wemo products are also compatible with both Amazon Alexa and Google Home, making them easy to control by voice.

Unfortunately, Wemo devices are not compatible with Apple HomeKit or Siri. There is good news, however -- Belkin is adding support. Starting this fall, consumers can buy a new product called "Wemo Bridge," which will enable HomeKit support for existing Wemo devices. It simply plugs into an Ethernet port on your router, thereby enabling support for Apple's smart home platform.

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I really enjoy my Apple Watch, but understandably, not everyone shares my enthusiasm. Heck, my colleague Joe Wilcox felt enslaved by his! For fans of the smartwatch, however, it isn't just a device, but a fashion statement too. It can be fun to swap bands to match an outfit, for instance. I own a casual nylon band for everyday use, and a more professional-looking leather variant for special occasions.

Today, popular case-manufacturer X-Doria releases a new band series for Apple Watch. Called "Action Band," it comes in three colors and can be had in both 38mm and 42mm sizes.

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Live-streaming of video is continually gaining in popularity, but it isn't just for gaming. While platforms like the Amazon-owned Twitch were designed for video games, they have evolved to the streaming of almost anything. Popular YouTuber Barnacules has a daily Twitch show where he drinks coffee with fans, for instance. With that said, gaming is definitely still the bread and butter.

In an effort to compete with Twitch, Microsoft bought the Beam platform in August 2016. Today, the Windows-maker announces that it is giving the platform a rebrand -- it is now called "Mixer." It is not merely a name-change, however, as Microsoft is also adding some new features. Not to mention, Mixer will get a dedicated page on the Xbox One Dashboard.

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Steaming music is all the rage nowadays, and there is certainly no shortage of services. Quite frankly, you really can't go wrong when selecting one, as many of them are great. With that said, for an optimal experience, Apple Music is probably best for iOS and macOS users, while Google Play Music and Spotify are great for Android and Linux desktop users.

If you spend a lot of time on Windows 10, the Groove Music Pass service is an excellent choice, as is the associated Groove app. While Microsoft's service may not be the most popular, it provides great selection and quality. There are even apps for iOS and Android. Now, for a limited time, the Windows-maker will pay you $25 for using its service!

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On May 23, Microsoft did something very curious -- it announced a new product in Shanghai. No, there is nothing wrong with having a press event in China, but the time difference meant Americans would have to wake up very early to watch it, right?

No. Actually, even more odd, Microsoft chose not to live stream the event. While there was a Chinese-dubbed stream found on the web, English-speakers were left to read live-blogging instead. This is unfortunate, as Panos Panay is quite the masterful presenter -- his unveiling of products can be downright magical. Thankfully, today, the Windows-maker makes the new Surface Pro announcement video available on YouTube -- no Chinese dub.

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The MacBook Pro only has USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 for connecting devices. For many, this is not a problem. After all, with wireless accessories, it is quite possible that a user might never need to connect anything by wire -- other than the charger, of course.

With that said, some users absolutely need to connect legacy devices, such as USB Type-A hard drives, mice, keyboards, and more. Heck, they may even need to connect to a monitor or Ethernet. Luckily, Thunderbolt 3 makes this a breeze, as single-cable docking solutions can bring all of the needed ports and more. Best of all, they can charge the computer too. Today, Elgato announces that its Thunderbolt 3 Dock will be available for purchase on June 6. While it looks amazing, it is certainly not an inexpensive affair.

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