Brian Fagioli

When someone asks me for advice on buying a laptop, there are two questions I often ask them -- what do you want to do with it? and what is your budget? Once I get the answers to those questions, I steer them towards a reputable brand that meets their needs. One such brand that I always consider -- especially for a Windows machine -- is HP. Not only does the company make notebooks that are powerful, but beautiful too.

Today, that manufacturer unveils a beautiful new laptop -- the HP EliteBook 1030. Featuring a capable Skylake Intel Core M processor and up to 16GB RAM, it should meet the needs of both home and business users. It can be configured with either Windows 10 or the older-yet-popular Windows 7.

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When Al-Qaeda destroyed two World Trade Center buildings, it felt like everything changed. Seemingly overnight, the citizens of the USA went from being fairly care-free to having to constantly look behind their collective backs. It is now 2016 and when I go to Penn Station in New York City, I still see military people with assault rifles. Sadly, this is apparently the new reality.

Now, that same terrorist group is threatening business men and women in America. It is particularly sad that a person must live in fear because of their success. One particular person being threatened is Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates.

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No matter how great hardware is, you need software to make it have any value. After all, what good is a computer without an operating system? Who would want a powerful graphics card without drivers? A good computing experience is the successful marriage between hardware and software.

A great example of this is the Raspberry Pi. At first, the specs and diminutive size pull you in, but then you must ask, what can you do with it? You will need to install an operating system to get started, and one of the most popular is Raspbian. Today, that lightweight Linux distro gets a big update. There are some significant updates here, so trust me when I say you need to get it!

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Even though I own an iPhone, I am not an Apple "fanboy". I use both Linux and Windows on the desktop, and embrace most of Google's services. Quite frankly, if Google pulled its offerings from iOS, I would probably switch to Android. In other words, I am deeply entrenched in the search giant's ecosystem.

Today, Google releases a new keyboard for the iPhone. Called "Gboard", it drastically improves the typing experience on Apple's smartphone in many ways, including "Glide Typing", emoji search, and animated GIF search to name a few. If you own an iPhone, stop what you are doing and install it now. Trust me, folks.

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People are seemingly addicted to their smartphones nowadays. You know what I am talking about. Everywhere I go, I see people glued to their phones like zombies. You know what? I am guilty of this too. While I am texting and tweeting while walking or eating in a restaurant, I never do so while driving -- that is just plain stupid. Unfortunately, many people are guilty of texting and driving. It became so prevalent here on Long Island, that some rest stops on the expressway were re-purposed as "text stops", so people can pull over to interact with their tech.

If for whatever reason you need to interact with your phone while driving -- texting, making phone calls, playing music, etc. -- Logitech has a new solution so that it can be done more safely. The Logi ZeroTouch is a car mount for your Android phone, but it is more than that. It is "smart", meaning that your phone knows when it is in the mount, enabling a hands-free experience.

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Some people still have the perception of open source being for hobbyists and Linux enthusiasts. I can understand this wrong viewpoint, however. After all, Microsoft has long had a stranglehold on both home and business workstation computing. That company has historically been a closed-source champion. Over time, open source ideology has matured, being embraced by many major companies -- the Windows-maker included.

Today, the Google-owned Nest makes a big announcement. Its 'Thread' networking protocol is now open source. Dubbed 'OpenThread', the source code is now available on GitHub. Will it see a large scale adoption?

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When a medical student is learning how to do surgery, he or she can't walk up to somebody on the street and start cutting into them. Instead, they will initially practice on cadavers and computer simulators. The same can be said for hacking. If a person wants to learn how to discover or test vulnerabilities, hacking the Pentagon or University, for instance, is not a wise idea.

Luckily, like a medical surgeon with a cadaver, Facebook offers its Capture The Flag platform -- hacking challenges in a test environment. Today, it is making that gamified security training platform open source in an effort to encourage wannabe hackers and security enthusiasts.

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Back in the day, I remember AOL Instant Messenger and ICQ being all the rage for messaging. For a while, MSN and Yahoo! Messenger were popular with the young folks too. Nowadays it seems to be Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, which is a bit weird, because Facebook owns the latter -- hopefully they merge eventually.

One of the frustrating things about WhatsApp, however, is that it does not have a desktop client, instead being web and mobile only. Well, now this changes. Today, the messaging solution gets an official client for both Windows and OS X -- sorry Linux desktop users. At least that aforementioned web version is available.

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For a while there was a scary trend of Android manufacturers shying away from expandable storage. Thankfully, consumer demand largely reversed that course. Many of the newest flagships, such as the HTC 10 and Samsung Galaxy S7, are embracing microSD cards. The versatile card format is utilized in many other types of devices too.

Today, Samsung announces the class-leading EVO Plus 256GB MicroSD Card. If you recently bought SanDisk's 200GB card, you no longer have the largest. With that said, the price tag for this 256GB card is rather high -- more than double SanDisk's 200GB offering.

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While Ubuntu focuses on convergence -- smartphones and tablets -- Fedora seems comfortable with the desktop, server, and cloud. You know what? That is not a bad thing. There are far too many Linux distributions nowadays, and if they all started focusing on a "Swiss Army" strategy with mobile device types, things would get messy. I find Fedora's narrower view refreshing.

Today, the Fedora Project announces that version 24 of the operating system achieves Beta status. If you have never tried the Linux-based OS, I urge you to give it a go. If my recommendation doesn't do it for you, please know that it is the operating system of choice for Linus Torvalds -- father of Linux.

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Neil Patrick Harris is one cool dude. From playing a boy-doctor on the TV show, Doogie Howser MD, to becoming one of the premier hosts for fancy award shows, the man is undeniably awesome. There are even some rumors that the handsome actor could replace Michael Strahan on Live! with Kelly Ripa, but I digress.

Today, NPH becomes the latest Apple advertisement star. In a video titled "Thank You Speech," the actor shows off the hands-free capabilities of the iPhone 6s.

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While some people consider drones to be a public nuisance, the truth is the safety and responsibility falls on the owner. In other words, if an owner is responsible and obeys the law, everything should be fine. Ultimately, these flying cameras have a lot of useful applications and should not be demonized.

Lending to the mainstreaming and public acceptance of drones, the Twitter-owned Periscope today announces that it is partnering with famed drone manufacturer, DJI, for live broadcasting. This is a planned future feature. Sorry, Android users, it looks to be iPhone-only.

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Carpooling is apparently good for the environment, as less fossil fuels are used by having multiple people take one car. While I love the environment, I also love the freedom of having my own car while at work; being able to come and go as I want. Sorry, Mother Earth, but for the most part, ridesharing just isn't for me.

Where I don't mind sharing a ride, however, is for less frequent occasions, such as going to the airport or taking a taxi. Today, Uber announces a $5 uberPOOL ridesharing program in NYC. Regardless of your feelings for the environment, you can't deny the greatness of saving some money, right? Well, as long as the other riders don't smell bad.

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The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are arguably the best smartphones on the market, although I am sure many Android and Windows Phone users will disagree with me. Yes, they are expensive, but when it comes to Apple, you often get what you pay for. In other words, you aren't just paying for the sum of the parts, but the overall positive experience.

With that said, you should always protect your investment. Replacing a broken iPhone -- especially if you didn't splurge on Apple Care -- is quite the costly affair. The best way to do this is with a good case. X-Doria's Defense Lux cases for iPhone 6S were pretty rugged, although a bit slippery. A lack of "grip" on the back made the iPhone something fairly easy to drop. Now, the company adds the Defense Lux Impression Cases for iPhone 6 and 6S. With rear dimples, it should alleviate the "slippery" concern of the non-Impression model.

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My knowledge of horses doesn't extend much past watching Mr. Ed on "Nick at Nite" (Hello, Wilbur) as a kid. Equestrian activities are often reserved for the wealthy and gamblers -- two things I am not. I did go to OTB (Off-track betting) a couple of years ago to bet on a horse named after Tony Danza, but I digress.

One of the most popular horse racing events is the Kentucky Derby. Microsoft's Bing is now focusing its predictability-powers on it. Bing Predicts has been quite succesful in the past -- could this help folks win some money?

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