Brian Fagioli

One of my favorite television programs is the Andy Griffith Show. True, it is way before my time, but that is the point; I yearn for a simpler time. From the moment I wake up in the morning until my head hits my pillow, I am on a PC, tablet or smartphone. Quite frankly, I do not know how the entire world doesn't have ulcers and gray hair from all of the stress. Andy Griffith could relax, go fishing or eat a home-cooked meal with Aunt Bee and Opie; foreign concepts to many of us.

While those aforementioned things can still be achieved today, there is something from the show that can't. What, you ask? Leaving the doors of your house unlocked. Sadly, unlike the fictional Mayberry, the world is now a dangerous place; we must lock our doors both when at home and while away. A deadbolt is a great way to secure a door, but the concept is very old school. But what if you could mix the safety of a deadbolt, with the convenience of your Android smartphone or tablet? A new such solution is in the works, and BetaNews readers can apply for an opportunity to beta test it with Betabound by Centercode.

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Human beings are bombarded with too many options nowadays. Whenever I hear someone say they are bored, I just want to shake them; we live in an exciting time where there is essentially an infinite amount of multimedia at our fingertips. Between TV, movies, music and books, not a second of your day should be empty.

Unfortunately, the problem with having so many options, is actually narrowing them down to one. Whenever I decide to buy a new book, I fire up my Kindle and explore. You know what happens? I can't decide on what to download! An easy way to stay on top of the most popular and relevant books is to check the New York Times Best Seller List. Today, Microsoft announces that Bing can now help you search for best-sellers.

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The year 2014 proved wonderful for Linux; however, it was not the fabled 'Year of the Linux Desktop". Quite frankly, that year may never come, but that is OK. The open-source kernel is dominating the mobile space with Android, and that is arguably more important anyway.

Linux Mint in particular shone brightly last year, with wonderful releases and updates. Today, the distribution is continuing that trend in 2015 with the all-new Linux Mint 17.1 'Rebecca' KDE Edition. If you are a fan of KDE, your time is now -- get downloading!

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Sometimes people do crazy things, without any good reason. Case in point, skydivers. Now, I can understand jumping out of a plane to serve your country in the military, but doing it for fun? Insanity. I once asked a guy why he jumps from planes, and he paused for a moment and said, "because I can". While an answer like that can be frustrating in a discussion or argument, it isn't silly. Actually, doing something for no reason other than the freedom to do so is actually kind of beautiful.

With that said, Ultimate Ears is doing something pretty crazy, and the reason seems to be nothing other than because it can. No, the company is not throwing its awesome speakers out of a plane (that would be dangerous to people below). Actually, the audio company is wirelessly pairing more than 10 of its UE BOOM and MEGABOOM Bluetooth speakers to a single device for simultaneous music playback. Heck, the company claims it is a world record. Before you write it off as a publicity stunt, this functionality is actually being delivered to the two aforementioned BOOM speakers. Yes, consumers will be able to do this eventually too. How cool is that?

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Samson is not a company that everyone is familiar with, but it makes cool audio tech. I became aware of it when I was in the market for a high quality, yet low-cost, USB microphone. You see, the integrated microphones on a lot of computers are horrible, so I felt an investment in a quality model would pay off. Ultimately, I bought Samson's Meteor mic, which not only offers great performance, but is inexpensive and looks really sexy on my desk too.

Today, Samson is announcing two new USB microphones; the Meteorite and GoMic Direct. Continuing in the tradition of the original Meteor mic, these are both beautiful and affordable (each $39.99) .

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Laptops are incredibly convenient, but not as upgradeable as a traditional desktop. Sure, for some notebook computers, you can change the RAM, storage drive and maybe the Wi-Fi card, but that is pretty much it.

Hard drives in particular are an important upgrade choice, as more storage is often needed for photos and videos. Unfortunately, the 2.5 inch variants for laptops have always trailed the 3.5 inch desktop drives. This is not surprising, as the drives are physically smaller. Today however, Toshiba unveils the world's first 2.5 inch 3TB HDD, delivering breathing room to laptop users. Hell, this should also fit in Sony's PlayStation 4, although a firmware update may be needed to utilize it.

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Will Smith is a pretty cool guy. Back in the day -- when I was a kid -- I was a big fan of his rapping with DJ Jazzy Jeff. What really made me a fan of his, however, was the classic TV show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. On the program, Will played a nice young man from a poor neighborhood, who moves to a wealthy neighborhood to avoid a life of crime. It is a very funny show, that is forever cemented in popular culture.

Unfortunately, as cool as Mr. Smith is, I cannot store my digital photos inside of him. Hell, even if the actor contained flash memory, I highly doubt he would also have an integrated wireless LAN access point. Well, move over Mr. Bel-Air; its time for the FlashAir, as in the Toshiba FlashAir III. Yes, this is an SD Card with built-in Wi-Fi. True, it is not really a new concept, but Toshiba's implementation seems elegant.

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The Surface Pro 3 was the best computer of 2014. My love affair with the hybrid PC is no secret; I'll tell anyone who will listen that I love my precious Microsoft computer. Quite frankly, what isn't there to love about a super-powerful laptop/tablet/desktop that comes with an active stylus? Nothing, that's what; it's friggin' awesome.

While it continues to be my favorite computer, a new year is upon us, and 2015 is already looking very promising for technology. Yes, CES is here and everyone is gushing over the latest doodads and gadgets. While much of the show is noise, Toshiba is making quite the impression this year. Case in point, the Intel Core M powered Portégé Z20t -- arguably a Surface Pro 3 clone -- is quite the beast of a machine. Hell, the fact that it is so reminiscent of Microsoft's computer is a positive; Toshiba is simply building on the successful reference that Satya Nadella and company presented to the world.

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As a system builder, I am a sucker for all hardware. What really gets my motor running is when something is the "world's first". Yes, I am an early adopter. What does this mean? I buy unproven new hardware at a premium, just for the glory of having it first. Smart buyers will wait for price drops and bug fixes, but not I!

Today, MSI announces a new motherboard that has a world's first, and quite frankly, it is something the world has been waiting for. Here it is folks, the first-ever motherboard with an integrated reversible USB 3.1 Type-C port! This is definitely something that will have early adopters drooling.

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Many years ago, bringing a stereo to the beach or the park was quite the ordeal. First, the boombox was large and usually took C or D batteries. Not only were those batteries expensive, but heavy too. Ultimately, many people would simply forgo bringing such a music device.

Fast-forward to today, and you have a virtual smorgasbord of small Bluetooth speakers -- with rechargeable batteries -- making portability a breeze. Hell, you can charge many of them in the car on your way! Ultimate Ears is one of my favorite manufacturers for portable Bluetooth speakers; the UE BOOM and MINI BOOM are built like tanks and offer impressive audio quality. Today however, the company announces the next generation of the "BOOM" family, the all-new UE MEGABOOM! It's time to party harder, baby! Woo!

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As technology excels, hardware seems to shrink. With the exception of smartphones and televisions, smaller is better. Quite frankly, even though the economy is improving, many people are still hurting. As more and more people share residences, available office space in a home is becoming scarce. Many people no longer have room for a monstrous desktop tower.

HP is a great company, with a rich history and today it is addressing both space and money constraints, with two new tiny desktops -- the Stream and Pavilion Mini Desktops. Unlike limited Chromeboxes, these are full-fledged Windows machines that can do things like run full Microsoft Office and utilize optical drives. Hell, they are low-wattage with a max of 45 watts, so they may even lower your electric bill.

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Google Chrome and I had a really great thing going. It is available for most operating systems (not Windows Phone, sadly) and allows me to easily sync my activity across systems. Whenever I install Windows or a new Linux distribution, the first thing I would do is install Chrome. True, Chrome is not entirely open source, and using it is a major faux pas for many Linux users, but I didn't care -- open source be damned, I wanted the ease of use. Not to mention, Google Chrome is technically the only way to get a modern version of Adobe flash working on Linux, thanks to its pepper flash implementation (damn you Adobe, for ending Linux development).

Unfortunately, Google's browser has been putting on some weight lately; hey, I'm a fat guy, I didn't mind too much at first, but things have gotten out of hand. Chrome eats through RAM like a termite at a lumber factory. Sure, RAM is relatively cheap, but not everyone wants to upgrade so a web browser can perform better. Hell, Chrome OS even runs like ass with less than 4GB of memory, and that is unacceptable. System resources are not the only way it is bloated, though. Instead, I am going back to my old girlfriend, Firefox. Mozilla's browser isn't perfect, but it better meets my needs right now.

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Video cards can serve many needs, so it is natural that they come in varying prices and features. Some people just need a basic card because their motherboard does not have integrated video. Others want a mid-range card for casual gaming or watching HD video. There is still yet another subset of consumers that are hardcore gamers and want the most powerful card -- money is no object. For these people, it is important to pay close attention to information from both NVIDIA and AMD so they can be on the forefront of the latest gaming hardware.

Today, gamers had better take notice, as NVIDIA will be making some announcements at 8PM pacific (that's 11PM for my fellow East Coasters). Even though CES has not officially started, NVIDIA is already in Las Vegas and is calling this its "CES Press Event". The big question is, what will the company announce? Mid-range buyers (such as myself) are hopeful for an official GeForce GTX 960 release date, but I am sure we will hear much more than that. Don't forget, the company is more than just video cards; could we see a Tegra announcement? A new Shield device? Be sure to watch the live stream below and find out!

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In the story of Snow White, there is an aging, evil queen that is totally jealous of the sexier title character, and thus wants to murder her. So basically, Ms. White runs into the woods, hooks up with some little people, and ultimately falls in love with a sexy prince guy. The end. Why did I tell this story? Oh yes, the magic mirror! Everything I just told you is pointless, other than to say that in the story, the queen had an enchanted mirror.

Speaking of mirrors, LaCie today announces a new portable hard drive by the name of "Mirror". Why? You guessed it; it serves as a mirror. Yes, most of the USB 3.0 hard drive body is Corning Gorilla Glass, which makes it reflective. Crazy, but totally sexy too! How do you not want this on your desk?

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Sure, I'm a pretty high-tech guy who loves his gadgets and toys; however, I am also extremely frugal. Don't get me wrong, I am willing to spend money for quality, but I believe the old adage that a fool and his money are easily parted. Case in point, when I went new car shopping a few years back, I had a number in my head that I did not want my monthly payment to exceed. Once at the Ford dealership, I found a car that fit my budget, but it did not have any cool tech features. The little car has no Bluetooth support, no steering wheel audio controls, no navigation. It did, however, have Sirius Satellite radio, which I needed for Howard Stern, but I digress.

Long story short, I connect my Nexus 6 to my car stereo using an Aux cable with the headphone jack, like a total loser. Day after day, I pine away for a Bluetooth connection for my ride. Well, the concept of adding such a connection to a car is not new, but today, Griffin announces an elegant solution for a dilemma such as mine. Hell, for you Apple folks who want to charge and play through a lightning connection, the company has you covered too.

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