Brian Fagioli

Tomorrow is one of the most important days of the year -- Jesus Christ's birthday! Also known as "Christmas," many people celebrate the holiday by giving gifts to friends and family. And of course, Santa Claus will be delivering many great presents to all the non-naughty children of the world too.

As an early Christmas gift, the Linux community is getting something very special today -- Manjaro 22.0! Code-named "Sikaris," this operating system is based on the excellent Arch Linux. If you love using a modern kernel, you will be happy to know Manjaro 22.0 comes with version 6.1. There are three desktop environments from which to choose -- GNOME (43), KDE Plasma (5.26), and Xfce (4.18).

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Grandmothers can be great ladies, but let's be honest -- they aren't very good at using computers. It's not their fault though -- they didn't grow up with them. That's why every time you visit grandma for Christmas, she asks you to fix her computer.

If you are sick of removing malware from grandma's PC, there is a simple solution -- install Linux! Yes, by formatting grandma's hard drive and replacing Windows with Linux, she will have the best Christmas ever.

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Santa Claus is cool and all, but let's be honest, the gifts his elves make are kind of lame. Look, it is 2022, and no kid wants a wooden train, stuffed animal, or baby doll. Santa can keep that crap at the North Pole. Thee days, kids want electronics and hardcore gaming computers.

If you want to impress someone this Christmas, you should buy them a prebuilt gaming PC with a legit gaming card. Don't know which PC to buy? Don't worry -- there are three new "ODACHI" desktops from YEYIAN that are guarantied to "wow" the recipient. They are powered by either an Intel Core i9 13900KF or AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and come with either an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or 4090.

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Some of the best holidays are almost upon us, such as Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Sadly, due to the recession and inflation, many people are finding it hard to celebrate this year. The economic downturn has decimated the bank accounts of many, meaning fewer gifts might be a possibility in some homes.

Thankfully, reading a book can be a free way to escape reality -- just head to your local library. If you don't have a library card or are unable to go to such a place, do not worry -- Google has you covered. No, the search giant is not giving away books, but it has curated a list of digital holiday books in the public domain that are freely available to read.

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While a power supply unit isn't exactly a fun component to buy, it is absolutely necessary when building a computer. A PSU is essential, and if you choose a poor quality offering, your system may experience instability, crashes, or even a dangerous fire. So, yeah, you should always get a quality PSU with a wattage rating that meets the power needs of all of your components.

Thankfully, a quality power supply with the latest bells and whistles doesn't have to break the bank. You see, today, MONTECH releases an affordable ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 PSU called "TITAN GOLD" that offers up to 1200 watts. And yes, the modular PSU features the new 12VHPWR connector -- needed for some of the newest graphics cards.

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One of the big reasons some people don't switch to Linux is a lack of video editors. While it's true there are more video editing programs on macOS and Windows, there are some great options on Linux too, such as Kdenlive and DaVinci Resolve.

Another popular video editing application that runs on Linux is the open source OpenShot. This cross-platform video editor can run on Windows and macOS too, meaning you can try it on one of those platforms to see if it meets your needs before switching to Linux. And now, OpenShot has reached a new major milestone -- version 3.0. The developers brag that it includes over a thousand changes.

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Back in October, we told you about the MTE250S -- a PCIe 4.0 M.2 solid state drive from Transcend. While that SSD is fast, it is missing something that many computer users insist upon -- a heatsink. You see, heat can negatively impact both the performance and longevity of an M.2 SSD, and a heatsink can help cool it down. However, some laptops and desktops can't fit an M.2 SSD with a heatsink, so it makes sense not to include such a cooling accessory with every model.

With all of that said, Transcend has now unveiled the MTE250H, which is an all-new SSD. While it is technically a new product, the reality is, it is merely the previously announced MTE250S with a heatsink bolted on. Other than the heatsink, the MTE250S and MTE250H seem to be identical.

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One of the most beautiful operating systems is a Linux distribution from China called deepin. If you are dissatisfied with Windows 11 or macOS, and you are intrigued by Linux, deepin can be a great choice -- especially if you highly value beauty and well-designed user interfaces.

The newest version of that operating system, deepin 20.8 is now ready to be downloaded. This version of deepin gets improvements to the loading times of Wine apps from the App Store, plus new features in the File Manager app. The most notable change in 20.8 is the inclusion of the all-new Deepin Home app.

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One of the worst parts of traveling is packing your bags. Nothing is more annoying than when you arrive at to your destination and discover you forgot to put something in your luggage. In my case, I usually forget charging cables and adapters. Since I often travel with both my iPhone and AirPods Pro, I have to remember chargers for both if I want to juice them up simultaneously.

Thanks to a new product from Satechi, you can use one charger for several things, meaning fewer things to forget at home. Called "Duo Wireless Charger Power Stand," it can wirelessly charge both a smartphone and wireless earbuds at the same time. It even includes a USB-C port for charging a third device. To make it even more appealing, the stand also includes a 10,000mAH battery so you can charge devices when no outlet is nearby.

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A smart home is a happy home as far I am concerned. Since going all-in on smart devices in my house, my life has been much improved. I can control my thermostat without getting out of bed, and when I leave a room, I can tell Google to turn off the light. If I hear a bump in the night, I can pull out my phone or tablet to monitor my Wi-Fi cameras. We are living in the future, and it is great.

Today, popular company TP-Link launches a trio of new smart home products under its Kasa branding. The Kasa EP40A is a smart outdoor outlet adapter (perfect for Christmas lights), while the KS220 and KS200 are indoor light switches. All three devices are Apple HomeKit compatible.

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The Linux Mint developers are targeting Christmas as the release date for version 21.1 of the operating system. Before Santa Claus delivers the stable version, however, we will first need a BETA to test for bugs. And so, today, that is exactly what we get.

Code-named "Vera," Linux Mint 21.1 BETA can be downloaded immediately for testing with your choice of three desktop environments - Cinnamon (5.6), MATE (1.26), and Xfce (4.16). Vera is based on the rock-solid Ubuntu 22.04 and comes with Linux kernel 5.15. The stable version will be supported until 2027.

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Apple switched to its own ARM-based desktop processors for Mac computers in 2020. Believe it or not, despite it now being 2022, not all macOS apps are optimized for Apple Silicon. While M1 and M2 Mac computers are also compatible with Intel apps (with some emulation sorcery), the software won't run as well -- developers really need to embrace the Apple Silicon future.

Thankfully, after much waiting, one of the world's most popular open source image editors, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), has finally been optimized for Apple Silicon. Yes, a stable M1/M2 version of the excellent (and free) Adobe Photoshop alternative can now be downloaded for macOS.

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Are SD cards exciting? No, but they are essential. Look, if you have a device that uses those cards for storage, such as a digital camera, drone, or some other contraption, the topic cannot be avoided.

Despite it being a fairly boring product these days, companies are still producing new models. And no, it is not just from the typical brands you may be thinking, such as SanDisk and Lexar. Believe it or not, TEAMGROUP has just unveiled two new "EXPERT" cards under its T-CREATE branding -- the V90 and V60. Both cards are IP67 rated for durability and come with a 5-year warranty.

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As more and more people flee Twitter due to Elon Musk's questionable behavior, many of them are turning to Mastodon as an alternative. By the way, you can find BetaNews on Mastodon here (we aren't too active yet).

Unfortunately, the official Mastodon mobile app is very much lacking. Don't get me wrong, Mastodon on the web is great; it is just the official mobile app that is deficient.

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There are typically two types of people in this world -- those that like mice, and those that prefer trackpads. There is a third group of computer user, however, that is quite small comparatively, but very passionate -- trackball lovers. While trackballs have largely fallen out of favor with most consumers, there are still some folks that swear by them.

Today, Kensington releases a new trackball that is sure to make fans of the product type very excited. Called "SlimBlade Pro," the beautiful trackball can connect to a computer wirelessly or wired (via USB). The product features a large 55mm trackball, Optical Tracking Technology, and 128-bit AES Encryption.

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