As of now, I don't have any children of my own, but from what some parents have told me, children can be wildly annoying. People keep on reproducing, however, so there must be some unseen benefit to having them. All kidding aside, I am sure most parents love and enjoy their kids, but let's be honest, it can be tedious for an adult to have to spend an extended amount of time with a child. That's why many parents love the ability to drop the kids off at school -- it gives them a break. There's nothing wrong with wanting some adult time either.

Unfortunately, due to the damn COVID-19 coronavirus, many schools are closed and parents are being asked to work from home. This is the perfect storm for parents to be annoyed by their bored children. Thankfully, traditional television, DVDs, and streaming services can keep the little ones quiet. OK, fine, to a lesser extent, I suppose reading books can help too. Knowing the pain of these parents, The Walt Disney Company is doing something extraordinary -- releasing Frozen 2 to the Disney+ streaming service three months early.

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Have you ever been to an Apple retail store? They are very hip and fun -- a great way to get a hands-on experience with a product before buying it. Unfortunately, Apple retail stores are also wildly disgusting. Look, it is in my experience that most people in these stores aren't actually buying anything, or planning to make a purchase, but instead, they are killing time by playing with things. Germs can have a field day at the Apple Store!

In particular, Apple stores inside of shopping malls are often places parents drop their kids to play while they shop. Apple doesn't ban food either, so it is not uncommon to see people eating Auntie Anne's Pretzels with their hands and then touching iPhone screens. The spread of germs in an Apple retail store is a legitimate concern.

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Video doorbells are some of the best examples of how the "connected home" can be truly beneficial. These doorbells can alert you to both visitors and intruders -- plus package deliveries and package thieves. Best of all, many models allow you to interact remotely, giving someone at your door the illusion you are home. Ultimately, they are ideal for both convenience and security.

Unfortunately, not all models are created equally. Amazon's "Ring" brand is undeniably the most popular video doorbell on the market, but sadly, it is also the most untrustworthy. You see, it has been found that not only does Ring have terrible security and privacy practices, but Amazon also has many deals with law enforcement. By purchasing a Ring, you are essentially helping turn your neighborhood into a police state.

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One of the best things about Linux is having access to all the wonderful desktop environments (DEs). With Linux, you can often customize things to your heart's content, switching environments entirely if you prefer. Conversely, with Windows 10, for example, there is essentially just one user interface. Don't like it? Sucks to be you! If you run Windows, it is Microsoft's way or the highway. True, there is value in having all users sharing one experience, but ultimately, choice will always reign supreme.

Despite there being many great desktop environments available on Linux, only one can be the best. Consistently, for many years now, GNOME has been the greatest DE, and that is still true now. What makes it so wonderful? Well, GNOME 3.x is ideal for  productivity, allowing the user to focus on the task at hand. Not to mention, it is beautiful and simple -- it is a no-nonsense computing experience. There's a reason both Ubuntu and Fedora use GNOME as their default environment.

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Qi wireless charging is one of the best inventions ever -- from a consumer electronics perspective, at least. True, it's no penicillin or automobile, but it has been a godsend for smartphone users. No longer do you have to fiddle about with cables like early man. Instead, you can live like you are in the year 3020 and charge up your devices by placing them atop a pad. Hell, it's not just smartphones using this technology, but things like headsets and keyboards too! Yes, it seems like Qi is being added to everything these days, and I couldn't be more pleased.

Today, Logitech is expanding it Qi wireless charging game with a trio of new "POWERED" chargers. Evolving from the original model, this line of chargers is designed to focus on simplicity and excellence. In other words, not only do they charge your devices, but they will look good while doing it. After all, this is Logitech we are talking about -- its accessories are always excellent. In fact, the company is calling these chargers "magical."

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Is the Coronavirus (COVID-19) a big deal? I suppose so. Look, any virus should be taken seriously. I mean, people are dying from it. With that said, it isn't exactly Ebola -- for most folks, contracting it will result in a mild sickness. Hell, some will show no symptoms at all. There is certainly no need to fight fellow shoppers for toilet paper, water, and Purell. Believe it or not, humanity will ultimately defeat COVID-19, as we have with every other Coronavirus before it. The world is not ending, people.

With all of that said, we should absolutely approach COVID-19 in a very serious and scientific way, but sadly, the USA Government has severely botched the response. President Trump's dangerous mistruths and misleading statements have contributed to panic-shopping, the spread of false information, and a lack of testing for the disease. Thankfully, as a capitalist country, the USA can turn to the private sector to save the day. For example, Microsoft is generously pledging $1 million to the Puget Sound COVID-19 Response Fund. But that's not all. The Surface-maker will additionally match all employee donations to that fund.

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Want to know a secret? I have never cleaned my iPhone or iPad. Gross, right? Even more nauseating, I often use them both while sitting on the toilet! Hey, don't blame me for this behavior -- Apple caused it. For the longest time (years), the company never suggested using disinfectant wipes on its products. At the Apple store, I had countless "geniuses" tell me that alcohol would ruin the displays. And so, I just lived with the germs.

With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) dominating the news, however, people are starting to take stock in their hygiene practices. Suddenly, as we all wash our hands more frequently and douse ourselves in Purell, germ-ridden devices become a much more important topic. Thankfully, starting today, Apple has finally given us the green light to use disinfectant wipes to clean the Coronavirus (COVID-19) off the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers.

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Holi, the "festival of colors", is a hugely popular event in India that signifies the triumph of good over evil and heralds the arrival of spring. It's when Hindus throw colorful paint at each other.

Today marks the start of the Holi Festival, and to celebrate it, Google has launched a new Easter Egg in its search. Accessing it is pretty easy too. Best of all, it is very fun.

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When I first saw the Kanguru Defender Bio-Elite30 flash drive, I was immediately intrigued. Having the ability to decrypt an encrypted flash drive with the touch of a finger was immensely convenient. And yes, convenience matters, as making encryption easy increases the likelihood that the user will actually use it. If encrypting files becomes too cumbersome, the user may not bother, leading to poor security practices.

Also cool was Kanguru's promise that it was operating system agnostic, meaning it would work with any OS, such as Windows, macOS, and desktop Linux distributions. I'd later find out that was only partially true, but more on that in a moment. It is even well-built -- the housing is a solid piece of aluminum that not only looks beautiful, but should lend to increased durability.

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Chrissy Teigen is an absolute delight. She is wildly popular, not only from her modeling, but from her wonderful social media accounts too. Apparently, her husband is rather famous as well. Teigen's spouse, named John Legend, is a notable singer and pianist.

Likely thanks to his marriage to Chrissy Teigen, Legend scored a pretty cool partnership with Google, lending his voice to Google Assistant. In other words, when summoning Google Assistant, you can be greeted by Chrissy Teigen's husband's voice. Sadly, this is coming to an end, as the search giant announces the partnership concludes later this month.

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Microsoft's Windows 10 is hardly a new operating system anymore. In fact, it has been available to the public for damn near five years now. And yet, despite existing half a decade, it still feels very incomplete. The Control Panel still hasn't been merged with Settings, for instance, and the user interface still feels like a work in progress. Hey, at least those terrible Live Tiles are seemingly on their way out. Ultimately, using Windows 10 feels like you are in a constant state of beta. It shouldn't be this way -- Microsoft's operating system should be much better than it is. After all, the company essentially has unlimited resources.

Thankfully, Linux is here to save the day. Yes, thanks to Linux distributions, computer users can experience a sane operating system -- one that actually makes sense. There are countless great Linux-based operating systems, such as MX Linux 19.1, Netrunner 20.01, elementary OS 5.1.2, and Manjaro 19.0. One of my favorite Linux distros -- particularly for those switching from Windows -- is the excellent Zorin OS. Why? Well, it is very secure, looks great, offers a familiar user experience, and comes with some great free software. Today, a new version of that operating system -- Zorin OS 15.2 -- becomes available for download, and it looks awesome.

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Are foldable smartphones the future? Maybe. With that said, they certainly are not the present. True, you can currently buy a smartphone with a flexible display from companies like Huawei, Samsung, and Motorola, but they are still very much early-adopter products. In other words, they are not only very expensive, but also, they are rather fragile and full of compromises. And so, most consumers would be wise to wait a couple years until flexible display products start to mature a bit.

Many companies are planning foldable smartphones for the future -- including Apple, I'd predict. An iPhone that unfolds into an iPad would be quite the impressive device. For now, Apple is mum on that. Today, however, one company -- TCL -- is making its plans quite apparent by unveiling two new concept phones. One is a trifold variant with two hinges, while the other is even crazier -- it is rollable! Yes, TCL has designed a phone that gets larger by utilizing a flexible display that rolls and unrolls -- it looks to be quite genius, actually.

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Android and iOS are both great mobile operating systems, but Apple's hardware is considered by many to be second to none. And so, for many years, it has been the dream of many to run Android on an iPhone. Obviously this isn't everybody -- I'd guess the majority of iPhone owners would never want to sully their precious device with a Google-made operating system. Then again, many of them run Chrome, Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube apps on their iPhone, so maybe the search giant's mobile OS wouldn't be looked down upon after all.

Well, regardless of your feeling on the subject, the bottom line is, you can now run Android on your iPhone -- as long as you have a compatible model that is. In fact, you may even be able to run Android on an iPod Touch. Best of all, this is not some old version of Google's mobile OS, but the latest and greatest Android 10! This is all thanks to a new hack called "Project Sandcastle" by Corellium -- a company Apple is already suing. And you'd better believe Steve Jobs (RIP) is rolling in his grave.

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System76 as an organization is a hero to the Linux community. For many years, the company has sold computers running Ubuntu, lending a legitimacy to the idea of Linux on the desktop. System76 even evolved beyond just selling computers — it now makes them too. Best of all, the computers are made in the USA. The company even maintains its own Linux distribution called “POP!_OS.”

Today, the company announces a cool new configuration choice for its homemade Thelio desktop computers. No, it isn’t anything that will impact performance, but still, it is very exciting — thee new color options!

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Nowadays, it feels like everyone wants to be a content creator. You know what, though? It is totally understandable. I mean, who wouldn't want to get paid for making YouTube videos or playing video games on Twitch? The sad reality is, not everyone can be an internet celebrity. For every Justine "iJustine" Ezarik or Ethan "h3h3" Klein getting rich on YouTube, there are thousands upon thousands of unknown people making no money. The bottom line is, not only must you have a great personality and something interesting to offer, but these days, you need quality recording equipment too.

If you think you have what it takes to be the next online content creator celebrity, or you just want to have fun -- money be damned -- JOBY has a new line of products that may interest you. This line offers many products that focus on lighting, audio, and more. These offerings should help you create better quality content.

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