Brian Fagioli

Mesh networking is all the rage nowadays. If you aren't familiar with the concept, a mesh network links several access points into a single wireless network, providing improved range and speed. The problem with a mesh network, however, is that it requires you to purchase all new hardware. If you already own a great router, but need to eliminate a dead zone in your home, it might not make sense to invest in mesh right now.

If you love your existing router but want to expand your Wi-Fi coverage, a range extender is a smart buy. It is a device that connects wirelessly to your existing router and then provides access to your dead or spotty zones. Today, Linksys unveils one of the most beautiful such devices. The "RE9000 Max-Stream Tri-Band AC3000 Wi-Fi Range Extender," as it is called, has four antennas and promises to improve your home's Wi-Fi coverage. It can also serve as an access point to convert up to four hardwired gigabit device connections into wireless. Linksys even provides a useful app to help you find optimal placement of the extender -- nice.

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The Apple TV has long been a wonderful device for consuming media on your big-screen television. From video to music, it is a great experience. Some people weren't satisfied with the default functionality, however, opting to jailbreak Apple's media box. In fact, the jailbroken Apple TV 2 was one of the most popular XBMC/Kodi boxes for this reason.

Are you running one of those jailbroken Apple TV 2 devices? You should be worried then. You see, as the folks over at TVAddons warn, the jailbreak process installed OpenSSH by default. This means your network could be compromised by the fairly outdated media box. A hacker only needs your ip address to attack you.

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For many home computer users, a five or even 10-year-old PC can be powerful enough for their needs. For some other people -- gamers and enthusiasts, primarily -- a computer can never be quick enough. These consumers will spend massive amounts of money for the latest and greatest hardware to achieve the fastest speeds.

If you like having the fastest hardware on your block -- whether you actually need it or just for bragging rights -- Corsair has a new memory kit that will tickle your fancy. The VENGEANCE LPX CMK32GX4M4K4333C19 kit runs at an insane 4,333MHz. This is the world's fastest RAM using a 4x8GB configuration, and it narrowly beats G.SKILL with its similar kit running at 4,2666MHz.

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If you are currently unemployed, underemployed, or simply looking to change jobs, I urge you to create a LinkedIn profile if you haven't already. The days of showing up at a job with a pen to complete an application is largely dead. Heck, many employers don't even want you to email them a resume nowadays -- some just ask for your LinkedIn profile instead. Don't have one? You are out of luck.

But OK, some employers do still ask for a traditional resume, so it is good to be prepared just in case. Today, Microsoft announces that it will make creating a resume even easier. How? With the upcoming "Resume Assistant" for its Word program. This tool is powered by LinkedIn -- a service Microsoft now owns. The Windows-maker is even leveraging Artificial Intelligence to make this endeavor work better. Basically, the tool will create a resume in Microsoft Word using your LinkedIn history, while also suggesting ways to improve the way you are describing your skills, education, accomplishments, and more.

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If you are in the market for an Android smartphone, now is an exciting time. There are so many excellent models from which to choose -- a great problem to have.

Of course, you can never go wrong with a Samsung flagship, and the company’s latest such smartphone -- the Galaxy Note8 -- should delight you in more ways than one. It is powerful, beautiful, and offers one of the best cameras on the market. Today, Samsung announces that its popular Note8 will soon be getting a new color in the USA -- Deepsea Blue.

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Ubiquiti Networks is a very respected company in the networking market. Its high-end hardware is used by many in the enterprise. Under its "Ubiquiti Labs" branding, however, the company recently entered the home consumer space with the "AmpliFi" mesh wireless router system. That product is exceptional -- my current recommended home router for anyone that will listen. It gets plenty of timely updates, looks beautiful, and offers both wonderful speed and coverage. Seriously, folks, it rocks.

Today, Ubiquiti Labs unveils its next home consumer product. Called "AmpliFi Teleport," it is a little box that promises to route your on-the-go internet traffic through your home router. The device plugs into the wall for power and connects to an access point using Wi-Fi or Ethernet. It creates an encrypted connection, making it operate sort of like a VPN, but that's not all. Your media services (Netflix, Hulu, MLB, etc.) will think you are at home when you aren't, so you can still access location restricted content. In other words, you won't get the dreaded message of "sorry, this is not available in your area," even if you are in a different state -- or country. It supplies access to the things connected to your home network too, such as smart devices that don't offer remote access.

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Wireless headsets are my favorite, although wired variants are my favorite too. Is that sentence nonsensical and devoid of logic? Not really, but sort of. All kidding aside, it is totally possible that someone can prefer using a cable in one scenario, while opting to go wire-free in another. Case in point, when I am at home on my gaming PC, I prefer a wired headset. Why? Because I am sitting in a chair in front of a monitor -- having to charge a headset in that case is silly. When I am in my living room or on the go, however, being wireless has its perks -- no cables to get tangled or trip over.

Having a headset that can operate as both wired and wireless is nothing new, but today, SteelSeries unveils a new product that takes this idea to another level. The "Arctis 3 Bluetooth," as the headset is called, can process audio over both Bluetooth and hardwired connections simultaneously. I know what you are thinking -- why would you want that? On the surface, it seems crazy, but once you think about it, the concept is very smart. Best of all, it is based on the already well-received Arctis 3 wired headset.

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Today is Xbox One X release day, and we here at BetaNews are very excited. Microsoft has created the most powerful video game console of all time. Besides playing 4K video -- including UHD Blu-ray -- it can handle 4K gaming too. Yes, folks, you will finally be able to leverage that new 4K TV for incredible graphic detail.

To celebrate the Xbox One X release, we are giving away an Xbox One console. In fact, it is the exact console as seen in the video here. While it is "only" an original Xbox One, it is actually a fairly rare white variant. Despite not being the latest and greatest, it will be able to play all Xbox One games, albeit at a max of 1080p. It can also play Blu-ray and DVD discs. Wow!

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Coke and Pepsi. Ford and Chevy. Intel and AMD. These are examples of competing products where consumers are often very passionate. For instance, I would refuse to own a Chevy or a General Motors vehicle based on my love for Ford. I have a similar feeling for AMD, although I have strayed to Intel for my PC builds on occasion.

Having competing companies work together is almost sacrilege, but not unprecedented. Bill Gates, father of Windows, now uses Linux by way of Android. Apple Music is available for Android. And now, the unthinkable has happened. AMD and Intel are partnering on chips that will marry Radeon GPU technology with high-end Core processing units.

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While it has a large presence in Europe, Altice is a fairly new name in the USA. The company recently bought Cablevision -- the cable TV and internet provider that serves Long Island and other areas in the New York Tri-State area. The company even offers VOIP telephone service, making it a traditional "triple play" provider.

Today, Altice USA announces its intentions to enter the cell phone service business too. No, the company is not putting up new cell towers or anything ambitious such as that. Actually, Altice USA will become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). If you aren't familiar, this essentially means the company will sell access to an existing cell provider's towers -- in this case, it will be Sprint.

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Razer may be a smartphone maker nowadays, but don't think for a second the company has forgotten its roots. True, Razer is branching out to other businesses, but it is still a gaming peripheral company at its core.

To drive that point home, today, Razer unveils two new hardcore PC gaming peripherals -- the "Naga Trinity" gaming mouse and "Tartarus V2" gaming keypad. These are two very intriguing products -- evolutions of prior peripheral generations -- both of which focus heavily on complicated multiplayer games, such as MOBA and MMO. The mouse has a replaceable left side, which can give optimized thumb controls based on the game and user preference. The keypad is designed to make many keyboard keys accessible to one hand, making it a more comfortable and streamlined control experience. After all, traditional keyboards were designed for typing -- not gaming.

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Having an SD card reader on a laptop nowadays is nice, but hardly necessary. After all, thanks to the cloud, consumers can easily transport files via the internet. As many photographers and videographers will yell you, however, the cloud is not always a viable solution for them -- working with local storage cards can be a must. The problem, you see, is that many creative people use macOS and the latest MacBook Pro laptops do not have such a card reader. What is the owner of Apple's latest laptop to do?

Just buy an adapter, of course! There are many USB-C card readers on the market that will work on macOS, Windows, and Linux. If you work on multiple machines, however, and some of those computers do not have USB-C, you will unfortunately have to buy a second dongle, right? Actually, no. Thanks to products such as StartTech's latest offering (SDMSDRWU3AC), which is a card reader that supports both USB-C and USB-A, you can use one adapter across all of your computers.

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About nine months ago, Razer bought smartphone-maker Nextbit. To be honest, at the time, I thought it was a terrible idea. It felt like Razer was getting involved in too many projects, losing its focus as a gaming peripheral and accessory maker. Not to mention, Nextbit seemed like a poor acquisition, since its design philosophy was cute, colorful, and whimsical, whereas Razer is all about being dark.

Today we finally see the fruit of this marriage, and oh my -- it looks amazing. The "Razer Phone," as it is called, is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and is packing a monstrous 8GB of RAM. It will undoubtedly handle all apps and games you throw at it without breaking a sweat. It even has dual rear 12MP cameras and a huge 4,000 mAh battery with Quick Charge 4+. So, yeah, the specs are great, but that is only part of the story. It is also jaw-droppingly gorgeous! I guess the Nextbit purchase was smart after all...

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Ubuntu is a great operating system, and this year it has gotten even better. Why? The maker of the distribution, Canonical, ditched the much-maligned Unity desktop environment. Instead, the latest version of the distro uses the far-better GNOME.

Not only does Ubuntu get better by using GNOME, but GNOME should improve thanks to Canonical’s contributions. Today, the GNOME Foundation Advisory board announces that Canonical has joined. This makes a lot of sense, as the company’s popular operating system should bring a renewed interest in the desktop environment. In other words, it is win/win for both.

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I am a strong believer in home Wi-Fi security cameras. Being able to monitor my house while away is a godsend. Yeah, it is great for security purposes, but you know where else these products shine? Pets! Yeah, with one of these cameras, you can keep tabs on your dog, cat, bird, lizard -- whatever. If you are at work and want to check in on your pup or kitty, just launch an app and there they are.

Unfortunately, these cameras can be expensive and difficult to set up. But, what if they weren't? What if there was a Wi-Fi camera that was easy to set up and cost, I don't know, say, $20? Surely you cannot get such a Wi-Fi security camera for an "Andrew Jackson," right? Actually, you can! The WyzeCam is that inexpensive and even promises an easy app-based setup process. Quite frankly, the boxy design is quite adorable too. Shockingly, it even streams at 1080p.

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