Brian Fagioli

Soccer is a very popular sport globally, especially in places like Europe and South America. With that said, it is not a huge deal in the United States. True, there are fans of the sport in the USA, but its popularity comes nowhere near, say, baseball, basketball, or football. Unfortunately, this means that many televised matches do not reach all markets. Heck, some matches don't even get broadcast in the English language!

If you are a fan of professional soccer in the USA, however, I have some very good news for you. Some Major League Soccer matches will soon be broadcast on Facebook Live. These are games that would have only been broadcast on TV in Spanish, but will now get the English treatment on the social network. In other words, English-speaking soccer fans are getting increased access to the sport.

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There is a new trend in console gaming, where existing consoles are enhanced rather than replaced. For instance, the Xbox One S and PlayStation 4 Pro aren't really new consoles, but upgrades of the current generation. They may have new features, but they play the exact same games.

Microsoft's next generation of video game console is currently called "Project Scorpio." This will be a truly new console, although it will be backwards compatible with all Xbox One games -- nice. In fact, you will even be able to use your Xbox One controllers and other accessories. While we do not have a definitive date of when it will go on sale, today the next Xbox console makes its debut in the Microsoft Store. We even get a slightly better idea of when it will be in stores.

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As a fan of Hip-Hop music, I spent a lot of my time as a young man digging through crates and collecting vinyl records. Many of my weekends were spent searching for gems in NYC at record stores such as Fat Beats and Beat Street -- it was a lot of fun. Today, I have probably over a thousand records -- many of which cannot be found on digital music services, meaning owning a record player is still a must.

Believe it or not, there are many modern turntables on the market nowadays, as the medium still has a big following. Today, Pyle releases an unusual model that plays the records vertically. While not the first player to do so, it is still out of the ordinary. In addition, it has a USB port for transferring the analog records to digital, plus Bluetooth for playing modern devices using the turntable's integrated speakers.

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As more consumers embrace the cloud for storage, and fewer computers ship with optical drives, it is easy to think that the concept of burning Blu-ray, DVD, and CD discs is outdated. Yeah, maybe it is. With that said, some people -- including yours truly -- still like to store data on optical discs. Heck, some people use their computers to play video and audio from these discs too.

The newest type of optical video disc is Ultra HD Blu-ray, allowing the user to experience 4K content. Unfortunately, these discs require entirely new hardware -- they are not backwards compatible. Today, Pioneer (one of the most respected optical drive manufacturers) announces its newest internal BD/DVD/CD writer -- the BDR-211UBK. This drive has a very cool feature -- it can play those newfangled Ultra HD Blu-rays.

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Solid state drives are wonderful upgrades for consumer computers, but the possibilities also exist in the enterprise. Quite frankly, reliably maintaining data and large databases can be critically important to the success of many businesses. If an organization can get an edge, such as faster performance from their storage drives, it could be prove to be very valuable.

Today, Kingston Digital announces that it has begun shipping its all-new DCP1000 SSD for data centers. The ultra-fast PCIe NVMe SSD features 7GB/s speed and up to 3.2TB of storage capacity. Yeah, this thing is godly.

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PC gaming is a huge business nowadays, with consumers not only spending a lot of money on games and hardware, but dedicating much time to the pastime too. Heck, people don't just play video games themselves, they also watch other people play them. Amazon's Twitch platform is full of people streaming themselves playing games, and even more people watching them.

As the gaming scene grows, the hardware offerings seem to get better and better. After all, the bigger the market, the bigger the incentive to cater to it. Logitech has long supported the PC gaming community, especially with its iconic "G" series of hardware. Today, the company is bringing a new professional-level keyboard to market. Called "G Pro Mechanical Gaming Keyboard," it is designed for those that take their gaming sessions seriously and are willing to invest in quality accessories.

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Arch is a very cool Linux distribution, but it isn't for the faint of heart. Once it is installed and running, it can be very rewarding. Unfortunately, it is the installation that can be a pain point. Yeah, installing Arch from scratch can be a good learning experience, but some folks just want to use an operating system as a tool -- not to get an education.

Luckily, some distributions offer a friendlier installer with an Arch base -- the best of both worlds. One such popular Linux distro that uses Arch as a base is the wonderful Manjaro. Today, the operating system reaches version 17.0. Code-named "Gellivara," it features a refreshed settings manager, offering a more attractive design. Users can choose between two desktop environments -- Xfce and KDE.

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Google Play is much more than an app store -- it is also the search giant's digital shop for games, music, videos, and books. While it is primarily designed for Android, purchases can be enjoyed on other platforms too. Quite frankly, Google Play Music, for instance, works brilliantly on desktop browsers for Windows, Mac, and Linux-based systems.

Today, Google Play is celebrating its 5th birthday! Yes, it was on March 6, 2012, that the Android-maker made the store available to the public. To mark the occasion, Google is sharing several all-time "Top Five" lists for various categories, such as albums, books, and games.

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Linux and other open source projects are changing the world. If you don't believe it, just think of Android -- the most used mobile operating system is a Linux distro. Not to mention, many consumer products license open source code. Heck, even major companies like Microsoft and Apple are embracing open source nowadays.

Today, VMware shows its commitment to the open source community by becoming a Linux Foundation Gold Member. The company joins many other successful companies at that level, such as Facebook, Toshiba, and Toyota, to name a few.

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Watching two television channels at once is hardly new -- picture-in-picture has been an option on some televisions for years. Many people misunderstand the benefits of watching multiple channels at once, however. Obviously you wouldn't want to watch two movies or two sitcoms at once -- that would be maddening. Where this feature shines, however, is with sports, and to a lesser extent, news.

If you are a fan of two or more sporting teams that play at the same time, watching several games at once can be great. Today, Sony's PlayStation Vue gets simultaneous multi-view -- the ability two watch up to three live television channels at once. This is perfectly timed for the upcoming March Madness basketball tournament, but it can be used for any combination of channels on the service.

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If you need a webcam, there is one company that you should look to first -- Logitech. No, they aren't the only maker of these cameras, but the company has a long track record of producing quality offerings. Best of all, Logitech webcams usually work brilliantly regardless of operating system -- Windows, Mac, and Linux-based.

The problem with buying webcams, however, is that they are already integrated into most laptops nowadays, making them seem like an unnecessary purchase. Yeah, I get that -- why buy a webcam when your computer already has one? The answer is simple -- quality. Many computers come with webcams that aren't even 720p. Apple infamously put a 480p webcam on its svelte MacBook... including the refreshed model in 2016! With that said, Logitech has created a webcam with an amazing 4K capability. Called the BRIO 4K Pro Webcam, I have been using it for a few weeks on both Windows 10 and macOS and I am absolutely in love.

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AMD recently released its all-new Ryzen 7 desktop processors, and many folks are excited. Well, I am sure Intel isn't too happy, actually. Why? AMD's new chips are comparable from a performance standpoint, but at lower prices. Believe it or not, with this new AM4 platform, this is AMD's fist time embracing DDR4 memory.

If you want powerful and compatible RAM for a new Ryzen build, there are many choices. With that said, there is one popular brand of memory that many gamers enjoy nowadays -- G.SKILL. Today, the company announces two new RAM kits -- Flare X and FORTIS. They can be had in various speeds and capacities, with the Flare X being offered with frequencies up to 3,466MHz!

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While Skype in general is in desperate need of some TLC by Microsoft, the communication solution is still rather wonderful. The cross-platform nature makes it a wise choice for both personal and business use. In other words, you never have to worry if a family member, client, or co-worker is using a device that is Skype-compatible -- most modern devices and computers are.

Yes, Microsoft even makes Skype available for desktop Linux-based operating systems. With that said, the most recent usable version was merely an Alpha -- functional, but hardly bug free. Today, this changes, as Skype for Linux 5.0 graduates to Beta.

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The Raspberry Pi line of mini computers -- including the all-new Pi Zero W -- are wonderful devices for what they are. Quite frankly, they have inspired many young people to learn about programming, while helping makers to create some really cool projects. With that said, the Pi computers are not the only System on a Chip solutions on the market. Actually, there are more powerful ARM-based offerings available. The problem? They are often radically more expensive than Raspberry Pi.

However, there is a new Raspberry Pi competitor that is quite affordable. In fact, some folks may view it as a Pi-killer. The $30 FriendlyElec NanoPi M1 Plus has an arguably superior design and layout, plus important integrated features like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It even has an IR receiver, onboard microphone, 8GB storage, and both power and reset buttons. Best of all? It is ready to run Debian, Ubuntu Core, and Ubuntu Mate from the start.

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Thanks to its Unix foundation, macOS is a rock-solid desktop operating system. While it is not infallible, there are far fewer malware threats for Apple's OS compared to, say, Windows 10. With that said, Microsoft's desktop offering is more targeted due to its monstrous market share.

As more and more consumers buy Mac computers, evildoers will have increased incentive to write malware for macOS. Luckily, users of Apple's operating system that choose to use Google Chrome for web surfing will soon be safer. You see, the search giant is improving its Safe Browsing initiative to better warn macOS users of malicious websites and attempts to alter browser settings.

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