Tonight is President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address. Regardless of your opinion of the man, or his policies, it is certainly monumental. After all, his being elected broke racial barriers; inspiring countless people of various backgrounds. More importantly, however, he has done many arguably positive things. While he has many more months in office, it is still a farewell of sorts.

Hopefully you will tune in for the historic broadcast, and if you do, you might consider choosing CNN or MSNBC. If you are Spanish-speaking, you should consider NBC Universo, and Telemundo too. Am I endorsing specific networks? Not really. I only suggest them because they will be leveraging Microsoft Pulse; something BetaNews readers should appreciate and enjoy.

If you want a very secure and feature-rich Unix-like mobile operating system, Apple's iOS is incredible. In fact, many forward thinking folks, like myself, envision a day where it becomes a desktop OS too, potentially replacing OS X. While iPad Pro is a good first step, the iOS operating system still has a long way to go in that regard.

Today, Apple announces the features for the upcoming iOS 9.3 -- currently in beta. While hardly revolutionary, this evolutionary upgrade is packed full of some really cool new things. It may even be able to help you sleep better. No, really; iOS 9.3 could improve your overall health and well-being.

As the media landscape changes, alternative media is becoming much more popular. Creators on online platforms like YouTube and Twitch are becoming stars, rivaling their mainstream media counterparts. In other words, someone like PewDiePie could possibly attract a bigger crowd than some network TV stars.

Unfortunately, there is still a stigma that being a YouTube creator, for example, is a lesser level of celebrity. Well, Google is aiming to change this, and today, it announces that it will continue the tradition of giving some YouTube stars the opportunity to interview President Obama a few days after his final State of the Union address. Does this further legitimize YouTube creators?

While Wi-Fi is ubiquitous nowadays, it is still a miraculous technology. If you grew up with it, you may take it for granted. Me? My early computing involved chatting on IRC using unreliable dial-up connections. Connecting to the Internet without wires is magic as far as I am concerned.

The technologies behind Wi-Fi and networking has improved dramatically throughout the years -- faster, longer range and, more reliable. If you just bought an 802.11ac router, please know that it is no longer cutting-edge. Why? Well, today, TP-LINK announces the Talon AD7200 -- the world's first 802.11ad Multi-band Wi-Fi Router, and with eight antennas, it looks absolutely wild. It offers a mind-boggling 4.6Gbps using 60GHz bands!

USB is one of the most important inventions in the history of computing. You young folks don't know how good you have it -- before USB, installing hardware was a huge headache. Over time, the standard has become faster and ubiquitous, but always had one huge issue -- knowing which way to connect it! A rectangle is a stupid port design; that was one way the now-dead FireWire was superior.

The invention of USB Type-C, however, remedied that large user pain point. This new connector can now be inserted in any direction, making USB even better. Some companies, like Google and Apple, were early to adopt it, but now, it is starting to explode in popularity. Today, Toshiba announces some good-looking USB Type-C drives, with its new Canvio Premium HDD and the TransMemory EX Dual flash drive.

When it comes to desktop computing, I love me some Linux. While Ubuntu is my favorite distro of the moment, I use many others from time to time, such as Fedora, deepin, and Linux Mint. My desktop environment preference is Unity or Gnome, but I understand the love for Mint's Cinnamon or MATE. If you are coming from Windows, and prefer the "Start Menu" approach as an interface, both of those primary Mint DEs will make you comfortable.

Since Mint is based on Ubuntu, there are tons of available packages, and online support -- no wonder it is so popular in the Linux community. Today, new details about version 18 of the operating system have made their way to the web. We now know the code name, approximate release date and Ubuntu version for its base! What is the code name? Well, if you are a fan of Sex and the City, you might be excited, as it shares the first name of the lead actress. Can you guess?

In 2015, AMD owned the PC gaming world. Its brilliant cards were not only powerful, but reasonably priced too. Hell, they were downright beautiful; the Fury X and R9 Nano specifically, were engineering marvels and works of art.

My favorite trend of the year, however, was the acceptance of AMD's FreeSync technology -- which reduces lag and tearing -- by monitor manufacturers. Unlike Nvidia's G-SYNC, it is an open technology, and better for both consumers and the gaming industry alike. Today, Samsung announces three curved gaming monitors that all feature AMD FreeSync over HDMI.

The economy may be better for some, but for many, it is still bad, leading to downsized homes or moving in with relatives. Of course, this means smaller work spaces; the idea of having a dedicated computer room with large desk and PC is slowly disappearing. While consumers' bank accounts continue to shrink, luckily, so too do computers.

The Intel Compute Stick, for instance, takes up very little space, while historically being affordable too. Unfortunately, even though the tiny stick could run full Windows, it was a bit under-powered. Today, however, this changes. The Compute Stick receives a Skylake Core M processor refresh, making it a much more powerful -- and expensive -- affair. For more conservative budgets, however, Intel announces an upgraded Atom model too.

Here's the deal, folks; I eat meat. Cows, fish, chickens, lamb -- I do not discriminate. With that said, me having to kill these poor creatures would break my heart. Does it make me a hypocrite that I can eat something, while simultaneously caring for it? Probably. Unless my life depended on it, however, I could never hunt. That is not an attack on hunters -- if you eat what you kill, more power to you.

While I understand the need to hunt for food, I do frown on enjoying the kill. So I am a bit upset by the Bracketron Xventure hunting mounts. These products let you mount an iPhone or other camera on your rifle or bow so you can record video of your kill. Why does this upset me? Well, I struggle to understand someone actually wanting to replay and relive the memory of taking an animal's life. Am I off-base here?

Hey, bro -- ready to do some extreme sports? Yeah, me too. I'm about to do some naked skydiving and then surf during a hurricane. Of course, I will capture all of my gnarly adventures with my camera, so I can show-off how extreme my life is on social media, bro.

Obviously, I am joking, dear BetaNews readers. As you know by now, the most extreme I get is getting a venti blonde roast from Starbucks rather than a tall. Still, despite my boring life, I like rugged technology. This is especially true when it comes to backing up files. My family photos are precious to me -- the more durable the storage drive, the better. Today, Sandisk announces such a hardcore external drive -- the Extreme 510 Portable SSD.

If you are in the market for a new laptop, you will probably target a Windows 10 variant. You know what? That's a smart choice. Microsoft's operating system has a ton of cool programs and apps available for it. The problem? There is a lot of malware targeting it too. With that said, if everything you do is on the web -- social media, web surfing, and email to name a few -- maybe Google's Chrome OS is the better choice. While limited compared to Windows, it is arguably safer. Chromebooks are often less expensive too.

Today, citing high consumer demand for Chrome OS, Samsung announces its all-new 11.6-inch Chromebook 3. This compact and beautiful laptop features a keyboard that looks absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, the rest of the package is a bit ho-hum.

Many people decry Samsung's design choices for copying Apple. As much as I love Samsung products -- the company makes great phones, washing machines, televisions and more -- I cannot defend against those claims. With that said, if you are going to borrow design philosophies from any company, Apple is a good choice.

Today, Samsung announces the Galaxy TabPro S -- a large tablet that is reminiscent of both Apple's iPad Pro and Microsoft's Surface line. The company had previously released the Galaxy Tab Pro, but that large tablet ran Android and was a dud with consumers. This time, the "S" variant runs full Windows 10, like the Surface, but with no kickstand and a keyboard a bit more like the iPad Pro in its connectivity. Obviously, the trackpad and key-type is more Microsoft than Apple. Regardless of design inspiration, it looks like a winner.

Want to know some stereotypes about PC gamers? They all drink mountain dew, they all live in their mom's basement, and they all love LED lights. While some gamers are all these things, it is silly to say they all do -- it is not factual for all. Well, maybe LED lights. I am fairly confident that all PC gamers love LEDs! Whether it is a desktop PC with a window, mouse, or keyboard, there is a good chance they all glow, or at least one does.

Apparently, Logitech agrees with me. Today, the company announces the G502 Proteus Spectrum Gaming Mouse. No, it is not an entirely new mouse -- it is simply the existing G502 Proteus Core with some LED lighting shoved inside for fun. You know what? It's friggin' brilliant.

While some people like to poke fun at Apple for always focusing on thin and light products, the truth is, it matters. Sure, it should never be at the expense of the overall user experience, such as battery life or performance, but if you can make a product svelte, why not?

Today, Toshiba delivers a very slim Windows 10 tablet. Actually, at 0.27 inches thin and 1.28 pounds, the dynaPad is the thinnest and lightest 12-inch Windows 10 tablet in the history of mankind. It isn't a one-trick pony, however, as it features a Wacom drawing and writing experience, with 2,048 levels of pressure too.

While Windows 10 is a solid operating system, it is nowhere close to being perfect. Actually, for 2015, I am comfortable saying Ubuntu was the superior operating system. The Linux-based OS is rock solid, while being straightforward -- no confusing privacy settings, silly live tiles, or aggressive upgrade tactics. Quite frankly, Ubuntu 15.10 with Unity is currently my favorite operating system. This is saying a lot, as I have historically preferred Fedora with GNOME.

Today, the first official Alpha of the upcoming Ubuntu 16.04 'Xenial Xerus' becomes available for download. By the way, a Xerus is apparently an African squirrel; you can see an image of one above. Before you get too excited, however, Unity is not available, nor is GNOME or KDE. No, this is exclusively a LXDE, MATE, and Kylin (for Chinese-language users) affair.