To quote my main homeboy Charlie Brown, "Good grief!" -- 2015 has been a very difficult year. While no year has ever been perfect, this one has felt particularly long and taxing. Sure, there were positives, such as Caitlyn Jenner's courageous gender change, and the royal birth of baby Charlotte. But sadly, there were also horrific moments, such as the terrorist attacks in Paris, the Germanwings 9525 crash, and the heart-breaking EU refugee crisis.

While the importance of each moment varies in importance from person to person, overall, we have a shared societal experience that makes all of these things impact our lives. Whether you like it or not, the Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy break-up -- as silly as it may be -- has changed the world. A great way to see what is on the minds of people is to analyze search data. Today, Microsoft shares the top Bing searches of 2015. And yes, Kim Kardashian is once again making the list.

If you are a computer builder, you have probably bought a graphics card before. Sure, some people -- like yours truly -- like to utilize on-board graphics when possible to save money, but for the best gaming performance, a dedicated GPU is ideal.

For businesses, however, gaming is not typically a priority. With that said, some companies still have a need for a powerful GPU in a workstation depending on their needs. For instance, if your business works with CAD, it is essential. Today, AMD unveils the FirePro W4300 -- a low-profile beast. It features 4GB of GDDR5 and four mini Display Ports in a svelte package -- perfect for small form factor machines.

Regardless of where you stand on climate change, loving the earth and your fellow inhabitants of said planet are always a positive. Yes, it can be confusing that we are told the world is warming while experiencing crazy amounts of snow, but remember -- your experiences aren't indicative of the entire world. If some small changes in our day to day lives can have a positive impact, why argue about it?

Today, AMD announces that it has signed the American Business Act on Climate pledge, joining President Obama and the White House in protecting humanity from man-made climate change. This is on top of the company's existing initiative to protect the Earth.

As the world's home users trend towards greater cloud-storage adoption, the enterprise continues to -- wisely -- embrace on-premise storage too. Don't forget, the cloud is not magic either; the online storage companies need hard disk drives to store all of this data.

Today, Western Digital's HGST subsidiary announces that it is shipping the world's first 10TB hard disk drive. Featuring perpendicular magnetic recording and a helium-filled body, it is on the cutting-edge. Data center maintainers should go absolutely gaga.

While many Linux users are vocal Microsoft detractors, the truth is, the company is a proponent of the kernel. Yes, in years past, the Windows-maker seemingly looked at Linux with disdain, but times are changing, folks. The company is hiring open source professionals, and even developing apps for the world's most popular Linux distro, Android. Not to mention, Azure has long supported a handful of Linux distributions.

Today, Microsoft is once again embracing Linux by announcing Debian support for Azure. Yes, one of the world's most popular distros is coming to the Azure Marketplace. It is joining other operating systems based on the kernel, such as Ubuntu, RHEL, openSUSE and more.

Years ago, venerable toy-seller Toys R Us ran a brilliant advertisement. It showed a goofy kid playing with a rain-check. Yes, the child was palling-around with a slip of paper. This highlighted the importance of being prepared with your Christmas shopping. Kids, and adults, want actual gifts -- not paper-promises for the future.

The same applies for manufacturers, you see, as launching a product after the holiday shopping season can mean death. My colleague Joe Wilcox highlighted this recently with Google's Pixel C, for which the holiday shopping window is closing. Today, Motorola announces its latest Android Wear smartwatch, the Moto 360 Sport, and it is not even pretending to be aiming for the shopping season in the USA. Nope, the company is targeting the beginning of 2016. Maybe the fancy smartwatch doesn't have a calendar?

Companies are very good at collecting data. Hell, some entities, like Google, make an entire business out of the collection. There is nothing wrong with this -- actually, it is quite wise to collect as much data as possible. The problem, however, is that data is worthless unless you use it and sadly, it is not uncommon for data to be underutilized and sit dormant. In other words, unless you can use it to tell a story, your efforts are for naught.

Luckily, solutions such as Microsoft's Power BI can be used to create value and present data to executives in a meaningful and easily-digestible way. Today, Microsoft announces a new public preview that marries Power BI and the popular voice-assistant, Cortana, in a brilliant marriage of data presentation and interaction.

If you live in the web browser, using a Linux-based operating system makes a lot of sense. By combining say, Ubuntu and Google Chrome, you can have a very secure and easy-to-use platform running the world's best web browser. A bloated and heavy Windows 10, for instance, could be unnecessary.

Sadly, if you are like me, and the first thing you install on any fresh Linux-based operating system is Google Chrome, you might be in for a world of trouble. You see, Google is killing Chrome for Linux; well, the 32-bit version at least. Is Google making a big mistake?

When I am doing personal computing at home, I will often use Ubuntu and LibreOffice. Free and open source solutions are more than enough for my personal needs. Hell, I can sometimes even get by with a Chromebook if my needs are very light.

When it comes to the enterprise, however, and getting serious work done, I depend on Microsoft and its closed source solutions. Software like Office 2016, SharePoint and Skype for Business are absolutely brilliant. The company has earned its dominance in the business space. Today, at the Convergence EMEA conference, it announces new solutions that further cement the company's reign of the enterprise.

When a company gets hacked, and its data is breached, it is hardly news anymore. What I mean is, it is so prevalent nowadays, that we are becoming desensitized to it. I personally received a letter regarding the OPM hack today -- yes, I am apparently a victim. If I can't trust the government to secure my data, who the hell can I trust?

Today, yet another company experiences a breach -- VTech. What makes this hack particularly devious and upsetting, is that children are impacted. Sadly, the company's "Learning Lodge", an online digital store for kids, has been compromised by evil-doers. Your child will now get a strong dose of reality -- nothing is safe online, and now their identities are at risk.

Ahh, Thanksgiving. One of the few days of the year that we fat people get to shine. Many Americans are over-eaters on this gluttonous day. Actually, I am only half-joking about the gluttony; in reality, obesity is no laughing matter. Sadly, the true meaning of the holiday is getting lost more and more each year.

Holiday shopping, fueled largely by technology items, often takes precedence to the more important things in life. I'm most thankful for friends, family, my health and my home. Oh, and of course, the awesome BetaNews readers! With that said, I do love technology too. This year, there is a clear-cut favorite tech item, that has changed my life for the better. It is the...

If you are the type of person that likes to tinker, Linux-based operating systems are for you. You would probably have many hours of fun playing with an Android device or Raspberry Pi. With that said, Linux is not the only game in town.

Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile are probably the last operating systems you would expect to be hacker-friendly. After all, despite its occasional embrace of open source, Microsoft is largely a closed company. Today, this perception could begin to change, you see, as a new tool rocks the mobile community. Called "Windows Phone Internals", it allows Lumia owners to unlock their bootloaders, gain root access and even flash custom ROMs. Whoa.

Shopping on Black Friday can be a great way to save money with amazing deals. With that said, why wait? There are plenty of amazing online deals that are live now. Seriously, forget about waiting on long lines and fighting with other shoppers on Friday; you can get all of your Christmas shopping done now while wearing pajamas.

Of course, not all deals are created equal. Actually, some online deals are straight-up wack. Don't worry, your friends at BetaNews have got your back. For the next few days, I will be updating this article with the hottest tech deals I find online. There are no sponsored links; it is just our way to say "thank you" to our readers. If you find any good deals, please share them in the comments and I might add them to the list!

Time moves forward, not backwards. Try as we may, we all get older, and eventually, die. Yeah, it is sad, but such is life. This same concept applies to technology. As time marches on, both hardware and software will become obsolete eventually; this leads the way for the latest and greatest. Companies cannot be expected to support products forever -- end of life is always a possibility.

Sadly, quite a number of AMD graphics cards have reached end of life today. In other words, the manufacturer will no longer support them. To make the situation particularly harsh, however, the company is abruptly stopping driver development without warning. If you own one of these cards, you will never get a new driver again after today.

About a week ago, the Netrunner team released an update to its rolling release operating system. Based on Arch/Manjaro, I advised Linux beginners to steer clear, and instead opt for the Kubuntu-based variant. There are a couple of reasons for this. For one, the Ubuntu community is arguably friendlier and better for newbies -- there are a ton of instructions and .deb files available too. More importantly, however, the rolling release could be less stable overall.

Well, the newest version of the Kubuntu-based variant, code-named 'Horizon', is now available. Whether you are a Linux expert, or just someone getting started, the beautiful KDE-focused operating system is a smart choice that I highly recommend.