The iPad has been a game-changing product. While the tech world was skeptical of Apple's tablet at first, this was because most didn't understand it. You truly needed to hold it and use it to experience an "aha" moment.

With holding, however, comes dropping. From the start, it was clear that a case would be needed to protect the investment. Since the  iPad's release, there have been countless cases from many manufactures. Some were wonderful, many were terrible. Logitech, however, has always made great iPad accessories. Today, the company announces the BLOK case family for iPad. This is notable as these are the first products under its new Logi label.

Adobe is not having a good time right now. Its Flash product has more security holes than Swiss cheese, making it a recurring target for hackers and bad guys. The tech world owes Steve Jobs an apology for poo-pooing his choice to disallow Flash from iOS. Things have gotten so bad, that Mozilla is blocking it by default as a major security risk.

Today, however, System76 takes it to another level. The Ubuntu Linux-loving computer seller has decided to stop pre-installing Flash on its machines. The decision to pre-install Adobe's software on its computers -- as a way to make Linux more friendly -- looked wise back in 2007, but has now proven to be a disservice to its customers. Is System76 right to do this?

Microsoft makes damn good hardware. The Xbox One and the Surface Pro 3 are works of art, beloved by many. Hell, even its peripherals, such as keyboards, mice and webcams are mostly winners.

One place where it doesn't shine, however, is the Surface Type Cover keyboard. I can get by with it when on the go, but I would certainly prefer a big beautiful mechanical variant for heavy lifting. If you do like the Type Cover, and have wanted to use it on your other devices, today is your lucky day. The Windows-maker announces the Universal Foldable Keyboard. Guess what it is? It is a universal keyboard... that is foldable. The keys and design are very reminiscent of the Surface Type Cover -- but do consumers really want that?

Can you believe that the microSD Card is ten years old? It's true. On July 13, 2005, the final specification was unleashed upon the world. Smaller than a postage stamp, the little card allowed manufacturers to feature removable storage in smaller devices. While this mostly benefited the cellphone and smartphone markets, it has been used in other devices too, such as the renowned Surface Pro 3 and many mp3 players.

While the birthday alone is worthy of a celebration, there is yet another major milestone with the card type. SanDisk, the inventor of the format, announces that it has shipped 2 billion microSD cards. Keep in mind, that is only SanDisk's sales. Mamma mia, that's a lot of cards!

The future of business -- and for some, the present -- is a world without barriers. Gone is the anger-inducing commute and soul-sucking cubicles. Working from home, the coffee shop, or even the beach from the device of your choice is a real possibility.

The problem, however, is a lack of easy to use collaboration, delegation and tracking tools. Not to mention the overwhelming number of in-use programs -- and devices -- that do not communicate with each other. Simply sharing a screen with remote users and dialing into a conference line is a recipe for boredom and failure. There needs to be a better way. Microsoft is hoping its new solution Project GigJam -- announced today at the 2015 Worldwide Partner Conference -- is that way.

Data is the most important and valuable thing in the world. Diamonds and gold are just rocks in the ground by comparison. Want proof? Look at Google. Collecting information and storing data creates power and has huge value.

The problem with data, however, is that it only has value when it tells a story. In other words, you have to actually use the data you collect at some point. You can have giant SQL tables full of the secrets of the universe, but you need to be able to utilize and share it. Tableau is a popular visualization solution in the data analysis world, but it is clunky and confusing. Microsoft's solution, Power BI, looks much more promising and useful. Today, the company announces that it is exiting Preview and will be generally available on July 24th.

"The PC is dead". "Tablets are the future". Blah, blah, blah. Total bullsh*t. Now that many apparent tech "experts" have tired of proclaiming the PC to be dead, we can finally enjoy our Windows, Linux and OS X personal computers in peace.

While PCs are still alive, not all is well in the market. According to IDC, shipments of these computers in Q215 were down once again, even lower than expected -- an 11.8 percent decrease, year over year -- ouch. While I am sure many OEMs are hurting, there is some good news on the horizon -- a new version of Windows coming July 29! While the much maligned tile-heavy Windows 8 did nothing to jump-start PC sales, Windows 10 may have that ability. Can Windows 10 be the PC market savior?

When I bought my Microsoft Band, I had very lofty goals of losing weight and getting in shape. The reality, however, is that such a device is not magic -- you still have to put in the work. While I am still a fat guy, Band has certainly been a motivator and useful companion -- I am still determined to have my body Speedo-ready eventually.

Unfortunately, besides fitness, its usefulness is a bit limited; I use it for alerts and Starbucks payments, but not much else. Luckily, Microsoft seems to be committed to the platform and making it better over time. Today, Microsoft announces new Web Tiles and Cloud APIs. How will this improve Band? By wisely focusing on -- allow me to quote the beloved Steve Ballmer -- "developers, developers, developers, developers". Yes, developers are the key.

When buying a monitor, 1080p is more than fine for most people. Unfortunately, we computer nerds -- including you, my dear BetaNews readers -- are not most people. We want the newest hardware, early adopter issues be damned. Obviously, we all want 4K displays, but they are super expensive, right? Not anymore.

AOC is a company that is near and dear to my heart. While not a top-of-the-line manufacturer, it certainly produces great quality at affordable prices -- a value brand, if you will. Today it announces the 28 inch 4k U2870VQE monitor. At first, I'm like, OK, a new 4K monitor, so? Then I saw the $349 price and nearly fainted!

AMD is a company on the cusp of a resurgence. True, its recent financial performance has been disappointing, and it has been trailing Intel with performance, but there is a very bright light at the end of the tunnel. Its new APUs are very promising, while the recently announced Radeon 300 series and Fury X graphics cards have excited the PC gaming community.

Today, AMD announces a beast-mode level GPU that is designed for servers. The FirePro S9170 is a single-card solution that will leave those that work with high performance computing drooling. In other words, AMD is making supercomputers even more super!

In the technology business, companies come and go all of the time. This is due to many things, but mostly changing trends and companies resting on their laurels rather than constantly evolving. A recent example of this is BlackBerry -- formerly known as RIM. It was on the top of the world -- it owned the enterprise smartphone market while also being wildly popular with consumers. Today, the company is arguably on life support -- a shell of its former self -- caught off guard by the iPhone.

Enough talk about failures, let us instead talk about a success in the technology world -- Logitech. The peripheral maker formed in 1981, making impressive mice. It has since branched out to make much more, like headsets, speakers, and keyboards to name a few. Of course, it still makes awesome mice! Today, the company is making some very bold moves -- a new logo, design philosophy and 'Logi' sub-brand.

As one of the few (at least it feels that way) people who subscribes to Xbox Music, I have a real love/hate relationship with the service. On Windows 8.1 and 10, it is absolutely glorious. Finding music is easy and it integrates very well with the operating system. On iOS and Android? Not so much. On Google's operating system in particular, the songs skip, making a satisfying listening experience impossible. There is no iPad-optimized version at all. Sigh.

Today, Microsoft is rebranding Xbox Music to Groove (not to be confused with Microsoft Office Groove). While I find the name to be an improvement, many Xbox fans will likely dislike the new name. Hell, I don't care what it is called, as long as it works well. One thing is for sure, a new name will not solve the usability woes. However, I am hopeful that a new brand means a renewed interest in developing the service for the better.

Solid state drives are the bee's knees as far as I am concerned -- the best upgrade any PC user can make. Even as prices come down, however, there is still a big issue -- limited capacities. Understandably, a user might be hesitant to replace a 1 or 2TB hard drive with a much smaller SSD.

Well, today this changes. Samsung -- a very reputable company -- launches the massive 2TB 850 PRO and EVO SSDs. While this is certainly reason for celebration (and drooling), the price tags may shock consumers.

A company's reputation can make or break it. No matter how good the product, a poor perception of the brand can negatively impact it. Sony, for example, is still recovering from its numerous blunders, such as installing rootkits on Windows machines and having its PlayStation network hacked. The company was not particularly open about both situations at first, leading many people -- myself included -- to be hesitant to trust it.

Samsung, however, seems to be the darling of the tech sector lately. Its smartphones and tablets are wildly popular, despite pundits constantly looking for it to fail. Guess what? According to a new study, the company is more reputable than Google, Microsoft and Apple. The study looked at "social responsibility, innovation, product and services excellence, and creating a great workplace environment".

Many people do not have the luxury of having a dedicated work space in their homes. Because of this, you will often see people working in coffee shops with their laptops. I am one of these people, but I have a major issue -- I hate notebook trackpads! I can get by with them, but they are not my favorite. Because of this, I choose to use a mobile mouse.

Unfortunately, many of these mice are full of compromises, so I am constantly looking for something better. Today, I am looking at the Logitech MX Anywhere 2 -- one of the most promising mobile mice I've seen in some time. Will I finally find my dream mouse?