About 10 years ago, I was relaxing in my apartment watching TV. All of a sudden, I noticed smoke beginning to come from the walls. In a panic, I looked out my door to see that the auto parts store below me was on fire. Rather than put on shoes or grab any belongings, I ran onto the busy road and asked a motorist to call 911. Long story short, I lost all of my belongings.

Living through a fire is a traumatic experience, and anything that can prevent such a tragedy is worthwhile. That is why today I applaud Apple for voluntarily recalling the potentially dangerous Beats Pill XL. Yes, this popular speaker can carry the risk of fire.

When buying a laptop, there are some specific things you should look for, such as RAM, storage and battery life. You should also pick the size and weight that best meets your needs. When choosing a processor, however, you should really do your homework. Not all processors are created equal -- you can have two with identical clock speeds with extremely different performance.

Today, AMD announces its all-new 6th generation A-Series notebook processors (previously referred to as "Carizzo") and you should definitely take notice. Not only are these new notebook processors very powerful, but extremely capable too. Will your next laptop be powered by a 6th gen A-Series processor?

Besides being a video game console, the PlayStation 4 is also a media machine. Quite frankly, along with the Xbox One, it is one of the best such media players, since it can play Blu-ray and all of the popular streaming services. You can even buy and download films to the internal 500GB hard drive.

Unfortunately, Sony's console does not come with a remote control; the user is expected to control their media with the game controller. True, if a users wants a proper remote, they can buy a third-party Bluetooth variant, but what if they want one remote to handle all of their devices? Today is their lucky day. You see, Logitech Harmony remotes with Hub can now control the console. Unfortunately, there is a big catch.

Many (OK, most) people use Google to conduct their web searches, and why not? It is a great search engine which I use regularly too.  However, it is important to remember that there are other choices available too. While some talk up the privacy benefits of DuckDuckGo, I find its results to be lacking. For me, besides Google, the only other worthy search engine is Bing. Not only does Microsoft's search engine offer great results, but it is pretty too. While Google's search interface is bare-bones, Bing offers a more visually pleasing experience with beautiful photos.

If you are a Bing fan like me, you would probably like to visit the Bing Headquarters for a tour right? Of course you would; that would be friggin' awesome! Guess what? This can become a reality. Simply enter the Ultimate Bing Experience III sweepstakes and you and a friend might win a trip to Seattle on August 10, 2015.

Microsoft's turnaround under Satya Nadella is both striking and awe-inspiring. For a while there, Microsoft was seemingly uncool, Windows 8 was despised and the company's mobile presence was horrid. Now? Microsoft is arguably cooler than both Apple and Google, Windows 10 looks to be its best operating system ever, and it has an arsenal of great cross-platform apps, such as Office, Skype, OneNote and Outlook.

Today, Microsoft continues its impressive upward trajectory and acquires one of the best to-do services available -- Wunderlist.

When a consumer is ready to buy a new smartphone, they primarily have two options -- iPhone or Android. While both of those options are great, a duopoly can be harmful to consumers. Having more options is preferable. True, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Firefox OS are options, but hardly lighting the world on fire. Can any mobile platform truly compete?

For many, Ubuntu is the light at the end of the tunnel. Whether it will ultimately be a success is unknown, but it certainly has a chance. Today, the latest and greatest phone running Canonical's operating system is released -- the BQ Aquaris E5 HD Ubuntu Edition.

Have you ever dreamed about getting rich from creating and selling apps? Me too. Unfortunately, I have literally zero coding skills. In other words, even if I had a brilliant idea for an app, I could not create it, and that is just sad.

Being illiterate with programming is something that I am both ashamed of and regret. Luckily, I am not dead yet, so this is still a skill I can achieve. Thanks to Google and Udacity, I may even be able to do it for free. Yes, free training courses are now available! Check it out.

If you are a hardcore PC gamer, you probably have a really nice desktop. While a tower is the smartest way to go for gaming, not everybody has the room for one. Hell, many people need a laptop and cannot afford a secondary desktop just for gaming. In recent years, gaming laptops have gained in popularity as a result.

Today, NVIDIA announces that it is bringing a feature to laptops, which was once exclusive to desktops -- G-SYNC. Yes, this technology will now allow notebook users to have smoother gameplay.

Bluetooth speakers are a dime a dozen nowadays. For such a speaker to stand out, it has to have something to differentiate it from competitors. While exceptional sound quality is always the goal, it is sadly not enough anymore.

The onanoff SoundCover for iPad Air piqued my interest because it offered a unique design. Quite frankly, the concept was so odd, that I didn't even understand it at first. As you can see in the below unboxing video, I assumed that it would prop up the iPad Air with a Surface-like stand, while sending the sound through the rear. This is not the case.

Early on in the Windows 10 preview program, things looked a bit grim. While I was confident Microsoft would pull it all together eventually, I was dubious that the company could meet its self-imposed summer deadline. Not only were there many bugs, but some baffling design choices.

A lot has changed since then. Since build 10122, I am totally convinced that not only will Windows 10 be ready by the summer, but it will be exceptional too. Today, Microsoft releases Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10130. The company is wisely putting the major focus on tightening up the experience instead of introducing new features. Don't worry though, there are some new features in the build. Sadly, there is one major bug too.

When you are building a computer, selecting the right brands for the components matter. In other words, you should do your research, read reviews, and find out which manufacturers have the best quality and reliability. This is how I discovered G.SKILL RAM years ago. Through my own experiences, I found the high marks its hardware receives are very much warranted.

Today, G.SKILL announces that it has set a world record. Get ready to drool folks, as the company has achieved 4062MHz on air-cooled DDR4 memory. Whoa.

It seems like Intel gets all the attention in the PC hardware world lately. True, Intel makes some damn good processors, but so does AMD. Quite frankly, if you are looking for a great value and impressive game performance, AMD has some wonderful offerings.

Today, the company announces the A10-7870K APU. Not only is it a very powerful processor with a clock speed up to 4.1Ghz, but it is extremely affordable. Seriously, this value is incredible. Will this APU be powering your next build?

Windows 10 will soon be unleashed upon consumers around the globe. So far, based on the previews, it is a damn good operating system. Fundamentally, the user interface is beautiful and should make more sense to users compared to Windows 8. While some bugs still persist, Microsoft should be able to firm everything up by the summer.

Unfortunately, there is still one glaring issue that remains -- the Windows Store is full of garbage. It is so overrun with fake apps and knockoffs, that it can be hard to find the legitimate offerings. While Microsoft has promised to clean it up in the past, the desired results never came to fruition. Today, however, the company is promising to take out the trash once again. Will this time be different?

Consuming media -- music and movies -- is one of my favorite hobbies. While this used to happen with VHS, DVD and CD, I have transitioned entirely to using streaming and downloaded files. The majority of my consumption happens on Windows, where I use a USB DAC to get the best audio performance.

Today, Dolby announces that Microsoft has selected its technologies to be featured in Windows 10. This means consumers should benefit from an improved audio experience.

Lenovo's Yoga line of laptops has been a favorite of mine. In addition to Microsoft's Surface line, Yoga has proven to be a great way to experience Windows on a 2-in-1 with very little compromise. While I was a fan of the 13 inch Yoga variants, I found them a bit too large for my liking. Believe it or not, I prefer 11.6 inch laptops as I am always on the move; I'll turn anything into a work space as long as there is Wi-Fi (shout-out to Starbucks).

When I got the opportunity to review the all-new Lenovo Yoga 3 11, I was elated. Not only does the size and Yoga flexibility meet my needs, but Lenovo quality is something I am fond of too. Historically, I have found the manufacturer's hardware to be well-built and reliable. Will the Lenovo Yoga 3 11 match my high expectations?