Brian Fagioli

If you are a game developer, the Game Developers Conference is where you want to be. Why? It is a gathering of some of the world's best developers; you are lucky to call these people peers. The event is more monumental for gaming fans, however, as there will be countless amazing announcements coming from it.

Unfortunately, not everyone can make the trip to San Francisco this year. Don't get down on yourself bro; who needs to travel to California, when you can see the most important announcement from GDC live from your home? That's right folks, NVIDIA will be making a big announcement and BetaNews is getting you a front row seat. Grab some popcorn, relax and watch the stream.

Buying a Linux-based PC usually means purchasing a Windows machine and replacing the OS with your favorite distro. While there is nothing terribly wrong with this practice, you are arguably paying for a Windows license that you will never use. In other words, the manufacturer is including the Windows fee into the overall cost. Not to mention, many Linux fans do not like Microsoft, and would prefer to not support the company. I am a Linux fan, but I like Microsoft products too.

Luckily, there are some manufacturers that make pure Linux-based computers, with one of the most popular being System76. This company manufacturers computers exclusively with Ubuntu. Today, the company teases a new small form factor PC -- reminiscent of Intel's NUC -- called Meerkat.

The upcoming Apple Watch looks beautiful, but it has some problems. The most apparent is the cost; rumors are pegging it to start around $350, skyrocketing much higher, depending on the materials you choose. Plus, battery life may be problematic, causing daily or multi-day charges.

The biggest downfall to the Apple Watch, however, is that it is tied to iOS; it will not work on Android, which limits its market. A good alternative is Pebble, as its watches are cross-platform and offer extremely long battery life. The recently-announced Pebble Time has a color screen, but still looks a bit cheap. No worries, as the Pebble Time Steel is here, featuring prettier materials and giving Apple something to worry about. The best feature? Battery life up to 10 days!

Xbox One is probably the best console on the market, although I'm sure PlayStation 4 fans will disagree. Before you call me an "Xbox One fan boy", please know that I don't even own it. So why do I consider it the best? Besides games, its multimedia capabilities and Kinect compatibility put it over the edge for me.

While I don't own Microsoft's latest console, I did buy the Xbox 360 last year. Why? I had never owned one, and got it for a steal at $99. Unfortunately, even though I have a Live Gold membership, that only entitles me to the free 360 games through my console; not Xbox One. This changes today, however, as you can now get free Xbox One games on your Xbox 360 console with a Live Gold membership!

Samsung surprised many yesterday, when it revealed not one new flagship device, but two -- the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Both devices are drop-dead gorgeous, although the Edge is more so. If you decide to buy either phone, it is highly recommended that you buy a durable case.

If you protect the hardware from damage, why not the inside too? Android is more open than iOS, and even if you stick to the Play Store, malware can still reach your device. Don't panic, however, as Samsung has wisely partnered with Intel Security to pre-load its anti-malware solution, McAfee VirusScan Mobile, on these new phones.

Android tablets are a dime a dozen nowadays, making selecting one a bit daunting. Unlike iPad where you only must decide between full-size and mini, tablets running Google's OS come in various shapes, sizes, colors, and prices.

In order to stand out among the sea of rectangular slabs, a company must do something bold and unique. Today, Archos announces the world's first Android tablet to have 256GB of onboard storage. Even cooler? The company announces its fusion storage technology, allowing internal memory to seamlessly combine with a microSD card.

Twitter is investigating an alleged threat by the terror group ISIS against both its founder Jack Dorsey and its employees. The author of the threat indicates anger by the recent banning of Twitter profiles belonging to either members of ISIS, or its sympathizers. A translated version of the threat says that Twitter employees could find themselves murdered due to the removal of the profiles.

BetaNews obtained a quote from Twitter stating, "our security team is investigating the veracity of these threats with relevant law enforcement officials". Surely this is a difficult balancing act for the social network; are terrorists and their sympathizers worthy of free speech protection?

Lenovo is not a company that many people associate with smartphones. While the company is not new to this segment, its phones are absent in the USA. With that said, Lenovo is the now-owner of Motorola, making future phones in this country more possible.

Today, the company announces two beautiful new Android smartphones; the A7000 and VIBE Shot. While the former looks like your standard smartphone, the latter looks more like a camera than a phone.

Slowly but surely, microSD is replacing SD. While most consumer and professional cameras use the larger SD format, smartphones, tablets and other electronics are embracing the smaller. This makes sense, as a smaller card meanss a smaller reader, which in turns means less of a footprint when manufacturing an electronic device.

Today, SanDisk sets the world's collective hearts aflutter with the 200GB Ultra Premium Edition microSDXC card. If you are planning to pick up the new HTC One M9, this should probably work with it. Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge? Not so much.

Windows Phone is a failure. Of course, the term "failure" is subjective, so let me explain. Very few consumers are buying them compared to Android and iPhone, and very few developers are creating apps for it. Yes, some people are buying them, and some talented developers are developing, but "some" does not make a success.

Ultimately, on all platforms -- desktops, mobile devices, game consoles, etc. -- it is the apps and games that move the hardware. Right now, there are no killer apps on Windows Phone compared to Android or iOS. In other words, what is the benefit of using Windows Phone to the average consumer? There arguably is none. Today, Microsoft chooses to proclaim that the platform is seeing "impressive growth". Like "failure", the word "impressive" is subjective, but I think everyone can agree, nothing about Microsoft's mobile platform is currently impressive.

Mobile World Congress 2015 is here, and the news is coming fast and furious. The most anticipated announcement, however, has been Samsung's Galaxy S6. As expected, the smartphone is here, but so is its more beautiful sibling, the S6 Edge. Potentially more important though, is Samsung Pay -- a mobile payment system to rival Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

Unfortunately for Samsung, pundits and analysts have been talking all doom and gloom for the company, something else Apple has had to face. Much like Apple, the analysts are dead-wrong to count out Samsung in the mobile market. Quite frankly, the Android market is the Samsung market -- no other brand of smartphone is more ubiquitous in public. So are these announcements enough? Are they enough to finally make the doom and gloom pundits zip their lips?

HTC is the company many Android-purists root for. Besides the Nexus line of device (which HTC has participated), going with HTC gets you a fairly stock experience with some useful additions. Its "One" line has been massively popular with both users and the media, thanks to its great performance and solid build quality. Just feeling the metal in your hands lets you know thought and care went into the design.

Today, HTC announces an all-new addition to its smartphone lineup; the One M9. This is an evolutionary upgrade from the M7 and M8, which finally drops the controversial dual-rear-camera design. While this smartphone was expected, some other new hardware was not -- HTC also announces a wearable called "Grip" and a VR-headset called "Vive".

Lenovo is a manufacturer under a lot of scrutiny right now. While the Superfish debacle may be fresh on your mind, the company is much more than that onetime mistake. The company's hardware is legendary; well built and respected by both home users and the enterprise alike. The company has since apologized and vowed to stop loading bloatware on machines. In other words, while Superfish was bad, the fallout is benefiting consumers, as the new PC experience will be improved. Kudos to the company for learning from its mistakes and actually improving as a result.

Moving beyond mistakes, Lenovo is at Mobile World Congress 2015, where it is announcing new products. Today, the company announces three new tablets; one is running Windows 8.1, while the other two are running Android. Which OS do you prefer on a tablet?

Cloud storage is the future. You can try to hold out, but all that kicking and screaming won't do you any good. While physical storage for home users won't be going away any time soon, the convenience of the cloud will convert many.

It feels like all the top cloud storage companies are eager to give away space nowadays, so it can be hard to choose. My choice is Dropbox, however, as it is cross-platform, including Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora. Today, Dropbox announces that Vodafone smartphone users can get 25GB of storage for free.

Buying a new laptop, tablet or other device should be a fun experience. No one likes spending money, because let's be honest -- you work hard for it. When you finally decide to make that purchase, you want to be sure that you bought the right machine. Not only do you want to be sure that it is powerful enough, but you also don't want to pay for power you don't need. A wrong decision can turn a fun experience into regret.

Unfortunately, it can be confusing for the non-tech oriented consumer. Intel's battery-sipping Atom processors can be brilliant for low-cost machines, but the naming conventions are convoluted and can confuse customers. This is changing, however, as Intel is rebranding the Atom line.