Brian Fagioli

When it comes to fashion, there are two distinct roads a person can travel -- conformity or individuality. In other words, you can follow the trends and only wear what is popular, or buck the trends and do your own thing. Many people are perfectly happy being a fashion conformist, but others want to let their freak-flag fly.

Believe it or not, this applies to computers and accessories too. Some people buy boring, corporate-looking laptops, while others buy ones with weird colors or slap stickers all over it. Logitech is a company that embraces a consumer's choice to be unique, as it has released many products with unique color patterns, such as mice. Today, the company continues that trend, with the 2014 color collection for some of its popular pointing devices.

The evolution of the computer mouse is well documented. When the first mouse was invented, I am sure no one at the time expected to predict the insane future that gaming mice would create. For the most part, people can get by with a 2 button mouse -- hell, Apple stuck with the single-button mouse for quite a while, punishing its users for some ungodly reason. But I digress, extra buttons such as back/forward and scroll wheels are appreciated extras that many cannot live without.

Gaming mice however, take things to a different level; the craziest I've ever seen being the Logitech G600 MMO mouse that features 20 programmable buttons. Today, ROCCAT unveils a new mouse with 16 programmable buttons, spread out across the pointing device. While that does not best the previously mentioned G600, it does have something extremely odd -- a dorsal fin. Yes, much like a dolphin, this mouse has a dorsal fin. Please let that sink in for a minute.

Google Hangouts has become the chat standard for many of us. Long gone are the days of Aol Instant Messenger or MSN Messenger. If I want to chat with a friend, family member or coworker, I choose Google's service. It's not necessarily better than any other, but its value is in its ubiquity.

Today, Google expands the availability of access to the platform with the all-new Hangouts Button. This button allows one-click access to your desired chat buddy.

We are getting so close to summer in New York, that I can feel it. No really, the hot sun has been shining down on my head and my legs have felt the breeze since I started wearing shorts. Unfortunately, even though the temperatures have been getting warmer, it is not quite beach weather. However, laying on the sand and drinking lemonade is right around the corner.

No beach party or backyard barbecue is complete without some jamming tunes, like "Who Let the Dogs Out" by the Baja Men or "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Of course, you will need a good speaker to play that music, as the one in your smartphone is not going to cut it. Luckily, Logitech has just launched a new Bluetooth audio system that is ready to play the soundtrack to your good times, the X300 Mobile Wireless Stereo Speaker.

Believe it or not, system builders are a diverse set. Some people focus on looks, others on performance and some on value. However, gamers are typically the ones that push the boundaries with performance and high-costs when building rigs. While some people will write-off video games as a silly time waster, they are actually a vital driver of personal computing innovation. Hell, it is also good financially for the hardware business -- new games need better hardware and gamers are willing to pay to play.

Beyond expensive video cards and overclocked CPUs and RAM, gamers are constantly looking for a way to gain an edge. Anything that can make a game load faster, even by seconds, is extremely attractive to them. Today, SanDisk announces the Extreme PRO SSD -- a storage solution for gamers that want to utilize SATA III rather than much costlier options. PlayStation 4 owners will want to take notice too.

Many people are loyal to a specific operating system. While I mostly use the wonderful Windows 8.1, I also use Linux and OS X too. Apple's operating system works and looks very well, but from a productivity standpoint, Windows still has it beat. Don't get me wrong, OS X is fun to use and rewarding, but it can't even do window-snapping on the edges of the screen. Don't even get me started on the horrible native email client.

Today, Apple showed-off the latest version of OS X (10.10), dubbed "Yosemite". The fruit-logo company has slapped a new coat of paint on the operating system, making it resemble the flatness of iOS 7. However, the appearance is only part of the story. It not only has a new look, but new features and improvements too. In other words, Yosemite looks to be an important update for Mac users.

Solid State Drives (SSD) are all the rage nowadays and for good reason. They are very much faster than their HDD counterparts and use less energy too. However, the benefits come at a cost -- higher prices per gigabyte and smaller storage sizes. Plus, SSDs are relatively unproven for longevity. Over time, they lose speed and, even worse, can potentially fail faster than a HDD.

It is for those reasons that historically SSDs are not widely used in data centers. Instead, HDDs still reign supreme for their lower cost and perceived life span. Samsung is aiming to change this, with the all-new 845DC EVO -- a SSD that the company hopes can supercharge data centers.

Ah Linux, we meet again. I am on a perpetual journey to find the perfect Linux distro. Sadly, I am finding it not to be elusive, but downright non-existent. You see, operating systems based on the open-source kernel are very fragmented in experience. It is hard for the stars to align and have everything you want be represented. Maybe you like the available environments for a distro, but hate the package manager. Or maybe you love the community support, but find the release schedule too slow.

While not perfect, Linux Mint is what I have found to be the best choice for many, including myself. It is based on Ubuntu, so it has the awesome APT package manager, while also supporting Cinnamon, Mate and other environments. The tweaks and polish that the Mint team delivers makes it a robust and familiar experience. Well, fire up your torrent and ISO writing software and grab your nearest blank DVD or flash drive -- Linux Mint 17 is finally here!

Listening to music on a computer can be a very rewarding experience nowadays. However, we aren't far removed from the days where laptops and desktops shipped with horrible speakers. This shouldn't be surprising though; while mp3 and streaming audio is commonplace now, listening to music was not always expected on a computer. Tinny-sounding, rattling speakers were OK for midi files, but now we expect much more.

While Bluetooth speakers are very convenient, their sound quality usually does not match a hard-wired set. My favorites for many years are the Logitech Z-2300 -- a 2.1 setup, which are THX certified and pack a 120 watt subwoofer. I still own these speakers, but they are extremely bass-heavy, even with the bass knob turned down to the lowest setting. They can be overly disruptive to the other people in my home, as the walls shake. For a party, they are great, but for everyday use I need something more tame. Today, I am looking at the Cambridge Audio Minx M5 in hopes that I have found that.

Windows Phone started out as a very weak operating system. It was so full of compromises and disappointments, that it was a wonder anyone bought the devices. When Nokia started manufacturing handsets with the OS, it was a real turning point. The Finnish company eventually added amazing tweaks, apps and class-leading cameras. Nokia was so important to the Windows Phone movement, that Microsoft eventually bought the company.

Luckily, besides Nokia, Microsoft was also in the kitchen cooking up improvements for the mobile operating system. The company released Windows Phone 8.1 to developers this year and the changes are staggering. You see, Microsoft is actually listening to users and the end result is a much more capable OS. Unfortunately, Windows Phone 8.1 was still missing a crucial aspect -- a native File Manager. Today, that changes as Microsoft releases the unimaginatively named 'Files'.

Besides being a big fan of technology, I am also hugely into the NBA. As a New Yorker, I grew up idolizing Knicks players like Anthony Mason, John Starks and Patrick Ewing to name a few. While I still bleed orange and blue, it has been a difficult road -- my team has never won a championship during my lifetime.

While the Knicks at least won championships in 1970 and 73, the Clippers have never won a ring. That franchise has historically been viewed as a loser and in the shadow of the Lakers. However, they have made huge improvements in recent years and are finally respectable. Sadly, that is being overlooked due to the racist comments of the current owner, Donald Sterling. As a result, the owner is being forced to sell the team. Well, guess who may be buying it? None other than Steve friggin' Ballmer, Mr. "Developers, developers, developers". Hey, he already has a haircut like Michael Jordan and Shaq, right?

When you think of gaming PCs, your mind may immediately conjure huge ATX towers with LED lights, and massively large and expensive graphics cards. Yes, the rigs of many a gamer will resemble the previously envisioned computer. However, why does it have to be this way? Not all PC video gamers are teens looking for flash and pizzazz. No, some of them are adults and want something more mature and subdued.

Today, MSI unveils gaming all-in-one desktops that are mature and tame in design, but still sexy. The machines pack a significant amount of power, but the footprint on a desk will be no more than a typical monitor. In other words, the gaming PC has grown up.

Many people are enjoying 4K videos on YouTube nowadays. Believe it or not, there is already content on Google's video site which is shot in that ultra-high resolution. I myself have enjoyed videos of nature and playful puppies in 4K, and it is exquisite.

Sadly, not everyone has a fast enough connection to stream 4K video. Hell, apparently, people are even struggling to play 720p and 1080p without excessive buffering. Well, Google does not like this and it wants you to know that the problem is not YouTube, but your ISP. You see, today, the company releases a new tool which will tell you if your ISP sucks.

http://youtu.be/IwIBvtLquKU

Smart TVs are all the rage nowadays, but I am not a fan. While some consumers prefer convergence, I like to have my TV serve as nothing more than a display. For streaming media, I like the option of adding my own device, such as the amazing Amazon Fire TV. Sure, you can still add such a device to a smart TV, but if there is anything I hate more than convergence, it is redundancy. I don't want multiple ways to access Netflix or Hulu in the same room.

Streaming music is the future, there is no question about it. The concept of buying, downloading and storing music is so passé. This is a natural evolution of the music market as the world heads to the cloud. Strangely, Apple was absent in the initial boom. While Spotify, Google Play Music All Access and Xbox Music were on the forefront, Apple was stuck in the past with half-baked services like iTunes Radio.

Apple's failure to lead in this segment has cost it dearly -- $3 billion dollars. You see, today, the company announces that it is buying Beats Music and Electronics for that much. In the blink of an eye, Apple is a leader in music again, but was it worth it?