Brian Fagioli

A smart home is a happy home as far I am concerned. Since going all-in on smart devices in my house, my life has been much improved. I can control my thermostat without getting out of bed, and when I leave a room, I can tell Google to turn off the light. If I hear a bump in the night, I can pull out my phone or tablet to monitor my Wi-Fi cameras. We are living in the future, and it is great.

Today, popular company TP-Link launches a trio of new smart home products under its Kasa branding. The Kasa EP40A is a smart outdoor outlet adapter (perfect for Christmas lights), while the KS220 and KS200 are indoor light switches. All three devices are Apple HomeKit compatible.

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The Linux Mint developers are targeting Christmas as the release date for version 21.1 of the operating system. Before Santa Claus delivers the stable version, however, we will first need a BETA to test for bugs. And so, today, that is exactly what we get.

Code-named "Vera," Linux Mint 21.1 BETA can be downloaded immediately for testing with your choice of three desktop environments - Cinnamon (5.6), MATE (1.26), and Xfce (4.16). Vera is based on the rock-solid Ubuntu 22.04 and comes with Linux kernel 5.15. The stable version will be supported until 2027.

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Apple switched to its own ARM-based desktop processors for Mac computers in 2020. Believe it or not, despite it now being 2022, not all macOS apps are optimized for Apple Silicon. While M1 and M2 Mac computers are also compatible with Intel apps (with some emulation sorcery), the software won't run as well -- developers really need to embrace the Apple Silicon future.

Thankfully, after much waiting, one of the world's most popular open source image editors, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), has finally been optimized for Apple Silicon. Yes, a stable M1/M2 version of the excellent (and free) Adobe Photoshop alternative can now be downloaded for macOS.

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Are SD cards exciting? No, but they are essential. Look, if you have a device that uses those cards for storage, such as a digital camera, drone, or some other contraption, the topic cannot be avoided.

Despite it being a fairly boring product these days, companies are still producing new models. And no, it is not just from the typical brands you may be thinking, such as SanDisk and Lexar. Believe it or not, TEAMGROUP has just unveiled two new "EXPERT" cards under its T-CREATE branding -- the V90 and V60. Both cards are IP67 rated for durability and come with a 5-year warranty.

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As more and more people flee Twitter due to Elon Musk's questionable behavior, many of them are turning to Mastodon as an alternative. By the way, you can find BetaNews on Mastodon here (we aren't too active yet).

Unfortunately, the official Mastodon mobile app is very much lacking. Don't get me wrong, Mastodon on the web is great; it is just the official mobile app that is deficient.

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There are typically two types of people in this world -- those that like mice, and those that prefer trackpads. There is a third group of computer user, however, that is quite small comparatively, but very passionate -- trackball lovers. While trackballs have largely fallen out of favor with most consumers, there are still some folks that swear by them.

Today, Kensington releases a new trackball that is sure to make fans of the product type very excited. Called "SlimBlade Pro," the beautiful trackball can connect to a computer wirelessly or wired (via USB). The product features a large 55mm trackball, Optical Tracking Technology, and 128-bit AES Encryption.

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A Chromebook is a laptop running Google's Linux-based ChromeOS operating system. However, when you connect such a notebook to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, it becomes a makeshift desktop computer.

The most elegant way to transform a laptop into a desktop is with a USB-C docking station. But how can you be sure your Chromebook is compatible? Well, if the dock is officially certified as "Works With Chromebook," then you can be assured that it will work flawlessly.

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There are so many docks and docking stations nowadays, that it can be hard to get excited about them. Look, I get it, they all pretty much do the same thing -- turn your laptop into a desktop while also charging it. The thing is, not all of them are created equally. In fact, some are much better than others.

With all of that said, today, trusted manufacturer Plugable launches an all-new USB-C docking station. Called "USBC-6950PDZ," the dock comes with all the ports that you'd expect, but in a conveniently small body. It can easily fit inside your bag when traveling.

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The Thanksgiving holiday is today, and I am thankful for many things this year, such as my health, family, and friends. As a self-proclaimed tech nerd, however, I would be remiss not to mention something technology-related I am thankful for. While there are many devices that bring me joy, one of my favorite things is the mini PC. For whatever reason, I just love seeing a lot of computing power crammed into a small chassis. It feels magical.

Speaking of mini PCs, today, MINISFORUM unveils its latest. Called "NAD9," this diminutive Windows 11 Pro computer is powered by an impressive 12th-gen Intel Core i9-12900H processor and can be ordered with up to 32GB of RAM (it supports up to 64GB). For storage, you can opt for either a 512GB or 1TB SSD. You can also order a barebones kit that comes without RAM, storage, or an operating system.

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The economy may be in the toilet right now, but just because inflation is at an all-time high, that doesn't mean you shouldn't buy gifts this year. In fact, with many financial experts predicting a painful 2023, we might as well take advantage of all the great 2022 Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, right?

This year, there are many impressive discounts on technology-related purchases such as computer peripherals, devices and electronics. Below, we are sharing some of the best deals. While many of the sales will not start until Friday, some are live already. We will be continually adding deals to this list, so keep checking back!

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This website may be called "BetaNews," but today, we have some Alpha news to share with you. If you aren't familiar, an Alpha release of software is even earlier than Beta, and as a result, it is often quite buggy. And so, such a release should never be used for anything but testing.

With all of that said, today, Mageia 9 Alpha becomes available for download. Yes, you can begin testing the pre-release Linux-based operating system immediately. If you have a 64-bit computer, you can choose from three desktop environments at installation -- KDE Plasma, GNOME and Xfce. 32-bit machines are limited to Xfce

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If you have a cutting-edge PC with PCIe 4.0, you will probably want to get a compatible solid state drive to maximize your performance. True, PCIe 4.0 SSDs are largely for bragging rights and benchmarks -- you probably won't notice a difference in actual use -- but still, you might as well go for the best if the difference in price isn't totally obscene.

Today, TEAMGROUP unveils a new M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD. Called "T-CREATE CLASSIC," this speedy DL SSD comes with a graphene heatsink. In addition, the company is launching a new PCIe SSD USB-C enclosure called "EC01." The enclosure will convert an internal PCIe SSD into an external USB-C SSD.

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Last month, the Linux community was rocked by a critical OpenSSL vulnerability. Because of the severity of the vulnerability, Fedora 37 was delayed by its developers. While Fedora users were disappointed by the delay, it was obviously the right move.

At the time, the developers said they were targeting November 15 for the official Fedora 37 release. Well, folks, that date is today and Fedora 37 is here. While this version of the operating system is chock full of changes and improvements (such as the GNOME 43 desktop environment), the most exciting aspect is Raspberry Pi 4 support. Full release notes can be found here.

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Earlier today, TP-Link unveiled its upcoming Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) products -- you can watch a video of the event below. Featuring theoretical maximum speeds of 30Gbps, Wi-Fi 6E no longer feels fresh and new.

Before you throw away your current wireless networking gear, however, please know that these new TP-Link offerings are not available yet. In fact, the company will not begin taking pre-orders until the final day of the year -- December 31. These Wi-Fi 7 products won't actually hit stores until Q1 of 2023.

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Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion, and he's been doing a terrible job of running things. He made the verification status confusing and nonsensical, but worst of all, he quickly fired thousands of workers. And so, many Twitter users have been abandoning the platform and switching to alternatives. You can find yours truly on Mastodon, for instance.

The folks over at Raspberry Pi are not abandoning Twitter (yet), but they are very alarmed by Musk's erratic behavior. As a result, they have created an account on the Mastodon social network in case they do decide to jump ship. Actually, they took things a step further and have begun running their own Mastodon server (also known as an "instance") at raspberrypi.social.

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