Brian Fagioli

Today, Canonical releases Ubuntu 22.10. Are you excited? Well, you probably shouldn't be. Don't get me wrong, the newest version of the operating system -- which is codenamed "Kinetic Kudu" -- seems fine, but there is nothing truly exciting to be found in it. Yeah, it is just another cookie-cutter Ubuntu release.

With all of that said, there are some notable improvements, such as the new GNOME 43 desktop environment and inclusion of the latest Mesa in the Steam snap. For the most part, however, desktop users will likely find this version very underwhelming.

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Your iPhone has a high-end camera, so why not use it as a webcam for your MacBook? After all, that smartphone's camera is much better than the one on your Mac laptop. That's exactly what Apple had in mind when they added that functionality to macOS.

As long as your iPhone features MagSafe support, you can mount it to the top of your MacBook display with the help of a special accessory. And now, popular accessory-maker Belkin has launched its own such product -- the unimaginatively named "iPhone Mount with MagSafe for Mac Notebooks." The company promises a version for Mac desktops will launch at some point in the future.

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Apple TV is more expensive than competing media boxes such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV. As the old adage says, however, "you get what you pay for." In other words, the premium you pay for an Apple TV device is absolutely worth it. It is far superior to all competitors.

The newest Apple TV remote is brilliant, the tvOS interface is easy to use, and the device has some powerful hardware under the hood thanks to Apple's excellent in-house processors. If you use other Apple products such as iPhone and/or iPad, you would be foolish not to go with Apple TV. It really is that good.

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Is Kanye West (aka Ye) mentally ill? While I am not qualified to determine such a diagnosis, it does seem that way to me. That is purely my opinion. He is certainly erratic and prone to posting inflammatory statements.

Over on Twitter, West recently declared in a now deleted tweet "I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE." Yes, the self-proclaimed "genius" showed his stupidity by confusing "death con" and "DEFCON." That ugly tweet is not up for interpretation -- it is pure hate. And it is unacceptable, which is why Twitter temporarily suspended Kanye West's account.

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Are Apple's MacBook laptops good computers? Yes, but they can be rather expensive. Not to mention, they aren't known for being durable. It isn't uncommon to see one of these notebook computers experiencing issues -- broken keyboards, displays, and more. Sure, you can buy an AppleCare protection plan, but you would be wise to try and prevent damage by using a case.

A new such case by Satechi is designed to protect the 2021 Apple MacBook Pro specifically. Called "Eco-HardShell Laptop Case," this product is available for both the 14-inch and 16-inch versions of Apple's macOS notebook. The two pieces simply snap onto the computer -- no tools needed.

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Solid state drives make great internal boot drives for computers, but they are wonderful options for external storage too. Not only are they smaller than mechanical hard disk drives, but they use less power and are much quicker as well. Quite frankly, if you are someone that needs to transport data on a portable drive, you'd be crazy to still use a HDD with moving parts.

Today, CORSAIR launches its latest portable solid state drive. Called "EX100U," the tiny SSD offers very fast performance thanks to its USB 3.2 Gen2 x2 interface. It can achieve read speeds up to 1,600MB/s and write speeds up to 1,500MB/s. Corsair lists Windows and Mac compatibility, but it should work perfectly fine with Linux-based operating systems too, including Ubuntu, Chrome OS, and Android. Yes, it should be compatible with iPadOS as well.

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Chromebooks sure have come a long way. What was once merely a glorified web browser running atop meager hardware has morphed into a legitimate Windows alternative for home, education, and business use. You can even get Chromebooks with high-quality hardware these days. Thanks to cloud-based video-game-streaming, Chromebooks can serve as gaming computers nowadays too.

Today, Acer launches its first-ever Chromebook designed specifically for gamers. Powered by a 12th Gen Intel Core processor and equipped with at least 8GB of RAM, the 16-inch Acer Chromebook 516 GE should be perfect for game-streaming platforms like NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Amazon Luna to name a few. And yes, this Chrome OS laptop has an RGB keyboard.

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If you are anything like me, you have several devices that use various chargers and cables. For instance, I recently went on a cruise with an iPhone and a Kindle. For the iPhone, I have a USB-C to lightning cable. For the Kindle, I have USB-A to micro USB cable. When packing for my trip, I had to pack both a USB-A and USB-C adapter so I could charge both devices. Isn't there a better way?

Yes, actually. Had I planned better, I could have purchased a single wall adapter that offered both USB-C and USB-A ports for simultaneous charging. This would have allowed me to pack less and use fewer outlets in my room. While there are plenty of these wall adapters on the market, a diminutive new model from Silicon Power, called "Boost Charger QM25," looks quite nice.

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Are smartwatches popular? Well, the Apple Watch certainly is. Other brands? Not so much. Quite frankly, Android users have had to deal with watches that are far inferior to the excellent Apple Watch. Being an Android user has not been very fun in recent years.

Earlier today, Google unveiled its newest flagship Android phones -- the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. Unfortunately, the Pixel line has been disastrous lately, and I am not expecting anything different with the new models. With all of the bugs and issues that have plagued the past several Pixel phones, I am surprised anyone would still buy one, but I digress.

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Jut yesterday, we told you the Logitech PRO X SUPERLIGHT wireless mouse is now available in a new red color. Adding new colors and patterns to existing products is something Logitech does often. Consumers seem to appreciate this, as it allows them to customize their desk space.

Today, Logitech takes the same approach with both the K380 Multi-Device Bluetooth Keyboard and Pebble M350 Wireless Mouse. These are existing products from the company, but as of today, they are available in three new beautiful colors -- Blueberry, Lavender Lemonade, and Sand. All three are pretty, but I think Lavender Lemonade is my favorite of the bunch.

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If you consider yourself a technology enthusiast, then you absolutely must have the latest and greatest in wireless networking. In other words, anybody who is anybody has a Wi-Fi 6E router. After all, the 6GHz band it adds makes regular Wi-Fi 6 far inferior.

Fans of the Google Wifi mesh system have been clamoring for a Wi-Fi 6E upgrade, and today, it finally happens! The unimaginatively named Nest Wifi Pro is here to blanket your home with that glorious 6GHz band. And yes, smart home fans, the Tri-band router (2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz) also serves as a Thread border router -- it will eventually be a Matter hub too.

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Solid state drives continue to get faster, with many computers now supporting the PCIe 4.0 standard. Hell, PCIe 5.0 computers are now emerging. If you have a PCIe 4.0-compatible PC, you will probably want to get such an SSD to maximize your performance. Is it largely for bragging rights and benchmarks? Arguably, yes, but if you can afford it, you might as well go for a PCIe 4.0 drive. After all, the price should not be much more than a PCIe 3.0 SSD.

Transcend has a new M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD that is intended for industrial applications, but it can absolutely be used in any PC with a compatible M.2 slot. The drive is designed to be both durable and fast -- it can achieve read speeds up to 7,200 MB/s and write speeds up to 6,500 MB/s. Nice!

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When driving in your car, a red traffic light tells you to "stop." When it comes to the PRO X SUPERLIGHT wireless mouse, however, Logitech is hoping the new red color option will instead make you go; as in, go to the store and buy it!

Yes, folks, the wildly popular PRO X SUPERLIGHT is now available in a new red color, joining black, pink, and white. While this is entirely subjective, I would say the red option is the prettiest of the bunch.

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Linux Mint users are usually quite rabid when it comes to news about the operating system, and I am happy to say the distribution's developers have shared some interesting tidbits.

First and foremost, the upcoming Linux Mint 21.1 will be named "Vera." This is hardly surprising, as the Mint 21.x series will use female names that start with the letter V. Linux Mint 21 is named "Vanessa," for instance.

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Installing a pre-release version of an operating system on a production machine is downright foolish. You can run into serious bugs, and potentially, lose data too. So I urge you not to install Ubuntu 22.10 "Kinetic Kudu" Beta which was released earlier today... unless you are cool dude or "dudette."

Yeah, the truly cool Linux users are willing to throw caution to the wind and ruin their current Ubuntu installation in favor or living dangerously. Of course, these brave Linux users should also have their important data backed up just in case something catastrophic happens. After all, failing to backup is certainly not cool.

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