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 Following a quiet start to 2026, the final week of January has been a busy one for Apple so far. There are new versions of the AirTag and the Black Unity band for the Apple Watch, and the Apple Creator Studio bundle is now available.
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Virtual private networks (VPNs) have been household technology for a while now, but there's still a lot of uncertainty around them. This is partly due to the fact that they can conceal online activity that local or national governments deem illegal — up to and including, say, circumventing ID checks for age verification. Consumers aren't helped by the sheer amount of duds sold in app stores right next to the best VPNs, especially when they're purposefully exploiting moments that have people rushing to shore up their online anonymity. If you've almost decided to start using a VPN, you may be wondering if the services you're looking at are actually safe.
Unfortunately, the answer is a hard "it depends." VPNs are technology that can work well or poorly, just like they can be used for good or evil. There's nothing intrinsically dangerous about using a VPN — whether or not one is safe comes down to who built it and how they're running it. The good news is that there are easy ways to tell whether you're using one of the good ones.
The question "Are VPNs really safe?" can also mean something else — "Is using a VPN enough to keep me safe online?" I'll get into that too, but to spoil the ending: VPNs are important security tools, but they aren't enough to protect against all digital threats by themselves. Also, to be clear, I'm talking here about commercial VPNs like Proton VPN and ExpressVPN, not commercial VPNs like NordLayer or Cisco AnyConnect
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These Windows 11 shortcuts will help you supercharge your productivity.
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Microsoft never sleeps. In addition to its steady releases of major and minor updates to the current version of Windows 10, the company frequently rolls out public preview builds to members of its Windows Insider Program, allowing them to test out — and even help shape — upcoming features.
Windows Insiders can choose to receive preview builds in one of four channels: the Canary, Dev, Beta, or Release Preview Channel. Insiders in the Canary, Dev, and Beta Channels are now testing Windows 11 builds.
To read this article in full, please click here
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Of all the potential nightmares about the dangerous effects of generative AI (genAI) tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot, one is near the top of the list: their use by hackers to craft hard-to-detect malicious code. Even worse is the fear that genAI could help rogue states like Russia, Iran, and North Korea unleash unstoppable cyberattacks against the US and its allies.
The bad news: nation states have already begun using genAI to attack the US and its friends. The good news: so far, the attacks haven't been particularly dangerous or especially effective. Even better news: Microsoft and OpenAI are taking the threat seriously. They're being transparent about it, openly describing the attacks and sharing what can be done about them.
To read this article in full, please click here
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