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Charlie Osborne | ZDNET Virtual private networks (VPNs) are excellent tools for improving online privacy and security. However, their use goes beyond encrypting your online traffic and masking your IP address. Many VPN subscribers use these services to change their location. Your assigned IP address identifies your device, and this assignment identifies your general geographic area, including your country, state, and city of residence. Also: The best VPN services By using a VPN to change…

ESA expects to launch the first IRIS² satellites in 2029, and SpaceRISE, a consortium formed by satellite operators Eutelsat, Hispasat, and SES, said it expects to begin providing service in early 2030. Industry collaboration and funding The European Commission has signed a 12-year concession contract worth €10.6 billion ($11.1 billion) with SpaceRISE , which is also supported by a core group of European subcontractors specializing in satellite communications. Key collaborators include Thales Alenia Space, OHB,…

ZDNET Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses are getting smarter thanks to an update that’s introducing three features, including new AI functionality. In an announcement this week, Meta said the features are coming soon to its smart glasses. The first two are only available to Early Access program members (you can sign up here), but the third is available to all US and Canadian users. Also: Best smart glasses Live AI First up is live AI. Meta’s glasses…

Google/ZDNET Composing the right prompt and description to create an AI-generated image can be challenging. Often, the resulting image misses the mark, forcing you to tweak your prompt repeatedly until you get the right result. Now, a new tool from Google aims to simplify the process by allowing you to create an image based on other images. Also: The best AI image generators Initially available in the US, Whisk is the latest Google Labs experiment freely…

Panasonic/ZDNET The younger generation is looking to the past for their technology. For example, younger millennials are migrating toward flip phones for their retro-looking designs and simpler times.  Also: The best vlogging cameras Introducing the Lumix ZS99 Panasonic spotted this trend and decided it was time to release a new Lumix mirrorless camera.  The camera in question is the Lumix ZS99, which includes a Leica DC Vario-Elmar 30x Zoom Lens and an impressive 30x optical zoom….

Allison Jewell Finding a good keyboard can be essential to maximizing your workflow or gameplay, and recently, I have found that the Keychron Q1 Max is the perfect mechanical keyboard for both purposes. A mechanical keyboard can add a satisfying and aesthetic edge to your computer setup, and thanks to Keychron’s holiday sale, you can get one for $37 off its original price on Amazon or Keychron’s website.  Also: The best keyboards: Our top pick…

SOPA Images/Contributor/Getty Images Content creators, artists, and publishers have become increasingly critical of how technology companies rely on their output to train artificial intelligence (AI) models. Slowly, companies are taking note.  Also: Want to avoid the YouTube TV price hike? This trick worked for me (eventually) On Monday, YouTube announced that it will now allow creators and rights-holders to choose whether “third-party companies [can] use their content to train AI models directly in Studio Settings under ‘Third-party training.’”…

da-kuk/Getty Images For those who are looking to replace Windows 10, you might be wondering just how different Windows and Linux are. Beyond the usual concerns for the user interface, there’s also security to take into consideration. I’ve been using Linux for nearly thirty years, and I’ve only had one serious security issue in that time (a rootkit injected into a server I adopted). Other than that, it’s been smooth sailing.  Also: The 3 most…

“[Bare metal] is a much different business model than pure colocation with interconnection. So, at the end of the day, I imagine what likely happened was Equinix started looking at its growth trajectory and [its] margin on these services, then [realized] you know what? It doesn’t really make sense going forward,” he said. It’s not hard to see why. Equinix was competing with HPE, IBM, Oracle, all of the big hyperscalers like AWS and Google,…

Growth in artificial intelligence (AI) is surging, and IT organizations are urgently looking to modernize and scale their data centers to accommodate the newest wave of AI-capable applications to make a profound impact on their companies’ business. It’s a race against time. In the latest Cisco AI Readiness Index, 51 percent of companies say they have a maximum of one year to deploy their AI strategy or else it will have a negative impact on…