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imaginima/Getty Images AI tools — like people — cannot read minds. As a result, they need effective communication to carry out tasks. When using AI models, that communication is called a prompt, which humans input into a chatbot to get a certain outcome. Productive prompting is a key to successful interaction with AI, and Google’s new course is designed to foster that.  On Monday, Google launched Prompting Essentials —  a course developed by the AI experts at…

ZDNET We know — Halloween is still a few days away, yet some stores have already begun early Black Friday sales and holiday offers. While you may not be a fan of smushing each holiday closer and closer every year, there is a silver lining you can take advantage of: savings (even earlier than originally scheduled).  Also: Google Shopping gets an AI-powered upgrade. Here’s how to access it That’s right folks, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and…

Cisco’s $80 million investment invites Partners “back to school” I’ve always said that technology is moving faster than people. Should we just accept this? I believe we have a responsibility to help people everywhere build skills they need to leverage emerging technology and stay at the forefront of innovation. Digital skill-building is how we will advance and architect the rapid evolution of our information and communications technology (ICT) industry, where 92% of roles are expected…

Tor Project Tor Browser is, hands down, the most secure web browser on the market. When using Tor, every packet that leaves your browser is not only encrypted but also anonymized, making it very private and secure. Recently, the Tor developers released the latest major update to the browser, version 14.0. This new release is based on Firefox 128 ESR (Extended Support Release) and includes much-improved font handling, better fingerprinting protections, improved support for picture-in-picture,…

Bloomberg/Getty Images Roughly a year ago, my seven-year-old System76 Thelio started to fail. The first issue was the USB ports, which cascaded to other ports until the system became unusable. As the machine was way beyond warranty, I knew it was time to purchase a new system. That Thelio was my second System76 machine (the first being a Leopard Extreme), both of which lasted considerably longer than any machine I’d ever owned. There was never a…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 are premium earbuds with plenty of functionality. All-day comfort, lengthy battery life, and impressive noise cancellation highlight these earbuds. Integration with Google’s AI model, Gemini, needs refining. more buying choices It’s no secret that the AirPods Pro 2 are my go-to earbuds. However, since I’ve been using a Google Pixel 9 Pro to take product photos and videos, I’ve become curious about life outside the Apple…

Zscaler, trusted for resilience. As we recently announced, Zscaler continues to grow, adding more and more customers seeking a trusted security cloud that provides protection and a great user experience. Passing 500 billion daily transactions was a major milestone that we could not have reached without the trust put in us by our customer base. That trust has been hard won, and rightly so, given the fact that Zscaler is a security cloud that sits…

When I joined Capitec in April 2022 as CTO, the first thing I wanted to find out was whether there was a zero trust strategy in place. Capitec is the second largest bank in South Africa, and like financial institutions the world over, it’s a potential target for attackers. To compound our challenges, our country’s infrastructure problems are mounting, with outages scheduled each day to try to take the pressure off the oversubscribed electricity grid…

Maria Diaz/ZDNET After a year of waiting, Apple finally rolled out iOS 18 to the public in September, the latest version of iPhone software. This update introduces eye-catching features like customizable home screens. As often happens, there are also some eye-roll-worthy changes. For me, that includes the new Photos app. Apple announced the new Photos app during its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June, touting it as “the biggest-ever redesign.” When you first open the app on iOS…