Let’s say you’re in the market for a VPN (virtual private network). You’re probably looking for some combination of better privacy (from snooping ISPs, advertisers or governments), increased online security (who knows who else is on that public Wi-Fi node?) or even more flexible video streaming options. Unlike mobile operating systems (two main options) or …

We’ll be upfront: Unless your internet provider is deliberately throttling your connection speeds, using a virtual private network will slow down your internet. It’s the nature of how VPNs work, and there’s really no way around it. However, there are a few things that might give your VPN a bit of a speed boost. VPNs add a layer of encryption …

NordVPN and Surfshark have finalized a merger agreement between the two VPN providers, the companies announced Wednesday. Though the specifics of the transaction aren’t being released, the finalized merger agreement follows months of negotiations between the two companies that began in mid-2021, according to a joint press release issued by Surfshark and Nord Security, NordVPN’s parent company.  Surfshark and NordVPN …

Mozilla is introducing two new privacy features for its VPN service, the company said Tuesday. Multi-Account Containers, the popular Firefox feature that helps keep your various online activities isolated from one another, is now available on the Mozilla VPN desktop app. And Mozilla VPN’s multi-hop feature that routes your VPN connection through two different servers is now available on the …

Surfshark and NordVPN, two of CNET’s top picks for virtual private networks, share ties to the same company, according to new reports. Vytautas Kaziukonis, founder and CEO of Surfshark, revealed Thursday to Lithuanian news site Verslo žinios that Surfshark was developed with the help of Tesonet, a Lithuanian IT business incubator and accelerator based in Vilnius, according to a report from TechRadar. (The original …

Lenovo has decided to pull out of in-person attendance at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, though the conference will go on as scheduled. Citing “ongoing trends surrounding COVID,” the company said Tuesday via its @LenovoNews Twitter account that its attendance this year will be fully virtual.  MWC UPDATE: Due to the ongoing trends surrounding COVID, Lenovo’s activation at MWC …

Are you traveling overseas, or temporarily outside your home country for any reason? If you’re looking to watch your favorite Netflix content while away from home, you may find that it’s not available where you’re traveling.  This can be frustrating, especially when you’re a paying Netflix subscriber. But the reality is that, due to licensing agreements with copyright holders, Netflix …

Apple is once again at the top of the global smartphone market, accounting for 22% of worldwide smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2021, analyst firm Canalys said Tuesday.  High demand for the iPhone 13 and competitive pricing in mainland China helped the tech giant retake the lead and edge out Samsung, which had a market share of 20% during …

Apple’s rumored AR/VR headset will use the same 96W USB-C power adapter as the 14-inch MacBook Pro, according to a note from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, as reported by MacRumors on Monday. In a research note with TF International Securities, Kuo reportedly indicated that this means the headset will have the same computing power as the high-end laptop. Kuo said also …

Public concern over web tracking is higher than ever. That concern has been mounting for well over a decade, but we’re not much better off now than we were then — pervasive tracking and rampant data collection is still the lay of the land all these years later. Websites and apps deploy trackers that follow us all over the internet …