Is there a way that Intel can be saved? Former Intel chief executive Craig Barrett thinks so, and it isn’t the way the company’s former board members suggest. Intel should have a number of its customers invest a total of $40 billion in the company to ensure a steady supply of chips, the company’s former chief executive wrote over the weekend. Barrett’s comments come as current chief executive Lip-Bu Tan is scheduled to meet with President Trump on Monday at the White House, according to a report. However, the meeting doesn’t appear on Trump’s public calendar. Intel faces numerous crises. On one hand, the company has already announced the layoffs of thousands of employees, dating back to last year. Although Intel solicited billions from the U.S. government as part of the CHIPS Act, it has warned that it might exit chip manufacturing altogether if it can’t find a customer for its 14A manufacturing process. The 14A process follows the 18A process, the foundation of Panther Lake, which Tan has said remains on track. But Trump has also demanded that Tan step down, citing Tan’s ties to a number of Chinese firms in his role as a venture capitalist. In the interim, former Intel chief executive Craig Barrett has weighed in with a list of bombastic thoughts on the matter. Barrett, writing in Fortune, is the 86-year-old former CEO who took the reins at Intel in 1998, succeeding the iconic Andy Grove. Barrett oversaw the Pentium III and Pentium 4, as well as the early days of the Xeon processor. An investment into the future In Barrett’s mind, customers should be investing in Intel to ensure a stable (and American) supply of semiconductors. “Neither Samsung or TSMC plan to bring their state of the art manufacturing to the U.S. in the near term,” he wrote. “U.S. customers like Nvidia, Apple, Google, etc. needs and should understand they NEED a second source for their lead product manufacturing due to pricing, geographic stability and supply line security reasons.” Barrett suggested that Intel’s customers invest a “competitive” $40 billion into the company. “Where does the money come from? The customers invest for a piece of Intel and guaranteed supply,” Barrett wrote. “Why should they invest?  Domestic supply, second source, national security, leverage in negotiating with TSMC, etc.  AND IF THE USG GETS ITS ACT TOGETHER, they catalyze the action with a 50% (or whatever number Trump picks) tariff on state of the art semi imports. If we can support domestic steel and aluminum, surely we can support domestic semiconductors.” (Emphasis Barrett’s.) Fortune, which has apparently dug into its contact list to solicit advice on the Intel matter, previously published an opinion written by former board members arguing that Tan should be fired and the company broken up. “Be serious,” Barrett wrote. “By all means, if you want to complicate the problem, then take the time to split up Intel and make the FFWBMs [the “four former wise board members”] happy but if you’re in the business of saving Intel and its core manufacturing strength for the USA then solve the real problem — immediate investment in Intel, committed customers, national security, etc. Read...

Both the long-awaited, standalone streaming version of ESPN and Fox’s new streaming service are launching on the same day later this month. Which one should you choose? You might not have to.  There’s long been chatter that ESPN and Fox could offer their new streaming wares in a bundle, and now it’s official: On October 2, you’ll be able to sign up for both the new streaming ESPN and Fox One together for $40 a month, a savings of $10/month versus getting them individually. The individual ESPN and Fox One services will each launch individually on August 21.  The bundle includes the “ultimate” tier of ESPN, which offers all of ESPN’s linear networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, and so on) along with all EPSN broadcasts on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX. On its own, ESPN Ultimate costs $30 a month.  Also in the package is Fox One, the new Fox streaming service that boasts all of Fox’s network brands, including a truckload of sports-oriented properties: Fox Sports, FS1, and FD2. Fox One is slated to cost $20 a month by itself.  The new ESPN/Fox bundle brings to mind another sports package, albeit one that never got off the ground: Venu Sports, a venture that would have seen ESPN-parent Disney, Warner Bros., and Fox join forces for a $40-a-month sports streaming service.   Venu Sports got ensnared by a federal injunction following a lawsuit filed by competing streamer Fubo, and the three parties behind Venu chose to scuttle the bundle back in January rather than face the legal headaches involved in getting the bundle over regulatory hurdles.  As for the new ESPN/Fox bundle, the rival networks pitched it as a vehicle for “delivering premium experiences across platforms and meeting consumers where they are—anytime, anywhere.”  Of course, the new bundle will offer more than just sports. Also in the package are such Fox networks as Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Weather, Fox Nation, Fox local stations, and the Fox Network.  While ESPN plus Fox sports programming for $40 a month sounds a tad more enticing than $30 a month for ESPN on its lonesome, that’s still a stiff monthly tab, especially if you’re signed up for other streaming services on top of that. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Works with most streaming sites Easy-to-use app Recent app developments point to a bright future Cons No independent audit Small server network Feature set not as robust as some competitors Our Verdict OysterVPN is obviously working very hard to bolster its services with the recent additions of cloud storage and a password manager, which makes it a VPN to watch. However, a small server network and lack of independent audit need to be addressed before it can rank among the best. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Lifetime Plan$59.991-Year Plan$39.99Monthly Plan$5.99 OysterVPN in brief: P2P allowed: Yes Simultaneous device connections: 5 Business location: Dublin, Ireland Number of servers: 441+ Number of country locations: 35+ Cost: $5.99 per month, $39.99 for 1-year, or $59.99 for a lifetime subscription OysterVPN is a relatively new VPN provider based in Dublin, Ireland, that started in 2023. It has quickly expanded its offerings, which now includes a password manager and cloud storage, in order to distinguish itself in a crowded market. But as a relatively small provider, how does it stack up against the most popular VPN services? In my testing I found that it definitely has potential, with decent speeds, a sleek app that’s easy to use, and the ability to effectively unblock most streaming sites. However, there is still room for improvement to its small server network and lack of any published independent security audits.  Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best VPN services for comparison. What are OysterVPN’s features and services? At first blush, OysterVPN might seem a little light on features. But if you look at the service as a whole, you’ll find that it does a pretty good job of including all the basics you need from a VPN. It isn’t entirely fair to compare it apples-to-apples against top competitors such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN, which have a ton of extra security features that aren’t necessarily relevant to a VPN’s main purpose. Plus, these other services have been on the market way longer and have had time to establish and test these extra features. OysterVPN, on the other hand, is relatively new. Since entering the VPN market just over two years ago, it has pushed hard to continuously roll out new features for its app—the latest of which are cloud storage and a password manager. Just in the last year, the service has added support for more protocols—including WireGuard–expanded its server network, introduced a split-tunneling feature, and increased the number of supported platforms for its app. Still, it does lack a few VPN features that many users crave. For example, there are no double VPN (or multihop) connections and simultaneous connections are limited to just five devices at a time. That is half of the 10 simultaneous device connections most providers offer and a far cry from services such as Surfshark and IPVanish which allow for unlimited connections. OysterVPN’s app is straightforward and easy to use. Sam Singleton A highlight, though, is OysterVPN’s app interface. When you first open the VPN in Windows you’re taken to a clean-looking home screen split between a column on the left for the server locations and a connection status column on the right. Along the lefthand siderail, you’ll find options for Account information and a Settings menu.  While OysterVPN’s server selection is rather small at just over 400 (at the time of writing), the server menu does indicate streaming-specific servers and does a good job of recommending optimized servers based on your physical location. The “All locations” server menu however isn’t easily sortable or filterable and for some reason wasn’t automatically alphabetized for easy scrolling either.  The settings menu for OysterVPN offers all of the basics such as a kill switch, split tunneling, and protocols.Sam Singleton Under the settings menu you’ll find menus for “Auto-Connect,” “Network Protection,” “Split Tunneling,” and “Protocols.” Under the network protection menu you toggle a full-internet kill switch on or off.  The split tunneling feature is very nice to have as it allows you to pick and choose which app or websites to run through your VPN connection and which to keep separate. This is a nifty way to optimize your connection by routing things you want to keep private, like your browser activity, through a VPN while keeping apps like games outside of it to reduce lag. OysterVPN does offer DDoS protection, making it an enticing option for gamers. Many VPNs safeguard against DDoS attacks just by their very nature, but OysterVPN goes further by actively monitoring and filtering out malicious traffic—such as DDoS attacks—across its servers. For certain gamers this can be a godsend, but everyone should be aware of both the pros and cons of gaming with a VPN before committing. OysterVPN, just like the other best VPNs for torrenting, allows P2P file transfers across all of its servers. There is no option to manually configure SOCKS5 proxies, though. OysterVPN is available for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux, FireTV, and some browsers including Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. How much does OysterVPN cost? OysterVPN offers budget-friendly pricing that won’t break the bank and even includes an option for a lifetime subscription. Sam Singleton OysterVPN offers three different plan lengths: month-to-month, 1-year, and a lifetime option. The month-to-month plan will set you back $5.99 per month and you’ll get two extra months thrown in for free when you sign up. With this plan you get access to the complete VPN, but not the cloud storage or password manager. The 1-year plan is $39.99, or $3.33 per month, and comes with the VPN and access to the password manager. The lifetime subscription is a one-time payment of $59.99 and comes with one year of 1TB cloud storage. I don’t typically recommend that people opt for lifetime subscriptions to VPNs as there is always a chance that the service will unexpectedly close up shop or its circumstances will change—as has happened recently with BulletVPN and VPNSecure. Still, if you’re willing to risk it, OysterVPN’s lifetime price is pretty affordable. Just be aware that lifetime plans truly mean the lifetime of the service, not your lifetime. Otherwise, the low monthly and yearly prices are tempting for a full VPN service that offers the feature-set that Oyster does. The monthly price in particular is appealing as it’s only half of what most other competitors are charging. The low monthly and yearly prices are tempting for a full VPN service that offers the feature-set that Oyster does. How is OysterVPN’s performance? As always, when testing a VPN’s speeds I measure connection speeds across its servers in different countries all around the world for multiple days and then average them by location and compare them to my baseline internet speed. OysterVPN’s speeds were decent enough in my testing. The average download speed while connected was 51 percent of the base. That’s not bad, but it also isn’t enough to crack the list of fastest VPNs, either. In particular, I was impressed with the speeds on its U.S. servers. Across OysterVPN’s U.S. servers I noticed a much higher average download speed of 60 percent. Upload speeds were a different story though. The average upload speeds only came in at 38 percent of the base speeds. That is a bit disappointing and may make it difficult if you want to upload large files or use video chat while connected to the VPN.  When it comes to unblocking streaming content, OysterVPN did pretty well. Using its streaming-specific VPN servers, I was able to seamlessly access and watch content from Netflix U.S., Amazon Prime, Hulu, and even the notoriously difficult HBO Max. I did hit a snag with Disney+ where I kept running into an error. Also, DAZN worked with some servers, but didn’t work with others. This isn’t to say that the server won’t work for you, though, as streaming sites and VPNs are always in flux—VPNs are constantly rotating around IP addresses and using obfuscated servers to circumvent streaming site blacklists. By and large, streaming with OysterVPN was smooth and reliable. You can check out my list of the best VPNs for streaming if you’re looking for even more great services that work with streaming sites. How is OysterVPN’s security and privacy? OysterVPN recently updated its service to offer the WireGuard protocol, which is currently one of the fastest and most secure protocols available.Sam Singleton OysterVPN employs the industry-standard 256-bit AES encryption. It also offers a large selection of protocols to connect with including IKEv2, OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPSec, and WireGuard—just implemented in the last year. That’s actually more options than many competitors. While I recommend that most people stick with WireGuard, power users will appreciate the abundance of protocols to choose from. When I tested the service for DNS and IPv6 leaks, I found no leaks on any of its servers. These leaks can potentially expose your real IP address thereby compromising your privacy and defeating the purpose of a VPN. As a result, you can feel confident privately and securely browsing while connected to OysterVPN’s servers. The service claims to abide by a zero-logs policy, but they haven’t yet published an independent audit to verify these claims. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t undergone an audit, but until it publicly releases this information, it’s hard to verify this claim. For now, you’ll just have to take its word for it that user data is not stored or logged—something that doesn’t really assuage privacy concerns. According to its Privacy Policy, OysterVPN does not collect or store “information on user activity, such as the websites, apps, or online services they visit, the online content a user engages with through clicking, playing, downloading, or uploading, or the information they enter into such online websites, apps or services.” It does collect some basic information such as user payment method and email, connection timestamps, and which VPN servers and IP addresses were used—seemingly to help optimize server load in the future. OysterVPN is based in Dublin, Ireland, which not only enjoys privacy-friendly laws, but also isn’t a member of the Five, Nine, or Fourteen Eyes data sharing alliances. This is a big win for privacy-conscious users as it means that there is no legal mandate that would force OysterVPN to retain or share user data with any governments. Is OysterVPN worth it? Overall, OysterVPN is a good budget-friendly option that is only getting better with each passing year. The recent additions of the WireGuard protocol, a password manager, and cloud storage are all signs that the company is serious about investing in the future of this VPN. Despite it being a relatively new service, it’ll provide a good VPN experience for most users, even if it still lacks a few tools. It provides decent enough speeds, works with most streaming platforms, and comes with robust security features—ticking all of the boxes for the basics you’d want from a VPN. However, its server network and feature set are both still small in comparison to competitors. The lack of any published independent audit is also a concern. Still, OysterVPN is well worth checking out as an alternative service thanks to its ease-of-use and affordability. It’s also one to watch for the future. Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article. Read...

We’re now two months from the planned end of support date for Windows 10, and it seems tempers are running high as tensions continue to build. A man from Southern California filed a lawsuit against Microsoft last week, according to one news report. The reason for the lawsuit? Not enough people are currently using Windows 11, therefore it isn’t right to end support for Windows 10 at this time. Furthermore, by forcing users to give up Windows 10, Microsoft is strong-arming customers into buying new devices and attempting to “monopolize the generative AI market.” The plaintiff, Lawrence Klein, owns two Windows 10 laptops and is personally affected by end of support for the operating system. He isn’t demanding compensation, but only wants Microsoft to continue supporting Windows 10 free of charge until less than 10 percent of all Windows users are still using the operating system. As of this writing, the number of Windows 10 users as a share of all Windows PCs is sitting somewhere around 43 percent, according to Statcounter. Windows 11’s market share nearly caught up in July, then finally overtook Windows 10 for the first time in August—but there’s still a long way to go before Windows 10’s market share drops to 10 percent. Millions of PCs to be rendered unusable In his complaint, Klein criticizes the fact that Windows 10’s end of support will result in millions of devices suddenly becoming electronic waste simply because they don’t meet Microsoft’s requirements. Consumer advocates have been fighting back on this for some time, as unnecessarily buying new devices is a burden on the environment. In addition, Microsoft’s decision to no longer provide Windows 10 with security updates jeopardizes the data security of its customers. Without the updates, they risk falling victim to cyberattacks. This also applies to companies that store sensitive data: “In other words, Microsoft’s long-term business strategy to secure market dominance will have the effect of jeopardizing data security not only of Microsoft’s customers but also of persons who may not use Microsoft’s products at all.” Does the lawsuit hold water? It’s currently hard to judge whether the lawsuit will be successful. Klein is merely calling for Windows 10’s end of support to be postponed so that users have more time to prepare for a switch. Meanwhile, Microsoft has already announced that Windows 10 users will receive an extra year of free support if they either use Windows Backup to sync Windows settings to OneDrive, spend 1,000 Microsoft Reward points, or pay $30 for Extended Security Updates (ESU). That latter option now nets you 10 licenses and isn’t limited to just one machine. Microsoft has not yet issued a statement on the lawsuit. However, it seems unlikely that it will be successful in court. Read...

The toy retailer`s 1,900 workers will get a share of profits and a say in how the business is run. Read...

TL;DR: Visualize anything—workflows, org charts, networks, and more—with Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional, now just $14.97 for a limited time. If your brain thinks in boxes, arrows, and flowcharts, then Microsoft Visio is basically your soulmate in software form. Whether you’re mapping out your company’s org chart, visualizing a new network design, or finally tackling that confusing process flow your team keeps talking about—Visio’s got the shapes, stencils, and templates to make you look like a data storytelling genius. Right now, you can score a lifetime license to Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional for just $14.97. That’s the price of a few coffees for one of Microsoft’s most powerful business tools. No subscriptions, no monthly fees, just a one-time payment to unlock everything. You’ll get flowchart tools that actually make sense, org chart templates that won’t make your head hurt, network diagram options, floor plan layouts for everything from office space to your dream home reno, BPMN 2.0, UML 2.5, and IEEE standard support for the pros who speak fluent diagram. It comes with over 250,000 shapes, real-time collaboration features, and live data linking with tools like Excel. Oh, and if you’re using a touch device, you can literally sketch your ideas with your finger or pen. Get a lifetime of MS Visio 2021 Pro for $14.97 (MSRP: $249.99) for a limited time. Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional: Lifetime License for WindowsSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Nearly half of organisations remain in AI pilot phases, highlighting the need for cautious planning and security-focused adoption in 2025. Read...

AI is rapidly transforming cloud adoption and data strategies across Australia and New Zealand, driving faster business innovation and continuous enterprise adoption. Read...

As 2025 ends, security trends show a shift from risk reduction to strategic business enablement, amid challenges in cloud adoption and staff shortages. Read...

Nearly half of organisations remain in AI pilot phases, highlighting the need for cautious planning and security-focused adoption in 2025. Read...