There’s a good chance you’ve heard about virtual private networks, or VPNs, but have no idea what they are. VPNs are, in essence, a way of establishing a secure and direct connection — like one you might have between two computers in the same office.

Using fancy techniques like dedicated connections, virtual tunneling protocols and encryption, a VPN distributes a connection that runs according to the same security and operational rules as that direct connection, only it’s distributed through a public network — namely, the internet.

Skylake processors aren’t the only new Intel tech Apple plans to use in 2016.

Starting with the iPhone 7, Apple may finally ditch Qualcomm modems in favor of a new chip from Intel which has pretty much missed out on the entire iPhone revolution.

In advance of the next-gen iPhone, which will reportedly ditch its 3.5mm headphone jack in favor of wireless or Lightning EarPods, Apple had filed a patent application for hybrid headphones capable of switching between wired and wireless options without dropping audio in the process.

As a tech fan, there are plenty of times — particularly when you hear about billionaire investors and record-breaking stock prices — when you wonder whether you would have had the foresight to predict things turning out the way they have.

Would you have bet big on Apple around the time of its 1980 IPO? Was it obvious that Steve Jobs was going to turn around the company in 1997? Or would you have been the equivalent of folks calling the Titanic an unsinkable ship, and pouring your life savings into pre-crash dot-com companies?

An amazing new data-viz shows how the returns on a $1,000 investment made in Apple, Microsoft and IBM would have fared over the next 20 years following January 1, 1996. Check it out below:

Even though speculation about what to expect ran wild, the formal introduction of the Kindle Oasis last week still left a lot of people surprised.

We’ve got the lowdown on the most important things you need to know about Amazon’s newest eBook reader model, which is due to begin shipping April 27.

Apple has revised a so-called “unfair” business agreement concerning the conditions South Korean repair service providers must work under in order to do business as part of the Apple Authorized Service Provider Program.

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC) had complained that Apple had the ability to terminate contracts with local businesses without any prior notification, and without taking responsibility for losses incurred by its withdrawal of the Authorized Service Provider label.

Facebook is continuing its mission to try and replace your standard telephone number with its latest update for Facebook Messenger — allowing up to 50 users to jump on a VoIP audio call for a group chat.

The feature, which started rolling out globally yesterday, allows anyone to start a group call by hitting the app’s Phone icon and selecting the group chat members they want included. The members will then receive a Messenger call simultaneously, which they can join at any point the conversation is taking place.

Apple’s affordable 4-inch iPhone SE is causing a major headache for Chinese makers of low-cost Android phones.

Supply chain manufacturers in Taiwan and China are reportedly becoming more conservative about building up inventories of smartphone components from companies including Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo as the iPhone SE squeezes the competition.

Samsung couldn’t have wished for a better start for the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge.

Not only are sales shaping up to beat expectations, with an estimated 10 million sales during March alone, but according to the latest data, the new handsets helped Samsung crush Apple in smartphones shipments last quarter.

Apple has delayed its annual Q2 financial report by one day to April 26, 2016.

Apple’s investor site shared the news Wednesday, saying the postponement is out of respect for Bill “The Coach” Campbell, one of Steve Job’s favorite tech advisors and longtime Apple board member, who passed away earlier this week.

We’d almost forgotten about the eMac, but some designers have refreshed it for 2016.

The clever thinkers over at Curved have come up with a concept that brings the teardrop shape back for a new generation. Their version combines that classic design with more-recent Apple hallmarks. And while we’re not completely sold on some parts of it, it’s still a pretty handsome machine.

Check it out below.

Though it was announced just yesterday, the first deal on the newly updated MacBook with Skylake processor is already here. You’ll find that, plus refurbished iMacs, the lowest price we’ve seen on an iPad Air 16GB Wi-Fi, and more, in this roundup of the week’s best Apple deals.

Since there is still much to learn about the upcoming iOS 10 debut presumably at WWDC this year, Federico Vittici of MacStories and concept designer Sam Beckett took it upon themselves to bring their dreams to life. They worked together to design an incredible concept video that fulfills Vittici’s wishes for the next version of iOS. The video is nothing short of stunning and their implementation of his (completely reasonable) feature requests will have you absolutely drooling.

I’m willing to bet that you’ve misplaced your iPhone around the house before. I know I have; almost once a week I’m wondering where I set down that magical device. Is it in the bedroom? The kitchen? The (gasp) bathroom?

If you’ve got an Apple Watch, though, you can use its ping feature to find your iPhone with an audible sound, and even a flashing LED if you need it.

Here’s how.

Talks between Apple and German carmakers Daimler and BMW have fallen apart, after Apple sought to strike a deal with the companies for its electric car project. 

BMW and Apple have been rumored to be talking about a partnership for nearly a year now. Apple supposedly wanted to use BMW’s i3 carbon fiber body as the basis for its car but it appears that the company will have to go solo for now. 

Saving web pages to Google Keep is now even easier, thanks to a handy Chrome extension that’s available to download now. Google has also made organizing your notes a simpler task by adding support for labels.

It might be time to think twice about using your smartphone while it is charging.

Suhana Mohamad, a 30-year-old mother of two from Malaysia, was tragically killed by her handset after being electrocuted during a phone call.

A fresh new batch of Apple beta software is now available for developers two weeks after the company dropped its last big set of new software.

New beta builds of iOS 9.3.2, watchOS 2.2.1, tvOS 9.2.1 and OS X 10.11.5 can be found in the Apple developer center, bringing a bunch of new bug fixes, and hopefully some feature improvements as well. 

Best List: Pax 2 vaporizer by Ploom

Putting your mouth around a Pax 2 vaporizer is like smoking the future.

At a time when every other vape company is making smoke boxes that look giant battery packs with an exhaust pipe, Ploom — the Silicon Valley-based startup behind the Pax loose-leaf vaporizers — is killing the market with a dank dose of subtlety.

A Bob Marley-themed Snapchat filter designed to celebrate 4/20 has backfired, with hordes of users accusing the company of promoting “blackface.”

It’s the latest instant outrage to flare up on the internet, and a total bummer for anyone just trying to enjoy the high holy day for pot smokers. After all, isn’t April 20 the one day of the year we should all be kicking back and chilling out?

Four years after it stopped producing NAND-Flash memories for the iPhone, Apple has reportedly reached a deal with the South Korean tech giant to be the company’s solid-state storage supplier for next year’s iPhone refresh.

When you’ve got a lot of pictures to share with friends and colleagues, it can quickly turn into a mess of shared folders, resizing and reformatting. CloudApp is a premium app designed to make sharing photos a seamless, drag-and-drop affair. It’s an easy way to get your content where you want it and fast, and right now you can get CloudApp for just $24.99.

The more I grow to love photography with an iPhone, the more I miss certain things about conventional cameras. Get a grip, you say? A grip is one of the things I am talking about.

miggo, innovative makers of camera bags, straps and mounts, brings to Kickstarter the Pictar, an ergonomic camera grip for the iPhone that also shifts cumbersome menu functions to five programmable wheels and buttons right at the tip of your shooting finger.

Apple is expected to banish the 3.5mm headphone jack to make its next-generation iPhone 7 even thinner. But it won’t be the first smartphone maker to take this controversial step.

LeEco today unveiled a trio of new Android-powered handsets that have all snubbed the headphone jack in favor of digital USB-C headphones and wireless alternatives.

If you’re setting up your new iPhone for the first time, one of your must-do steps will be setting up Touch ID. Apple’s biometric security system lets you map your own fingerprint to the Home button so nobody can unlock your device but you (or the bad person who has gained control of your thumb somehow, but that’s a bit grim).

When I set up my Touch ID the first time, I mapped the thumbs of both hands separately, and that was a good idea because I frankly have no idea which side my phone is going to be on when I want to get into it. And that’s served me well, but we’ve found an even more efficient way to do that same thing thanks to some sharp internet investigators.