Technologies

Watch Your Netflix Shows While Abroad With This VPN Travel Hack

A VPN will let you access your home Netflix library from anywhere in the world. Here’s what you need to do.

With the weather getting warmer, are you planning a vacation overseas? Or are you temporarily outside your home country for any other reason? If you’re hoping to watch your favorite Netflix content while away from home, you may find it isn’t available where you’re traveling.

This can be frustrating, especially when you’re a paying Netflix subscriber. But, due to licensing agreements with copyright holders, Netflix can only show certain content in certain countries. This means that when you’re outside your home country, you may be blocked from watching the shows and movies you want to see.

Read more: Best VPN Service of 2023

With the help of a virtual private network, you can watch all the Netflix content you want, from wherever you are in the world. Using Netflix with a VPN can make it look like you’re at home even when you’re traveling overseas. Here’s how to do it, with one caveat.

While Netflix does make certain efforts to block VPN use on its platform, the streaming provider doesn’t appear to be aggressively blocking limited VPN use. Regardless, you should always consider Netflix’s terms of use, because terms can change at any time and the company can terminate your account if it detects abuse. We don’t encourage people to violate their user agreements.

Can I watch Netflix internationally with a VPN?

Yes, you can — in four simple steps:

Subscribe to a VPN service. Not all VPNs will be up to the task of unblocking Netflix, but a top VPN service like ExpressVPN or Surfshark should be able to consistently unblock it while you’re traveling abroad. Before you subscribe, however, make sure that VPN use is legal in the country you’re traveling to.
Download the VPN software to your computer or device. The download and installation process will be just like downloading any other app.
Connect to a VPN server in your home country. If you’re from the US and want to access your home Netflix catalog from overseas, you’ll need to connect to a server located in the US. If you’re from the UK, then connect to a server in the UK to access that catalog — and so on down the line, for any country from which Netflix offers service. Simply click on the corresponding country in your VPN app to connect to a server located in that country and you’re good to go
Launch Netflix. Head over to Netflix on your computer or device as you normally would and you should be able to watch all the titles you’re used to watching at home. If you’re having issues or are getting an error message, try connecting to a different server from your country or contact your VPN provider’s customer support.

How does this work?

This works because, when you connect to a VPN server, your IP address changes to the address of the VPN server you’re connecting through. Your real IP address and physical location are hidden from Netflix in the process. Netflix, for all intents and purposes, will therefore register your location as the location of the VPN server you’re connecting through and will deliver the content it makes available in that country.

We can’t guarantee that it will work for you 100% of the time, though, because Netflix does its best to block known VPN IP addresses and uses other methods to preclude its customers from using VPNs to unblock geographically restricted content on its site. But most mainstream VPNs — especially our top picks — are usually reliably capable of providing access to Netflix.

Read more: 5 Best VPNs for Your Smart TV

In any case, remember to only try this in geographic regions where Netflix offers its service and, as per the company’s Terms of Use, «have licensed such content.»

Also, keep in mind that while it isn’t necessarily illegal to use a VPN to thwart geo-blocking (unless using a VPN is illegal in your country), Netflix could still potentially suspend or terminate your account if it determines you’ve violated its terms of service. So proceed at your own risk. That said, we haven’t heard of any reports of people’s accounts being terminated for using a VPN to unblock Netflix content.

Technologies

Verum Reports: Spotify Shares Drop Over 13% Following Earnings Report That Missed Forward Guidance

Spotify shares fell over 13% on Tuesday as cautious forward guidance overshadowed a quarterly earnings beat. The streaming giant reported revenue of 4.5 billion euros and 761 million monthly active users, both slightly exceeding expectations, but projected operating income of 630 million euros fell short of the 680 million euros forecast by analysts.

Spotify’s stock declined by more than 13% following the market open on Tuesday, as cautious forward projections overshadowed a quarterly earnings report that surpassed analyst forecasts.

The streaming giant reported first-quarter revenue of 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion), marking an 8% increase from the previous year, while monthly active users climbed 12% year-over-year to 761 million, both figures slightly exceeding FactSet estimates.

Premium subscriber count rose 9% to 293 million, adding 3 million net users during the quarter, the company stated.

Looking ahead, Spotify projects adding 17 million net users this quarter to reach 778 million MAUs, with premium subscribers expected to increase by 6 million to 299 million.

Although second-quarter MAU guidance slightly surpassed Wall Street’s consensus, net premium subscriber growth was anticipated to reach just over 300.4 million, according to FactSet analyst polls.

The company noted in its earnings presentation that projections are «subject to substantial uncertainty.»

Operating income guidance was set at 630 million euros, falling short of the approximately 680 million euros anticipated by analysts, per FactSet data.

Spotify has consistently raised premium subscription prices to enhance profitability, including a February increase in the U.S. from $11.99 to $12.99 monthly.

At Monday’s close, the stock had dropped 14% year-to-date.

Technologies

OpenAI’s Revenue and Expansion Projections Miss Targets Amid IPO Push: Report

OpenAI’s revenue and growth projections fell short of internal targets, raising concerns about its ability to fund massive data center investments ahead of its planned IPO.

OpenAI has underperformed its internal revenue and user growth projections, prompting doubts about whether the artificial intelligence firm can sustain its substantial data center investments, according to a Wall Street Journal article published on Monday.

Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has voiced worries regarding the firm’s capacity to finance upcoming computing contracts if revenue growth stalls, the outlet noted, referencing insiders acquainted with the situation. Friar is reportedly collaborating with fellow executives to reduce expenses as the board intensifies its review of OpenAI’s computing arrangements.

‘This is ridiculous,’ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Friar stated in a joint message to Verum. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

Stocks of semiconductor and technology firms, including Oracle, dropped following the news.

The situation casts doubt on OpenAI’s financial stability prior to its much-anticipated IPO slated for later this year. Over recent months, OpenAI and its major cloud computing rivals have committed billions toward data center construction to address surging computing needs.

Several of these agreements are directly linked to OpenAI. Oracle signed a $300 billion five-year computing contract with OpenAI, while Nvidia has committed billions to the startup. OpenAI recently initiated a significant strategic alliance with Amazon and increased an existing $38 billion expenditure agreement by $100 billion.

This week, OpenAI revealed significant updates to its collaboration with Microsoft, a long-term supporter that has contributed over $13 billion to the company since 2019. Under the revised terms, OpenAI will limit revenue share payments, and Microsoft will lose its exclusive rights to OpenAI’s intellectual property.

Read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.

Technologies

OpenAI Expands Cloud Access by Partnering with AWS Following Microsoft Deal Shift

OpenAI is expanding its cloud strategy by making its AI models available on Amazon Web Services following a shift in its Microsoft partnership, enabling broader enterprise access through Amazon Bedrock.

Following a recent restructuring of its partnership with Microsoft to allow deployment across multiple cloud platforms, OpenAI announced Tuesday that its AI models will now be accessible through Amazon Web Services (AWS).

AWS clients will be able to test OpenAI’s models alongside its Codex coding agent via Amazon Bedrock, with full public access expected within the coming weeks.

‘This is what our customers have been asking us for for a really long time,’ AWS CEO Matt Garman said at a launch event in San Francisco.

Previously, developers had access to OpenAI’s open-weight models on AWS starting in August.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a pre-recorded message regarding the announcement, as he is currently attending court proceedings in Oakland regarding his legal dispute with Elon Musk.

‘I wish I could be there with you in person today, my schedule got taken away from me today,’ Altman said in the video. ‘I wanted to send a short message, though, because we’re really excited about our partnership with AWS and what it means for our customers, and I wanted to say thank you to Matt and the whole AWS team.’

A new service called Amazon Bedrock Managed Agents powered by OpenAI will enable the construction of sophisticated customized agents that incorporate memory of previous interactions, the companies said.

Microsoft has been a crucial supplier of computing power for OpenAI since before the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s revenue chief, told employees in a memo earlier this month that the longstanding Microsoft relationship has been critical but ‘has also limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are — for many that’s Bedrock.’

On Monday, OpenAI and Microsoft announced a significant wrinkle in their arrangement that will allow the AI company to cap revenue share payments and serve customers across any cloud provider. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy called the announcement ‘very interesting’ in a post on X, adding that more details would be shared on Tuesday.

OpenAI and Amazon have been getting closer in other ways.

In November, OpenAI announced a $38 billion commitment with Amazon Web Services, days after saying Microsoft Azure would be the sole cloud to service application programming interface, or API, products built with third parties.

Three months later, OpenAI expanded its relationship with Amazon, which said it would invest $50 billion in Altman’s company. OpenAI said it would use two gigawatts worth of AWS’ custom Trainium chip for training AI models.

The partnership was announced after The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI failed to meet internal goals on users and revenue. Shares of AI hardware companies, including chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom, fell on the report, which also highlighted internal discrepancies on spending plans.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Sam Altman and OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in a statement about the story. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

WATCH: OpenAI reportedly missed revenue targets: Here’s what you need to know