Taschenturm Ensemble | © Ralph Feiner In the shadow of the 14th-century Taschentorturm, one of Ingolstadt’s few remaining medieval gates, BÜRO MÜHLBAUER has undertaken a quiet yet profound transformation of a derelict city farm. Once a modest ensemble of residential and agricultural uses, the site—comprising a house, barn, and inner courtyard—has been reimagined as a multi-unit residential complex. While its new life speaks to contemporary needs, its architectural vocabulary remains in active conversation with the past. Taschenturm Ensemble Technical Information Architects1-3: BÜRO MÜHLBAUER Location: Ingolstadt, Germany Area: 180 m2 | 1,940 Sq. Ft. Project Year: 2019 – 2024 Photographs: © Ralph Feiner Thanks to the close cooperation between the private investor and the architects, a sustainable use was made possible. – BÜRO MÜHLBAUER Architects Taschenturm Ensemble Photographs © Ralph Feiner Entrance | © Ralph Feiner © Ralph Feiner © Ralph Feiner © Ralph Feiner © Ralph Feiner © Ralph Feiner © Ralph Feiner A Dialogue with History and the Urban Fabric Set within the historic perimeter of Ingolstadt, the project site holds a unique corner condition that accentuates its presence in the cityscape. The proximity to the Taschentorturm, a vestige of Ingolstadt’s medieval expansion, imbues the ensemble with symbolic and spatial significance. The architectural intervention navigates this layered urban palimpsest with restraint and clarity. The ensemble’s original function—residential living and agricultural production—reflects a bygone mode of urban-rural adjacency. From the 16th century to the mid-20th century, these buildings bore witness to shifting societal patterns, culminating in their eventual abandonment. Their vacancy, however, became a latent opportunity—an architectural tabula rasa charged with historical weight. Rather than erase or romanticize the past, the architects embraced the site’s complexities. The project resists nostalgic reconstruction; instead, it positions architectural reuse as an act of continuity and responsibility. This posture foregrounds the city’s evolving identity, making heritage not an object of preservation alone but a participant in contemporary urban life. Spatial Reconfiguration and Adaptive Typologies The adaptive reuse strategy preserved the ensemble’s fundamental logic while unlocking new spatial potentials. The original house now accommodates three distinct residential units, including two maisonettes and a single-level apartment—each calibrated to the existing structural grid. The barn, previously in a state of structural precarity, was reconfigured as a vertical townhouse across three floors. This reprogramming emphasizes a spatial dialogue between historical constraint and contemporary fluidity. The townhouse unfolds in a vertical sequence culminating in the restored roof truss. This spatial crescendo exposes the structural intelligence of the original timber construction while framing new domestic experiences. Equally thoughtful is the approach to the courtyard. Once a utilitarian space centered around a dung heap, it now operates as a shared outdoor room. A raised platform gestures to the site’s agrarian past, while including native species such as climbing hydrangea and mulberry tree reinscribes the courtyard within the local ecological context. This outdoor space, accessible to all residents, embodies a rare moment of urban collectivity—intimate yet open, historical yet reimagined. Material Strategy and Construction Logic The project’s architectural language is defined by its tactility and measured intervention. Structural integrity was addressed in the barn by inserting a new concrete shell, poured on-site in three successive phases. This element, characterized by its handcrafted board-formed texture, becomes a quiet protagonist in the interior. It performs both as a load-bearing structure and as a sculptural counterpoint to the patina of the existing masonry. What might have been a conflict between old and new is resolved through material honesty and spatial calibration. The use of single-sided formwork—necessary due to the preserved outer walls—resulted in a monolithic expression of the concrete, textured with the imprint of rough-sawn boards. This roughness echoes the raw materiality of the original barn, creating a conversation rather than a contrast. Importantly, core insulation allowed the architects to retain the 200-year-old masonry without invasive retrofitting. This decision exemplifies a “minimum intervention, maximum effect” approach: energy performance is improved while the historical fabric remains legible and intact. The selective upgrade of the outer walls further underscores the studio’s commitment to precision over replacement. Architectural Significance and Sustainable Narratives BÜRO MÜHLBAUER’s intervention is as much a cultural gesture as a technical one. At a time when heritage preservation is often polarized between cosmetic facadism and total erasure, this project models a middle path—one rooted in architectural intelligence and material humility. From a sustainability perspective, the project demonstrates a multi-scalar sensibility. District heating, minimized material waste, and retaining embodied energy through reuse all contribute to a low-impact footprint. But more critically, the sustainability lies in the project’s social and urban continuity. It reinforces local identity, supports a living heritage, and offers a model of urban densification without sprawl. The collaboration between the private client and public funding agencies enabled this careful restoration, illustrating how architectural vision, policy support, and civic engagement can align. The result is a housing solution that neither mimics nor disavows the past. Instead, it proposes a living archive, where history is not preserved behind glass but inhabited and adapted. Taschenturm Ensemble Plans Ground Level | © BÜRO MÜHLBAUER Level 2 | © BÜRO MÜHLBAUER Level 3 | © BÜRO MÜHLBAUER Section | © BÜRO MÜHLBAUER Detail | © BÜRO MÜHLBAUER Taschenturm Ensemble Image Gallery About BÜRO MÜHLBAUER ​BÜRO MÜHLBAUER is an architecture firm based in Ingolstadt, Germany, specializing in residential architecture. The firm is led by Andreas B. Mühlbauer, who served as the city architect of Eichstätt from 1990 to 2000, became an independent architect in Ingolstadt, and was appointed to the BDA (Association of German Architects) in 1999. ​ Credits and Additional Notes Collaborators: Alexander Mühlbauer, Andreas B. Mühlbauer, Andreas J. Mühlbauer Landscape Architecture: Maurus Schifferli Artist: Michael Schölß

Go bold without straying into kitsch—these statement-making wallcoverings are elevated and artful without being overly noisy. (Courtesy BACKDROP x XAVIER DONNELLY) APPIAN WAY PANEL SET BACKDROP x XAVIER DONNELLY (Courtesy Pierre Frey and Emily Jackson) Emily Pierre Frey and Emily Jackson (Courtesy Moooi x Arte International) The Green House Wallcovering Collection Moooi x Arte International (Courtesy Schumacher) Good Dogs Everywhere Schumacher (Courtesy House of Hackney) The Season of the Tree House of Hackney

3RW Arkitekter and Nord Architects’ design for Oslo’s Furuset Hageby creates a micro-environment where  people with dementia are gently encouraged to lead active lives As dementia progresses, lines begin to blur. The past and the present meld together and fragment. The place you thought you were a moment ago is no longer where you find yourself. There is confusion and sadness, sometimes even anger, before it all begins again. Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia are conditions that affect more than memory and cognition – they also cause disorientation and ‘visuospatial’ difficulties, diminishing patients’ understanding of how things interrelate in three‑dimensional space, with serious implications for safeguarding and general wellbeing.  Such conditions pose architectural challenges unique in healthcare infrastructure. The response, in the past few decades, has been the emergence of the ‘dementia village’. As Annmarie Adams and Sally Chivers observe in their 2021 e‑flux essay ‘Deception and Design: The Rise of the Dementia Village’, this new typology of care ‘is a direct counterpoint to the uncaring institution, the traditional nursing home, and its long list of much maligned architectural features – the car‑dependent entrance, double‑loaded and crowded corridors, identical rooms, enclosed courtyards’. Instead, the dementia village seeks to create an enclosed and perambulatory environment shaped around the specific visuospatial needs of those with diminished cognition and memory.  Furuset Hageby in Oslo, designed by Bergen‑based 3RW Arkitekter and Copenhagen‑based healthcare specialists Nord Architects, is the latest addition to this typology. The word hageby, meaning ‘garden city’, provokes images of low‑rise housing units flanked by tree‑lined streets and lush meadows. The centre is in fact located in a rapidly expanding neighbourhood typical of Oslo’s outskirts, and currently abuts an enormous construction site, dust‑filled and noisy with heavy machinery in the process of erecting a huge apartment complex. This area is a hotspot of activity for the municipality – alongside the new housing, the dementia village neighbours a brand new school, and across the surrounding sports fields, there are kindergartens and playgrounds abuzz with activity.  On the day of my visit, Furuset Hageby was marking its first anniversary. I was met by Helge Lien, a representative of the client Omsorgsbygg, a branch of the municipal property developer, Sykehjemsetaten, which is tasked with building care homes and other healthcare facilities in Oslo. ‘We would like the local community to take part in the life here,’ says Lien of the location. ‘We want to invite kindergarten children to take part in activities, and for the local residents to use the roof garden to grow vegetables and plants.’ ‘By contrast to a fenced facility, the village itself creates the boundary in Furuset Hageby’ You enter the village through its green administration building, one of what the architects call ‘special houses’. Inside is a bright, double‑height space with windows facing into one of the interior courtyards, where people walk past as if window‑shopping on a high street. There are three special houses – the green administration building, a red cultural centre and a shiny, glass greenhouse – each with its own visual identity. Together, they create a subtle hierarchy and variety of building types that emulate what you might find in ordinary small town centres around Norway.  The village structure has found its own Norwegian flavour in this project by employing a specific type of rural urbanity. Historically, small agricultural communities were built around tun, meaning a dense cluster of buildings that shelter the inner communal areas from the elements. The tun form a sort of cityscape in miniature, with a main thoroughfare and alleys running between the dwellings and specialised farm buildings. Here, the function is sheltering a vulnerable user group from the surrounding world rather than farmers from the whipping rain. ‘Of all the dementia villages we have seen, this one is the most village‑like,’ says Sixten Rahlff, principal architect at 3RW. ‘A lot of traditional dementia homes reuse a building and put a fence around it, to make patients safe within that setting. Here the village itself creates the boundary.’ To be within this care facility properly is also to be outside, in the courtyards and along a step‑free ‘green loop’ that runs on top of the roofs of the lower buildings. As the terrain of the site sits on a slope, the character of this perambulatory route shifts from urban, surrounded by buildings on all sides, to a gradually more green, natural and lush setting. As the building mass steps down below the pathway, the views open towards the surrounding neighbourhood, parkways and sports fields. This was the main reason the project won the competition, Rahlff explains. The sloping site allowed the buildings to terrace downwards, and the rooftops to make way for the walkway, which always leads patients back to the same spot.  This simple idea behind the green loop symbolises a lot of the intention in the conceptual thinking around the project as a whole, providing the cognitively impaired patients autonomy and freedom, while simultaneously avoiding situations that might create discomfort or confusion in the first place, such as suddenly finding yourself at the end of a corridor or pathway, without any memory of how the dead end was reached. ‘In conventional nursing homes, patients move in when they are so old and sick that they are physically unable to take care of themselves,’ notes Johannes Molander Pedersen of Nord Architects. ‘But at a dementia centre, patients’ physical state may be good.’ The opportunity to move about is beneficial to the residents, and encouraged. Dementia patients are an incredibly diverse patient group. The youngest inhabitants at Furuset are in their thirties, housed in a special division for younger patients. At present, this group is a minority here, but you would be forgiven for assuming that their presence had a bigger part to play in the design than it does, as so much of the project is centred around activity. When pleasant and safe outdoor areas are available at all times of day, and when going for a walk in the spring sun is not something that has to be arranged a day in advance, the health benefits multiply tenfold. This appears to bear out quantitatively too. In its first year in operation, staff at Furuset Hageby have observed a decline in the need for certain medications, says head of Furuset Hageby, Anne Gry Neby. ‘The freedom that the concept of living gives the residents allows physical activity throughout the day,’ she explains, ‘and we are observing less use of antipsychotic and sedative medications for patients compared with before moving to Furuset Hageby.’ Researchers from Oslo Met are currently studying the effect, and will report their findings at a later date. ‘Staff have observed a decline in the need for certain medications since moving to Furuset Hageby’ At all scales, and inside and out, effort has been made to disguise the centre’s institutional programmes. The common social areas, such as the bar and restaurant, the library and the common rooms of the different dwelling units are warm, intimate and homely. Natural materials and colourful surfaces counteract the aesthetic effects of the mandatory fittings and trimmings of a healthcare institution. Corner and wall protectors and hygienic ceiling systems are in constant negotiation with the concept of the home, which is what Furuset is ultimately meant to be. Here they have found a gentle middle‑ground. The dementia village is ‘purposely anti‑medical’, Adams and Chivers suggest. ‘That is, medical care is disguised.’ According to a recent study published by The Lancet, cases of dementia are expected to triple globally by 2050, and as our understanding of the disease grows, it becomes increasingly clear that the current standard of care does not sufficiently meet the needs of patients whose condition is far more complex than merely that of ageing bodies. Furuset Hageby, coming to the end of its first year in operation, approaches its users with both care and determination, and points the way forward in the continuing process of finding better ways to care for this rapidly growing patient group.

All images © Dmytro Soloviov, courtesy of Fuel, shared with permission ‘Ukrainian Modernism’ Chronicles the Nation’s Midcentury Architectural Marvels April 15, 2025 Kate Mothes During the Soviet era, modernist architecture rose to popularity as a means to express power, prestige, and views toward the future following World War II. Across Eastern Europe, asymmetric details, geometric rooflines, circular footprints, monumental murals, and blocky brutalist structures rose in defiance of pre-war classical and vernacular styles. In Ukrainian Modernism, Kyiv-based photographer and researcher Dmytro Soloviov’s first book, the nation’s under-recognized mid-20th-century built heritage takes center stage. “Ukraine’s modernist buildings are an extraordinary blend of function, avant-garde aesthetics and ingenious design, but despite these qualities, they remain largely unrecognised,” says a statement from FUEL, which will release the book later this month. Soloviov chronicles a buildings that are often stigmatized for their inception during the Soviet era and subsequent neglect and redevelopment over time. In the face of the nation’s struggle to overcome Russia’s ongoing incursion, war continues to threaten historic buildings. Ukrainian Modernism combines Soloviov’s contemporary photos with archival images, exploring the breadth of the region’s architectural marvels. Preorder your copy on FUEL’s website. Next article

Published April 15, 2025 10:00am EDT close Improve password security with your Windows PC From face recognition to dynamic lock, there are options you may be unfamiliar with. Windows 11 is the latest and greatest operating system from Microsoft, but it has its flaws, so much so that even four years after its release, some people are sticking with older versions. Windows 10 remains the operating system of choice for many, even though Microsoft has shifted its focus entirely to Windows 11. In fact, the Redmond-based company will end security updates for Windows 10 this October.If that’s not enough to push you toward upgrading, the latest news might be. The 240 million Windows 10 users are vulnerable to dozens of security vulnerabilities, six of which are reportedly already being exploited by bad actors.STAY PROTECTED & INFORMED! GET SECURITY ALERTS & EXPERT TECH TIPS – SIGN UP FOR KURT’S ‘THE CYBERGUY REPORT’ NOW A person typing on a Windows laptop (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)Critical Windows 10 security flaws exploitedThe vulnerabilities in question were part of a recent Microsoft Patch Tuesday update, a monthly release where the company addresses security flaws. In this case, six specific exploits were identified as being actively used by hackers to target Windows 10 systems. These exploits are particularly alarming because they are already in the wild, meaning attackers are leveraging them to compromise systems before all users have had a chance to update their devices. The affected population, estimated at 240 million, refers to users whose PCs cannot upgrade to Windows 11 due to hardware limitations, such as lacking TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) or other system requirements.The six exploits include a mix of flaws that allow hackers to achieve various malicious outcomes, such as executing arbitrary code, escalating privileges to take full control of a system or bypassing security features. For example, one exploit might overload system memory to overwrite critical data (a buffer overflow), while another could allow attackers to access sensitive information by exploiting a flaw in the Windows Kernel. These vulnerabilities are especially dangerous because they can be triggered remotely or through seemingly innocuous actions, like opening a malicious file or mounting a compromised virtual hard disk. Windows laptop (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)A fix is there (for now)Microsoft has released patches to address these issues, and America’s Cyber Defense Agency has urged users to update their systems immediately, ideally by this month, or risk severe consequences. The agency even suggested turning off unpatched computers as a precaution. Updating to the latest Windows 10 patch is the simplest and most effective way to protect against these exploits right now.However, a bigger problem looms later this year. Microsoft will officially end free security updates for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. After that, systems running Windows 10 will no longer receive critical security patches, unless users enroll in Microsoft’s Extended Security Updates (ESU) program.This ESU program will be available to individual users for the first time and will cost $30 per device for one additional year of updates. It’s designed to give users more time to transition, especially those who can’t upgrade to Windows 11 due to hardware limitations. While this offers a temporary reprieve, it's not a long-term solution; the ESU program will only extend support for a limited time (typically three years in enterprise settings) and prices may increase annually.The scale of the problem remains significant. Millions of devices lack the hardware requirements for Windows 11, such as TPM 2.0 and newer CPUs, making the shift costly or impractical for some. Analysts warn this could contribute to a surge in electronic waste, unless recycling and repurposing efforts improve dramatically.How to keep your Windows devices up to dateIf you’re a Windows 10 user, the immediate step is to ensure your system is updated with the latest patches. Follow the steps below to do that:Select StartClick SettingsClick Windows UpdateClick Check For UpdatesIf a feature update is available for your device, it will appear separately on the Windows update pageTo install it, click Download and Install now Windows update (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)3 additional ways to stay safe from Windows vulnerabilities1) Use strong antivirus software: Even with the latest patches, no system is entirely immune to threats. Strong antivirus software can act as a second line of defense, detecting and neutralizing malware that exploits vulnerabilities before they cause harm. Look for solutions with real-time protection and frequent updates to tackle emerging threats. While this won’t fix unpatched system flaws after October 2025, it can reduce risks from common attack vectors like phishing or malicious downloads. Get my picks for the best 2025 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.2) Limit exposure: Many exploits rely on user interaction, such as clicking a shady link, downloading a compromised file or mounting an untrusted virtual disk. Stick to reputable websites, avoid opening unsolicited email attachments and use a browser with built-in security features (like Microsoft Edge or Chrome with Safe Browsing enabled).3) Plan for the future: The clock is ticking on Windows 10’s security updates. If your hardware can’t handle Windows 11, weigh your long-term options. Buying a new PC might be inevitable, but you could also explore alternatives like Linux, which offers free, secure operating systems (e.g., Ubuntu or Linux Mint) that run well on older hardware.Kurt’s key takeawayThe road ahead for Windows 10 users is anything but smooth. With critical vulnerabilities emerging and official support coming to an end, millions are being pushed into a difficult decision. They can upgrade their hardware, pay for temporary patches or continue using increasingly vulnerable systems. As October draws closer, the risks will only increase. Updating your system is essential, but it’s just a short-term measure. Now is the time to start preparing for what comes after, before the window of protection closes for good.Do you think tech companies are doing enough to prevent hackers from obtaining your data? Let us know by writing us atCyberguy.com/Contact.For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter.Follow Kurt on his social channels:Answers to the most-asked CyberGuy questions:New from Kurt:Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on "FOX & Friends." Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

When I first saw the photos of all of the tech broligarchy lined up behind Donald Trump on his inauguration day something struck me as off. I couldn't figure out what was bothering me until now. I realised they didn't just look like very powerful attendees, they looked much more like very powerful shareholders in government - and unelected ones at that. We can see today where that power translates directly into US government policymaking with the reductions on certain tech tariffs from China. Let's look at what that means for Apple alone. With 90% of iPhones manufactured in China, Apple faced potential price increases of up to $3,500 per phone under the proposed 145% tariff. In 2024, US imports of smartphones from China were valued at $41.7bn while laptops were valued at $33.1bn. The tariff exemption therefore translates into avoided costs of approximately $60bn annually for these two categories alone. And while Apple will have only a share of that benefit, it's a staggering return for Tim Cook's donation of $1m to Trump’s inaugural committee - which also marked Cook’s first time attending a presidential inauguration, despite his political views often differing from Trump’s policies. But it's not only tech’s influence in policymaking areas such as tariffs that directly affect their bottom line, we need to think about their broader reach in the realm of geopolitics. Where did the ideas of making Canada the 51st State, or annexing Greenland actually emerge from? If there was a policy vacuum here it was neatly filled by none other than Elon Musk drawing on the ideas of his maternal grandfather Joshua Norman Haldeman. Haldeman was a key proponent of the Technocracy movement which started in the early 1930s in the US and then spread to Canada. It proposed the creation of the Technate of America. This would do away with borders, merging the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America and Greenland into a single nation under a regime of engineers and technicians. Sounds familiar, right? Its essential argument was that there was no room for politics in society and that engineers and scientists were best placed to decide what was best for citizens in terms of organising resources and society. In 2019 Musk tweeted on X, “Accelerating Starship development to build the Martian Technocracy”. Except now it looks like he is not waiting to do it on Mars, he's doing it here in real time. The idea of the futility of the nation state and of politics in favour of new technological frontiers is echoed in The sovereign individual published in 1997. This book examined the social, economic and political implications of the coming technology on society and particularly politics and governments. Authors James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg - father of Jacob Rees-Mogg - wrote, “Representative democracy as it is now known will fade away to be replaced by the new democracy of choice in the cybermarketplace. If our deductions are correct the politics of the next century will be much more varied and less important than that to which we have become accustomed. The 20th century nation-state will starve to death as its tax revenues decline,” Or, as Mark Zuckerberg puts it, “Companies not countries”. The authors also predicted the impact of coming technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) when they wrote, “Lifetime employment will disappear as jobs increasingly become tasks or piece work rather than positions within an organisation. New survival strategies will evolve involving greater concentration on the development of leisure skills, sports abilities as well as providing services to the growing numbers of sovereign individuals as income inequality within jurisdictions rises.”  The tome has had a substantial impact in Silicon Valley with Rees-Mogg travelling there more than a decade after the book's publication to discuss it with students at Stanford University. In 2014, PayPal founder and Trump advisor Peter Thiel told Forbes magazine that The sovereign individual had influenced him more than any other book. Indeed, in recently republished versions of the book Thiel has provided a new foreword. And Thiel’s investments align with these principles where he believes that cryptocurrency ventures will bypass traditional monetary systems. Expect further policy reach in the future in the provision of universal basic income (UBI), which many of these tech bros are very keen on. They understand more than most how many professions are under threat and how many people will be left without work. What are people to do when their labour is no longer required? Perhaps they will spend their time in the fantasy worlds created by technologists, doomscrolling endlessly on Insta and other platforms while being paid by the government via UBI. This is what the author Jonathan Taplin tackles in his book The end of reality when he says “That is my greatest fear: that enchanted by the magic of the Technocrats’ immutable money, infinite frontiers, eternal life we will sleep through a right-wing revolution and wake up to find our democracy gone and our children being turned into Meta cyborgs”. And if you think having Trump as President of the United States with Elon Musk as his sidekick is a nightmare, ponder if you will the dystopian prospect of Mark Zuckerberg running for the highest office. Can you imagine the data he has amassed that could be used to further his political ambitions? What opponents might be suppressed or compromised? Yet as described in Sarah Wynn-Williams recent book Careless people, Zuckerberg has already paved the way for his political ambitions from as far back as 2017 when he finally realised how important Facebook was in the election of Donald Trump. In her insider account, Wynn-Williams wrote, “He also had Facebook’s board approve a new stock structure that would allow him to run for office. The filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission expressly allows Mark Zuckerberg to leave Facebook for up to two years without losing control of the company if his absence is ‘in connection with his serving in a government position or office’.” These are not benign actors, scrappy startup founders who move fast and break things - they share world views that are destroying our democracies as we know it. Yet politicians are in thrall to the power that these men yield. We may already be existing in the new technocracy for our times. They already decide how and when we should use their products, removing our choice and agency – consider the recent inclusion of Meta AI into WhatsApp, which you cannot turn off. Ronald Reagan once said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” So if you hear, “I’m from the technocracy and I’m here to help,” you won't be surprised if it's our new form of government. Read more about Trump and tech EU looks to ramp up sovereign tech as Trump trade war begins - Trump’s trade war is now looking at the EU, with tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Could US tech be in the firing line? Trump has won - but he cannot defeat the inevitability of digital change - After Donald Trump’s first presidential election victory in 2016, Computer Weekly wrote about how the technology sector had contributed to and enabled the controversial reality TV star’s political ascent. How will Trump’s tariffs hit tech? We examine the potential impact of additional US tariffs on the global tech supply chain.

Beats announces another foray into mobile accessories, releasing a collection of charging cords full of color, style, and compatibility with almost any mobile device.

As threat intelligence shows ransomware attacks surging by up to 1,400%, do not ignore this critical FBI warning.

Recap: TechTuber Necroware recently completed repairs on two Creative Sound Blaster cards from the 1990s. These repairs come at a time when dedicated sound cards are increasingly rare. Modern motherboards offer high-quality onboard audio, and many users – especially those on laptops – opt for USB-connected DACs for enhanced sound. Still, for enthusiasts like Necroware, restoring vintage hardware is as much about the journey as the result. The first project focused on a 1994 Creative Sound Blaster 16 (CT2230), a card that had seen better days. "It looked a bit scruffy," Necroware admitted, noting the missing bracket and visible abrasions on the PCB – remnants of previous repair attempts. A post-it note served as a reminder of a broken trace, the card's central issue. With a digital microscope, Necroware quickly located the fault and used his soldering station to bridge the gap with a wire. The repair was straightforward, and DOS Unisound drivers soon recognized the card. Testing the card in Descent II, Necroware reported that the Yamaha OPL3 FM synthesizer "played the music track nicely," and the stereo digital audio was clear. He turned to modern technology to address the missing bracket, fashioning a sturdy 3D-printed replacement. "The plastic bracket was thick, but this was necessary for strength, and it still fit OK," he explained. The second card, a Creative Sound Blaster 16 IDE (CT2290), presented a far more significant challenge. Having languished in Necroware's to-do pile and served as a donor for other repairs, the CT2290 was in rough shape. When first installed, the system failed to detect it, showing "no signs of life at all." Necroware recalled previous issues with the data bus transceiver and buffer, which are common trouble spots for this model. Still, initial attempts to fix a line of faulty resistors yielded no results. Shifting focus, he probed the larger integrated circuits and decided to replace a misbehaving bus transceiver. This move paid off: the Unisound driver finally recognized the card. // Related Stories However, the victory was short-lived. While Wolfenstein 3D's menu played sound, in-game audio samples were missing, and Descent II produced similar results – music but no sound effects. Stumped, Necroware consulted a Sound Blaster 16 hardware programming guide, which pointed him toward a missing CT1748A chip. The chip, previously removed for another project, was a rare find. To ease future repairs, Necroware installed a socket in its place. With the chip reinstalled, the card finally functioned as intended. "Necroware now has two working Sound Blaster 16 cards for projects," the video concluded. The story didn't end there. A viewer pointed out that the elaborate CT1748A chip replacement might have been unnecessary. "Setting a jumper on the PCB (or bridging two pads) could route digital audio to avoid this digital signal processor chip," the commenter noted, suggesting a more straightforward solution was available all along.

If you have ever rented a car from Hertz, you might want to check your credit reports and keep an eye out for any unusual activity. The car rental giant sent a notice to customers warning of a data breach that took place between October and December 2024. According to the notice, Hertz confirmed on February 10 that “data was acquired by an unauthorized third party.” Its analysis of the at-risk data concluded on April 2, 2025. In other words, your personal data, including your name, contact information, date of birth, credit card information, driver’s license information, and even worker’s compensation claims could have been exposed. Further, “a very small number of individuals may have had their Social Security or other government identification numbers, passport information, Medicare or Medicaid ID” information leaked as well. Recommended Videos The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reports that more than $12.5 billion was lost to fraud in 2024. Hertz is a national company with locations in all 50 states, so customers across the country are potentially at risk. The leaked information is potentially enough for a bad actor to steal the identity of those affected, so be wary of suspicious purchases or credit cards opened in your name. Hertz That said, Hertz hasn’t received any reports of damages caused by the leak. “While Hertz is not aware of any misuse of personal information for fraudulent purposes in connection with the event, we encourage potentially impacted individuals, as a best practice, to remain vigilant to the possibility of fraud or errors by reviewing account statements and monitoring free credit reports for any unauthorized activity and reporting any such activity,” the company writes. Related Protecting your personal data is difficult in today’s digital world, especially when exploits like the one used to target Hertz are difficult to detect in real time. While you can’t do much about your data once it’s in the hands of a company, you can protect yourself while browsing the web by using a VPN and applying smart safety practices. Editors’ Recommendations