With the Global Engagement Center shut down, the State Department is now set to investigate whether past US efforts against foreign propaganda amounted to censorship of Americans.

President Trump has threatened tariffs on Taiwan and the chip industry. China has signaled it will not let the trade war keep it from the technology it needs.

Macworld At a glanceExpert's Rating Pros Friendly interface, good performance Removes leftover file systems and unwanted extensions Easy to find what you’re hunting for Cons Mediocre update utility Remaining Files module needs to be custom-configured Search and removal function impacts core file systems and functionality Our Verdict Despite everything App Cleaner & Uninstaller does well through its friendly interface and ability to dig deep under macOS’ hood to find files, extensions, and application remnants you don’t need, there are some flaws in the Remaining Files and Updates modules that can’t be ignored. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today There are times when an application has all the potential in the world but still can’t execute what its developers set out to do. This is the case with Nektony’s App Cleaner & Uninstaller, the company’s general cleanup utility and the core of Nektony’s larger MacCleaner suite (reviewed here: MacCleaner Pro review). App Cleaner & Uninstaller, which requires macOS 10.13 (High Sierra or later) to download and install, is available as a two-day free download. The software is easy to download, install, and assign full disk permissions to, and is centered around the Applications, Startup Programs, Extensions, Remaining Files, and Updates modules. Where the Applications module is concerned, this chunk of App Cleaner & Uninstaller shines as the centerpiece of the application. Once this is launched and the Applications have been indexed, it’s easy to hunt down random applications, including the remains of software wherein only the remnants have been left behind, and remove them with a click. The Startup Programs excels as well, offering a convenient list of anything that qualifies as a startup application and grouping them into three categories (All Programs, Active, and Disabled), then allowing you to pick and choose what to remove as needed. The Extensions module features useful categorization of your Mac’s extensions (Installation Files, Web Browser Extensions, Screen Savers, Settings Panes, Internet Plugins, and Widgets), and location and removal of a specific extension is pretty much a cinch. Foundry These are the better points as App Cleaner & Uninstaller begins to fall apart with its Remaining Files and Updater elements. The Remaining Files module, albeit incredibly useful, makes the mistake of offering a generalized “Remove” feature, which offers the ability to locate and remove orphaned files and clear up gigabytes of space in the process. While this is handy, it’s also akin to trying to kill a housefly with a flamethrower, as the module chooses critical system elements such as the App Store to go after, which can affect your Mac’s overall functionality once these system files have been torn out. During my tests, the module also targeted assorted Adobe Creative Cloud applications and files, removing underlying file systems and requiring the reinstallation of several Adobe applications. Yes, you can run a generalized cleanup, but the Remaining Files module is one where you should slow down and pick and choose exactly what you’re looking to remove, lest you strip out something critical to your Mac or your day-to-day workflow. Foundry Unfortunately, the Updates module is that much worse, and though convenient and capable of finding an update to the Transmission peer-to-peer file-sharing application that I hadn’t known about, missed major updates such as ff-Works, Slack, Microsoft Office, and others that competing applications tend to find without missing a beat. This module seems to be a mediocre afterthought, adding no real value to the App Cleaner & Uninstaller application, and Nektony arguably needs to gauge how effective it is at locating updates, then talk to the developers of the application updates they’re missing and see why so many pertinent updates are being glossed over. It’s with the Remaining Files and Updates modules that the application falls short, and as handy as the other three modules may be, three out of five won’t cut it in the big leagues. Yes, the Remaining Files module can be precisely aimed and configured at exactly what you don’t need. The “Remove” button and the somewhat destructive system sweep this leads to seems to beg for trouble. Finally, an Updates module that misses some of the most pertinent software updates in the Mac ecosystem feels like this was lazily tacked on, and it’ll take the developers making some coffee, sitting down, and genuinely refining this to make it what it could be. Foundry Nektony’s App Cleaner & Uninstaller could be great with some work, but for now, there are better catch-all utilities in this vein that do the job better and are worthier your attention and consideration. Should you buy Nektony’s App Cleaner & Uninstaller So where does this put the potential buyer? Well, Nektony offers a free two-day trial with which to test the software, and while not a generous period, it’s still better than nothing. If you’re curious, this is worth the download, but the Remaining Files and Updates modules feel like missed opportunities. There are better utilities for this that are more deserving of your time and attention, and until Nektony goes back and fixes these errors, these are better utilities to trust your Mac to in the meantime. A quick weekend of work and a devoted bug hunt could fix these issues, which a starving developer/CS student would weed out without question. And until Nektony gets that fire in its belly and fixes these issues, there are better places to spend your time and money where your Mac is concerned. MacCleaner and App Cleaner are both included in our round up of the Best Mac Cleaners, see how they compare to other Mac cleaning software.

When Microsoft was founded 50 years ago this month, it wasn’t clear the company would last 50 weeks, much less 50 years. Since then, it’s grown from a three-person company with barely any revenue to one worth approximately $1 trillion, depending on the day’s stock price, with 228,000 employees in 190 countries. These seven game-changers paved the way for the company’s success. (In my next column, I’ll look at Microsoft biggest bombs over the years.) Gates declares war on share-and-share alike In the earliest days of the PC revolution during the early-to-mid 1970s, 1960s-style idealism reigned. Many of the earliest techies believed technology could usher in a more equitable world, and as a model for that, they shared knowledge and work with each other freely. Nowhere was this more true than in the influential Homebrew Computer Club, in which people traded tips and advice on how to use the earliest PC, the Altair 8800 (which had to be assembled by hand). Microsoft’s first product was a version of the BASIC programming language for the machine. Much to Gates’ chagrin, though, people weren’t paying for it. Instead, they shared copies of it with each other for free. So in February 1976 he wrote an open letter to the Homebrew Computer Club titled “An Open Letter to Hobbyists.” It was a declaration of war on those he saw as thieves, and laid the operating principles that would later grow his company (then called Micro-Soft) into a behemoth.  Gates wrote, in part: “The amount of royalties we have received from sales to hobbyists makes the time spent on Altair BASIC worth less than $2 an hour. “As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you steal your software…. Who cares if the people who work on it get paid? “Who can afford to do professional work for nothing? What hobbyist can put 3 man- years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his product and distribute for free?…Most directly, the thing you do is theft.” So much for the share-and-share-alike ethos of the 1960s. The letter worked. After it, Microsoft had a solid cash flow. Microsoft hits big with MS-DOS For its first few years, Microsoft continued to write and sell programming languages for personal computers. It was a profitable niche. But that’s all it was…a niche, and a small one at that. Gates had bigger things in mind. The company’s first big breakthrough came in 1981 when he convinced IBM to pay Microsoft $430,000 to develop an operating system and provide other services for its still-secret, yet-to-be released new PC. IBM thought it was getting a great deal — it had expected to pay even more. But Gates outsmarted Big Blue. He negotiated terms that allowed Microsoft to sell the same operating system to other personal computer makers. (Microsoft called IBM’s operating system DOS and its own compatible operating system MS-DOS.)  So-called “clones” of the IBM PC flooded the market, and Microsoft got a royalty for every one of them sold because they all needed an operating system compatible with IBM’s PC. The company soon was rolling in money. Microsoft didn’t have to spend much time or money developing DOS and MS-DOS. It paid $50,000 to a company for an existing operating system called QDOS (short for “quick-and-dirty operating system”) and tweaked it to run on IBM’s PC and clones. Windows 3.0 and 3.1 rule the world To run MS-DOS and DOS you had to use a command line, which was no one’s idea of a good time and not particularly easy to do. While IBM PCs and clones were stuck in the old world, Apple was creating a new one with its graphically based operating system for the Lisa computer in 1983, and then the groundbreaking Macintosh operating system in 1984. It became clear graphical OSes were the future, and Microsoft eventually released its first version of one, Windows, in 1985. But it didn’t run as an operating system; instead, it ran as an application inside DOS. The same was true for Windows 2.0.  Neither version of Windows went anywhere fast. Then, in 1990 Microsoft released Windows 3.0 and two years later, the improved version called Windows 3.1. The operating systems were far easier to use than MS-DOS. But they were also inelegant and awkward, kludgy, crashed far too often and at times were head-scratchingly confusing to use. But they were good enough to replace MS-DOS as the standard for PCs, and they cemented Microsoft’s worldwide monopoly over operating systems.  They might not have been pretty, easy-to-use or reliable, but they accomplished their primary purpose: printing cash by the billions for Microsoft. Microsoft aims for its next target, businesses By the late 1980s, it was clear the PC revolution that had begun in the 1970s for hobbyists had gone big-time in the business world. Microsoft went after the market with a vengeance, launching Office in 1990. It included not just a software suite (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), but server software as well. Gates swept away the competition with shark-like tactics, some of which were found to violate antitrust laws.   Microsoft followed suit with countless other business services and software, including SQL Server, Power BI, Dynamics 365, Power Platform and many more. Microsoft soon owned the enterprise market. Satya Nadella replaces Steve Ballmer as CEO In 2000, Steve Ballmer replaced Gates as CEO. Under his hard-charging, sometimes clownish leadership that focused obsessively on Windows to the detriment of other products and technologies, Microsoft slowly drifted into irrelevance. It missed out on the mobile revolution and became an also-ran in the internet and social media. Ballmer tried to solve most problems with the bluster and business tactics that did well in the 1970s through 2000, but failed miserably in the 21st century. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer during a meeting in the ’90s.Microsoft He lasted until 2014, when Satya Nadella took over. Many people’s first reaction to the choice was “Who?” Nadella didn’t brag and shout like Ballmer or swagger and resort to illegal tactics like Gates. Instead, with a calm demeanor, he dragged the company into the new century, killing flailing multi-billion-dollar projects like Windows Mobile, turning the company into a smooth operation rather than a series of warring fiefdoms, and pouring billions into new technologies that would eventually make Microsoft a tech leader again. Nadella turns to the cloud  Microsoft launched Azure, its cloud platform, under Ballmer in 2010. But it took Nadella to see its importance. He refocused the company away from Windows and towards the cloud. By 2024, its Intelligent Cloud division tallied $100 billion in sales. But that vastly understates how much cloud-related revenue the company brings in, because software and services like Office (now called Microsoft 365) have become cloud services as well. Satya Nadella addresses the Microsoft Build event in Seattle on May 21, 2024. Dan DeLong / Microsoft In essence, Microsoft became a cloud company. Microsoft bets big on AI Six years ago, Microsoft made what was at the time something of an under-the-radar investment: $1 billion into the startup OpenAI. Few people took notice. Three years later, in November 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT took the world by storm — thanks in part to $12 billion more in Microsoft investments. A year after that, Microsoft released its own version of ChatGPT, called Copilot, for enterprises.  Now, Copilot is integrated into virtually every part of the company, and Microsoft is building its own AI team and products separate from OpenAI. It’s become the world leader in AI, with no end in sight — a solid starting point for the company’s next 50 years.

The Moment SuperCage is the pro filming rig the iPhone needs, with endless customization and premium build quality.Moment SuperCage review: A new tool for filmmakersUSB-C on the iPhone hasn't exactly changed everything, but regardless of which model you have, wired connectivity is faster. Between that and support for external SSDs, there's a whole new category of photography and filmography equipment that we've been testing.There are a lot of great items out there, but there hasn't been much like the Moment SuperCage. After playing with it for a few weeks, we're certain there will be soon. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

A BLDUS-designed residential project in Washington, D.C. has gotten our attention for its highly selective materials palette and unique response to site challenges that would imperil similar designs.  Completed on an alley site in Capitol Hill, Brown House is a timely demonstration of the ingenuity required to add density wherever possible as a means to alleviate the housing production shortage that has overtaken the city. Photo: Ty ColeThe house makes use of an almost entirely natural cellulose-based material palette, including:  Hempwool Insulation from HempitectureExterior-Grade Cork Cladding from AmorimCork Floor Finishes and Cork Spray Wall & Ceiling Treatment from the Jelinek Cork GroupSuberra ultra high-density cork for countertops from EcosupplyBlack Locust and White Oak lumber from Martin's Native Lumber for facade and exterior structural membersStructural Bamboo Prime Wall from BamcorePhoto: Ty ColePhoto: Ty Cole"Where wood finishes were applied, we sourced a product calle...

Bungie has unveiled the minimum PC specifications for the closed alpha test of Marathon, set to begin on April 23rd. Players will need at least a Windows 10 64-bit system with the latest service pack, an Intel Core i5-6600 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processor, 8 GB of RAM, and a graphics card equivalent to a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB), Radeon RX 5500 XT (4 GB), or Intel Arc A580 (8 GB). The system must also support DirectX 12 with Feature Level 12_1, and approximately 6 GB of storage space is required for the alpha build. While Bungie has not yet released the recommended system requirements, the full game could likely demand higher specifications. Marathon launches on September 23rd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. It will feature three maps and six playable Runners, with a fourth map planned for release shortly after. Proximity chat will not be available at launch due to concerns over potential player toxicity. Game director Joe Ziegler stated that the team is prioritizing player safety and currently lacks a reliable method for preventing abusive behavior in such open audio channels.​ Whether that could change in the future is unknown, so stay tuned for updates. ‼️Here are the minimum PC specs required for the Marathon Closed Alpha Test. pic.twitter.com/dJqzB84tzu— Marathon Bulletin (@TauCetiGG) April 15, 2025

The rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae, native to Southeast Asia. The fruit is a round to oval single-seeded drupe, 3 to 6 centimetres (1+1⁄4 to 2+1⁄4 inches) long and 3 to 4 centimetres (1+1⁄4 to 1+1⁄2 inches) wide. The leathery skin is reddish (rarely orange or yellow) and covered with fleshy pliable spines, hence the name rambutan, which is derived from a Malay word meaning 'hair'. The spines (also known as "spinterns") contribute to the transpiration of the fruit, which can affect the fruit's quality. The flesh, known as the aril, is translucent, whitish, or very pale pink, with a sweet, mildly acidic flavor reminiscent of grapes. The single seed is glossy brown, about 1.0 to 1.3 centimetres (3⁄8 to 1⁄2 inch) long, with a white basal scar. This photograph shows two rambutans, one whole and one half-peeled to expose the aril, as well as a rambutan seed. The photograph was focus-stacked from 31 separate images. Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus Recently featured: Galaxea fascicularis Roosilawaty Black Sunday Archive More featured pictures

April 17: Evacuation Day in Syria (1946) Artist's impression of Kepler-186f 1080 – Canute IV became King of Denmark upon the death of his brother Harald III. 1809 – Napoleonic Wars: After a three-day chase, the French ship D'Hautpoul was captured off Puerto Rico by a British squadron under Alexander Cochrane. 1951 – The Peak District was designated the first national park in the United Kingdom. 1975 – The Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh, the capital of the Khmer Republic, ending the Cambodian Civil War and establishing the socialist state of Democratic Kampuchea. 2014 – NASA announced the discovery of Kepler-186f (pictured), the first exoplanet with a radius similar to Earth's discovered in the habitable zone of another star. Marino Faliero (d. 1355)Hannah Webster Foster (d. 1840)Karen Blixen (b. 1885)Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu (d. 1954) More anniversaries: April 16 April 17 April 18 Archive By email List of days of the year About

Rare Watercolor by ‘Wuthering Heights’ Author Emily Brontë Will Go on Public Display for the First Time “The North Wind,” painted while Emily and her sister Charlotte were studying in Belgium, is now heading to the Brontë family home in Yorkshire The North Wind, Emily Brontë, 1842 Forum Auctions A rare painting by Emily Brontë, the British author best known for her 1847 novel Wuthering Heights, has sold at auction for $42,000. The Brontë Parsonage Museum, located in the Brontë family home in Haworth, Yorkshire, recently placed the winning bid on the watercolor painting known as The North Wind (1842). Following restoration work, it will go on public view at the site where the Brontë sisters—Emily, Charlotte and Anne—created some of 19th-century England’s greatest literary works. While Wuthering Heights’ influence on literature, film and even music is evident, Emily’s works of visual art are exceedingly elusive. “Emily is probably the most enigmatic of the Brontës,” Ann Dinsdale, the principal curator at the museum, tells Artnet’s Jo Lawson-Tancred. “She died at the age of 30, and very few manuscripts or letters by her have survived. It’s extremely rare to see anything associated with Emily coming on the market, making this painting of great importance.” The North Wind is a fittingly enigmatic work. It depicts a windswept woman with dark hair and a light blue cloak facing away from a breeze. Brontë painted The North Wind while staying with her sister Charlotte at the Pensionnat Heger, a boarding school for girls in Belgium, according to a statement from the Brontë Parsonage Museum. Emily Brontë's painting was based on an engraving of Lady Charlotte Harley that accompanied a collection of Lord Byron's works. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons The work is based on an engraving of Lady Charlotte Mary Harley that accompanied an edition of Finden’s Illustrations of the Life and Works of Lord Byron. As Dinsdale sees it, Emily drawing on a Byronic image is fitting for her development as an artist and writer. “Most writers on the Brontës would agree that Byron was probably the greatest literary influence on Emily’s work,” she says to Artnet. As far as the painting’s title, Emily appears to have been inspired by her younger sister Anne, who wrote a poem by the same name in 1838 in which “a captive girl welcomes the cold because it reminds her of her native northern mountains,” Edith Weir wrote in a 1949 volume of the journal Brontë Society Transactions, per the auction catalog. In letters, Charlotte wrote that Emily was taking drawing lessons and left some of her work in Brussels after the girls returned to England, according to the museum’s statement. For more than 180 years after the watercolor was completed, The North Wind passed between private hands. As a result, Emily’s visual artwork remains underappreciated, particularly when compared to that of her siblings. Her brother, Branwell, painted the only surviving portrait of his three sisters, which now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London, and Charlotte illustrated the second edition of her 1847 novel Jane Eyre. Branwell Brontë painted his three sisters—Anne, Emily and Charlotte—around 1834. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons “Unlike Charlotte and Branwell, Emily left few drafts, few exercises, to tell the story of her apprenticeship in painting,” Christine Alexander and Jane Sellars wrote in their 1995 book The Art of the Brontës, per the auction catalog. “Her drawings and rough sketches are as fragmentary, and as elusive of interpretation, as her surviving poetry.” Because Emily’s artworks are so rare, the auction house used “equivalent drawings by her sister Charlotte” to decide on an estimate, Rupert Powell, Forum Auction’s deputy chairman, tells Artnet. Experts expected the painting, which is lightly tarnished with spotting and some abrasions, to sell for around $26,000. “It was very tense when lot 53, Emily Brontë’s painting, came up, as the likelihood was that it would disappear into a private collection,” Dinsdale says to Artnet. During the auction, the price rose far beyond the estimate. But the Brontë Parsonage Museum was determined to finally bring The North Wind to Haworth—and to public display—for the first time. “The bidding seemed to go up very fast. Then there was a very tense pause before the gavel came down, and I knew that the painting would be coming to the Brontës’ former home in Haworth,” Dinsdale adds. “It was a very emotional moment for staff at the museum.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.