作者：夏乙、安妮 来源：量子位（QbitAI） 实现自己吹过的牛，并不是件容易的事。三年前，Magic Leap是最神秘也是最火的高科技公司。通过多段演示视频，这家公司的产品被认为可以实现裸眼3D全息特效。当时轰动全球的一段视频中，一堆人围坐在体育馆里，眼见一只鲸鱼从地板中一跃而起，然后再另一端重重拍下，期间浪花翻涌，整个体育场仿佛一下变身海洋。而现场观众也是惊喜异常的表情。还有这个办公室处理工作+打游戏的展示 ... Magic Leap当年的视频，就像现在的波士顿动力视频一样，几乎传遍每个角落。所有人都被这种“魔法”一般的场面震惊了。没有人能搞懂这家公司的产品原理，这家公司也不在硅谷而是藏身于佛罗里达，不可思议的热议中伴随着争议。不过，随着Google、阿里巴巴等一众科技公司给出14亿美元巨额投资，打消了大众的疑虑。但是，去年这件事彻底漏了馅。无论是跃出水面的鲸鱼，还是紧张刺激的射击游戏，统统不存在，都是电影特效公司Weta Workshop帮忙制作的合成视频。造假之名坐实。几天后Magic Leap首席执行官对外表示，公司的早期原型产品确实遇到困难。这家公司的前雇员们也站出来透露，产品周期仍停留在开发阶段，成品的发布日期遥遥无期。后来，这家产品不行，估值却超80亿美元的公司，被戏称为“美国乐视”。然而上述种种，并没有将Magic Leap击倒。虽然之前力主宣传的裸眼3D全息特效、光纤维扫描光场显示产品搞不出来，但他们终于还是搞出了另一款产品：Magic Leap One。一幅AR眼镜。即日起，Magic Leap One终于在美国市场正式发售，定价2295美元起，大概约合人民币1.56万元起（不含税）。之前，Magic Leap One也依照传统，公布过一些卖家秀的效果，现在终于能看到买家秀了……美国著名媒体MotherBoard给出的评价说，Magic Leap的产品没有Magic，“we can definitively say that Magic Leap was full of shit”.而在The Verge的报道中，谈到新产品时，Magic Leap现在还逢人便说自己是AI公司。毕竟Magic Leap One也涉及计算机视觉、手势识别、AI虚拟助手等。这到底是怎样一款产品？价格：2295美元（约15686元，但你可能要支付更多）Magic Leap One Creator Edition其实并不便宜，单是AR眼镜就比市场上大多数消费级VR设备价格高，包括口碑不错的HTC Vive Pro。不过，类似的AR产品，问世两年的微软HoloLens比它还贵，大概在3000美元（约20506元）左右。买Magic Leap One的时候，如果你再多支付495美元（3383元）就能得到一款“专业开发版”，包括一个额外的集线器和RapidReplace，官方表示这是一种“24小时内提供替换设备资源”的服务，不过并没有详细介绍。仅在美国六城市有售目前，这个眼镜在官网上有售，但只能在芝加哥、洛杉矶、迈阿密、纽约、旧金山（湾区）和西雅图买到。Magic Leap表示今年秋天会有更多城市可开放购买。可以推测，此次Magic Leap One还是限量推出的。美国的其他城市虽然无法收到货，但还是可以从官网预定，只不过何时发货就不一定了。提供上门安装若想买Magic Leap One Creator Edition，必须勾选一项叫LiftOff的服务。其实不难理解，这项服务将送货上门，还负责安装、设置调适用户家中的设备。可能Magic leap将自己的产品定位成用户以前从未见过的东西，想再次证明Magic Leap One不是普通的日常用品。佩戴前请摘掉近视/远视镜虽然大多数VR眼镜和微软HoloLens都“兼容”用户本身佩戴的眼镜，但Magic Leap One并不配合。你可以选择隐形眼镜，也可以选择继续购买Magic Leap提供的可适配眼镜，这又是一笔开销。官方套餐HoloLens所有配件都组装好的包装不同，Magic Leap在包装方面选择将各个组件拆分出来

Enlarge this image Protesters and counterprotesters clash during the "Unite the Right" rally on Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Va. One woman died when a car drove into a crowd. The Washington Post/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption The Washington Post/Getty Images Protesters and counterprotesters clash during the "Unite the Right" rally on Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Va. One woman died when a car drove into a crowd. The Washington Post/Getty Images The National Park Service has approved an initial request for organizers to hold a second "Unite the Right" rally, this time across the street from the White House in August — one year after white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville, Va.The park service has given initial approval to an application from Jason Kessler to hold a "white civil rights rally" on Aug. 11 and 12, as first reported by WUSA9. Kessler, along with white supremacist Richard Spencer and others, organized the 2017 rally, during which a woman was killed. The park service has not yet issued a permit for the event. The rally in Charlottesville last year drew hundreds of white nationalists and supporters who faced off in clashes with counterprotesters. A self-described neo-Nazi drove a car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring more than a dozen others. President Trump drew fierce backlash after blaming "many sides" for the violence. Protesters came out in cities across the country the day after his remarks to condemn white supremacists.In an application dated May 8, Kessler estimated that as many as 400 people would attend. He listed the purpose of the event as: "Protesting civil rights abuse in Charlottesville Va / white civil rights rally." The Los Angeles Times reported that the park service is now "gathering information" to issue a permit, which will "specify the timing, boundaries, sound regulations and liability rules for the event." Code Switch The Trickle-Up Theory Of White Nationalist Thought National Park Service spokesperson Mike Litterst told the paper that "public safety and the protection of park resources are taken into consideration" and said the agency does not "consider the content of the message presented."Kessler also applied to hold a rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12, but the city denied the application, according to The Washington Post. Kessler is suing the city; the case is still being decided. Kessler told the Post that he will have rallies in both D.C. and Charlottesville if he wins in court. A website from organizers of the "Unite the Right" rally lists the event's primary location as "Lee Park" — now called "Emancipation Park" — the Charlottesville park that has been at the center of controversy because of its statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Lafayette Square, which sits across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, is listed as an "alternate location." Kessler and other organizers have asked participants to be able to travel between Charlottesville and Washington.An independent report issued in December faulted the city of Charlottesville in its response to the events of Aug. 12, saying authorities failed to protect both people's safety and their free expression. The Charlottesville police chief, Alfred Thomas, retired later that month.

A man has been jailed for at least 15 years for a terrorist plot to drive a van into shoppers outside a Disney store on Oxford Street in London.Lewis Ludlow, 27, a Muslim convert who pledged allegiance to Islamic State, hoped to kill 100 people in a “spectacular” attack targeting London’s main shopping district or Madame Tussauds, one of the capital’s most popular tourist attractions.Last year, the former Royal Mail worker, who called himself “the Eagle” and “the Ghost”, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey in central London to plotting an attack in the UK and funding Isis abroad.On Wednesday, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC jailed Ludlow for life, ordering him to serve a minimum term of 15 years. He said Ludlow had been engaged in preparations for a “spectacular” multi-casualty attack “with the intention of causing death or terror”.The judge said: “Your commitment at the time … to violent extremism ran very deep and for some time. There could be no other explanation for your preparing to kill innocent people in a vehicle attack for ideological reasons.”On torn-up scraps of paper recovered from Ludlow‘s bin before his arrest, he detailed other potential attack sites, including St Paul’s Cathedral and a “Shia temple in Romford”, east London.Talking about Oxford Street and the lack of barriers, he wrote: “Wolf should either use a ram attack or use ... on the truck to maximise death ... it is a busy street it is ideal for an attack. It is expected nearly 100 could be killed in the attack.”In April last year, a mobile phone was dredged from a storm drain at Ludlow’s home in Rochester, Kent. It contained reconnaissance photos from a trip to London in March and an oath of allegiance to Isis.Ludlow had set up a Facebook page called Antique Collections as a cover to send money to an Isis supporter in the Philippines known as Abu Yaqeen. Ludlow attempted to fly there in February last year but was stopped at the airport and had his passport seized, having long been on the radar of the authorities.The Prevent programme had attempted to engage with Ludlow since November 2008, when his college had raised concerns about his religious beliefs and his habit of carrying a knife. He came to the attention of police in 2010 when he attended a demonstration led by the radical preacher Anjem Choudary and his banned al-Muhajiroun group.After his guilty plea, Ludlow, who has autism, told how he rejected an MI5 advance in March 2017 but agreed to engage with the Prevent programme.He said he became “bitter” and “heartbroken” when he was barred from going to the Philippines last year and that Yaqeen talked him into plotting an attack in Britain, overcoming his initial reluctance.But Hilliard was sceptical of his claims, telling Ludlow: “I do not regard you as suggestible or easily taken advantage of. You were well able to resist the Prevent programme.”He sentenced him to seven years to run concurrently for funding Isis abroad. Topics UK security and counter-terrorism Islamic State London news

The organizer of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which left a woman dead last summer, has been granted permission to hold an “anniversary” event in Washington in August.Jason Kessler, who was behind the “Unite the Right” rally in August 2017 where white nationalists held a torchlight rally, clashed with protesters and caused a political furore when Donald Trump blamed “both sides” for the violence, filed an application with the National Park Service (NPS) to hold a “white civil rights rally” outside the White House.Kessler had received initial approval from the NPS to hold the rally on Saturday 11 August and Sunday 12 August, the Washington Post reported. The weekend marks the anniversary of the Unite the the Right rally in Charlottesville, where Heather Heyer was killed when James Alex Fields Jr, a self-described Nazi, drove his car into a crowd of protesters.In Kessler’s application for a 2018 rally permit he said the purpose of the event was: “Protesting civil rights abuse in Charlottesville, VA/white civil rights rally.”He asked for permission to hold a rally at Lafayette Park, located in front of the White House, for 400 people. In a section of the form asking if the applicant believed anyone might “seek to disrupt the activity”, Kessler wrote: “Members of antifa affiliated groups will try to disrupt.”The NPS told the WUSA-9 news channel it had approved Kessler’s application, but was yet to issue a formal permit.Last year’s Unite the Right was nominally intended to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E Lee from Charlottesville’s Emancipation Park.The event saw neo-Nazis and white supremacists march through the city holding torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us”, and the next day waving Confederate and Nazi flags and wearing far-right regalia at a demonstration in Emancipation Park. Topics The far right Washington DC news

ON THE streets of west European cities, secular leftists, politically active Muslims and radically minded Christians (a rarefied constituency, but they do exist) have often found themselves marching and chanting together. It happened in the run-up to the Anglo-American attack on Saddam Hussein in 2003, when the core organisers of some of the largest street demonstrations seen in Britain included the Socialist Workers Party and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), both small groups with a gift for mobilising huge crowds. Similar alliances came into play in protests over Israeli military action in Lebanon and Gaza, and over the perceived willingness of Western governments to condone or encourage Israel. But reactions to the ongoing misery in Syria, and to Western intervention in that country, have been entirely different. Secular leftists in the West, who in general oppose any use of force by their governments, were instinctively horrified by the assault on Syria unleashed on April 14th by America, Britain and France. Many Christian churches in the West opposed the strikes, partly under the influence of co-religionists in Syria who see President Bashar al-Assad as a protector and are in turn protective of him. But the response of politically engaged Muslims in the West ranged from awkward silence to complaints that Mr Assad had not been punished hard enough for his crimes against the Syrian people.Get our daily newsletterUpgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.While secular radicals denounced their governments’ militarist and imperialist sins, the MAB, a group said by a government report to have links to the global Muslim Brotherhood but which denies any link, deplored the action against Mr Assad only on grounds that it was too little, too late, and perhaps even so mild as to be counter-productive. In a statement issued shortly after the Western missile strikes, it said: For seven years, the people of Syria have been subjected to the brutality of the Assad regime and its allies amid international inaction. Nearly 400,000 Syrians have been killed since the start of the conflict, and the latest air strikes merely send a message to the Syrian regime that the murder of civilians with any other weapon besides chemical weapons, will be tolerated. While long overdue, the British government's condemnation is welcomed. However more needs to be done to ensure that the people of Syria will not continue to pay the price for these air strikes.In France, the website of the country’s most extensively organised Muslim group republished an interview with an Islamic NGO which confirmed the crimes that Western military action was intended to punish. Chemical weapons had been used against besieged enclaves both earlier this month and in February, the NGO spokesman said.Although not many Muslim voices have been raised in active support of Western policy decisions, the mere absence of any negative reaction across much of European Islam has been striking. Rashad Ali, a fellow of the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said he detected a “tense silence” among British Muslim leaders who were instinctively wary of Western military action anywhere in the Islamic world but did not want to say anything that condoned Mr Assad. In the words of H.A. Hellyer, a fellow of the Royal United Services Institute, “Muslim Britons and French Muslims are broadly disinclined to condemn their countries’ action against Assad because they, like the rest of us, are conscious of his terrible record and appalling regime—even though many of them remain conflicted about offering full-throated support, when Western policy has hitherto been so muddled with regard to Assad and Syrian civilians.”The Christian reaction, both locally and further afield, was very different. Within hours of the Western air strikes, three Christian leaders in Syria described them as “brutal aggression” and an “unjustified assault on a sovereign country” and insisted that there was no convincing evidence of the government having used chemical weapons. They urged their counterparts in America, Britain and France to press their government to desist from further action.

After years of considering the European Union’s external borders set, Brussels is proposing to add some of the continent’s poorest countries to check the influence of Russia, China and Turkey in the Balkans.Bringing the remaining countries around the former Yugoslavia into the EU would complete what some consider the bloc’s final expansion, but it could be a long and difficult path.The...

Apple Arcade won’t be the only iPhone game subscription service launching this fall.GameClub, a startup with $2.5 million in seed funding, plans to launch its own subscription service around the same time. But instead of funding new games, like Apple is doing, GameClub is bundling up old games from the dawn of the App Store, many of which have become unplayable on newer iPhones and iPads. GameClub is also working on an Android version of its service, which presumably won’t face competition from Apple.The goal, CEO Dan Sherman says, is to bring back the kinds of mobile games that have become less viable in a market dominated by ads and in-app purchases.“We’re just about focusing on classic premium gameplay experiences that are not compromised by the pay model,” Sherman says.A simpler timeLike Apple, GameClub hasn’t announced how much its subscription gaming service will cost, and Sherman says the startup is still testing different prices to see what sticks. Still, he’s fairly certain that GameClub won’t sell individual games. Instead, users will download each game, then sign into a GameClub account that allows access to the full catalog.Dan Sherman [Photo: courtesy of Game Club]“The way I look at subscriptions–the way I have been looking at it since I started the company–is that this is the next emerging trend in games,” he says. “I regard it as something that has the potential to be every bit as large as in-app purchases, or the ad market.”As for which games GameClub will offer, the startup currently has the rights to 57 games and has already updated 18 of them, some of which you can try in a free open beta. Highlights include the one-button platformer Roo Roo Run, the word-building game Wooords, and the slot racer Cubed Rally World. Over time, the plan is to add even more games. And in March, GameClub hired Eli Hodapp, the former editor in chief of mobile gaming site TouchArcade, to help build out the catalog as vice president of business development. (“He’s like this encyclopedia of premium mobile games,” Sherman says.)Compared to what Apple has teased for Apple Arcade, GameClub’s offerings are decidedly more basic. There’s no talk of redefining games with groundbreaking ideas and boundary-pushing stories, and some of the classics in the early GameClub catalog haven’t aged well.Still, it’s easy to see the appeal of simple iPhone games that don’t interrupt you with ads or ask you to pay for faster progression, and that have defined endpoints instead of endless engagement traps. While these kinds of mobile games do still exist, convincing people to gamble on any particular one is a challenge, especially when the App Store offers a near-infinite supply of free alternatives. The subscription model allows people to try lots of games with less risk.Reviving the classicsThere’s not much risk for the games’ original developers either, because GameClub handles all the work. Many of the games that GameClub is reviving were built on obsolete tools such as Adobe Air, or weren’t designed for newer hardware such as Retina Displays and 64-bit processors. Sherman says much of GameClub’s work has involved finding easier ways to update games in bulk, and in that sense, it’s more of a developer than a publisher.“It may take upwards of a month, or sometimes longer, for us to develop scalable tools and technology around supporting a specific engine, but once we do, it’s much easier for us to work with more games,” Sherman says.Like any studio that brings old games back from the dead, GameClub also spends a lot of time tracking down and and negotiating with rightsholders. They’re not always easy to find, especially if the developer no longer exists. In one case, Sherman says, GameClub is figuring out how to revive a game whose studio went into bankruptcy.Roo Roo Run [Image: courtesy of Game Club]“Sometimes you’ve got to knock on somebody’s door in Japan, or some other part of the world. Often times it’s people who’ve left the industry,” Sherman says. “It’s tricky, but it’s a worthy cause.”One game stands out as particularly troublesome. Flight Control was one of the first hit games for the iPhone, and GameClub’s early testers ask about it often, but Sherman says acquiring the rights is complicated because the original developer, Firemint, was bought by Electronic Arts in 2011.“I’ve reached out to friends at EA about it, but there’s no easy process for that sort of thing and understandably it’s not their top priority,” Sherman says, “but we’ll keep trying.”Beyond the old stuffEventually, GameClub wants to be more than just a repository for old games. The startup also wants to develop its own exclusives, but in the same style as the games it’s bringing back.“We’re trying to create a renaissance of new premium game development in the vein of those classic experiences that were not interrupted by ads or in-app purchases,” Sherman says.For that to happen, though, GameClub needs funding and an audience. While the startup raised a seed round of $2.5 million last fall, and Sherman says it’ll look to raise a smaller amount to help with this fall’s launch, the plan beyond that isn’t as clear. Sherman demurs on whether GameClub would try to stay independent or seek an acquisition, but my guess is that it will seek more funding if it can prove that its roster of old iPhone games can hold its own against the likes of Apple Arcade.[Image: courtesy of Game Club]To that end, Sherman argues that there’s room for more than one game subscription service on mobile devices. In addition to Apple Arcade and GameClub, which depend on game downloads, streaming game services such as Google Stadia will let users play high-end PC and console games on phones and tablets. There’s also nothing stopping other companies large or small from bundling up premium games into a subscription, as Microsoft is doing on Xbox consoles with its Game Pass service.For GameClub, classic mobile games are just a foot in the door, and Sherman is confident that they’ll be able to stand up to even the likes of Apple.“If you look, for instance, at TV, the most popular shows on Netflix–or the most watched shows–are often these older classics,” Sherman says. “There’s demand for that.”

Media player Media playback is unsupported on your device Video Trump: White nationalists 'a small group of people' President Donald Trump has told reporters he did not think white nationalism was a growing threat following the mosque shootings in New Zealand. The president instead suggested white nationalists were "a small group of people".

Meng Hongwei, the former Interpol president being investigated for bribery in China, seems to have been detained under a new form of custody called “liuzhi”.Liuzhi, or “retention in custody”, is used by the National Supervisory Commission (NSC), China’s new super-agency charged with investigating corruption throughout the government. Detainees can be denied access to legal counsel or families for as long as six months under liuzhi.It is meant to be an improvement on the previous shuanggui system, a disciplinary process within the ruling Chinese Communist party known for the use of torture and other abuses. Under liuzhi, family members are supposed to be notified within 24 hours if a relative has been taken into custody.Meng, a senior Chinese security official, appears to be the latest target in a far-reaching anti-corruption campaign that critics say is a cover for eliminating political figures disloyal to China’s president, Xi Jinping.Meng usually lives in Lyon, where Interpol is based, with his family. He was reported missing by his wife after he flew from France to China last month.On Monday, Chinese authorities accused him of bribery in a lengthy statement stressing the importance of the country’s “anti-corruption struggle” and the need for “absolute loyal political character”. On Sunday, authorities said he was in the custody of the NSC.Rights advocates say there are few indications liuzhi will be much better than its forerunner. The Chinese journalist Chen Jieren, who had accused a party official in Hunan province of corruption, has been detained since July by the NSC and denied access to his lawyer, according to Radio Free Asia.In May, the driver of a low-ranking official in Fujian province died during interrogation after almost a month under liuzhi. When family members saw his body, his face was disfigured.“Liuzhi is a very new system, but we can speculate pretty clearly [about] the kind of treatment people are subjected to,” said Michael Caster of Safeguard Defenders, a human rights NGO in Asia. “Prolonged sleep deprivation, forced malnourishment, stress positions, beatings, psychological abuse, threats to family members certainly, oftentimes leading to forced confessions.”Meng’s wife, Grace, who made an emotional appeal to journalists at the weekend, told the Associated Press on Monday she had previously received a threatening phone call from agents.Her last communication with her husband was on 25 September, when he sent her a message that read “wait for my call”, followed by a knife emoji. A week later, she received a call to her mobile phone while she was home in Lyon with her two young sons. “He said, ‘You listen but you don’t speak … We’ve come in two work teams, two work teams just for you,” she said, describing the call.According to the AP, she said the man also told her: “We know where you are.” Meng’s wife and children are now under French protection.Meng’s case is the most high-profile yet for the NSC, which was created in March to expand China’s anti-corruption drive to people and entities outside the Communist party, including government ministries, state-owned companies and people working in the public sector.“Since its inauguration, however, the NSC has not nabbed any big ‘tigers’, so to speak,” said Dimitar Gueorguiev, assistant professor of political science at Syracuse University, where he focuses on Chinese governance. “Meng’s arrest seems like a powerful demonstration of China’s commitment to rooting out corruption, even when it can cost them the directorship of an important international vehicle,” he said.Speculation for the reasons behind Meng’s downfall ranges from his access to sensitive information after a long career at the public security ministry to his tenure at Interpol, when the organisation revoked an international alert for Dolkun Isa, the president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, which is critical of China’s treatment of ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang. While Meng’s exact whereabouts are still unclear, rights activists say his fate is not.“The formula is simple,” said Maya Wang, a senior China researcher for the NGO Human Rights Watch. “Like others forcibly disappeared before him, including human rights activists mistreated in custody by Meng’s public security ministry, he faces detention until he confesses under duress, an unfair trial, and then harsh imprisonment, possibly for many years.” Topics China Asia Pacific news

Apple killed off the standard MacBook and entry-level MacBook Pro this week, theoretically simplifying its line of laptops to just two models, the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.But if you’re in the market for a new Apple laptop—perhaps you’re gearing up to go back to college, or your old one finally gave out—you have a tough decision ahead of you. There’s no clear choice as to which laptop is best, but here’s a quick rundown on the options available right now, and what might be best for you:Pros: LightCons: Not so powerfulStarts at: $1,099If your primary concern is weight, then the Air might be the Mac laptop for you. But even then, it’s only about 0.25 pounds lighter than a 13-inch MacBookPro (although about 1.3 pounds lighter than a 15-inch Pro).Really, the current MacBook Air is the Apple laptop to get if you’ve had Macs for years and you want a no-hassle upgrade. If you’re after something that’ll let you answer emails, browse the web, watch movies, do some office work, and perhaps edit a photo or two, this is the machine for you.You can customize the Air to have a sizable 1 TB hard drive, and 16 GB of memory, but you’re stuck with a pretty standard 1.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, and an underwhelming graphics card. This maxed-out version of the MacBook Air will run you $1,899, however.Pros: 15-inch screen option, more customization optionsCons: Heavier, more expensiveStarts at: $1,299If you can find another $200 to spend on a MacBook and are looking for more power, you should go for the 13-inch MacBook Pro. You’ll get a slightly better graphics card and 1.4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, the Touch Bar screen (which for some is not necessarily a bonus), and a somewhat brighter, more colorful display.The MacBook Pro also has far more customization options that can turn the laptop into a powerful productivity machine. On the 13-inch model, you can have up to 16 GB of memory, 2 TB of storage, and a 1.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor. On the larger 15-inch model, you get two extra USB-C ports, the option to choose proper graphics cards, 32 GB of memory, and 4 TB of storage. (The jam-packed version of the 15-inch Pro will set you back $5,149.)A MacBook Pro shouldn’t have any problem handling whatever you’re going to throw at it, and if you have the cash and desire to customize your machine, this is the Apple laptop to get right now.Pros: Extremely light, touchscreen, cheaperCons: It’s… not entirely a computerStarts at: $799 (or $978 with the keyboard case)A more abstract way of answering the Mac question right now is to just ignore it and buy an iPad Pro. It’s what I personally did a few months ago, and I love it. There’s a bit of a learning curve and you need to download a few apps to make it feel more like a computer (and proper mouse support would be nice), but if you’re on the move a lot, it’s a joy to carry around with you.The 11-inch model starts at $799, comes with 64 GB of storage, and weighs a hair above 1 pound. Apple’s own Smart Keyboard Folio case is comfortable to type on, and with the advancements coming to the iPad’s software in the fall, there’s not too much separating it from its beefier Mac cousins, if you’re just interested in doing the same sorts of things you might use a MacBook Air for.But then again, the iPad is far more fiddly to use than a regular laptop, so this won’t be the option for everyone.If you don’t need a new computer right this moment, my advice would be to wait. Apple traditionally holds events in September (and occasionally October) to show off new products. It’s part of the reason it runs a back-to-school promotion on its laptops in the summer—this year, students can save $100 off the price of a new MacBook, and will get a pair of Beats headphones thrown in as well—as the company is trying to shift old inventory before the new products come in. There have already been rumors that Apple is planning to refresh or redesign its MacBooks in the near future, potentially doing away with the keyboard design that has given users nothing but problems since it was first introduced in 2015. And that’s another reason to potentially stay away from the current crop of MacBooks: They all still seem to be plagued by the faulty key design, which can lead to keys getting stuck, not working, or repeating letters. Which isn’t particularly helpful if you’re trying to turn a paper in on a deadline.

Media player Media playback is unsupported on your device Video Why Brazilian people are getting a tattoo of a museum It's been a year since Brazil's beloved National Museum was destroyed in a huge fire, believed to be caused by a faulty air conditioning unit. The museum had one of the most remarkable collections in the world - from prized prehistoric skeletons, recordings of extinct indigenous languages, to the throne of a slave King. Brazil's entire history ran through the Museum. After it burned down, Beatriz Hörmanseder, a palaeontologist working at the Museum, came up with a unique way to cope with the trauma of its loss. She got a tattoo of the building's facade and set up a project where other students and staff could do the same. Video directed and edited by Luciani Gomes and produced by Maryam Maruf for Museum of Lost Objects, a radio and podcast series exploring the personal impact of cultural heritage destruction.

Is Venezuela’s new cryptocurrency an ingenious plan to evade U.S. sanctions? Or will it turn out to be a South American shitcoin?That is the question facing Venezuela as it prepares for the pre-sale of its new bitcoin-like digital currency called the petro. The launch on Tuesday comes amid a deep economic crisis and a crackdown on democratic freedoms that have left President Nicolás Maduro’s socialist government politically isolated and cut off from most international financing.Maduro claims that each petro token will be backed by one barrel of the oil-rich nation’s petroleum, and claims that about 100 million petro tokens worth some $6bn will be issued. The petro is designed to raise hard currency and to function as a payment method for foreign suppliers now that most transactions have been stymied by financial sanctions imposed by Washington last year.But some analysts see the petro as a desperate move to secure cash amid an unprecedented economic meltdown brought about by Maduro’s socialist policies. Venezuelans are now suffering from widespread food shortages, hyperinflation that could hit 13,000% this year according to the International Monetary Fund, and the collapse of the traditional currency, the bolívar.Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress has declared the petro illegal because, under the law, the legislature must approve any government borrowing, a step Maduro has ignored. The petro “is not a cryptocurrency. This is a forward sale of Venezuelan oil,” lawmaker Jorge Millan complained in a recent speech.Critics predict that the petro could become what’s known in the trade as a shitcoin – digital currencies that become worthless over time or are considered scams. Creating stable digital currencies with staying power requires trust and transparency, they contend – qualities that they say are notably absent in the Maduro government.The petro would be “emitted by a central bank that has generated hyperinflation with the bolívar,” Jean Paul Leidenz, a Caracas economist, told Colombian TV. “Who would give a vote of confidence to a bank that hasn’t even been unable to maintain public confidence in the traditional currency?”Another problem is that the initial emission of petros will be backed by oil in Venezuela’s Ayacucho 1 petroleum bloc in the Orinoco heavy oil belt in eastern Venezuela.However, that oil has yet to be pumped, says Jose Antonio Gil, a digital currency expert in Caracas. What’s more, it is to be extracted through joint ventures in which the government holds only a 60% stake.Last month, the US Treasury Department warned against investing in the petro because it would amount to “an extension of credit” to Venezuela and therefore violate sanctions put in place last August. To prevent US financial institutions from underwriting Maduro’s government, the Trump administration barred lending or any dealings in new bonds and stocks issued by the Venezuelan government and its state oil company.Still, the Maduro government is pressing ahead. It has opened a registry for so-called “miners” who will be able to earn petros through a process of auditing online cyrptocurrency transactions. The president predicts the petro will be a roaring success.“The future is now,” Maduro said in a recent speech promoting the digital currency. “Venezuela is moving forward as en economic powerhouse.”Indeed, Maduro has often proven his doubters wrong.He has managed to hang on to power despite predictions of his demise amid Venezulea’s downward economic spiral. Last year, Maduro consolidated his power by engineering the election of a rubber-stamp legislature that has effectively sidelined the congress. What’s more, Maduro is expected to win another six-year term in the April 22 presidential vote – not least because the most popular opposition candidates have been banned from participating.But should Maduro lose the election or be forced out of power, the petro would collapse, Gil says. Holders of petros would be unable to exchange them as their emission would likely be declared illegitimate by a new government. Topics Venezuela Nicolás Maduro Americas Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin news

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A white nationalist rally in the heart of Washington drew two dozen demonstrators and thousands of chanting counterprotesters on Sunday, the one-year anniversary of racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. A large police presence kept the two sides separated in Lafayette Square, in front of the White House. After two hours and a few speeches, the “Unite the Right 2” rally ended early when it began to rain and two police vans took the demonstrators back to Virginia. Sunday’s events, while tense at times, were a far cry from the street brawls that broke out in downtown Charlottesville a year ago, when a local woman was killed by a man who drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. “Unite the Right 2” had been denied a permit in Charlottesville this year, but did secure one for Washington. Organizers had planned for up to 400 protesters. At the head of the white nationalist group was Virginia activist Jason Kessler, who helped organize last year’s event in Charlottesville. He emerged with a handful of fellow demonstrators from a subway station holding an American flag and walked toward the White House ringed by police, while counterprotesters taunted the group and called them Nazis. Dan Haught, a 54-year-old computer programmer from Washington, was attending his first protest at the White House holding a sign that said “Back under your rocks you Nazi clowns.” “We wanted to send a message to the world that we vastly outnumber them,” Haught said. Police said that as of 6 p.m. ET (2200 GMT) they had made no arrests and would not give a crowd estimate. Late in the day, a small group of counterprotesters clashed with police in downtown Washington. The violence last year in Charlottesville, sparked by white nationalists’ outrage over a plan to remove a Confederate general’s statue, convulsed the nation and sparked condemnation across the political spectrum. It also was one of the lowest moments of President Donald Trump’s first year in office. At the time, Trump said there were “very fine people” on both sides, spurring criticism that he was equating the counterprotesters with the rally attendees, who included neo-Nazis and other white supremacists. White nationalist leader Jason Kessler holds a flag across from the White House during a rally marking the one year anniversary of the 2017 Charlottesville 'Unite the Right' protests, in Washington, D.C. August 12, 2018. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart On Saturday, Trump condemned “all types of racism” in a Twitter post marking the anniversary. ANTI-FASCISTS AND FAMILIES Kessler said Sunday’s rally was aimed at advocating for “free speech for everybody,” and he blamed last year’s violence in Charlottesville on other groups and the media. He thought Sunday’s rally went well in comparison. “Everybody got the ability to speak and I think that was a major improvement over Charlottesville,” Kessler told Reuters. “It was a precedent that had to be set. It was more important than anything.” The counterprotest which began earlier in the day was a smattering of diverse groups - from black-clad anti-fascists, to supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement to families who brought children in strollers. Tourists took pictures and both protesters and observers zoomed around on electric scooters. Sean Kratouil, a 17-year-old who lives in Maryland, was wearing a vest with “Antifa” on the back and said he was there to help start a movement of peaceful anti-fascists. He said he was concerned that when rallies turn violent, it makes his side look bad. “Public perception is key,” he said. In the picturesque college town of Charlottesville, hundreds of police officers had maintained a security perimeter around the normally bustling downtown district throughout the day on Saturday. Vehicular traffic was barred from an area of more than 15 city blocks, while pedestrians were allowed access at two checkpoints where officers examined bags for weapons. Hundreds of students and activists took to the streets on Saturday evening. Many of the protesters directed their anger at the heavy police presence, with chants like “cops and Klan go hand in hand,” a year after police were harshly criticized for their failure to prevent the violence. On Sunday morning, activist Grace Aheron, 27, donned a Black Lives Matter T-shirt and joined hundreds of fellow Charlottesville residents who gathered at Booker T. Washington Park to mark the anniversary of last year’s bloodshed. Slideshow (16 Images)“We want to claim our streets back, claim our public space back, claim our city back,” Aheron said at the park. Charlottesville authorities said four people had been arrested on Sunday. Reporting by Ginger Gibson and Jonathan Landay in Washington; Additional reporting by Joseph Ax in Charlottesville and David Shepardson and Michelle Price in Washington; Writing by Dan Wallis and Mary Milliken; Editing by Grant McCool, Cynthia Osterman and Susan ThomasOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - During the first week of January last year, a group of Indian scholars gathered in a white bungalow on a leafy boulevard in central New Delhi. The focus of their discussion: how to rewrite the history of the nation. FILE PHOTO: A man rides his bicycle past volunteers of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) taking part in the "Path-Sanchalan", or Route March during celebrations to mark the Vijaya Dashmi or Dussehra in Mumbai, India October 11, 2016. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/File PhotoThe government of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi had quietly appointed the committee of scholars about six months earlier. Details of its existence are reported here for the first time. Minutes of the meeting, reviewed by Reuters, and interviews with committee members set out its aims: to use evidence such as archaeological finds and DNA to prove that today’s Hindus are directly descended from the land’s first inhabitants many thousands of years ago, and make the case that ancient Hindu scriptures are fact not myth. Interviews with members of the 14-person committee and ministers in Modi’s government suggest the ambitions of Hindu nationalists extend beyond holding political power in this nation of 1.3 billion people - a kaleidoscope of religions. They want ultimately to shape the national identity to match their religious views, that India is a nation of and for Hindus. In doing so, they are challenging a more multicultural narrative that has dominated since the time of British rule, that modern-day India is a tapestry born of migrations, invasions and conversions. That view is rooted in demographic fact. While the majority of Indians are Hindus, Muslims and people of other faiths account for some 240 million, or a fifth, of the populace. The committee’s chairman, K.N. Dikshit, told Reuters, “I have been asked to present a report that will help the government rewrite certain aspects of ancient history.” The committee’s creator, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, confirmed in an interview that the group’s work was part of larger plans to revise India’s history. For India’s Muslims, who have pointed to incidents of religious violence and discrimination since Modi took office in 2014, the development is ominous. The head of Muslim party All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Asaduddin Owaisi, said his people had “never felt so marginalized in the independent history of India.” “The government,” he said, “wants Muslims to live in India as second-class citizens.” Modi did not respond to a request for comment for this article. Helping to drive the debate over Indian history is an ideological, nationalist Hindu group called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It helped sweep Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party to power in 2014 and now counts among its members the ministers in charge of agriculture, highways and internal security. The RSS asserts that ancestors of all people of Indian origin - including 172 million Muslims - were Hindu and that they must accept their common ancestry as part of Bharat Mata, or Mother India. Modi has been a member of the RSS since childhood. An official biography of Culture Minister Sharma says he too has been a “dedicated follower” of the RSS for many years. Referring to the emblematic color of the Hindu nationalist movement, RSS spokesman Manmohan Vaidya told Reuters that “the true color of Indian history is saffron and to bring about cultural changes we have to rewrite history.” Balmukund Pandey, the head of the historical research wing of the RSS, said he meets regularly with Culture Minister Sharma. “The time is now,” Pandey said, to restore India’s past glory by establishing that ancient Hindu texts are fact not myth. Sharma told Reuters he expects the conclusions of the committee to find their way into school textbooks and academic research. The panel is referred to in government documents as the committee for “holistic study of origin and evolution of Indian culture since 12,000 years before present and its interface with other cultures of the world.” Sharma said this “Hindu first” version of Indian history will be added to a school curriculum which has long taught that people from central Asia arrived in India much more recently, some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, and transformed the population. Hindu nationalists and senior figures in Modi’s party reject the idea that India was forged from a mass migration. They believe that today’s Hindu population is directly descended from the land’s first inhabitants. Historian Romila Thapar said the question of who first stood on the soil was important to nationalists because “if the Hindus are to have primacy as citizens in a Hindu Rashtra (kingdom), their foundational religion cannot be an imported one.” To assert that primacy, nationalists need to claim descent from ancestors and a religion that were indigenous, said Thapar, 86, who taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi for decades and has authored books on ancient Indian history. The theory of an influx of people from central Asia 3,000 to 4,000 years ago was embraced during British rule. India’s first post-independence leader, Jawaharlal Nehru, who promoted a secular state and tolerance of India’s Muslims, said it was “entirely misleading to refer to Indian culture as Hindu culture.” That outlook informed the way India was governed by Nehru and then by his Congress party for more than half a century. The rights of minorities - including the prohibition of discrimination based on religion - are enshrined in India’s constitution, of which Nehru was a signatory in 1950. Shashi Tharoor, a prominent member of the Congress party, said right wing Hindus are “leading a political campaign over Indian history that seeks to reinvent the idea of India itself.” “For seven decades after independence, Indianness rested on faith in the country’s pluralism,” Tharoor said, but the rise of Hindu nationalism had brought with it a “sense of cultural superiority.” The history committee met in the offices of the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India, a federal body that oversees archaeological research. Among the committee’s 14 members are bureaucrats and academics. The chairman, Dikshit, is a former senior official with the Archaeological Survey. Culture Minister Sharma told Reuters he will present the committee’s final report to parliament and lobby the nation’s Ministry of Human Resource Development to write the findings into school textbooks. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, which is responsible for education and literacy programs, is also headed by an adherent of the RSS, Prakash Javadekar. “We will take every recommendation made by the Culture Ministry seriously,” Javadekar said. “Our government is the first government to have the courage to even question the existing version of history that is being taught in schools and colleges.” According to the minutes of the history committee’s first meeting, Dikshit, the chairman, said it was “essential to establish a correlation” between ancient Hindu scriptures and evidence that Indian civilization stretches back many thousands of years. Doing so would help bolster both conclusions the committee wants to reach: that events described in Hindu texts are real, and today’s Hindus are descendants of those times. The minutes and interviews with committee members lay out a comprehensive campaign to achieve this, including the dating of archaeological sites and DNA testing of human remains. Culture Minister Sharma told Reuters he wants to establish that Hindu scriptures are factual accounts. Speaking of the Ramayana, the epic that follows the journey of a Hindu deity in human form, Sharma said: “I worship Ramayana and I think it is a historical document. People who think it is fiction are absolutely wrong.” The epic tells how the god Rama rescues his wife from a demon king. It still informs many Indians’ sense of gender roles and duty. Sharma said it was a priority to prove through archaeological research the existence of a mystical river, the Saraswati, that is mentioned in another ancient scripture, the Vedas. Other projects include examining artifacts from locations in scriptures, mapping the dates of astrological events mentioned in these texts and excavating the sites of battles in another epic, the Mahabharata, according to Sharma and minutes of the committee’s meeting. In much the same way that some Christians point to evidence of an ancient flood substantiating the Biblical tale of Noah and his ark, if the settings and features of the ancient scriptures in India can be verified, the thinking goes, then the stories are true. “If the Koran and Bible are considered as part of history, then what is the problem in accepting our Hindu religious texts as the history of India?” said Sharma. Modi did not order the committee’s creation - it was instigated by Sharma, government documents show - but its mission is in keeping with his outlook. During the 2014 inauguration of a hospital in Mumbai, Modi pointed to the scientific achievements documented by ancient religious texts and spoke of Ganesha, a Hindu deity with an elephant’s head: “We worship Lord Ganesha, and maybe there was a plastic surgeon at that time who kept the head of an elephant on the torso of a human. There are many areas where our ancestors made large contributions.” Modi did not respond to a request from Reuters that he expand on this remark. Nine of 12 history committee members interviewed by Reuters said they have been tasked with matching archaeological and other evidence with ancient Indian scriptures, or establishing that Indian civilization is much older than is widely known. The others confirmed their membership but declined to discuss the group’s activities. The committee includes a geologist, archaeologists, scholars of the ancient Sanskrit language and two bureaucrats. One of the Sanskrit scholars, Santosh Kumar Shukla, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, told Reuters he believes India’s Hindu culture is millions of years old. Another committee member, Ramesh Chand Sharma, former head of the linguistics department at the University of Delhi, said he would take a strictly scientific approach. “I don’t subscribe to any ideology,” he said. With an annual budget of about $400 million - an important source of federal funding for historical research, archaeology and the arts - the Culture Ministry is an influential place to start a campaign of historical revision. Slideshow (20 Images)After he was named culture minister in 2014 following Modi’s victory, Sharma, a doctor and chairman of a chain of hospitals, said he received guidance from the RSS. Sharma, a genial man with a wide smile, has a portrait of Bharat Mata, or Mother India, hanging above the doorway of a meeting room in his bungalow in central Delhi. Below it are portraits of past RSS leaders. During the last three years, Sharma said, his ministry has organized hundreds of workshops and seminars across the country “to prove the supremacy of our glorious past.” The aim, he said, is to build a fresh narrative to balance the liberal and secular philosophy espoused by India’s first prime minister, Nehru, and furthered by successive governments for most of the nation’s post-independence history. The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, now controlled by Sharma’s ministry, these days mixes in sessions about right wing Hindu leaders and causes. At one such event in 2016, the president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Amit Shah, took the opportunity to lambast Nehru as a man influenced by the western world. “We have always believed that our policies should have the smell of Indian soil,” Shah said. It was time for a history of India that concentrates on “facts about our great past.” Reporting by Rupam Jain and Tom Lasseter; additional reporting by Krishna N. Das, Aditya Kalra and Vipin Das M in New Delhi, Jatindra Das in Bhubaneswar and Subrata Nagchoudhury in Kolkata; editing by Janet McBride and Peter HirschbergOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The US president recognizes several public servants during his State of the Union address, including a US Coast Guard pilot who helped rescue victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston and a firefighter who helped save children from a summer camp threatened by wildfires in California. He also praises wounded Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise, who returned to work three months after being shot on a baseball court

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate rejected a series of bills to protect “Dreamer” immigrants on Thursday, leaving in limbo the future of 1.8 million young adults brought to the United States illegally as children. The Senate failed to get the 60 votes needed to move forward on four separate proposals, including one backed by President Donald Trump and a separate bipartisan bill that had been the most likely to win approval in the deeply divided Senate. Trump helped defeat the bipartisan bill, which went down in a 54-45 vote, by labeling it just hours earlier as “a total catastrophe.” He instead backed a Republican plan that would offer Dreamers a path to citizenship but also commit funding to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and impose much tougher restrictions on legal immigration In a blow to the Republican president, 14 senators from his own party opposed that bill, which failed by an emphatic 60-39 vote. The Senate votes were the latest in a series of failures in Congress in recent years to pass a comprehensive immigration plan, and left lawmakers and immigration advocates searching for a way forward for the young Dreamers. Democrats complained Trump’s uncompromising approach was sinking efforts to find a deal in Congress. Related CoverageTrump escalates attack on bipartisan immigration planU.S. court says Trump travel ban unlawfully discriminates against Muslims“This vote is proof that President Trump’s plan will never become law. If he would stop torpedoing bipartisan efforts, a good bill would pass,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said. The White House in a statement late on Thursday blamed Democrats for the failure to pass legislation, saying that “they are not serious about immigration reform, and they are not serious about homeland security.” Although the protections under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are due to start expiring on March 5, federal judges have blocked that from taking effect amid litigation. Republican Senator Bob Corker, who has worked with Democrats in trying to find an immigration deal, told reporters there could now be debate on attaching a short-term extension of protections from deportation for Dreamers on a government funding bill that Congress must pass by March 23. “This does not have to be the end of our efforts to resolve these matters,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said after the vote, although he blamed Democrats for the deadlock. “I would encourage members to put away the talking points to get serious about finding a solution that can actually become law.” While Trump has offered a deal for Dreamers, he has also insisted on building a border wall, ending a visa lottery program and imposing curbs on visas for the families of legal immigrants. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) walks to the Senate floor before a series of votes on immigration reform on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 15, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua RobertsThe White House pushed Trump’s preferred bill, introduced by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, but the 14 Republicans who voted against it included John Thune and John Barrasso, members of the Senate Republican leadership, and conservatives such as Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. The leading bipartisan measure, crafted by a group led by Republican Senator Susan Collins, would have protected the Dreamers and included a $25 billion fund to strengthen border security and possibly even build segments of Trump’s long-promised border wall with Mexico. But the White House threatened a veto, saying the proposal would weaken enforcement of current law and produce a flood of illegal immigration. The Department of Homeland Security and Attorney General Jeff Sessions also blasted it. A narrow bill focusing just on Dreamers and border security, put forward by Republican John McCain and Democrat Chris Coons, failed on a 52-47 vote. A fourth measure, focused on punishing “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts, also fell short of 60 votes. “It looks like demagogues on the left and the right win again on immigration,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who backed all four proposals. McConnell had set a deadline for the Senate to pass an immigration measure by the end of Thursday. But Senator Mike Rounds, a leading Republican sponsor of the failed bipartisan proposal, said senators would keep trying. Slideshow (4 Images)“We’ll have a chance to regroup, and take a look at what we can do to take a bipartisan approach, modify some of those things where there are questions,” he said. “The issues are not going to go away. We’ve still got DACA kids that are going to have to be addressed. We’ve still got a border security system that the president says is a priority. We want to give him an opportunity to make that a success.”. Frank Sharry, executive director of the immigration advocacy group America’s Voice, noted an overwhelming majority of Americans supported protections for Dreamers. “It is noteworthy that the only vote to reach a supermajority of 60 votes was the resounding defeat of Trump’s racist and radical immigration plan,” he said. Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Katanga Johnson and Makini Brice; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Peter CooneyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Thursday became the first $1 trillion publicly listed U.S. company, crowning a decade-long rise fueled by its ubiquitous iPhone that transformed it from a niche player in personal computers into a global powerhouse spanning entertainment and communications. The tech company’s stock jumped 2.9 percent to end the day at $207.39, giving it a market capitalization of $1.002 trillion. During the session, Apple’s stock market value reached as much as $1.006 trillion. Apple has rallied about 9 percent since Tuesday, when it reported June-quarter results above expectations and said it bought back $20 billion of its own shares. It was Apple’s best two-day run since April 2014. In a memo to Apple’s more than 120,000 employees on Thursday that was seen by Reuters, Chief Executive Tim Cook said the $1 trillion valuation was “a significant milestone” that gave Apple employees “much to be proud of.” But he said it was “not the most important measure” of the company’s success. “Financial returns are simply the result of Apple’s innovation, putting our products and customers first, and always staying true to our values,” Cook said in the memo. Started in the garage of co-founder Steve Jobs in 1976, Apple has pushed its revenue beyond the economic outputs of Portugal, New Zealand and other countries. Along the way, it has changed how consumers connect with one another and how businesses conduct daily commerce. Apple’s stock market value is greater than the combined capitalization of Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N), Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N) and AT&T Inc (T.N). It now accounts for 4 percent of the S&P 500. The Silicon Valley stalwart’s stock has surged more than 50,000 percent since its 1980 initial public offering, dwarfing the S&P 500’s approximately 2,000 percent increase during the same almost four decades. One of three founders, Jobs was driven out of Apple in the mid-1980s, only to return a decade later and rescue the computer company from near bankruptcy. He launched the iPhone in 2007, dropping “Computer” from Apple’s name and super-charging the cellphone industry, catching Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Intel Corp (INTC.O), Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and Nokia off guard. That put Apple on a path to overtake Exxon Mobil in 2011 as the largest U.S. company by market value. During that time, Apple evolved from selling Mac personal computers to becoming an architect of the mobile revolution with a cult-like following. Jobs, who died in 2011, was succeeded as chief executive by Tim Cook, who has doubled the company’s profits but struggled to develop a new product to replicate the society-altering success of the iPhone, which has seen sales taper off in recent years. In 2006, the year before the iPhone launch, Apple generated less than $20 billion in sales and net profit just shy of $2 billion. By last year, its sales had grown more than 11-fold to $229 billion - the fourth highest in the S&P 500 .SPX - and net income had mushroomed at twice that rate to $48.4 billion, making it the most profitable publicly listed U.S. company. Jeff Carbone, co-founder of Cornerstone Financial Partners in Charlotte, North Carolina, has included Apple in his clients’ portfolios for about a decade. Recently, some of his older clients have bought Apple shares for their grandchildren. “We still see upside from it, and as new money gets deposited we continue to buy, preferably on the dip,” Carbone said. An electronic screen displays the Apple Inc. logo on the exterior of the Nasdaq Market Site following the close of the day's trading session in New York City, New York, U.S., August 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mike SegarApple’s stock has risen over 30 percent in the past year, fueled by optimism about the iPhone X, launched a decade after the original. Also propelling Apple higher in recent months was Apple’s announcement that it earmarked $100 billion for a new share repurchase program. In its report on Tuesday, Apple sales led by the iPhone X, which sells for about $1,000, pushed quarterly results far beyond Wall Street targets, with subscriptions from App Store, Apple Music and iCloud services bolstering business. “The markets are starting to recognize the value of its platform and services more and more, and that’s what is being reflected in the increase in market capitalization,” said Brad Neuman, director of Market Strategy at Alger, a growth equity asset management firm in New York City. Even with its $1,000,000,000,000 stock market value, many analysts do not view Apple’s shares as expensive. Shares of Apple this week traded at about 15 times expected earnings, compared with Amazon at 82 times earnings and Microsoft at 25 times earnings. Adjusting for four stock splits over the years, Apple debuted on the stock market for the equivalent of 39 cents a share on Dec. 12, 1980, compared with Thursday’s high of $208.38. In 2015, Apple joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average, one of capitalism’s most exclusive clubs. Since 1980, IBM Corp (IBM.N), Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), General Electric Co (GE.N) and Microsoft have also alternated as the largest publicly listed U.S. company. In 2007, Chinese government-controlled PetroChina (601857.SS) briefly reached a stock market value of about $1.1 trillion following its public listing in Shanghai. It is now worth about $200 billion, according to Thomson Reuters data. One of five U.S. companies since the 1980s to take a turn as Wall Street’s largest company by market capitalization, Apple could lose its lead to the likes of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) or Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) if it does not find a major new product or service as global demand for smartphones loses steam. Hot on Apple’s heels is Amazon.com, the second-largest listed U.S. company by market value, at around $880 billion, closely followed by Google-owner Alphabet and by Microsoft. Slideshow (12 Images)(INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC: Apple hits $1 trillion stock valuation - tmsnrt.rs/2KhcWg9) (GRAPHIC: Apple revenue by segment, product units - tmsnrt.rs/2LNgw6q) Reporting by Noel Randewich; Additional reporting by Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Peter CooneyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Intelligence Committee Republicans said on Monday the panel had finished investigating Russia and the 2016 U.S. election, and found no collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Moscow’s efforts to influence the vote. The committee Republicans said they agreed that Russia sought to influence the election by spreading propaganda and false news reports via social media. However, they disputed the findings of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation that Moscow sought to aid Trump, who won a surprise victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. “We’re through with interview phase. We’re now in the report drafting phase,” Republican Representative Mike Conaway, who has led the panel’s investigation for the past year, told Reuters. Representative Adam Schiff, the top committee Democrat, strongly disagreed, and blasted the announcement as a premature shutdown. The House investigation, one of three main congressional probes of Russia and the 2016 election, and possible collusion or obstruction of justice by Trump or his aides, has been marred for months by partisan wrangling, including the release of rival Republican and Democratic memos related to the probe. The House Intelligence Committee’s chairman, Republican Representative Devin Nunes, recused himself from the investigation last year amid reports he had a secret meeting at the White House. Nunes denied wrongdoing. The House Republicans made their announcement even as Robert Mueller, the U.S. special counsel for the Russia probe, seems to be stepping up his investigation. Last week, former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg spent six hours before a grand jury called by Mueller, and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. “While the Majority members of our committee have indicated for some time that they have been under great pressure to end the investigation, it is nonetheless another tragic milestone for this Congress, and represents yet another capitulation to the executive branch,” Schiff said in a statement. Conaway rejected that charge. Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX) asks questions as executives appear before the House Intelligence Committee to answer questions related to Russian use of social media to influence U.S. elections, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein Trump took to Twitter to note the announcement, typing in all capital letters, that the House committee had found no evidence of collusion or coordination after a 14-month-long “in-depth investigation.” Republican members of the House of Representatives committee had been saying for weeks they were near the end of the interview phase of the probe, saying they needed to release their findings to prepare for the next general election in November. Democrats have accused committee Republicans of shirking the investigation in order to protect the Republican president and his associates, some of whom have pleaded guilty to charges including lying to investigators and conspiring against the United States. Trump has repeatedly denied collusion between his campaign and Russia. Russia denies meddling in the 2016 U.S. campaign. Schiff said evidence was “clear and overwhelming” that U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessment was correct that Russia sought to boost Trump, hurt his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and sow discord. “On a whole host of investigative threads, our work is fundamentally incomplete, some issues partially investigated, others, like that involving credible allegations of Russian money laundering, remain barely touched,” Schiff said. Conaway accused Democrats of seeking to prolong the probe ahead of the mid-term elections. The Republicans’ current control of both houses of Congress is up for grabs in the November vote, and early polls show they face a difficult fight in particular to retain a majority in the House. “There’s opportunity for this investigation to go on forever if in fact you don’t want to come to any conclusions... if you want to make hay in the run up to the election,” Conaway said in a telephone interview. Slideshow (2 Images)The House Republicans’ announcement shifts attention across the Capitol to the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has been conducting its own investigation. Republicans and Democrats have both described that probe as far less partisan than the House’s. The House Republicans said they had already completed a draft version of what they said would eventually be the committee’s final report on the investigation. Conaway said he hoped to work with Schiff on the probe but Democrats are expected to release their own report. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Also on Tuesday, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, grew frustrated with Republican stonewalling and unilaterally released the 312-page transcript of the testimony of the Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn R. Simpson before the Judiciary Committee in August. Republicans on the committee had tried to keep the transcript secret. Reading it, it was clear why.Again and again, the transcript shows Republican lawyers on the committee asking questions meant to substantiate the Trumpist narrative, particularly about whether Fusion GPS had been hired with the specific aim of starting an F.B.I. investigation. Simpson’s detailed answers, given under oath, make the Republican theory look ridiculous.In the questioning, Steele comes off as an earnest, upright figure who was stunned by his discoveries about Trump and Russia, and who felt duty-bound to go to the F.B.I. If Republicans had reason to believe that Simpson was lying to them, they could have referred him to the Department of Justice, but they did not.Like all good conspiracy theories, Trump’s counternarrative contains a few facts mixed with all the wild supposition. For example, it’s true that Peter Strzok, a counterintelligence agent who was part of the initial F.B.I. inquiry into Trump’s Russia ties, texted a colleague with whom he was having an affair about the need for an “insurance policy” should Trump become president.As The Wall Street Journal reported, Strzok was aghast at the seriousness of the investigation and was referring to the need to proceed quickly because should Trump win an upset victory, people suspected of colluding with Russia might end up in sensitive government jobs. (Strzok eventually became part of Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation but was removed as soon as his texts came to light.) Republicans insist on pretending that the “insurance policy” was the dossier itself, a dirty trick created to undermine a potential Trump presidency. From Strzok’s text and a few other details, Republicans are weaving a story in which Trump is the victim rather than the beneficiary of illicit collusion.Because there’s not even an attempt among Republicans to discover what Russia really did in the 2016 election, nothing much is being done to prepare for further Russian incursions. “The ultimate test is, when the November 2018 elections come, have we done what we should have done in order to protect those elections from foreign interference,” Whitehouse told me Thursday. “I don’t see us on the path to a good answer to that question.” You can’t solve a crime when you’re more interested in protecting the suspects.