It is always tough for a new team to join Formula 1 and Cadillac have faced some early problems, but don't bet against them picking up points in 2026.

Valtteri Bottas tells F1.com about his journey with Cadillac so far, why he appreciates life in F1 more than ever, and why his best years are still ahead.

A handful of cities across the U.S. have ditched Flock’s automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras and immediately replaced them with equivalent systems from law enforcement contracting giant Axon, according to local media reports and government documents from around the country. Axon, for example, advertises AI-powered cameras that attach to an existing streetlamp and are designed to completely blend in with their surroundings, and also collects license plate data with cameras installed inside police officers’ patrol vehicles.

The switch to Axon, which is not yet widespread but appears to be increasing as people oppose Flock, signals what might come next for the nationwide conversation around ALPR cameras: instead of doing away with the cameras entirely — which 404 Media has linked to ICE, the tracking of a woman who self-administered an abortion, and rampant abuse by cops stalking their exes — some cities may enter contracts with another company which has faced less scrutiny and backlash.

In February, Syracuse lawmakers voted 7-1 to approve a license plate reader contract between the Syracuse Police Department and Axon, Central Current reported. That came after the department used Flock cameras starting in summer 2024, the outlet added.

In March, the Denver, Colorado, city council voted 7-6 to replace the city’s Flock cameras with Axon ones, Denver7 reported. The one-year contract was for 50 ALPR cameras, which is less than half of the total Flock cameras, the outlet added. 

In June, Grand Chute, Wisconsin, voted to get rid of its Flock cameras and transition to Axon, NBC26 reported. The town was already evaluating Axon’s product, but repeated problems with Flock led officials to speed up the transition, the report said.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado dropped Flock for a nearly $22.8 million contract with Axon in July, the Denver Gazette reported. That deal included 100 Axon cameras, doubling the 50 Flock cameras the agency had, and first responder drones, the report said.

In December the City of Ferndale, Michigan, dumped Flock and approved a deal with Axon, according to a local government document. The document explained it was making the switch because “citing privacy concerns and failures by [Flock] to protect images stored on the city's ALPR network from unauthorized agencies [...] Axon does not have a national look-up feature. Axon's ALPR data sharing software only operates on a one-to-one’ basis.” An 88-page report about the switch, however, shows that residents there are concerned about Axon’s ALPR cameras, too.

Longmont, Colorado, voted unanimously in March to approve a new deal with Axon, Times-Call reported. The purchase came after the city let its agreement with Flock lapse.

Knoxville, Texas, added a $9.4 million amendment to its existing contract with Axon, which included replacement ALPR cameras, according to a press release from the mayor. That purchase came after the city’s contract with Flock expired and the city was unable to secure a short-term extension.

As for why cities are switching, local cops performing lookups for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), data sharing, and Flock cameras sometimes being down or unavailable all came up in the media reports and documents.

One key feature of Flock is its national lookup tool. This lets, say, a police officer in Texas search ALPR cameras not just in their own neighborhood, or even state, but nationwide. That has included states which have explicit bans on sharing ALPR data out of state, like Illinois, or sanctuary states like California. After 404 Media revealed ICE was indirectly tapping into Flock camera data, Flock removed various states from the national lookup tool and made other changes to its product. When 404 Media contacted some police departments during that reporting, some were not even aware their cameras could be searched by other agencies across the country.

Axon, simply, does not have a national network. Meaning that it would not be possible for cops in one jurisdiction to search cameras across the country. Flock even highlights this in its own side by side feature sheet about Axon: it says Flock has an “unmatched nationwide network” while Axon “data sharing is limited to agency-specific data/ecosystem; no shared national network.”

Denver, just like the City of Ferndale, explicitly mentioned this lack of this national network as part of its decision to ditch Flock for Axon. “As far as data sharing under this contract, Axon does not have a national network. There's no way that we can share it nationally. No law enforcement officer in Texas, Ohio, New York, or California can log into our system. It's only Denver Police officers and only when they're investigating an actual criminal incident,” council member Kevin Flynn said according to the Denver7 report.

Police departments using Axon can enter into data sharing agreements with each other, though. In Axon’s documentation for its ALPR product, a “shared data” option “extends the query to partner-agency detections once a sharing relationship is active.”

Of course, none of that changes the basic fact of how ALPR cameras work, which constantly scan all passing vehicles regardless of which vendor runs them. Switching vendors also does not address the more fundamental issue of whether such technology should require a warrant or not.

Neither Flock nor Axon responded to a request for comment.

Axon’s ALPR cameras differ from Flock's in some key ways. First, many of them are installed inside police officers’ vehicles. These Axon Fleet 3 cameras constantly scan the license plate of every vehicle they drive past and create a timestamped log of where each was, collecting data from locations that may not be covered by a stationary camera. 

Another is Axon Lightpost, a camera that fits onto an existing streetlight and adds a surveillance camera to it. Axon’s Lightposts are built in partnership with Ubicquia. Ubicquia’s pitch is that the devices “mount to existing streetlight infrastructure, blend seamlessly into urban landscape,” and “avoid complex permitting processes.” These cameras can also livestream, according to Axon’s website.

Sticking a camera onto an existing lamppost draws less attention than Flock’s purpose built cameras but provides similar functionality. According to Axon, “Lightpost uses an Axis Q1800-LE-based license plate camera engineered for high-accuracy captures in real traffic conditions.” The camera draws power from the local grid and runs on a cellular network maintained by Ubicquia.

Axon Outpost cameras are the ones that most closely resemble Flock’s. Like Lightpost, they also livestream, and, like Flock, record a vehicle’s characteristics like their color and make.

Axon also partners with surveillance doorbell company Ring to let Ring customers share video with law enforcement. Flock and Ring cancelled a similar planned arrangement after massive backlash.

Axon then brings essentially all of this data together in Fusus. Fusus started as a system and company that linked together a city or town’s security cameras, added AI capabilities to them, and let police query all of that data at once. 404 Media previously reported how Fusus was spreading across the country. In 2024, Axon acquired Fusus.

One reason why journalists, activists, and residents have been able to learn so much about what police use Flock for is that the company has built auditing tools that the public can access through records requests. Because of Flock’s nationwide network, it is often possible to get insight into what cops are doing in an entire state or throughout the country from a local public records request. It is not clear if the same granularity of data can be learned about Axon systems, although it does allow agencies to generate audit reports.

At one point, Axon and Flock worked together before having a very public falling out. In a January 2025 blog post, Flock said, “Axon made a surprise decision to end our partnership and cut off the API access that law enforcement depends upon.” A month later, Forbes reported Axon’s CEO Rick Smith emailed customers saying, “Flock has demonstrated a pattern of behavior that creates barriers for customer integrations in attempts to create a digital silo and coerce customers to purchase additional Flock services over Axon’s.” After that, Flock and Axon became heated rivals.

Matthew Gault contributed reporting.

GRONINGEN (ANP) - De rechtbank in Groningen heeft donderdag de 55-jarige Eric van I. uit Stadskanaal veroordeeld tot vier jaar cel, waarvan een jaar voorwaardelijk, voor seksueel misbruik van drie meisjes tussen de 4 en 8 jaar. De rechter acht ook bewezen dat hij duizenden beelden van kindermisbruik in zijn bezit heeft gehad, waaronder beelden van enkele slachtoffers. Van I. noemde zichzelf 'buurtopa' en bood zich in de wijk aan als kinderoppas.

Het Openbaar Ministerie had acht jaar cel en tbs met dwangverpleging geëist. De rechtbank is tot een lagere straf gekomen omdat zij niet alle beschuldigingen bewezen acht. De rechtbank heeft geen tbs opgelegd omdat niet kon worden vastgesteld dat de verdachte ten tijde van het plegen van de misdrijven aan een stoornis leed.

Wel bepaalde de rechtbank dat de man zich onder toezicht van de reclassering moet stellen en zich ambulant moet laten behandelen. Ook mag hij geen contact zoeken met minderjarigen.

Georgia’s State Security Service said foreign-controlled “bot accounts” spread false claims on X boasting about urinating and spitting in food served to Russian tourists.

The FDA has approved the first mRNA flu vaccine in the United States after a clinical trial found it was about 27% more effective than a standard flu shot. Manufactured by Moderna and marketed as mFlusiva, the vaccine is expected to be available this fall for adults ages 50 to 64 and those 65 and older, though approval for the older group is conditional on Moderna conducting an additional clinical trial, NBC News reports. From the report: Many scientists and public health experts have touted the idea of an mRNA-based flu vaccine, which uses the same messenger RNA platform as the Covid vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer. That's because mRNA vaccines can be manufactured much faster than traditional vaccines, allowing scientists to better match circulating influenza strains. Moderna said it takes two to three months from picking the strain to rolling out its flu shot, compared with about six months for traditional flu shots.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

@Marloezovic @NRCfediverse Als het NMT zegt er geen tijd voor te hebben, dan kan je het beter uitbesteden. Moeilijk is het niet, maar het vraagt aandacht en dus tijd. Beter laat je het mensen doen die de hele dag dit soort dingen doen.
+1 voor @eric

This guy hooked his hamster’s wheel up to Strava — Mollie is logging 5-6 miles per day.

Schakelen we nu over naar Hilversum, waar de NPO zojuist de Manager content nieuwe generaties (?) op non-actief heeft gesteld omdat hij de kleegaatjes in een groepsapp trakteerde op vers beeld van zijn zendmast. Ja, dat is natuurlijk ook content, hoewel mogelijk niet helemaal geschikt voor nieuwe generaties, en ook niet per se voor mensen met wie je de volgende ochtend in een volgepakte lift staat. Het gaat om Menno de Boer, die eerder radio-dj was en zendermanager bij 3FM. Zaak kwam aan het rollen na berichtgeving van RealityFBI, en wordt nu bevestigd in de T. "Geruchten dat het niet de eerste keer zou zijn dat de nu 47-jarige De Boer een dergelijke foto deelt in een groepsapp met collega’s, kan de woordvoerder niet bevestigen. „Daar kan ik vanwege het lopende onderzoek niets over zeggen.”"

Ja je vraagt je toch af. Wie zijn die mensen?

​Aspirant-influencer Jeroen heeft een onbelangrijke boodschap voor zijn volgers. Hij gaat namelijk een of andere tatoeage laten zetten als zijn saaie video een irrelevant aantal likes weet binnen te harken. Onder zijn bescheiden groep volgers is met middelmatig enthousiasme gereageerd op deze futiele mededeling.

“What’s up guys, ik heb iets heel leuks bedacht vandaag”, begint Jeroen zijn vrij doorsnee video op Instagram. “Het is vandaag een half jaar geleden dat ik jarig was, dus ik ben precies 27,5 jaar oud. En als deze video 2750 likes krijgt, dan neem ik een tatoeage van een vis. Ja ja, jullie horen het goed: een vis!” Hierna volgt een marginale passage waarin Jeroen doet alsof hij eigenlijk helemaal geen nietszeggende tatoeage wil. De video wordt afgesloten met Jeroen die mensen oproept om de video te liken en te delen, omdat hij dan “simpelweg niets anders kan en de tatoeage wel móét nemen”.

Op de vraag welke vis hij laat tatoeëren als de video het onbeduidende aantal likes binnensleept, heeft Jeroen een duidelijk antwoord: “Gewoon, een vis.”

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