The 94th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours will take place this weekend, with 62 cars and 186 drivers set to race at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Riverside County has launched an 8-mile "smart freeway" pilot on northbound I-15 near Temecula, using roadway sensors and an algorithm to coordinate ramp meters and suggest speeds rather than widening the freeway. Officials say the $33 million project could reduce stop-and-go traffic and travel times. According to SFGATE, similar systems in Australia and Denver reportedly cutting delays by 20% to 65%. From the report: Unlike typical on-ramp stoplights that run on a timer lasting a few seconds, Interstate 15 drivers could find themselves waiting up to four minutes or even longer while the system determines the necessary speed for traffic entering the freeway. By spacing out the cars, transportation officials hope to improve traffic flow, reduce stop-and-go traffic and decrease the amount of time that travelers have to spend on the freeway.
The transportation commission spent $33 million to build the project, which will run for two years. Riverside County Transportation Commission spokesperson David Knudsen told SFGATE that if the program is successful, the agency will work with Caltrans to deploy it elsewhere in the county and then potentially to other traffic choke points in California. "This system is a lot less expensive than trying to build new lanes, and so the idea here is let's make the system that we have work better," he said.
Knudsen said the program is not managed by artificial intelligence but instead uses advanced sensors in the roadway to monitor real-time traffic conditions and make adjustments. The stretch of freeway that connects Temecula at the Riverside/San Diego County line to the Interstate 215 interchange in Murrieta can be notoriously clogged. What can be less than a 10-minute drive with no traffic can take between 25 and 45 minutes during the afternoon peak period, according to the transportation commission. "The intent is to create a consistent flow of traffic on the freeway system, and the coordinated ramp metering among the three on-ramps ... will help do that," Knudsen said. "If we can manage that, then we can help prevent that stop-and-go traffic frustration that so many people feel ... on the freeway."
The transportation commission spent $33 million to build the project, which will run for two years. Riverside County Transportation Commission spokesperson David Knudsen told SFGATE that if the program is successful, the agency will work with Caltrans to deploy it elsewhere in the county and then potentially to other traffic choke points in California. "This system is a lot less expensive than trying to build new lanes, and so the idea here is let's make the system that we have work better," he said.
Knudsen said the program is not managed by artificial intelligence but instead uses advanced sensors in the roadway to monitor real-time traffic conditions and make adjustments. The stretch of freeway that connects Temecula at the Riverside/San Diego County line to the Interstate 215 interchange in Murrieta can be notoriously clogged. What can be less than a 10-minute drive with no traffic can take between 25 and 45 minutes during the afternoon peak period, according to the transportation commission. "The intent is to create a consistent flow of traffic on the freeway system, and the coordinated ramp metering among the three on-ramps ... will help do that," Knudsen said. "If we can manage that, then we can help prevent that stop-and-go traffic frustration that so many people feel ... on the freeway."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Were our readers right to put Lord of the Rings above Middlemarch? What was missing from our list? Has anyone read the whole 100 … ?
Liese Spencer, our joint head of books, and non-fiction editor David Shariatmadari will be live at 12pm BST to discuss the huge reaction to our 100 greatest novels list, our readers’ choices of the 100 best – and any other burning questions you may have about what to read next
Hello and welcome to the latest Guardian Conversation, a new series of Q&As with our journalists. At 12pm BST we will be joined by Liese Spencer and David Shariatmadari who are ready to take your questions about all things bookish, including our huge recent project to rank the 100 greatest novels of all time – and last weekend’s corresponding list of readers’ favourites.
The books team have also been working hard to prepare their annual list of top reads for the (northern hemisphere) summer which is published tomorrow. (David is also the inventor of the Guardian’s Wordiply game should you wish to ask him about that).
Comments are open now (please sign up for a Guardian account below to join in) and, in the meantime, here’s some of the best of the 100 novels project.
⚽️ Canada tightens in anticipation | What is enough for US?
⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Mail David
What did we make of the opening ceremony? I thought it was really good fun. Shakira and Burna Boy (Sarina Wiegman’s favourite) did their thing and the giant FIFA World Cup as a centrepiece was impressive. I’ll admit, I spent a chunk of time asking my kids, ‘who’s that then?’ and they didn’t know either. Thankfully the Guardian’s resident music man, Alexis Petridis, tuned in and gives us the lowdown. As most of it was local talent, I feel less bad about my ignorance.
Mexico’s opening World Cup victory party was somewhat tarnished by violent clashes outside the Azteca Stadium. Ticketless fans and protesters attempted to gain access as rocks and bottles were thrown at police outside gate eight. Local media reported that dozens of arrests were made as a result.
Continue reading...(Broadside Hacks)
Named after a 19th-century relative, this sprawling group foreground folk’s rough edges, but are best in the emotional, less showy moments
Brown Wimpenny arrive with a name suggesting the softness of a twee indie band, before you discover it belonged to a fourth great-uncle of banjo player Seth Lockwood, who emigrated from a West Yorkshire farm to the 19th-century US. Then you hear the exploratory, hour-long debut album of this sprawling young collective, formed in Sunday sessions in Lockwood’s Manchester living room. A band happy to show their music’s muddy roots, these expansive eight tracks nonetheless pulse with ambition.
The album begins with a high-reaching medley, building from an atmospheric fiddle-led instrumental over a low cello drone. Dusty live production makes a feature of the music’s cracks and creaks, but when Lockwood’s athletic banjo takes the lead, it carries the rest of the group with arresting dynamism.
Continue reading...Je agenda zit niet vol. Er zijn geen krankzinnige deadlines. En toch klap je aan het einde van de werkdag op de bank neer alsof je een marathon hebt gelopen.
Volgens nieuw onderzoek is de grootste oorzaak van werkstress verrassend genoeg niet een te hoge werkdruk, maar iets veel subtielers: niet precies weten wat er van je wordt verwacht.
Wetenschappers bekeken 515 onderzoeken onder in totaal 800.000 werknemers en kwamen tot een opvallende conclusie: rol-onduidelijkheid veroorzaakt meer stress dan te veel werk of tegenstrijdige opdrachten.
Niet druk, maar continu aan het puzzelen
Het probleem zit volgens onderzoekers niet in de hoeveelheid taken, maar in de mentale energie die verloren gaat aan vragen als:
- Wat is nu eigenlijk mijn prioriteit?
- Wanneer doe ik het goed?
- Waar eindigt mijn verantwoordelijkheid?
- Wie neemt uiteindelijk de beslissing?
Als die antwoorden ontbreken, blijft je brein actief zoeken naar houvast. En juist die voortdurende onzekerheid kost energie.
Het gevolg: meer stress, grotere kans op burn-out, lagere prestaties en vaker de gedachte om ander werk te zoeken.
Waarom dit nu steeds vaker gebeurt
Dat rol-onduidelijkheid stress oplevert, is niet nieuw. Maar onderzoekers denken dat het probleem groter wordt.
Deels komt dat door de nasleep van hybride werken. Veel organisaties hebben nog altijd geen vaste gewoontes ontwikkeld rond bereikbaarheid, samenwerking en verantwoordelijkheden.
Daar komt iets anders bij: AI.
Nieuwe technologie neemt taken over of verandert functies sneller dan organisaties hun functieprofielen aanpassen. Medewerkers krijgen extra verantwoordelijkheden of verliezen onderdelen van hun werk zonder dat iemand expliciet benoemt wat dat betekent.
Ook reorganisaties versterken dat effect: functies schuiven op, verwachtingen veranderen — maar de uitleg blijft vaak achter.
Verrassend simpele oplossing
De onderzoekers zeggen dat stress verminderen niet per se begint met minder werk, maar met meer helderheid.
Volgens hen moeten werknemers in ieder geval antwoord krijgen op drie vragen:
1. Hoe ziet succes eruit?
2. Welke beslissingen mag ik zelfstandig nemen?
3. Hoe veranderen prioriteiten als omstandigheden veranderen?
Dat klinkt klein, maar het effect kan groot zijn: zodra mensen weten waar ze aan toe zijn, ervaren ze meer controle — en daalt de stress.
Misschien is de vraag na een zware werkdag dus niet: “Had ik te veel te doen?”
Maar: “Wist ik eigenlijk wel wat ik moest doen?”
AMSTERDAM (ANP) - Woningcorporatie Stadgenoot is enorm geschrokken en leeft mee met de bewoners en andere betrokkenen rond de explosie in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. Dat meldt de corporatie op de site, waar ze een liveblog heeft geopend. Na de knal bij een flatgebouw aan de straat Remijden zijn zeker vierhonderd mensen geëvacueerd, onder wie huurders van de corporatie.
De nummers 3 tot en met 180 zijn ontruimd, aldus Stadgenoot. Zeker twee puien van het pand waar de sportschool in zit, zijn verdwenen door de explosie.
Na de explosie in de nacht van donderdag op vrijdag, bij of in een sportschool aan de Remijden, wordt er donderdagochtend nog geblust door de brandweer. Die weet nog niet wat de oorzaak is geweest, er wordt rekening gehouden "met alle scenario's". Daarom is een groter gebied dan eerder afgezet, zien ANP-verslaggevers ter plaatse.
COMPUTEX 2026 It’s hard enough for startups to compete with AMD and Nvidia on chip design. The rise of rack-scale architectures has only made things harder. Companies not only have to invest in chip design but also the mechanical, thermal, and power engineering necessary to pack six dozen or more AI accelerators into a single rack that functions as one enormous GPU. At Computex last week, Delos Data, a startup funded by former Intel and Barefoot Networks execs, showed off a modular server platform aimed at giving chip startups a shortcut to rack scale. One of the challenges with the move to rack scale is actually the sheer amount of networking that needs to be enabled at the box. A typical eight GPU HGX node only needs one or two ports per GPU. By comparison, a GB300 NVL72 needs 18 400 Gbps ports per GPU. Nvidia and AMD have developed custom racks with integrated backplanes, power delivery, and cooling. Delos by comparison is keeping things relatively simple by designing a chassis that, at least from the front, looks more like a switch than a GPU server. It features 36 OSFP ports, nine for each of the four OAM sockets at the heart of the system. OAM, if you’re not familiar, is an open socket commonly used by high-performance accelerators requiring more interconnect bandwidth and power delivery than standard PCIe cards can manage. Assuming 200 Gbps SerDes, that works out to 3.6 TB/s per chip of interconnect, the same as Nvidia's new Rubin GPUs. OSFP means that customers can use standard DACs or pluggable transceivers, and switches depending on how large they want their scale-up domain to be. And while OSFP is usually associated with Ethernet, you can run just about anything you want through them, whether it be UALink, Ultra Ethernet, PCIe, or something else. From a deployment standpoint, these systems would be wired up like any other hyperscale system, just a whole lot denser. Delos isn’t the only option out there for chip startups looking for scale up reference design. AWS for example appears to be repurposing Nvidia’s MGX form factor for its Trainium 3 rack systems, while AMD’s Helios rack is now an OCP standard. Both designs would, in theory, be easier to service, but Delos argues that its modular design offers greater flexibility. “It makes it a little bit more flexible in terms of, maybe you want a scale up domain of 100 or maybe you want it a scale up domain of one,” CTO Dan Daly told El Reg. “It just depends on how many cables you want to plug in. This also allows you to go plug into different types of switches… it could be simpler switches, maybe even optical circuit switches (OCS).” Using existing packet switches from Broadcom or Marvell, such a design could support 512-1,024 accelerators in a single layer fabric depending on whether you're using 200 Gbps or 100 Gbps SerDes. Using multi-layer fabrics, OCS, and/or 2D/3D toruses, the compute domain could scale even further, all while using off-the-shelf components. While OSFP keeps things simple and easy, it also means power consumption could become problematic for larger compute domains requiring pluggable optics. In fact, this is why Nvidia has taken so long to embrace optical scale-up. Copper may not have the reach, but it uses a fraction of the power. Delos CEO Ed Doe tells us the company is already exploring versions of the system that will use near package or co-packaged optics out to MPO-style connectors rather than the OSFP. The startup isn't just doing hardware. As anyone who's done large scale networking knows, the physical and logical topologies — that is, the way devices communicate with one another on the network — can look very different depending on the workload. Delos has developed a software orchestration platform designed to facilitate the configuration and monitoring of these switched fabrics or meshes in order to enable dynamic rerouting of traffic in the event of a link failure. At Computex, this software platform, which Delos has dubbed its Nonstop AI network, was on display, allowing attendees to pull links at random and see the network react and correct itself automatically. The company's ambitions don't stop at network orchestration and systems. We're told Delos has additional products in the works, and we don't know for sure what they are, but a high radix switch design built atop merchant silicon would certainly complement its Nonstop AI systems. ®
