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Cloudflare Announces EmDash As Open-Source 'Spiritual Successor' To WordPress

In classic Cloudflare fashion, the CDN provider used April Fool's Day to unveil an actual, "not a joke" product. Today, the company announced EmDash -- an open-source "spiritual successor" to WordPress that aims to solve plugin security. Phoronix reports: With the help of AI coding agents, Cloudflare engineers have been rebuilding the WordPress open-source project "from the ground up." EmDash is written entirely in TypeScript and is a server-less design. Making plug-ins more secure than the WordPress architecture, EmDash plug-ins are sandboxed and run in their own isolate. EmDash builds upon the Astro web framework. EmDash doesn't rely on any WordPress code but is designed to be compatible with WordPress functionality. EmDash is open-source now under the MIT license. The EmDash code is available on GitHub.

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Sweden Swaps Screens For Books In the Classroom

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In 2023, the Swedish government announced that the country's schools would be going back to basics, emphasizing skills such as reading and writing, particularly in early grades. After mostly being sidelined, physical books are now being reintroduced into classrooms, and students are learning to write the old-fashioned way: by hand, with a pencil or pen, on sheets of paper. The Swedish government also plans to make schools cellphone-free throughout the country.

Educational authorities have been investing heavily. Last year alone, the education ministry allocated $83 million to purchase textbooks and teachers' guides. In a country with about 11 million people, the aim is for every student to have a physical textbook for each subject. The government also put $54 million towards the purchase of fiction and non-fiction books for students.

These moves represent a dramatic pivot from previous decades, during which Sweden -- and many other nations -- moved away from physical books in favor of tablets and digital resources in an effort to prepare students for life in an online world. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Nordic country's efforts have sparked a debate on the role of digital technology in education, one that extends well beyond the country's borders. US parents in districts that have adopted digital technology to a great extent may be wondering if educators will reverse course, too. As for why Sweden is pivoting away from digital devices, researcher Linda Falth said the move was driven by several factors, including concerns over whether the digitization of classrooms had been evidence-based. "There was also a broader cultural reassessment," Falth said. "Sweden had positioned itself as a frontrunner in digital education, but over time concerns emerged about screen time, distraction, reduced deep reading, and the erosion of foundational skills such as sustained attention and handwriting."

Falth noted that proponents of reform believe that "basic skills -- especially reading, writing, and numeracy -- must be firmly established first, and that physical textbooks are often better suited for that purpose."

Further reading: Digital Platforms Correlate With Cognitive Decline in Young Users

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OnlyOffice Suspends Nextcloud Partnership For Forking Its Project Without Approval

darwinmac writes: OnlyOffice has suspended its partnership with Nextcloud after the latter forked its editors into a new project called Euro-Office, according to a report from Neowin. The move comes just days after Nextcloud and partners like IONOS announced the fork as part of a broader push for European digital sovereignty. In a statement, the company accused the project of violating its licensing terms and international intellectual property law, claiming that Euro-Office uses its technology without proper compliance. OnlyOffice also pointed to missing attribution requirements and branding obligations tied to its AGPL-based licensing model.
As a result, its 8-year-old partnership, which allowed Nextcloud users to edit and collaborate on office documents right inside their own instance, has been suspended. OnlyOffice also accused Nextcloud of not behaving in a manner expected of a partner, alleging attempts to poach its employees and influence customers against the company. Nextcloud said it forked the OnlyOffice repository instead of collaborating with the company because the project is notoriously difficult to contribute to. It also pointed out that OnlyOffice is a Russian company with Russian employees who leave code comments in Russian. In addition to that, some users may feel uncomfortable using software that could be linked to the Russian government.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Formula 1 News

Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website

Bearman leads midfield battle boosting Haas hopes

An impressive start to the 2026 season leaves Bearman knocking on the so-called ‘Big Six’ door.

Antonelli’s rapid betting market shift explained

The Italian teenager has enjoyed a sensational start to 2026 and now leads the F1 Drivers’ Championship.

Creation

This xkcd.com update introduces a variety of new reading modes which can be activated through the menu.

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

VS halen Venezolaanse interim-president van sanctielijst

WASHINGTON (ANP/RTR) - De Verenigde Staten hebben de Venezolaanse interim-president Delcy Rodríguez van de sanctielijst gehaald. Daar stond ze sinds 2018 op, nadat ze vicepresident was geworden onder president Nicolás Maduro. Nadat de Amerikanen hem in januari gevangennamen en Rodríguez de leiding over Venezuela overnam, is ze gaan samenwerken met de VS.

Rodríguez maakte onder meer afspraken over olie met de Amerikanen. De Amerikaanse president Donald Trump toonde zich meerdere keren erg tevreden met haar optreden. Washington schaalde eerder ook al sancties af die gericht waren op de Venezolaanse economie.

De interim-president staat wel nog op de sanctielijst van de Europese Unie. Buitenlandchef Kaja Kallas heeft gezegd dat ze zal voorstellen om haar daarvan af te halen.


Republikeinen kondigen plan aan voor einde gedeeltelijke shutdown

WASHINGTON (ANP) - Republikeinen in het Amerikaanse Huis van Afgevaardigden en de Senaat hebben een plan aangekondigd om de gedeeltelijke shutdown in de Verenigde Staten te beëindigen. Volgens Huisvoorzitter Mike Johnson is de partij het eens geworden over een gezamenlijke oplossing.

De shutdown is ontstaan omdat Democraten niet willen dat er extra geld gaat naar immigratiedienst ICE. Hierdoor kon de financiering van het ministerie van Binnenlandse Veiligheid (DHS) niet worden goedgekeurd.

Het Huis van Afgevaardigden en de Senaat kwamen vorige week elk met een eigen plan voor de financiering van het ministerie en wilden dat van elkaar niet accepteren.

Het lijkt er nu op dat het oorspronkelijke plan van de Senaat de komende dagen opnieuw wordt uitgevoerd, waarbij alleen ICE en de douane- en grensbewakingsdienst zonder geld blijven. Vervolgens zouden de Republikeinen de diensten via een andere weg alsnog willen financieren en zo voorkomen dat Democraten hierover moeten stemmen.


Monument station, London モニュメント駅、ロンドン

Mr Mikage (ミスター御影) posted a photo:

Monument station, London モニュメント駅、ロンドン

kottke.org

Jason Kottke's weblog, home of fine hypertext products

Scientists have genetically engineered tobacco plants to...

Scientists have genetically engineered tobacco plants to produce five psychedelic compounds, including psilocybin, DMT, and psychedelic compounds secreted by the Sonoran Desert toad.