"Enshittification of car controls [is] rapidly accelerating," writes longtime Slashdot reader sinij, pointing to a new report from Car and Driver. From the report: Remember when iPhones used to come with free headphones and a phone charger (including the wall plug)? It didn't feel so much like Apple giving you free goodies as it did that the company was providing you with the relevant hardware to use the device. Apple stopped including headphones and charging blocks in 2020. Now, Hyundai is pulling some of its standard hardware from the box, at least for two models.
Hyundai is charging customers extra for a driver's display in the new Elantra generation (more specifically, the Korea-market Avante), as well as the Ioniq 3, Motor1 reported. Both models feature Pleos Connect, Hyundai's new infotainment setup that pairs a center touchscreen with a slim 9.9-inch instrument cluster mounted above the dashboard -- except where it doesn't.
In its domestic market, the instrument cluster screen is offered as a 350,000 won ($255) option for the base trim. Not the most expensive optional extra in the world, but still kind of a slap in the face for a feature traditionally viewed as standard fare. Things are more expensive for the electric Ioniq 3. In the EV's case, the base trim gives customers the full Tesla-screen experience, meaning if customers want the driver's display, they'll need to fork over the additional $5000 necessary to move up to the next-level trim. [...] Hyundai plans to have the setup equipped in 20 million cars globally by the end of the decade.
Hyundai is charging customers extra for a driver's display in the new Elantra generation (more specifically, the Korea-market Avante), as well as the Ioniq 3, Motor1 reported. Both models feature Pleos Connect, Hyundai's new infotainment setup that pairs a center touchscreen with a slim 9.9-inch instrument cluster mounted above the dashboard -- except where it doesn't.
In its domestic market, the instrument cluster screen is offered as a 350,000 won ($255) option for the base trim. Not the most expensive optional extra in the world, but still kind of a slap in the face for a feature traditionally viewed as standard fare. Things are more expensive for the electric Ioniq 3. In the EV's case, the base trim gives customers the full Tesla-screen experience, meaning if customers want the driver's display, they'll need to fork over the additional $5000 necessary to move up to the next-level trim. [...] Hyundai plans to have the setup equipped in 20 million cars globally by the end of the decade.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Wie zijn eten koopt in de supermarkt, ziet zelden wie het spuit. Toch loopt bijna de helft van alle boeren en landarbeiders ter wereld elk jaar een acute vergiftiging op door pesticiden — geen chronisch sluipend effect, maar hoofdpijn, misselijkheid, braken en huiduitslag binnen een dag na het spuiten. Het gaat om ruim vierhonderd miljoen mensen per jaar.
Vierhonderd miljoen gevallen, elk jaar opnieuw
De nieuwste wereldwijde schatting komt uit op 402 tot 434 miljoen niet-fatale gevallen van onbedoelde acute pesticidenvergiftiging per jaar, gebaseerd op gegevens uit 139 landen over de periode 2006-2023. Afgezet tegen een landbouwbevolking van ruim 934 miljoen mensen komt dat neer op zo'n 46 procent. Ongeveer 11.000 mensen overlijden er jaarlijks aan, verreweg de meesten in Zuid-Azië, met India als grootste land.
Vergiftiging is in grote delen van de wereld geen ongeluk, maar een beroepsrisico dat elk seizoen terugkeert.
De hoogste percentages liggen in Zuid-Azië, Zuidoost-Azië en Oost-Afrika. Koploper op landniveau is Burkina Faso, waar bijna 84 procent van de boeren en landarbeiders jaarlijks vergiftigingsverschijnselen rapporteert. Kinderen — naar schatting 84 miljoen werken er in de landbouw — zitten niet eens in de cijfers.
Het gebruik verdubbelde, de zorg niet
Ondanks decennia aan waarschuwingen groeide het wereldwijde pesticidegebruik van 1,8 miljoen ton in 1990 naar 3,8 miljoen ton in 2023. In Amerika en Afrika ging het gebruik met respectievelijk 210 en 185 procent omhoog; Europa liet als enige werelddeel een lichte daling zien van vijf procent. De opstellers van de nieuwe schatting dringen aan op onmiddellijke actie, waaronder het uitfaseren van de gevaarlijkste middelen.
Waar het over gaat
Acute vergiftiging is een klacht die kort na blootstelling optreedt, meestal binnen 48 uur. Chronische effecten van jarenlange blootstelling — zoals neurologische schade — vallen buiten deze telling. De onderzoekers noemen de beschikbare registratie zelf gebrekkig en vragen om gestandaardiseerde meldingssystemen, omdat vergiftigingen nu nauwelijks vergelijkbaar zijn tussen landen.
En in Nederland?
Het Nederlandse gebruik daalt wel. Over 44 gemeten gewassen zakte het van 5,7 miljoen kilo werkzame stof in 2012 naar 3,9 miljoen kilo in 2024, een afname van 32 procent. Het verbod op mancozeb, in 2020 nog goed voor ongeveer een kwart van al het gebruik, hakte er stevig in. Tegelijk wordt slechts 48 procent van de door de industrie gerapporteerde afzet ook daadwerkelijk in het gebruiksonderzoek teruggevonden.
Minder kilo's zeggen weinig over de giftigheid van wat er overblijft.
Ondertussen loopt hier de discussie over Parkinson bij boeren. Er komt voorlopig geen groot Nederlands cohortonderzoek naar het verband tussen werken met gewasbeschermingsmiddelen en de ziekte: daarvoor zouden zo'n 30.000 agrariërs minstens tien jaar moeten meedoen, met een opstartfase van naar schatting 2,5 miljoen euro en een miljoen per vervolgstap. Dat geld is er niet. Wel kijkt de onafhankelijke Adviescommissie Lijst beroepsziekten of Parkinson kan worden toegevoegd aan de tegemoetkomingsregeling voor stoffengerelateerde beroepsziekten; het advies wordt in het najaar van 2026 verwacht. In Frankrijk, Duitsland en Italië geldt de ziekte al als beroepsziekte voor boeren.
Nederland exporteert intussen keurige regels en importeert voedsel uit landen waar die regels niet gelden. Dat is de goedkoopste manier om een probleem op te lossen: het naar elders verplaatsen.
Meer weten?
- Gebruik van gewasbeschermingsmiddelen in de landbouw per werkzame stof, 2012-2024 (Compendium voor de Leefomgeving)
- Kabinet ziet af van groot onderzoek naar Parkinson onder agrariërs (Nieuwe Oogst)
- Risico op ziekte van Parkinson bij blootstelling aan landbouwgif (Zembla)
BERLIJN (ANP/RTR) - De Duitse economische onderzoeksinstituten Ifo en IfW hebben de groeiverwachtingen voor de Duitse economie voor 2026 stevig verhoogd. De verhogingen volgen op een sterker dan verwachte groei van de grootste economie van Europa in het tweede kwartaal.
In april verlaagden de belangrijke Duitse onderzoeksinstituten nog hun groeiverwachtingen voor dit jaar. Ze vreesden dat het land hard zou worden getroffen door de stijgende inflatie door de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten. Ifo verwacht nu dat het Duitse bruto binnenlands product (bbp), de maatstaf voor economische groei, in 2026 met 1,4 procent stijgt en het IfW rekent op een bbp-groei van 1,3 procent. Eerder gingen beide instituten nog uit van een groei van 0,8 procent dit jaar.
De verhoging is volgens het IfW het gevolg van een duidelijke versnelling van de economische activiteit en een verbeterd ondernemersvertrouwen, ondanks de aanhoudende geopolitieke tegenwind door de oorlog in het Midden-Oosten.
Children have told England's Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, that the UK's Online Safety Act (OSA) "has made absolutely no difference" to their ability to access harmful content online. More than a year after the OSA's key child protection duties took effect, de Souza told MPs and peers that young people had little understanding of the legislation or how it was intended to change their online experiences. De Souza made the comments during the opening evidence session of the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee's inquiry into the OSA's implementation and impact. Central to de Souza's criticism was the legislation's focus on moderating harmful content rather than addressing potentially harmful platform design features. UK politicians had pushed for controls covering such features, either through the OSA or separate legislation, but none has materialized. De Souza said she was "really cross" that there was no hard evidence showing the OSA had meaningfully changed how social media platforms operate. She contrasted that with the US, where legal pressure recently pushed Meta toward significant child safety concessions. Concerns about addictive platform design are not new, but they have returned to prominence following Meta's proposed $18 billion settlement in a US child safety case. Without admitting wrongdoing, Zuckercorp would under the proposed settlement introduce two-hour daily limits for users under 18 on Facebook and Instagram, prompts intended to discourage endless scrolling, and measures addressing use during school hours and at night. The proposal would also let children opt out of algorithmically ranked feeds, directly addressing concerns raised by de Souza and other UK lawmakers. Discussing the proposed Meta settlement, de Souza said the OSA had "not been flexible enough" and had not "kept up with the time." She argued that Ofcom and lawmakers should seek results comparable to those achieved through the US legal system, even if that required the legislation to evolve. 'Furious' with Ofcom De Souza said she planned to exercise her statutory powers to compel Ofcom, the OSA's regulator, to provide copies of the safety risk assessments submitted by technology companies. The commissioner said Ofcom had refused to share the assessments with her, despite her position as "the most senior safeguarding person in this country for children," and had indicated that it would resist disclosure even if she invoked those powers. "One thing I did want to ask this committee was for your assistance in this matter, because I am planning to use my powers," De Souza said. "If we cannot even see the risk assessments that may well have put these [safety] mechanisms into place, or may not have, how on earth can we judge the efficacy of it? "So I'll leave that one with you, but I'm pretty furious about that." The obstacle is section 393(1) of the Communications Act 2003, which restricts Ofcom's disclosure of information obtained through its regulatory functions. Ofcom may disclose such information if the business concerned consents or if one of the statutory gateways in section 393(2) applies. Asked whether compelling tech companies to complete risk assessments was enough to ensure meaningful change or whether further legislation was needed, the Children's Commissioner said "we need a few things," including for Ofcom to "use its teeth." Ofcom has materially upped its presence in the tech regulation landscape during the past year, stepping in on multiple occasions when needed. Perhaps most notably this was at the height of the Grok nudifying furore, but also its sprawling list of investigations into pornography companies allegedly violating age verification requirements. De Souza acknowledged all of this, and the fact that since the introduction of the latest US administration, UK politicians have not given the regulator the "air cover" needed to relentlessly pursue offenders. Nevertheless, she said Ofcom had failed to bare its teeth as forcefully as the current technology landscape demanded and accused it of reacting to harms rather than anticipating them. "If Ofcom is going to be the vehicle to protect our children… we need them to be getting ahead of the harms. And I don't think they have. "So when I talk around the country to children, what's worrying them are things around AI, things around the nudifying apps… there are new harms, and we need Ofcom to be getting ahead of those. I don't think they are." De Souza called on UK politicians "to be really strong and direct" in empowering Ofcom to pursue offending organizations. "But how effective do I think they've been? Not effective enough." The commissioner also criticized Ofcom's child safety codes under the OSA, which she said read more like technical documents for technology companies than protections designed for children. She also called on Ofcom to "use all their powers," impose "some big fines," and act before new harms become entrenched. The Register asked Ofcom to respond. A spokesperson said: "We work closely with the Children's Commissioner and share her objectives to ensure children are safe online. "In December, we published our analysis of risk assessments from the first year of the Online Safety Act being in force, and the improvements we expected to see from platforms. "Our action has resulted in material improvements being made to risk assessments, ensuring that tech companies must implement all measures necessary to address the risks identified on their sites and apps. "We are subject to laws that mean we're restricted in what information we can disclose relating to businesses." ®
wing of kaz has added a photo to the pool:
福岡県田川市、三井寺（平等寺） / Mitsui-ji (Byōdō-ji), Tagawa City, Fukuoka Prefecture
As FromSoftware’s new multiplayer game The Duskbloods nears release, the legendary game director behind Dark Souls talks connection, pessimism and of course, feet
Since 2020’s Demon’s Souls, Japanese video game director Hidetaka Miyazaki has shown the world a different way to think about game design. His games defy convention with punishing fights, obscure rules, and unknowable, inhospitable worlds. The “Soulslike” genre – named after Demon’s Souls and its sequel Dark Souls – is now ubiquitous, influencing multimillion-sellers from God of War and Star Wars: Jedi to Hollow Knight. Miyazaki’s most recent success, 2022’s Elden Ring, which credited Game of Thrones author George RR Martin as a co-creator, sold over 30m copies and inspired Alex Garland to adapt it for the big screen at A24. It earned Miyazaki a spot on Time magazine’s “most influential” list, an accolade he shares with just one other game developer: Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto.
Miyazaki is now 51 and has been FromSoftware’s president since 2014, elevated from game designer to CEO after the success of the Souls series. He has a cherubic face that could pass for 35. He rarely speaks publicly, and never on camera. When he does speak, he answers questions like one of his characters – softly, sadly, his head bowed, making eye-contact only when I am speaking. Outside the studio where we speak is the sprawl of Tokyo’s Shinjuku, an ever-changing maze where tourists get lost and pop-up stores appear and vanish without a trace. Today, a J-pop band performs in the square as the cicadas scream from the trees. A gilded statue of Melania, one of Elden Ring’s toughest bosses, looms over this dimly lit conference room inside From’s headquarters, a bonfire checkpoint away from the chaos.
Continue reading...Bring on the drones: how a technology revolution is being rolled out across Africa’s nature reserves
As graduates of an online training course gather from across the continent, the consensus is overwhelming: computers and saving animals go together
On a bitingly cold night in Lapalala Wilderness nature reserve in South Africa’s Limpopo province, Duncan Kanyakera watches as instructor Jacques Viljoen deploys a thermal drone in search of a lone cheetah. Once the drone has disappeared into the inky sky, Kanyakera, from Tsavo in Kenya, and 20 other conservation professionals from across Africa turn their attention to the open-air screen in anticipation.
Many of the students – from 11 African countries as far flung as Benin, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar – witnessing the demonstration have earned their places at Lapalala after performing well on an online training programme for protected area technicians (PAT) run by the Connected Conservation Foundation (CCF). Also on the course, are five members of Peace Parks staff in training.
Continue reading...Musk denied he was aware Grok ever produced ‘any naked underage images’
A survivor of child sexual abuse has sued Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, alleging that its chatbot used pictures of her abuse to generate new illegal pornographic images that depict her.
“Using real images of Plaintiff and class members, Grok generated child pornography depicting Plaintiff and class members,” states the complaint, which was filed last week in a US district court in California.
Continue reading...