BrianFagioli writes: PINE64 has some very bad news for Linux hardware fans. PINE64 says it has no plans to produce additional Linux devices in the near future because of the ongoing DRAM and eMMC shortage. Future production will depend on component pricing after mid 2027, while existing PineNote and PineTab2 inventory could run out in roughly three months. The company says PineTime, PineVoice, and Pinecil production will continue as usual, but the outlook for its Linux hardware is much less certain. "That's it for this post, all in all it's a bit bleak for the Linux devices, but in the meantime PineStore still have a great lineup of MCU powered devices which will continue to expand with more exciting devices," the company said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Stripe is acquiring AI model marketplace OpenRouter as it pushes beyond payments into the infrastructure behind AI applications. According to The New York Times, the deal is reportedly valued at about $7.5 billion, with $1.5 billion allocated to OpenRouter's founders. Less than three months ago the company was valued at about $1.3 billion. CNBC reports: OpenRouter has become popular with developers seeking to use AI models, particularly those considered non-proprietary and available for free. Many of these so-called open-weight AI models stem from Chinese labs like DeepSeek and Z.ai, which have gained steam among developers for generally being more cost-efficient relative to proprietary AI models from U.S. companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.

In a blog post about the deal, Stripe noted that it's been working with companies to "optimize their token costs and route tokens efficiently," referring to a kind of metric used to measure AI model usage. Stripe said it's difficult to manage AI costs relative to performance because of the rapid "pace at which models are released and repriced." [...]

OpenRouter said in a blog post that combining with Stripe will help with its overall vision of "a healthy AI ecosystem where many models thrive, where AI neurodiversity is a strength, where a lab or an inference provider with a breakthrough can reach millions of developers, and where no single model becomes the default by inertia." "Stripe is building the economic infrastructure for AI, and together with OpenRouter we'll help businesses maximize profitability by routing their requests intelligently and spending their tokens efficiently," Stripe CEO Patrick Collison said in a statement.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon says its Prime Air drone delivery service will expand sixfold to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of 2026, including metro areas around Chicago, Syracuse, Cleveland, Atlanta, and Boise. According to Amazon Prime Air vice president David Carbon, the service has already delivered "hundreds of thousands of packages to customers" this year, typically within about an hour. The Verge reports: These will join 11 locations across the US where Amazon already offers drone deliveries, with each Prime Air site serving an area of approximately 175 square miles. The service aims to quickly deliver packages of up to 5 pounds or less [...]. Amazon reiterated its drone safety features alongside these expansion plans, including Prime Air's "industry-leading Detect-and-Avoid system." That's likely an attempt to minimize any concerns raised by the communities where the service is expanding, given these drones have already been scrutinized for crashing into cranes, internet cables, gardens, and an apartment building.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Independent music publisher Round Hill is suing Suno and Anthropic for allegedly using hundreds of copyrighted songs without permission to train their AI systems. The company says potential damages could exceed $1 billion, arguing there is "nothing fair" about building multibillion-dollar AI businesses on copyrighted material while rights holders receive nothing. From The Hollywood Reporter: Round Hill is a prominent music publisher whose copyrights include the Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris," Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart," the Kinks' "Lola" and Dio's "Holy Diver." The company provided a list of 500 songs that the defendants had infringed upon. Round Hill said in the suits that the company plans to "amend to list potentially ten thousand or more of their musical compositions," with those damages potentially exceeding $1 billion. "While in other cases for copyright infringement, Defendant has waxed poetic about the necessity of progress and AI's value to society, there is simply no reason -- other than rote expediency -- to have that progress come at the cost of copyrights holders," prominent music attorney Richard Busch, representing Round Hill, wrote in the suits.

Round Hill further argued that the latter "'expediency' arguments completely falter" when taking into account Suno and Anthropic's significant cash valuations they've earned while "exploiting illicit copies of copyrighted works, including the Round Hill Works." "There is simply nothing fair about a company using theft to build for purely commercial purposes a multi-billion dollar business while those from which they steal receive nothing," Round Hill said.
Suno also faces a lawsuit from Universal Music Group and Sony Music Group.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Our expert betting writers have picked a four-leg early Bet Builder, including a podium finish, top-six finish and Virtual Safety Car.

Weer voor Rotterdam 🌧️ - 20-08-2026 01:16 CEST

In één oogopslag:
• 17.4°C · Matige regen 🌧️ | Min 17.4°C / Max 19.8°C | Kans op neerslag 52%

Verwachting voor vandaag:
• Min 17.4°C, Max 19.8°C (Zware motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 3.3 mm, Kans op neerslag 52%, 🧭 1004.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 23.4 km/u (6.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 232°

Uurlijkse voorspelling voor de komende 12 uur:

• 02:00: 17.1°C (Matige regen) 🌧️, Neerslag 2.7 mm, Kans op neerslag 29%, 🧭 1004.7 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 12.2 km/u (3.4 m/s), richting: ↗ 209°
• 03:00: 16.7°C (Helder) 🌕, Kans op neerslag 38%, 🧭 1004.0 hPa ↘️ -0.7 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 15.1 km/u (4.2 m/s), richting: ↑ 202°
• 04:00: 16.8°C (Helder) 🌕, Kans op neerslag 45%, 🧭 1003.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↑ 200°
• 05:00: 16.9°C (Licht bewolkt) 🌕, Kans op neerslag 49%, 🧭 1003.4 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 207°
• 06:00: 17.1°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 43%, 🧭 1003.5 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 17.6 km/u (4.9 m/s), richting: ↗ 209°
• 07:00: 16.9°C (Licht bewolkt) 🌤️, Kans op neerslag 32%, 🧭 1003.7 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 17.6 km/u (4.9 m/s), richting: ↗ 210°
• 08:00: 17.3°C (Zonnig) ☀️, Kans op neerslag 31%, 🧭 1004.2 hPa ↗️ +0.5 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 18.4 km/u (5.1 m/s), richting: ↗ 211°
• 09:00: 17.8°C (Zonnig) ☀️, Kans op neerslag 49%, 🧭 1004.6 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 17.3 km/u (4.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 214°
• 10:00: 18.1°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 77%, 🧭 1004.7 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 19.1 km/u (5.3 m/s), richting: ↗ 219°
• 11:00: 17.9°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 98%, 🧭 1004.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 20.5 km/u (5.7 m/s), richting: ↗ 212°
• 12:00: 19.2°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 100%, 🧭 1004.8 hPa ➡️ 0.0 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 22.0 km/u (6.1 m/s), richting: ↗ 217°
• 13:00: 18.2°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.2 mm, Kans op neerslag 100%, 🧭 1005.4 hPa ↗️ +0.6 hPa/1h, Windsnelheid: 20.9 km/u (5.8 m/s), richting: ↗ 220°

Voorspelling voor de komende dagen:

• vrijdag 21 augustus: Min 16.7°C, Max 21.7°C (Matige regen) 🌧️, Neerslag 8.1 mm, Kans op neerslag 75%, 🧭 1009.5 hPa ↗️ +4.7 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 23.4 km/u (6.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 220°
• zaterdag 22 augustus: Min 16.1°C, Max 20.3°C (Zware motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 1.4 mm, Kans op neerslag 44%, 🧭 1018.3 hPa ↗️ +8.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 15.5 km/u (4.3 m/s), richting: ↘ 298°
• zondag 23 augustus: Min 13.9°C, Max 18.8°C (Matige regen) 🌧️, Neerslag 10.0 mm, Kans op neerslag 41%, 🧭 1024.1 hPa ↗️ +5.8 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 13.7 km/u (3.8 m/s), richting: ↘ 317°
• maandag 24 augustus: Min 13.7°C, Max 19.5°C (Lichte motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 0.3 mm, Kans op neerslag 16%, 🧭 1019.8 hPa ↘️ -4.3 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 10.2 km/u (2.8 m/s), richting: ↓ 340°
• dinsdag 25 augustus: Min 12.8°C, Max 20.5°C (Bewolkt) ☁️, Kans op neerslag 3%, 🧭 1010.4 hPa ↘️ -9.4 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 17.9 km/u (5.0 m/s), richting: ← 84°
• woensdag 26 augustus: Min 14.7°C, Max 23.9°C (Matige motregen) 🌦️, Neerslag 4.4 mm, Kans op neerslag 16%, 🧭 1012.7 hPa ↗️ +2.3 hPa/24h, Windsnelheid: 16.0 km/u (4.4 m/s), richting: ↖ 133°

Details:
• 🌡️ Huidige temperatuur (om 01:15): 17.4°C (Matige regen)
• 🤚 Gevoelstemperatuur: 16.9°C (-0.5°C)
• 💨 Windsnelheid: 12.6 km/u (3.5 m/s), richting: ↗ 209°
• 🌬️ Windstoten: 29.9 km/h (8.3 m/s)
• 💧 Luchtvochtigheid: 86%
• 🧭 Luchtdruk: 1004.7 hPa ↘️ -0.9 hPa/3h
• 👁️ Zichtbaarheid: 11.2 km
• ☀️ UV-index: 0.0
• 🌅 Zonsopgang: 06:33 · 🌇 Zonsondergang: 20:58

Luchtkwaliteit:
• AQI: 39 🟢 (Goed)
• PM2.5: 9.2 μg/m³
• PM10: 11.7 μg/m³

Gegevens geleverd door Open-Meteo

#Rotterdam #Meteo #MeteoBot #MeteoNetherlands #OpenMeteo #FediMeteo

The Prodigy

Vast

Hercules and Love Affair

Attackers are using AI-generated exploitation scripts to break into internet-exposed Siemens S7 Series programmable logic controllers (PLCs) at water, manufacturing, energy, and other critical facilities, in what five US federal agencies on Wednesday called an “active threat.” In this latest round of intrusions against American critical infrastructure, the attackers use open source industrial automation libraries – specifically snap7.dll/python-snap7 – combined with AI coding assistants. Armed with the open source libraries and AI, the miscreants create custom tools that mimic operational technology (OT) monitoring software and provide read/write access to the PLC devices’ memory, configuration data, and ladder logic programs via the S7comm protocol. “This is not a theoretical risk – it is an active threat,” the feds warned. While the joint alert from the National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Energy (DOE), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesn’t attribute the threats to a particular government or criminal group, Iranian cyber operatives are suspected of being behind recent attacks targeting PLCs at water and wastewater facilities across at least 12 states, including a cyberattack that disrupted more than 30 community water systems in Minnesota in late July. “This appears to be a continuation of the same suite of activity we suspect is affiliated with Iran targeting PLCs,” Cynthia Kaiser, Halcyon Ransomware Research Center SVP, told The Register. “Iran-affiliated actors and adversaries are actively targeting a wide swath of operational technology because these PLCs underpin essential health, safety, and critical infrastructure across society.” National security and infosec experts last week told The Register that while there is no indication that the water-system hackers used AI in their intrusions, they worried that attackers would soon add AI to their arsenals for attacks against critical infrastructure. Now, that threat appears to be here. “What the advisory highlights with regard to AI usage aligns with what we’ve expected: state-sponsored adversaries are leveraging AI across the board for discrete tasks, like code checks and scripting, to scale their operations and move faster,” Kaiser, a former FBI cyber division deputy assistant director, told us on Wednesday. “The advisory reflects the broader reality that threat actors are using AI to increase their efficiency.” Siemens S7 Series PLCs under fire According to the Wednesday security alert, the latest attacks specifically target internet-exposed Siemens S7 Series PLCs across critical manufacturing, energy, water and wastewater, chemical, food and agriculture, and commercial facilities – in other words: most of the critical industries providing goods and services that Americans use in their daily lives. “Additionally, Siemens S7 Series PLCs are used in other sectors, including the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), and could be targeted there as well,” the feds warned. The Register reached out to the agencies for additional information about the attacks but did not receive any response to our questions. Attackers use internet-scanning services such as Censys and ZoomEye to find exposed, “poorly protected” PLCs running outdated software or using default passwords – and now they’ve got an AI boost. “Threat actors are using AI assistance to generate exploitation scripts using publicly available information on these Siemens S7 Series PLCs for initial access, credential access, denial of service, and other objectives,” the agencies said. “If these PLCs are exposed to the Internet or insufficiently segmented, then threat actors can exploit various critical and high severity known vulnerabilities in these PLCs.” The use of AI also indicates “an evolution in threat actor capabilities,” reducing the need for advanced technical knowledge about OT, and allowing the attacker to more rapidly develop working industrial control system malware and attack chains, the alert says. “I think that the bigger issue is still how exposed OT environments are,” Benny Czarny, CEO and founder of critical infrastructure security firm Opswat, told The Register in an email. “AI makes it much easier for an attacker to create and modify scripts targeting PLCs, so the barrier to attacking industrial systems continues to fall. But for me the answer is not simply better AI detection.” To mitigate this threat, the feds say critical infrastructure owners and operators should first – immediately – inventory all Siemens S7 Series PLCs in their environment, apply security patches as needed, and make sure no PLCs are accessible from the internet. It's also worth checking for anomalous S7comm behavior, including connections from non-engineering workstations, unusual data block access patterns, or write operations outside change windows, the feds suggest. Sequential IP scanning on port 102 and repeated connection attempts with varying parameters can indicate attackers conducting reconnaissance, and Snap7.dll library usage outside approved workstations may also indicate the presence of intruders on the network – so be sure to use these and the rest of the detection strategies detailed in the government security advisory to hunt for anomalies that may indicate a compromise. In addition to looking for indicators of compromise relevant to these intrusions, Czarny said it's critical to reduce the OT attack surface. “If data only needs to leave an OT network, use a data diode,” he said. “There should be no network path back to the PLC for an attacker to exploit. Yes, AI makes this more urgent. But the real lesson for me is still the same: stop giving attackers a path to the critical system in the first place. And do not rely on antivirus and sandboxes to protect your data flow.” ®

Greg Adams Photography posted a photo:

Safe Deposit Boxes in an Old Bank Near Pittsburgh, PA, 2021

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

APELDOORN (ANP) - In de eerste zes maanden van dit jaar zijn 4,6 procent meer hypotheken afgesloten dan in dezelfde periode een jaar eerder, meldt het Kadaster. Van januari tot en met juni zijn bijna 217.000 nieuwe hypotheken afgesloten, tegenover ruim 207.000 een jaar eerder.

De totale waarde van alle hypotheken was 84,8 miljard euro. Dat is zo'n 8 procent hoger dan in de eerste zes maanden van 2025, maar minder dan het record van 95,2 miljard in de tweede helft van vorig jaar.

De meeste hypotheken worden gebruikt om een woning te kopen. Gemiddeld was de hypotheeksom voor een woning in het afgelopen halfjaar ruim 517.000 euro, zo'n 5 procent hoger dan in dezelfde periode een jaar eerder. Volgens het Kadaster hangt deze stijging samen met de gemiddelde woningprijs, die eveneens minder snel steeg.

Starterslening

Het Kadaster ziet ook dat steeds meer starters op de huizenmarkt een aansluitende starterslening afsluiten bij hun eerste woninghypotheek. Daarbij overbrugt een extra lening het verschil tussen de prijs van de koopwoning en het maximale leenbedrag voor starters. In de eerste zes maanden van 2026 sloot ruim 8 procent van de startende leners zo'n extra lening af. Een jaar eerder was dat nog ruim 6 procent. Deze lening had een gemiddelde waarde van zo'n 37.000 euro.

Koopwoningen worden volgens het Kadaster voor een steeds groter deel met eigen geld betaald. In het eerste halfjaar van dit jaar werden woningen voor 87 procent met een hypotheeklening betaald, tegenover 92 procent in de eerste helft van 2019. Het Kadaster stelt dat hoe duurder een woning is, hoe meer eigen geld eraan wordt besteed. Zo werden woningen met een prijs boven de 1 miljoen euro bijvoorbeeld voor net geen 70 procent met een hypotheek bekostigd.

Reports say Duke and Duchess of Sussex intend to relocate from US, with children to start British school in September

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to return to live in Britain, six years after leaving for the US, it has been reported.

The couple and their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, are expected to relocate later this month to a non-royal residence.

Continue reading...

Spaniard loses narrowly in fourth round of the Cincinnati Open yet the buzz around him will only get louder

As Rafael Jódar slowly trudged from the court, he could only bring himself to wave at his adoring crowd for no more than a millisecond. The 19-year-old was appropriately devastated after he had come within two points of victory on numerous occasions before losing 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the fourth round of the Cincinnati Open to an excellent Flavio Cobolli.

No matter, Jódar departs Ohio having further solidified himself as the subject of so much conversation on the ATP Tour. This has been a turbulent and unpredictable year in men’s tennis, largely thanks to Carlos Alcaraz’s extended injury layoff. The one certainty through it all has been the imperious rise of Jódar. After a short period competing at the University of Virginia, Jódar started to play regularly on the tour only in May last year. In August 2025, he was ranked No 540. He began the 2026 season at No 165.

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on the water photography has added a photo to the pool:

The Statue Specs: Measuring 41 meters long, 11 meters high, and weighing roughly 300 tons, it is often cited as one of the largest bronze statues in the world.

Purpose & History: Built in 1988, the statue serves as a repository for the sacred ashes of Buddha presented by the Buddhist Congress of Myanmar.