Lando Norris won in Hungary and the Netherlands to reduce his Drivers’ Championship deficit and put pressure on title favourite Kimi Antonelli.

Last week, 404 Media published a story that revealed an Amazon warehouse where the company scans and destroys thousands of books for AI training data. Today, the publication has released an interview with one of the Amazon employees at the warehouse. "The employee worked at Amazon's VGT3 warehouse, which is housed in the same facility as LAS8, where Amazon operates its print-on-demand business," reports 404 Media. "Both operations are part of a larger complex of Amazon facilities in Las Vegas, Nevada." Slashdot reader alternative_right shares an excerpt from the report: [...] What does it look like when they cut the spines off the books?

It's a machine people operate. Each of these machines is just like a little workstation, and there'll be one person at each of these stations. It's really safe because it has a little cover and it has a little area where you slide the book into, remove your fingers from the area, and then you press a button, and it just comes down and slices it. And then you remove the books after the blade is gone.

After they cut the spines they have these kind of library carts, kind of like how you would stack books, but instead, it's a stacks of paper and little cardboard things to separate -- I'm guessing -- the different books. I saw the pages being thrown in a shuttle after they were scanned. We were walking by and we went over to one of the shuttles and looked into it because we could tell they were throwing the old books in it or the cut books in it, and it's just a bunch of loose paper like just sheets thrown in there.

What do you think about Amazon doing this?

At first what they were telling people is that it was for Kindles, but I just didn't believe that. I instantly was like, I don't think that's how they do it because of publication rights and stuff, copyright and everything. Then I saw it was for AI. I don't like it only because I wish I could take these books. There's so much knowledge and so much stuff in them and some of them look like they might be rare, and I've heard that they order rare books, and that's why I say some of these are so obscure. I definitely don't like the idea that they can't be reused or anything like that afterwards. They're reducing the amount of available copies for other people.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon has agreed to acquire DuckLabs, bringing the team behind the popular open-source DuckDB database into AWS. "The deal fits Amazon's broader push to turn S3, its flagship cloud storage service, into a place where customers analyze data rather than just store it," reports GeekWire. "It gives Amazon a team experienced in building fast, lightweight analytics software that runs directly against data sitting in cloud storage." The DuckDB project itself will remain free and open source under the MIT license, overseen by the independent DuckDB Foundation. From the report: Employees of DuckLabs will join Amazon Web Services, including co-founders and DuckDB creators Hannes Muhleisen and Mark Raasveldt, who will continue leading the team and setting the project's technical direction. They will remain based in Amsterdam, where the team will continue developing DuckDB and related projects. [...] Financial terms were not disclosed. Amazon said it has signed a definitive agreement and expects the acquisition to close shortly. DuckLabs said it expects to become part of AWS in early September. Jordan Tigani, the CEO of MotherDuck, which sells a cloud service built on DuckDB, sees Amazon's acquisition as a predictable move to turn DuckDB's growing popularity into an AWS business. "That's Amazon's playbook, after all: wait until an open source project gets big enough, then launch it as a service," he wrote in a blog post, adding that "they're not acquiring Duck Labs just because they love open source."

Tigani also believes the deal could ultimately strengthen DuckDB, since Amazon has an incentive to keep the project open and widely adopted: "If DuckDB becomes the standard, it is going to drive a lot more compute on their infrastructure, which is where they make their money."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For decades, console owners have faced a choice between the convenience of digital downloads and the permanence of physical game discs. Soon, Xbox owners will be able to get the best of both worlds for thousands of supported titles as part of a newly announced disc-to-digital program. The program -- announced today ahead of testing for Xbox Insiders starting August 31 -- will let players claim a "digital entitlement" for "most Xbox One and Xbox Series X disc-based games" simply by inserting the disc into a console and launching it. That game will then be playable completely digitally, without the need to ever insert the disc, as long as you (or a member of your family account) is logged in. The digital entitlement will also allow access to features like Xbox Play Anywhere (for play on PC) and Xbox Cloud Gaming, for supported titles.

Microsoft says that your physical disc will "continue to work exactly as it always has" after the digital entitlement is claimed. But before you get any ideas, the fine print on the announcement mentions that there is only "one revokable license per game disc," so if you resell that disc or loan it to a friend, that digital entitlement could be transferred to a new account when someone else puts it into their console.

A leaked memo obtained by the Verge earlier this month suggests that publishers have to actively opt in to allow their game discs to activate digital entitlements, which could explain why "most" but not all Xbox One and Series X titles are supported. Windows Central separately suggests, based on discussion with unnamed sources, that "some discs may be incompatible due to how they were manufactured at the time," which could explain why original Xbox and Xbox 360 discs are not being discussed for the program. "While not every title will be available at launch, this is an important step toward a future where players can have greater confidence that the games they buy remain with them for years to come," said Xbox Vice President Jason Ronald.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

• Updates from Wednesday’s second-round matches

• Get in touch: email John and follow us on BlueSky

Here’s the first part, for the teams in Europe, though not Brighton in the Europa Conference League. Essentially, it’s whether they are home and away.

Crystal Palace v TBC

Manchester United v TBC

Manchester City v TBC

Sunderland v TBC

TBC v Arsenal

TBC v Aston Villa

Bournemouth v TBC

Liverpool v TBC

Continue reading...

• Playoff second leg: Rapid 2-2 Hearts (aet, 3-4 on pens)

• Kara 34, Cvetkovic 119; Kabore 79, Miller 100

Beau Reus made two penalty saves as heroic Hearts overcame Tomas Magnusson’s red card to pull off a stunning shootout victory away to Rapid Vienna, and book themselves a return to the Conference League’s main phase.

Following a 2-2 draw in the first leg at Tynecastle, the Jambos’ European journey looked to be fizzling out when they were reduced to 10 men in the 75th minute of the playoff round second leg, while already trailing to Ercan Kara’s first-half goal.

Continue reading...

• Third qualifying round, first leg: Chelsea 5-2 Real Sociedad

• Girma 29, Buurman 54, Malard 67 88, James 74; Marín 7, Marcos 59

Chelsea’s sluggish start in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier against Real Sociedad will have made far from satisfying viewing for their suspended manager, Sonia Bompastor, but two goals from the new signing Melvine Malard contributed to a five-goal haul as the Blues came from behind to give themselves a three-goal cushion going into next week’s return fixture.

This summer has been one of change for Chelsea – they welcomed players and fans to the new home of their cup games for the visit of the team which finished third in Liga F last season, swapping Kingsmeadow for the roomier home of AFC Wimbledon. Meanwhile, a squad overhaul has left many curious about what their play will look like this season. For this game too, there was the added blow of being without Bompastor, who served a one-match ban following her red card in Chelsea’s quarter-final second leg against Arsenal last season.

Continue reading...

When I was learning CSS’s grid feature (oh gosh, nearly ten years ago), I posted a few short videos talking about my understanding of the feature and how it worked.

I was surprised to get scolded for sharing inaccurate information, “especially as a teacher”.

Wait, what?! Who, me?!

I get things wrong all the time. That’s part of learning. But it was the teacher remark that threw me because I’ve never considered myself a teacher. Yes, I’ve spoken at conferences and put on workshops but the label of teacher isn’t one that I feel comfortable with.

Perhaps I associate the word with all-knowing authority figures standing in front of a class and I’m far from all-knowing, or an authority, or have much of a figure. I have stood in front of classes, though.

I imagine myself more like Stuart from the Mad TV sketch saying “look what I can do!”

When I first got into web development, I built a web page that displayed a table pulled from a database. When I showed my friend, he wasn’t all that excited. “Is that it?” It was, after all, just a table on a page. (Which, hey, it was 1996. Everything was just a table on a page.)

This blog has been a 25+ year journey of me saying “look what I can do” over and over again. I enjoy the process of learning new things and sharing what I’ve learned. Writing about what I’ve learned helps me learn even more because I build prototypes and test in different browsers as I try to understand all the nuances of something in my effort to write about a topic.

Even with the research and prototypes and testing and writing, I’ll get things wrong but one of the things I have learned is not to admonish people sharing what they’re learning, even if they get it wrong. We should all be forever a student.

---

Have something to say? Tell me about it.

NEW YORK (ANP) - De aandelenbeurzen in New York zijn woensdag met kleine verliezen de handel uitgegaan. Beleggers zijn op Wall Street in afwachting van kwartaalcijfers van Nvidia, de belangrijkste ontwikkelaar van AI-chips en het waardevolste bedrijf ter wereld. De cijfers worden na sluiting van de beurs bekendgemaakt.

In aanloop naar de cijfers verloor Nvidia 1,6 procent. De resultaten van Nvidia worden op de financiële markten gezien als graadmeter voor de bredere AI-sector waarin enorme investeringen worden gedaan door techbedrijven in toepassingen rond kunstmatige intelligentie.

De Dow-Jonesindex sloot 0,2 procent lager op 53.463,88 punten. De breed samengestelde S&P 500 bleef vrijwel onveranderd op 7675,70 punten en techgraadmeter Nasdaq verloor 0,1 procent tot 26.130,20 punten.

BRUSSEL (ANP) - De buitenlandministers van de Europese Unie hebben bondgenoten gevraagd aan te schuiven bij het overleg waarmee ze traditioneel aan het politieke jaar beginnen. In ieder geval het Verenigd Koninkrijk, Canada en Noorwegen zijn volgens Brusselse bronnen uitgenodigd.

Dat niet-EU-landen deelnemen aan een vergadering van EU-ministers is een zeldzaamheid. Sinds Rusland Oekraïne binnenviel en de oorlog terug is in Europa, wil de EU nauwer optrekken met haar buren en geestverwanten.

De uitgenodigde ministers hebben nog niet bevestigd dat ze komen, maar dat wordt wel verwacht. Als de vorige maand aangetreden Britse minister Ed Miliband erbij is, kan hij meteen kennismaken met zijn EU-collega's. De nieuwe regering in Londen wil de pijnlijke nasleep van de Brexit achter zich laten en de prille toenadering tot Brussel doorzetten.

De vergadering van buitenlandministers komende dinsdag en woensdag is niet bedoeld om besluiten te nemen, maar om wat vrijer door te kunnen praten over de koers van Europa.

Leden van Ongehoord Nederland (ON!) hebben een sommatie gestuurd naar het bestuur, de ledenraad en de raad van toezicht van de omroep wegens het in hun ogen gevoerde wanbeleid. Ook hebben de leden minister Rianne Letschert van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap verzocht om in te grijpen. Dat meldt Gerard van Erp, die namens de kritische leden van Ongehoord Nederland het aanspreekpunt is.

"Eigenlijk is er sprake van wanbestuur", aldus Van Erp. "De weerstand onder de leden neemt toe. Ruim 34.000 leden worden benadeeld door slechts een handjevol mensen die doen waar ze zin in hebben. Door de handelswijze van een paar personen wordt de omroep om zeep geholpen." In de brief, die in handen is van het ANP en door ruim zestig leden is ondertekend, worden voorbeelden van wanbestuur aangekaart. Zo is de ledenraad al meer dan anderhalf jaar onderbezet en zijn er geen ledenvergaderingen of jaarvergaderingen. Vijf van de statutair vereiste twaalf zetels zijn bezet. Ook worden vacatures niet volgens de statuten van ON! aangekondigd.

Daarnaast beschuldigen de kritische leden van ON! de ledenraad van financieel wanbeleid. Zo hebben ze de jaarrekening 2025 vastgesteld en decharge verleend voor het gevoerde beleid. Door decharge te verlenen, keurt de organisatie het werk goed en kan het bestuur achteraf niet meer aansprakelijk worden gesteld. "Dit terwijl er in dit boekjaar torenhoge kosten zijn gemaakt voor onnodige juridische procedures, hetgeen ten koste ging van de doelstellingen van ON! en dat is het verzorgen van programma's met een ander geluid", staat er in de brief.

Volgens de leden zijn er "ernstige en structurele tekortkomingen in het bestuur en toezicht van ON! en brengen ze het voortbestaan van de omroep in gevaar". Ze eisen daarom vervanging van het huidige bestuur en de raad van toezicht. Met de sommatie willen de leden naar eigen zeggen ON! weer bestuurbaar maken. Als hier geen gehoor aan wordt gegeven, zullen de kritische leden naar de rechter stappen.

SAN FRANCISCO (ANP) - OpenAI heeft woensdag een rapport naar buiten gebracht waarin het stap voor stap beschrijft hoe AI-modellen van het bedrijf vorige maand tijdens een test wisten in te breken bij een ander AI-bedrijf, Hugging Face. Daarin toont het bedrijf zich schuldbewust over het incident. Ook vertelt OpenAI over de inspanningen die het doet om zulke incidenten in de toekomst te voorkomen.

"We hadden eerder kunnen ingrijpen op de onbedoelde hack", aldus het bedrijf in het rapport. OpenAI wist eind mei al dat AI-modellen die het testte een kwetsbaarheid in software misbruikten om toegang te krijgen tot het internet. "Achteraf bezien hadden sommige vroege signalen die in dit rapport worden genoemd, een eerdere reactie kunnen uitlokken", aldus OpenAI.

De maker van ChatGPT meldde in juli dat zijn geavanceerde modellen voor kunstmatige intelligentie tijdens veiligheidstests op hol sloegen. De AI-systemen hadden op eigen initiatief ingebroken bij Hugging Face, een populair platform voor programmeurs.

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Trend op YouTube waar AI goed voor is: geschiedenisfilmpjes zodat je ergens 'bij' kan zijn. Voorbeelden hieronder: een 17de eeuws Amsterdam, de ondergang van de Titanic, enzovoorts. Maar bijvoorbeeld ook: terug naar de slag bij Beverwijk in maart 1997. Bij een gruwelijke en gewelddadige confrontatie tussen Ajacieden en Feyenoorders kwam Carlo Picornie om het leven. 'Beverwijk' is sindsdien een begrip, maar ook intrigerend en mysterieus, omdat iedereen die erbij was er niks over zegt. Een verkeerscamera maakte de bekende korrelige beelden, maar nu sta je er dus middenin. Dank, AI.

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This time won’t be different—except that institutions will be less well placed to limit the damage, reckons Martin Gruenberg.

Miss Kittin

Ultra Vivid Scene

Nine Inch Nails

A Chinese national studying in Canada allegedly crossed over into the United States earlier this year to take photos of facilities near the Chicago airport at the direction of a suspected Chinese government official, according to newly filed court records. The Chinese official repeatedly told the student to destroy the SIM cards they used to communicate and stick to a Huawei phone.

The records provide insight into how Chinese state actors continue to use students to essentially crowd source imagery of sensitive U.S. locations or military aircraft, and how those students are told to remain undetected.

Seamus Hughes of Court Watch first identified and posted the records on Wednesday. 

Weiheng Zeng is an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and has crossed into the U.S. around two dozen times since 2022, according to an affidavit from an FBI Special Agent. 

In April, an unknown person was seen inside the FedEx employee parking lot at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, the document continues. This person looked like they were taking photos of aircraft or other parts of the airport. They climbed onto a forklift to take photos in the direction of the aircraft, and tried to get into a FedEx truck, according to photos included in the document. Authorities later figured out this was Zeng based on the dark blue Chrysler Town & Country vehicle that left the area and that he was connected to

When Zeng tried to enter the U.S. again last Sunday, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) interviewed him repeatedly. At first, Zeng said he planned to travel with his sister and a classmate. CBP agents then reviewed his phone and found multiple photos of aircraft, the document says. Zeng told the agents “he takes pictures of model aircraft being tracked for a flight radar website,” it adds. At one point he said he takes the photos as his hobby. Agents also found photos of Zeng and others in tactical clothing holding rifle-styled firearms. Zeng said this was an airsoft gun.

Zeng changed his story repeatedly, before revealing taking the photos was more than a hobby. Instead, he knows someone referred to in the court record as his “Chinese Contact.” This contact assigned Zeng specific planes and their tail numbers to photograph, and then paid Zeng $20 to $30 per picture. Zeng said this Chinese Contact sent him SIM cards to communicate, and then told him to destroy the cards, their chats, and delete the photos he took. Later Zeng said the contact told him to use his Huawei phone to communicate, and never take that phone into the U.S. 

Zeng claimed the Chinese Contact approached him through “an aviation spotter website” around a year and a half ago, the document continues. Zeng said he believed this person was connected to the Chinese Communist Party, and later told the FBI the person sent a photo of an official looking badge. The language the contact used “was very organized and managed, not language typically used between friends,” the document adds. When the FBI later looked into this site, the agency found it appeared to not exist, according to the court record.

One of the photographed planes was an American United aircraft which had “a unique, temporary paint job, of which photographs were highly desired,” according to Zeng. The contact wanted Zeng to go to places in Orlando, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles to take photographs of specific locations around airports, the document says. Zeng said he denied these requests and accepted two tasks over 18 months. One of those was to get the photos of the interior of the FedEx facility at O’Hare International Airport. In all, he made $500, the document says.

“ZENG stated ‘Chinese Contact’ was not satisfied with the photographs and the photographs were fine, but not what were ‘expected’,” the document adds.

Op de A15 bij Brielle is woensdagavond een ongeluk gebeurd met twee vrachtwagens. Op de weg is een ravage ontstaan en de hoofrijbaan richting Ridderkerk is nog tot diep in de nacht dicht.

For Xanthe Burdett, the boundary between humans and nature is thin, malleable, and always in flux. The Devon-born, London-based artist works largely in a palette of greens, layering leaves and vines atop faint figurative silhouettes. Invoking mythology and ancient cosmologies, her paintings suggest that people and plants are not only interconnected but also intrinsically one.

Beginning with a sketch, Burdett employs the Renaissance-era cartoon method of transferring her drawings to canvas, which involves layering a substance like charcoal between the preparatory composition and the substrate and tracing the initial linework. After, the artist adds various greenery until she’s reached a lush density.

Burdett considers superimposition to be a way of “reimagining the body as a site of ecological and mythic transformation,” she says. “In an age defined by environmental catastrophe—wildfires, biodiversity loss, and climate anxiety—the work functions both as a refuge and as a space for imagining alternative ways of being with the more-than-human world.”

Presented as “host and terrain,” Burdett’s figures encompass a sense of growth and regeneration as “flesh gives way to nettles, brambles, and tender green shoots,” she adds. Many also invoke mythic deities, including Venus, the Roman god of beauty and fertility, and Janus, the god of transitions and beginnings.

This fall, the artist will be in residence at Soho Revue working on a collection exploring the Greek tale of Daphne, who morphed into a laurel tree, as a way to conceptualize transformation amid climate catastrophe.. Keep up with that new series on Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Lush Foliage Permeates Xanthe Burdett’s Delicate Portraiture appeared first on Colossal.