An anonymous reader shared this report from Electrek:

A newly revealed Honda patent shows the company developing a simulated electronic clutch system for electric motorcycles, complete with torque-boost launches and even haptic feedback designed to mimic the feel of a combustion engine.... Instead of using a traditional mechanical clutch, the system uses electronics to alter how the motor responds based on clutch lever position. Pull the clutch halfway in, and the system proportionally reduces motor output. Pull it fully, and power is cut entirely, regardless of throttle position.

But the more interesting part is how Honda intends to recreate the behavior riders actually use clutches for. According to the patent as reported by AMCN, riders could preload the throttle while holding in the clutch lever, then rapidly release the lever to trigger a burst of torque — essentially simulating the hard launches motocross riders rely on with gas bikes. Honda believes that could be useful in competitive riding situations where precise power modulation matters, especially on loose terrain or during aggressive starts.

Honda also appears to be working on recreating the feel of a gas bike, not just the control inputs. The patent describes multiple vibration motors placed in the handlebars and near the clutch lever to provide haptic feedback that simulates engine vibration and even the "bite point" sensation of a clutch engaging. In other words, Honda may be trying to make an electric dirt bike feel mechanically alive, or at least the old-school idea of what a breathing dirt bike used to feel like.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Major American cloud companies with data centers in the Persian Gulf "are channeling data out of the war zone through fiber-optic cables that an Iraqi telecom has strung alongside crude-oil pipelines," reports RestofWorld.org:

The data centers serve customers in more than 190 countries, processing transactions, storing files, and running applications for businesses and individuals from Latin America to South Asia. When Iranian drones struck Amazon's facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on March 1, the effects spread across the region. Apps of major banks in the UAE, including Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, stopped working. Payment and delivery platforms went offline. Snowflake, a U.S. enterprise software company used by thousands of businesses globally, reported Middle East service disruptions tied directly to the Amazon Web Services outage. Amazon told its customers to migrate their workloads out of the Middle East...

[Data from] banking, payment, and enterprise platforms normally travels to Europe through cables running under the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, then connects onward to users across the world. The war has put those cables at risk. The overland route through Iraq is meant to serve as a backup if the sea cables are disabled. The overland route through Iraq is meant to serve as a backup if the sea cables are disabled... [Martin Frank, strategic adviser for IQ Networks, the company that built the network, told Rest of World this overland route is already carrying live traffic.] The company, based in Iraq's Kurdistan region, runs fiber from the southern tip of Iraq to the Turkish border. It is now extending the network through gas-pipeline corridors across Turkey to the European border, with the first link expected early next year, Frank said. When that extension is complete, cloud providers will — for the first time — have the option of an unbroken land-based fiber path from the Gulf into the European network, connecting onward to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, and Marseille, from where their data connects back to U.S. users.

The advantage of this alternative route is that oil and gas pipelines come with their own security perimeters, access roads, and maintenance corridors already built around them, allowing a telecom company to lay fiber without digging new trenches through difficult terrain. Iraq avoided the fate of earlier overland routes that collapsed because of a sustained period of stability, and because existing pipeline infrastructure provided ready-made corridors for laying fiber, Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at network intelligence firm Kentik, told Rest of World... IQ Networks' route, called the Silk Route Transit, has been running since November 2023. The network currently carries enough data to stream about 400,000 high-definition videos simultaneously, Frank said.
The land route is faster. Data traveling through submarine cables from the Gulf to Europe takes about 150 milliseconds. The Iraqi terrestrial route cuts that to roughly 70 milliseconds — a difference that matters for video calls, financial transactions, and applications that run on artificial intelligence, according to IQ Networks.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This week Amazon opened up its parcel shipping, fulfillment, and distribution "to businesses of all types and sizes." Any business can now ship, store, and deliver "using the same supply chain that supports Amazon," according to Monday's announcement of "Amazon Supply Chain Services."

The move sent shares of UPS and FedEx "tumbling" Monday writes GeekWire. And though both stocks bounced back as the week went on, GeekWire sees this as the latest example of Amazon "turning its internal capabilities into products and services for sale..."

"Amazon had already surpassed both carriers to become the nation's largest parcel shipper by volume, according to parcel-analytics firm ShipMatrix."


Initial customers include Procter & Gamble, which is using Amazon's freight network to transport raw materials; 3M, which is using it to move products to distribution centers; Lands' End, which is fulfilling orders across sales channels from Amazon's warehouses; and American Eagle Outfitters, which is using Amazon's parcel service for last-mile delivery. The service can fulfill orders placed through platforms that compete with Amazon's own marketplace, including Walmart, Shopify, TikTok, and others... Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon Supply Chain Services, compared the launch to the origins of Amazon's cloud business...

In addition to putting Amazon in competition with existing players in the logistics industry, the move also raises questions about data privacy. Amazon has faced accusations of using nonpublic seller data to compete against merchants on its marketplace, which it has denied. Larsen told the Wall Street Journal that the company prohibits using supply chain customer data for its own marketplace decisions, noting that hundreds of thousands of Amazon sellers already trust the company to fulfill orders placed on rival platforms.



The article notes taht in his annual shareholder letter Amazon's CEO "said the company is also exploring selling its custom AI chips and robotics to outside customers."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

IT sector unemployment "increased to 3.8% in April from 3.6% in March," reports the Wall Street Journal.

But they add that the increase reflects "an ongoing uncertainty in tech as AI continues to play havoc with hiring. That's according to analysis from consulting firm Janco Associates, which bases its findings on data from the U.S. Labor Department."
On Friday, the department said the economy added 115,000 jobs, buoyed by gains in industries including retail, transportation and warehousing and healthcare. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3%. But the information sector lost 13,000 jobs in April.

While it's still too early to say exactly how AI is affecting employment overall, some businesses, especially in the tech industry, have said it's part of the reason they're cutting staff. In April, Meta Platforms said it would lay off 10% of its staff, or roughly 8,000 people, as it seeks to streamline operations and pay for its own massive investments in AI. Nike will reduce its workforce by roughly 1,400 workers, or about 2%, mostly in its tech department, as it simplifies global operations. And Snap is planning to eliminate 16% of its workforce, or about 1,000 positions, as it aims to boost efficiency. In other areas of IT, which includes telecommunications and data-processing, employment is now down 11%, or 342,000 jobs, from its most recent peak in November 2022.

But there's not just AI to blame. Inflation and economic uncertainty linked to the Iran conflict is giving some chief executives and tech leaders reason to pull back or pause their IT hiring, said Janco Chief Executive Victor Janulaitis.

The article even notes that postings for software developer jobs "are up 15% year-over-year on job-search platform Indeed, according to Hannah Calhoon, its vice president of AI". But employers do seem to be looking for experienced developers, which could pose a problem for recent college graduates.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

"General Motors sold the data of California drivers without their knowledge or consent," says California's attorney general, "and despite numerous statements reassuring drivers that it would not do so."


In 2024, The New York Times "reported that automakers including GM were sharing information about their customers' driving behavior with insurance companies," remembers TechCrunch, "and that some customers were concerned that their insurance rates had gone up as a result."

Now General Motors "has reached a privacy-related settlement with a group of law enforcement agencies led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta..."

The settlement announcement from Bonta's office similarly alleges that GM sold "the names, contact information, geolocation data, and driving behavior data of hundreds of thousands of Californians" to Verisk Analytics and LexisNexis Risk Solutions, which are both data brokers. Bonta's office further alleges that this data was collected through GM's OnStar program, and that the company made roughly $20 million from data sales.

However, Bonta's office also said the data did not lead to increased insurance prices in California, "likely because under California's insurance laws, insurers are prohibited from using driving data to set insurance rates."
As part of the settlement, GM has agreed to pay $12.75 million in civil penalties and to stop selling driving data to any consumer reporting agencies for five years, Bonta's office said. GM has also agreed to delete any driver data that it still retains within 180 days (unless it obtains consent from customers), and to request that Lexis and Verisk delete that data.

"This trove of information included precise and personal location data that could identify the everyday habits and movements of Californians," according to the attorney general's announcement. The settlement "requires General Motors to abandon these illegal practices, and underscores the importance of the data minimization in California's privacy law — companies can't just hold on to data and use it later for another purpose."

"Modern cars are rolling data collection machines," said San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. "Californians must have confidence that they know what data is being collected, how it is being used, and what their opt-out rights are... This case sends a strong message that law enforcement will take action when California privacy laws are not scrupulously followed."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

"Taken as a whole, Koeppen's activities during World War II seem a canny exercise in self-sabotage that was also self-defense. The scripts he wrote and helped to write for UFA and Bavaria Filmkunst were almost never produced, but his employment got him cover...An Allied bombing run in Berlin gave him the opportunity to essentially fake his own death, and he spent the last years of the war underground, or at least hiding out in a ramshackle hotel near Munich, where he married the proprietor's sister, Marion."
Wolfgang Koeppen's Structural Musicality' By Joshua Cohen May 4, 2026. Via, A&L Daily.

@fabio Waar ik heb gewerkt; altijd microsoft, ontwikkelaars redelijk vrij in hun keuze, met grommende beheer als gevolg. Maar bij veel organisaties zijn ze niet meer zo happig op bring your own device.
Bij mij huidige opdracht alleen maar hardware van het bedrijf. Dichtgeramde VPN's en firewalls en Entra met verplicht MS op je prive telefoon. Dat is woensdag (einde opdracht) het eerste wat er af gaat.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide June 1990

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

date stamped on slide February 1972

WASHINGTON (ANP) - De Amerikaanse president Donald Trump noemt het Iraanse voorstel aan de Verenigde Staten "volkomen onacceptabel". "Ik heb zojuist de reactie gelezen van de zogenaamde 'vertegenwoordigers' van Iran. Ik vind het niets - volkomen onacceptabel!" schrijft hij deels in hoofdletters op Truth Social. De president lichtte zijn oordeel niet toe.

De Iraniërs hadden via bemiddelaar Pakistan gereageerd op een Amerikaans voorstel om de oorlog te beëindigen. Teheran benadrukte in zijn reactie de noodzaak van een einde aan de oorlog op alle fronten, dus ook in Libanon, en de opheffing van de sancties tegen Iran, aldus het Iraanse persbureau Tasnim.

Pakistan bemiddelde eerder het staakt-het-vuren tussen Iran en de Verenigde Staten. Onderhandelingen over een duurzaam vredesakkoord lopen steeds op niets uit. Langetermijnafspraken over de Iraanse nucleaire infrastructuur zouden onder meer een struikelblok zijn.

TEHERAN (ANP/RTR) - Een Iraans voorstel, dat via bemiddelaar Pakistan naar de Verenigde Staten is gestuurd, benadrukt de noodzaak van een einde aan de oorlog op alle fronten en de opheffing van de sancties tegen Teheran. Dat meldde het semi-officiële Iraanse persbureau Tasnim, onder verwijzing naar een ingewijde bron.

Het voorstel onderstreept tevens de noodzaak dat het Amerikaanse Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) de sancties op de Iraanse olieverkoop gedurende een periode van dertig dagen opheft. Ook dient er een einde te komen aan de marineblokkade tegen Iran, aldus Tasnim.

De Iraanse staatsomroep IRIB meldde eerder op zondag dat het Iraanse voorstel zich ook richt op het beëindigen van de oorlog in Libanon. Daar voert Israël ondanks een staakt-het-vuren een groot offensief uit dat naar eigen zeggen gericht is op de Libanese beweging Hezbollah.

Mogwai

This time it was Marcus Rashford who delivered the knockout blow. Three days after the fight between Fede Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni that ended with Real Madrid’s vice captain taken to hospital and the crisis at the club laid painfully bare for all to see, they went to the Camp Nou and finally relinquished the league title they lost long ago. For the first time in 94 years a meeting of sport’s greatest rivals decided La Liga, 62,000 fans starting the party as goals from the Englishman and Ferran Torres took Hansi Flick’s team over the line with three games to spare.

For Madrid, at least it was over, nothing left to hold on to. They had avoided it happening last week by beating Espanyol, just across the city limits, sparing themselves from having to hand their rivals a guard of honour before the game but they knew they couldn’t avoid it for ever. Now all they could aspire to was preventing them from beginning the title party in their presence, but like so much else this campaign that was beyond them, and so a second successive season closes without a trophy, and on the worst possible stage.

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photo-tez has added a photo to the pool:

薬師池公園