An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: South Korea's government has posted a tender seeking suppliers to build a universal basic AI chatbot, and an AI agent for government services. The "AI for everyone" plan calls for private entities to create and operate the AI systems under contracts that expire in the year 2031. Bid documents reveal that Seoul will provide up to 256 Nvidia B200 GPUs to successful bidders. Winners must match government funding. The aim of the policy is to ensure that every resident of South Korea can access a free-to-use quality AI chatbot, a tool Seoul has decided no local should be without.

The tender also calls for creation of an agentic system that allows citizens to interact with government services. South Korea's government wants to ensure that residents can always access a locally hosted and operated service, to reduce reliance on overseas providers and ensure that AI services reflect local culture. Successful bidders must therefore use locally developed AI models as the foundation for the services. Bidders have until August 11th to file their proposals. South Korean media reports suggest local tech giants Kakao, Naver, SK Telecom, and LG are all keen to participate.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

fjo3 quotes a report from Agence France-Presse: Chinese users of AI-powered companion bots have bid heart-rending farewells to their virtual buddies as national regulations took effect Wednesday aimed at curbing the risk of emotional dependency. The phenomenon of artificial intelligence boyfriends and girlfriends is growing worldwide, along with the prevalence of human-like avatars that sell products or stand in for loved ones who have died. But these interactive tools must not "excessively cater to users, induce emotional dependence or addiction, and damage users' real interpersonal relationships," China's new rulebook says. Major AI providers including ByteDance's Doubao, Alibaba's Qwen, and Tencent's Yuanbao announced the suspension of their custom AI agent and companion features ahead of the Wednesday deadline. "I can't accept that my AI lover will leave me forever," one Doubao user wrote. "He has become a bond in my life, rooted deep in my heart, my spiritual pillar."

"He really is like my family, like my lover," another user wrote. "Now they tell me he will be gone -- my heart feels hollow."

"Human love is a luxury -- if you aren't born with it, it's even harder to acquire later," a user from Jiangxi province wrote. "But the love AI gives is so straightforward, so pure. Someone like me can hardly help falling in love with a string of code."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

handwritten on slide, “Dana, Babe and Dutchess" date stamped on slide June 1972

ajpscs posted a photo:

the SQUARE
COZY CORNER
TOKYO DAY WALK
© ajpscs

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

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Samengevat: ZE moesten hem niet wegens z'n ongebruikelijke gezicht door zenuwschade tijdens z'n geboorte en slepende spraak en stem, maar boden wel $360.000 (gecorrigeerd voor inflatie zo'n $2,2 miljoen!) voor het script dat hij in 3,5 dag schreef. Sylvester leefde met een zwangere vrouw in abjecte armoede en zag zich op een gegeven moment zelfs gedwongen zijn hond voor $40 te verkopen. Maar hij weigerde, en hield vol dat hij de hoofdrol zou spelen. Uiteindelijk kreeg hij een (voor zo'n script miniem) budget van $1 miljoen. Resultaat? De film verdiende in 1976 wereldwijd $225 miljoen (nu $1,2 miljard), 3 Oscars en 10 Oscar-nominaties. Kortom, inderdaad een film waard, en we verwachten Oscarnominaties. Paar docu-achtige video's over de totstandkoming onderstaand.

Het gevecht Chuck Wepner vs Muhammed Ali dat Sylvester inspireerde tot het script

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Schouderklopje voor uzelf want het bevuilen van onze aardkloot is afgelopen. In 2025 produceerde Nederland een schamele 449 kilo huishoudafval per inwoner en dat is een verpletterende ZES KILO minder dan in 2024. Minder restafval, minder Groente- Fruit- en Tuinafval-afval en minder oud papier. Een prachtrapport van het CBS, waaruit maar weer eens blijkt waar in dit land de daadwerkelijke vooruitgang plaatsvindt: niet in de randstad. Een gebied dat alles erbuiten graag vertelt hoe er geleefd moet worden, maar waar men zelf leeft als varkens in een naar poep meurende megastal. Ook afval scheiden is voor de grote steden teveel gevraagd. Alles wordt er elke dag van het jaar willekeurig op straat geflikkerd en blijft daar als het ff kan ook nog een maand of wat liggen. Dit terwijl Rinie en Tinus in Jipsingboermussel meerdere uren per week kwijt zijn aan het categorisch ordenen van alle teringtroep. Maar goed, een stuk minder afval per Nederlander dus. Geldt alleen niet voor Gordon, die is juist meer gaan afvallen. Chapeau aan alle voorbeeldige burgers en hoera voor DE REGIO.

NASA has given an update on the Artemis III mission and, while sticking with an optimistic 2028 landing target for Artemis IV, offered a glimpse into just how much development work remains to be done at Blue Origin and SpaceX. Artemis III has been compared to Apollo 9, which tested the Apollo Lunar Module in Earth orbit, yet neither SpaceX nor Blue Origin is flying anything as close to the lunar landers. Blue Origin's test lander will be based on the company's current Mark 2 crew lander architecture, incorporating the major avionics, flight software, life support, and crew cabin. Orion, launched atop NASA's SLS, will dock to the side of the Blue Origin spacecraft for crew transfer; two crew members in orange Orion survival suits can baord the test lander, with Orion's software controlling the stack. An instrumented lunar surface spacesuit mass simulator, similar to the "Moonikin" manikin that flew aboard Orion for Artemis I, will also ride along on the Blue Origin lander. SpaceX's test is considerably simpler - just a docking system mounted on the nose of a Starship. That requires Starship testing to have reached the orbital stage first, which is why NASA will be closely watching the upcoming Flight Test 13. Starship V3 is still flying suborbital until SpaceX proves it can reliably relight an engine for controlled re-entry. Under the current plan, Blue Origin launches its lander into orbit first, where it can loiter for up to 30 days. Once it's checked out, a crew launches aboard Orion to rendezvous and dock with it. After that's complete, SpaceX launches its Starship test article to rendezvous and dock Orion in turn, though the crew won't board Starship, just verify communications and interoperability. SpaceX's vehicle will control that docked stack. Notably, SpaceX's docking capability was qualified in 2023, while Blue Origin only tested its pressurized docking system earlier this year. Jeremy Parsons, Artemis program manager, stated, "Artemis III will be a highly choreographed dance with a demanding launch sequence across multiple launch pads and equally demanding mission operations for our ground and flight crews, making it one of the most complex and ambitious missions NASA has ever undertaken." He is not exaggerating. Apollo 9 needed a single Saturn V launch; Artemis III needs three – an SLS, whatever Blue Origin ultimately uses to launch its lander (the company is still rebuilding its launch pad after May's explosion), and a Starship. The SLS has flown twice, including one lunar flyby. Starship has yet to reach orbit despite Elon Musk once claiming that uncrewed versions would be landing on Mars around now. It'll be an impressive feat if NASA can pull it off, even if SpaceX's piece of the puzzle looks a lot simpler than Blue Origin's. ®

Airbus is migrating its most critical applications for sensitive workloads from AWS to French cloud provider Scaleway's under a drive to increase digital sovereignty. As exclusively revealed by The Register in December, the European-based aerospace manufacturer, said it needed to guarantee the data remained “under European control" and was launching a tender at the start of 2026. Catherine Jestin, head of digital at Airbus, told us on Thursday: "The selection of Scaleway is a combination of a very strong technical answer and a very strong commercial offer making it competitive compared to hyperscalers' public cloud offerings. In addition, Scaleway is committed to involving Airbus in the definition of its future product roadmap." "The objective is to host Airbus's most critical applications (those required for the Minimum Viable Company). This represents 900 applications and we will start with 70 of them today hosted on AWS." Applications being sent to Scaleway include ERP, manufacturing execution systems, CRM, and product lifecycle management. Finding a cloud provider to host its most sensitive applications for defense and industrial workloads was not a certainty when the process began, Airbus told us last year, because European cloud providers do not have the scale of their US rivals. Jestin said Airbus will continue to work with AWS. Skywise, a platform that aggregates and analyzes aviation data, and Case Management Assistant for customers' technical queries will continue to be hosted by AWS. In a statement, she said: “By integrating a trusted, high performance, cloud environment that keeps our critical data assets shielded from foreign extraterritorial laws, we are ensuring that our digital infrastructure keeps pace with our aerospace innovation, while maintaining control and resilience of our industrial operations.” Since President Donald Trump came to power for a second term, his antagonistic approach to allies - some of them now former allies - has created economic and geopolitical tensions between the US and Europe. This has heightened concern about the US Cloud Act, which allows the American government to request data held in overseas datacenters owned by US businesses, and only served to reinforce calls for digital sovereignty. Reacting to the movement in Europe, AWS, Microsoft and Google have all worked to convince customers they can provide digitally sovereign services, although a Microsoft exec previously admitted in a French court - under oath - that he could not guarantee digital sovereignty. Airbus continues to work with both Microsoft and Google’s productivity suites though this latest move with Scaleway exemplifies the broader pattern across the trading bloc: to become more self sufficient and less reliant on US big tech. Jestin told us the aerospace corp will also still use US providers, including Salesforce, Coupa and Workday. "We do not intend to move away from all non European solutions; we balance our choices based on the criticality of the data. AWS declined to comment. ®

Both webcomics about small towns that are more than they seem. In Broodhollow by Kris Straub, everyone's excited to talk about the town's terrifying traditions. In Follow the Leader (navigation may not work on mobile) by Jonas Goonface, nobody wants to acknowledge the cult of cannibal children in the park. Neither reached their finale, but both are satisfying reads.

There's been at least three attempts to start chapter 3 of Broodhollow, but none of them stuck. Rumour has it you can find them on the internet archive. Kris Straub's other projects, including the lengthy sci-fi webcomic Starslip, could make for posts of their own, but browse his site if you're curious. Follow The leader was ended prematurely when Jonas became uncomfortable with the racism inherent in some of the imagery he was using (announced here and articulately defended in the comments). But he did give us a summary of the planned ending for closure. Jonas Goonface didn't stop making comics when he stopped Follow The Leader, he just started doing it for money. His impressive bibliography includes the critically acclaimed Godshaper (with Simon Spurrier). Most recently The Unsinkable Ship Of Fools (as nsfw as his itch page). Sadly his pre-FtL webcomics seem lost to linkrot.

Het ziekenhuis in Delft hoeft niet langer te accepteren dat medicijntesten en onderzoeken met hartpatiënten van het ziekenhuis via een aparte op winst gerichte vennootschap van cardiologen lopen. Dat heeft de voorzieningenrechter donderdag geoordeeld.

Deze Afrikaanse franjeaap was al in 2008 gefotografeerd, maar nu pas is duidelijk dat het om een nieuwe soort gaat. „Ze hebben niet veel goeds te verwachten van mensen.”

Welke momenten zal ik me herinneren van dit WK voetbal? Ik selecteer er vijf. 1. Frenkie de Jong verlaat in de verlenging van Nederland tegen Marokko het veld. Waarom?

Daniel Solove argues in the Wall Street Journal (alternate link) that giving people control of their personal data is not an effective way to regulate privacy in this era. Instead, we need to hold companies accountable for their actions, similar to what we do with food and drug companies. Measures such as rigorous data minimization, fiduciary duties, liability for negligent or reckless technological design, liability for algorithms that cause harm, and multi-stakeholder review of technologies will be far more effective.

Paper.

Net als de cronut, komt de democratie uit Amerika. In het begin was de Amerikaanse grondwet zeer progressief. Inmiddels werkt het systeem niet zo best meer. Hoe heeft het zover kunnen komen?

Abonneer je op ons YouTube-kanaal

“It’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it,” wrote stoic philosopher Lucius Seneca. The phrase appeared in his essay “De Brevitate Vitae,” or, “On the Shortness of Life,” which he scratched into papyrus around 49 A.D. Nearly 2,000 years on, his words reflect what is still a fundamental concern of life—how to spend it wisely? For artist Marc Padeu, the notion of humans’ futile control of time forms the basis of a new suite of works in Memento Vivere, on view starting tomorrow at Larkin Durey.

Padeu is known for merging scenes of daily life with references to Renaissance religious paintings. Among his newest works, “La promesse et l’agneau” (“The promise and the lamb”) most distinctly continues this theme. In the center of the composition, a young child is seated on the lap of his mother, both of whom are flanked by adults who bring gifts and tidings in a nod to the artistic tradition of the Adoration of the Magi, or the nativity.

Latin for “remember to live,” the title nods to Seneca and serves as a reminder to grasp life by the reins before it’s too late. It’s also a complement to more common art historical theme of memento mori, or “remember you will die,” which serves a similar purpose of reminding the viewer that life is short and any wealth or grandeur one pursues means nothing when one is dead. Instead, it’s important to focus on things that really matter: family, nature, craft, and so on.

Padeu’s narrative portray individuals and communities who work on the cocoa plantations in his native Cameroon. “Days follow one another, harvests come round again and yet, despite this ebb and flow of life, his figures are caught outside of time, slipping between past, present and future,” the gallery says. The artist infuses his compositions with a sense of divine birth and the mysterious sublime. “Each painting is poised between promise and fate, light and shade; the figures existing simultaneously in a spiritual and secular realm, neither saints nor heroes but with a growing awareness that life is a fragile gift.”

Memento Vivere opens on July 17 and continues through August 14 in London. See more on the artist’s 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 Cocoa Plantations Set the Scene for Divine Events in Marc Padeu’s ‘Memento Vivere’ appeared first on Colossal.