Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Postcards from the edge, Kourtney Roy

Urenlange debatten voerde de Tweede Kamer over de belastingplannen van het kabinet voor het komende jaar.

The transformation can’t be left to market forces alone, writes Murat Kurum, president of COP31.

NEW YORK (ANP) - Nvidia stond dinsdag opnieuw onder flinke druk op de beurzen in New York vanwege de grote onrust rond de affaire van topman Jensen Huang met een vermeende Chinese spion. De belangrijkste verkoper van AI-chips ter wereld zakte 5,5 procent, na het koersverlies van ruim 4 procent op maandag. Daardoor is in twee dagen voor meer dan 400 miljard dollar aan beurswaarde van Nvidia in rook opgegaan.

De FBI doet onderzoek naar de affaire en Nvidia en Huang zijn ook al aangeklaagd omdat ze aandeelhouders zouden hebben misleid door Huangs relatie met de vermeende spion verborgen te houden. Het is nu de vraag of de 63-jarige Huang kan aanblijven als topman van Nvidia, dat recent nog het meest waardevolle bedrijf ter wereld was. Nvidia is bezig met intern onderzoek naar de zaak.

De algehele stemming op Wall Street was ook negatief door cijfers over de Amerikaanse inflatie, die iets hoger uitvielen dan verwacht. Daardoor werd de rentevrees weer aangewakkerd. De Dow-Jonesindex verloor 0,3 procent tot 52.231,89 punten. De brede S&P 500 zakte 0,4 procent tot 7520,93 punten en de techbeurs Nasdaq daalde 0,7 procent tot 25.065,87 punten.

Chipsector

Op maandag waren juist nog flinke winsten te zien op Wall Street door flink herstel in de chipsector na de uitverkoop van vorige week. Toen stegen de Amerikaanse hoofdgraadmeters tot 2,7 procent.

Naast Nvidia ging de aandacht van beleggers uit naar een andere grote AI-speler. Anthropic, het bedrijf achter chatbot Claude, maakte bekend dat de introductieprijs van zijn aandelen tussen de 70 en 78 dollar per stuk ligt. Met de beursgang, die mogelijk volgende week plaatsvindt, verwacht het bedrijf tot ruim 64 miljard dollar op te halen. De totale marktwaarde zou bij de beursgang, een van de grootste ooit, rond de 1,4 biljoen dollar liggen.

De consumentenprijzen in de VS zijn in oktober met 0,4 procent gestegen op maandbasis. De aanhoudend hoge inflatie versterkt de kans op een renteverhoging door de Federal Reserve in december. Fed-bestuurder Christopher Waller gaf al aan dat hij een verhoging volgende maand steunt en openstaat voor een grotere verhoging van een half procentpunt om de inflatie te bestrijden.

WASHINGTON (ANP/AFP) - Jim Jordan wordt de nieuwe fractieleider van de Republikeinen in het Huis van Afgevaardigden. De afgevaardigde uit Ohio staat bekend als uiterst conservatief en is bondgenoot van president Donald Trump.

Jordan is de voorzitter van de justitiecommissie in het Huis. In de verkiezing voor het fractieleiderschap versloeg Jordan partijgenoot Steve Scalise, die nu nog dient als leider van de fractie. De Republikeinen verloren bij de midtermverkiezingen van vorige week hun meerderheid in het Huis aan de Democraten.

De Republikeinse voorzitter van het Huis van Afgevaardigden, Mike Johnson, had al aangekondigd de Republikeinse fractie niet te willen leiden nadat de nieuwe afgevaardigden worden geïnstalleerd in januari. Johnson zal zijn voorzitterschap dan naar verwachting kwijtraken aan de Democraat Hakeem Jeffries.

DEN HAAG (ANP) - BBB-leider Henk Vermeer hoopt dat de komende twee dagen "voldoende vooruitgang" wordt geboekt in de gesprekken tussen de coalitie en het verbond met JA21 en de SGP waar hij deel van uitmaakt. Donderdag wordt gestemd over het belastingplan, maar er is nog steeds geen meerderheid in zicht.

De drie rechtse partijen eisen strenger migratiebeleid, een "pas op de plaats" op medisch-ethisch gebied en een afzwakking van de stikstofplannen. Vooral op dat laatste punt wilde het kabinet geen verdere concessies doen.

Chris Stoffer (SGP) zei dat hij en zijn bondgenoten "tot de laatste minuut" bereid zijn om te praten met het kabinet over steun. Inhoudelijk kunnen de drie partijen niets via het belastingplan wijzigen om hun wensen te verzilveren. Maar bij de begrotingsbehandelingen, zoals van het ministerie van Landbouw, kan dat bijvoorbeeld op het gebied van stikstof wel. "Wij kijken ook constructief naar alle begrotingen", zei Stoffer daarover.

AMSTERDAM (ANP) - Algemeen directeur Maarten Schuurman van Heineken Nederland is afgelopen vrijdag onverwacht op 57-jarige leeftijd overleden aan een hersenbloeding. Heineken zegt zeer verslagen te zijn door zijn overlijden.

"Maarten was ruim dertig jaar verbonden aan Heineken en heeft in die jaren, in Nederland en internationaal, enorm veel betekend voor ons bedrijf en onze mensen. We zullen zijn energie, betrokkenheid, warmte en oprechte aandacht voor anderen enorm missen", aldus een verklaring op de website van de bierbrouwer. Schuurman was sinds 2023 algemeen directeur van Heineken Nederland.

Hij was daarnaast ook vicevoorzitter van ondernemersorganisatie VNO-NCW. Voorzitter Coen van Oostrom van VNO-NCW zegt met grote verslagenheid kennisgenomen te hebben van Schuurmans plotselinge overlijden. "Met zijn onstuitbare optimisme, pragmatische instelling en warme persoonlijkheid was Maarten een steunpilaar", aldus Van Oostrom.

SpaceX has unveiled the Starlink Mini 2, equipping the company's smallest satellite internet terminal with a removable 71Wh battery and Wi-Fi 6. Preorders are opening to select U.S. customers for $999, which also includes a year of Roam Unlimited service. Shipments are expected to begin in mid-December. InterestingEngineering reports: The removable battery represents the biggest functional upgrade over the original Starlink Mini. Previously, users needed an external power source to operate the satellite terminal. That meant carrying additional equipment for camping trips, remote work, or extended journeys. Mini 2 addresses that limitation with a detachable 71 Wh battery pack. It weighs approximately 1.08 pounds (490 grams) and delivers up to 4.5 hours of connectivity. Owners can replace it with another charged battery when necessary.

The battery also features LED indicators and its own USB-C charging port. SpaceX supports 60-watt USB-C Power Delivery charging for the pack. The retail kit includes a compatible 60-watt wall adapter and a three-meter USB-C cable. Users can also power the terminal through USB-C without relying on its battery. A physical power button replaces the original model's simpler plug-and-play arrangement.

[...] SpaceX has also upgraded the wireless hardware from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6. The integrated router supports coverage across approximately 1,800 square feet (167 square meters). An IP67 rating provides additional protection against dust and water. Other hardware details include a foldable kickstand and a standard 1/4-inch-20 tripod mounting thread. The terminal also offers a 55-degree field of view for satellite acquisition.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Nintendo is hiring a digital archivist to help ensure the company's historical records are "preserved for future generations." The 12-month position is tasked with designing and implementing a "structured framework for organizing technical records, engineering documentation, source materials, and institutional knowledge related to legacy systems and platforms." Polygon reports: In the past, Nintendo has drawn criticism from the preservation community. In 2022, the Video Game History Foundation publicly criticized the company for announcing it would be closing the Wii U and 3DS eShops. The foundation released a statement saying that Nintendo's decision was "actively destructive to video game history." The statement also pointed out that Nintendo is part of the Entertainment Software Association, which funds lobbying that prevents a number of preservation efforts.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

If you didn't have any privacy concerns about slapping a Ring doorbell on your front door or putting Ring cameras inside, you'll love Amazon's newest offerings, which move around homes and businesses to capture views stationary cameras might miss. The house of Bezos announced the launch of Ring Robotics on Tuesday along with its first two products: a drone designed for indoor home security, and a wheeled robot with a telescoping camera mast for automated after-hours business patrols. Both are designed to proactively patrol spaces as well as respond to alerts from connected alarm systems and Ring-connected devices. According to Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, this is something customers actually want, as those stationary cameras just can’t quite see everywhere. “It’s not just a new category of security; it’s the beginning of a future where proactive, autonomous protection is something every home and every business can have,” Siminoff said. The consumer-focused Ring Drone Cam launches from its own charging dock that Amazon says keeps the thing “out of sight” when not in use, and when in flight is able to patrol a home by flying around pre-programmed routes to take in the sights with its 148-degree FOV, 2K camera that includes LED illumination for night patrols. Amazon says it can also respond to alerts from cameras, sensors, and alarm systems. The Ring Rover Cam, designed with businesses in mind, is sort of like a security Roomba that sports a camera on a telescoping mast that Amazon says can be programmed to certain heights to let it see over counters, shelves, and other workplace obstacles. The Rover can also perform 360-degree scans and includes a siren, lights, and two-way audio so you can yell at intruders who aren't dissuaded by its presence. The Rover streams and records video in up to 4K while moving or patrolling and is designed to make regular patrols of businesses during off hours. It can also detect people and respond to alerts from connected Ring devices. Of course, given that this is Ring we're talking about, these flying and free-wheeling cameras use Amazon's cloud for some processing, likely inviting privacy concerns about what footage and mapping data the company can access and retain. The Amazon-owned security tech firm has faced a number of privacy complaints over the years, some of which have resulted in multimillion-dollar settlements. Ring agreed to pay $5.8 million in a 2023 settlement with the FTC over allegations that employees and contractors improperly accessed customers' private videos and that the company failed to adequately protect accounts against unauthorized access – just imagine the privacy concerns raised by flying robots. More recently, the company took heat for partnering with surveillance outfit Flock Safety, a relationship which it has since canceled. Amazon/Ring also invited criticism for a Super Bowl ad earlier this year promoting a new feature called Search Party, which would remotely activate Ring cameras to search for lost pets, suggesting that Amazon had the ability, in theory, to use Ring cameras like a dystopian neighborhood surveillance network. Another Ring feature, Familiar Faces, which uses AI-powered facial recognition to identify people captured by compatible cameras, prompted a proposed class-action lawsuit filed in June. The complaint alleges that the feature collected biometric information from visitors and passersby without their consent. If we can’t have iRobot, we’ll do it with Ring Amazon abandoned its efforts to buy Roomba robot-vacuum maker iRobot in 2024, blaming regulatory scrutiny for the move. The FTC, under then-chair Lina Khan, examined the deal's potential effects on competition and consumer privacy, including concerns about the information Roombas collect while mapping customers' homes. European regulators, meanwhile, raised concerns that Amazon could use its marketplace to disadvantage rival robot vacuum makers. With this Ring move, Amazon is once again putting robots capable of mapping interior spaces into customers' hands, reviving some of the privacy questions raised during its failed iRobot acquisition. As Amazon explains in Tuesday’s press release, both new Ring robots are powered by AI Pilot, “a custom-built system that uses the devices’ cameras, specialized vision models, on-device sensors, and cloud processing to see, think, and navigate autonomously.” To help the Ring robots understand where they're operating, the devices generate floor plans of interior spaces, according to Amazon. “Carry Ring Drone through your space or let Ring Rover autonomously explore, and it turns what it sees into a floor plan,” the company explains of the setup process. AI Pilot takes the reins in identifying the types of rooms it sees and suggests key patrol areas it should focus on, which users can add to in the Ring app. Amazon claims that videos captured by these new flying and free-wheeling cameras will be protected by an encryption scheme it calls Throw Away the Key Encryption (TAKE). The system temporarily allows Ring's cloud services to access recordings for enabled features before the relevant encryption keys are deleted. Ring announced the scheme in August, presenting it as a way to limit access to customer recordings without sacrificing cloud-powered features. “With TAKE, your Ring videos are protected with unique, rotating encryption keys,” Amazon explained. “A copy of the keys is temporarily held inside a secure enclave within the cloud; think of it as a sealed vault that can only provide Ring access to the key under strict, limited conditions.” The keys, Amazon claims, are later deleted so that only users and those they allow access to can see videos, with Ring only retaining them “to power the intelligent features that you have active on your account.” “We take privacy concerns seriously, and we believe privacy and customer control are fundamental to building products people trust,” a Ring spokesperson told The Register when asked about prior privacy concerns. “That is why customers decide where these devices go and when.” We asked about floor plan security, but didn’t get an answer about that. As for when those devices will be available, the Rover Cam will start shipping on December 16 at a price of about $1,000, but the Drone Cam might not ever actually make it to homes. Amazon’s announcement mentions a release date of January 27, 2027, but that’s subject to the FCC giving its blessing. “Ring Drone Cam has not been authorized as required by the rules of the FCC,” Amazon’s release states. “This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.” Amazon told us that the Drone Cam would still start shipping in January, luckily giving everyone a few months to figure out how to deal with this new, more mobile, invasion of privacy. ®

Now that LLMs can help analyze commercial software binaries and recreate their functionality, one software developer and student has created a project designed to make this process more difficult. Timo Zhang's project is called Blind LLM Agents (BLA), and as its name suggests, it attempts to interfere with efforts by AI agents to scrutinize app code. "Coding agents can reverse-engineer shipped packages, CLIs, and WASM in minutes," Zhang told The Register in an email. "Classic obfuscation was built for humans and static tools, not LLMs that reason about meaning. Blind LLM Agents is a protection layer for that threat model." Such agents can also help developers build alternatives to existing commercial software. Last month, Artcraft, a two-person development shop, released seven open-source apps that aim to be replacements for Adobe's commercial apps Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, After Effects, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro. Artcraft claims these apps are "clean-room reimplementations" written from scratch in Rust using Anthropic Opus 5.5. Setting aside the question of whether enlisting an AI model to reimplement an app really immunizes the creator from legal risk, those making apps face the possibility that someone will have an LLM probe published app binaries and reconstruct them through reverse engineering. There's in fact a framework for this, Reverse Engineer Anything (REA). Zhang has faced some criticism on social media for creating a limited barrier to copying other people's work (which at this point might simply be the work of another LLM). But not everyone accepts that all publicly accessible binaries should be easily available for review and reuse. BLA cannot prevent committed reverse engineering efforts, but it may add a bit of friction to the process when LLMs are involved. "It doesn't write app code — it hardens what you've already built," Zhang said. "A transform pipeline (plus MCP tools / an agent Skill) applies renaming, lane splitting, seed-derived string encryption, build polymorphism, WASM export renaming, decoys, self-seal integrity checks, and a coverage matrix that won't claim protection it can't prove. Behavior stays equivalent; recovery cost goes up." Zhang said various evaluations like red teaming and CrackMe challenges to recover keys or flags from hardened artifacts show that BLA is effective. "We also drive REA (a reverse-engineering agent) against those builds," he said. "Fail-to-break is the pass. CI tracks defense score, self-verifies integrity coverage, and checks functional equivalence. We raise the cost — we don't claim it is unbreakable." The project website says as much, noting that it raises the effort for analysis and adds decoy code, but doesn't promise protection against traditional interactive reverse engineering tools like Ghidra or Frida. Zhang said he's aware of other software projects that aim to interfere with AI, such as Poison Fountain for poisoning training data and Anubis for deterring bots and scraping. BLA, he said, is different. It's for hardening shipping code against reverse engineering and LLM-aided analysis. ®

Satellite images of sand dunes migrating in Egypt. They move about 13 meters a year.

Het is mistig in Den Haag. Er wordt gepraat, gesproken, gedebatteerd, gepalaverd, gekibbeld, gebakkeleid, gekeuveld en geneuzeld, gedisputeerd, geredetwist, gebekvecht, gekissebist, gehakketakt, geharreward, gekeven, gekift, gekletst, gecommuniceerd, geconverseerd, gekwebbeld, gezwateld, getetterd gezwamd, gebabbeld, geklept, geouwehoerd, geklessebest, geëmmerd, gerateld, gezanikt, geneuzeld en geluld (en nog veel meer varianten daarop) over het belastingplan, maar het is kennelijk allemaal nog niet genoeg. Daarom wordt er ook nog eens gewantrouwd en gewantrouwd en een stuk minder gekwartjeshoerd door Gidi Markuszower. En niemand wil met iemand en de VVD (minus de Weekersianen) wil niet met PRO en Volt en D66 wil niet met JA21, BBB en de SGP en wie nou met Groep Markuszower wil weet niemand meer en uiteindelijk vinden Geert Wilders en Jesse Klaver elkaar op een ANP-foto. Goede kans dus dat er toch een deal komt. Goede kans ook dat die er niet komt. En dan valt het kabinet dat 90% van de mensen toch niet meer wil. Enfin, we wachten maar op het laatste zetje en als het kabinet toch valt wil de Tweede Kamer iets nieuws proberen: praten. Dus proost dan maar en LIVE doorpraten na de klik.

Alsof er geen week voorbijgegaan is!

Social

LIVE praten

Feyenoord Vrouwen heeft het eerste Europese avontuur uit de clubgeschiedenis woensdagavond afgesloten met een 0-3 nederlaag tegen VfL Wolfsburg. Na de 7-0 nederlaag in de heenwedstrijd konden de Rotterdammers op Varkenoord geen vuist maken tegen de Duitse topclub. Toch kijkt trainer Marc Pieters met trots terug op de Europese campagne, waarin Feyenoord voor het eerst kennismaakte met het internationale niveau.

Legal battle escalates as far-right US podcaster continues to spread false claims that France’s first lady was born a man

Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron have brought a fresh defamation lawsuit against Candace Owens in her home state of Tennessee, in an escalation of a transatlantic legal battle as the far-right US podcaster continues to spread false claims that France’s first lady was born a man.

The Macrons first sued Owens and her media companies in July 2025 in Delaware in response to what the French first couple called “verifiably false and devastating lies” being repeated by Owens on her podcast and on X. According to that lawsuit, those lies included that Brigitte Macron, 73, was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux – who is actually her older brother – and committed identity theft to hide a gender transition; that Emmanuel Macron was elected as French president as part of a CIA mind-control program; and that the couple are blood-related relatives committing incest.

Continue reading...

In 1785, the French mathematician and philosopher Nicolas de Condorcet discovered that a majority can sometimes vote itself into a logical loop. In elections with three or more candidates, each voter might rank the candidates in a perfectly clear and consistent way — yet when all the votes are tallied, every candidate loses in a head-to-head contest against one of their rivals. Now three researchers have shown that Condorcet's 240-year-old paradox has a shape, and it's suitably peculiar: a Klein bottle, a surface with no distinct inside or outside.