Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

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Camera: Hasselblad 503CW
Lens: Zeiss Planar T* 2.8/80 C
Film: Ilford XP2 Super
Lab: Prolab, Stuttgart

Mr Mikage (ミスター御影） posted a photo:

In het zuiden van Frankrijk zijn zo’n drieduizend mensen geëvacueerd vanwege een grote natuurbrand, meldt persbureau AFP donderdagavond.

AI infrastructure doesn't come cheap. To keep up, rent-a-GPU outfits such as CoreWeave and Lambda have had to borrow billions of dollars from venture capitalists and hedge funds to bankroll their datacenter build outs. So long as their revenues are greater than the interest payments on the loans, they have the potential to make a profit. Unfortunately for entrepreneurs looking to cash in on the AI hype, not everyone with a bright idea can tap into this kind of funding. But don’t worry, Nvidia is here to help. In a blog post published this week, the GPU giant floated the idea for a new program that promises to make it easier for emerging AI cloud providers to get the financing they need, although it's not clear that Nvidia itself will be providing the financing – it may only be brokering deals with third-party lenders. Regardless, the GPU provider is expecting a cut of the revenues in exchange. “Through the partnership, AI clouds will sell Nvidia-powered cloud services, with Nvidia earning both standard product revenue and a share of the cloud revenue on the supported capacity,” the company explained. “This structure accelerates adoption of Nvidia platforms among the high-growth, high-conviction AI native sector, and provides Nvidia with a recurring, usage-linked earnings stream.” In other words, Nvidia first brings in revenues based on how many of its products are deployed, and later, if the neocloud turns out to be successful, a share of the revenues its hardware generates. It could also provide a bit of insulation against a potential AI bust – if demand for new GPUs falls, Nvidia may still be able to earn a recurring revenue from the GPUs it's already sold, assuming customer demand remains high. Specifics on how this new business model will work in practice are rather thin. Nvidia declined to offer details beyond the contents of its blog post. However, the company has already signed up two customers, Sharon AI and Firmus, to put it to the test. Sharon AI is a sovereign AI cloud provider founded in 2024 based out of Australia, which is looking to deploy as many as 40,000 Grace Blackwell GB300 GPUs in the land down under. Meanwhile, Firmus plans to deploy as many as 170,000 Nvidia GPUs at a 360-megawatt facility in Batam, Indonesia, designed specifically to Nvidia’s DSX spec. ®

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The Godot Foundation will stop accepting AI-authored code, agent-submitted pull requests, and AI-generated text in contributor communications after maintainers were overwhelmed by low-effort submissions. "It is time for us to recognize that these problems aren't going away and therefore we need to take steps to reduce the burden on maintainers while ensuring we still have a pipeline to mentor new contributors to become future maintainers," the Godot Foundation said in a blog post. Contributors may still use AI for limited "menial things" if they disclose it, but humans must understand, own, and be able to fix the code they submit. PC Gamer reports: The Foundation says the pileup of Godot pull requests pending review isn't all bad: It's a sign that interest in using and contribution to Godot is increasing. But the influx of contributions authored or submitted by AI is sapping the projects' maintainers of their willingness to confront the "already tedious" work of reviewing pull requests. "If your feedback on PRs is just being absorbed by a machine and not going towards mentoring a potential future maintainer, it becomes much harder to justify spending your free time on PR review," the Foundation said.

As the problem becomes increasingly unsustainable, the Godot Foundation says it's in the process of updating its contribution policies, focusing on "adding barriers to low-effort slop" contributions, encouraging maintainers to review code, developing new contributors into future maintainers, and crucially, requiring that all contributions come from humans who are accountable for their code -- and fixing it if it fails. "AI cannot take responsibility, and we can't trust heavy users of AI to understand their code enough to fix it," the Foundation said.

The Foundation says we can expect Godot's contributing policy to soon include explicit rejections of AI-authored code, noting that contributors should only use AI assistance for "menial things" and must disclose its use. Additionally, the Foundation will reject any AI-generated text in human-to-human communications, saying it's "a basic principle of respect" -- though it says machine translations "are still acceptable" if the original text was human-authored. "Things change every day with respect to the current suite of AI tools available," the Foundation said. "We will continue taking a conservative approach in our policies towards them, but we will re-evaluate as things evolve."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Meta is introducing a subscription for expanded access to advanced smart-glasses features. According to Wired, "[U]sers will need the Meta One Premium Plan to unlock expanded access to some features for their smart glasses, whether it's the Ray-Ban, Oakley, or Meta-branded version." They'll still be usable with a subscription, but "certain features will be limited," the report says. From the report: Specifically, a feature called Conversation Focus, which boosts the audio of the person you're speaking with so you can hear them better in loud environments. You'll get three hours per month without a subscription, but if you want to use it more often, then you'll need to pay up. Though even then, you're still capped at 15 hours. Subscribing also nets you "Premium Device Support," where you'll get faster access to what Meta says are "human experts" trained on the smart glasses' features, should any problems arise. Guess humans are better at some things after all.

A Meta spokesperson tells WIRED that this is "not an AI rate limit." Rate limits are common on other AI platforms -- users get free access to a feature until they hit a certain cap, then they'll need to subscribe to use it more until the limit resets at the end of the month. However, the Conversation Focus feature runs on-device, meaning it doesn't need to head to Meta's servers for AI processing. There's no real-time way to monitor how many hours you've used Conversation Focus, but you'll receive a notification when you get near the limit.

"The subscription supports that ongoing work and gives power users expanded access along with premium device support," the spokesperson says. "We're going to start testing new optional subscription plans that offer more premium features and advanced capabilities for those who want to unlock more from our apps and AI glasses."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

England will arrive at the tournament’s pulsating heart to find expectations soaring and the streets and bars abuzz

The shirt sellers are out en masse in the streets around Zócalo, the vast main square in Mexico City. The national team have never captured imaginations quite like this and there is almost unlimited demand for a jersey that, even before El Tri sealed a potentially epochal last-16 tie with England, had outsold every other at this World Cup. Three weeks since hosting the opening game Mexico can claim, for a few days at least, to be the tournament’s pulsating heart, and expectations are soaring. “We feel we are going to win,” says Francisco, who is walking along a buzzing Avenida 5 de Mayo. Even in a city notorious for its chaos and bustle there is an extra charge in the cool, thin air here. “It’s going to be difficult but we are all very motivated. Mexico will play a game like the previous one and they are going to beat England.”

Francisco is referring to Tuesday night’s win over Ecuador, which secured a first knockout victory since 1986. Even in the fabled, mythologised history of Estadio Azteca it was a night of almost unparalleled fervour. Then there was the situation on the streets. About 1.4 million people are estimated to have watched on outdoor screens despite a vicious pre-match storm that delayed kick-off by an hour. It is some increase on the 400,000 believed to have turned out for Mexico’s first match, a win over South Africa. Tragically it was not always safe, with four people killed in a crush and dozens trapped.

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Derrick Callella admitted he called and sent texts to Guthrie’s family, demanding a bitcoin transaction

A California man is facing up to two years in prison or a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to sending Nancy Guthrie’s family a phoney ransom note, federal authorities announced on Thursday.

Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie, was last seen on 31 January at her residence outside Tucson, Arizona. Inside the home, authorities observed her cellphone, medication and other basic essentials. Law enforcement also found drops of her blood near the porch.

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The group stage is something you have to do but the World Cup starts here, Lamine Yamal had insisted, and down on the Pacific that was how it played out. It wasn’t that Spain defeated Austria to reach the last 16 where they will face Portugal or Croatia, their first victory at the knockout stage since they were champions back in 2010; it was that on an enjoyable sunny afternoon they were Spain again. Two goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and another from Pedro Porro completed a 3-0 win that was as recognisably theirs as their coach had requested.

For the fourth consecutive game Spain kept a clean sheet, Unai Simón breaking Iker Casillas’s record and Pau Cubarsí and Aymeric Laporte confirming their status as the centre-back pair of the tournament so far, but what really stood out was what was happening everywhere else. A little flat until now, that opening quarter against Saudi Arabia apart, here they flew and the ball did too. Intense, incisive, and ultimately entirely dominant. A lot of fun too, right from the start. And if Austria played their part then, by the time Oyarzabal added the third, this belonged only to Spain. What had looked like being a game had ended up belonging only to them.

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⚽️ Kick-off time: 7pm EDT/12am BST/9am AEST
⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | The full draw | Email Beau

Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s more on today’s matchup:

Can you remember what you were doing on 1 March 2006? Perhaps you were at Anfield, watching England beat Uruguay 2-1. You might have seen Switzerland put three goals past Scotland at Hampden Park.

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photo-tez has added a photo to the pool:

薬師池公園

Mercedes' George Russell has reflected on his confidence levels ahead of the British Grand Prix as the title fight continues to heat up.

Mercedes driver George Russell could not arrive in better form to his home race at Silverstone, the Briton securing his first win since the season opener in Australia last time out in Austria. It wasn’t just the result that was important, but more the wonders his performance has done for his confidence, having endured a string of defeats to sophomore team mate Kimi Antonelli.

Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar have given their verdicts on how they think Red Bull will perform this weekend in the British Grand Prix after a recent upturn in form.

This July 4th marks the 250th Anniversary of America’s adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Throughout that time, photography, artwork, storytelling, music and other forms of art have captured this country’s history and told its story from its beginning to today. This milestone anniversary does not exist within a vacuum. Photography from institutions like the US National Archives, Smithsonian and the Library of Congress show a wide expanse of experiences, triumphs and failures, loss and community building and everything in between. Each moment documented is an important part of this great experiment. 

250 years of dreaming big, searching for justice, searching for freedom and documenting it all for those who come after us. That is what photography does. From pivotal moments in American history to quiet ones, a place, a person, a fleeting scene, these are images of what it has looked like to live in a country many of us call home, across 250 years. 

Raising the first flag at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, circa 1776-77.  Copy of a painting at US National Archives

Unratified California Treaty K, 1852 Installation at National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian

Stereograph of Independence Hall, 1875. Library Company of Philadelphia

Theodore Roosevelt at the Army War College, 1903. DC Public Library Commons

Two Boys in Front of a Tipi, documentation of the Flathead Irrigation Project, 1911. US National Archives

On Ellis Island, circa 1900. US National Archives

Votes for Women A Success, 1914. Schlesinger Library

Uncle Sam’s Birthday. 1776- July 4th 1918. 142 Years Young and Going Strong. US National Archives

Abraham Lincoln Statue Installation in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C. 1920. US National Archives

Basic and Advanced Flying School, Tuskegee, Alabama, 1941. US National Archives

This is America, Where you vote as you please, 1945. US National Archives

D.C. Grocery store owned by Mr. J. 1942. US National Archives

Young Woman at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. 1963. US National Archives

Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. at the Reflecting Pool, 1963. US National Archives

The Reagans and Michael Jackson at the White House, 1984. US National Archives 

Crewmember in SPACELAB wearing the Acceleration Recording Unit and Collar, 1993. NASA

In Peace Shall She Wave, 2009. Photo by David Goehring

People’s Climate March, NYC, NY, 2014. Photo by Guano

First Family joined others to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, 2015. Photo by Lawrence Jackson

Chicago, IL, 2017. Photo by Alek S.

From the Library of Congress: COVID-19: American Experiences project, 2021.  Photo by Diane Krauthamer

Honoring the 31st Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities act with activist Tyree Brown in the Rose Garden, July 26, 2021. Photo by Adam Schultz

Robert Morris, George Washington, & Haym Salomon, 2025, Chicago. Sculptor: Lorado Taft. Photo by Don Sniegowski

NASA Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch, 2026. NASA

The Story Continues

From the very beginning to today, photography has captured America’s history and told the stories along the way, the struggles, the triumphs, the importance of community. The experiment continues and we hope you’ll keep documenting it. Get out there, take those photos and share them with us on Flickr. It’s a story that deserves to be told and your experiences are part of it. We can’t wait to see it unfold. Happy 250th, America!

Want to see more photos from the community featuring their points of view photographing America?  Enjoy this gallery!

Photo by Don Sniegowski