Hendrik Rood
@hrood.bsky.social
Internet, Telecom & Datacenters since 1990 Economics of Infrastructures Hacktivism, Cybersecurity & Cyberwarfare @HendrikRood@mastodon.social
@histoftech.bsky.social A biparitsan call for a state-wide moratorium on new data center construction in Virginia. Microsoft power & water 2025: Boydton: 3.11 TWh, 362 ML Ashburn: 829 GWh, 263 ML Manassas: 40 GWh, 11 ML Avg VA household: 12 MWh, 0.25 ML www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/virg...
Virginia state senators call for review into data center groundwater strain and potential state-wide moratorium
Bipartisan movement calls on state governor to act immediately
datacenterdynamics.com
AWS datacenters consumed 78.9 TWh in 2025, comparable to Belgium. Revealing 2.5 bln gallon water consumption with a WUE of 0.12 L/kWh enables calculating 2025 electricity consumption as well as re-analyze older reported data. 46% growth! @histoftech.bsky.social www.linkedin.com/pulse/aws-da...
In the mid-2000s people "misheard" foreign language lyrics. But now it's the AI-subtitles interpreter.😊 @garymarcus.bsky.social
pig'slaundry@pigslaundry.bsky.social · 4mo agoDo not watch Sesame Street on Tubi with the subtitles on 😭. I swear, I didn't edit or add anything. Is it hilarious? Yes, but also, they need to fix this immediately. Absolutely incomprehensible and bad
Elon Musk took the stand on Thursday for his third day of testimony in a blockbuster trial that could help determine the future of companies racing to dominate artificial intelligence. He is being cross-examind by lawyers from OpenAI and Microsoft. Follow live updates.
Elon Musk Faces Contentious Questions at OpenAI Trial: Live Updates
On his third day of testimony, Elon Musk is being cross-examined by lawyers from OpenAI and Microsoft. His answers on the stand grew testy on Wednesday.
nyti.ms
The US state Maine is poised to follow in the footsteps of the City State of Singapore, the Republic of Ireland and the Republic of Amsterdam with a data center development moratorium.⤵️ @histoftech.bsky.social
Athena Coalition@athenaforall.bsky.social · 4mo agoProof that data center development isn't inevitable! Maine is poised to enact a moratorium on data center construction through 2027 while they assess the industry's impacts on the environment and electrical grid. www.wsj.com/us-news/main...
"At one point, it was unthinkable that we could operate without the American GPS system. Today, every phone and every smartwatch also uses the EU Galileo satellite system, and Galileo is now the best satellite navigation system in the world. It only cost €15 billion!" berthub.eu/articles/pos...
But how to get to that European cloud? - Bert Hubert
The very short version: It has now become clear that European governments can no longer rely on American clouds, and that we lack good and comprehensive alternatives. Market forces have failed to deli...
berthub.eu
Legal question to @lessig.bsky.social, @marcelias.bsky.social and @gtconway.bsky.social Would it be possible for this victim of a non-consensual harmful AI-generated image to claim reputation damages based on portrait right and invoke the new Take It Down Act? www.ms.now/opinion/trum...
Er is iets raars aan de hand bij de voortdurende heisa over de zeldzame aarden. Er wordt praktisch nergens melding gemaakt van de zeer beperkte wereldwijde marktomvang. Die is klein. Tegelijk is mijnbouw op Groenland juist peperduur. @bartgroothuis.bsky.social, @ajboekestijn.bsky.social
Update #IranProtests (82): Isfahan is on fire tonight 🔥 Ondanks de massale repressie gaan de protesten nog steeds in #Iran door. Door de internetblokkade komen video's mondjesmaat naar buiten. Beelden uit de stad Isfahan vanavond. #DigitalBlackoutIran
Conservative UK Secretary Nadine Dorries originated the controversial Online Safety Act. She moved over to Farage's Reform_UK, heavily promoted by Elon Musk. The funny detail: UK's Ofcom today used Dorries' OSA versus X/Grok's newest AI-feature ... @histoftech.bsky.social @garymarcus.bsky.social
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
Er wordt door partijen campagne gevoerd over het Wetsvoorstel Terrorismeverheerlijking. Op dit moment loopt daar een internet consultatie, tot 16 augustus 2025. Er zijn al 2498 openbare reacties op gegeven. www.internetconsultatie.nl/terrorismeve...
Overheid.nl | Consultatie Wetsvoorstel strafbaarstelling verheerlijken van terrorisme en openbare steunbetuiging aan terroristische organisaties
internetconsultatie.nl
5 May 1949: Europe said never again. The Council of Europe was born – to defend human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Watch the video & hear Ernest Bevin’s powerful opening words. Happy Birthday, Council of Europe. Let’s keep moving forward.
THE on new proposed Dutxh university screening policies. @pgkroegerbb.bsky.social
Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · last yr.Dutch plans to screen all researchers and master’s students before they can work on “sensitive knowledge or technology” have been described as “disproportionate” by sector leaders, who warn the measures could make the Netherlands less attractive to talented international scientists #AcademicSky
Still 30 days before the coin dropped, the tariffs were for real.
Owen Winter@owenwntr.bsky.social · last yr.Trump has Liz Truss'd my y-axis
While commercialism has traditionally shaped the restructuring of large corporations, it's now more likely that major tech companies will face forced restructuring along national or regional lines, writes Paul Budde. independentaustralia.net/business/bus...
Emerging trend driving the looming breakup of Big Tech
While commercialism has traditionally shaped the restructuring of large corporations, it's now more likely that major tech companies will face forced restructuring along national or regional lines....
independentaustralia.net
‘Referring to Dutch willingness to follow America’s lead on export bans, Mr Fouquet says Europe must “decide for itself” and “should not be dictated to”. He would like officials to support their world-leading companies [or]…such firms may not want to remain in Europe.’
ASML’s boss has a warning for Europe
Christophe Fouquet threatens to head elsewhere if his firm is not better protected
economist.com
@jeffreygoldberg.bsky.social: “Shortly after we published a story about a massive Trump-administration security breach, a reporter asked […] Hegseth why he had shared plans about a forthcoming attack on Signal. He answered, “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.” So👇🏼
Damon Beres@damonberes.com · last yr.Phased array antennas and special ICs for Starlink are manufactured by STMicroelectronics N.V. (statutory seat: NL), HQ in Geneva, manufacturing in France, Italy, Singapore. SpaceX risking an export stop?@anneapplebaum.bsky.social @radek-sikorski.bsky.social www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starl...
SpaceX may shell out billions to outsource Starlink satellite-dish production, an industry insider says — and lose up to $2,000 on each one it sells
The Elon Musk-founded company appears to have contracted a Swiss electronics giant to build user terminals for about $2,400 a pop.
businessinsider.com
Radosław Sikorski@radek-sikorski.bsky.social · last yr.Starlinks for Ukraine are paid for by the Polish Digitization Ministry at the cost of about $50 million per year. The ethics of threatening the victim of aggression apart, if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable provider we will be forced to look for other suppliers.
Lots of European hosters/cloud companies tell us to "just use their cloud!". But the cloud shops here can't be compared to Google/AWS/Azure. Our local places are selling wood. Yet cloud customers want furniture. And until we are honest about that gap, things won't improve berthub.eu/articles/pos...
Dear hosters, you are selling wood, not furniture - Bert Hubert
Earlier, I wrote that there isn’t just one type of cloud; it ranges from renting out servers to fully managed office software as a service. One relevant type of cloud is what’s informally called “clou...
berthub.eu
Two foreign ministers engaging in a diplomatic exchange on Twitter over Starlink "switch off". @pgkroegerbb.bsky.social
While @alexwinter.com is going strong promoting #TeslaTakedown picket lines in the USA, now in the Financial Times a strong recommendation to sell it's stock.
Matt Steinglass@mattsteinglass.bsky.social · last yr.Tesla stock is down 29.5% YTD: “That is the magic formula for Chinese industrial policy — constant iteration at scale keeps productivity up and costs down. State subsidies in areas such as electric vehicles support expansion. But post-Biden, the US has no industrial policy in clean technology.”
"We have the world’s best people working on the best software, you bought mediocre stuff that is broken. You don’t even have to buy it, you can just download it. And yet it’s not on the desktop of any civil servant today." netzpolitik.org/2025/open-so...
Open source funding on the brink: „Delivering what’s needed to make Europe sovereign“
The EU is paying a fortune for broken commercial software, criticizes Michiel Leenaars of the Dutch NLnet Foundation in an interview with netzpolitik.org. Together with his team, he supports open-sour...
netzpolitik.org
In which there are many reasons to obey and one not to. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/08/o...
Opinion | To Obey Trump or Not to Obey
The voluntarily surrender of the public’s power is how autocracies are built.
nytimes.com
Interesting. A Republican member of the @FEC left for a position in the White House on january 20, 2025. Now the FEC consists of 3 Democrats, 2 Republicans and a vacancy. Trump tries to fire the Democrat chair, without the required Democrat-replacement instead of filling the Republican vacancy.
Ellen L. Weintraub@ellenlweintraub.bsky.social · last yr.Received a letter from POTUS today purporting to remove me as Commissioner and Chair of the FEC. There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn't it. I've been so fortunate to serve the American people and stir up some good trouble along the way. That's not changing anytime soon.
