Does it want backers or not?

This is a song I made in Ableton Live. It's in the style of Boris Brejcha and inspired by a tutorial of EDM Tips, my favourite Youtube channel for music tutorials.

Most platforms love their algorithms. An algorithm let the platform define what you see, and algorithms can be optimised to make sure you keep scrolling and get the max number of advertisements served. Platforms like Instagram are fighting against the right of a timeline not dictated by an algorithm, but simply defined by time. Adam...

The Netherlands has quite a number of signed routes for hiking and bicycling. Today we hiked one of the Klompenpaden near Renkum. Klompenpaden are signed hiking routes of 5 to 20 km in the provinces of Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel. You can find the routes here

We all know. Digital products are getting worse. Cory Doctorow wrote a book about enshittification with a number of great examples (Amazon, Google) This very funny video from the Norwegian consumer organisation about Enshittification gets you in the world of updates, chatbots & pop-ups to make products more shitty. https://vimeo.com/1168468796

A number of countries are trying to forbid the use of social media under a certain age. Some countries go for 13 years, others for 16 years. The policy seems to be similar to the policies for smoking or alcohol. But does it make sense to treat social media the same? Smoking and alcohol are...

Two themes have dominated the talks about AI in the last 2 weeks. The first has to do with the financing of AI companies and datacenters. The other with the warning of some techbro's that AI might wipe out mankind before the end of the decade. Although I wil definitely not pose myself as an...

End Times Fascism is the latest book by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor. More info here: https://naomiklein.org/end-times-fascism/ Produced by Emma Dessau Edited by Austin Bedell, P. Nick Curran, Emma Dessau DP, Austin Bedell Cam Op, Erick Stoll Additional Camera, P. Nick Curran A That's Us Production

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/sep/03/a-crisis-of-authenticity-the-truth-about-food-influencers?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The AI industry is begging for a slowdown. Maybe we should listen?

If you are looking for Italian food Eataly is the ultimate shopping destination. From beautiful vegetables to fresh pasta and every ingredient you need for a great meal. And 1000s of wines from affordable to very expensive. This week we visited the one in Turin which was the first location for Eataly. Now they have...

Those who said Meta harms children struck a blow, but the ability of big tech to gouge profits and cause harm is barely diminished. That’s the battle to come, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

There’s a good chance the cod on your child’s plate has been around the world and back. Not that you’d learn any of that from the label...

In his new book, congressman Jared Huffman argues that theocratic insurgency has only grown more powerful after Donald Trump returned to the White House

We really enjoy the pizza oven in our garden. And so do the friends who come over for dinner. We use the pizza oven for roasting vegetables and meat, basically everything you normally do on a BBQ. But pizza is still the crowd-pleaser. So what to do when a guest can't eat gluten and is...

“That’s naked sleight of hand, in my opinion.”

Massive spending commitments for data-center leases and chips aren’t shown on companies’ balance sheets.

California's Prop 40 would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of the state's billionaires.

Just a song I made on a Monday night

All music, and especially popular music, is created through inspiration and copying. 'The Gen Alpha Melody' is an interesting example where a specific melody is being used in hundreds of different contexts. No AI was used in the making of this video (except the opening clip with the animation of head in hands). Sources: Clark and Arthur. 2023 Is Melody “Dead?”: A Large-scale Analysis of Pop Music Melodies from 1960 through 2019 Huang, Andrew. 2020. Why Pop Music is Obsessed with this One Note. YouTube Strasser, Richard. Music Business: The Key Concepts. Second edition. Vol. 1. New York: Routledge, 2025. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003450108. Spotify playlist with all instances I've found of The Gen Alpha Melody: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5LF1VGZdTKEoFT9WVR7Pwm?si=f966bb9256aa49e8 Contact: carlmartin.contact@gmail.com IG: https://www.instagram.com/carlemilmartin/ Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction/Examples 2:51 I: The melody 4:22 II: How the melody works 7:34 III: Outliers 9:30 IV: Why is nobody getting sued? 12:50 V: Original songwriter

It's always a topic for discussions. Is a pizza with pineapple acceptable? I always think the discussion about authenticity is a bit artificial. Before the 15th century there were no tomatoes in Italy, no potatoes in Netherlands and no chilis in Asia. So authenticity of dishes is always a bit subjective. Luckily kitchens evolve, and...

For me this is the ultimate comfort food. Frying up some home-made kimchi with rice and eggs. So good!

Architectuur: Met een ontwerp van zeven gestapelde ‘rotsen’ wint het Rotterdamse MVRDV de ontwerpwedstrijd voor een nog te bouwen ‘duurzaam icoon’ op Rotterdam-Zuid. De wedstrijd zorgde eerder voor discussie onder architecten: kan zo’n ambitieus, nieuw gebouw wel duurzaam zijn?

The interesting thing about this video ​is not that it reviews a coffee machine that does not meet the minimum criteria of a coffee machine. What’s interesting is that it gives a lot of insight in what really matters when making a good cup of coffee. For me it starts with good beans and a...

picture from Caffenation blog There is a lot of complaining about high prices for food and driinks outdoor. But at the same time we see business struggling to survive or being forced to stop. Recently owners of restaurants and coffee bars have been opening up about their costs. In this article in The Guardian you...

Wordpress has made good steps with integrating self hosted Wordpress websites into the Fediverse (ActivityPub) and AT protocol world. I now have @hvandenbergh.com as my BlueSky handle and @harry@hvandenbergh.com as my Mastodon handle. Using a domain name you own as your BlueSky handle is native for BlueSky. You need to include some records in the...

In the center of The Hague you can find a small street called "Achterom" with a lot of street art centered around cats. It's a narrow street, so not easy to picture the cats. Best view is when simply walking through the street, but hereby some of the pics I made. Pictures are made with...

There are many campsites in The Netherlands. And a lot of people in The Netherlands like to co out camping. Manay families have a caravan, tent or camper. But on most campsites there are also facilities for rent. Houses or tents. Often the rental tents are more luxury than bringing your own, hence the term...

Made a little Linkedin post to share my retirement. A lot of very warm comments followed. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7472654929187241986

Fun to see The Guardian write about this Dutch tradition

Making kimchi at home is easy and the result is delicious

I am definitely a fan of good coffee. Years ago I roasted my own coffee, as good specialty coffee was hard to find. Nowadays there are so many great roasters that do a much better job than I could ever do on my little roaster. In this blogpost I will be writing on my coffee...

A hike from the centre of The Hague to Scheveningen https://www.tiktok.com/@hvandenbergh/video/7647517212969880864?_r=1&_t=ZG-95swP3oDF1F

Global report provides an alternative to climate breakdown, political extremism and economic tensions

In our garden we have a pizza oven that doubles as a BBQ. Great to roast meat and vegetables on wood fire.

Someone shared a real Monet painting as an AI image and asked for critiques as to why AI art is inferior to the real thing. Hilarity ensued.

In May 2026 I hiked part of the GR3 (Grande Randonnée 3) from Blois to Tours. A 80km walk which I did in 4 days. Video was made using the DJI Pocket 4. #gr3 #hiking #walking #france #loire #dji #djipocket4

One of my favourite restaurants in The Hague is Yuzu dining bar on the Bierkade. It's a Japanese inspired restaurants, and I love their dishes that have a Japanese twist, but are not the classical dishes. Some of the dishes are smoked on the spot (like the duck and mackerel) And the wasabi was so...

One of my favourite restaurants in Paris. When I visited Paris regularly for business I always tried to have at least one dinner at Freddy's It's a wine bar that's a perfect spot for solo dining. I hadn't been there for a few years, but this May after returning from my hike across the Loire...

In May 2026 I walked from Blois to Tours along the river Loire, following part of the GR3 (Grande Randonnée 3) It was the first time in my life doing a multi day walk with overnight stays. In this post I will give a short description of every day, and will share some pictures and...

Listen to whatever you do on TIDAL

A new method to produce strong, biodegradable plastic from bamboo is reported in Nature Communications this week. The bioplastic resembles oil-based plastics in strength, shapability, and thermal stab...

Banksy has claimed responsibility for a new sculpture artwork in London depicting a man being blinded by a flag.

Stanford's 2026 AI Index finds the US-China AI performance gap has collapsed to 2.7% from 31.6%, despite America spending 23x more, as AI talent migration to the US drops 89%.

Morning hike near the river Lek in The Netherlands MOOD: Classic neg (custom) MOOD: Classic neg (custom) MOOD: Classic neg (custom)