President Donald Trump has announced yuge deals with the United Arab Emirates — including a fantastic new AI data centre in Abu Dhabi! [White House]

The question is how to sell millions of Nvidia chips to the UAE. The UAE is under US export restrictions on Nvidia GPUs because the US doesn’t trust them not to leak chips to China. [Reuters, archive]

But if the UAE spends billions of dollars on US AI companies and data centres, that’ll get them a pass on the export restrictions.

Local company G42 is talking up a 5 gigawatt data centre with a couple of million GPUs They’ll start off with a one-gigawatt data centre. [FT, archive]

So what does this mean? Nothing. It’s hot air and hype.

In the rest of the world, the AI data centre bubble is deflating. Hyperscaling is a dead end. The US players are pulling back from their past overcommitments.

A new data centre has a lead time of a few years. If the new UAE data centre is built — which is not the least bit certain — it’ll be a gigantic white elephant.

The UAE needs money from something that isn’t oil, so they cargo-cult new tech. This decade, it’s AI.

Remember that by the year, 2020 Dubai will be fully powered by the blockchain. IBM tells us how “2018 is very much the year where we are starting to see serious adoption of the technology.” Can’t wait to see it in action! [Digital Dubai, 2016, archive; IBM, 2016, archive]

• Video version

 

Following Mikkel Rev's debut album on the label in 2023, ‘The Art Of Levitation’, the Norwegian artist returns with Journey Beyond, a selection of tracks demonstrating his innate ability to conjure the most atmospheric trance music, irrespective of BPM.

Journey Beyond was created from an extensive set of tracks sent to the label that were initially sequenced as two shorter EPs. With the first offering a slower 80bpm trance style, and the second EP, a classic ~130bpm trance style. However, over time, with tracks swapping in and out, ASIP had the idea to create a mixed version, progressing through the tracks and increasing bpm's, showcasing Mikkel’s ability in bridging euphoric worlds - and a style that is often reserved for Mikkel’s live performances amongst the forest raves held as part of the Ute Collective in Norway.

Classic trance and the art of a DJ mix have been influential to ASIP since the label’s inception, making this release and the process of creating it a true reflection of how Mikkel and the label come together to define the end output.

Featuring artwork by Ventral Is Golden and mastered by James Bernard, the album is available now on Bandcamp to preorder for just $1, with full release following next Friday and a Bandcamp listening party the day before (Thursday 22nd, 11am PST).

 

Nächste Woche erscheint die nun mehr schon 500. Veröffentlichung des, ich denke, das ist nicht untertrieben, legendären Kölner Labels. Über drei Jahrzehnte nach Gründung kommt die 500. als 5LP-Box + 10inch + Art Book. Da können sich alle Beteiligten einfach mal was gönnen. „In einem demokratischen Prozess haben wir aus den tausenden Tracks der letzten 33 1/3 Jahre 50 Perlen ausgewählt und auf 5 knallbunte Vinyls gepresst. Neben vielen Kompakt-Evergreens finden sich auch einige echte Raritäten des frühen “Kompakt Sound of Cologne”, die hier liebevoll remastered in neuem Glanz erstrahlen.

Die Box enthält außerdem ein 144-seitiges Buch, das mit ausführlichen Texten und Bildern die Kompakt-Geschichte von 1993 bis heute erzählt. Neben den mannigfaltigen musikalischen und grafischen Errungenschaften von Kompakt werden hier auch die multidisziplinären Vernetzungen zur bildenden Kunst beleuchtet.“

Zu diesem Anlass sind die Macher:innen von Electronic Beats TV mal wieder nach Köln gefahren und haben gefragt, wie das so ist, wenn man Urgestein der Szene auf soviel musikalische Geschichte und auch Expertise zurückblicken kann.

Since its founding in 1993—emerging from a subsidiary of the legendary Delerium record store in Frankfurt—Kompakt has become one of Germany’s most influential techno labels.
Based in Cologne, the label has helped shape the sound of techno for over 30 years, pioneering everything from Shuffle- to Schlager-Techno. With iconic artists like DJ Koze, Robag Wruhme and Kölsch, to name just a few, alongside label founders Michael Mayer, Wolfgang Voigt, Reinhard Voigt and Jürgen Paape, Kompakt has consistently redefined the boundaries of club music—and continues to do so today.

Rather than counting the years, Kompakt celebrates milestones—and their 500th release is a landmark worth celebrating: a limited collector’s box set featuring 50 handpicked tracks across five colored LPs, a 10” vinyl, and a stunning 144-page artbook chronicling the Kompakt story from 1993 to the present.

Electronic Beats TV revisited the Kompakt crew—20 years after our first feature on the Electronic Beats Slices DVD—to talk about the anniversary release, the challenges of running an independent label today, and their enduring connection to visual art.

(Direktlink)

Damals. Ein Film, so alt wie ich.

The film features Harry, a business person overwhelmed by his back orders and unfamiliar with computers. Jane, a computer expert, explains basic computer concepts, including hardware, software, input, processing, memory, and output. She reassures Harry that computers are not to be feared, as they simply process information faster than humans. Through their conversation, Harry learns how to use a computer to manage his business more efficiently, ultimately leading to improvements in his work.

(Direktlink)

Erinnert ihr euch noch an die Haka-Protestaufführung im neuseeländischen Parlament? Die hatte jetzt ein Nachspiel für die Abgeordneten.

But in a report released on Wednesday, the privileges committee recommended suspending Ngarewa-Packer and Waititi for three weeks – an unprecedented penalty – and Maipi-Clarke for seven days, saying the trio’s actions could have intimidated other legislators and were in contempt of parliament.

SO eine lahme Ausrede hatten wir schon lange nicht mehr!

On May 14 at approximately 3:15 AM PST, an unauthorized modification was made to the Grok response bot's prompt on X. This change, which directed Grok to provide a specific response on a political topic, violated xAI's internal policies and core values. We have conducted a thorough investigation and are implementing measures to enhance Grok's transparency and reliability.

Schön Passiv für den Enterprise-Exkulpativ.

Daraus folgen direkt zwei Dinge.

1. Sie hatten keinen Zugriffsschutz an ihrem Code, so dass "irgendjemand" da ungeprüft Dinge einchecken konnte.

2. Sie hatten keine Prozeduren am Start, um zu erkennen, ob jemand unbefugt Dinge eincheckt.

Beides ist Todsünde im Enterprise-Umfeld und sollte dazu führen, dass die Verantwortlichen nie wieder irgendwo einen IT-Job finden können.