In a recent discussion on De Nieuwe Wereld TV, hosted by Ad Verbrugge, economists Lex Hoogduin, Paul Buitink and Kees de Kort addressed some of the most pressing questions of the moment. The focus was on increased military spending, the state of Europe's economy, the future of the euro and the contours of a new financial and economic world order.
"SaaS is dead" became a talking point after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella used the phrase on the BG2 podcast in December 2024: if AI agents can take over the interface and the work, what is left of a subscription application? In his video, senior engineer Arjan from the ArjanCodes channel argues the opposite for a large part of the market — that the value of many SaaS products sits in work that has nothing to do with the code. This post summarises his argument and adds the figures and documents it leans on.
In his insightful talk, "Software Architecture: The Hard Parts," Neal Ford delves into the core challenges that make the role of a software architect so demanding. The central theme is that there are no easy answers or perfect solutions in architecture; every decision is a complex tradeoff. This talk aims to illuminate these difficult areas and provide frameworks for navigating them more effectively.
An import tariff is a tax levied on goods entering a country. It's essentially an additional cost added to the price of the imported product.
Imagine a Dutch company imports shoes from China. The Dutch government might decide to impose an import tariff of, for example, 10% on shoes. This means that for every shoe the Dutch company imports, they have to pay an extra 10% of the shoe's value to the Dutch government.
On 11 May 2022, the European Commission presented a regulation to tackle child sexual abuse material online (COM(2022) 209). The proposal obliges online services to map out risks, gives authorities the power to have material removed or blocked, and sets up a European centre for coordination and victim support. Its most debated part are the detection orders: mandatory detection of abuse material in communications. Member states and the European Parliament do not yet agree on whether that power should exist, and with which safeguards.