Lowlands 2026: het jaar dat de ticketoorlog uitbleef

Lowlands-kaartje uit 1993

Lowlands, voluit A Campingflight to Lowlands Paradise, keerde van 21 tot en met 23 augustus 2026 terug op de velden van Biddinghuizen en er gebeurde iets ongewoons: het festival raakte niet uitverkocht. Voor het eerst in jaren was er geen koortsachtige online jacht, geen gecrashte servers en geen bord met "uitverkocht" binnen enkele minuten. In plaats daarvan vonden zo'n 60.000 bezoekers merkbaar meer lucht tussen de twaalf podia, en de meesten van hen leken dat heerlijk te vinden.

TaskDaemon-4 and the Impossible Appointment

Illustration: a glowing wireframe cube in blue and cyan against a dark background

The assignment given to TaskDaemon-4 was deceptively simple: find a free time slot with the specialist within forty-eight hours. A scheduling task. The kind of task the Daemon series had been built to swallow whole — parse the calendars, run the matching, book the slot, log the success. TaskDaemon-4 estimated the whole job at eleven seconds of compute and ninety-two lines of routine.

It would be wrong about every part of that.

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The Memory Price Surge: Why RAM and Storage Got So Expensive

Three RAM memory modules lying on a wooden table

If you've shopped for RAM or a new SSD lately, you've probably felt a sting. The same 32 GB DDR5 kit that cost a comfortable amount a year ago now costs noticeably more, and that 2 TB NVMe drive you had your eye on keeps creeping up in price. This isn't your imagination or a supply chain blip — 2026 is witnessing one of the most dramatic memory price rallies in the industry's history, and it all traces back to one thing: AI.

Van Coder naar Architect/Builder

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From "Coder" to "Conductor": How AI is Rewriting Software Development

Imagine sitting at your desk, but instead of staring at a blinking cursor and manually typing out lines of code, you feel more like an orchestra conductor. You aren't writing the notes anymore; you are guiding an entire crew of AI agents.

That is precisely the shift software creator Peter Steinberger highlights in his work. Rather than casual "vibe coding," he calls his approach agentic engineering. He barely writes code by hand anymore; instead, he designs systems, establishes the core architecture, and lets AI agents handle the boring plumbing work.

The Real Reason AI Is Going Back to the Terminal

Illustration: a laptop showing a terminal window, with the Anthropic, Google and OpenAI logos above it

In the space of six months in 2025, four major AI vendors shipped coding agents that run in the terminal: Anthropic's Claude Code (24 February), OpenAI's Codex CLI (16 April), Google's Gemini CLI (25 June) and Cursor's CLI (7 August, in beta). The tool that looked like a step backwards — a prompt in a shell instead of a chat window — is where these companies put their agentic coding effort. This post looks at what they actually shipped, what the terminal is used for in the design, and which parts of the "return to the terminal" story are documented rather than assumed.

The Line: a 170-km City Announced, a 2.4-km First Phase Planned

Illustration: the mirrored facade of a linear city in the desert, with a long colonnade visible in the reflection In 2022 Neom presented a city 170 kilometres long, 200 metres wide and 500 metres high. It was called The Line. Nine million people were supposed to live inside it, without cars or roads, on renewable power, at an official cost of around $500 billion.

The first phase now on the internal plans is 1.5 miles. At least $50 billion has already been spent, and the desert it stands in is marked by piling and deep trenches.

This post sets an architectural analysis of that design against the reporting on what has been built and paid for since. The analysis is Daniel Titchener's, from August 2025.

We're reclaiming Iceland's Deserts - here's how

A gravel plain with young shrubs and lupines in front of a glacier in Iceland

Embark on a fascinating journey to Iceland, where Mossy Earth is tackling the monumental task of reclaiming the island's vast deserts. This video delves into a crucial rewilding project focused on restoring Iceland's native birchwoods, a vital part of its ecological heritage. Once covering a significant portion of the landscape, these resilient woodlands, offering shelter, food for biodiversity, and crucial soil stabilization, have dwindled to a mere 1% of their former glory. Join us as we explore the challenges and innovative approaches to bringing these essential ecosystems back to life.

Deep Dive Into Cleaning With Dry Ice

Illustration: a pressure washer cleaning a grimy engine block, one half clean and one half still covered in dirt

Ever wondered how to achieve an exceptionally deep clean, making surfaces look brand new without harsh chemicals or abrasive scrubbing? This video takes a fascinating "Deep Dive Into Cleaning With Dry Ice," exploring the powerful and efficient world of dry ice blasting using Kärcher and Dry Ice Energy machines. Whether you're a seasoned professional in automotive detailing or industrial cleaning, or simply curious about advanced cleaning techniques, this guide provides a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know.

An AI Research Assistant Promises Citation-Backed Drafts. A Study Counted Fabricated References.

Illustration: a researcher at a desk looking at a floating holographic panel of documents and citation graphs

Of 636 citations in 84 AI-generated literature reviews, 55 percent of the GPT-3.5 ones pointed at papers that do not exist. That is the number to hold next to a sales pitch.

In a webinar on the AnswerThis channel, co-founder and CMO Ryan McCarroll shows an AI research assistant that searches the literature, drafts citation-backed text and summarises papers. The pitch is speed: literature work that took weeks, in minutes. The claim comes from the vendor. This post sets it against the studies and the rules that followed.

What if sailing had no rules?

Illustration: a racing sailboat at speed with debris flying behind it

Ever wondered what happens when you push the boundaries of sailing, throwing conventional rules out the window? This fascinating journey delves deep into the exhilarating world of marine engineering, exploring how sailors and engineers have continuously strived to conquer the waves, often against the very laws of physics. From the basic concept of "hull speed" to the cutting-edge designs of modern racing yachts, this video reveals the relentless pursuit of speed on water.