The European Space Agency has selected five launch startups to become eligible for up to 169 million euros ($198 million) in funding to develop alternatives to Arianespace, the continent's incumbent launch service provider.
The five companies ESA selected are Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, Rocket Factory Augsburg, PLD Space, and Orbex. Only one of these companies, Isar Aerospace, has attempted to launch a rocket into orbit. Isar's Spectrum rocket failed moments after liftoff from Norway on a test flight in March.
None of these companies is guaranteed an ESA contract or funding. Over the next several months, the European Space Agency and the five launch companies will negotiate with European governments for funding leading up to ESA's ministerial council meeting in November, when ESA member states will set the agency's budget for at least the next two years. Only then will ESA be ready to sign binding agreements.
This gain is made possible by TNG’s Assembly-of-Experts (AoE) method — a technique for building LLMs by selectively merging the weight tensorsRead More
In a move that further intensifies the reflection of the cable business it's slowly killing, Netflix will start showing broadcast channels next summer.
The world’s largest streaming provider announced today that starting next year, all Netflix subscribers in France will be able to watch broadcast channels from TF1 Group, France’s biggest commercial broadcaster, which also owns streaming services and creates content. Financial Times (FT) reported that users will be able to watch all five TF1 linear channels.
Netflix’s French customers will also gain access to “more than 30,000 hours” of on-demand TF1 content in the summer of 2026, FT reported. TF1’s content selection includes scripted dramas, reality shows like The Voice, and live sports.
Americans are worried about the economy. They're vacationing in Europe anyway.
Marco Bottigelli/Getty Images
Some Americans are traveling to Europe this summer despite their concerns about the economy.
Travelers are budgeting, but many aren't giving up bucket-list trips abroad, a Deloitte survey found.
Euro summer is a priority, especially for millennials and Gen Z, a travel content creator said.
The American dream may be struggling, but for many, the Euro summer dream is alive and well.
Jimin Shim, a millennial copywriter who lives in Denver, has plenty of concerns about the economy, from stock market volatility that she feels has been brought on by the current administration to a tough job market.
Still, she's vacationing in Portugal later this month, and treating her mom to the trip too.
"Traveling is very important to me. I try to do at least one international trip a year and then maybe a couple of domestic trips," she told Business Insider. "And because I know that that is a priority for me, it's something that I budget for and am saving up for all year round."
While there's been some softening in leisure travel demand this year, data and surveys suggest Shim is one of many Americans who are weighing their international travel plans against their worries about the economy and saying, "book it."
The extent to which Americans are pulling back on international trips this summer is not fully clear.An analysis from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, found summer bookings from the US to Europe were down nearly 10% from January to May compared to last year.Meanwhile, a summer travel survey from Deloitte, released in May, found more Americans were traveling internationally this summer compared to 2024, with most headed to Europe. And a recent data analysis by Allianz Partners, a travel insurance and assistance company, found summer travel from the US to Europe would increase by 10% in 2025.
The economy isn't the only reason Americans might rethink travel to Europe this summer. The weakening US dollar doesn't go as far as it used to, and some Americans are worried about their safety or not feeling welcomed abroad due to the current administration's approach to foreign policy.
Americans are also waiting longer to book their trips, which could complicate the picture.
Still, it's clear that many Americans are traveling abroad despite the downturn in consumer sentiment.
"I think you're seeing a hesitancy," Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International, a market research consultancy that specializes in the travel tourism industry, told BI. "I still believe a majority of American travelers who were planning to go abroad are still going to go abroad."
The enduring appeal of Euro summer
An Aperol spritz is a mainstay of Euro summer.
Alexander Spatari/Getty Images
Eylon said that while there are indications of a slowdown, it does not look like a "game-changing" shift. His firm's monthly consumer sentiment survey of 1,000 travelers found the number of American travelers who said they were very likely to take an international trip in the next 12 months declined from 25% in January to 19% in May.
He noted travelers seemed to be in a "wait and see" mode this spring, echoing what other industry experts have said and previously told BI — that travelers are booking closer to travel dates, in part as they search for good deals.
Eylon said it is possible there will be an overall decline in Americans visiting Europe this year, but it's too soon to tell the full picture. He thinks those canceling or ditching trip plans will be in the minority.
"American travelers view it as a need more than a want," he said of travel, adding that many see it as a "right."
Meredith Pierce, a travel content creator based in Atlanta, said that's exactly how she and many other millennials and Gen Zers view travel, including to Europe. Pierce posts a lot of popular "Euro summer" content and sees it as a persistent and lasting travel trend, even when folks have financial concerns.
"Everyone loves the idea of sipping an Aperol spritz and looking at the Mediterranean," Pierce said, "especially if maybe you are stressed in your day-to-day life because of politics or the economy or budgets, or anything like that. A bit of escapism I think comes into play there as well."
The hesitancy fueled by economic uncertainty could also make it a bit more affordable to travel to Europe this summer.Eylon noted the slowdown in leisure travel led to some declines in airfare prices, which may have pushed some hesitant Americans to take the plunge.
When economic concerns, largely fueled by Trump's tariff policy, intensified in March and April, some airlines suspended their forecasts for the year, and flight prices declined.
Rather than get spooked by the economic uncertainty, Pierce believes plenty of people pounced. Her "Euro summer" content from last year started going viral, and she was getting flooded with DMs and questions from people who found a cheap flight to Europe and were suddenly planning their trips.
Pierce said some budget-conscious travelers are opting for more affordable and under-the-radar destinations in Europe, such as Albania or Poland, which feature similarly picturesque scenes but at a lower cost than Italy or Paris.
More frugal spending once they get to their destination
Many Americans prioritize travel, especially to bucket list destinations.
Marco Bottigelli/Getty Images
Deloitte's summer travel survey noted that many American travelers already had their big summer trips partially or even fully booked by April, when concerns around tariffs and the economy intensified. The survey also found that while consumers' sense of financial well-being was down year-over-year in April, slightly more Americans planned to take leisure vacations this summer compared to 2024.
Deloitte found travelers looking to save were cutting back on in-destination spending as well as opting for more affordable lodging and flight classes.
The survey also found that while some are being more frugal, many Americans are prioritizing bucket list trips and international travel, or trips that are otherwise special in some way.
Deloitte found 42% of air travelers were flying internationally on their longest summer trip, compared to 38% in 2024. Those traveling internationally were also more likely to increase their travel budget compared to last year.
Shim, the copywriter from Denver, also has a special reason for making her Portugal trip work this year, despite her financial concerns. Her family has been going through a tough time after her grandfather's death last year. This vacation is a way to spend quality time with and treat her mom, who has never been to Europe, and take the first trip that's just the two of them.
"I also think that sometimes in these times of uncertainty and tumultuousness and a lot of tension and division, traveling and spending quality time with family who loves you is a great way to just take care of your mental and emotional health too," she said, "which I think is also very important to do."
Do you have a story to share about your summer travel plans? Contact this reporter at [email protected].
VMware's business model under Broadcom is "legally and ethically flawed," a group of cloud service provider (CSP) customers and partners alleged in a report released today.
The report (PDF) comes from the European Cloud Competition Observatory (ECCO), which describes itself as "independent monitoring body" composed of members of the Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE) trade association, "with the support—acting as observers—of European customer organizations." ECCO says its goals include "highlighting ongoing or new unfair software licensing practices from any software vendors in the cloud sector," and it has previously written similar reports about Broadcom and Microsoft.
In its announcement of the report, ECCO said that CISPE members have met with Broadcom once about the changes it has made to VMware's business model, which is now built around subscriptions of bundled products, but didn't see any changes.
Oliver Sild, CEO of Patchstack, shared on X an email he received from WordCamp Central explaining why Patchstack’s application to sponsor WordCamp Europe 2025 was rejected.
The email, written by Felipe Santos, detailed a shift in the sponsorship process. It stated that “the Community team is transitioning from a first-come, first-served model to a new approach. While the sponsorship process will remain familiar, we are placing greater emphasis on contributions and the relationships companies maintain with the WordPress project. We recognize that this shift may feel frustrating, but sponsoring WordCamps is a privilege, and we aim to increase expectations in this area moving forward.”
Santos suggested that Patchstack pledge to Five for the Future as it “would be an excellent way to demonstrate commitment and build trust within the community.” He added that they will re-evaluate Patchstack’s eligibility “once significant contributions have been established.”
Sild countered that “the tier we applied to still has 6 spots open. I know companies who were accepted for sponsorship after we were rejected who also don’t have five for the future.”
Patchstack is a leading name in WordPress security with a mission to make open-source safer and raised $5 million in its Series A funding round last year. They published 76% of all known WordPress-related security vulnerabilities and became the largest CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) Naming Authority by volume in 2023. Their Zero-Day Bug Bounty Program awarded the highest bounty in WordPress history – $14,400- to John Blackbourn, who exposed a critical vulnerability in the LiteSpeed Cache plugin last month.
Sild also shared that Patchstack contributed to Five for the Future till the person who pledged the hours via Patchstack left the company. Sild also highlighted Patchstack’s other contributions – reporting vulnerabilities in plugins and ensuring the security of the ecosystem, and running a managed VDP platform built in collaboration with the European Union.
He continued, “Over 50% of all new security vulnerability disclosures in the WordPress ecosystem were found & reported by our community of security researchers. All of the validating, triaging and coordination was done by our team for the WordPress ecosystem for free. That’s 4566 individual vulnerabilities in 2024 alone.”
Sild’s post sparked widespread criticism about the rejection and the community soon came out to support Sild. Simon Harper, owner of SRH Design shared, “It is ridiculous to think that Oliver, the Patchstack team and volunteers have “not contributed enough” to WordPress.
Taco Verdo of Emilia Capital was disappointed, “Sometimes I really don’t understand what we’re doing in the WordPress community team… :(“
Francesca Marano, Head of Partnership at Patchstack, dubbed it “Another sad day open source”. She shared, “As someone who was active for a long time in the community team and was around when the Five for the Future program was created, I am surprised and saddened by a few things: 1. Not having the change publicly discussed in the community make blog. 2. Not having the criteria added to the sponsorship page (Still shows only GPL) 3. Relying on FFtF data, which has been unreliable since the beginning. I was still active in the team when we started discussing how to improve the program,”
Todd E Jones, founder of Copyflight, tweeted, “Right now I fail to see how A8 has real concerns for security or accessibility. Dismissive of experts in both areas.” Web developer Robert DeVore also shared his thoughts, “Without programs like Patchstack, the WordPress ecosystem would be a wasteland (worse than it is now). Anybody who doesn’t see that is a blind idiot.”
Co-founder of Nevma, Takis Bouyouris, had this to say: “The #WordPress Community needs to stop being ridiculed like this. Once we had hard and fair rules in @WCEurope. Observe the GPL, observe the CoC. Now contributing to the community becomes some convoluted madness where you cannot contribute unless you contribute enough based on a vague and untrustworthy metrics.”
WPTuts tweeted, “Sadly, this seems indicative of WordPress (as a project/company) at the moment: hell-bent on alienating the community and contributors who have made WordPress what it is today and are a significant reason for its success and popularity. Unless you tick those boxes, you’re out!”
Matt Mullenweg termed the email “crappy” and promised to look into it. He commented, “I agree that’s a crappy email to get, and it’s also not 100% accurate. Thanks for raising this issue, I’ll look into it. Thank you for all you and your colleagues do trying to make WordPress and its plugins and themes better.”
WordCamp Europe has faced criticism in the past for diversity issues in speaker lineups and organizing teams, but this marks the first major controversy regarding sponsorships. The WordCamp Europe Organizing Team shared that they have no information on this as WordCamp Central handles the sponsorship application processing.
(I’m waiting to hear from the Patchstack team and WordCamp Central and will update their responses).
Update: Oliver Sild expressed disappointment, stating: “Right now, the last thing we’ve been told is that we’re not eligible to sponsor any WordPress events. Honestly, it’s a pity, because for us WordCamp EU has been our “home base” and it has been a our annual tradition for years to bring the entire team together. We had 20 people in Torino for a full week. We had to change the plans for this year and we’ll organise this year gathering elsewhere – so our presence at WCEU will definitely be smaller. Our team is involved with organising WordCamps in Poland, Lithuania, and across Europe – I’m sure they’ll continue to contribute. We have been also reached out by so many people who hope we’ll organise a side-event for WCEU or even start a new developer focused conference. We are seriously thinking about both.”
Oliver also mentioned learning that some companies were selected to sponsor WordCamps despite not contributing to the Five for the Future initiative. Despite Patchstack’s direct inquiries, they received no further clarification or explanation about the decision to reject them or the comment from Matt about the email not being “100% accurate.”
Patchstack also signed up for Five for the Future. They will sponsor 3 contributors for a total of 4 hours per week across Community, Documentation, Meta and Training teams.
Full Text of the Email Received by Oliver Sild & Team:
“Hi Francesca and Oliver,
Thank you for your patience as we continue to refine our approach to WordPress event sponsorships. I understand your interest in learning more about the process and what steps might strengthen future sponsorship opportunities.
To provide some context, the Community team is transitioning from a first-come, first-served model to a new approach.
While the sponsorship process will remain familiar, we are placing greater emphasis on contributions and the relationships companies maintain with the WordPress project.
We recognize that this shift may feel frustrating, but sponsoring WordCamps is a privilege, and we aim to increase expectations in this area moving forward.
For instance, I noticed that Patchstack has not yet made a pledge to Five for the Future, a program that enables companies to contribute to the WordPress project through dedicated volunteer hours. Taking this step would be an excellent way to demonstrate commitment and build trust within the community. WordPress thrives because of its contributors and your participation would make a meaningful impact.
Once significant contributions have been established, we are happy to re-evaluate your eligibility for financial sponsorship of WordPress events.
Thank you for your continued interest in supporting the WordPress community. If you have any further questions or need assistance with the next steps, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
I hope that helps and Happy New Year! — Felipe Santos [email protected]”
WordCamp Europe has released tickets for the 2025 edition of the event scheduled for June 5-7 in Basel, Switzerland.
There are two types of tickets: the General ticket, priced at €50, and the Micro-Sponsor ticket, which costs €250. Both options include access to all sessions and Contributor Day on June 5, though separate registration is required for Contributor Day.
The Micro-Sponsor ticket, priced closer to the actual cost of attendance, is a great way to support the event if you’re able to contribute more. Tickets are refundable, and you can transfer ownership by editing the attendee details using the link provided in your purchase confirmation email. To purchase tickets, you’ll now need a WordPress.org account.
WordCamp Europe 2025 Diversity Scholarship
WordCamp Europe 2025 is introducing a Diversity Scholarship, an initiative previously exclusive to WordCamp Asia. This program has been extended to the Europe event following recommendations from members of WordPress Community Support PBC and Queeromattic to allocate surplus funds from the 2024 flagship event budgets toward DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) initiatives.
To qualify, applicants must be active contributors to the WordPress project, have never attended a flagship WordCamp (Asia, US, or Europe), require financial assistance to attend, and belong to an underrepresented demographic among open-source contributors. Applicants should also demonstrate a commitment to using their experience to help grow their local WordPress community or the WordPress community in Europe.
The scholarship covers travel expenses to Basel from the recipient’s home city, accommodation during the event, and a ticket to WordCamp Europe 2025. However, it does not include airport transfers, meals, or other incidental expenses.
Applications for the scholarship will be accepted until January 31, 2025.
For more details, visit the WordCamp Europe website.
Last year’s event in Torino, Italy, saw nearly 3,000 attendees, and the 2025 edition is expected to draw between 3,500 and 4,500 participants.
It's well-established that, on the whole, Americans die younger than people in most other high-income countries. For instance, an analysis from 2022 found that the average life expectancy of someone born in Switzerland or Spain in 2019 was 84 years. Meanwhile, the average US life expectancy was 78.8, lower than nearly all other high-income countries, including Canada's, which was 82.3 years. And this was before the pandemic, which only made things worse for the US.
Perhaps some Americans may think that this lower overall life-expectancy doesn't really apply to them if they're middle- or upper-class. After all, wealth inequality and health disparities are huge problems in the US. Those with more money simply have better access to health care and better health outcomes. Well-off Americans live longer, with lifespans on par with their peers in high-income countries, some may think.
It is true that money buys you a longer life in the US. In fact, the link between wealth and mortality may be stronger in the US than in any other high-income country. But, if you think American wealth will put life expectancy in league with Switzerland, you're dead wrong, according to a study in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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