The consulting firm and family business, Houwen, has recently become a member of the business club of the local team, sc Heerenveen. The football club, known for playing in the Abe Lenstra Stadium since 1994, holds sentimental value for René Houwen, the founder of Houwen consultancy, who used to be a loyal supporter in the earlier Sportpark Noord days. René, who started as an independent consultant in 2022 and has since transformed his business into a family affair with the involvement of his children, Robin and Nina, expressed his pride in connecting his company with his favorite football club. He's excited about attending matches at the Abe Lenstra Stadium and engaging with fellow entrepreneurs there. Interestingly, Houwen's office is conveniently located within the Abe Lenstra Stadium, making it easy for them to be actively involved in the local football scene. The family business, specializing in the intersection of healthcare and ICT, also provides creative solutions for ...

  Exciting news, travel enthusiasts! Jetstar has just launched a spectacular sale that's bound to make your wanderlust dreams come true. Picture this: a free return flight to Japan! It doesn't get much better than that. For a limited time, Jetstar is offering an epic deal that allows you to score a complimentary return flight when you purchase an outbound ticket to Japan. Whether you're eyeing the vibrant streets of Tokyo or the cultural wonders of Osaka, this offer covers flights to both Tokyo (Narita) and Osaka (Kansai) from key Australian cities like Brisbane, Cairns, and Sydney. And the good news doesn't stop there! If you're traveling from Melbourne (Tullamarine) or Adelaide, fret not, as connecting flights via Cairns or Brisbane are also included in this fantastic promotion. The travel dates are flexible, spanning from late February to early December 2024, giving you ample opportunity to plan your perfect Japanese getaway. Just imagine indulging in Osaka's...

 Six individuals were taken to the hospital for minor injuries and later released following a 'hard landing' incident involving an American Airlines jetliner at Kahului Airport in Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday, according to statements from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the airline. The FAA reported that the American Airlines Airbus A320 experienced a 'hard landing' on a runway around 2 p.m. local time. Those hospitalized included one passenger and five flight attendants, as confirmed by American Airlines in a separate statement. Flight 271, originating from Los Angeles International Airport, encountered an issue upon landing, according to the airline. Despite the incident, the aircraft was able to taxi to the gate independently, and passengers disembarked in a normal manner. At the time of the incident, Maui's weather was reported as partly cloudy and windy, with a temperature of around 80 degrees, according to National Weather Service data. The aircraft...

 Romit Barua, Gautham Koorma, and Sarah Barrington, all from the MIMS ’23 program, initially presented their research on voice cloning as their final project for the Master of Information Management and Systems degree. Barrington has since become a Ph.D. student at the I School. Teaming up with Professor Hany Farid, they delved into techniques to distinguish between a real and a cloned voice designed to mimic a specific person . Professor Farid initially underestimated the capabilities of AI-powered voice cloning but acknowledged the rapid evolution of the technology. The team's research focused on analyzing perceptual features in audio samples, particularly looking at patterns in audio waves. Real human voices, they observed, tend to have more pauses and variations in volume due to filler words and movement during recording. Identifying pauses and amplitude (voice consistency and variation) became key indicators of authenticity . Taking a more detailed approach, the team employed ...

 As surfers, we often find ourselves in a different world—one that belongs to a diverse array of sea creatures. Most of the time, we don't even notice them, but every now and then, we're fortunate enough to have some incredible encounters. Consider the surfer and great white shark peacefully sharing a moment off the California coast. Then there were the lucky surfers who had the privilege of hanging out with a mother right whale and her baby in Australia. And who could forget the magical experience of sharing a Southern California lineup with playful bottlenose dolphins? Sure, there have been some less pleasant encounters with sea life, but today, let's focus on the positive stuff and the heartwarming stories. Like the one about a clever sea turtle outsmarting a tiger shark in Western Australia. The video captures a tiger shark swimming close to the shore, in pursuit of a small sea turtle. The footage is so clear that you can see the shark's distinctive stripes, which i...

 As we welcomed the new year, it seemed like an ongoing Shark Week marathon. To sum it up, there were numerous shark incidents during the holidays, along with the usual captivating scenes of surfers peacefully sharing the waves with sharks. Following that, there was a wave of whale sightings, from a massive gray whale cruising past surfers in San Diego to a baby humpback struggling without its mother in Hawaii. Additionally, pro skimboarder Blair Conklin captured incredible footage of killer whales . Now, it's all about dolphins. Earlier this month, we witnessed them riding waves at Snapper Rocks and gracefully swimming through waves illuminated by glowing blue algae. The video below shows them sharing the lineup with surfers.