Amsterdam

From the humble street corners to the grand hotels, from the bridges over the Amstel canal to the tram stops near the Rijksmuseum, wherever you go in Amsterdam there is a story from the city’s years of Nazi occupation. This spot is where the first “No Jews Allowed” sign was posted. Over there is where the RAF mistakenly dropped a bomb. And here’s where the attack on the civil registry office was plotted.“It’s a lot of stories,” agrees historian and film-maker Bianca Stigter, as we walk the streets, together with her…

The Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE) is planning to launch a €150mn fund later this year to further expand its support to startups spinning out of academia. Established in 2008, ACE is the city’s university incubator with four academic stakeholders: the University of Amsterdam, the Vrije Universiteit, the University of Applied Sciences, and Amsterdam UMC. Its mission is to help students and academics build a company. For this reason, ACE offers two types of programmes: the Explore…

Towards the end of last year, the winners of the 16th edition of the Amsterdam Science & Innovation Awards (AmSIA) were announced at the NEMO Science Museum. This competition — hosted by the Innovation Exchange Amsterdam (IXA) — highlights three innovative ideas from the Netherlands each year. These are split into three categories: health, society, and environment & climate. Beyond simply spotlighting the fascinating minds behind these inventions, the event also helps make them a…

Technology is often designed to lighten the load from the everyday - and brushing your teeth or using the toilet are no exception. Here are some highlights from the array of gadgets on display at the Consumer Electronics Show intended to make the mundane more efficient:- Supersonic toothbrush -"Is that a toothbrush for lazy people?" asks a visitor to the Y-Brush stand. The French company has designed an electric brush in the shape of a "Y", which is inserted into the mouth and does all the work in twenty seconds instead…

Twitter is not the right place to seek information during an emergency, Dutch politicians and a prominent online group said on Wednesday, following an incident in which citizens were directed to the platform for updates during a large storm."We find it problematic that the government depends on Twitter for sharing crucial information," lawmaker Nico Drost's office said in emailed remarks to Reuters, citing accessibility, accountability and reliability issues. Twitter could not immediately be reached for comment. The…

This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time that includes a deep dive into the biking culture in Amsterdam, a Specialized mountain bike…for kids, and a weird standing atv…or a 4 wheel electric kick scooter, and more. The Wheel-E podcast returns every two weeks on Electrek’s YouTube channel, Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter. As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying…

This hapless Dutch-produced thriller almost redeems itself with a decent final sequence staged in the neon-doused John Wick style, but it is too little, too late. Gigantic 6ft 5in kickboxer Rico Verhoeven blows his shot at action stardom with a showing of anti-charisma best described as if Lenny from Of Mice and Men had become a special forces operative. And the Amsterdam tourist board – for whom this at least lustrously shot film serves as a long commercial – must hold serious dirt on Frank Grillo for him to have signed…

On June 12, 1942, Annelies Marie Frank was given a diary for her thirteenth birthday. It was a gift she really wanted and her parents let her pick one out herself. Like all tweens, she must have dawdled before settling on a red-and-white chequered notebook, words from which would go on to become part of one of the most inspiring books in the world. Anne Frank on a Dutch postage stamp. (Shutterstock) The first words she wrote in the diary were telling: “I hope I shall be able to confide in you completely, as I…

The Boss is OK. Bruce Springsteen laughed off an onstage fall over the weekend in Amsterdam. He tripped on a set of stairs and tumbled face-first, as seen in video recorded by a Saturday concertgoer. The “Born to Run” singer, with electric guitar in hand, was able to stretch out an arm to brace the fall. The crowd groaned as Springsteen, 73, lay on his back for a few seconds. But once he wriggled to sit up with the help of two stagehands who brought him to his feet, he revealed a big smile. After taking a breath, he…

Dutch architecture firm MVRDV has completed Matrix One — a 6-storey, energy-efficient, office and laboratory block constructed using over 120,000 reusable components.  The building is the largest of seven that make up the Matrix Innovation Center in the Amsterdam Science Park, which serves as a hub for scientists and entrepreneurs developing solutions to some of the world’s toughest challenges. Matrix One has been designed for disassembly: almost everything from the doors and windows to…