Month: October 2025

With AI, Microsoft has once again insisted that we talk to our computer: experience says that we don’t feel like it

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You get up in the morning, go to work and sit in front of the computer, but the first thing you do is not pick up the mouse and keyboard, but say “Hey, Copilot”. Can you imagine it? Me neither, completely, but that is Microsoft’s clear obsession: to get us to talk to our PC instead of using the usual peripherals. That futuristic vision is striking, but it faces several enormous challenges. what memories. The thing about Microsoft and other technology companies with their intention for us to talk to machines goes back a long way. The first generation of voice assistants precisely pursued that goal. There we saw how Alexa, Google Assistant and of course Cortana tried to make us talk much more with our devices. We were not prepared to talk to machines. Its success was rather limited, and even Nadella himself admitted in 2023 that, for example, those “smart” speakers They were “dumber than a stone”. In Xataka Voice assistants and the fight to gain our trust Cortana tried. The Redmond company certainly tried to make Cortana successful. It offered it on both Windows 10 and on Android and iOS…and even the sadly defunct Windows Phone. Over time the company realized that that assistant was not a good fit, and was killing him little by little. The launch of ChatGPT was used by Microsoft to raise your new assistant powered by AI and definitely kill to his first assistant: Copilot wants to be what Cortana could never be. Who asked for this? With that “Hey, Copilot” the same thing is happening as with Cortana: did someone ask Microsoft to integrate a voice assistant into Windows? The voice assistants of that first generation were relegated to residual use, and Amazon suffered this problem firsthand. He bet billions of dollars that Echos would become devices we wouldn’t stop talking about, but most people I just used them to set timers and music. AI promises to go much further. But in spring 2024 we live in a hopeful moment for this type of technology. OpenAI launched GPT-4o and demonstrated that natural conversations with a mobile phone were not only possible, but also They were very powerful. AI could be ours confidant and companion -with controversy included— or our private teacherand as others later wanted to demonstrate, it could also do things for us just by talking to her. Let them tell you to the vibe coders. But we still have a hard time talking to the PC. Since then it certainly seems that we have become a little more accustomed to talking with our smartphone, but things seem to be different on the PC. The statistics reflect that 77% of young people use their voice on their smartphone, while only 38% of them do so on the PC. “But everyone on the PC listens to me”. There is also a sociological component in this use of voice on the PC. The mobile phone is more intimate and personal, while the PC is often used in a static setting in which there are people around who can capture what we say. Furthermore, in the physical context, the unspoken rules of coexistence—do not disturb, do not invade others’ acoustic space—outweigh the promise of comfort. And then there is distrust. Microsoft is not helped by its recent history, especially with Recall, that option that seemed really striking and ingenious but ended up being delayed to generate a great controversy regarding privacy. The launch of the new Windows 11 options, with “Hey, Copilot” as the main protagonist, does not seem to have been received with too much enthusiasm, and the tone, for example, of the comments from this long thread It is skepticism. Rivals focus on mobile phones and speakers, not the PC. The truth is that the adoption of voice as a way to interact with our devices does not seem to be particularly viral. The erratic launch of Alexa+ does not seem to be providing great advantages, Apple continues to make itself wait with its renewed version of Siri, and only Google has taken a step forward with Geminialthough not clearly on the desktop. Talking to machines works, but not as much on the PC as on the mobile. {“videoId”:”x9jvzns”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Project Astra Exploring the Capabilities of a Universal AI Assistant”, “tag”:”Project Astra”, “duration”:”116″} A triumph for accessibility. Where there is a clear use scenario for this technology is in the area of ​​accessibility. For users with reduced mobility, the ability to dictate or control the device with their voice can be transformative. This need is concrete and well defined, however: it does not justify a general redesign of the interaction or a marketing campaign that tries to get us all to talk to the computer. The voice should solve things, not be a fair trick. Microsoft’s real challenge is not technical — the technology is there — but human. The company must convince people that talking to the PC makes sense. To do this, it must address three fronts: privacy, the social context—that you don’t mind talking to your PC—and of course, that said interaction has practical use and works. For example, they come in there Copilot Actionswho will have to demonstrate – like everything else – that Microft is on the right path here. Otherwise, “Hey, Copilot” could become the new Cortana. In Xataka | Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google) believes that ‘Her’ is inevitable: “there will be people who fall in love with an AI and we should prepare ourselves” (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); } })(); – The news With AI, Microsoft has once again insisted that we talk to our computer: experience says that we don’t feel like it was originally published in Xataka by Javier Pastor .

30% of depressions do not respond to pills or psychotherapy. A psychiatrist’s idea: treat them with ultrasounds

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Depression is a truly complex disorder, which in 30% of cases do not respond to treatment conventional. Neither pharmacotherapy nor psychotherapynor the transcranial magnetic stimulation (used to treat OCD) appear to offer lasting relief to those who become trapped in the more resistant states of the disease. And although at first they can be ‘given up as lost’, the Argentine psychiatrist Salvador Guinjoan He is already working on another avenue of treatment. The idea. The psychiatrist, researcher Laureate Institute for Brain Research from Oklahoma, is working on an alternative that uses more physics than psychiatry for these patients who a priori had no other type of solution. This is based on the low intensity focused ultrasound, what is known as LIFU (Low-Intensity Focused Ultrasound). During the recent Conference on Updates on Neuromodulation held in Seville by the Spanish Society of Clinical Psychiatry, Guinjoan explained that the objective is quite ambitious: to modify the electrical activity of the brain circuits involved in psychiatric symptoms without the need to open the skull or implant an electrode as he explained. in an interview to El País. What is LIFU. This technology uses mechanical energy instead of electrical or chemical energy. Its transducer generates ultrasonic waves that are capable of passing through the skull and concentrating the energy at a very specific point in the brain, subtly modulating the mechanosensitive ion channels of the neurons. In practice, this alters neural communication in regions that are involved in emotion, motivation, or decision-making. But the important thing in this case is that unlike traditional deep stimulation (DBS), which requires surgery and permanent implants, LIFU allows completely reversible interventions with high anatomical precision. According to Guinjoan, the method opens the possibility of observing, for the first time, causal relationships between a specific brain circuit and a clinical symptom: “If modifying a circuit changes the symptom, we can begin to understand the cause,” he points out. The bibliography supports it in these cases, since previous research, such as those carried out in the Massachusetts General Hospital and published in Nature Neuroscience (2024), had already shown how LIFU can influence deep regions such as the amygdala or thalamus without visible tissue damage. Now, the challenge is to transfer that precision to the psychiatric field. Key points. Guinjoan and his team focus their trials on two key markers of resistant depression: anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure) and the persistence of negative thoughts. Both phenomena seem to be related to connection circuits between the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia. And it is precisely in this circuit where the psychiatrist wants to intervene with LIFU. The researcher suggests that modulating the subcircuits that connect the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia with ultrasound can alleviate these characteristic symptoms without resorting to surgical interventions and perhaps without more medication in the future. And although at the moment there is still a long way to go, pilot studies in the United States point to sustained symptomatic improvements after several sessions, with mild side effects such as temporary headaches. The ethics. The ability to literally reprogram the brain without invading it opens up questions that go beyond medicine. Guinjoan agrees with neuroscientist Rafael Yuste, promoter of the neurorightsin which it is urgent to regulate the non-therapeutic use of these technologies. Although the border between treating a disease and enhancing mental performance is increasingly blurred. Unlike other home neuromodulation tools, such as transcranial electrical stimulation (tDCS) devices that They are already sold for personal useLIFU requires high-precision neuronavigators and a specialized clinical environment. Guinjoan does not believe that it will become a domestic technology, but he does imagine a future where each patient receives a personalized neuromodulation treatment, adjusted to their specific neural map. The future. If ongoing trials confirm efficacy, focused ultrasound could be incorporated in the next decade into the arsenal we have in the treatment of resistant depression, anxiety or even schizophrenia. All this without having to enter an operating room. Something that could also represent a new leap in psychiatry as we know it and a paradigm shift in the therapeutic approach to this type of pathology. Images | Fernando @cferdophotography Robina Weermeijer In Xataka | There are people eating carrots like rabbits because they think it will make them tan. There’s just one little problem

There is more demand than leaves, more fashion than ceremony

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the book The wind through the pinesby Malena Higashi talk about a lesson that seems forgotten: relearning to breathe. In its pages, the tea ceremony—the chado, or “tea path”—is a metaphor for slowness, for respect, for what the Japanese summarize in four words: wa, kei, sei, jaku (harmony, respect, purity, tranquility). That ancestral stillness contrasts with the present. In just a decade, matcha—that green powder that for centuries was ground in temples and served in silence— has become in a global phenomenon. Coffee shops in New York, Paris or Madrid offer it with vanilla, banana or oat milk. There are numerous videos on social networks of people drinking matcha with hundreds of millions of views. However, behind that vibrant color and perfect foam there is something broken: “The matcha market is cracking under pressure.” From the temple to the algorithm. For four centuries, matcha was reserved for formal ceremonies and high tea craftsmanship. Today, as explained in The New York Times: “Harmony has been replaced by discord, respect by unscrupulousness, and purity by fraud.” Historical companies such as Marukyu Koyamaen, founded in 1704, They fight fakes of their tea on Amazon or Facebook Marketplace. Some sellers offer yellowish powder—ordinary ground tea—in fancy packaging, while others market an “imperial grade” or “barista grade” that do not exist in the Japanese classification. The global boom has created a demand that Japan cannot satisfy. “It’s like the Old West,” points out the merchant Sebastian Beckwith, faced with a deregulated market where matcha has become a label rather than a quality. The numbers in a bubble. The data does not deceive anyone. In just one year, Japanese exports of green tea powder have grown by 75%reaching almost 27,000 million yen, about 165 million euros. But enthusiasm has its price: a kilo of tencha leaves – the base of matcha – already exceeds 14,000 yen (about 85 euros), almost triple what it was a year ago. It is the highest price in memory and a clear sign that global demand is pushing the limits of tradition. Japan today exports more than half of the matcha that it produces, but that has not resolved the imbalance. In Uji, the birthplace of green tea, the shops limit the sale to one can per customer and farmers reject new orders until the next harvest. Jiro Katahira, a producer from Shizuoka, says to have received requests from all over the world: “Even from Benin. But I can’t mass produce. You can’t speed up a process that takes years.” For its part, in Los Angeles, the crisis is felt differently. At the Kettl Tea bar, only four of the 25 varieties on the menu remain. “There is nothing more to buy”, confessed its founderZach Mangan. The result is a fractured market: large wholesalers like Marukyu Koyamaen cannot cope, and small producers struggle to maintain quality while prices rise and there is a lack of young hands in the fields. An unsustainable boom. Matcha cannot be grown like corn or coffee. The tencha leaves They need weeks of shade before being collected, steamed and slowly ground between granite stones. Five years can pass from sowing to the first harvest, and many Japanese farmers – with an average age of 69 – lack generational change. The Japanese government has launched subsidies to modernize factories and increase mechanization, but that, experts warnyou could sacrifice the artisanal quality that distinguishes Japanese matcha. Meanwhile, China, Korea and Australia are taking advantage of the vacuum. According to FTChinese producers are introducing matchas “dyed” with chlorophyll to achieve a brighter green. “If everything becomes matcha, nothing will be,” a merchant tells the newspaper. The loss of value: from ceremony to latte. In the chadoeach movement has a meaning. In the global market, everything is measured by likes. “Using first-harvest matcha in a latte is like using Burgundy wine to make sangria,” Zach Mangan denouncedfounder of Kettl. The big chains have turned it into a trendy flavor. starbucks launched matcha protein drinks with banana cream; Blank Street Coffee removed the word “Coffee” of his name and embraced the “matchacore” aesthetic; the influencers they mix matcha with collagen. In this new context, matcha is no longer a drink, but a texture, a color, a mood. Master Rie Takeda, founder of the Chazen tea room, prefers to see it from an optimistic perspective: “Yes, there are concerns, but if this trend sparks interest in the tea ceremony, welcome. Our challenge is to share the essence of tea without losing its spirit.” Others, like Shihori Suzuki, warn of the risk of confusing spirituality with aesthetics: “Matcha has become a mass product, alien to the ceremony. If it becomes just a business, we will lose quality and meaning.” What is at stake. The rise of matcha not only threatens to deplete the fields, but to disfigure a cultural identity that took centuries to build. Farmers, like Katahira, they see it with ambivalence: Thanks to the boom they have paid off debts, but many feel that the spirit of tea is diluted between influencers, baristas and designer packaging. “Those who rush to produce don’t think about tradition. They only think about lattes,” he says. However, other people see it as a phenomenon that could save the tradition: more visitors flock to authentic tea rooms, seeking the calm that social media does not offer. After the pandemic, says Atsuko Morifounder of Camellia Tea Ceremony in Kyoto: “Visitors don’t just want to taste matcha, they want to understand it. They value its sense of presence and attention.” But that balance is fragile. The same tea that calms is also exhausting those who grow it. Producers face a paradox: commercial success can destroy what made it valuable. Return to the dô? Matcha was born to stop time, not speed it up. The tea master Sen no Rikyū, in the 16th century, said to serve a perfect cup was an act of harmony between host and guest. Today, that harmony is sought between saturated markets, influencers … Read more

A hero without a cape recorded the same shot for a year. Along the way he left the flat earthers without arguments

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Intrigued by the phenomenon, Eratosthenes decided make an observation in Alexandria, located about 800 kilometers north of Siena. There, on the same day and at the same time, he noticed that a vertical stick did cast a definite shadow. The discrepancy led him to a fundamental question: how was it possible that in one place there was no shadow and in another there was, at the same time? Eratosthenes deduced that the only explanation was that the earth’s surface was curved. A lot of time has passed since then, but the flat earthers are still among us. The home experiment. For centuries, the idea of ​​a flat Earth has outlived telescopes, satellites and lunar missions. Despite the overwhelming evidence, from the images taken from space and the established physical principles from Aristotleflat earthers have continued searching for the edge of the planet, organizing expeditions to Antarctica or navigations to the supposed “end of the world” that invariably end with the same discovery: that the edge does not exist. Be that as it may, an anonymous Reddit user has dismantled once again his entire creed without leaving home. Armed only with a security camera, the shadow of his garage and the patience of an entire year, he managed to record a test as simple as it was incontestable: the movement of the Sun drawing a figure of eight perfect on the ground. The footprint of the Sun. Between March 2024 and March 2025, this user (under the alias RedditorofReddit07) marked daily, at the same time, the position of the end of a shadow cast by a corner of his garage. After twelve months, the yellow dots traced on the cement an asymmetric curve in the form of infinity: an analemma. This phenomenon, documented by astronomers for centuriesis the direct result of the 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth’s axis and the planet’s elliptical orbit around the sun. In the summer months, the star reaches the highest point of the analemma; in winter, the lowest; and during the intermediate seasons the rest of the figure is drawn. Each latitude generates a slightly different shape, but they all share the same essence: an Earth that moves, rotates and tilts, not a motionless disk under a celestial lantern. The physics of time. The analemma not only reveals the movement of the planet, but also the difference between solar time and time measured by clocks. In theory, noon always occurs at 12 o’clock, but the Sun does not reach its highest point at exactly the same time every day. This variation, a consequence of the inclined axis and the unequal speed with which the Earth travels its orbit, is the reason why the analemma adopts a figure-eight shape. Science sums it up in a formula called the “Equation of Time,” an adjustment that explains why solar days vary in length and why the apparent position of the Sun advances or lags throughout the year. This mismatch is as predictable as it is beautiful, and can only be explained by a spherical planet that orbit a starnot by a flat disk with a wandering Sun that rises and falls without altering its size. The impossible refutation. In the flat earth modelsthe Sun moves on a plane, like a lamp on a table, projecting its light in circles on the surface. If that were true, the end of a shadow always observed at the same time should remain fixed throughout the year. However, the garage experiment shows exactly the opposite: a harmonic displacement that only fits the heliocentric model. Reproducing this effect in a flat world would require, in addition to an act of faith without a network, that the Sun change its trajectory, height and speed in an absurd way, violating the very laws of optics and gravity that its alternative model allows. The flat earthers themselves, faced with such evidence, barely manage to develop new explanations that are more imaginative than scientific. The method. He merit of the experiment It lies not in its complexity, but rather in its humility. Without telescopes or laboratories, a simple fixed camera and a daily routine were enough to record the annual dance of the Earth in front of the Sun. Each shadow point marked on the cement is a slap to the conspiratorial noise that floods the internet. In times when science is forced to defend the obvious, an ordinary garage has become an observatory and an anonymous user a popularizer. He already said it Carl Sagan himselfalthough he only needed a stick to dismantle conspiracies. Image | reddit, jailbird In Xataka | 48 people went to Antarctica to prove that the Earth is flat. They confirmed what can be done with a simple stick In Xataka | Astronomers cannot define this object. They only know that it is heading at two million km/h to the center of the Milky Way

Waymo lands in the great litmus test of its cars

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Hello, London! With a simple and straightforward message, Waymo has confirmed that next year it wants to operate its driverless robotaxis in the city of London. For now, the company has to work with the authorities to win their favor if it wants to have full availability next year. It is a litmus test for fully autonomous driving in Europe. What is already known. Although it has been reported in numerous media outlets that Waymo will offer driverless trips next year, the truth is that this is not entirely the case. What Waymo has announced It is their intention to be able to offer this service but first they have to gain the trust of the regulators. For now, the company that was born from a spin-off of Google’s autonomous car will begin to operate with a human behind the wheel in specific spaces within the city. Once you obtain approval from the authorities, you will be able to offer this service to citizens. Why London? Waymo’s choice of London is no coincidence. It is not even the only company that aspires to put fully autonomous cars on the streets in the English city. Uber and Lyft They also have their own plans. If London ends up giving the go-ahead to any of these companies, it will be the first city in Europe to allow this service. The announcements have been coming in cascade since last June It will be confirmed that the United Kingdom aspires to allow these services from the spring of 2026. The British Department of Transport has advanced the deadlines by one year and they hope that in 2027 the services can be active throughout the country. A trial by fire. Although up to three companies have already shown their intention to put their cars on the street, what we will see in London will be the confirmation of whether the technology is mature enough so that cars circulate correctly in European cities. London, like many European cities, did not plan the center of its cities that date back to the Middle Ages. The network of narrow streets, complex intersections, roundabouts and a greater number of pedestrians is a challenge for robotaxis that must be able to process an almost unimaginable number of variables in real time. And the variety of scenarios and dangers that any car faces in the center of European cities has been presented as the main obstacle for companies that intend to put their robotaxis on the streets but also for companies like Tesla that aspire to have its most advanced autonomous driving systems. With leaden feet. Although the United Kingdom has its own plans, the truth is that Europe has been cautious in the field of autonomous driving. At the moment, only Mercedes has permission to circulate without the driver paying attention to what is in front of them. Of course, on previously mapped roads, with good lighting and a maximum of 60 km/h. That is to say, the system is as expensive as it is slow. The other actor that leads the way is Ford. The North American company has permission for its drivers circulate without hands in the United Kingdom and over thousands of kilometers within the European Union. Of course, the roads must be previously mapped and the driver must be able to take control immediately if the situation requires it. Companies, however, have been pressing for some time for Europe to expedite a regulation that never seems to come. The most active has been Tesla, which has published videos showing cars with the Full Self Driving activated to circulate completely autonomously in spaces as complicated as Rome either Paris. The security. The big problem that companies face is security. Waymo claims that its cars are 78% less likely to suffer an accident with injuries than a human. And the website where they announce their intentions in London it is a continuous reference to its security systems. The great obstacle for companies is to convince that this is true because when a vehicle of this type plays a leading role in an accident with fatalities, it generates more distrust than if the vehicle is driven by a human being. It must be taken into account that the autonomous car has to coexist with the decisions of other human beings, so the consequences, in part, of an accident may escape their control. To this we must add that the vehicle must understand without errors what it should do at all times. This can be a significant obstacle when a computer failure occurs, a loss of connection or, simply, a new situation that had never been contemplated. In San Francisco, for example, Cruise cars have been accused of hinder emergency services. What’s at stake? According to the most optimistic perspectives, a business close to 600 billion dollars in less than a decade for driving. autonomous (including the possible services that manufacturers incorporate to their individual clients. It is the great hope for companies that have already burned tens of billions of dollars. Obviously, the business is in a drastic reduction in operational costs which puts human drivers at risk. For now, in Guardian They report that taxi drivers have received the news with skepticism, pointing out that Waymo’s service in the United States is more like a tourist attraction than just another mobility alternative. Photo | Waymo and Joshua Ziss In Xataka | In case the electric car was not enough, Europe is missing another train: that of autonomous cars

Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ was going to be a flop. Until a trailer that broke several Hollywood rules changed the narrative

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In a few weeks the posthumous memoirs of Jon Landau, producer of ‘Titanic‘ and ‘Avatar‘, and frequent collaborator of James Cameron. Media as Variety have been able to access its content, and they tell of a masterful marketing maneuver: how a film that seemed doomed to failure, ‘Titanic’, was saved thanks to an intelligent trailer. It was sinking. Before the release of ‘Titanic’ In 1997, there was a certain pessimism in Hollywood and in the press about the film’s chances of success. With a then-record budget of $200 million, constant delays during filming, and negative rumors about the development of the production, many experts and media assumed that the film would be a financial disaster. Landau says that he was famous an article from ‘Time’ magazine in which the possible future of the film was compared to the real fate of the ship with the onomatopoeia “Glub, Glub, Glub…” Too much noise. But as he says in his memoirs, titled ‘The Bigger Picture’, Landau knew that “perception becomes reality”, even though expectations were not good: the jump from 100 to 200 million dollars brought to mind another major failure (and with a very marked aquatic component as well): ‘Waterworld’ by Kevin Costner. Paramount’s marketing team proposed a conventional trailer. Landau described it as a “John Woo-style trailer”, meaning “quick cuts and booming music, gunshots and screams. It made the movie look like an action movie that just happened to take place on the Titanic.” Cameron and Landau knew this wasn’t their movie. Four minutes or so. The decision they made was seemingly counterintuitive: an exceptionally long trailer, four minutes and two seconds. Before, they had to fight for a long time with Paramount executives, who initially wanted a shorter trailer oriented solely towards action. Landay and Cameron argued that a longer trailer was necessary to convey the magnitude and complex narrative of Titanic. They presented it at the ShoWest event in Las Vegas, a key convention for theater owners. Kurt likes it. The trailer had an immediate and favorable effect among attendees, decisive for the good distribution of the film. It also had a positive impact on stars like Kurt Russell, who helped spread the word that they were watching a great film. The actor, sitting at the Paramount table, stood up and shouted, “I’d pay ten dollars just to see that trailer again.” Since then, even the initially skeptical press began to reconsider the film, marking a turning point in public perception and hopes for commercial success. Change in narrative. The trailer not only showed what no one had seen and how the film worked (the memories, the romance, the action, the gigantic scale), but it also redefined the conversation from rumors of failure to raising the possibility of it being a success. The film was released in December 1997, became the highest-grossing film of all time and won 11 Oscars. Another victory for Cameron, although with this one he didn’t have it with him all the time. In Xataka | The “ghost” category of the Oscars: it exists but it is so demanding that there have never been films that compete for it

Spain is rapidly stopping consuming it and no one has convincing explanations

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There was a time when many things could be missing from the tables of Spanish homes, but never bread. Never that. The bar was an essential part of the diet, one of its pillars, so firm that it even ended up leaving a mark in the proverb. Things have changed and now it is increasingly difficult to find bread in homes at meal time. And for example, a button: its per capita consumption (at least domestic) has collapsed in the last decade. The big question is… Why? Less bread at home. On Spanish tables and cupboards it is increasingly difficult to find loaves of bread. Although for a long time they were one of the pillars of nutrition (so much so that it has crept into popular proverbs), households seem to be turning their backs on them little by little. And no one really knows why. The last reminder of the extent to which we have lost interest in bread was left yesterday by the EfeAgro agency in a chronicle which starts with a revealing fact: on average a Spaniard consumes 25% less today than just a decade ago. Has consumption dropped that much? To answer that question, it is good to take a look at the data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. To be more precise to the figures of your consumption panelin which they detail “the food consumption data in Spanish households.” The nuance is important because its results basically show domestic behavior, purchases and consumption that are made within the home, not in the extradomestic channel. When the data on bread is analyzed, the reading is clear: today we consume less (much less) than a few decades ago. And as a figure always says more than a long explanation, here is a table with the evolution of demand. The data show annual per capita consumption measured in kg, although one detail must be clarified: the concept “bread” has remained unchanged in the historical series, but not its different classifications, which have changed, combining concepts such as “fresh bread”, “unpackaged” or “industrial bread” and “packaged”. Bread (total) fresh bread industrial bread 1990 56.4 52.9 3.5 2000 50.1 46.4 3.7 2010 36.3 30.8 5.5 2020 32.8 26 6.8 2024 27.4 21.5 5.9 looking back. The drop is even more pronounced if we broaden the focus and look at how Spaniards behaved in the 60s and 70s. Although the calculation criteria may have varied, the data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that in 1964 the “consumption of bread-making cereals in Spain” was around 92.5 kg per inhabitant per year. In the 70s that average was already 76.6 kg. He latest yearbook published by the Government, with data at the end of 2024, show that total per capita consumption of bread fell in the country by 0.2% compared to the previous year, although this decrease was not generalized: consumption of normal fresh bread ‘punctured’, while demand for whole grain, unsalted and industrial bread grew. Is it all negative data? No. Recently the Ministry of Food published a report with data from the year between August 2024 and July 2025 showing that bread purchases have generally increased by 3.9% during that period, leaving annual per capita consumption at 27.8 kilos. It remains significantly below the 34.9kg 2015, but it still represents an increase. Bread can also boast of having an almost absolute level of penetration in Spanish homes, reaching more than 99.8%, and generates a business of billions of euros. To be more precise, the data accumulated between August 2024 and July 2025 speak of 3.4 billion. Searching for the causes. The big question at this point is… Why do we consume less bread at home today than a few decades ago? EfeAgro remembers that in the last ten years its price has become more expensive almost 29%although the CPI data for September show that at least in the last year it remained below the general price index: 1.2% compared to the global 3%. The drop in consumption seems to respond more to changes in consumption habits: a greater availability of alternatives to bread, a more varied diet, a increase in consumption in places outside the home… “There has been a downward trend for years in Spain, it must be taken into account that when societies become more prosperous, consumption is reduced and other sources begin to be used”, explained already 2022 to The Spanish Jorge de Saja, from the Spanish Association of the Bakery, Pastry and Pastry Industry. Another key point from the sector is the increase in more satiating variants (such as whole wheat). “Don’t eat bread”. There are those who provide another explanation for the drop in bread consumption: “The perception that it is a food that can make you fat,” they regret from Asemac. Ángeles Carbajal Azcona, from the Department of Nutrition at the Complutense University of Madrid, also remembered it in 2016 in an article in which, citing other authors, I remembered that the “dietary advice” of some specialists to lose weight is: “Don’t eat bread.” “Epidemiological studies that try to look at the relationship between bread consumption and body weight usually see that people who consume bread more frequently have a higher risk of obesity, diabetes and weight gain,” he clarified in 2024. Jordi Salas-Salvadóprofessor, a The Country. “The problem is that these studies are done with current bread, which is not the same as traditional bread, with sourdough and long fermentation: bread has a high glycemic index, but artisanal bread has more fermentation process and that makes the glycemic index lower.” Image | Diana Krotova In Xataka | “We are the glitch in the Matrix of food”: the Madrid bakery whose reinvention of bread has gotten out of hand

They have found a way to turn tall buildings into batteries. And that makes Benidorm our best asset

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The sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow, what do we do if there is no renewable energy when we need to turn on the lights? Normally, pulling lithium batteries either pumped hydroelectric plants. But cities that build vertically like Benidorm have another untapped option. In short. A comprehensive University of Waterloo study has shown that the height of buildings can be used to create a system of gravity energy storage. An idea that transforms cities built in height into a huge device to store and release energy at will. Mechanical batteries. The concept is, in essence, very simple. It is made up of a heavy mass (concrete or steel blocks), a system of pulleys and cables similar to that of an elevator, and a motor that also works as a generator. The operation is as follows. When there is a surplus of energy, for example at midday, when the building’s solar panels are at full capacity, the motor uses that electricity to lift heavy dough along a vertical gaplike that of an elevator. Electrical energy is converted into potential energy. When electricity is needed and renewables are not producing, at night or on a day without wind, the mass is dropped in a controlled manner. The force of gravity does the rest: the descending weight moves the generator, which converts the potential energy back into electricity ready to use. Tested successfully. The researchers propose this system as the heart of a hybrid energy ecosystem integrated into the building itself, which includes photovoltaic panels on facades, small wind turbines on the roof and backup lithium-ion batteries. As pointed out PV Magazinecompanies such as the Scottish Gravitricity have already demonstrated the viability of this technology with functional prototypes and have full-scale commercial projects of 4 and 8 MW underway. Energy is generated with the sun and the wind. Gravity acts as the main battery for daily storage, managing large charge and discharge cycles. Is it viable? To test whether their idea was more than just an interesting theory, the University of Waterloo team ran a massive simulation. They analyzed 625 different building designs, varying parameters such as height, the shape of the floor plan (more square or more elongated) and the energy efficiency of the building. The results are very promising. The system (facade solar panels + small wind power + gravity storage + a battery support) achieved a levelized cost of electricity of between 0.051 and 0.111 dollars per kWh. This figure is very competitive, and even improves the costs of other renewable energy systems integrated into buildings located in areas with moderate solar or wind resources. And taller buildings with larger floor plans benefit the most, so Benidorm It is our best asset. Image | Diego Delso (CC BY-SA 3.0) In Xataka | Finland has found a cheap way to store energy all winter: a tower of 2,000 tons of sand

conditions and how you can bid on these unclaimed lost items

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From time to time, the Madrid City Council open an online auction to sell devices that has been stored for some time in the Lost and Found Offices. The normal thing is that the owners claim them, although there are many cases in which some of them end up remaining in these offices for years. That is why from time to time the City Council decides to do a little cleaning and put a large number of objects up for sale. Among them, there are also electronic devices, more than 500 of all kinds, which are mobile phones, computers, consoles or even a drone. This is an auctionso if you want one you will have to bid. Auction conditions This auction is organized into 138 lots, which depend on the type of objects they have. Its price ranges between 21 and 863 euros.although the cheapest are items like a laptop, and the most expensive can be lots of 39 computers, to give an example. The most numerous are the laptops, and you can bid on some individually or in batches. All these objects belong to the municipal lost and found office. The term for custody is two yearsso after this time, if they are not claimed, then they can be put up for auction. The auction will remain active until October 23 at 12:00 Spanish peninsular time. When the auction ends, delivery is the responsibility of the buyerand returns are not accepted. The money collected will be deposited in the Municipal Treasury of Madrid, and will form part of the city council’s budgets. How to participate in auctions To participate in the auction you have to enter the Escrapalia websitewhich is the auction website where the Madrid city council participates. The web address is escrapalia.comand once inside you will have to register. On the website you will see a banner with the auction of Madrid City Council devices. If you don’t see it, you can go directly from this link. Once inside, you will see a list with all the lots that are being auctionedits current price and the number of people who have bid. When you click on one of the lots, you will go to a page where you have all the information. In it, you will be able to see a description, and click on the button Bid to proceed to try to get it by establishing the money you are willing to pay. In Xataka Basics | Buy Treasury Bills in 2025: calendar with all the auctions that will take place during the year

On the outskirts of Madrid there is a luxury shopping paradise for tourists. And 2025 is going to be its best year

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Las Rozas Village, the luxury sales center located on the outskirts of Madrid, is preparing to close its best year in its 25-year history. In an interview For the CincoDías media, Esteban Liang, business director of the sales center, stated that they will exceed five million customers and will achieve “single-digit sales growth”, a modest figure in appearance but that they consider exceptional compared to a textile sector that stagnated in 2024 and has fallen 1.8% until September. The secret: the international tourismespecially Latin American and American, which already represents 30% of its turnover. New clientele. In just six years, the profile of the buyer in Las Rozas Village has changed radically. China, which in 2019 was the center’s most important source market, has fallen to third place. According to Liang, Mexico and the Middle East have become the new protagonists. Mexican customers lead both in volume and spending, with an average ticket of 690 euros per traveler, the highest of all markets. As Liang tells the outlet, between 2022 and 2024, tax-free sales to customers outside the euro zone doubled, with Mexicans in the lead. Why did the map change?. The manager explains that “there has been an exponential growth of the middle class in China, whose expectations have been frustrated by the economic crisis.” This has caused Chinese consumers to travel within their country or to nearby markets such as Japan, in addition to increasing their preference for local brands. Meanwhile, the massive arrival of luxury hotels from American chains to Madrid has boosted the flow of American travelers, according to Liang. The director remembers that before there were only three large luxury hotels in Madrid and now there are 35, with another ten under construction. The balance that sustains the business. Despite the good moment in tourism, for Liang, the national market continues to be essential and represents 70% of clients. “They are no longer only from Madrid. They also come from Valencia, Valladolid or Málaga thanks to the improvement in railway connections,” says the manager. The diversification strategy has allowed the outlet to maintain growth even in a context of economic cooling in Europe, America and the Middle East, according to the medium counts. The last quarter of the year concentrates up to 35% of annual turnover thanks to key dates such as Halloween, Black Friday and Christmas, where the Spanish consumer takes on special relevance. Renew to continue growing. As explains In the middle, Las Rozas Village has also discovered opportunities in the deseasonalization of Madrid tourism. “Before, in the summer, the capital emptied. For two or three years we have discovered an opportunity to continue growing,” says Liang. In addition, as the manager says, the center has incorporated new brands aimed at generation Z to expand its audience. The center has more than 100 open-air boutiques housing luxury brands. And its outlet has been attracting a whole mass of deep-pocketed tourists for 25 years, knowing how to attract the international public with good discounts. Cover image | L35 Architects In Xataka | More and more cities are stopping the creation of tourist apartments. Alicante has proposed to be its spearhead

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