Month: November 2025

we can get a free Nintendo Switch 2

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We are already in the last stages of November, so all the offers of Black Friday They are very close to disappearing. One of the stores that still has a huge selection of them available is Powerplaneta Murcian store with discounts on technology, lightning offers that are updated every day and fast shipping in Spain. And that’s not all: it also has an official raffle with which We can get a Nintendo Switch 2 with ‘Mario Kart World’ completely free. We tell you all the details about this promo in which the prices of the 90s return. You can get a Nintendo Switch 2 for free with Powerplanet’s Black Friday Powerplanet’s Black Friday, which will be available until November 30, has right now a huge number of very interesting offersregardless of whether we are looking for a new mobile phone, a smartwatch for Christmas or any other type of technology. We will talk about specific offers a little later, but first we are going to focus on the giveaway they have active, with which we can win the new Nintendo console. The way to participate in it is super simple. Every purchase we make from now until November 30 will automatically give us a participation in the draw. We will not have to fill out any type of form or register on any portal: just buy what we want and nothing more. The only thing to keep in mind is that the draw is valid for the Spanish peninsula and the Balearic Islands (as well as Portugal and France) and that participants must be at least 18 years old. The draw includes, as we have said, a nintendo switch 2 and the game ‘Mario Kart World’, an ideal pack to have a real great game to be able to debut the console. The winner will be announced on December 1st.so it won’t take us long to clarify whether we have won the prize. These are some of their most notable technology offers Waiting until November usually has the reward of being able to find the device or devices we want at a better price. This is where Powerplanet’s Black Friday comes in, with attractive offers that will allow us to even advance our Christmas shopping to save a good pinch along the way. Below we leave you a selection of offers that we have found and that are quite juicy. Google Pixel 10 Pro If we are looking for a high-end phone with the best Android experience, this Pixel 10 Pro It’s ideal for us. It is a phone that stands out for having a very good 6.3-inch OLED screen with a peak brightness of 3,300 nits, a good camera system and the best artificial intelligence inside (in addition to seven years of updates). This is the version with 256 GB of storage in this case, available at Powerplanet for 959 euros while your Black Friday lasts. Google Pixel 10 Pro (16+256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links If we have cats at home, an automatic litter box can be great for keeping everything cleaner and taking care of their health. This one from the Petkit brand offers weight, proximity and infrared sensors to always detect our pets and thus avoid accidents. In addition, it even has a camera that we can view from our mobile phone. Its tank has 8 liters of capacity, so we can go several days without emptying it. We have it on sale right now to 499 euros. PETKIT Purobot Max Pro Automatic Litter Box with Camera and xSecure Technology – APP Control – Extra Large Capacity The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Pad Pro Quality-price, there are few tablets better than the Xiaomi Redmi Pad Pro. It was already like this at launch, much more so now considering that we can get it at Powerplanet for 195.99 euros. It stands out for having a good 12.1-inch screen compatible with Dolby Vision and 120 Hz, ideal for watching movies or series. In addition, it has plenty of power thanks to its Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 and it has a 10,000 mAh battery, so it will offer us good autonomy. Xiaomi Redmi Pad Pro Tablet 12.1″ Wi-Fi 6GB/128GB Gray The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Smart TV QLED Q8F We also have very interesting options on Black Friday in this store if we are looking for a new television. This Samsung Q8F is now reduced to 469.90 euros in its 55-inch version. This is a model from this same 2025, which means that it includes Vision AI, the company’s artificial intelligence. By using QLED technology we will obtain vivid colors and very good contrasts, all without taking into account that it also comes with Tizen OS and has seven years of guaranteed updates. Samsung Q8F QE55Q8FAAU 55″ 4K Ultra HD Smart TV Wifi The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy S25 We close this selection of offers with another mobile phone, in this case the most compact version of the family Galaxy S25. It is one of the best options there is if you are looking for a compact phone, especially now that we can get it for 689 euros on Powerplanet’s Black Friday. Beastly power with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, 12 GB of RAM and a triple camera system that works at a high level. In addition, it has Galaxy AI and has seven years of guaranteed updates, which guarantees us a long-lasting mobile. Samsung Galaxy S25 5G 12GB/256GB Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Xataka, Google, Catlink, Xiaomi, Samsung In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best tablets in quality price. … Read more

Here begins the era of visual and interactive AI that you will not want to stop using

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Today I have asked Gemini twice what it consisted of the three body problem. The first time I asked the conventional Gemini, who after thinking for a few seconds gave me a text answer, well structured but which at first scared me a little because it even included equations. This was what the response looked like: Then I decided to ask Gemini again, but this time taking advantage of the new feature called Dynamic View (Dynamic View). Google introduced this option a few days ago, and here Gemini does not respond in text mode, but visually. This was what the response looked like: So that I could understand that concept, he created a simulation where I could switch between different simulation modes and speeds. And after that, he complemented this simulation with short texts that explained what happens when there are only two bodies (like the Earth and the Moon) and when there are three bodies and the butterfly effect is experienced. The system becomes so chaotic and complex that triple star systems in the universe are unstable. I didn’t understand it as much with the formula, but with that simulation, I did. This is a clear example of where the tables are going in the world of artificial intelligence chatbots. In that future that Gemini proposes, the conversation can become—if we wish— much more visual and interactive. Almost like a game, because by modifying the simulation we can check the effect of that change in real time. It’s easier to “click” and understand the concept, and that, dear readers, is addictive. Google talked about all this in the presentation of the feature last week, explaining how this option “allows AI models to create immersive experiences, interactive tools and simulations, completely generated in real time for any prompt.” Well, indeed, this is how ‘How I Met Your Mother’ ended, although I have hidden the text so as not to spoil that ending for those who have not seen the series. If you haven’t done it, I recommend it 😉 The practical applications of something like this are, once again, almost limitless. One can apply these dynamic views to understand probability theory, to get fashion tips, or to remember how ‘How I Met Your Mother’ ended. Already put I have asked the impossible: explain to me the movie ‘Tenet‘. He tried it with a good visual scheme (the video below shows that interactive response), but it didn’t help me much because I’m afraid that movie is absolutely inexplicable. I’m not saying it: Nolan says it. Visual and interactive summaries take a few seconds to complete and are not suitable for the impatient, but once they do, the truth is that the answers do not disappoint because that interactivity and visual content enrich said answer and make it much more digestible and attractive for the user. It is the tiktokization of AI to make it even more direct. This approach from Google once again demonstrates how strong the company has been for a few months. The Nano Banana phenomenon turned it into a company that finally demonstrated its potential, and both Gemini 2.5 Flash and Pro a few months ago like now Gemini 3 – which certainly seems to be a step above its rivals – have confirmed the optimism surrounding the company. This latest innovation from Dynamic View It is one of the most powerful and disruptive we have seen in the use of AI in these three years, and follows the path that the company has already outlined with the fabulous NotebookLM. Let’s go shopping with ChatGPT Google, of course, is not alone in that effort. OpenAI has been an absolute benchmark in the productization of AI, and with ChatGPT it got it right from the first moment in that user experience that made us want to use the chatbot for more and more things. The company led by Sam Altman has also been putting forward interesting proposals for a long time to be able to apply AI to all types of scenarios, and now it has come up with a new one that is unique these days of Black Friday: a “Purchase Research” mode that goes beyond finding products for us. And it goes further because it does not stick to our initial prompt, but rather asks us about that prompt. For example, I am looking for a 27-inch monitor with 1440p resolution (QHD) that is cheap and for mostly office use. And that’s what I put in the search engine. The surprises came from there, because in that mode ChatGPT does not give you the answer directly, but it asks you some more questions in “survey” mode asking yourself boxes to answer. Preferred connectivity? (HDMI) What budget do you have? (less than 150 euros). Which panel do you prefer? (I don’t care). After these questions, ChatGPT presents some preliminary options on the screen so that you can tell it if its results are on the right track or not (and if they are not, it asks you why, for example by price or features). After two and a half minutes, the chatbot presented an interesting personalized shopping guide in which it recommended me this Philips 27E2N1500L/00 that is 99 euros and that I will probably end up buying. Obviously this OpenAI tool is interesting for users, but also for OpenAI, because it is one more move in that strategy of becoming our indispensable ally for all types of purchases. ChatGPT wants to be a useful shopping assistant that helps us find products… and that along the way give a commission to OpenAI. We already saw it with Instant Checkout, and this is another move that points to that promising line of income for the company, which certainly needs it like eating. But beyond that, the Purchase Research mode is another good example of how these searches no longer stop at what we ask, but instead ask us questions to better understand what we want and then give … Read more

Putting four chickens in the yard seemed like a good idea to have cheap eggs. Bird flu just changed the rules of the game

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From November 13, 2025, there is no poultry farm in the country that can be outdoors. With mass confinement, the Government wants to contain the spread of the H5N1 bird flu. And it makes sense: so far this season, 14 outbreaks have already been recorded in poultry, several in captive birds and dozens in wild birds. The problem is everything that falls under the radar. “What do I do with my chickens?” In Spain, at least from 2024, all chickens must be registered. And yes, that includes ‘self-consumption’ chickens; some animals that, according to the data, they represent only 0.77% of the census (but all experts know there are many more). A report from El País from the spring of this year confirmed that “the figures do not reflect reality and that a large part of self-consumers have birds (especially the ISA Brown species) without census.” This has meant that in a context in which self-consumption does not have inspections (and lives unaware of animal health regulation), the doubts and risks have grown exponentially. As Cristina García Casado explained in InfoLibrethe question most frequently asked by veterinarians across the country is “what do I do with my chickens?” And the answer is very simple: confine them. Because the regulations do not understand sizes: a backyard chicken infected by contact with a wild bird can be just as big a problem as any other type of chicken. Or maybe more. After all, the European authorities they continue to qualify the risk to the general population as low; but they raise it to low-moderate for people in direct contact with infected birds or contaminated environments. Having unmonitored poultry increases the risk to the “civilian” population and if we are realistic we will recognize that they cannot be monitored. The problem has names and surnames: at least when it comes to the flu, all those domestic pens have the same sanitary requirements, but much less infrastructure. The ‘boom’ of homemade eggs. We must remember that this does not happen in a vacuum. The truth is that in recent years we have lived a real ‘boom’ in self-consumption chickens. It is the confluence of the “happy chickens” movements with the response of many citizens to a price that does nothing but go up. According to the National Institute of Statistics, have gone up 15.9% so far this year and, according to the OCUthe growth has been 105% compared to 2021. And, be careful, we are not talking about a luxury product. We are talking about what may be one of the proteins cheaper and more accessible of the world. Faced with this ‘ovoflation’, the accounts are clear: “a hen costs about nine euros, it is easy to raise and maintain with fruit, vegetables and feed, and it lays an egg every 25 hours.” How can there not be a problem? What to do if I have a chicken coop for self-consumption? If we are in that situation (or are thinking about setting up our own domestic corral) there are some things to keep in mind: Whether larger or smaller, the corral must be registered in the REGA (General Registry of Livestock Operations). Implement confinement and biosecurity measures: separate chickens from any contact with wild birds; control inputs and outputs; record all changes in a log book. Improve cleaning conditions, more frequent bed renewal and tightening daily management protocols. Introduce wellness programs to contain the problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle. But, above all, be extremely vigilant. There are many warning signs (apathy, drop in production, high mortality or flu symptoms). Therefore, it is best to be alert. Anything can happen. Image | Finn Mund In Xataka | H5N1 bird flu unleashes a massacre in Antarctica: half of the female seals have already disappeared

It is surely the best model for programming, but it still has a big problem

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Anthropic has announced Claude Opus 4.5, its most advanced AI model to date. The company claims it is the best in the world for programming, intelligent agents and computing usage, beating OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 Codex-Max and Google’s Gemini 3 Pro. It has also arrived a few days after both as well as Grok 4.1. The general overview. The new model has achieved 80.9% accuracy in SWE-Bench Verified, the benchmark reference to evaluate software engineering capabilities. Anthropic has also put it through its own hiring test for engineers – notably difficult, with a two-hour limit – and the model has outperformed every human candidate who took it. Why is it important. This release solidifies Anthropic as a leader in AI tools for programming. Even Meta uses Claude for its internal Devmate code assistantdespite competing directly with the company in other areas. The improvements are not limited to the code. Opus 4.5 stands out in: Creation of documents, spreadsheets and professional presentations. Deep research tasks with multiple sources. Advanced visual and mathematical reasoning. Management of subagent teams for complex multi-agent systems. In figures. Additionally, Anthropic has drastically reduced the price of its API: from $15/75 per million tokens entrance/exit at 5/25 dollars. And the model is more efficient than its predecessors: In medium effort mode, it equals the performance of Sonnet 4.5 but consumes 76% less tokens. In high mode, it beats Sonnet 4.5 by 4.3 percentage points using 48% less tokens. The context. The company has introduced that “effort” parameter (low, medium, high) that allows developers to control how long and tokens invests the model in solving a problem. It is a trend that OpenAI has also adopted in its latest modelsseeking efficiency without sacrificing quality. In detail. Along with the model, Anthropic has updated its development platform and consumer applications: Claude Code Improves your planning mode: Asks clarifying questions before creating an editable execution plan file. As seen with the Deep Research on duty. Claude for Chrome is now available to all Max users (around $100-$200 per month depending on limits), allowing AI to manage tasks across multiple browser tabs. Claude for Excel opens to Max, Team, and Enterprise users, with support for charts, pivot tables, and file uploads. Endless conversations– Long conversations no longer run into context window limits thanks to automatic summaries. Yes, but. The big problem with Opus 4.5 and Claude in general is its usage limit. Even for Pro and Max subscribers of the first levelthe tokens They sell out quickly. They take five hours to restart from the first message sent. The Opus model, being the most powerful, is also the one that consumes the quotas the fastest. This is the main source of frustration for users who pay $20 or even $100 a month. Anthropic has slightly increased the limits for Max and Team Premium, but the experience is still far from what is expected in a service of this category. Between the lines. The release of Opus 4.5 restores balance to the Anthropic model family. For the past two months, Sonnet 4.5 was outperforming the older Opus 4.1, leaving little reason to use the more expensive model. Now, with three clearly differentiated models (Haiku, Sonnet and Opus), each one has a specific purpose in terms of cost, speed and capacity. And now what. Anthropic follows a clear strategy: position itself as the premium provider for knowledge professionals and developers, competing directly with OpenAI and Google in the field where accuracy and reliability matter most. But if you don’t solve the problem of usage limits, you risk frustrating the very users who could get the most value from the model. In Xataka | AI is transforming the relationship we have with our own ideas: we no longer create, we just “edit” ourselves Featured image | Anthropic

reduce the production of laser weapons and parts for electric cars to one second

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A team of researchers from China has achieved a technological leap that could alter the energy base of sectors as diverse as electric vehicles, advanced radars or even new generation defense systems. At a time when speed, thermal stability and on-chip integration have become strategic priorities for industry and militaries alike, China claims to have found an unexpectedly fast path to producing one of the most critical components in modern electronics. An industrial leap. China has presented an advance that fundamentally disrupts the production of dielectric storage capacitors, a critical component for hybrid electric vehicles, radar systems, advanced electronics and, especially, directed energy weapons. Two teams from the Metal Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have achieved reduce the manufacturing process of these devices just one second thanks to a technique flash annealing capable of heating and cooling materials at 1,000 ºC per second, forming crystalline films on silicon wafers in a single step. In other words, what previously required between three minutes and an hour now happens literally in the blink of an eye, without loss of energy density or thermal stability, and maintaining stable performance. up to 250 ºCa range that covers, for example, from the inside of a hybrid vehicle to the depths of oil exploration. The advance also offers a scalable industrial path towards on-chip storage devices, a goal long pursued by the electronics industry. A new class of capacitors. Dielectric capacitors stand out because they can charge and discharge energy with extreme suddenness, generating current peaks essential for systems that depend on instantaneous reactions. The new crystalline films created by the Chinese team not only achieve energy densities comparable to those of much slower methods, but they maintain less than 3% degradation even at 250 ºC. This guarantees its operation in severe conditions, from automotive electronics subjected to constant heat to sensors and energy exploitation equipment underground. Researchers say in your work that the rapid solidification obtained by heating by electromagnetic induction and immediately cooling in liquid nitrogen fixes the crystalline structure in a high energy state that multiplies the capacity storage, reaching 63.5 J/cm³, values ​​higher than traditional techniques such as firing in a muffle furnace or rapid thermal tempering. This combination of extreme speed, stability and density opens the door to design leaps in multiple industrial sectors. Strategic implications. As we said, the most delicate, and potentially transformative, impact is found in the military terrain: Emerging technology offers a direct solution to one of the bottlenecks of directed energy weapons, such as high-powered lasers, which require fast, stable flows of electricity to maintain sustained fire, repeated pulses, and minimal reload times. The ability to generate intense electrical pulses from denser, more heat-resistant, mass-produced capacitors with faster times drastically reduced makes this technology a key enabler for ship-borne lasers, anti-drone systems, energy saturation weapons or ground-based air defense platforms. In a scenario where thermal autonomy, stress resistance and the ability to withstand repeated thermal cycles are essential, these new dielectric films offer a decisive advantage compared to previous generations of materials. Although they still depend on improvements to close the gap with lithium batteries in total capacity, their superiority in instantaneous power is exactly what modern laser systems require. World projection. The promise of producing advanced capacitors in a second It represents a disruptive change for industries that, until now, assumed long and expensive processes to achieve similar levels of quality. The ability to extend the procedure to other ferroelectric materials and to apply the method on wafer-scale pellets makes this development in a milestone with direct implications for defense microelectronics, aeronautics and the energy sector. China thus obtains a path towards strategic components that are difficult to replicate in the short term in other countries, consolidating an industrial advantage in dual technologies whose relevance will only grow in the coming decades. For the directed energy weapons (considered the next big leap in anti-missile defense, anti-drone and anti-hypersonic platforms) this evolution in capacitors could be equivalent to missing link– Fast, robust, compact and, for the first time, truly scalable storage. Image | CCTV (via X) In Xataka | It is called Crazy Li and it is capable of cutting metal or causing blindness: China has developed an unprecedented combat laser In Xataka | China has made a science fiction dream come true: an electromagnetic cannon capable of reaching 3,000 shots per minute

A silent operation has compromised thousands of ASUS routers. Investigators target groups linked to China

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Few devices are as stable and discreet as the router. We barely think about them, we rarely review their configuration, and we rarely consider them part of the security debate. They are just there, connecting. This condition makes them ideal terrain for those seeking to go unnoticed. A recent investigation has revealed that ASUS routers are being used as part of a remote operating structure. They don’t cause problems, but they are no longer just an internet access point. According to SecurityScorecardthe signal reveals the existence of something more than a specific failure. The researchers observed that a significant volume of ASUS routers exhibited the same TLS certificatewith a validity of one hundred years, which does not fall within the usual parameters of this type of equipment. This coincidence made it possible to identify a structured campaign, called WrtHug, and conclude that the devices had been altered in a coordinated manner to remain connected and operational without alerting their owners. How WrtHug works. According to the analysis, the campaign is based on vulnerabilities present in ASUS routers and in the service AICloudwhich allows remote access to files and connected devices from outside the home network. By leveraging that channel, attackers can execute system-level commands and modify settings without requiring user intervention. The presence of the shared TLS certificate acts as a sign of this alteration and shows how the routers become part of an intermediary infrastructure, useful to hide the real origin of the activity. AiCloud is a function integrated into ASUS routers that allows you to access files stored on USB drives connected to the router or in shared folders on a computer from outside the home. It can be used from a browser or through a mobile application, making it easy to view documents, photos or videos without being physically on the local network. That legitimate remote connection capability, intended for convenience, also means that any alteration to the system has broader consequences if an external actor comes to control it. Which models are at risk. SecurityScorecard identifies several affected ASUS models, many of them old or end-of-life. Among those registered are: 4G-AC55U 4G-AC860U DSL-AC68U GT-AC5300 GT-AX11000 RT-AC1200HP RT-AC1300GPLUS RT-AC1300UHP Some are still used in homes, but others are installed in small offices or businesses that have never renewed the equipment. It should be noted that although ASUS has published security patches and the vulnerabilities are officially corrected, research indicates that the majority of compromised devices are EoL (end of life) or outdated models. This combination of lack of support and obsolete equipment multiplies the risk that the problem persists over time. Where the operation has been detected. The researchers observed that the compromised routers are concentrated in Asia-Pacific, with an especially high presence in Taiwan and other countries in the region such as South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. Active devices were also registered in Russia, the United States and several Central European countries. A map with the concentration of infected devices | Image: A notable element of the report is that no cases were identified in mainland China, which analysts interpret as a contextual clue, although not proof of authorship. The geographical scope confirms that this is not a local phenomenon, but rather a distributed infrastructure. What researchers say about China. SecurityScorecard does not definitively attribute the campaign, but notes that the behavior observed on the routers coincides with tactics previously used by actors associated with China. Researchers speak of “low-moderate confidence” that WrtHug is an ORB facilitation campaign operated by a pro-China actor, that is, a network of compromised devices that act as intermediate nodes to conceal the real origin of future operations. Among the technical parallels, analysts highlight similarities with a campaign called AyySSHush and the use of vulnerability CVE-2023-39780. What to do if I have an ASUS router. Detecting if a device is compromised is not easy, because the changes introduced by WrtHug do not affect its operation. The first thing is to check if the model is among those that have stopped receiving support and install, if it exists, the latest version of firmware available from the ASUS website, following the recommendations of its security notices. As additional measures, it is advisable to disable remote services that are not used, such as AiCloud, review possible unauthorized access and consider replacing the equipment if it is already at the end of its life. WrtHug shows that home routers are no longer a neutral element. They are devices always on, connected and with sufficient capacity to sustain discrete operations without altering their operation. This combination makes them useful pieces within a digital dashboard that previously seemed reserved for more complex systems. Images | ASUS | SecurityScorecard In Xataka | Correos and the DGT are already widely seen, so the scammers have changed their objective: an app to pay for parking

More and more people are accusing Spotify of artificially inflating their listeners. There is no way to check the numbers.

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The doubts about the listening figures that Spotify handles They have always been there, but they have increased in recent times, when the possibility has been put on the table that some of their most listened to artists are actually the result of bot farms. At the moment there is nothing firm on the table, but we do have something indisputable: between this and the artists fleeing in a pack Spotify is going through one of the biggest reputational crises in its history. The demand. In early November 2025, rapper RBX, Snoop Dogg’s cousin, filed a class-action lawsuit against Spotify in California that has opened an uncomfortable debate for the music industry. streaming. According to the court document, between January 2022 and September 2025 an unspecified but “substantial” amount of the almost 37 billion views accumulated by Drake on the platform they would have been generated by botsautomated accounts (who listen to Drake 23 hours a day, something implausible) and traffic from, for example, Türkiye, masked with a VPN. Drake is not to blame. The Canadian artist not listed as accused (the lawsuit points exclusively to Spotify), but it appears to be an indirect beneficiary of this ecosystem where supervision is, to put it mildly, very relaxed. What is relevant is not whether Drake knew about these anomalies or not, but rather an issue that, if revealed as true, would reach the level of structural embezzlement: transparency about listening on Spotify is practically zero. How Spotify (doesn’t) work. The main problem with Spotify’s system lies in the opacity that surrounds its systems to detect fraud. The company has never publicly explained the exact thresholds that trigger its alarms, nor the criteria that distinguish an organic spike in activity from artificial manipulation. This lack of transparency generates detailed situations in this article: while emerging artists see their income blocked by a few thousand reproductions considered suspicious, statistical anomalies of colossal dimensions can persist for years. A lot of fraud. An analysis held in France in 2023 estimated that between 1% and 3% of all streams in the country were fraudulent. If these percentages were extrapolated globally, the losses would exceed $510 million. But Beatdapp, a company specialized in detecting fraud in streaming, dramatically raised that estimate in 2024: at least 10% of all reproductions would be artificial, which implies annual losses of between 2,000 and 3,000 million dollars. Other cases. These demands are not born in a vacuum. During 2024 and 2025, several cases have confirmed that the manipulation of streams and opaque commercial influence are common problems at Spotify. For example, in 2025, the Turkish Competition Authority opened a formal investigation against Spotify for alleged anti-competitive practices. The trigger was allegations from several top Turkish artists that certain performers were getting disproportionate visibility in exchange for direct payments to Spotify editors, all combined with the use of bots to artificially inflate national chart positions. Spotify has launched an internal investigation in what is the first case of editorial corruption reported by relevant artists. On the other hand, in September 2024, a 52-year-old musician living in North Carolina was accused of artificial inflation of streams through AI. Specifically, up to $10 million in fraudulent royalties through hundreds of thousands of songs created with AI that it played with up to 10,000 bot accounts. Smith strategically dispersed the fake wiretaps among tens of thousands of topics to prevent any of them from accumulating suspicious numbers. Spotify admits the fraud operated for years undetected. Header | Amber on Flickr / Alexander Shatov in Unsplash

While we wait for solid-state batteries, the University of Córdoba has an idea for the electric car: human poop

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The automotive industry has launched itself into electrification arms. Be with the hybrids, plug-ins either 100% electricthey all have batteries, and the key to convincing more users of make the jump from your combustion car is guarantee greater autonomy. The solid state batteries are one of the technologies in researchbut there are other very promising ones such as lithium-sulfur, and the University of Córdoba believes that there are two secret ingredients to improve the formula. Urine and excrement. Li-S. They are not new. We have been talking about the lithium sulfide batteriesand while we find the economy of scale necessary for solid-state ones to establish themselves, lithium-sulfur ones are one of the hopes for electric cars. They have twice the real energy density of lithium-ion, sulfur is extremely abundant and economical compared to critical materials such as cobalt or nickel, It is not something that China controlsit is safer because the risk of thermal runaway is lower and the environmental impact is reduced. They are not perfect, since the conductivity is low, the manufacturing processes are not as optimized as those of current alternatives and, above all, the current useful life is very limited: although they are moving forward In this sense, just 300-500 charge cycles compared to between 1,000 and 3,000 for lithium-ion batteries. However, as we say, they have become a promising technology, and the University of Córdoba wants one of the ingredients in the battery to be… poop. Batteries from waste. The Chemical Institute for Energy and the Environment, or IQUEMA, of the University of Córdoba has published a study in which they test the potential of sludge from a municipal treatment plant when converting it into activated carbon. It is an essential material for lithium-sulfur batteries, since it works as a conductor, and they consider it to be the answer to the challenge of optimizing the electrodes of these batteries. As we said, sulfur has advantages, but one of the great deficiencies is its conductivity index. This requires active carbon and other conductive matrices that are expensive to produce. But of course, if this conductive matrix is ​​created from waste that all cities in the world produce no matter what, things change. Villaviciosa de Córdoba. To do this, IQUEMA has used sludge from the wastewater station of Villaviciosa de Córdoba. This plant uses a treatment system that generates a sludge with an interesting composition to carry out the experiment: It is rich in organic matter. Also in metals, nitrogen and phosphorus. Combining them can create a material with a good electrochemical performance index. The process is as follows: Drying: the mud is dried and pulverized. Chemical modification: Potash is added as a chemical agent to make the material more porous. Pyrolysis: the mixture is subjected to temperatures of 800º to convert the organic matter into activated carbon. Mixture with sulfur: thus it is trapped in the active carbon matrix and the last step would be to integrate it into the battery electrodes. Promising. The researchers have found that the activated carbon obtained has ideal properties to be used as a material in these batteries. Its porous structure and nitrogen doping improve the transport of electrons and ions, and the resulting material has a high sulfur content. This allows the battery to have great electrochemical stability. That is to say, one of the big problems of this technology, the low conductivity of sulfur for the cathode, is something that mitigates the matrix created from the Villaviciosa de Córdoba sludge. And because its raw material is what it is, it is easier to recycle than other conventional batteries for which you have to develop tadjacent technologies for sustainability. According to the researchers, it is an avenue worth exploring because “triple the storage capacity of a lithium-ion battery”. “It is a great advance that we achieved from a waste that we considered problematic” – IQUEMA researchers Beyond the poop. Considering the results, it is likely that we will see more studies in the same direction. It is something that solves a double problem: the municipal waste management by converting it into a key material to solve one of the challenges of lithium-sulfur batteries. And the interesting thing is that IQUEMA has not remained only in the sludge of the sewage treatment plant. Previously explored the potential of agroindustrial byproductslike the olive pits and avocados, but also almond and pistachio shells. The problem is that these materials are already in demand in other sectors (such as composting or heating), and that is where the great advantage of human excrement lies: “no one” wants them. Images | ACE, Thomas Freres In Xataka | No, China has not turned off the tap on batteries for electric cars. The reality is much more complex

We believed that Tim Cook’s days at Apple were numbered. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman just completely changed that scenario

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It doesn’t matter where or when you read this. It is very likely that today you have seen more than one Apple product around you. Someone answering messages in a iPhone 17 Pro on the Metro, a student taking notes on their MacBook Air in a Starbucks or someone monitoring their physical activity with an Apple Watch during a getaway to the countryside, to name a few everyday scenes. This massification has a name behind it. Tim Cook. And it is unclear how much longer he will remain at the helm of Apple. a few days ago, the Financial Times published that the company was preparing for Cook’s departure next year, giving rise to the succession that has been mentioned in technology circles for years. Now, Bloomberg maintains that That scenario is not so imminent. How is it possible that two such reputable media point in different directions? Let’s analyze the context to understand it better. Hermeticism and calculated silences. Apple is known for its corporate discretion. Not only does it jealously protect the details of its products, but it also leaves little room for knowing its internal movements. There has been no formal announcement regarding Cook’s possible departure. Everything we know comes from specific statements by the executive himself, anonymous sources and analysis by specialists. In an interview with Wired, published December 4, 2024Cook spoke about his future at Apple. When asked how much longer he saw himself in the company, he responded: “Now I get asked that question more often than before. As I get older, as my hair turns gray. I love this place (…) It’s a privilege of my life to be here. And I will do it until the voice in my head says, ‘It’s time,’ and then I’ll focus on what the next chapter will be like. But it’s hard to imagine life without Apple, because my life has been wrapped up in this company since 1998. It’s most of my adult life. And that’s why I love it.” At the beginning of this year, He also participated in the Table Manners podcast. Asked if he would ever retire, he commented: “Sure, but not in the traditional definition. I don’t see myself at home doing nothing, without intellectual stimulation, thinking about how tomorrow can be better than today. I think I will always have that predisposition and want to work. I mean, I was working when I was 11 or 12… You want to be pushed a little. You want to feel a little uncomfortable… I think I will always want to be pushed.” Sources: essential, but not infallible. Outside of those public statements, everything else depends on leaks. People with some proximity to the company—direct or indirect—who share information with journalists under condition of anonymity. In those cases, the reliability of the content depends on the quality, consistency and independence of those sources. Any media that aspires to maintain its credibility should meet these standards. What the Financial Times says. As we say, on November 15, the Financial Times published that Apple was intensifying its efforts to plan Tim Cook’s succession, and that it was preparing for him to step down in 2026. It is the only concrete—unofficial—date mentioned so far. The article is signed by four journalists, including Tim Bradshawglobal technology correspondent based in San Francisco, and attributes the information to “several people familiar with the discussions” within Apple. It is not a slight conjecture nor an isolated interpretation. What Bloomberg says. Bloomberg reacted days lateron November 23, with the newsletter from Mark Gurman, one of the journalists with the best access to early information about Apple. He does not rule out that Cook will retire one day, nor that his successor could be someone like Jon Ternus. But he does state something key: “I think the news was simply false.” According to Gurman, with the information he has been able to verify in recent weeks, it does not seem likely that Cook will leave office in the middle of next year. He even assures that he would be surprised if Apple faced this replacement within the deadlines indicated by the Financial Times. He sums it up clearly: “Yes, Apple will eventually have a new leader. And yes, it will probably be Ternus. But unless some unforeseen event occurs that forces Cook to resign sooner than expected, that time is not close.” So who gets it right? At this point, one thing is clear: we cannot say that the Financial Times is right. We also cannot guarantee that Bloomberg has it. It is possible that each media outlet has access to different parts of the same conversation, or that their sources are showing different angles of the same scenario, perhaps with their own interests. Our role, also as a medium, is to offer the most complete “photograph” possible so that you can form your own criteria. And, with the caution that we are entering speculative territory, it is reasonable to think that there may be internal conversations about the succession, although not all sources seem to agree on what they know, what they think they know, or what they are willing to share. For now, the only certain thing is that Tim Cook is still at the helm of Apple. An Apple that, since taking office in 2011, has gone from having a market capitalization of 350 billion dollars to more than 4 trillion. More than Alphabet or Microsoft. And in that process, it stopped being a brand perceived as aspirational or exclusive to become an everyday, global and omnipresent presence. Just like what anyone can observe today, from a subway car to a university classroom. Images | Apple (1, 2) In Xataka | Tim Cook has admitted that Apple is “very open” to acquisitions in AI. These are our candidates

an app to pay for parking

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Scams impersonating companies are the order of the day. Those that impersonate the Post Office or another courier company are the most common, but also the best known to the general public. Cybercriminals are still searching new ways to make us fall into their trap and now they have focused on a well-known parking management app: Telpark. what has happened. They tell it in The Newspaper. A new scam is circulating in which they use the image of the Telpark app. According to the Cybersecurity Agency of Cataloniathe scam is spreading email and pretends that our Telpark account is temporarily suspended due to a problem with a non-payment. Through a link to a website that imitates Telpark’s, it takes us to a payment gateway that is actually the scammers’ way of stealing our banking information. Once they have our data, they could charge us more on the card or sell it on the black market. Why is it important. We have been suffering from scams of this style for years and we are more aware, but scammers use new methods to continue adding victims. According to CIS data in 2024almost half of the Spanish population has been a victim of a scam or an attempt and at least 80% have received suspicious messages or emails requesting personal or financial information. According to the Feedzai and GASA reportin 2023 the sum of money stolen in Spain through scams amounted to 7,750 million euros. It may seem difficult for us to fall for a scam like this, but the reality is that it works for them. The micropayment trick. It is one of the most used in this type of scams. When the amount they ask for is small, they make us less suspicious and increase the chances that we will end up making the payment. . It is the case of the famous scam of the package detained at customs in which they ask us for an amount to be able to receive the product. There are other cases where they ask us for a higher amount, such as the scam of the alleged DGT fine. How to avoid falling for a scam. In the case of scams like Telpark, it is advisable to carefully check the email address from which we receive the message, that the message is well written and there are no inconsistencies, but above all never click on any link and much less give our personal or banking information. The most effective scams are the ones that are most personalized to the victim, which is why the son in trouble It has caused havoc in our country. With the arrival of AI tools that can clone voice These types of scams become much more dangerous and it is necessary to adopt new methods, such as have a “family password” that we can use to verify that we are really talking to our family member. Image | Telpark In Xataka | We should not trust any QR code we see out there. The Qrishing scam is growing at a dangerous rate

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