Month: January 2026

The emoji is now the only safe passage so that a “voucher” does not seem hostile on WhatsApp

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At some point, without anyone deciding, It is no longer acceptable to send a dry message in a WhatsApp group. “Ok” became hostile, “okay” became sharp and a simple “understood” was almost a declaration of someone seeking war. So we learned to quilt: To put the “👍” after the “ok”. The “😊” after a request. The “hahaha” before an opinion that could upset. Not because we felt laughter, approval or tenderness. But because the message without emoji is the message that must be interpreted. And in a culture like Spain, interpreting is dangerous. The emoji has become mandatory emotional punctuation. It doesn’t convey what you feel, but yespoint out what you don’t want the other to suspect. The “😂” rarely means that you found something funny. It means: this is a joke, don’t take it the wrong way, I’m not being rude, I’m still being nice. It is a safe conduct. A social insurance policy. Same with the “hahaha.” No one laughs when writing it, it’s just a tone marker, a way of saying: relax, this isn’t serious, we’re still friends. The more jots, the more eager the attempt to smooth out. “Ha” is dry. “Haha” is minimally polite. “Hahaha” is cordial. “Hahahaha” is nervous. “HAHAHAHA” is desperate. We have built a parallel language to avoid the conflict that never comes. Because there is almost never real conflict. Only the fear that there is. And that fear has inflated every message until it becomes a dance of false preventive emotions. The result is a hollowed-out language. When everything has emoji, none of them mean anything. When everything ends in “hahaha”, the laughter disappears. When all messages are warm, warmth becomes background noise. But we can’t stop. Because the first one to stop putting the “😊” will be the edge. The weird one. The one who “always answers dryly.” In the whatsapp groups Spaniards, cordiality is mandatory. And what is obligatory, by definition, is not cordial. It’s a perfect trap: To show that you are not hostile, you have to overact kindness. And when everyone overreacts, it is no longer possible to distinguish who is really nice from who is simply following the protocol. The emoji, which was born to add emotion to the text, has ended up anesthetizing it. Perhaps the clearest symptom is the “❤️”. A heart. The symbol of love, of deep affection. Today we sent it to confirm that we received a PDF. We use it to close a conversation without having to actually respond. It has become what “sincerely” was to the letters of yesteryear: a closing formula that means absolutely nothing. As the impersonal ‘Merry Christmas’ that any company sends you by email. In a few years, someone will study the WhatsApp groups of this era and believe that we lived in a society of overflowing affection. Emojis everywhere. Constant laughter. Hearts all the time. You won’t know it was the opposite. That we inflated words precisely because we no longer trusted them. That we filled the messages with emotion because we had stopped feeling it. And that “hahaha”, in the end, was our way of saying: I don’t know what to tell you, but I’m still here. Ha ha ha. Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio In Xataka | AI is transforming the relationship we have with our own ideas: we no longer create, we just “edit” ourselves

Intel can’t afford to fail

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Intel has chosen CES 2026 to announce the launch of Panther Lakeand it is not a minor detail. It’s not just about teaching new generation of laptop processorsbut to publicly expose the first platform that tests its most ambitious industrial promise. According to Intelthis inaugurates the arrival of the Intel 18A node to the market and converts a process that had been, above all, a declaration of intent for years into a commercial product. In this context, what Intel is at stake is to demonstrate that it can deliver on its promises when there is no longer any room for delays or explanations. Panther Lake is the code name, but Core Ultra Series 3 is the way the firm led by Lip-Bu Tan He wants the market to understand this generation. With this commercial framing, the company seeks to differentiate it from previous stages and make it clear that this is not a minor iteration. We are looking at a complete platform for laptops, with a common architecture on which different product levels are built, from performance-oriented models to those that prioritize efficiency and price. Intel’s most demanding exam in years As we say, the true anchoring point of Core Ultra Series 3 is Intel 18A, the manufacturing process on which the entire proposal is built. It is about the most advanced node ever developed and manufactured in the United States, and the first to hit the market integrated into a complete family of laptops. This detail shifts the focus from the chip design to the industrial capacity behind it and places 18A as more than just a technical leap. For consumers, the company talks about up to 60% more multi-core performance compared to the previous generation, according to internal tests in Cinebench 2024 at 25 W, improvements of up to 77% in gaming performance in an internal battery of 45 titles at 1080p High, and a NPU capable of reaching up to 50 TOPS for AI loads. To all this, it adds autonomy estimates of up to 27.1 hours streaming Netflix, always under specific conditions and configurations, figures that outline the objective that Intel puts on the table for this generation of laptops. To understand what Core Ultra Series 3 really proposes on the market, you have to look less at the range number and more at the internal segmentation of the catalog. Intel introduces here a clear distinction between the X models and those that are not, with the X9 and X7 being the ones that concentrate the most ambitious configurationsespecially on integrated Intel Arc graphics. Added to this is the H suffix, which is the most reliable indicator of real power, since it identifies chips with more cores, greater bandwidth and higher power limits. This launch is also understood from a very specific competitive key. The product is part of Intel’s attempt to regain ground against AMD in the laptop market, a segment where pressure on efficiency and sustained performance has intensified in recent years. In that context, Panther Lake competes not only for performance, but also for perception, reinforcing the idea that Intel is a solid and reliable option for manufacturers and users. Beyond the numbers and the official discourse, Panther Lake will have to demonstrate its value in very practical aspects. We will have to see how he performs on a day-to-day basis.if the promises of efficiency translate into a consistent experience and if the autonomy holds up in real uses, not just in controlled tests. When do the new Intel Core Ultra series 3 processors arrive? With Panther Lake, Intel is no longer playing in the field of open promises, but in that of specific schedules. Pre-sales of the first laptops with Core Ultra Series 3 begin immediately and their global arrival on the market from January 27. Images | Intel In Xataka | The new Qualcomm chip for PC is a declaration of intent: more intelligence than power

can multiply the performance of the GeForce RTX 50 by six

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At this CES 2026 NVIDIA has forgotten about hardware, but not about innovation. Of course, if there is one word that summarizes its commitment for this year, that is AI. Whether or not you like image reconstruction techniques using artificial intelligence that use the latest GPUs, the reality is that they are here to stay and in what way. And if your thing is also to enjoy games with the best possible quality and high resolution, even more so. Because the GeForce RTX 50 are the standard-bearers (but not the only ones) of the latest NVIDIA installment that has begun to be deployed now and will end this spring: the Deep Learning Super Sampling 4.5, or abbreviated DLSS 4.5, the successor to DLSS 4. Because although the latest generation graphics are the ones that benefit the most from this new technology, there are also innovations compatible with previous series. With DLSS 4.5, NVIDIA promises 4K and 240 Hz gaming with ray tracing thanks to AI. By the way, NVIDIA details that more than 250 titles are already compatible with DLSS 4.0 and that the most ambitious games of 2026, such as ‘Resident Evil Requiem’ or ‘Pragmata’ will also be compatible. The secrets of DLSS 4.5, explained DLSS came from the first generation of GeForce RTX GPU with one objective: that we would enjoy video games with higher FPS even if we were demanding and, incidentally, activate the ray tracing. With DLSS 4.0 they managed to free the graphics card from part of the effort of image rendering in favor of raising the FPS without taking a toll on the quality. DLSS 4.5 goes one step further promising to enjoy games with full Path Tracing at 4K and high refresh rate in a movement that is not a mere iteration, but a profound review of the underlying technology. As we explained in our experience DLSS 4.0the combination of better graphics, fluidity and latency is a holy trinity that cannot be achieved the old way: if we want the best image quality, we have to sacrifice fluidity and latency. If we look for fluidity in abundance, the textures are not going to be as good as they could be. So AI comes into play to make everything possible even if it is by adding invented frames. They are not real, but the experience is so satisfying that it is worth it. The three pillars on which DLSS 4.0 is based are Super Resolution thanks to transformers, multiframe generation and ray reconstruction. He ray tracing In this latest installment it remains as it is in DLSS 4.0, but the first two go up a level with DLSS 4.5. Let’s see where they started and how far they go with the latest technology presented by NVIDIA. The super resolution. The GPU renders the game at a low resolution (e.g. 1080p) to go very fast. DLSS 4.0 AI takes that blurry image and turns it into a crystal clear 4K image. Well, with DLSS 4.5 NVIDIA explains that we will achieve cutting-edge image quality with dynamic generation of multiple frames (up to six times more) to achieve incredible fluidity. The let’s give that we have been able to see show minimal goshting, greater image stability and smoother edges because in fact, it also improves anti-aliasing, the procedure used to reduce the jagged edges of the objects in each frame. In short: it goes directly to the current problem. The secret: second generation transformers. This enhanced Super Resolution is based on a second-generation transformer with improved training, a larger data set, five-fold increased computing power, the ability to analyze many more problematic scenarios than its predecessor, or more intelligent pixel sampling. On a practical level, although the scene is more complex, the reconstruction is much more precise. While it is true that this second generation transformer is a more complex and heavier model, the efficiency of the FP8 format used by the newer series (RTX 40 and 50) softens the impact. In short: that extra intelligence hardly penalizes the latest graphics from the house in terms of speed. Multiple frame generation. With DLSS 4.0, up to three artificial frames were created for every frame drawn by the GPU to make heavy games feel surprisingly fluid. With DLSS 4.5, multi-frame generation is dynamic. Thus, compatible graphics are capable of multiplying this frame invention by four to reach 190 fps or achieve up to six frames for each rendered frame and up to 240 fps. On a practical level, the most interesting thing is that it is capable of maximizing fps depending on the refresh rate of the monitor. That a GPU is capable of moving a game with full Path Tracing at 4K and a sustained refresh rate at a real 240 Hz is a milestone. The graph we see below shows the performance of an RTX 5090 at 4K in several moderately recent games and three different scenarios: natively and with the new DLSS 4.5 dynamic and x6. As can be seen, this image reconstruction technology returns higher performance in all titles, with notable improvements such as ‘NARAKA: BLADEPOINT’. Compatibility and availability. As one would expect given that this launch does not entail a new generation of GPUs (they are expected between 2027 and 2028), each and every one of these new features will be available on the latest graphics cards from the house, the GeForce RTX 50. Below these lines you have a summary table with the main technologies that DLSS 4.5 implements and the graphics families compatible with each of them. geforce rtx 50 geforce rtx 40 geforce rtx 30 geforce rtx 20 Multi frame generation x6 Yeah No No No Super RESOLUTION Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Regarding when we can enjoy these improvements, the option to enable the new DLSS 4.5 Super Resolution function is now operational in the NVIDIA app in more than 400 games for those compatible GPUs. Of course, for the generation of frames x6 dynamics exclusive to the … Read more

dominate in the age of AI and video games

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Officially, CES 2026 in Las Vegas starts tomorrow, January 6, but as usual, some companies have wanted to stand out to capture the spotlight. One of those is an AMD that is pushing its processor division hard and that has stood at the event with three new Ryzen. Not three different processors: three categories. As it could not be otherwise, there are many “artificial intelligence” in the equation. It is something that the company’s latest processors for Consolidated PCslike the Asus ROG Xbox Allythey have made it clear, and that in these new families it continues to be promoted. That said, we are going with all the new AMD processors, including some more industrial ones that are not interesting for us as users, but that says a lot about the state of the technology industry in general and The United States and AMD itself in particular. New AMD Ryzen AI 400 APUs Image | amd First things first: the Ryzen AI 400. It is an APU, a package that integrates CPU, GPU and NPU to process artificial intelligence tasks. This type of units is found in established consoles, laptops and PCs, and this AI is responsible for “inventing” frames per second with tools such as ‘frame generation’ or reconstructing the image with AMD’s FSR and the Nvidia DLSS. In this new family, we see improvements in memory speed, cores and frequency, but what stands out is the performance of the NPU. It has 1.2 times more TOPs than previous Ryzens. Manufacturers are expected to start launching compact laptops and desktops at the end of January this year, and the features of all Ryzen AI 400 processors are as follows: Cores/threads Maximum frequency cache memory speed NPU TOPs GPU CUs Ryzen AI 9 HX 475 12 / 24 5.2GHz 36MB 8,533 MT/s 60 16 Ryzen AI HX 470 12 / 24 5.2GHz 36MB 8,533 MT/s 55 16 Ryzen AI 9 465 10/20 5GHz 34MB 8,533 MT/s 50 12 Ryzen AI 7 450 8 / 16 5.1GHz 24MB 8,533 MT/s 50 8 Ryzen AI 7 445 6 / 12 4.6GHz 14MB 8,000 MT/s 50 4 Ryzen AI 5 435 6 / 12 4.5GHz 14MB 8,000 MT/s 50 4 Ryzen AI 5 430 4/8 4.5GHz 12MB 8,000 MT/s 50 4 Ryzen AI Max+ Image | amd On the other hand, there are the Ryzen AI Max+. They are also APUs that integrate graphics, processor and NPU, but the TDP is higher because they are designed for more demanding tasks such as 3D modeling, video editing and video games with comparable image quality, according to AMD, to what we would have if we used a conventional CPU plus a graphics card. Now we will see the frequencies, cores and bandwidth, but AMD has focused on commenting that the characteristics of this processor allow AI models to run in local mode without depending on the limitations of the cloud. In fact, the model Liquid AI It is the one they mention as local execution and it can be downloaded for free by everyone who has a Ryzen AI processor. And, of course, comparisons are odious, but they have put an Asus ROG Flow Z13 face to face with an AI Max and at MacBook Pro M5 to tell us that the Asus performs 1.4 more in AI tasks, 1.8 more in content creation, has 1.8 faster multitasking and better performance -1.6x- in ‘Cyberpunk 2077‘. Here is the entire family: Cores/threads Maximum frequency NPU TOPs GPU CUs GPU TFLOPS Ryzen AI Max+ 395 16 / 32 5.1GHz 50 40 60 Ryzen AI Max+ 3 392 12 / 24 5GHz 50 40 60 Ryzen AI Max+ 3 390 12 / 24 5GHz 50 32 48 Ryzen AI Max+ 3 388 8 / 16 5GHz 50 40 60 Ryzen AI Max+ 3 385 8 / 16 5GHz 50 32 48 New Ryzen 9000, because not everything is AI Image | amd If the two previous families rely on AI to be able to handle models locally and to improve visual parameters in video games, now we move on to the new Ryzen 9000. These are processors designed for the desktop, and within the new family of Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9we have real beasts with a TDP of up to 170 W and maximum frequencies of up to 5.7 GHz in the most powerful of them: the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. It is a processor with 16 cores and 32 threads with a combined cache of 144 MB and AMD itself is not the one it has used for its comparisons because it is a processor more designed for creating content than for video games. Looking for a greater balance, there is the Ryzen 7 9850X3D. It has 8 cores, 16 threads, a TPD of 120 W and a maximum frequency of 5.6 GHz. This is 400 MHz more than the fabulous 9800X3D and maintains compatibility with the AM5 socket. If you already had a previous processor compatible with that socket, the change is very simple. These are all the new Ryzen 9000: Cores/threads Maximum frequency cache TDP Ryzen 9 9950X 3D 16 / 32 5.7GHz 144MB 170W Ryzen 9 9950X 16 / 32 5.7GHz 80MB 170W Ryzen 9 9900X 3d 12 / 24 5.5GHz 140MB 120W Ryzen 9 9900X 12 / 24 5.6GHz 76MB 120W Ryzen 7 9850X 3D 8 / 16 5.6GHz 104MB 120W Ryzen 7 9800X 3D 8 / 16 5.2GHz 104MB 120W Ryzen 7 9700X 8 / 16 5.5GHz 40MB 65W Ryzen 5 9600X 6 / 12 5.4GHz 38MB 65W Ryzen 5 9600 6 / 12 5.2GHz 38MB 65W And, although it is not new, AMD has recalled that they launched Redstone recently. This is the name they have given to FSR, its image reconstruction technology and pixel generation. Most new games are already compatible with Redstone and it is something that we can see in this video and that only interests you if you have a Radeon RX9000: Embedded APU, the … Read more

Threads has surpassed X in daily users on mobile. The paradox is that this has not changed.

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Threads and X play, in essence, the same game. Short messages, public conversations and the ambition to become the place where the things that matter are discussed. On mobile, Threads is already moving very close to X in daily active users on a global scale, to the point that, on specific days, it was ahead. But when you look beyond the numbers, the feeling is different. The conversation that jumps to the media and public debate continues to be born, almost always, in the same place. The most cited photograph comes from Similarweb data and focuses exclusively on mobile use. That’s where Threads has closed the gap significantly. According to this analysis firm, both platforms converge in very close figures of daily active users on a global scale, around 130 million. In the week with data until September 20, 2025, Threads was ahead of X on three of the days analyzed. Even so, the series as a whole does not allow us to speak of consolidated leadership, but rather of a very tight and localized equality in time. Daily active users on iOS and Android. Threads approaches X on mobile phones globally | Source: Similarweb What does this data measure and what is left out. When talking about daily active mobile users, it is advisable to sharpen the focus. Similarweb accounts daily use on iOS and Android, counting each person only once a day, even if they open the app multiple times. Additionally, any user who performs a minimal action, such as opening the app or logging in, is considered “active.” This metric reflects access habits, but does not distinguish between reading, interacting or publishing, nor does it measure what type of accounts concentrate the activity or what content is amplified outside the platform. Daily web traffic on a global scale. X maintains a very large advantage over Threads in browser visits | Source: Similarweb That balance that appears in mobile use is broken as soon as the focus is expanded. When looking at web trafficthe distance between both platforms is once again very marked. Similarweb data shows that It is not a minor detail, because web access is usually more present in professional contexts, newsrooms and news monitoring. Changing metrics also changes the story the data tells. Information consumption follows another map. When the question is not how many people enter each day, but rather where users get information, the scenario changes. The conclusions of the Digital News Report 2025 of the Reuters Institute point out that The difference is not so much size but function within the media ecosystem. Part of that difference has to do with the type of use. A academic study published in 2024 describes X as a “passive sensor” especially useful for detecting opinion leaders, by combining public visibility, active community and clear temporal traceability of messages. This architecture makes it easier for statements, reactions or controversies to be followed in real time and reused in other contexts. For media and analysts, X not only works as a social network, but also as a tool for observing public conversation. A growth pushed from within the ecosystem. The progress of Threads is largely explained by its integration with Instagram and, in general, with the Meta ecosystem. Direct access from an already massive application reduces barriers to entry and makes it easier for many users to try out the platform without additional effort. That push helps explain why mobile usage numbers have grown rapidly. However, this dynamic does not guarantee that users adopt Threads as a central space for public or informative debate, nor that they transfer there the practices that they currently maintain in X. Not even the recurring controversies surrounding Elon Musk have been sufficient to displace X from its role as an informational reference point. Threads advances in usage and visibility, but the center of gravity of the conversation remains where it was. For that to change, it will not be enough to add users or rely on the Meta ecosystem. It would require a deeper transformation of professional, media and political habits that, for now, is not appreciated. Images | Mohamed Nohassi | Kelly Sikkema In Xataka | Neither board games nor karaoke: ‘Word on Beat’ is the new king of the living room and proof that we prefer rhythmic chaos

We believed that Stack Overflow was essential for programming. AI is proving the opposite

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For more than a decade, programming and Stack Overflow They were almost synonymous. When faced with an error, a question, or a line of code that didn’t work, the gesture was automatic: open the browser, search for the exact question and trust that someone, somewhere in the world, had already gone through the same thing. Today that reflection begins to fail. Not because the problems have disappeared, but because the conversation seems to have shifted. The data suggests that the place where millions of developers asked new questions in public is becoming increasingly silent. Therefore, the value of Stack Overflow was not just in accumulating answers, but in how it constructed them. Each question was left open, debated and refined until the community agreed on which solution deserved to be highlighted. This process turned the platform into a technical thermometer: it allowed us to detect which languages ​​were growing, which frameworks generated the most friction, and where the real problems of modern development were. Over time, that dynamic led many to assume that the software ecosystem as we know it would be difficult to understand without this collective repository. The data that set off the alarms To understand what is happening, perceptions are not enough. The graph comes from Stack Exchange Data Explorer (SEDE)a public tool that allows you to run SQL queries on historical data from the Stack Exchange network. In this case, the number of new ones has been measured questions posted on Stack Overflow month after month. It is an imperfect metric, but very revealing when its evolution over time is analyzed. The fall of Stack Overflow reflected in a Stack Exchange chart The data allows the recent history of Stack Overflow to be divided into fairly clear stages. Between 2008 and 2014, the platform experienced a phase of accelerated expansion, coinciding with its adoption as a global reference to resolve programming doubts. Starting in 2015 and until 2021, it enters a long stage of maturity, with high and relatively stable volumes of new questions. The turning point comes in 2022, when the trend reverses and the number of queries begins to fall steadily, a moment that coincides in time with the public emergence of tools such as ChatGPTa change of context that helps interpret the chronology, although it does not explain it on its own. A historic low: The fall not only continues, but accelerates in the last section. Data from that series shows a decline from around 17,000 questions per month at the beginning of 2025 to approximately 3,800 in January 2026, the lowest level reflected in the graph in its final stretch. This fall marks a before and after, because it no longer speaks of progressive wear and tear, but rather of an abrupt change in the use of the platform. The need for help does not disappear, but it changes location. Compared to Stack Overflow’s open model, AI offers immediate responses adapted to the context that the user provides, with results that may vary in quality and precision. You don’t have to formulate the question well for a broad audience or expose yourself to public corrections. Just ask for it. That comfort does not in itself prove a direct causal relationship, but it fits with the moment when public participation begins to fade. AI enters the workflow: The internal x-ray reinforces what the graph suggests. According to Stack Overflow’s 2025 Developer Surveyconducted among more than 49,000 developers around the world, the use of AI tools already reaches 84% ​​of those surveyed, compared to 76% the previous year. GPT models lead that adoption, followed by Claude Sonnet and Gemini Flash. It is not a marginal technology, but rather a layer integrated into everyday life, which helps contextualize why fewer and fewer doubts are raised in public. OverflowAI and the product pivot: Far from ignoring the change, Stack Overflow has begun to integrate artificial intelligence into its own proposal. OverflowAI is a suite designed to allow semantic searches and AI-generated responses that summarize knowledge already validated by the community. The idea is not to replace human responses, but to reorganize and make more accessible the enormous archive accumulated over years. In a context of falling new questions, the platform tries to remain useful as a point of consultation, although the interaction no longer takes the traditional form of the forum. Integrate into the AI ​​ecosystem: In parallel with the collapse of new questions, Stack Overflow has closed agreements with OpenAI and Google Cloud achieved between 2024 and 2025 that place their content within the flow of development and improvement of language models. These agreements allow the platform’s technical file to be used as a reference to increase the accuracy of the responses. In practice, references to Stack Overflow may appear in some technical responses generated by AI assistants, although this does not in itself imply a stable return on direct participation by developers. With this panorama, the question is no longer whether Stack Overflow has lost centrality, but what it means today to “continue to exist” for a platform like this. Data shows that public questions have dropped to historic lows, while accumulated knowledge continues to have value on and off site. Stack Overflow may stop being the place where you ask questions and become, above all, a silent layer that feeds other systems. What remains up in the air is whether this transformation is compatible with the open spirit that made it essential. Images | Xataka with Gemini 3 Pro In Xataka | As Google enters the AI ​​race, Samsung has opted for a more intriguing move

We are entering an era in which robots with AI are becoming increasingly popular. LG already has its own to help us with household tasks

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LG Electronics has CLOiD officially announcedits first multitasking home robot powered by artificial intelligence, which is being presented to the public for the first time at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. The goal is for this robot to be able to automate a good part of household tasks, going beyond the basic cleaning functions to which current robots are accustomed. Below these lines we tell you all the details. LG’s first robot for domestic work According to LG, CLOiD is capable of performing complex tasks like getting milk from the refrigerator, putting a croissant in the oven for breakfast, and even taking care of the laundry: from starting wash cycles to folding and stacking clothes once they’re dry. The company is demonstrating these capabilities in various domestic scenarios during the technology fair. The robot has two articulated arms with seven degrees of freedom each. The shoulders, elbows and wrists allow forward, backward, rotational and lateral movements, while each hand includes five fingers that move independently to manipulate objects with precision. The torso can be tilted to adjust its height, allowing it to pick up objects from knee height upwards, although not off the ground. An intelligent “head” as a control center The CLOiD top unit functions as a mobile smart home control center. It is equipped with a chip that acts as the robot’s brain, screen, speaker, cameras, various sensors and generative artificial intelligence by voice. These components allow the robot to communicate with people using spoken language and “facial expressions” on its screen, learn users’ living patterns, and control connected home appliances. Integration with LG’s ThinQ and ThinQ ON ecosystem allows CLOiD to work more fully with the South Korean brand’s products, essentially acting as a hands-on smart home hub. Physical AI Technology: VLM and VLA At the core of CLOiD is what LG calls physical AI technology, which combines two models: Vision Language Model (VLM), which converts images and video into structured language-based understanding, and Vision Language Action (VLA), which translates visual and verbal inputs into physical actions. According to the company, these models have been trained with tens of thousands of hours of data on household tasks, allowing the robot to recognize appliances, interpret the user’s intent and execute appropriate actions. The wheeled base uses autonomous driving technology derived from LG’s experience with robot vacuum cleaners and his Q9 model. According to the company, this configuration was chosen for its stability, safety and cost-effectiveness, with a low center of gravity that reduces the risk of overturning if a child or pet comes into contact with it. One more step in LG’s home robotics CLOiD isn’t the only robot capable of folding clothes showing at CES this year. SwitchBot is also showing its Onero H1 with similar capabilities. However, everything indicates that at the moment LG seems to be considering CLOiD more as a concept than as a product that they are going to really sell in the short term. The company says it will continue to develop home robots with practical functions and shapes for household tasks, and expand the application of its robotic technology to conventional home appliances. The ultimate goal, according to Steve Baekpresident of LG’s home appliance solutions division, is to achieve its vision of “Zero Labor Home,” “making housework a thing of the past so customers can spend more time on the things that really matter.” Autonomous robots with generative artificial intelligence are beginning to conquer technology fairs. They are the perfect setting to attract the masses, so it remains to be seen if they end up convincing enough so that in a few years we will see them hogging store shelves. Among other factors, the price will be what decides if the move really pays off. Images | LG In Xataka | The technology industry has been searching for the “next smartphone” for a decade. Now he thinks he found it with AI

Three chains are devouring the supermarket business in Spain year after year: Mercadona, Lidl and Aldi

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From ugly duckling to goose that lays the golden eggs. The white label revolution seems to find no ceiling in the retail Spanish. Until not so long ago, the brands associated with supermarkets carried a stigma in Spain compared to items from manufacturer brands clearly recognized by customers. It was not even strange for words like “Estandado” to be used in a pejorative way. Buying white was synonymous with buying ‘poor quality’‘option B’. Not anymore. Spanish families are increasingly betting on white label. And that is making gold for some of the country’s big chains. What has happened? That the white label is experiencing his particular revolution in it retail Spanish. And that is still striking if you take into account that until not so long ago, firms like Hacendado or Auchan carried a certain stigma compared to their competitors, the brands associated with manufacturers. It’s nothing new. For a long time we have been confirming how the white label is driving some chains of “short assortment”supermarkets that are committed to offering customers a limited selection of items. That is, instead of including a dozen different brands of cookies (or other items) on their shelves, they offer only two or one, among which they include their own brand. Chain Market share in value Difference (PP) compared to the 2024 quota Mercadona 37.0% 0.9 Carrefour Group 12.3% -0.2 Lidl 8.0% 0.5 Day Group 4.7% 0.1 Consum Group 4.5% 0.0 Eroski Group 4.4% -0.1 Alcampo Group 3.6% -0.3 aldi 2.5% 0.4 Bon Preu Group 2.4% 0.0 You save 23% 0.1 Gadis Group 1.7% 0.0 Magnifying glass 1.1% -0.1 El Corte Inglés Group 1.0% -0.2 dinosol 0.9% 0.0 Froiz 0.8% 0.0 Alimerka 0.8% 0.0 Rest of Modern distribution 12.0% -1.1 Why is it news? Because the latest data from 2025 reveal that this strategy is driving some brands to catapult them to unprecedented market shares. This is suggested by at least one recent report from Algori on consumption prepared with data from the first ten months of the year. The study shows that at the end of October the three chains that were gaining the greatest market share (in terms of value) in Spain were Mercadona (0.9 percentage points), Lidl (0.5 pp) and Aldi (0.4). Between the three, they also held a market share of 47.5%, a share clearly led by Juan Roig’s company, which alone holds 37%. DIA and Ahorramás are also growing, while others like Carrefour, Alcampo or Eroski are stagnating or decreasing. Chain % of white label sales 2023 % of white label sales 2024 % of white label sales 2025 Lidl 79.7% 81.9% 80.7% Mercadona 72.9% 74.5% 77.8% aldi 68.8% 69.1% 74.5% Day 54.2% 56.3% 65.1% consumption 33% 35.9% 37.4% Carrefour 29.3% 31.4% 33.3% Eroski 25.6% 28.4% 31.2% Alcampo 21.5% 24.3% 23.8% Why is it important? Because Mercadona, Lidl and Aldi are not just any chains. They are precisely the ones that give the greatest prominence to their own brands. At least according to another recent study from Worldpannel by Numerator, which shows that if we talk about the weight of private labels in total sales, Lidl heads the list with 80.7%, followed by Mercadona (77.8%) and Aldi (74.5%). In summary: the chains that gained the greatest market share in 2025 were the ones that most clearly opted for their own products, a strategy that often arrives backed by aggressive price differentiation. elEconomista.es precise Furthermore, Mercadona, Lidl and Aldi have increased their market shares to record figures. Their 47.5% share is more than two percentage points higher than last year, when they accounted for a total of 45.2% of the market. Everything, they explain from Algori, while the entire sector experiences growth both in terms of volume and value. And what are the forecasts? The sector is optimistic. AECOC, the consumer association, states in one of its latest reports that 44% of companies expect to close 2025 with growth data above 5%. 28% expect to increase their activity, although to a lesser extent, and 11% expect to fall. They are led by Lidl and especially Mercadona, which has been expanding its market share until it approaches or even surpasses 30% thanks to a strategy based on white label, territorial dispersion and ready-made foods. Images | Wikipedia and Vitaly Gariev (Unsplash) In Xataka | Mercadona has found a vein to grow beyond its white label and prepared food: tourism

In 1957 the BBC explained that Italians picked their spaghetti from “pasta trees.” And millions of Britons believed it

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On April 1, 1976, Patrick Moore He entered the BBC Radio 2 morning show to comment on a curious astronomical phenomenon that was about to take place. He explained that, just at 9:47 that morning, Jupiter and Pluto would align with the Earth, producing a gravitational effect that would predictably be noticed throughout the planet. According to Moore, the most (re)known astronomer in England at the time, those who jumped at that precise moment would notice a brief but significant sensation of weightlessness. Just after 9:47 the BBC lines were jammed with people saying that, indeed, they had observed this decrease in gravity. The only problem is that it was all a joke. On April 1 (‘april fool’s day‘) is the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of our April Fool’s Day and Moore’s action was, indeed, an April Fool’s joke. A very successful prank: a woman even claimed that she and eleven other friends had been “dragged from their chairs and orbits gently around the room” as a result of the gravitational phenomenon. In 2008, the British network announced that a colony of flying penguins on King George Islandvery close to Antarctica. In fact, they made a video as you may have seen above. Another very funny one was the ’57 documentary about the “pasta trees” from which the Italians collected spaghetti. the dragons return The BBC has a long history of dabbling with pranks and science, but they’re not the only ones: to the now traditional BJM joke numberwe can add very funny jokes like NASA’s cow spacesuit, the Stonehege forgery by Martínez Ron or the one Nature published in 2015 about the existence of dragons. “Emerging evidence indicates that dragons can no longer be dismissed as creatures of legend and fantasy, and that anthropogenic effects on the global climate may be paving the way for the resurgence of these beasts,” they said in Nature. And, hey, it sounded like a great argument against climate change. In ’96, Discover Magazine published a long report about a new fundamental particle in physics, the bigon, and it was the size of a bowling ball. According to scientists, the only factor that prevents us from identifying them is that they only exist for a millionth of a second. The article ended on a wonderful note: “Is there any chance that bigon is just some kind of ridiculous April Fool’s Day joke, as almost every other physicist says? ‘People are so cynical,’ Zweistein replies. ‘Science,’ he notes, ‘routinely produces findings that seem too wonderful to be believed, and yet turn out to be true.’” But without a doubt my favorite joke was from CERN in 2015. That April 1st, they released a press release with a bang: they had found the “first unequivocal evidence of the Force.” Finally, so many millions invested were useful for something! As the researchers explained, many details were unclear and much remained to be investigated, but the preliminary results They indicated that this new physical phenomenon could be used for “long-distance communications, influencing minds, and lifting heavy things out of reservoirs.” The research was carried out by a research team led by the prestigious Professor Ben Kenobi from Mos Eisley University on Tatooine. So that later they say that scientists are not doing well. In Xataka | “It’s a little scary, but it’s normal”: in Sweden anyone can know how much their neighbor earns and it has been a success In Xataka | I asked the AI ​​any nonsense and now I’m writing a news story about it

War is a video game and the US has the best command

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He US assault to Venezuela has not only been a demonstration of force (above the law), but the confirmation of an intuition that had been floating in the air for years and that the invasion of Ukraine has multiplied: Modern warfare, at least for those who master the technology, increasingly resembles a video game screen. And, in that scenario, whoever has the best command, has the game. War as an interactive spectacle. The capture of Nicolás Maduro was the result of months of surveillance obsessive precision, millimetric rehearsal, and such precise coordination that it allowed Washington to execute one of the most complex operations in its recent history with an almost surgical level of control. From the observation of their routines daily to the exact recreation of their shelter in a full-scale model, everything was designed to reduce uncertainty to a minimum. When Trump gave the final order, he did so knowing that he was not launching his forces into the unknown, but rather activating a script rehearsed to the last second, with cameras, sensors and data links turning the battlefield into an interface controllable from thousands of miles away. The invisible board. The later satellite images The attack on complexes such as Fuerte Tiuna or the La Carlota air base reveal the essence of this new way of fighting. There are no carpets of bombs or indiscriminate devastation, but concrete buildings reduced to rubblespecific warehouses neutralized and air defense systems dismantled without large visible craters. The combination of prior intelligence, precision munitions and mastery of airspace allowed the United States to eliminate critical nodes of the Venezuelan military apparatus as if it were turning off icons. on a digital map. From stealth fighters to strategic bombers and swarms of drones, each platform served a defined function within a plan that was developed in multiple simultaneous layerswithout significant interference and with almost total knowledge of the terrain and the enemy. Images before the US attack Images of the destruction of buildings after the US attack Synchronization to the millimeter. As airstrikes blinded defenses and plunged parts of Caracas into darkness, the videos and analyzes that have been made public have revealed that the US special forces were advancing as perfectly coordinated pieces. Helicopters of elite units entered the city at low altitudesupported by electronic warfare, in-flight refueling and constant surveillance from the air. The assault on Maduro’s refuge, described as an authentic urban fortress, was the climax of a choreography in which every second counted. Even the possibility of having to open armored doors with blowtorches was integrated into the plan, in Trump’s own words. Before the attack After the attack No casualties. The result was a fulminant irruptionresistance neutralized in minutes and the extraction of the objective before the Venezuelan defensive system could react coherently. For Washington, the balance was revealing: no dead soldiers, complete control of the situation and an orderly withdrawal, as if a perfect mission in a digital campaign had been completed. Venezuela, for its part, has reported that the operation left at least 80 dead. The best controls in the game. The episode explains better than any speech why the United States and a few powers play in a league of their own. The key is not only to have more planes or ships, but to absolute integration intelligence, command and control, secure communications, space sensors and rapid intervention forces. Washington is able to gather in real time information from satellitesagents on the ground, drones and reconnaissance aircraft, process it in distributed command centers and translate it into immediate orders for units operating thousands of kilometers away. That ability to “see it all” and act instantly reduces the margin of error to levels that few can match today. Russia or China can deploy brute force or deny entire areas, but executing a capture operation of that caliber, in a foreign capital, with such precision and without assuming significant losses, remains a privilege. almost exclusive of the United States. The final message. If you want, the attack on Venezuela has left an uncomfortable lesson for the rest of the world. The war of the 21st century is not always decided in large battles or long fronts, but in control roomsdata flows and decisions made in front of screens that condense chaos into understandable symbols. For those who master this technology, combat becomes a succession of calculated actionswhere one’s own human risk is minimized and the adversary barely has room to respond. In other words: the attack on Caracas has shown that, when it comes to this type of war, the great powers not only play another game, but also have the best controls, the complete map and the saved game before even starting. Image | Vantor In Xataka | For 150 aircraft to bomb Venezuela, the US used one of the most lethal tactics of the war: gunboat diplomacy In Xataka | Someone bet $30,000 that Maduro would fall the night before he fell. He has won $400,000

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