Month: April 2026

at night and with northern lights

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The mission Artemis II It left on April 2 (peninsular time) after several delays and today, April 4, it is already closer to the Earth than to the Moon, according to the Artemis Real-time Orbit Website” (AROW)a tracker that allows the Orion ship to be followed in real time. And from there the astronaut team can do some fabulous photos of the universe with the iPhones they carry on board or with the cameras, a pair of Nikon D5, as can be read in NASA inventory. and go if they are doing them. Below these lines we see an image of the Earth taken by NASA astronaut and commander of the Artemis II mission, Reid Wiseman, from one of the four windows principals of Orion. The typical image that we usually take when we go on vacation and take a photo from the plane or train window, but on another level. At an interstellar level. Artemis II looking back at Earth. POT But to see the Earth in all its splendor, it is better to take a look at the latest thing that NASA has shared: under the title of “Hello World“, a classic of programming which in this scenario makes all the sense in the world, yesterday, April 3, NASA spread another photo of Reid Wiseman, which the space agency said he took after completing the translunar injection maneuver. Of course, light years from what the US agency has previously shared. And that you can see the outline of the window. The Earth as we have never seen it before We’ve seen many, many images of Earth from space, but this one is truly special if you look closely. One of the most impressive details of the image is that thanks to the angle and distance appreciate two auroras at the same time, the boreal and the southern. Those green ribbons that line the perimeter of the Earth (top right and bottom left, respectively) are our atmosphere glowing as the magnetic shield deflects the solar wind. Just above both there is a very thin layer of orange color: it is the atmospheric luminescence or airglow and it is not caused by the solar wind, but by chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere that release the energy accumulated during the day. But also at the bottom right you can see zodiacal light during Earth’s “solar eclipse”that diffuse, almost ghostly glow with an almost triangular shape that extends across the plane where the planets orbit. It is cosmic dust that shines by reflecting the light of the Sun and that can be seen thanks to the fact that, from the Orion spacecraft, there is no atmosphere to scatter the light or hide the most subtle details of the cosmos. Earth from the perspective of Artemis II. POT On the other hand, this photograph has another peculiarity: the majority of images that we see of the Earth from space are from the daytime side of the Earth, thus achieving a bright photograph of our planet in which the stars are barely visible due to the camera settings (low ISO, high shutter speed and/or closed aperture), but here the Sun is behind the Earth. This means that the Orion crew is looking at the night side of the Earth. For photography lovers: NASA provides EXIF of the image, where an ISO of 51,200 and a long exposure can be seen, necessary to capture the light of cities and the auroras. These are two of the first photographs sent by the Artemis II team, but NASA has a section of the website available where you can see all those who share. In Xataka | NASA has published 96 fantastic posters of the universe that you can download for free in HD In Xataka | NASA has just shared some impressive images of the Helix Nebula like we have never seen it before. Cover | POT

teachers’ lonely struggle to reinvent homework and exams

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“There are jobs and exercises that I see that help me learn something. I do those. But others that seem unnecessary to me… I tell the AI: do this job for me, I copy, paste and deliver it.” Lucía, an intermediate degree student in the field of health who prefers to remain anonymous, tells it bluntly. Last year he started use AI for their jobs. Since then, some she has made, but many others she has not. It is not an isolated case. In many educational centers, generative artificial intelligence has become an everyday tool. ChatGPT, Gemini and other assistants have become normalized among students to do homework, summaries or papers, just as before they did it Wikipedia or search engines. The difference is that now they not only find information: they also write it. From primary to university “They clearly use it,” says Nerea Eguiguren, a professor of Philosophy and History at a high school in Madrid, referring to the use of these tools among her students. At its core it is something widespread, but he describes this use as “superficial”: “They don’t even open ChatGPT. They put the question on Google and the first answer is from Gemini. They copy it and tell you whatever.” At the university the phenomenon does not go unnoticed either. “The use of AI is widespread,” explains Silvia Eva Agosto Riera, associate professor at the Faculty of Education at the Complutense University of Madrid. Students use it to search for information, write texts or correct work. Some responsibly; others, simply transferring what the tool gives them without contrasting anything. Sergio Cuevas del Valle, a doctoral student in Aerospace Engineering at the Rey Juan Carlos University and a teaching collaborator there, agrees, who is sure that his students use it: “The question is, why don’t they use it?” Meanwhile, in other areas of teaching the impact seems more limited. Marta Benegas, a secondary school Fine Arts teacher, notices it every day. “They don’t use AI as much because they basically draw. To draw you need the notebook and the pencil.” When this use appears, it is usually for the same thing as in other subjects: preparing written work. And the impact of AI is not the same in all subjects. In more theoretical subjects – such as language, philosophy or history – its impact is more noticeable, because many of its traditional exercises, like essays or text comments, are precisely the type of tasks that AI can solve with ease. On the other hand, in more practical subjects the margin for “copying” is smaller: drawing, solving problems step by step or practicing procedures requires demonstrating the process. (Unsplash) Lucía has verified this in her most practical subjects and evaluations: “In many cases, if you don’t have a basis, no matter how much you ask the AI, you won’t be able to understand it. You can ask for steps or instructions, but if you’ve never done it yourself, you won’t know.” In primary school the debate is still in a different phase. The age still slightly limits autonomous use of these tools. Belén Álvarez, a teacher at a school in the Canary Islands, admits that she did not even want to mention AI in her classroom until recently. “I didn’t want them to know her because of me,” he says. Their youngest students are eight years old, but half already have mobile phones with internet access. “Honestly, AI doesn’t seem like the most dangerous thing they have access to.” Given this presence almost omnipotent artificial intelligence In the educational field, teachers find new challenges when it comes to assigning homework and assignments. Teaching tries to adapt to the new scenario, which has led to rethinking the way of evaluating what students really know. Has the end of homework and jobs come? In many cases, the reaction has been immediate and direct. Faced with the reality of being able to solve assignments—which were previously assigned as homework—in a matter of seconds with the help of AI, one of the quickest solutions has been to bring those tasks back to the classroom. Nerea Eguiguren did it after detecting it several times. “Before, I sent text comments home in the second year of high school. The third time I saw that they used AI, I changed.” Now, although he continues to send those exercises, they do them in class: “This way I know they can’t use it.” More face-to-face exercises, more oral activities, less homework or more practical evaluations, all these adjustments are repeated at different educational levels. The detection tools of AI too They have become allies of teachers, who use them above all to supervise more theoretical work – although most of the time as a simple support, since they are aware that their reliability is also limited. And when its presence is evident, the consequence can also be direct. “Of course I have suspended jobs due to improper use of AI (…) You don’t have time to suspend the evaluation, but I have suspended many jobs,” says Eguiguren. It also affects the University. (Unsplash) Sergio Cuevas del Valle has also had to “pose everything differently”: “Almost any problem that I may pose as a challenge will have already been posed, and almost certainly, solved. It is very likely that the students could find it even without AI.” For this reason, it is proposed how “AI comes to question even the figure of the teacher, and even that of the students, to the extent that it allows human beings to have no need to accumulate internal knowledge, nor do we need someone to teach it to us.” All of this “underlines the need to rethink teaching at all levels,” trying to ensure that students “work on skills such as the development of intuition, logical thinking and capacity for effort, which were already inherent to ‘homework’.” AI can solve mechanically almost any problem, “but you still need someone to ask the right questions.” To these new … Read more

for whatever reason, it resists nuclear explosions

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China has just landed a project that has been on the table for a decade: that of the first floating island of deep sea research of the world. It looks like an oil well, but it is actually a megastructure that is prepared for everything. And, when we say “everything,” we include the end of the world. Because it is a research center, but also a command center and a nuclear bunker. And it has already raised concerns about possible dual use by China. In short. A few months ago we echoed the China’s plan to formalize this project that has been in the oven for years, but that has not materialized. It was now when, according to the state channel CCTV Newsthe country will begin the final phase of design and construction of the platform. The name by which it has been known until now is the “Deep-Sea All-Wather Resident Floating Research Facility”, and it will basically be a facility that can do everything. The installation. Jio Tong University in Shanghai is in charge of the bulk of the project, a platform that will have a double twin hull of 78,000 tons and scandalous dimensions. We are talking about 138 meters long, 85 meters wide and a main deck located 45 meters from the waterline. He Fujianthe brand new new generation aircraft carrier from China, has a displacement of 80,000 tons. To contextualize. It is semi-submersible and, from the University, they have detailed that it will come to fill a gap that they have detected in the country’s arsenal: that of a research facility that can navigate quickly and remain in an area of ​​operations for prolonged periods. “And, if it reminds us of an oil well, it is because they have been inspired by those facilities, they have combined the design with that of the research vessels and what has come out is… well, what we see in the conceptual image. Investigation. The idea is that the facility can house almost 240 people for months thanks to the backup energy systems and the main objective set out by CCTV News and Jiao Tong University is to explore deep waters and serve as a research field. mining system testingoil and gas prospecting, as well as research into that unexplored ocean floor. Bombproof. But there is a twist. The structure is designed to be a fortress capable of withstanding nine-meter-high waves and category 17 typhoons, the highest for this type of cyclones. It is normal since it will be in areas where the hull can suffer, but what is no longer so normal is that the armor has been designed to resist nuclear explosions. Instead of conventional steel armor, the walls of the complex will be like a sandwich with several layers that will dissipate the shock wave from a nuclear explosion. For construction, it is proposed to use a metamaterial that, under pressure, compresses to create a denser structure than thicker steel panels. The simulations indicated that these walls will resist more pressure than that of a submarine. And that, together with the fact that it will have a command center, has raised some doubts about the possible dual use of the facility. Mapping the terrain. Because the ocean floor has become the new battlefield. We don’t even talk about space, since the United States claims that There has been a war with China and Russia for months for control of space, but the launch of this platform project comes shortly after the publication of some information that reveal how China has deployed dozens of research vessels to map the ocean floor. According to reports published in Reutersdozens of ships have been studying the terrain for years, mapping it and deploying sensors in a strategy to be able to monitor in real time data such as water temperature, salinity, the best prospecting areas and… also everything that moves in that territory. From the United States it has already been raised the voice pointing out that these civilian research vessels “can” collect military intelligence, which represents “a strategic concern.” This systematic mapping, for some military analysts, has a single objective and it is not to find oil wells: it is to erode the advantage that the United States had in the oceanic battlefield.” And a facility like the one they are now preparing with their sights set on 2030 can be a true marine fortress. Image | SJTU In Xataka | Japan has dozens of “forgotten” islands off the coast of China: it is now preparing for the worst scenario

I thought Chinese cars were going to be the new Android. They are actually the new iPhone

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For a few years, the nightmare of European manufacturers has had a specific name: the Android scenario. That Google, or Apple, or Amazon, would turn the car into interchangeable hardware. that the value will migrate to third-party software and they will be reduced to outdated manufacturerslike PC manufacturers in the nineties. That fear has kept them on guard, looking towards Silicon Valley, investing a lot of money in their own connectivity and infotainment systems, trying not to be left out. They’ve been guarding the wrong door. The movement that is happening is not the equivalent of Android. It’s exactly the opposite, at least where it hurts the most: BYD makes its own batteries, your own operating systemand operates its own charging network. Xiaomi does practically the same with HyperOS. The logic is not to create a platform where others monetize but to control every centimeter of the experiencewithout intermediaries. That has a name that we all recognize, and it is not Google. It’s Apple’s. The paradox is that the Android scenario that Europeans feared so much is happening, but it is not being carried out by the big American technology companies, they are building it themselves: European generalists have become what they feared most, without anyone from outside having to impose it on them. What makes the Chinese movement so different is what is noticeable inside the car. Denza, YangWang, Luxeed, Exeed either Xpeng They are brands that three years ago almost no one in Europe even knew about, but that Today they are manufacturing cars with interiors with an attention to detail that is very reminiscent of what happened with the iPhone in 2007.. It wasn’t that the iPhone did more things than the competition (at the time, in fact, it did considerably less than a Nokia). It was that every interaction was thought out, every transition animated, every small gesture had coherence. Rivals had cool features, but Apple had experience that no one matched. Today, sitting in a mid-range or high-end Chinese car and sitting in a German car of the same price is not so much about comparing specifications as it is about comparing philosophies. And the Germans, who are seeing it, are reacting: the new iX3he CLAeither the newly announced i3 They are serious efforts to recover that coherence of experience. But reacting is not the same as taking the initiative. The problem facing the European industry is not that it does not know how to make cars, there is more to it. The thing is that for many years the margin has been captured by those who mastered mechanical engineering, and they learned to optimize exactly that. What they did not learn is that in the 21st century the margin is captured by whoever controls the entire experience: the software, the data, the services, the ecosystem. When they wanted to learn it, they looked at Silicon Valley because there was the model they knew. Until four days ago, no one looked towards Shenzhen, where someone had spent years building something more like Apple than Google: vertical, closed, cohesive, with a speed of iteration that Westerners simply do not have and they already admit it. Nokia also had very good engineers. In Xataka | At 110 km/h and driving every other day: Europe already has its recommendations for the latest oil crisis Featured image | BYD

five LEGO sets for adults who never stopped playing… or collecting

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El Corte Inglés has a good assortment of sections that can be adjusted to what we are looking for, and one of the most curious is Kidultsaimed at both children and adults who like board games, anime or series figures and much more. Of course, LEGOs also come in hereso in this article we have reviewed the coolest ones that the store has. Star Wars Logo – 75407 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Millennium Falcon Now that the Star Wars DayWhat better time to go shopping for that LEGO set that has been on your wish list for so long. There is a lot to choose from in the saga, but one of the most special is the Millennium Falcon (75375). Because? Because of its size, because of all the details it includes, because of the support, because of the identification plate and because it is Han Solo’s iconic ship. Millennium Falcon – 75375 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Star Wars Logo If you prefer something more iconic, there’s nothing like your own Star Wars logo (75407) whose LEGO set has a spectacular design (in fact, it is the one I have). It is larger than it may seem in the photos, the yellow and black contrast is very well cared for and inside hides a wink very particular to the saga, especially to the original trilogy of films. Star Wars Logo – 75407 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iron man If there is a character that has had a great impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is Iron Man. The superhero has the occasional LEGO set, being the Iron Man Bust (76327) one of the latest released. He comes with the iconic MK4, one of the many suits he has worn over the years. Its size is ideal for placement on virtually any shelf and it comes with both a stand and a nameplate and a minifigure. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Harry Potter Sorting Hat Harry Potter is back with the HBO series, so if you feel like enjoying one of the most emblematic wizards in cinema, El Corte Inglés has the characteristic sorting hat (76429). It has a good design, includes a minifigure and a stand with the emblems of each house. Additionally, it comes with a block that emits a total of 31 random sounds. Harry Potter Hat – 76429 The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Hogwarts For iconic the most unsafe school in the Harry Potter universe. El Corte Inglés also has a LEGO set of Hogwarts (76419) which stands out above all for how big it is. It is very well detailed, features the many structures of the school of witchcraft and wizardry and even includes the Chamber of Secrets and the Ford Anglia. 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 | El Corte Inglés and Compradicción (header), LEGO In Xataka | Your favorite series, comics and movies also in LEGO: 15 construction kits ideal to assemble yourself or give as a gift In Xataka | There is a LEGO Star Wars set that I would buy again without thinking twice. It’s wonderful and it’s not expensive.

This cool 3D map of light pollution turns cities into mountains of light

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This 2026 is the year that opens a fantastic period to enjoy astronomical milestones, since the first of the three eclipses planned between 2026 and 2028: it will be next August 12, it will be a historic event in these latitudes (it has been more than a century since the Iberian Peninsula has witnessed a total solar eclipse) and not everyone will be able to see it: It will only be total in a strip. Being in the right place at the right time is only the first step: the next thing to be able to enjoy both the solar eclipse and any astronomical event, or simply to be able to see the stars well and distinguish constellations is total darkness. Or at least, try to be in a place free of light pollution. Getting away from the big cities is the first step as they tend to be the main sources of light, but not the only one: there are many infrastructures that can spoil the experience. Our recommendation if you plan to see the solar eclipse is that you do not leave it to improvisation and be clear about where to go to enjoy it better and here in addition to the map of the National Geological Institute To follow it, it is worth having on hand a good light pollution map. Where the solar eclipse will be seen: areas where it will be total and areas where it will be partial. IGN But does a light bulb next to you bother you so much to see the sky?? Yes, essentially because it is never usually just a light bulb. In fact, it’s not even just too much light. An example: when you approach a city with your car and it is getting dark or it is night, you can see a glow of the sky (skyglow) fruit of the rebound of light against dust particles, humidity and aerosols in the atmosphere, returning as a luminous veil that destroys astronomical observation. The underlying problem is the increase in the brightness of the sky: a star or a nebula does not compete against darkness, but against that background. If the background is brighter, the contrast drops (excepting the distances, it is like cheap TVs with bad backlighting scheme). The heavens are measured by the Bortle scalewhich goes from 1 to 9 where a class 1 sky is the darkest possible, practically a miracle in continental Europe (most medium-sized cities are around 7 – 9). With a class 9 sky you can barely see the brightest stars and the moon. Where not to see the solar eclipse of August 2026 And it does not only affect large cities (in Madrid it can be seen from quite a few kilometers away), but also industrial areas and ports. In these cases, it is also usually permanent lighting without any control. Also the road networks. A picture is worth a thousand words: the map by cartographer and geospatial developer Jacob Wasilkowski and Petrichor Studio called Earth at Night. Earth at night. JWasilGeo & Petrichor Studio This map combines several sources: night light data comes from NASA (Suomi-NPP satellite, VIIRS sensor) and background satellite mapping is provided by Earthstar Geographics along with other commercial providers integrated into Esri’s World Imagery service. The technological infrastructure to render it in 3D is also from Esri, a Californian company specialized in GIS software. Wasilkowski is the one who has put it all together to convert luminosity into topography. Simply put: It has converted the luminosity of NASA’s nighttime images into elevation, so that cities are mountains. The bigger the city, generally the bigger and higher the mountain will be. Note that there are areas, such as northern Italy or the German border with Belgium, that are real garlands. In the Iberian Peninsula, the Mediterranean coast, the Portuguese coast and a point in the middle of everything stand out: Madrid. These are the areas to escape from if we want to see the sky well. Earth at night. JWasilGeo & Petrichor Studio And just the opposite, the valleys are the most interesting areas to observe the eclipse or any other astronomical milestone: they are the dark areas. Although its controls are intuitive, you have options to switch to the satellite layer, you can zoom, pan and rotate. The map is a few years old now, but for those of us who like to observe the sky it is a good idea to always have it at hand. Furthermore, when this map was launched a decade ago it had a great impact on the cartographic community, winning the award GOLD from the KANTAR Information is Beautiful Awards 2019 in the category “Maps, Places and Spaces”, under the name “Earth at Night, Mountains of Light”. And why not say it: it is evocative. After all, it uses real light captured from space to re-sculpt the Earth, letting it be human activity that defines its topography. In Xataka | Solar eclipses visible in Spain: these are the three astronomical events of 2026, 2027 and 2028 In Xataka | Half of Spain waits expectantly for the historic eclipse of August 2026. The authorities are already thinking about the problems Cover | JWasilGeo & Petrichor Studio

Your price increases are illegal and you must return the money. There are those who will receive a 500 euro refund

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We ended last March with news: Netflix the price went up again. It is true that the measure applies exclusively to the United States, but taking into account that it is already its umpteenth time, we know its modus operandi: it is the canary in the mine of a probable global rise that will also affect Europe. And despite saying that it has been the umpteenth price increase for Netflix, it always comes as a bit of a surprise: after all, it is the second price increase in just two years. However, it is the clear trend in the sector. Paradoxically, just a few days later, a court in Rome has issued a historic ruling against Ted Sarandos’ platform: declare Netflix’s price increases between 2017 and 2024 illegal. The sentence. The Roman court has declared that the contractual clauses that allow Netflix to unilaterally modify its prices and conditions of service without indicating a justified reason are void and contrary to the Italian Consumer Code. The ruling covers price increases applied between 2017 and January 2024, that is, subscription price increases implemented in 2017, 2019, 2021 and November 2024 (unless your contractual relationship with the platform was after January 2024). As a consequence, it recognizes the right of those who have a subscription on the platform to a reduction in the current price of the subscription, to the refund of amounts unduly paid and to compensation for damages. In addition, it forces Netflix to publish the content of the ruling on its website and in the main national newspapers. within 90 daysas well as to inform its users. Why is it important. Because it establishes a relevant legal precedent in Europe: streaming platforms cannot raise prices arbitrarily and unilaterally based on generic clauses. It is not that Netflix cannot raise its prices (like any other company), but that it did so without contractual justification, which the court considers an abuse. This ruling lays the foundations to demand from digital platforms more transparency and rigor in their contracts with consumers. Context. The lawsuit comes from the Movimento Consumitori association (Italian consumers), which brought the case before the Court of Rome denouncing continued price increases from Netflix without explanation. Italian law requires that, if a company reserves the right to unilaterally modify a contract (ius variandi), you must specify from the beginning what causes could justify that change. Netflix did not do this: its contracts simply said that it could change the price whenever it wanted without giving reasons, the critical clauses are 3.5 and 6.4. The court considers that giving 30 days’ notice and allowing cancellation is not enough since when someone subscribes to the platform they do not know under what conditions the service may become more expensive. In April 2025 Netflix modified its terms of use linking possible changes to specific causes, such as service improvements, regulatory demands or technological requirements. How it affects users. Each subscribed person will have the right to a reduction in the current price, to a refund of more in that period and to compensation, which according to the Italian consumer association must be made spontaneously, although you can join the class action lawsuit in case that is not the case. The ruling requires Netflix to reduce the prices of its current subscriptions by an amount equal to the illegal increases. We see it better with an example: if you are premium and activated your subscription in 2017, today you pay 19.99 euros but you are entitled to the service for 11.99 euros. If you are a standard customer, you would go from paying 13.99 euros to 9.99 euros. And be careful, because this measure applies both to those who currently have a subscription and to former customers within that period. Up to 500 euros refund. MC lawyers explainPaolo Fiorio and Corrado Pinna, that for the premium plan, the illegal increases applied in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024 amount to 8 euros per month, for the standard plan they add up to a total of 4 euros per month and for the basic, 2 euros per month. Thus, a premium customer who has paid Netflix continuously from 2017 to today is entitled to a refund of approximately 500 euros, while a standard rate customer is entitled to a refund of approximately 250 euros. Italy is the tip of the iceberg. Although the case has been reported in Italy, in other countries on the old continent there are also lawsuits filed against the platform: Netherlands also has a demand similar budding, FACUA reported it in Spain (yes ok still no progress) and in Germany the European Audiovisual Observatory echoes that the courts of Berlin and Cologne have already ruled in the same direction. The basis is the same in all cases: the European Directive 93/13/EECwhich prohibits abusive clauses that generate a significant imbalance between the rights of the company and those of the consumer. Netflix’s reaction. Immediately after learning of the Roman ruling, the platform declared its intention to appeal: “We will appeal the decision. At Netflix, our subscribers come first. We take consumer rights very seriously and we believe that our conditions have always been in line with Italian regulations and practices,” as reported by Reuters. The appeal could modify or even reverse the ruling, so the case is not closed. However, the pressure on Netflix and the reputational damage has already been done. Netflix has always been the vanguard of the sector, so the future of this litigation could mark a before and after in the streaming sector. In Xataka | The best new movies and series to watch in April 2026 on Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max and streaming In Xataka | Netflix’s umpteenth price increase illustrates a reality: streaming is already as expensive as what it came to improve Cover | KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA

There are people so extremely competitive in ‘Tetris’ that they are literally breaking the game

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He ‘Tetris‘ for NES has been in circulation for 35 years. Most players who try this or any of the other home versions still operate it with their thumbs, like in 1989. But in the competitive scene (where the NES port is the most common version), however, the grip of the Nintendo controller is different. And it continues to evolve: for a few years now a new technique has been making it possible for the game’s classic records to be pulverized one after another. So much so that the first human to “beat” ‘Tetris’ did so with this new technique. ‘Tetris’: The End. The NES ‘Tetris’, released in the United States in 1989, has an ending. More or less: upon reaching level 29, the falling speed of the pieces doubles so abruptly that it is considered impossible to react in time to rotate and move them. The score counter also freezes when it reaches 999,999 (the so-called maxout). It’s not exactly impossible to overcome, but it’s difficult enough that it’s always been considered that way. For years, it was considered the ceiling of the game The best players in the world competed in the annual Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) with the goal of accumulating as many points as possible before level 29 stopped them. That was the way to determine a winner: maximum points before level 29. The considered best player in the world was Jonas Neubauer, with seven titles in nine consecutive finals. The controller was held as it has always been done, pressed at the speed that human thumbs would allow, and level 29 was the limit. DAS: the lifelong technique. DAS is the acronym for Delayed Auto Shift and it is the traditional way of playing. This is the standard behavior of the game when the D-pad is held down: although the pieces fall at maximum speed, there is a short delay before the piece begins to move, and that speed is around 10 Hz (ten moves per second). Competitive players who use the DAS technique do not simply hold the button down: they have perfected the pressure times to take advantage of that delay and throw pieces to the side with maximum efficiency. Between 2010 and 2017, the early years of CTWC, DAS players dominated the scene, but the deadly level 29 held everyone back equally. However, as we will see, this form of control has become outdated although today, the tournament has created its own category (the DAS Jonas Cup) to preserve this technique within the official competition. A sign that it is a classic wood technique, but it also indicates to what extent it has been displaced by more modern ones. Hypertapping is coming. This consensus was broken in 2011. Thor Aackerlund demonstrated that level 29 could be overcome with a different technique: instead of holding down the D-pad to take advantage of the delay of each piece, he pressed the controller repetitively and very quickly, pressing the D-pad at full speed. He hypertappingas this technique is known, allows the pieces to move at about 12 Hz, bypassing the DAS delay. Aackerlund thus reached level 30, and the community adopted the technique immediately. Problems and glory of hypertapping. Without a doubt, the big problem with the technique is how physically demanding it is: counterintuitive gripping positions on the controller, continuous muscular effort and, therefore, a real risk of injury. In 2018, 16-year-old Joseph Saelee defeated seven-time world champion Neubauer in the CTWC final using hypertapping. The effect was immediate: in a very short time, the hypertappers They took the records to levels that no one had reached: Saelee reached level 31 in 2018, and for 2020 the best hypertappers They had reached level 38. The ceiling was rising, but it was still a ceiling. The drummer. In November 2020, Christopher Martinez designed a new technique. Instead of pressing one finger on the pad at full speed, he placed one static finger on top of the pad and tapped the back of the controller with the others. When pressing from the bottom up, it was the crosshead that pressed the finger, so to speak. The result was up to 30 beats per second, the technical limit allowed by the framerate 60 Hz of the NES. Or put another way: double what the hypertapping faster. Martinez was inspired by techniques of tapping fast developed by speedrunners. Justin Yu, CTWC 2023 champion, described the principle as “you don’t have to use a single muscle; you use all your fingers to push the controller into your hand.” The ergonomic advantage is important: the hypertapping exhausts, but the rolling It distributes the effort between several fingers, in a way that the players themselves have compared to the way in which pianists and drummers optimize the effort of their arms and hands to reach high speeds. And it’s completely legal in tournaments. Stratospheric levels. The breaking of the invisible ceiling that until the arrival of the hypertapping had been at level 29 moved on. In August 2022, the player EricICX reached level 138, where the colors of the pieces are corrupted due to a bug in the original code: the developers had never planned for anyone to get that far. And then, Willis Gibson, known online as Blue Scuti, only 13 years old and with two years of experience playing ‘Tetris’, reached level 157 in a 38-minute session and the game crashed. He became the first person to “beat” the NES game. The post-rolling era. He rolling It is also changing how competitive players train. Instead of starting from level 1, they work directly from level 29 (which was previously the limit), because if you master the fastest level as your usual starting point, the previous ones lose all difficulty. CTWC co-founder states that, possibly in a few years all the finalists will reach level 28 with the score at the maximum and continue up to 50 without much difficulty. The last frontier. Level 255 was the theoretical … Read more

there is no room for their megayachts

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Jeff Bezos has the Koruan impressive sailboat 125 meters long and 70 meters high that cost 500 million dollars. It sounds huge, but it falls behind if we talk about the superb Dragonfly of Sergey Brin, a 142-meter-long megayacht for which the co-founder of Google paid 450 million dollars. Mark Zuckerberg faced his mid-life crisis not by buying one, but by two superyachts that cost him 330 million dollars: Launchpad and Wingman. The three have several things in common: plenty of money, at least one luxury boat and a mansion in Florida. and a little problem: they don’t fit in the dock. First world problem. We knew that Jeff Bezos’ sailboat is so big that it has already had space problems that almost led to having to dismantle a historic bridge to take it out to the open seabut in Florida it does not fit in any marina in the area, so the solution offered by the authorities after not being able to put it in Port Everglades has been park it next to the oil tankers after not being able to put it in Port Everglades. The big names from Silicon Valley and Wall Street are moving to Florida and bringing with them a nautical competition to see who has the biggest… yacht. Authentic floating mansions. However, the Sunshine State does not have enough docks to accommodate fleets of such caliber: moorings are a scarce commodity, prices are skyrocketing (we are talking about up to half a million dollars a year just to have access to the docking space. As if that were not enough, legal conflicts multiply. Why is it important. Beyond the obvious excesses of the rich, what lies behind it is a geographical redistribution of American economic power: the ultra-rich are abandoning California and New York to concentrate on a coastal corridor that goes from Miami to Palm Beach. And when such an amount of wealth reaches a territory, everything becomes tense (and if not, Let them tell Segovia): the real estate market, infrastructure, services. The ports are just the tip of the iceberg: the saturation of the docks shows that not all the money in the world can buy something that does not exist: more space to dock your ships. There is no room for one more rich person. Miami has several deep water moorings for larger vessels, such as Island Gardens Deep Harborwith capacity for boats up to 170 meters long and are also being renovating ports like Palm Beachin 2022. They are not enough. There are two drivers behind this migration of economic elites: Donald Trump’s presence at Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago has turned Palm Beach into the new epicenter of power in the United States. Being close to the president is always a strategic incentive for businessmen. Taxes. While Florida does not have a state income tax, California instead plans to vote in the fall on a wealth tax on the richest, which has caused celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos move there. Well, I set up my own port. As collect FortuneKen Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel and resident in Florida for three years, obtained permission in November to build a private port in Miami Beach with capacity for nine boats, an art gallery included and space for 300 guests. The reason? Your superyacht of almost 100 meters It doesn’t fit on the dock of your mansionso instead of looking for a place, he wants to build it. In Xataka | Yachts are now a product for the rich: a Chinese millionaire wants you to be able to buy them for $14,000 In Xataka | Technological millionaires boast of ecological awareness. Their superyachts and private jets tell another story Cover | Wikimedia Commons (Conmat13, Daniel Oberhaus), Goal

There are companies that want to install an age verifier

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Already in 2018 we were talking about vaping was becoming popular among teenagers and today, eight years later, things do not seem to have improved. In schools it has become a recurring problem with students carrying their vaper in their backpack as if it were just another accessory. Now there are companies looking for solutions so that minors cannot access their products. Age verification. The concept is very topical in the technological world. In the midst of the debate about whether prohibit access to social networks for those under 16 years of ageage verification systems are presented as a critical element to make this possible. What we did not expect is to find this concept linked to vapers or electronic cigarettes, but it is exactly what some manufacturers of this type of products are considering, as they say in Wired. Biometrics and blockchain. It is the proposal of IKE Techa company formed from the collaboration between the vaper manufacturer Ispire Technology and Chemular, a consulting firm specialized in the nicotine market. Their approach is to use a combination of biometrics, blockchain and a BLE chip integrated directly into the cartridge to guarantee the user’s age. The system works through an app in which the identity document is scanned and a selfie video is taken. This data is verified using an identification service such as Clear or ID.me and, if the verification is positive, the vaper is unlocked via Bluetooth. For it to remain active, the mobile phone with which the identification was made must remain close to the vaper. According to the company’s tests, the system showed 100% effectiveness. The reason. It is not that vape manufacturers have suddenly decided to insure their products, but it is a consequence of regulation. At the beginning of the month the FDA (the body that regulates foods and substances in the US) published a warning draft of the risk that flavored electronic cigarettes pose for young people. Although at the moment they are guides and their application is not mandatory, it makes it clear that this is where the regulation is moving, which is why there are already companies taking steps to protect themselves. Doubts. IKE Tech claims that it showed its technology to the FDA and they loved it, but there are many doubts about it. Speaking to Wired, Stanton Glantz, director of the Tobacco Control Research and Education Center, is not clear that this system will really work and believes that “every technical solution has a way of getting around it.” The truth is that once the vaper is activated, the system does not control if another person is using it, so an adult could activate it and then a minor use it. For Wang, a system that would work is to install geofences so that vapers are deactivated near schools or in prohibited places such as airplanes. Legal loophole. The fact that vapers have been so accessible to younger people is that there was a legal vacuum that did not equate them to tobacco in terms of regulation. He draft anti-smoking law of 2025 finally put them at the same level, which means that smoke-free spaces also include them and their consumption is prohibited for those under 18 years of age. The law is expected to come into force later this year. Flavors and colors. There is also another issue that has attracted the younger audience and that is marketing. Organizations like the WHO wave AECC have warned that vapers have been marketed in countless fruit or candy flavors, with colorful designs and a fresh and striking aesthetic, almost as if they were toys. In addition, strategies such as advertising at festivals or through influencers who held contests and raffles have been used. To this we must add the fact that there is no specific legislation, which means that we find disposable vapers in all types of stores within reach of anyone. According to data from the 2025 Secondary Education Drug Use Survey50% of young people between 14 and 18 years old claimed to have tried vaping and 27% admitted to having done so recently. The problem is still there. Even if the law comes into force and the age verification systems work perfectly, the question remains that They are very harmful to healthwhether they have nicotine or not. When vaping, the lungs are exposed to a wide variety of chemicals such as propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin or flavorings. The argument for vaping is that it is better than the combustion that occurs when smoking traditional cigarettes and there are studies that suggest that this is sothe question is whether replacing an evil with a lesser evil is the solution. In Xataka | The tobacco industry had found an escape route in vapes. And Spain is already considering putting an end to it Image | VapeClubMY in Unsplash

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