Month: July 2026

Telecinco hits rock bottom in the most spectacular way in a black summer, and signs the day with the lowest audience in its history

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Thursday, July 2, should have been just another day of the summer after-dinner meal. And like a domestic thriller TV movie, it became the worst in Telecinco’s 36-year history. The stars have aligned in the negative to reach the disastrous milestone, since not only is it the icing on the cake of a collapse in audiences that has been brewing for years, but the stratospheric audiences of the World Cup mean that, for the moment, Telecinco is going to have a very difficult time raising its head. Not six. Telecinco closed on July 2 with 5.97% screen share: the worst daily data in the chain since records exist. That same afternoon, Spain beat Austria 3-0 in the round of 32 of the World Cup 2026 and brought more than nine million viewers to La 1, which closed the day with 26.7% share and 63.7% during the match itself. The golden minute arrived at 10:51 p.m., with 10,447,000 people watching Spain advance to the round of 16. Not just football. As we said a few days ago, not only football is to blame: it is that Mediaset’s entire summer plan to recover audience is leaking: that same day ‘Love… or whatever arises!’ it signed a minimum with 5.1% and 439,000 viewers; ‘Summer moves’ fell to 5.8% and 431,000; and that collapse also dragged down ‘El Diario de Jorge’ (7.4%) and ‘Allá tú’ (7.6%). Even the prime time suffered the blow: the series ‘She, damn soul’ scored its minimum number of viewers in its third episode. However, ‘First Dates’ surpassed a repeat of ‘El Hormiguero’, which corroborates Carlos Sobera’s dating show as one of Mediaset’s most reliable assets. Because it was already coming off an ominous June: the month closed with an 8.3% share, the worst June in the history of the network and also the worst month in the regular season, even ahead of the previous negative record, 8.4% in December 2025. Not even heavyweights like the final of ‘Survivors’ or the outcome of ‘Temptation Island’ managed to reverse the figure. Downhill and without brakes. Since the chain he let Paolo Vasile go to reinvent himselfdid not find a substitute for the formats that sustained its leadership, such as ‘save me‘, which also went through its own via crucis. The 2025-2026 season closed with an 8.9% average quota, the worst in its history and the fifth consecutive record to set a new low. He contrast with La 1 It is especially striking: in five years, the public channel has gone from 8.8% to 12.1%, while Telecinco has done the opposite, from 13.1% to 8.9%. Great summer plan. ‘Love…or whatever comes up!’ It debuted on June 22 with 6.8% and 632,000 viewers. ‘The Peace Show’ started with 7.8% and 638,000. ‘Summer moves’ premiered with 7%. None of the three has exceeded 8% since then. Meanwhile, Antena 3 maintains the after-dinner atmosphere with ‘Sueños de libertad’ above 14% on average and La 1 exploits the World Cup to lead a month of June that had been belonging to Atresmedia for 22 months. The figures are unequivocal: it is not that people have stopped watching traditional television. It is a specific problem for Mediaset. The last puff. The fourth piece of the plan remains: ‘From Monday to Friday’, presented by Santi Acosta and Beatriz Archidona, two faces that already lead ‘From Friday’ in prime time on Fridays for three seasons. The program inherits the slot from ‘Jorge’s Diary’ from 6:15 p.m. adds a team of 16 collaborators in which faces from the extinct ‘Sálvame’ coexist (Lydia Lozano, Karmele Marchante, Rosa Benito, Terelu Campos, Antonio Rossi), which points to a timid attempt to recover what was the last great success of Mediaset’s afternoons. His only problem: he faces, in his debut, nothing less than an afternoon of warming up for a game in Spain. In Xataka | Telecinco has ‘El Rosco’ but does not have ‘Pasapalabra’. Antena 3 has ‘Pasapalabra’ but does not have ‘El Rosco’

Musk said. Two years later, it is very deep with its prototype of a mobile phone with AI

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In October 2024, Elon Musk appeared at an election rally in Pennsylvania, and there stated that “The idea of ​​making a mobile phone makes me want to die” because it was “a lot of work”, but then he added that “if we have to make a mobile phone, we will do it.” And that’s what seems to be happening. Prototype in progress. As indicated in The Wall Street JournalSpaceX has shown some investors a prototype shaped like a mobile phone, but designed to change the way we interact with AI. The design would be thinner than that of an iPhone, it would run on its own operating system and would integrate technology from xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company. The tycoon, yes, denied such rumors in Reuters a day later. The chip is made by Qualcomm. Although SpaceX controls a good part of its entire technological ecosystem, there will be necessary alliances here for a good set of components. The most important of course is the SoC, which according to WSJ will currently be manufactured by Qualcomm. They may release it, they may not.. The company has warned investors that the project is in a very early phase, which means that the design of some of the components will end up changing if the idea finally materializes. Of course: it is not even certain that the device will ever be manufactured. Starlink as a mobile operator. SpaceX indicated at the end of June that is preparing the launch of a mobile data service that would take advantage of its Starlink platform. This satellite internet service already allows internet access, for example in rural areas, but Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, indicated to investors that it is considering launching a traditional mobile operator service. More and more rumors. Although Musk denied the news, rumors about a potential mobile device are accumulating. In February Reuters indicated that SpaceX was preparing “a mobile device connected to its Starlink satellite internet constellation that could compete with smartphones.” This mobile phone would not only take advantage of said service, but also xAI’s AI model, Grok, thus reinforcing the ecosystem proposed by Elon Musk with his companies. Apple has too much power. In WSJ they indicated that Musk had already considered creating his own smartphone in the past although he also showed his reluctance about it. The main reason for making your own mobile: become independent from an Apple which according to Musk has too tight control over third-party apps like X. Go for the super app. The underlying idea of ​​the device is not so much to have your own mobile phone as to have a way to boost a potential super app. This idea has been considered for a long time by Musk’s company, which here is trying to have an “application for everything” as is the case with WeChat or AliPay in China. The difference is the role of AI in this device, which would be central to the entire experience. SpaceX is not alone in the AI ​​hardware race. Attempts to propose alternatives to current mobile phones have been underway for some time, but for now this “gadget with AI” that manufacturers aspire to is still not working out. Both the Humane AI Pin like the Rabbit R1 They failed completely in the market, but now there are several companies with that ambition: Go with your glasses and OpenAI with its mysterious device in collaboration with Jony Ive They are two good examples. It remains to be seen what the result of these efforts is, because for now one thing is certain: the smartphone remains unrivaled. Image | Heisenberg Media In Xataka | Apple and OpenAI repeat the bet that sank Humane and Rabbit: screenless wearables in a world addicted to TikTok

“A sedentary lifestyle is an independent risk factor and it is not enough to ‘compensate’ for it with specific exercise”

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There are many people passing by much of her day glued to a chairin many cases because they are working, traveling by car or resting on the couch, with a sedentary lifestyle being a true routine in the lives of many people. Until now we knew that it was harmful, but now science has put exact numbers on how an uninterrupted sedentary lifestyle influences our health, and the most important thing is that it has been seen that it does not help to compensate for it. With a watch. A new study published in PLOS analyzed data from 91,292 people from the UK Bank, and unlike other epidemiological studies that rely on questionnaires filled out by the participants themselves, here they used accelerometry. That is, for years they have monitored the physical movement of all these people thanks to activity sensors on the wrist. After an average follow-up of 12.38 years, the researchers not only measured total inactivity time, but how it was distributed throughout the day. And that’s where the real enemy to our health comes in, which are blocks of uninterrupted time. You have to get up. The central finding of the study does not penalize the simple act of sitting so much, but rather doing it continuously. The researchers concluded that each additional hour of prolonged sedentary behavior, understood as periods of 30 minutes or more without getting up at any time, is associated with a 10% increase in the risk of cancer mortality. That is to say, spending long work days without moving at all is not free in the long term. The solution. Fortunately, the results also show that the human body is incredibly grateful when we break that stasis. Using statistical time substitution models, the study calculated what happens when we swap prolonged periods in the chair for different “doses” of daily physical activity. To give an example, replacing one hour a day of prolonged sedentary lifestyle with low-intensity activities such as walking at a normal pace or doing housework reduces the risk by 12%. But if we go further, changing just 30 minutes of uninterrupted sedentary lifestyle for moderate physical activity reduces the risk by 8%. The most important thing. The most efficient substitution has been found to require very little time, as swapping sedentary time for just five minutes a day of vigorous physical activity reduces the risk of cancer mortality by a staggering 22%. The golden rule. As is usual when analyzing medical literature, and as the authors and independent experts themselves emphasize, we must read the fine print. As it is an observational study, the data show a strong statistical association, but the design itself cannot demonstrate strict and absolute causality, leaving it exposed to certain biases, such as the UK Biobank volunteers usually having a healthier baseline profile than the population average. However, this research does not arrive in a vacuum since it is tremendously consistent with previous scientific evidence and gives robustness to what we already suspected. In 2022, a meta-analysis and umbrella review already warned about the strength of the relationship between a sedentary lifestyle and oncological risk. And at a closer level, a study by the Carlos III Health Institute in 2024 confirmed in the Spanish population that replacing just one hour a week of sitting time with physical activity managed to reduce general mortality. The experts. Nabil Djouder, head of the Group of Growth Factors, Nutrients and Cancer of the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in statement to SMC pointed out that this study “reinforces the idea that sedentary behavior is an independent risk factor and that it is not enough to ‘compensate’ for it with specific exercise.” Images | Vitaly Gariev In Xataka | Spending hours sitting in front of the screen is not only destroying your body, it is also changing your personality

“A sedentary lifestyle is an independent risk factor and it is not enough to ‘compensate’ for it with specific exercise”

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There are many people passing by much of her day glued to a chairin many cases because they are working, traveling by car or resting on the couch, with a sedentary lifestyle being a true routine in the lives of many people. Until now we knew that it was harmful, but now science has put exact numbers on how an uninterrupted sedentary lifestyle influences our health, and the most important thing is that it has been seen that it does not help to compensate for it. With a watch. A new study published in PLOS analyzed data from 91,292 people from the UK Bank, and unlike other epidemiological studies that rely on questionnaires filled out by the participants themselves, here they used accelerometry. That is, for years they have monitored the physical movement of all these people thanks to activity sensors on the wrist. After an average follow-up of 12.38 years, the researchers not only measured total inactivity time, but how it was distributed throughout the day. And that’s where the real enemy to our health comes in, which are blocks of uninterrupted time. You have to get up. The central finding of the study does not penalize the simple act of sitting so much, but rather doing it continuously. The researchers concluded that each additional hour of prolonged sedentary behavior, understood as periods of 30 minutes or more without getting up at any time, is associated with a 10% increase in the risk of cancer mortality. That is to say, spending long work days without moving at all is not free in the long term. The solution. Fortunately, the results also show that the human body is incredibly grateful when we break that stasis. Using statistical time substitution models, the study calculated what happens when we swap prolonged periods in the chair for different “doses” of daily physical activity. To give an example, replacing one hour a day of prolonged sedentary lifestyle with low-intensity activities such as walking at a normal pace or doing housework reduces the risk by 12%. But if we go further, changing just 30 minutes of uninterrupted sedentary lifestyle for moderate physical activity reduces the risk by 8%. The most important thing. The most efficient substitution has been found to require very little time, as swapping sedentary time for just five minutes a day of vigorous physical activity reduces the risk of cancer mortality by a staggering 22%. The golden rule. As is usual when analyzing medical literature, and as the authors and independent experts themselves emphasize, we must read the fine print. As it is an observational study, the data show a strong statistical association, but the design itself cannot demonstrate strict and absolute causality, leaving it exposed to certain biases, such as the UK Biobank volunteers usually having a healthier baseline profile than the population average. However, this research does not arrive in a vacuum since it is tremendously consistent with previous scientific evidence and gives robustness to what we already suspected. In 2022, a meta-analysis and umbrella review already warned about the strength of the relationship between a sedentary lifestyle and oncological risk. And at a closer level, a study by the Carlos III Health Institute in 2024 confirmed in the Spanish population that replacing just one hour a week of sitting time with physical activity managed to reduce general mortality. The experts. Nabil Djouder, head of the Group of Growth Factors, Nutrients and Cancer of the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) in statement to SMC pointed out that this study “reinforces the idea that sedentary behavior is an independent risk factor and that it is not enough to ‘compensate’ for it with specific exercise.” Images | Vitaly Gariev In Xataka | Spending hours sitting in front of the screen is not only destroying your body, it is also changing your personality

There are a lot of people replacing the oil on ham toast with coffee and orange. And oddly enough, it makes sense.

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“You insist on putting olive oil on our Iberian ham toast and this is like putting sugar on top of a chocolate cake.” Víctor Sanchego did not know it, but with those words was about to make thousands of people prepare the strangest breakfast we’ve seen in a long time. How come you don’t have to add oil to the ham? Sanchego’s argument is that “the fat of Iberian ham contains more than 60% oleic acid, the same component of extra virgin olive oil.” Therefore, as happens in a perfumery when we have already worn several colognes, when we mix oil and ham at the same time our taste buds become saturated. “Instead of helping it enhance the flavor, it is subtracting it,” says the ham man. The reality, of course, is more complex. The general idea is true for Iberian ham: adding oil (especially if it is an intense and complex one) blurs the flavor profile and can actually oversaturate the bite. This, however, does not happen with the rest of the hams or with the rest of the oils. It is, so to speak, a borderline case. And a well-known one, at that. The normal thing when we talk about Iberian ham, in fact, is that it is recommended to enjoy it alone or with an accompaniment that cleanses the palate, such as a piece of neutral bread. Nobody usually proposes eating a plate of ham with a glass of EVOO on the side. The striking thing about all this is not that. The striking thing is the coffee with orange zest. Because Víctor Sanchego does not propose to eat ham with white bread, nothing like that. He suggests smearing the bread in a mixture of black coffee and orange peel, toasting it and, now, putting the Iberian ham on top. It’s a strange thing, yes; but we cannot define it as madness either. We said before that the ideal thing is to eat Iberian ham with something that ‘cleanses the palate’ and Sanchego’s idea goes directly there: coffee, due to its dry and intense qualities, allows us to enhance the organoleptic properties of our ham. Is it the most interesting decision? Well, the truth is that I couldn’t say. On a theoretical level, there could be dozens of similar combinations that fit better with our usual organoleptic repertoire; but without a doubt it is bold and many of those who try it (on social networks) They are delighted with the result. And that, without a doubt, is good news. Not because of the ham, not because of the coffee, not because of the orange zest. It’s good news because culinary Talibanism It is a practice that greatly impoverishes our understanding of food. And it limits us for no reason. Being open to ‘playing’ with products as iconic as Iberian ham is a symptom of a gastronomic maturity that, used well, can help us resolve problems in a much simpler way. big problems of the food security of the century. Image | Stephan Coudassot | Nathan Dumlao In Xataka | We’ve been telling ourselves for 100 years that breakfast is the “most important meal of the day.” The problem is that it is not true In Xataka | We’ve gone from “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” to “I grab something quick and stick with it.” And that has problems A version of this theme was published in 2025

After taking the plunge into games in physical format, Sony’s large disc factory is preparing for another future: optical microlenses

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On July 1, PlayStation gave the death blow to physical games. Starting in January 2028, there will be no new games in this format for PlayStation consoles, marking the most aggressive initiative against this format that we have seen since Xbox’s moves in 2013 and Nintendo’s Game Key Card with Nintendo Switch 2. Let the physical format die It is an anti-consumer measure whose announcement comes just when Sony itself demonstrated, removing more than 500 films of your digital store, that users we do not own the digital products that we buy We only buy permission from companies to be able to use it for an indefinite period of time that ends when these companies decide that this is how it should be. These days in networks there was a big question: faced with such a drastic measure, Would Sony back down? Well, everything indicates that it is not because in Austria there is the only Sony disc factory, the one from which the majority of games come out in physical format for PlayStation and one in which its employees would already be receiving training to dedicate themselves to other things. And those things are optical microlenses. The great PlayStation game factory is recycled The proof that PlayStation’s decision does not only affect PlayStation’s own games is in the game box. If you look at almost any PS3, PS4, or PS5 game cover, will specify “made in Austria”. This is because in Austria, specifically in Thalgauis located (now the only one after the conversions and closures of American and Japanese plants) main Sony record factory. Sony’s own games come out of it, but also those of the rest of the companies that manufacture for PlayStation. It is estimated that Thalgau produces 600,000 discs every day, half of them for PlayStation, but as things are about to change, employees are already preparing. According to the Austrian media ORF Salzburgthe 300 employees of the plant found out about the decision on the same July 1 in which Sony announced the end of physical games for PlayStation, but contrary to what we might think, there will be no layoffs but a restructuring. They point out that Sony has invested 30 million euros in equipment to convert the factory into an optical microlens factory and employees are already receiving training for this. According to the report, the idea is that Sony will begin mass production of these microlenses next year. Your application? There are several, and in the age of AI, they can be used as equipment to connect racks, but from the department Sony Micro Optics they point out that an application of microoptics can be for the automotive sector. “Micro-optics is the miniaturization of optical systems and elements that serve to focus and direct light in the smallest possible space. For example, a car turn signal that is projected onto the asphalt.” And this is important because, as we say, since last Wednesday there have been voices that suggest that, with a year and a half left until 2028, Sony may rethink things and turn back. The problem with that thinking is that This is not a decision to be made lightly.and this immediate restructuring of their large record factory shows that the Japanese have been thinking about change for some time. No matter how many signature platforms are in place, it seems that the decision is irrevocable. And also a sample of what happens when you have no competition, since Xbox is neither here nor expected in this area of ​​living room consoles after the failure of their last two machines. And more now with the internal situation they have. Image | sony In Xataka | There are more and more physical video games that are paperweights. It is a tremendous problem for video games as art.

The best offers of -15% from miMediaMarkt, the new campaign with deals on mobile phones, eReaders and much more

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MediaMarkt currently has an active campaign called -15% miMediaMarkt. If we are registered and log in, we can access a series of quite attractive offers that cover categories ranging from mobile phones to eReaders and console accessories. However, this campaign will end on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. There is a lot to choose from, so we have collected the five best offers we have found. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro+ by 322.15 eurosa mobile phone with a good battery, good speakers and a good finish. Kobo Libra Color by 203.15 eurosthe best offer we have seen since the price went up. PlayStation Portal by 211.65 euros (new) or 179.90 euros (refurbished), an accessory for PS5 that has been adding functions since its launch. Google Pixel 10 by 645.15 eurosan all-terrain mobile in its configuration with 256 GB of internal storage. Fire TV Stick HD by 29.74 eurosan accessory to turn almost any dumb TV into a smart one. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro+ During the MediaMarkt campaign we can find many offers on mobile phones, and one of the best has fallen on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro+which has dropped in price to 322.15 euros (before 465 euros). This is the lowest price that MediaMarkt has had on a mobile phone that stands out above all for its 6,500 mAh battery. Its screen is compatible with Dolby Vision and HDR10+, it incorporates good speakers and its processor is the Snapdragon 7s Gen 4, which is not bad at all for the price that the mobile has right now. Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro+ (256GB) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Kobo Libra Color A few months ago Kobo raised the price of some of its electronic book readers (eReaders), such as the Kobo Libra Color which rose 30 euros, from 239 to 269 euros. However, MediaMarkt now considers it 203.15 euros in what is one of the best deals we’ve seen in the store so far. He Kobo Libra Color It is an eReader that stands out mainly for three reasons: its panel is in colorwhich allows us to read comics and magazines. Its screen has a diagonal of seven inches and incorporates buttons on the side to turn or go back the pages, something quite useful to avoid constantly dirtying the screen. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links PlayStation Portal The PlayStation Portal It has been adding features since its launch, and from time to time we have seen it on sale with good prices. Right now it is on sale at MediaMarkt for 211.65 eurosalthough if we want it cheaper it can be bought reconditioned (very good condition) by 179.90 euros. We are talking about an accessory that incorporates an eight-inch screen, includes a control integrated into the sides with the same functions as the DualSense of PlayStation 5 and if you have a subscription to PlayStation Plus Premium You can access some video games through the cloud. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Google Pixel 10 Another good offer on mobile phones has fallen in the Google Pixel 10but not at its minimum storage configuration. The model of 256GB right now it is found 645.15 euros instead of 999 euros. It is a compact 6.3-inch mobile phone that has a good screen and an excellent photography section. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Fire TV Stick HD Amazon has discontinued the Fire TV Stick HD because it has launched a new generation with some changes. However, other stores like MediaMarkt continue to sell it, and at a good price. 28.74 euros instead of 44.99 euros. It is a device that allows you to convert almost any dumb TV into a smart one, as long as it has an HDMI port. It allows access to streaming platforms, has good performance and has a remote control that incorporates buttons with direct access to some streaming platforms. 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. Image | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header), Xiaomi, Rakuten Kobo, PlayStation, Google In Xataka | Best mobile phones 2026. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models In Xataka | Best electronic book readers (e-readers) in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and five recommended models

Selecting all the traffic lights is no longer enough to prove that you are not a robot. Now you have to scan QR codes

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There are those who think that There are no people on the internet and everything is bots.is what is known as dead internet theory. For years, we have used captcha technology to prove that we are not robots, but visual tests and puzzles are no longer reliable proof because AI can skip them without problem. The solution is to make us scan QR codes, but there is an ulterior motive behind it. Scan to verify you are a person. This is what I found this morning when trying to enter a website. My first instinct was to check the URL and all the details in case I was facing some kind of scam, but no. I took out my phone, opened the Google app and scanned the QR to access it. It is the new reCAPTCHA method to verify that we are not a bot. Although this novelty was introduced last monthI had not come across one of these QR until today. An anti-AI test. As we said, AI has managed to solve the most common captcha tests, such as the classic visual tests that ask us to select elements from an image or write the letters and numbers in an image. The solution that Google, owner of reCAPTCHA, has found is to make us scan a QR code with our mobile phone. The function is called Mobile verification” and They describe it like this: “In addition to visual challenges, it includes AI-resistant controls that use a mobile device to scan a QR code and verify human presence and device integrity.” At the moment this function is in the experimental phase and we can still use the visual challenges by clicking on the eye icon, but everything indicates that it will become the verification standard. The real reason. Being resistant to AI is not the only reason for this new method, there is something else that has consequences for many users. With mobile verification, Google has linked reCAPTCHA to Google Play Services making it only work with devices that have a current version of Google services. In practice, this means that users of Android phones without Google, such as Fairphone, GrapheneOS or Huawei phones, will not be able to verify that they are human. In other words: either you use our services or you will not be able to browse freely. No problems on iOS. As they point out in this Reddit threadGoogle could argue that having Play services updated is a security issue, but at the same time they allow the system to work on iOS where you are not forced to install any software. I have scanned the code myself from an iPhone and the only requirement is that the device has iOS 16.4 or a later version, something that almost all iPhones will comply with without problems. This shows that it is not about security, but about controlling the ecosystem and penalizing those who try to escape from it. The danger of QR. During the pandemic, QR code scanning had a golden age thanks to restaurants eliminating physical menus. This caused the QRishing scams, which basically consists of falsifying the QR codes so that they direct us to a fraudulent website. If Google normalizes QR scanning to browse the web, it’s a matter of time before fake codes posing as reCAPTCHA verification start appearing and scammers have a field day. Image | reddit In Xataka | You thought you were solving a CAPTCHA to enter a website. You were actually training an AI

In 1993, no one could find the supposed red ninja from ‘Mortal Kombat’. There was a reason: it didn’t exist yet

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There was a time when the secrets of video games came in arcade machines, magazines, and conversations from someone who swore they had seen something impossible. Around the first ‘Mortal Kombat‘, that something impossible had the shape of a red ninja and a strange name: Ermac. The game had already shown that it could hide characters, so many players continued to look at the screen with the suspicion that there was another fighter waiting to be found. The clue that fueled that search was not born as a character, but as a technical entry within the game itself. Ed Boon, co-creator of ‘Mortal Kombat’, explained that During the development of the first game, the software had sections of code that, in theory, it was never supposed to reach. If that happened, the system incremented an error counter that the team could review on an internal audit screen. To shorten that record, Boon wrote an assembly macro called ERMAC, short for Error Macro. A rumor too good not to end up being true The detail that changed everything was where that counter appeared. Boon explained that the ERMACS number was listed right after the record of times the players had fought Reptile, who was a hidden character in the first ‘Mortal Kombat’. The association was almost inevitable: if Reptile existed and was counted there, Ermac could seem like another secret of the same type. For a player looking at that screen without knowing the code behind it, the name didn’t sound like an internal tool, but like someone. From there, the gap was filled by the collective imagination. Boon summed it up quite clearly long ago in X: rumors about Ermac became legend and some players insisted that they had actually faced him. The important precision is right after, because the co-creator of ‘Mortal Kombat’ cut the story with a short sentence: “They didn’t do it :)”. There was no hidden red ninja in the first game, but rather a misreading that had found the perfect ecosystem to grow. Ermac in ‘Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3’ The most revealing part is not only in the code, but in the trace left by the conversation. Alleged clue linked to Electronic Gaming Monthly dates back to 1993and the rumor continued to appear in forums long after: Mortal Kombat Online discussed it in threads from 2003 and later years. Boon recalled that in ‘Mortal Kombat II’ Reptile stopped being just a hidden fighter and became part of the playable roster, while the game added three other secret characters: Smoke, Jade and Noob Saibot. It was a clear sign that ‘Mortal Kombat’ was still playing with the idea of ​​the hidden, even if Ermac wasn’t there yet. For some players, that was enough to keep the search open a little longer. Ermac in ‘Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3’ The twist came in 1995, when ‘Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3’ finally turned Ermac into a real fighter. Boon explained it as part of a broader decision: for ‘Mortal Kombat 3’ they began to transform some myths into elements of the game, starting with the Animalities, the animal endings of the saga, and in ‘Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3’, the expanded version of 1995, they ended up adding Ermac to the roster. The character that many had searched for ahead of time now appeared as the red ninja that the community had already imagined, but with an important difference: this time he did exist. Ermac in ‘Mortal Kombat 1’ From there, Ermac stopped depending on rumor and began to have a life of his own within the saga. Boon recalled that, over the years, the character appeared in several ‘Mortal Kombat’ games and ended up accumulating history, background and a place within the lore. This evolution does not erase its origin, rather it makes it more peculiar: first it was an internal abbreviation, then an interpretation of the players and finally a fighter with an identity. Few characters summarize the relationship between error, community and canon so well. The last turn of the story came with ‘Mortal Kombat 1‘, the installment developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games in September 2023 as a reboot of the saga. Boon brought back Ermac’s origin at the time because the character was about to arrive in the game’s roster as downloadable content. It also served as the perfect context to present a fighter who had started as an error counter and continued to function, decades later, as a claimant. Images | YouTube Capture (Torne) | In Xataka | Independent analysts agree: “The Steam Machine is an expensive curiosity, not a gaming device for the masses”

It turns out that in France there is a road that the Atlantic floods twice a day. By crossing it, you risk a ransom

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On the Cantabrian coast in the summer it is relatively common for a tourist’s vehicle to end up taking a dip when they park where they shouldn’t, but in the Passage du Gois In France there is no surprise factor: the road sinks when the tide rises, something that happens twice a day. Given the risk, it would be worth considering closing that route and using the alternative Noirmoutier bridgebut there are many people here who have come to play: in 2021 exactly 387,823 vehicles passed by, according to data from the Noirmoutier Tourist Office. If you’re one of those people who ventures out, the landscape is already iconic: the Tour de France has started there on several occasions. Now there is a road, now there is not. The Passage du Gois is 4,125 kilometers long and runs through Bourgneuf Bay, literally in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. On one side is the island of Noirmoutier and the connection with the rest of the continent takes place in Beauvoir-sur-Mer, near Nantes. This infrastructure belongs to the D948 network of the Vendée department. The passage or not is determined by the tides: according to the tidal coefficient That day, the road is covered by between 1.30 and 4 meters of water at each high tide. The Passage du Gois on Google Maps To pass or not to pass, that is the question. Step recommendations from the local tourist office are enough to make you think twice before crossing: if the tide coefficient is high, you have 90 minutes before and after low tide. When the coefficient is low, the margin is reduced so much that it is recommended to cross only at the exact moment of low tide. If you measure wrong, you’re risking it: four kilometers can be fatal. The good news is that Since the 19th century there have been nine safety beacons where you can leave the car and wait for the tide to go out or the emergency services to arrive. Spoiler: every year there are cars that end badly. Everything is signposted, but the authorities They have encountered another enemy unexpected: the GPS, which does not indicate low tides or weather conditions. Be very careful if you are one of those people who follows what Google Maps says to the letter. The movements of the tides in the Passage du Gois. Marine Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service Why build a road there?. Short answer: because nature put it there. Not so short answer: the origin of the Passage du Gois is geological: it was formed by the convergence of two opposite currents, one from the northwest influenced by the Loire estuary and another from the south influenced by the Atlantic. Both are found on the island and slow down there, producing a phenomenon known as wantijthat is, the deposition of particles at that point of collision of the currents, which causes the seabed to rise until it forms that natural back on which the roadway was planted. Building it was not easy or fast. Paving the road lasted five yearsfrom 1935 to 1939, which sounds truly outrageous even though it is almost a century old. The reason is that the works had to be carried out during low tide, which greatly limited the daily work time to two daily periods in a period of about two hours. From then on, the road was passable for vehicles on its already characteristic cement slabs. Since then, several sections have been subject to different paving tests that have never come to fruition. A future that looks very blue black. The Passage du Gois floodable road is neither the first nor the longest, but it is one of the first candidates to disappear in the immediate future. Considering sea level rise projections provided by the IPCC of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will be between 0.38 and 0.77 meters by 2100, with different emissions scenarios starting in 2050. This implies that roads like this will see their safe operating window progressively reduced, making it increasingly unviable and dangerous. In Xataka | “We have six kilometers that have melted due to the heat”: in the face of extreme temperatures, France needs to Spanishize its roads In Xataka | If we already feared about the state of our roads, we have one more reason to worry: the price of asphalt is skyrocketing Cover | Pinpin and Florian Pepellin

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