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Carrefour is selling off this 50-inch QLED TV, ideal for small living rooms for less than 300 euros

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If you are looking to renew the main television in your home and your living room is small, Carrefour now has a TV on offer that may interest you. Now you can take this smart TV Hisense 50E79Qa model with QLED technology of 50 inches by 299 euros and they give you a coupon with 15% of its value for future purchases. Hisense 50″ (127 cm) 50E79Q TV with AI, QLED, 4K UHD with AI, 60 Hz, Smart TV, HDR, Quantum Dot, Dolby MS12, DTS The price could vary. We earn commission from these links AI optimization and lots of technology at an entry-level price This Hisense 50E79Q TV mounts a 50-inch panel with 4K UHD resolution (3,840 x 2,160 pixels). Its great asset in this price range is the use of Quantum Dot technology (QLED), which guarantees more vivid and precise color reproduction than traditional LED panels. Another interesting addition to this model is the integration of Artificial intelligence. Hisense’s Quad Core processor uses AI algorithms for image scaling, enhancing lower resolution sources (such as DTT channels) and optimizing color and textures in real time. It also doesn’t fall short in film compatibility, as it offers support for Dolby Vision and high dynamic range (HDR) formats. In the connectivity section, it has three HDMI ports compatible with 2.1 features (such as eARC for sound bars, ALLM to reduce latency automatically and VRR at 60 Hz). To this we must add two USB ports, Bluetooth and integrated WiFi. The operating system that gives life to this television is VIDAAa native Hisense platform that provides direct access to the main streaming apps. Finally, in the sound section it incorporates two speakers with a combined power of 20 W RMS and Dolby MS12 and DTX X decoding, to give you a feeling of immersion. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: offer for smart hisense 50E79Q today ✅ THE BEST QLED panel at a bargain price: Getting Quantum Dot technology for less than 300 euros is a rarity. The colors are much more vivid and the contrast is noticeably better than basic LED displays at this price. Modern connectivity: including HDMI ports with 2.1 features such as ALLM (auto low latency mode) and VRR at 60Hz This is excellent news for those who connect consoles. ❌ THE WORST Limited refreshment rate… It stays in the Native 60Hz. If you are looking to squeeze the most out of 120 fps from consoles like PS5 or Xbox Series X, this panel will fall short. VIDAA Apps Ecosystem… Although it has the main platforms (Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, etc.), its application catalog is more limited than that of Google Play or the Apple App Store. 💡 BUY IT IF… Your budget is 300 euros and you don’t want to settle for a screen that looks “washed out” or off, the QLED panel of this model is unbeatable for this cost. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… At home you usually watch TV as a family distributed throughout the living room, those who sit on the sides will see the image with the colors somewhat distorted due to the viewing angles. Some sound bars that may interest you for this TV ULTIMEA 2.1ch Sound Bar for TV The price could vary. We earn commission from these links ULTIMEA 2.1 Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer 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 | Webedia and Hisense In Xataka | Best sound bars in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended models from 99 euros In Xataka | Best home theater projectors. Which one to buy and five recommended models from 299 to 18,000 euros

Tim Cook warns that the impact of AI will cause increases in iPhone prices

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We are in the midst of “RAMageddon.” The RAM memory crisis continues to impact the industry, and Apple knows it well. The company had weathered the storm (relatively) until now, but its current CEO, Tim Cook, is already warning customers: your next Mac, iPhone or iPad could go up in price very soon. Few surprises, many disappointments. The situation is “unsustainable”. The head of Apple granted an interview in The Wall Street Journal in which he noted that price increases are “inevitable.” The company has made great efforts to absorb the impact of the increase in costs in all types of RAM and NAND memory chips, but the limit seems to have already been exceeded, because Cook stated that the situation has become “unsustainable.” Apple prices will rise. Apple has not specified which products will be affected and to what extent, but it already warns that there will be changes to the catalog. cook already warned in April, during the conference with investors, that the shortage would end up taking its toll on them. The future CEO, John Ternus, explained the same shortly after. He who warns is not a traitor, they seemed to want to say. The iPhone, a firm candidate to increase in price. According to industry experts cited in the Financial Times, if Apple raises prices, one of the clear candidates to see that price growth is the iPhone. The company is expected to announce new iPhones in September, which will give the opportunity for these new models to have a significantly higher price than the traditional one from launch. Source: TechInsights How much more expensive? What is not clear is how much more expensive both the iPhone and the company’s other hardware products will be. In The Wall Street Journal they cite estimates from the company TechInsights, which believes that the new iPhones will have a price that will be at least $270 more expensive so that Apple can maintain its profit margin. The iPhone 17 Pro starts at $1,099, and therefore now the price would be close to $1,400. The situation is tragic. Data from TechInsights (in the graph above) reveals how price increases in both RAM and NAND chips in our SSDs have risen in price astronomically since mid-2025. It is estimated that RAM will do so even more in the next 12 months, although it seems that the situation will relax for NAND memories. And the manufacturers make their fortune. Meanwhile, the companies that dominate the memory market continue to do their own thing. Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, Kioxia and SanDisk have managed to grow astronomically on the stock market (the latter two, 4,600% in the last twelve months) and have no intention of drastically increasing their production. There are plans for new production plants, yes, but almost all of them to produce HBM memory chips for AI. Meanwhile, wafers with memory chips for devices for end users will continue to be 15% below demand, they estimate at Morgan Stanley. AI is costing Apple. At the moment AI is not favoring Apple. Their strategy with this technology has been highly criticized and only now have they just launched the new Siri AI thanks to the agreement with Google. It does not seem that this is going to be a sufficient argument to accelerate iPhone sales, especially if they rise in price. It certainly has not been the case in the Android world, let alone the PC and laptop segment: the Copilot+ PCs never managed to catch on after promise a revolution that never happened. Image | European Commission (Christophe Licoppe), Arne Müseler In Xataka | The RAM crisis is so extreme that it has achieved what seemed unthinkable: Apple’s memories are “cheap”

“We have accumulated fuel and increased the probability of extreme fires”

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He climate change and rural abandonment have turned our mountains into powder kegs and, when a large forest fire breaks out, the problem is not only the ecological devastation, but the immense column of toxic smoke that suffocates populations located hundreds of kilometers away, as we have suffered in Spain in recent years. Faced with this scenario, researchers defend a tool that may seem quite strange to other eyes: burning the forest on purpose to create firebreaks. It is validated. A new study published in Science has put on the table the evidence that supports this practice known as prescribed burning. One of the data they collect is that carrying out low severity fires generates an immediate 92% reduction in the probability of very high severity fires occurring in that same place. Far from being a temporary patch, researchers have proven that this “vaccine effect” lasts up to 10 years and extends its protection radius up to 5 kilometers beyond the treated area. The air. One of the perhaps most important findings of the research lies in the air we breathe, since fine particles emitted by large forest fires are a serious risk to our lungs. But with this method, researchers calculate that, in the case of California, burning 500,000 acres a year can reduce the accumulated pollution of these microparticles in the air by approximately 10%. How it works. Víctor Resco de Dios, professor of Forestry Engineering and Global Change at the University of Lleida, sums it up clearly: “The fumes from prescribed burning are much smaller than those from fires.” And the key is in the continuity of the fuel, since when a forest fire that advances without control collides with an area that has been previously treated with controlled fires, its intensity plummets. The fire moves from the treetops to the ground, offering firefighting teams a vital window of opportunity to extinguish it, radically reducing the total smoke emission. In Spain. Scientific rigor requires reading the fine print, and in this case, the geographical context is decisive. The overwhelming data that we have collected comes from the analysis of the coniferous forests of California and as the expert Víctor Fernández García points out for SMC“California is not Spain.” While in the western United States or in the oak forests of Mexico, prescribed burning can be considered at a landscape scale, in Spain its use is currently “very specific” and localized. This is because in our country short and medium term burning requires surgical precision because there are native species such as the Pinus nigra or the Pinus pinaster which are very resistant to fire. But it is useful. This same expert, speaking to SMC, points out that in Spain, after several decades of rural abandonment, “we have accumulated fuel and increased the probability of extreme fires.” That is why, although we are not like California, it does offer a useful warning about these types of practices such as low-risk fire grazing or controlled burns. Images | Michael Held In Xataka | Putting out fires in summer is no longer useful: Spain has an opportunity to prevent them by betting on biomass

Jeff Bezos assures that there is a type of employee who can never be replaced by an AI: inventors

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With saturated selection processes (or directly broken) and the AI conditioning skills that companies demand, there is a skill that Jeff Bezos considers irreplaceable: the ability to invent. The millionaire value this skill above traditional knowledge or experience. Bezos considers that inventiveness is vital to maintaining creativity and innovation in modern companies, ensuring that he himself has applied it to bring Amazon and Blue Origin to their current situation. Lessons from his grandfather. In an interview During the Italian Tech Week 2025 conference that took place in Turin, the millionaire commented that his grandfather was capable of solving any problem on his Texas ranch by himself, without depending on outside help. “He bought a bulldozer for about $5,000 because it was completely broken. We spent a whole summer fixing it. To remove the transmission, we had to build our own crane. And that’s why he had an incredible ability to adapt. He believed he could solve any problem. And I watched him,” Bezos said during his interview. “He did veterinary work with the cattle. He made the needles himself. He took a small piece of wire and heated it with a blowtorch, flattened it, sharpened it and made a small hole in it. Some cows even survived,” he commented sarcastically. That ability to adapt and create practical solutions taught him the value of inventiveness to face difficultiesa lesson that Bezos has also applied in his life and in the management of Amazon. The “inventor” of Amazon. Bezos himself defines himself as an inventor, stating that “it is his fundamental nature. Put me in front of a white board and I can generate a hundred ideas in half an hour.” The founder of Amazon looks for those creative skills in his team members. In an interview In 2012 at the Utah Technology Council, Bezos indicated that “when I interview candidates, I ask them to give me an example of something they have invented.” Obviously the millionaire was not referring to a patent, but to a process, an idea or a solution to a problem that existed and for which he imagined a solution. “You have to select people who like to invent, think innovatively,” said the millionaire. Innovation as an antidote to fear. One of the six fears that have defined Jeff Bezos’ career is the fear of garages. Not in the literal sense of the place but of the symbolic sense of innovation that they have acquired: HP was born in a garage, just like Apple. “Two kids in a garage scare me more than the competitors I already know,” assured Bezos in an interview. The inventive capacity is a lever towards innovation and experimentation, which has been one of the pillars of the business culture that has taken Amazon to where it is today. “Someone who comes to Amazon and doesn’t like pioneering, doesn’t like exploring, doesn’t like going down dead ends that often turn out to be dead ends, will leave soon,” Bezos said in his interview. In his job interviews, Bezos asks: “How can we do A and B? What invention do we need to bring the two together?” That is, value those candidates who do not see the options in black and white, but rather look for new ways to combine and improve processes to innovate. AI has accelerated everything. More and more CEOs and senior officials at large technology companies agree that they are the skills and attitudes, and not the knowledgewhich will make candidates stand out in the age of AI. The current CEO of Amazon, Andy Jassy, ​​pointed out that knowledge can be acquired over time, but what companies need in this era of constant innovation are people who know how to adapt to any circumstance and learn from it. “The biggest difference between the people I started with in the early stages of my career and what they are doing now has to do with how good they were at learning.” According to Jassy, ​​the attitude and talent to innovate It has to come standard. A version of this article was published in November 2025. In Xataka | Jeff Bezos’ Koru measures 127 meters and cost $500 million. It is for sale due to an unexpected problem: parking In Xataka | If your chair limps during a job interview, it’s no coincidence: they’re evaluating more than just your resume. Image | Flickr (iafastro)

Taking too long to change the timing belt is “a death sentence for the engine”

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At this point, it is clear that a car that has all its maintenance in order will end up giving us fewer unpleasant surprises during its useful life. That does not mean that it is not susceptible to failures, but if it is in our power to anticipate its maintenance, the better. And in this aspect there are certain critical elements of our vehicle in which it is preferable not to take risks. One of them is the timing belt, which is perhaps one of the most ignored or postponed parts in car maintenance, and which It can ruin your engine from one day to the next. if not changed to the proper frequency. What exactly does it do? The timing belt is a toothed rubber band that synchronizes the movement of the crankshaft and camshaft, the two main shafts of the engine. Thanks to it, the pistons and valves move in coordination, since the valves open and close at the exact moment when the pistons rise and fall. If that timing fails even slightly, the engine loses efficiency. If it breaks completely, the disaster can be total. Why is its breakage so dangerous? When the belt fails in motion, the motor stops dead without warning. In most modern vehicles, what happens next is that the pistons, which continue to move by inertia, violently collide against the valves. “It is a catastrophic event that can spell the death knell for the engine. The dull sound, followed by the absolute silence of the engine, is the beginning of a mechanical and financial nightmare,” they count from the specialized workshop C3 Care Car Center. When the tragedy ends, we can find bent valves, damaged pistons and, in more serious cases, a cracked cylinder head or a fractured camshaft. And of course, the price multiplies many times when it comes to repairing all that piphostio. Mileage. Most manufacturers set a change interval in kilometers, which depending on the model ranges between 60,000 and 240,000 km. But it is not the only number we should pay attention to, since the time of use also counts. From Rodi Motor they claim If there is no maximum date set in the owner’s manual, the usual recommendation is to check the belt every five years even if the kilometer limit has not been reached. The reason is that the rubber on the belt ages even if the car is stopped, and a dry or cracked belt can end up becoming a time bomb for our car. It will depend on the type of vehicle and car distribution system, but to have a universal reference, Juan José Ebenezer, mechanical expert and content creator, advises change it every 100,000 kilometers or every five years, whichever comes first. If we are already talking about oil-soaked belts from the Stellantis group, Ebenezer points out that “with 60,000 km you are already late”, and that it is normal to change them after 50,000 km. Normally, the workshops will change the complete kit, which includes the belt, pulleys, tension rollers, the water pump and all the hardware for installation. But if you prefer to make sure, it is best to tell them to change the complete kit. When to get ahead. There are specific situations in which experts recommend reducing the change interval between 15 and 25% compared to what is indicated by the manufacturer. Alejandro Pais, managing partner of Pais Automoción and Spanish champion of Group N in 2013 explains that “driving in an urban environment usually accelerates the deterioration of the timing belt. If this is your case, calculate between 20% and 25% earlier than recommended by the manufacturer.” In the end, it is not the same for a vehicle to be constantly exposed to cold starts, slowdowns and constant gear changes from exclusive use in the city, to taking it out more or less frequently on the highway. So if you can afford to change the timing belt in advance, the better. The climate also wears it out. High temperatures are another enemy for the belt. Precisely from Volkswagen Canarias, the brand’s official network on the islands, warn In areas with intense heat and suspended dust such as haze, they recommend advancing the visual inspection, even for engines whose official interval reaches 210,000 km. The same logic applies in areas of extreme cold or high humidity. The Midas chain of workshops also recommends advance the maintenance of this component in vehicles that regularly circulate in extreme climates. Better not to risk it. A preventive change of the distribution kit in Spain ranges between 300 and 1,000 euros depending on the vehicle and the workshop. The repair of an engine damaged by a broken belt can start at 1,000 euros and easily reach 6,000, according to they count from Rodi Motor. In more serious cases, when the damage affects the pistons, cylinder head or camshaft, it is possible that the failure is so serious that the entire engine has to be replaced, and then the cost ends up being exorbitant. So do your car a favor and take care of it. In Xataka | 2,000 million euros and 3,000 stations: BYD’s plan so that charging your electric car takes the same time as stopping for gas

Police intercept a modified electric scooter after a movie chase

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A souped-up electric scooter starred last Saturday a chase through the center of Benidorm after skipping a police check. The vehicle had been manipulated in such a way that it could reach a speed of about 104 km/h, four times above the legal limit, and ended up colliding with one of the Local Police motorcycles that were trying to intercept it. As expected, the driver has been reported for reckless driving. How it all started. The incident occurred during one of the routine controls that the Benidorm Local Police carries out daily on personal mobility vehicles (VMP). Quique Tortosa, spokesman for the body, explained to Radio Sirena COPE that these devices serve to verify that users circulate in the authorized areas and that their vehicles comply with the required technical conditions. In one of these controls, the agents detected a scooter which was moving at a clearly higher speed. When they tried to stop him, the driver went through everything and chose to flee. Drain. Just like they claim According to the media, the scooter traveled approximately two kilometers through several streets in the urban area before being intercepted. During that journey it reached a top speed of 104 km/h, a figure subsequently verified by Police measurement equipment. The chase took place in the heart of Benidorm, and it all ended when the scooter collided with one of the police motorcycles. Image shared by the Benidorm Local Police on networks Inspection. Once intercepted, the agents subjected the vehicle to a technical inspection. That was when the results confirmed that the scooter had been manipulated to be able to greatly exceed the 25 km/h that the regulations establish as the maximum speed for this type of device. He also did not have civil liability insurance or a homologation certificate, two requirements that are now mandatory to legally drive one of these vehicles. The sanctions that fall on you. The driver thus accumulates several complaints: reckless driving, driving a vehicle with altered technical characteristics and lack of regulatory documentation. The fine for carrying a souped-up scooter can reach 500 euros, but the lack of insurance increases that amount significantly, with penalties that can reach 3,000 euros, depending on the case, according to they point in We Are Electric. The scooter was confiscated. A recurring crime. It is not the first nor will it be the last of this type in Spain. Another recent example was the incident in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria last April. Here, just like point In the middle, an electric scooter also reached 104 km/h, with the added peculiarity that the driver also tested positive for drugs. “VMPs are not toys and their manipulation and improper use is not only prohibited, but can put human lives in danger,” counted Tortosa in the middle of all of Alicante. The use of this type of vehicle has become widespread in Spain, and the fact that it is relatively easy to trick them makes them even more dangerous. Cover image | Yiting He In Xataka | The bridge that Seville has been waiting for for decades: 3.5 kilometers over the Guadalquivir and a height that no other bridge in Europe reaches

Threads already boasts 500 million users. The missing figure remains the most important

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Threads was born at the time when competing with X seemed more possible than ever. The old Twitter was going through a period of profound changes under Elon Musk and Meta decided to enter with its own app in a field that X had dominated for years: brief, immediate public conversation supported by text. What was not clear was whether that window could become sustained use, community and real scale. Almost three years after its launch, the company already has an answer to teach the market. The data comes from the Goal itself, which has announced that Threads It has reached 500 million monthly active users in June 2026. The application would have added about 100 million monthly users since August of last year, when it was already around 400 million. It is a huge figure for such a young network and enough to place it in a very different conversation than in its first months. The company led by Mark Zuckerberg has presented the milestone along with several new features, with special emphasis on reinforcing the role of communities within Threads. In its official announcement, Meta maintains that these groups, organized around conversations on topics such as books, basketball, parenting or musichave helped shape the application. That’s why Communities It is now out of beta and adds functions such as a center to find communities, own icons, progress indicators for topics that are close to becoming a community and more recognition for outstanding users. The figures we have and the figures we are missing Part of the explanation is that Threads didn’t have to convince the user to start from a blank page. It’s no secret that upon its initial launch it benefited from a highly optimized growth strategy: the app was able to build on the connections that millions of people already had on Instagram, and some viral Threads posts even appeared on Instagram and Facebook. This advantage helps to understand why its adoption was so rapid, although it does not solve the underlying question: how many of those users have turned Threads into a commonly used app. This pace places Threads in a striking position if we compare it with other large networks, although with an important caution: not all of them were born in the same conditions nor did they communicate their metrics in the same way. TikTok/Douyin reached 500 million monthly active users in July 2018a little less than two years later of the launch of Douyin in China. Instagram reached that barrier in June 2016some five years and eight months after its premiere. Facebook announced 500 million active users in July 2010a little more than six years after its birth, although that communication did not formulate the metric with the same detail as MAU. Threads did it just before turning three years old. There is the missing figure. Meta has given the global number, but has not published the breakdown by country: we do not know what Threads’ main market is, where the growth is concentrated or how many monthly active users it has in Spain. That gap matters because a social network is not only measured by its aggregate size, but by the weight it achieves in each local conversation. And in Spain, without a public figure that allows it to be measured, Threads does not yet seem to occupy a place comparable to that of X, Instagram or TikTok. Some clues help to read this incomplete map, although none replace the official breakdown that we do not have. In its announcement, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg mentions that local communities will start with native language labels in Japan, Korea and Taiwana clue as to where you are putting the focus. Meta claims to be seeing more traction in Asia, especially in South Korea and Japan, where usage time has increased by 80% and 130%, respectively, compared to the previous year. This is useful data, but it is not equivalent to knowing how many monthly active users there are in each country. Images | Goal In Xataka | “Deepfake” calls have become a top-level security problem: Google believes it has the answer

Airra Labs has thought just the opposite

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We have become accustomed to the mouse being a mature, almost closed tool, as if there was little room left to change what we do with it every day. Its design has improved a lot: it has gained precision, better materials, more capable sensors and, in some very specific models, such as gaming ones, a number of buttons that years ago would have seemed excessive. But just look at how we scroll through a page to find a surprising continuity: a finger that pushes, the content that goes up or down and a gesture so assumed that any alternative is born with an obvious disadvantage. First he has to convince us that the habit was not untouchable. At my desk, this gesture is almost always solved by a Logitech MX Master 3Sa mouse designed for productivity that relies on a very precise and comfortable physical wheel to scroll through long documents or endless pages. In the backpack, however, I have a Magic Mousewhich eliminates that wheel and turns the top of the mouse into a touch surface. Both seem natural to me in different contexts, and perhaps that is why this proposal draws attention: it does not try to polish what is known, but rather to change the movement that we take for granted. A mouse to rotate, not to scroll That’s where the Rotary Mouse comes in, Airra Labs’ proposal to change a very specific part of our relationship with the computer. The idea is not to add more buttons or improve the usual wheel, but to replace it with a rotary mechanism integrated into the mouse itself. According to the companythe user places their finger on that piece and turns it as if it were a dial, with tactile clicks and direct control over the speed and direction of movement. The goal is to move more fluidly through web pages, documents, spreadsheets, code or timelines. On paper, Airra Labs does not focus its speech only on speed. The company claims that the Rotary Mouse can scroll up to 2.5 times faster than a conventional mouse, but it accompanies that figure with another equally important idea: more control. Its rotating wheel includes tactile clicks, supports traditional vertical scrolling and, according to its creators, allows you to move with precision by turning slowly or advance quickly by increasing the pace. The ergonomic part comes with the so-called ROM, acronym for range of motion, a range of motion exercise with which Airra Labs says it wants to reduce the tension accumulated in the fingers. When you see it in images, the first thing that appears is not a certainty, but a strange sensation. This circular movement of the finger is not very similar to the gesture we make with a traditional wheel or sliding on a touch surface like that of the Magic Mouse. It may seem uncomfortableperhaps because we have spent years training our hand for something else, but that visual impression has an obvious limit: it does not replace the real experience of use. And that is precisely what is interesting. Sometimes an idea seems strange not because it is poorly stated, but because we do not yet have the necessary habit to understand it. Where the proposal can gain meaning is in those jobs in which moving is not a secondary action, but a constant part of the task. Airra Labs mentions very specific examples on its website: video timelines, long spreadsheets, long documents, code, JSON files and long web pages. In all these cases, the problem is not only getting to a point sooner, but doing so without losing precision along the way. It even proposes the use of the rotary wheel as a kind of small steering wheel for driving simulators. There is, however, a necessary caution: the Rotary Mouse arrives in the launch phase through a financing campaign and we have not been able to test it yet, so it is advisable to keep a certain distance before drawing conclusions. Airra Labs now places its estimated price between 49 and 109 dollarsa fork that will depend on the version chosen. Even so, the idea has something valuable even if it later has to pass the most important test: it reminds us that even the most established gestures can be put back on the table. Images | Airra Labs In Xataka | The trackpad on laptops is a real pain. So Logitech has invented the foldable mouse to put an end to it

the new series from the author who left ‘Stranger Things’ behind with his shocking thrillers

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David Burroughs has been locked up for years for killing his son. And he didn’t. The moment someone shows him a photo that suggests the child could still be alive is the start of ‘I will find you‘, the new series by Harlan Coben, which comes to Netflix on June 18. It is also the first time that, eight years after writer and platform began collaborating, the adaptation is set, shot and produced in the United States. When Netflix signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Coben in August 2018 to adapt 14 of his novels, production in English fell to a British production company based in Manchester. Until this installment, all English-language adaptations had translated the original American settings of the novels into British equivalents. ‘Safe’ took place in the suburbs of Manchester. ‘Don’t talk to strangers’ and ‘Deceptions’, in the north of England. With this new adaptation, Netflix is ​​going to try to continue Coben’s streak of success. ‘Deceptions’ was the most viewed series globally in the first half of 2024 on the platform, with 107.5 million total views, which placed it in seventh place in history among the most viewed English series on Netflix. Already in 2026, ‘On the run’ generated 15.6 million views in its first week and It surpassed ‘Stranger Things’ at number one in the United States. It is clear why they like Coben’s series, in what seems like a template that ‘I will find you’ will also follow with complete certainty: premises that hook you from the first minute, cliffhangers to cholon and continuous shocking revelations. Coben’s novels are perfect for a platform where users devour episodes in one sitting. ‘I’ll Find You’ also has a novelty: the protagonist, played by Sam Worthington, is not only a father who investigates, but also a fugitive pursued by the FBI. A welcome novelty that aims to refresh the Coben style with unexpected twists. In Xataka | If you think that ‘Vikings’ is faithful to Nordic history, sign up for this movie that you can watch for free streaming this week only

In Barcelona, ​​hoteliers have grown tired of the competition from Mercadona’s ‘mercaurantes’. So they are denouncing them

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Until now they might have liked the outlook more or less, but it was certainly clear. Traditional hoteliers basically competed with other members of the trade, restaurant chains, fast food and (maybe) some other food truck. Now that list adds a new rival that has made the bars on their guard: the ‘merchants’a hybrid that allows the customer to choose freshly cooked dishes in their supermarket, pay for them at the cashier and then eat them without even leaving the store. The model is so similar to what they themselves do in their premises that the hoteliers of Barcelona have decided take action. As? Denouncing dozens of ‘merchants’ in the city for intrusion and breaking the regulations. What has happened? What could be expected: that hoteliers have gone from threats to action. After several months questioning the legal reserve of the ‘mercaurantes’ (or at least sowing doubts), restaurateurs have decided to take action on the matter. Their objective: to stop the growing competition from what they consider “low cost restaurants”. Yesterday the Restoration Guild (the association that represents the restaurants, bars and cafes of Barcelona) advertisement the presentation of an administrative complaint against 30 Mercadona stores that, in your opinioncommit two irregularities: a “regulatory breach” and an “intrusion” that harms traditional bars. Gremi has also warned that this will only be his first step. In the coming weeks it will extend the complaint to other supermarket chains alleging exactly the same reason. Is it a novelty? Yes. And no. In December the state association of hoteliers (Hostelería de España) I already recognized that the competition of the ‘mercaurants’ was beginning to be “a controversial issue” and just a month ago its president, José Luis Álvarez Almeida, went further by accusing them of “unfair competition.” The novelty is that the Gremi de Restauració has taken the next step: presenting a formal complaint in which 30 establishments in Barcelona are identified and details the points of the ordinance that, in the association’s opinion, violate Juan Roig’s chain. What exactly are they denouncing? The technicians of the Gremi de Restauraciò remember that Barcelona regulations expressly prohibit “the area between the cash registers and the exit doors” of supermarkets “from being used for any commercial or service activity”, a guideline that they believe is not complied with in the 30 stores reported. “They are catering spaces, conceived and conditioned as such. And proof of this is that they have the necessary assortment: napkins, glasses, cutlery, buckets to separate waste and even microwaves. Some have up to 30 seats,” underlines the association, which recalls that licenses “are subject to rules and limits. The rules must be met and the limits respected.” Has Mercadona spoken? Yes. In statements to The Worldthe Valencian chain has defended that its activity does not go against Catalan regulations: “From the checkout line we are not charging for any service. The commercial activity is located before reaching the payment area.” From his point of view, what he has basically done is adapt “to the rhythm set” by his customers and add extra space in part of his stores: “It is not a restaurant area, but rather a rest area, with different uses: from those who heat a plate and eat it to those who sit down to read the newspaper.” In them, arguesThere is not the same furniture as in restaurants or waiters. Why that crash? Because the ‘mercaurantes’ are becoming a rival increasingly important for hoteliers, who until now were basically forced to compete with other union colleagues, restaurant chains or (perhaps) some other local self service either food trucks. Business lines such as Mercadona’s ‘Ready to Eat’ add a new competitor to that equation. One that also completely hits the model of the daily menu, immersed for years in a deep crisis of profitability. In a Mercadona with this service (and there are more and more of them) a worker can choose their own freshly cooked food, pay less for it than in a bar and eat it later at home, a park or the store itself. Are the dishes at the supermarket of worse quality than those at the corner bar? What the figures suggest is that customers prioritize other issuessuch as the money and time they will save or the flexibility when choosing what, where and when they eat. Is it just theory? No. Although the business model is relatively young (Mercadona’s ‘Ready to Eat’ was launched in 2018) we already have some data that reveals the competition exercised by the ‘mercaurants’ over the hospitality industry. Recent reports from Worldpanel by Numerator show that the sale of prepared meals in supermarkets has skyrocketed 55% from 2022 and that the number of customers who choose to eat in stores does not stop growing: in the last year they opted for that option 1.3 millionalmost double that of the previous year. We also know that there are chains of retail obtaining huge profits through this new activity. In 2025 Mercadona billed 700 million of euros through its ‘Ready to Eat’ section, a figure that rises to 3,000 million if we also include the offer of pre-cooked products (refrigerated, trays…) and the joint business volume in Spain and Portugal. Is this something new for the hospitality industry? No. The Gremi de Restauraciò has already shown on other occasions that it is willing to fight. Since 2019 the entity has in the spotlight to tasting bakeries, businesses that in their opinion violate municipal regulations, exceeding the maximum surface area that they can dedicate to tasting or marketing other products, including alcohol. The group has decided to file a new complaint against 50 bakeries in which you believe this situation occurs. Images | Mercadona, Wikipedia and Simon Karemann (Unsplash) In Xataka | We knew that freezing bread was convenient, cheap and fashionable. What we are not clear about is that it is “so good” for health

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