Mobile Tech & Gadgets

How to turn your old mobile into a chromecast

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Let’s explain How to turn your Android mobile into a chromecastso that if you have an old one that you do not use you can give it a second life. Thus, in the event that you do not have Chromecast or intelligent TV with this function, you can give your TV to send content, and if your chromecast does not work, you can also get out of the way. Let’s start the article explaining you What are the requirements so that your mobile can become a Chromecast. And then, we will briefly explain how to proceed to connect it to the TV and make it fulfill that function. What are the requirements To convert your Android mobile into a chromect, you will need to support HDMI output, for which you will need that MHL standard support. This standard is now missing, but years ago you could find it with old high -end mobiles. To check if your mobile is compatible, you can use the app MHL vintor, Available on Google Play. You will also need your mobile to have an operating system equal to or above Android 4.1. In addition to this, you will need An OTG cable that passes from USB-C to HDMIto connect it to the USB-C charger of the mobile and that at the other end has an HDMI that you can connect to TV. These cables are not expensiveand can cost about 15 or 20 euros. But before throwing yourself, first check if you want to use MHL. Finally, what you need is Install the application Punishmentwhat can you download for free In the Google Play Store. In the link we have put the test version that only allows streaming for a few minutes. But if then you see that everything works then you can pay the 4.79 euros that costs the full version of the app. Turn your Android into Chromecast Once you have all the requirements in order and all the verifications made, you have to Install and configure the app of Punishment. Simply install it, and then be granted the permits you ask you when you open it for the first time. The app will allow you to change the name of the device and little else, simply make sure your two options are activated. Once you have the app open and configured, the message will appear on your screen Ready to cast. When that is like that, Connect your mobile to TV With the cable we have mentioned before. On the one hand, the mobile connects the USB-C end of the cable, and on the other connects the HDMI to the TV connector. Now, on TV you have to click on the button where you choose the entrance source, where you choose what you want to see, and choose the HDMI option where you have the mobile. This is the same as you would have to do if you had a real chromecast connected. Once you do, you will start watching the mobile screen on TV. And now, all you have to do is enter YouTube or any application compatible with your main mobile, start reproducing content and Press on the send button to Chromecast. When you do, identify the mobile you are using by the name you have configured, and choose it to send the content. In Xataka Basics | Google TV vs chromect: differences and what types of device are each

The sugary drinks tax has been a resounding success. And there are those who want to extend it now to salt

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At the beginning of the week, Chris Hilson, a professor at Reading University, brought together the press and presented The most ambitious report which had been done to analyze the United Kingdom sugar tax. His data were begged: since the tax was introduced, the sugar content in the drinks 44% has been reduced. However, Hilson doesn’t want to stay there. Why not use this approach to improve food, address the obesity epidemic and promote a healthy and sustainable diet? Why not launch, for example, a salt tax? The salt? Indeed. Salt has been in the spotlight of doctors, nutritionists and health researchers for many years. And rightly: Reducing salt intake is one of the simpler and more profitable ways to reduce the incidence of diseases such as arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease or strokes. The problem is that we don’t even know how much salt we consume. And we don’t know because it is very difficult to know: According to the surveys availableapproximately 70% of the salt consumed by Western populations comes from processed foods. The “approximately” is key. It is not easy to measure at the individual level and not even biometric analyzes (such as urine) are very precise when determining consumption. But we know that, if we discount the effect of other critical factors, add salt to meals on the table It is related With a reduction of more than two years life expectancy in men and about a year and a half for women. It is not, seen what is seen, something lower. But what can we do? There it enters Hilson’s idea: “It is vital to extend sugar tax to all processed foods. The current tax has reduced sugar in soft drinks, but we need to see the same success in products such as milkshakes, cookies, yogurts and cereals for breakfast to improve public health,” said. In the background, according to your team’s data, well -designed regulations in the food sector in general could translate into “a healthier environment, as well as a healthier population.” A tax that always ends up. It is curious because salt taxes have historically been one of the most unpopular taxes. From French gabela to the Indian nationalist movementsSalt has played a very important role in the formation of contemporary political societies. It is true that the current tax that is being considered in places like the United Kingdom It is very different to those who disappeared throughout the twentieth century. The importance and scarcity of this resource changed radically with our technical capacity. However, it is still curious that this compound is in the pillory. As epidemics like obesity grow, more and more experts They believe that states They should take action on the matter. Above all, in well -being systems such as Europeans. The evidence shows that These types of interventions are effective. However, we are still taking the first steps in this field. Image | Timo Volz / Victoriano Izquierdo In Xataka | We have a problem with our salt consumption. And there are several alternative ingredients to remedy it

The willpower has failed in the adoption of habits, but the brain has a better trick: personal automation

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Bet everything to willpower when you want to acquire a new habit It does not usually work. That I knew San Mateo: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” James Clear, author of the Best Seller ‘Atomic habits‘He already warns that leaving the acquisition of habits to willpower is a decision that brings you a little more to failure. Our brain is not designed to constantly fight against what is comfortable and known. Clear bet for creating systems that lead to the execution of the new habits that you want to acquire to achieve your goals without having to depend on discipline and constancy. However, there is a method that can simplify it much more: Personal automation. Habit, what a habit? One of the best strategies for acquire a new habit Without depending on willpower, it is simply not having to think that there is that new habit. That is to say, Automate habit In the same way you don’t think when you wash your teeth or what breakfasts daily. An example of personal automation can be the one used by Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg (before Your style change) in which They had adapted their wardrobe to reduce the number of decisions they made up to date, and thus reduce their mental load. Neither Jobs nor Zuckerberg were planted every day before their closet thinking about what they were going to put that day, they simply opened the closet and took a clothing that was already previously selected, without mental debate. In fact, the brain has a natural tendency to procedure. The creation of habits is based on cerebral plasticity or, which is the same, the brain learns to perform a task Based on the repetition of the sameuntil he learns, optimizes it and executes it unconsciously and involuntary. Do you think every movement of the fingers when you tie you a shoe, brush your teeth or scrub your dishes? Obviously not, because it is something you have practiced so much that Your brain has automated it. Now think of your new habit as that automated action and how you can assimilate it without even having to think about it. The key to generating that automation is to integrate the habit into a specific routine and in a specific order, to repeat it every day, in the same way that every morning you get up, show you, you dress, breakfast in a certain order. It is not usual to change that order once you have acquired it because you have automated the process and the strange thing will be to skip one of those steps, so it will not depend on whether you woke up without wanting to shower, or breakfast. You don’t even consider it, you simply do it. The benefits of personal automation Such and As they point out from Thinkwasabione of the greatest benefits of personal automation is mental energy saving. However, this system helps reinforce Acquisition of new habits or objectives without leaving any loophole to temptation not to do so. In addition, personal automation can stimulate your creativity and ability to solve problems. When the automation process of a certain action or habit is already very settled, the brain enters “autopilot” while this process is carried out, which leaves space for creative thinking by promoting the “Eureka” moments. Ideally, start little by little, choosing one or two things you can automate in your daily routine, and then add more progressively. For example, if one of your goals is to eat healthier or save, you can start by integrating in your weekend routine the elaboration of A menu for the whole week. By having it prepared, you will not have to think about your diet daily or worry about cooking during the week to eat healthy. If your goal is start sportsprepare your shoes and sports clothes in advance so that you just have to hear them and run. Having to look for them under the bed can become a more than enough excuse for your brain to mine your willpower. Do not give that advantage. The key to this technique is in the consistency and anticipation. Make small actions repeatedly until they become automatic habits. In Xataka | Until recently, people were very proud of how little I slept: today they are candidates to suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s In Xataka | The simple habit that provides a surprising impact on productivity: order the work space before starting Image | Unspash (Isaac Smith)

In the 60s Spain wanted to experiment with gamma radiation. The result was an “atomic forest” in Alcalá

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Before rowing us and getting into work I propose a game. One fast, simple and above all curious. Open Google Maps, activates the satellite vision (with that of the street the effect will not be the same), write “Alcalá Atomic Garden” And then let the web transfer you to a point located near Meco and the Northeast HighwayA-2. There, Google’s red claw. Approximate. What do you see? Exact. A Huge circumference green Symmetric. Perfect As if they had drawn it with an XXL size compass. If you dedicate a couple of seconds you will appreciate that it is formed by concentric circles, a succession Tree rings Almost and leafy enough to stand out in bird view and that someone planted in their day around a clear center. It is not a mistake. It is history. More specifically the footprint of “El Encín Gamma Radiation Field”an installation that in its day, back in the last decades of Franco, stood out on the country’s scientific map. His chronicle is fascinating. Almost as much as the large 15 -hectare wooded square left in Alcalá and that, In words From the anthropologist Ambrosio Sánchez de Ribera, it is “a singularity” at European level. New times, new science The 50s and 60s were times of change. For the world, which gradually entered into The cold war. And of course for Spain, where Franco seemed to enter a new phase marked by developmentalism and a certain cracking of its international isolation, with milestones such as The signing of the concordat with the Holy See In 1953, the Pacts of Madrid or the entrance to the UN, In 1955. The 50 were also time for something else: nuclear energy. With still the recent memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki And in full arms race with Moscow, the US wanted international opinion not to focus only on the threat of atomic war and also value its civil and scientific uses. Probably the best proof of that effort is speech “Peace atoms”pronounced in 1953 by Eisenhower before the UN. “Instead of focusing exclusively on the dangers of atomic war, Eisenhower praised the Civil nuclear applications In agriculture, medicine and energy generation. He proposed to create an ‘international atomic energy organism’ that promoted the peaceful use of nuclear energy ‘for the benefit of humanity’ “, Remember Elisabeth Röhrlichhistorian of the University of Vienna. The result soon materialized: just Four years laterIn 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA) was created. Spain, who had started his own (and shy) history with nuclear energy to late 40did not remain impermeable to those changes. In the 50 Patria Press (Node included) already talked about the US plants either United Kingdom and experiments with radioactive sources applied to medicine and agriculture. In 57 Madrid even hosted a European FAO summit on the subject. Thus, with that backdrop, around 1959, Spain decided to take another step and, with the key mediation of César Gómez Campoan engineer with experience in the USA, planned to create his own “Gamma Radiation Field”a focused specifically designed to perform “crop and seed irradiation experiments”. The chosen place: El Encín, a plot away from Alcalá where Gómez Campo himself had been conducting studies for Agronomic Research Institute. The project advanced relatively fast, as Ambrosio Sánchez de Ribera recalls in a broad (and very complete) essay About the Encín published in 2018 in Complutenses Annals. In 1961, what time was lifted would be an active scientific installation whose footprint still shows today from Google bird: a field of study of 440 square meters of diameter, an area of ​​15 hectares and 18,000 trees, although in 2018 there were only 5,000 left. A huge outdoor laboratory The Encín was a huge outdoor laboratory. One with a design as peculiar as its purpose. The field was circular and was formed by a series of concentric rings arranged around an axis. In the center there was a circle of 25 m radius with a removable hexagonal greenhouse. Inside it contained a lead sarcophagus that housed the source of radiation with which scientists operated, Cesio137 from used bars of American nuclear reactors. Around that central almond of 50 m in diameter, protected with a concrete wall and a stepped soil slope of several meters high to avoid the radiation output, the nearly 18,000 trees that completed the circumference of 15 hectares were distributed. Its purpose was to serve as extra screen against radiation. By way of auction, the center had a garden of large trees and several constructions where the staff had its offices and laboratories. Clarified what the Encín was the other great question: What did they do in it in the 60s? Basically experiment with radiation to find mutations that in last terms allow to achieve varieties of interesting vegetables, fruits or seeds for their characteristics. What is called induced mutagenesis. Gómez Campo himself explained In 1964, which centers such as El Encín were dedicated: “Essentially it consists of a gamma ray emitting source that is installed in an open field, so that the irradiation of growth or relatively bulky animals is possible.” Certain hours a day and for several months a year, at the Alcalá base the technicians opened the lead sarcophagus so that the gamma ray emitting source could act in the center of the field, the 50 m area of ​​diameter protected with a wall and slope in which plants, seeds, insects or some animals were exposed. “The dose received depended on the distance from Cesio137”, Sánchez de Ribera clarifies. When the years of irradiation ended the lead sarcophagus fell again, the caesium was locked and the researchers could access to work. The El Encín field worked 12 years, Between 1961 and 1973when his activity was complicated by the construction of a cement factory in the surroundings. The dust hindered research, so that in 73 it was decided to remove the radioactive source and transfer it to the Polytechnic University of Madrid. There he was only three years before embarking on … Read more

More than half of the population in Spain has vitamin D. A study now question the benefits of supplementation

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Vitamin D, in reality, is not strictly a vitamin. It is a prohormone. Even so, in this article we will continue to identify it as a vitamin by familiarity. Anyway has a fundamental role in the proper functioning of our body. Our body is able to produce it When we expose ourselves to sunlightalthough we can also get it from some foods or Taking supplements. Its importance lies in its ability to favor the absorption of calcium and phosphorus inside our intestine, so without it our bones would become fragile. However, this is not all. It also has the ability to improve muscle function, to activate some defensive cells of our immune system, to regulate blood pressure, and even reduce the level of inflammation of our body. In many regions of Spain, the Sun abounds for a good part of the year, and, even so, more than half of the Spanish population, between 50 and 60%, has an insufficient level of vitamin D (less than 30 ng/ml). This is the percentage defended by a good part of the most recent studies, such as, for example, the one prepared by the Spanish Society of Endocrinology and Nutrition In 2023, although this figure varies depending on the age and sex of the people collected in the report. Unfortunately many of these studies are not available publicly, but most of them argue that up to 60% of the general population has an insufficient level From this prohormone, as we have just seen. And if we stick to people 65 years of age or older, this figure is triggered until 80%. Vitamin D supplements are in question It is not easy to explain why in a country as sunny as Spain so many people of all ages have an insufficient level of vitamin D, but the most reasonable thing is to assume that it is due to a combination of several factors. On the one hand, many people avoid exposing themselves to sunlight during those hours in which this radiation source is more intense to prevent the appearance of skin cancer. And when they do they protect with solar creams that are capable of blocking up to 95% of the synthesis. In addition, a part of the population has acquired habits that invite you to spend more time at home and less outdoors. The intake of calcifediol supplements is the solution that doctors usually opt for to remedy the vitamin D deficit The diet can help us fight this lack, but the figures given by scientific studies show that in Spain we do not consume with the necessary abundance foods rich in vitamin Dsuch as wild salmon, sardines, cod liver oil or mushrooms. In these circumstances, the intake of calcifediol supplements, which is one of the types of vitamin D that circulate in our blood system, is the solution by which doctors usually opt to remedy this deficit. However, during the last decades Several scientific studies They have questioned the efficacy and benefits of the intake of vitamin D through supplementation. One of the most recent It has been led by Dr. Cynthia Thompson, of the Mel and Enid Zuckerman Public Health College of the University of Arizona (USA), and is very interesting because it tries to statistically evaluate two consequences of taking vitamin D supplements that other studies had only insinuated: the possibility that they reduce the risk of having cancer, but, at the same time, they increase that of suffering a heart disease. This random essay has lasted seven years and involves 36,282 women. Those who were randomly assigned the vitamin D supplementation and calcium supplementation experienced a 7% reduction in the cancer mortality rate. However, those same people also experienced a 6% increase in mortality from cardiovascular diseases. These figures are significant From a statistical point of view, but they do not allow us to reach a definitive conclusion in regard to general mortality. According to Dr. F. Perry Wilsonfrom Yale University (USA), vitamin D supplementation probably does not affect mortality, although it could slightly reduce the risk of some forms of cancer. However, it could also increase the risk of heart disease presumably due to the calcification of arteries. Whatever it is important that we keep in mind that the results of this study, and of those who have preceded it, are not conclusive, although, yes, they give us valuable clues that are worth taking into account. Image | Darina Bellonogova More information | Medium In Xataka | We have found some supplements capable of improving memory in the elderly: prebiot promising

Oppo rearma in Europe based on AI, quality and durability to try to conquer a saturated market

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In recent years, Oppo has gone through a Restructuring stage in its global strategy. While in 2022 and 2023 the company had to leave several European markets due to different Legal disputes with Nokialittle by little he is returning with a renewed strategy to consolidate your presence in a market that over the years is increasingly competitive. Currently Oppo is the Fifth brand that sells more devices in China And, together with OnePlus, it is part of the conglomerate BBK Electronicsthat also controls brands as live and realme. Its expansion in Europe Not only does it seek to recover the land lost so farbut also position yourself solidly in the competitive segment of the mid -range with devices as interesting as the new OPPO RENE13 SERIES. As is We already did in 2023we have had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Billy Zhang, vice president of OPPPO and currently responsible for the brand outside China in addition to Neil Monger, director of OPPO product marketing for Europe, to understand how the company’s strategy is evolving and what role the new Oppo renov13 play throughout this process. OPPO’s strategy to continue growing in Europe Regarding what are Oppo’s intentions in our territory, Billy Zhang explained that the brand No specific market share objectives are set or income in Europe. “Our approach is to understand the market well and offer high quality products and services. The results will be a consequence of how good we can meet demand,” he said. The Oppo Reno13 is the great bet of the mid -range brand Currently, Oppo has made its presence in Europe one of the most important in the sector and is that, as in China, it is also the Fifth brand that sells more devices in the European market. During 2024 He managed to register a Growth of 13% and reach a total of 4.1 million devices soldso its dimensions are increasingly important within our territory. One of the keys to its strategy is being the investment in retail. The company has announced an investment of 500% in the coming years to strengthen its presence both in its own e-commerce and in marketplaces and Amazon seeking not only to improve distribution, but also to offer a more accessible purchase experience and close to the European consumer while reinforcing its presence in the largest possible number of means. “Our approach is to understand the market well and offer high quality products and services. The results will be a consequence of how good we can meet demand.” In addition, something that caught our attention is that Zhang said that “a product always has to meet the user’s needs as he expects”, but “he cannot sacrifice the profit margin just to enter a price war.” At this point, Oppo clearly seeks unmark the strategy of other Chinese brands They seek to offer as much as possible. Of phones folding to artificial intelligence, what has changed in OPPO? The smartphones market changes rapidly, there is no doubt about that. In 2022, Zhang said that “perhaps in five years we are very important in the global folding phone market. Maybe number one.” However, the panorama has changed since, although Oppo continues to bet on folding With models such as OPPO FIND N3now the artificial intelligence It is the central axis of its strategy because the market claims. According to Neil Monger, The AI ​​is among the three functions most demanded by userstogether with the camera and design, so they have had to adapt their strategy towards that direction. Monger says that his approach is to “optimize and make accessible the functions of the AI ​​that already exist to offer a durable and quality experience” and, obviously, that has made its Partnership With Google it is essential today. Oppo’s AI has become one of its basic pillars In addition, I also wanted to ask about the possible additional cost when using the service that could come in the future, and the answer was very clear: Oppo does not plan to monetize the functions of AI on its devicesalthough it does not rule out exploring business models around them. “As technology progresses, costs will be reduced and we will find the best time to evaluate new options.” According to Neil Mongger, the AI ​​is among the three functions most demanded by users, together with the camera and design Does this mean that the company will set aside other projects to give AI ABSOLUTE? It is evident that no. Folding models are still very present within the company’s catalog and even mid -range devices are also being very reinforced to get a greater presence in the market, so everything seems to be much more focused on meet your customers than anything else. What a difference from the reinde13 from the rest of the devices from their competition During this interview there was something that surprised me a lot and that, among the aspects most valued by European consumers when buying a phone, we met the Durability of devices. Oppo has responded to this demand improving the materials and the construction of the reindeer13, again, with the clear intention of listening to what your community and the market in general. The brand claims to have introduced “Aerospace grade aluminum frames, increasing flexion resistance by 20% and water resistance by 36%”, so that on that side it seems that we can be calm. In fact, During the presentation itself We were able to verify that the reinde13 equip specific camera modes for use equipment under waterso they have really taken it seriously. Another key point is software support. While marks like Google, Samsung and even honor They already offer up to seven years of updates in their high ranges, Oppo has extended its five -year support in the Reno13ensuring that devices will keep at least 80% of their original performance capacity during that period. The doubt that assaults us now both in Oppo and in many other brands is whether … Read more

Mediamarkt’s best offers during his Flower Power campaign. IPhone mobile, Nintendo and more

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Mediamarkt has begun the spring time opening a new campaign called Flower Power. Until next March 31 We can take advantage of the numerous offers that the store has launched, so in this article we have gathered the five best offers in Apple mobiles, Nintendo consoles, sound bars and more. iPhone 16 Pro by 1,099 eurosa minimum historical price in one of the best purchase options within the Apple mobile catalog. Nintendo Switch Oled + ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder’ by 359 eurosan interesting pack that includes both the console and a video game (the pack appears below, just below the price of the console). iPhone 16E by 659 eurosApple’s last mobile has dropped (more) in price. ‘Death Stranding: On The Beach‘ by 59.99 eurosHideo Kojima’s next video game can be reserved cheaper by adding it to the shopping basket. Sonos Beam Gen 2 by 369 eurosa very good sound bar with Wi -Fi and Alexa incorporated. iPhone 16 Pro We have been finding very good discounts on the different Apple devices for several months, and this time Mediamarkt wanted to hit the table to launch the one that is one of the best for the moment. He iPhone 16 Pro has dropped to 1,099 euros in what has become a New historical minimum price. So far, we had not found the iPhone 16 Pro so cheap, and in this case it is the model in its 128 GB configuration. The highlight of Apple’s mobile is Rear cameras modulehe camera control buttonwhich can be very useful at certain times, and its excellent construction .. * Some price may have changed from the last review Nintendo Switch Oled + Super Mario Bros. Wonder Mediamarkt, as we usually see, has re -launched a good discount on a pack that has been taken out of the sleeve. The store has a Nintendo Switch Oled Next to the video game ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder‘For alone 359 euros. To access the offer we have to look just below the price of the console, since The store has not opened a pack file because it is a temporary offer. Nintendo Switch Oled + Super Mario Bros. Wonder * Some price may have changed from the last review iPhone 16E He iPhone 16E It was launched with certain criticism related to its price. The good thing is that it was launched with an offer, and the best thing is that now we have even cheaper. Mediamarkt has dropped (even more) the price of Apple’s mobile and now we have it for 659 euros. The 16E iPhone stands out mainly for the performance provided by chip A18, for compatibility (when available) Apple Intelligence and for its good autonomy. * Some price may have changed from the last review ‘Death Stranding: On The Beach’ There is a lot of expectation for ‘Death Stranding: On The Beach‘, and it is not surprising. Hideo Kojima raised an interesting premise in his previous installment that left us wanting to know a lot, much more. Sam Porter has a new appointment with us on June 26although we can “advance” reserving the video game in Mediamarkt. Because? Basically because adding it to the purchase basket stays for 59.99 euros Instead of 79.99 euros, a good price for a video game that has not yet been released. Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (MediaMarkt offer only by adding the video game to the shopping cart) * Some price may have changed from the last review Sonos Beam Gen 2 If what we are looking for is to give an extra touch of power (and quality) of audio to our TV, and we look for something that is good, beautiful and not too expensive, the sound bar Sonos Beam Gen 2 Now it has a most interesting price. By 369 euros We can have a sound bar at home with Bluetooth and Wifi which includes voice assistant Alexa. In addition, it has a compact and elegant design, it works with AirPlay 2 and with Google Assistantoffers a very good audio quality and is compatible with Dolby Atmos. * Some price may have changed from the last review Some of the links of this article are affiliated and can report a benefit to Xataka. In case of non -availability, offers may vary. Images | Apple, Nintendo, Kojima Productions, Sonos In Xataka | Best iPhone. Which to buy and recommended models based on budget, tastes and quality price In Xataka | Best sound bars in quality price. Which to buy and seven recommended models from 140 euros

Digital serendipia is in danger of extinction. Internet understands us too well

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Serendipia, that valuable finding that happens while we were looking for something else, It is in the process of extinction if we talk about the Internet. The increasingly precise recommendation algorithms have locked us in bubbles of very comfortable convenience, but also sterile. We no longer lose ourselves on the Internet – from there the “navigate” -. And that is the problem. I think of my adolescence, in the first decade of this century. An any night, listening to Rock & Gol, who combined rock and football, wanted to hear comments on that glorious stage of Valencia, but suddenly something different sounded. It was not the commercial pop of melancholic latest adalescents (“I loved it so much …!”), Nor the first Reggaeton that we met. Was ‘E-Pro’, from Beck. Those four minutes changed my perception of what music could be. Today I do not seem to me from the other Thursday, but at that time it made me want to hear a type of music that until then did I know. It was an accident, a fortuitous collision with something that I had never actively looked for because I didn’t even know that it existed. He simply reached my ears without ever having reproduced anything similar. Today, with Spotify suggesting songs millimetrically refined to my tastes – declored and inferred, Grrr – I wonder Where are those transformative accidents for current adolescents. It is a paradox: the more sophisticated the technology becomes to “meet us”, the less opportunities we have to know something really new. Our algorithms have confused “relevance” with “familiarity”, offering us barely noticeable variations of what we already consume. As Antonio Ortiz said in “Internet was dopamine, AI will be oxytocin“, We have optimized platforms to maintain our attention, not to expand our horizons. Captive, not creative. When was the last time you discovered something really unexpected in your Feed? Not something tangential to your usual interests, but something totally new, discordant, something that made you rethink ideas and expand towards a new taste. The digital explorer of yesteryear, which sailed hyperlink in hyperlink to the final P2P, has been replaced by the passive consumer that slides the finger in an infinite flow of pre -healing content. In its improvement, The algorithms have eliminated friction, and with it, the generative spark of the disagreement. It is not good news. The horny is that this algorithmic refinement comes just when we need divergent thinking. The real innovation, which changes paradigms instead of optimizing the existing, arises precisely from unexpected connections, from the collision between disparate ideas. Silicon Valley was built on serendipias: Stewart Brand finding inspiration in the native Americans to create the Whole Earth CatalogSteve Jobs captivated by calligraphy which would end up deeply influencing the design and DNA of the Mac. Until the very concept of hypertext he was born from an analogy with how the human mind works: not linearly, but by unexpected associations. It is not just a matter of innovation. Also of civic health. Before, physical newspapers forced us to pass pages where we found, unintentionally, discordant opinions with ours. Now Discover is in charge of filtering. Now, ours feeds They are so Tunis that can spend months without giving ourselves with an idea that really confront our convictions. The algorithm, in its eagerness to maximize our permanence time, serves only what confirms our presuppositions. Or in the case of X, What will make us foam through our mouths. This overallization of digital consumption has created a strange phenomenon: we had never had access to so much information and yet our mental worlds are increasingly narrow. The variety has been sacrificed at the altar of personalized experience. It is still symptomatic that some of the most powerful voices after these designs They do not want to put their own creations in the hands of their children. We go to an internet where each click It is premeditated, where the following recommendation is predictably interesting. In the name of efficiency we are sacrificing that glorious digital disorder That, like garbage DNA in our genome, could contain the germ of the next great innovation or simply those findings that change the cultural consumption of the rest of our life. I wonder how many songs of Beck – not songs by the Californian musician, but the concept of music that breaks with our previous beliefs – we are missing, especially today’s teenagers, trapped in loops of algorithmically perfectly perfectly sterile content. Maybe it’s time for demand the right to digital serendipia. To ask ourselves if we want an internet that understands us too well or one that may still surprise us. In Xataka | Shy from the world, we are losing the Internet Outstanding image |

The US was prepared for total destruction in the cold war. This map for nuclear apocalypse illustrates it

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The launch of Nagasaki and Hiroshima atomic bombs It was a turning point. Practically, marked the end of the Second World War while starting a Cold war in which the United States and Russia were carried away by nuclear ecstasy. The two powers engaged in a nuclear career without controlbut it is not that they developed the crazy bombs: there were also lists of enemy objectives. And on an interactive map prepared by Future of Life We can see about 1,000 objectives to which the United States would launch a nuclear bomb. But there were many more. The map. In 2015, a study of the United States Strategic Air Command was declared – SAC – that showed a thousand potential objectives in the case of nuclear war. If this possibility flew over the heads of some with the recent Ukraine War, imagine the stage in a cold war in which you could have the feeling that the enemy could squeeze the “button” at any time. There are more than 800 pages in which the objectives of these strategic bombings with nuclear weapons are detailed to erase any enemy presence. In it map From the George Washington University we can not only appreciate some of the main objectives, but the secondary objectives of each of them. For example, if we select Berlin, we can see the objective list And consequences of that study of 1956. Beyond the cities, another priority was the aerodromes, keys to a Soviet counterattack, specifically those located in Belarus. Easting east. Apart from military objectives such as strategic points and aerodromes, the listIt includes more than 1,200 cities of the Soviet block. It is where we can see that more dots are gathered on the map of Future of Life and range from cities of Eastern Germany to China. Moscow would fall into the Red Square, directly (and on this map we can see the Impact of different bombs in any city). The Asian giant, will fight or not next to the Soviet block in case of war, was something that did not matter to SAC. He treated them as hostile, selecting military objectives, but also the Beijing capital. And something that several of the bombed cities have in common is that the SAC already assumed objectives of “population.” The bombs. The plan was well mounted because there was not only a list of objectives, but also the type of weapons that would be used. They would use a combination of atomic and thermonuclear weapons with yields between 1.6 to 15 megatons. Far from the 50 megatons of the Soviet Zar pump, but much more than the 16 kilotons of Little Boy and the 21 kilotons of Fat Man, which wreaked havoc in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The megabomba. We have talked about the tsar pump, or tsar bomb, and in the United States there was also talk of it in 1956. It is not only the bomb that has caused the largest nuclear explosion so far, but it was 3,000 times more powerful than ‘Little boy’. The Russians had that bomb and the United States wanted an equal. In the declassified material, it is detailed how the SAC wanted a 60 megatones bomb. Not only did they identify him as something key in order to be tremendously deterrent but, in case of Soviet surprise attack, they could launch it at a strategic point to “ensure significant results even with a very small force.” In that nuclear ecstasy, the nuclear physicist Edward Teller (“Father” of the bomb H) proposed 1,000 metatones dissositive and up to 10 gigatons. 10 gigatons equals explosive power 670,000 times greater than that of the Hiroshima bomb. Luckily they did not do it, since affirmed that “would contaminate the earth”In the end, the US did not develop such a monstrous bomb. Nor the 60 megatones that the SAC wanted. And the media. And, within the plan, it also specified how the pumps would be launched. There were two systems: for the delivery of B-47 bombers, the United States would use its bases in the United Kingdom, Morocco and Spain. They would also use the B-52 from the US, although they were starting their journey. For the missile system, the eyelets would be loaded in the Snark, Rascal, Cross Bow and IRBM missiles. The first was a failure in the evidence and the great priority of President Eisenhower were the IRBM. These intermediate -reach ballistic missiles projected scope of up to 2,700 kilometers and the idea was to deploy them and throw them from the United Kingdom. Insured mutual destruction. But well, the United States had its Soviet axis attack plan, but the USSR also had its own. In the Soviet plans the Western military infrastructure, the industrial centers and large cities in both the US and its allies entered. They would do it by hydrogen pumps, tactical pumps that could mount on torpedoes and missiles released from mobile platforms. But although the logic could not reign in the massive development of weapons, the fear and that position of both ‘Mad’ countries did, or ‘insured mutual destruction’ that marked that, if a country launched a nuclear attack, automatically the other would respond with a proportional force. This led to threats over the years (such as the deployment of American missiles in Türkiye and Italy or the subsequent crisis of Cuba missiles, but fortunately it did not reach more. And what happens today. In 1986, the two countries reached the zenith of their nuclear arsenal and, from that moment, they dismantled much of their arsenal. The USSR came to have more than 40,000 heads while the United States reached 23,317, but as we say, different pacts and that tension that dissipated with the fall of the Berlin wall caused them to get rid of much of its arsenal. The problem is that other countries -china- have developed and are found enhancing its own nuclear arsenaland in recent years there is a kind of new … Read more

The eggs are so expensive in the US that a new phenomenon ravages on the border with Mexico: its smuggling

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The egg crisis continues to whip the United States. Also Many other countriesbut the United States is starring in a time when the price of eggs is true Economic thermometer. After an increase of more than 50% year -on -year in January of this year and some forecasts of increases of more than 41% throughout 2025, there are those who are already resorting to something worthy of the dry law or the prohibited products. Because yes, there is something that concerns US border agents as much as drug trafficking: illegal traffic of Mexican eggs. Egg. The United States has lived for years a negative spiral in regards to its eggs. Just a year ago we echoed how US consumers warned that His eggs were increasingly fragilefinding more and more pieces of shell when they broke them. It is the result of a cluster of factors: a Aviar flu that has ended with millions of birds and the need to sacrifice as many millions, as well as the need for keep to their heavier laying chickens more time in activity. The more the chicken, the less eggs and of lower quality it produces, but the farmers are forced to keep them because the consumption wheel cannot stop. And national production is already quite touched. In summary: there are no eggs and the demand is still there, which has caused the Average price From a dozen eggs it would reach $ 4.95 in January and $ 5.90 in February. Eggs smuggling. The worst has not happened: not only is it not expected, as we say, that the situation improves, but that two festivities such as the Jewish Easter of April 12 and the Christian Easter on April 20 are approaching, in which the eggs have a leading role. The shortage is causing restaurants that charge a surcharge if an egg plate is requested and the illegal import of eggs is already a topic of conversation in the country. A case that demonstrates the unreal situation is the one that recounts The Wall Street Journal: In one of the border steps of El Paso, in Texas, the agents stopped a vehicle with almost 30 kilos of methamphetamine, but what really caused their alarms to jump were several egg trays that also went in the vehicle. Because, given this situation, there are already those who are happening Mexican and Canadian eggs within the American border. Booming interceptions. According to the CBP, which is the US Customs and Border Protection office, “eggs interceptions” have increased 36% in this fiscal year. In Texas it has increased by 54%, but in other areas it has doubled. Roger Maier is the spokesman of the CPB in El Paso and does not discover America by stating that “the price difference is the reason: it is approximately one third of what it costs in the United States.” When we talk about the dozen costing $ 5.90 on February, we talked about that, an average. They can find themselves cheaper, but also much more expensive. There are cities in which prices are more than $ 10 per dozen. In Mexico, they are below two dollars, so it is so attractive to put them illegally in the country. I go shopping to Mexico. And here there are two other added problems. There may be anyone who wants to trade with those eggs, but border agents comment that what are being found are many travelers who cross from one country to another with dozens of eggs for personal use and are not aware that they are prohibited products. If they declare the load, there are no problems, but many do not and try to hide the eggs in different ways inside the vehicle. Added difficulty. When they are caught, the eggs are requisitioned and, as with other products, they are taken to incinerators in which they carbonize. To curl the curl, during Easter, Mexicans empty and decorate eggs. They fill them with confetti and other elements and cannot be eaten (there is no food matter there), but in the WSJ article the agents already comment that they will have to make sure that these eggs, called ‘Cascarones‘, they really don’t have any egg inside. National measures. The authorities’ response to this problem is a series of actions to help fight the price escalation. On the one hand, the US Department of Agriculture has allocated 1,000 million dollars that add up to 2,000 million since 2022 to improve biosecurity in farms, help affected farmers and investigate vaccines. On the other hand, more eggs are importing from countries that comply with US sanitary norms. As a short -term solution, they want to import eggs, but it is always key that the sanitary standards are met, since each country has its own. Türkiye, for example, has already begun to export Containers with 15,000 tons of eggs. Search for solutions -legals-. There are also people who do not resort to the smuggling of eggs, but to the search for alternatives so as not to depend on a market that has become a real Russian mountain. One of those solutions is … to rent chickens. For 600 dollars, six months, a company rents you A two chickens kitadvice and what is necessary to maintain them this time. The direct accounts do not come out: if two chickens put 12 eggs a week, there are 312 eggs in those six months, united in 26 dozen. Five dollars the dozen, there are $ 130 if you buy them directly. The problem is no longer the price, but there are establishments They run out of their daily cargo in just a few minutes. There are companies in the US that already rent chickens kits with chicken coop so that they give eggs for six months World problem. There is a lot of talk about the United States, but in other countries the thing is not much better. Spain, and Europe, are examples. The ghost of the aviar flu is there, … Read more

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