Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Folding bicycles are the market niche to be exploited. And there is someone who knows this better than anyone: Lidl

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Leave the house, get on the bike, take a train, get back on the bike and get to work. This is what is called intermodal mobility, in which two or more means of transport are taken to reach a destination in the shortest time possible in the most efficient way possible. It is everyday life for thousands of European citizens and it is, without a doubt, one of the big bets of governments and city councils throughout our continent. Because burning liters of fuel loaded into a five-seater vehicle that occupies more than four meters in length and more than one and a half meters in width is, of all things, less efficient in a city. In that work for intermodalitythe electric scooter has gained decisive weight in recent years. The boom in this product has forced countries like Spain to adapt certain regulations to assimilate its arrival. In our country, the DGT has been forced to define this vehicle as an object that You must go on the road or bike pathshaving to leave the sidewalk. The electric scooter, in fact, has overshadowed another key market niche in intermodal mobility: the folding bicycle. This means of transport is highly efficient because it allows travel to a public transport station, easy transport of the vehicle and the possibility of storing it in a very small space at our destination. At the moment, the folding bicycle is a vehicle that is still difficult to see in our cities but there are those who trust in its possibilities: large stores. From the supermarket to work There are reasons to use the electric scooter over the folding bicycle but, lately, the latter is beginning to gain in importance over the former. And the electric scooter is being banished from public transport after a handful of fires that were difficult to put out that led to severe problems in transportation in cities like Madrid. The folding bicycle is a good solution because it is usually a light product but also has the advantage of being able to fold enough to leave it in most of the jobs. It is also a good option for those who travel in a caravan but do not want to drag a large bicycle into the center of cities or towns. It is not easy to find data that clearly points to the penetration of folding bicycles because most statistics do not discriminate the data between this and any other type. Despite this, there are analysts who point out that the market is going up and that its growth will be just over 7% until 2034. The growth, point out in this reportaims to be extraordinarily high in large US cities, with increases of more than 30%. However, this is also because they are cities where car culture is still much more rooted than in Europe. Netherlands, Hapon, and Belgium They are the most repeated countries when talking about this type of bicycles. And the combination between Bicycle and public transport are very entrenched in areas where this means of transport and the train are combined daily. In fact, it is one of the reasons why The Netherlands has more bicycles than inhabitants And a good number of citizens have two bicycles that they park at the train station next to their home and another in the city where they work. In bikepormadridfor example, explain well the problems of cycling when the station is very busy and the space to travel with it is limited. And in both cases, the time it takes to find a space in the gigantic Danish or Dutch car parks and the limitations on moving them inside the car can discourage their use. That is why the folding bicycle is a very interesting alternative which has the advantage of being able to move easily, an incentive to have only one vehicle and, above all, for countries where Spain often lacks the safe and well-conditioned spaces to store bicycles yes they have them in other parts of Europe. Large stores are aware of the market niche that the folding bicycle still represents. Surfaces like Lidl either Carrefour They bet on it with options for less than 1,000 euros and Decathlon remains the undisputed leader when it comes to offering options, with bicycles from just over 200 euros to more than 2,000 euros. The true differential point of the electric bicycle is 1,000 euros and below. Figures collected by Cyclosphere they point out that the demand The number of bicycles has cooled in Spain in recent years and those focused purely on urban mobility are the ones that have fallen the most. Here, The electric scooter has done a lot of damage to the bicycle and that is why the range of less than 1,000 euros is the most interesting because when the customer spends more money they usually opt for other options such as electric, road or mountain bikes. The great advantage of the folding scooter, as we said, compared to the electric scooter is that its transportation and storage capacity at the destination is very similar but, in addition, the cyclist has the greater stability of the bicycle. A clear advantage in terms of security. But it can also be taken on public transport, a space that is increasingly closed to electric scooters. Photo | Rex Lovic and Mateus Jud In Xataka | There are scooters that go fast, there are scooters that go very fast and then there are scooters like The Turbo: at 160 km/h

Madrid places the last piece of the park that will fly over the M-30

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The work on Parque Ventas in Madrid meets its deadlines and, in fact, is already has finished placing the 96 beams that will serve as support for the structural platform of the new space on the M-30. The idea is that this same space serves as a union for the districts of Salamanca and Ciudad Lineal, which have been separated for decades by the same highway. Meeting deadlines. Ten months after the start of work, the supporting structure is now complete. The delegate of the Works and Equipment Area of ​​the Madrid City Council, Paloma García Romero, has confirmed that, in addition to having placed the last beam, the roof development work is already underway and the first of the eight walkways that will give access to the park have been connected. The schedule remains unchanged and the opening is scheduled for spring 2027. Objective and figures. Parque Ventas has a platform 197 meters long and 16,370 m² in surface. This will fly over the 16 lanes of the M-30, the point with the highest traffic density in Spain, which supports about 150,000 vehicles per day in each direction. Its objective is to connect the neighborhoods of Salamanca and Ciudad Lineal, which have been separated by the same highway for decades. How it is built. The structure rests on piles founded between 16 and 17 meters deep. The 96 prefabricated prestressed reinforced concrete beams have been arranged in 32 transverse frames to the highway, supported on the edges of the platform and on piles located in the medians that separate the main lanes from the auxiliary ones. On those beams a concrete slab is now being laid 30 centimeters thick. The complete deck reaches 2.7 meters deep, with a middle layer of soil of 1.5 meters to allow for landscaping. Both the concrete and the prefabrication techniques have been chosen, according to the City Council, so that it affects traffic as little as possible during the works. Logistical challenge. Placing these pieces takes a lot of effort. According to counted A few weeks ago, Javier Nájera, head of the City Council’s structures service, told El Mundo that working during the day on that stretch could have generated delays of up to 14 hours. For this reason, the most critical operations were concentrated in summer, when traffic fell by 40%, and were carried out at night with cranes weighing more than 500 tons that, before six in the morning, had to be completely removed. The beams, weighing up to 200 tons and 40 meters in length, arrived from Rivas Vaciamadrid and Seville, since according to Nájera Manufacturing only from Madrid would be unfeasible for the pace they need. What will there be when it opens? The future park will include pedestrian areas, gardens with 591 trees and more than 48,800 bushes, more than 2,150 m² of meadows, children’s games, calisthenics equipment, a small grandstand for outdoor performances, two kiosks, fountains and street furniture. The eight walkways will connect the platform with both banks of the M-30, creating a green corridor between the Quinta de la Fuente del Berro park and the green area of ​​Ciudad Lineal. The other side of the project. The works progress, but not without disturbances. And the neighborhood platform AfectadosM30 has publicly denounced the impact of the nighttime operations on the more than 50,000 people who live in the surrounding neighborhoods. The platform also He contacted Xataka and questioned some aspects such as the discovery of underground water during the excavation, which forced the work to be readapted, or the final cost of the work. The City Council estimates the investment at 80 million euros, although the neighborhood platform elevates that figure up to 94.9 million if the modifications introduced after the initial award are included. What remains to be done. With the structure completed, the work now focuses on the concrete slab on the beams and the development of the roof. Next will come the waterproofing, the drainage system, the soil layer and, finally, the landscaping. Cover image | Google Maps and Madrid City Council In Xataka | The great artery between Madrid and Valencia had been awaiting renovation for years: 500 million euros will end the wait

Artemis III will not take off until the end of 2027 at the earliest

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The Artemis program has experienced many delays since its inception. There is nothing more to see than Initially, it was intended that humans would set foot on the Moon again in 2024. We are in 2026 and this has not happened yet. In fact, it is scheduled for 2028. Therefore, it is not strange that dates continue to be postponed. The last of these delays has fallen on Artemis III. It was scheduled for mid-2027, but according to NASA’s latest announcement we will have to wait until the end of that year. If one piece moves, all of them are delayed. On April 27, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman testified before the House Appropriations Committee of the United States, with the aim of answering several important questions about the budget request that the agency has made to the US government for the Artemis program. One of the questions, obviously, was about dates. He wondered when the third phase of the program could be launched. To this, Isaacman assured that, after speaking with SpaceX and Blue Origin, the mission could start at the end of 2027. However, last February advertisement an earlier date, mid-2027. With this as a starting point, Artemis IV would be scheduled for early 2028 and Artemis V for the end of that year. Therefore, the normal thing now will be that both dates also have to be moved on the calendar. The role of SpaceX and Blue Origin. It is not strange that Isaacman has made reference to SpaceX and Blue Origin, since Without them it would not be possible to carry out the Artemis III mission.. In this third phase, the coupling of the Orion capsule, in which the astronauts travel, with the HLS landing system will be tested. This will be the one that will descend towards the selenite surface with two crew members on board. NASA does not have this technology, so it has asked these two private companies to be in charge of developing it. In fact, 2.8 billion euros have been invested in it. A race without a clear winner. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin are working on their respective landing systems. NASA has assured that it will keep the one that finishes first. As long as it works correctly, of course. Initially it seemed like that was going to be SpaceX. However, it has suffered several delays that have allowed Blue Origin to remain in the race. They are currently very even, although it seems that neither will be able to finish by mid-2027. There is a lot to try. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin use cryogenically cooled propellants that, without proper cooling, evaporate over time. Since the Artemis missions will be quite long, it will be necessary to refuel the HLS system several times, directly in orbit. It’s something that has never been doneso it should be thoroughly tested before sending the system into space. In addition, sufficient tests must be carried out to demonstrate both its ability to land and take off from the lunar surface. Therefore, neither of the two companies will have their HLS ready by the date initially agreed upon. And then what? Initially, it was scheduled that there would already be a manned lunar landing on Artemis III. However, the complexity of the process has led NASA to be conservative and do an initial unmanned test. The astronauts will travel in the Orion spacecraft. However, once it is proven that it docks properly with the HLS, they will all remain in lunar orbit. The lander system will travel to the surface of the Moon without anyone on board. Later, on Artemis IV, two of the astronauts will go to HLS and will be able to set foot on the Moon. In Artemis V exactly the same will be donealthough the first steps to build a lunar base will already begin to be taken. This should happen in 2028; but, given what we have seen, it may possibly be much later. Images | POT In Xataka | Starlink’s dominance in space begins to move: another company already has permission for a constellation of 4,000 satellites

Your real challenge is to make us change our habits.

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On May 18, Bizum will activate payment in physical stores via NFC: you bring your mobile phone close to the dataphone and that’s it, just like with Apple Pay or Google Pay. No PIN, no card and no cash. A platform with 31 million users in Spain takes the leap that makes it a direct competitor of Visa and Mastercard at the physical point of sale. The problem is that banks and businesses want to make that leap. The consumer, at the moment, has no compelling reason to move. Why it is important. For ten years, Bizum has only generated costs for banks, which have invested a lot of money in creating and maintaining it. The jump to physical commerce changes that equation: businesses will pay a commission for each transaction, as they already do with cards, but predictably lower as international intermediaries disappear. There is the business that Spanish banks have been waiting for for a decade. And businesses also win: they get paid instantly, compared to 24-48 hours for traditional card settlement. The user, on the other hand, pays exactly the same as before. Just with another environment. In detail. The gesture will be identical to today’s contactless card: you bring your mobile phone close to the dataphone and in seconds it is done. The user can do so from their bank’s app (which will incorporate the functionality) or from Bizum Paya new digital wallet available on Android and iOS that works similarly to Apple Pay or Google Pay. The difference compared to paying with a virtual card in the wallet is that money travels as an instant transfer from account to account. Some details: Businesses will not have to change their dataphone: it will be enough to update the terminal software. Bizum Pay will allow you to add a bank card as a backup method: if the payment fails, the system automatically changes without you having to swipe your mobile again. The big question. Why would someone who already pays without any hassle with their card, or with Apple Pay, or with Google Pay, change their habit? Inertia is the silent enemy of any new payment method. And in this case it is huge. The most logical answer is incentives: cashbackdiscounts in specific establishments, or any mechanism that makes the user feel that the change is worth it. The data of the ecommerce point in that direction: when Bizum eliminated the friction of entering card information in online stores, users quickly adopted it and today it is the second favorite payment method for buying online, with a share of 20-30% (which is not bad, but it is not something to write home about either). The equivalent in the physical world is yet to come. Yes, but. May 18 won’t be the big launch the date suggests. CaixaBank, Sabadell and Bankinter will go in the first wave, Santander will delay its incorporation to the fall. The massive deployment, including a campaign, is expected in September or October. And that Mercadona is already negotiating advantageous commissions before the service starts says a lot about where this battle is really going to be fought. Go deeper. What is at stake goes beyond Spain. Bizum is negotiating with equivalent platforms in Italy, Portugal and the Nordic countries to build a European payments system that could reach more than 130 million citizens. The business model established in Spanish stores this year will be the template on which this continental project is built. In Xataka | The Treasury has its eye on Bizum, Wallapop and Revolut. Don’t panic: it’s your update in the new digital economy Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio

between 1.7 and 2.3 million jobs at risk

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The shadow of job destruction due to automation that the arrival of AI promised has been hanging over the labor market since companies like Anthropic, OpenAI or Google demonstrated that AI was much more than a chatbot to which you can ask everyday questions. The massive rounds of dismissal that were taking place in the big technology companies of Silicon Valley seemed like something distant that did not go with the Spanish labor market, until some experts asked themselves what real impact AI is having on employment in Spain. He first study focused on the Spanish labor market has just shown that that distance from Silicon Valley was nothing more than an illusion. AI is here, is being adopted at an accelerated pace in Spanish companies and its effects on employment will begin to be noticeable in the coming years. A tsunami called IA. The study ‘Artificial intelligence and the labor market in Spain: Occupational exposure, effects on employment and business adoption’, published by the Funcas study center and prepared by Francisco Rodríguez, director of Financial Studies at the foundation, quantifies for the first time the impact of AI on the labor market in Spain. The research estimates that, between 2025 and 2035, AI could destroy between 1.7 and 2.3 million jobs in Spain. At the most optimistic end, the impact figure of AI drops to about 700,000 jobs. In their most pessimistic forecast, they could exceed a gross job destruction of up to 3.5 million jobs, a range that reflects the real uncertainty about how quickly AI will be implemented in companies. Destroying is not the same as displacing. The study highlights that gross destruction is not the same as net destruction and the main difference is that, in absolute terms, there will be a displacement of employment, destroying employment in some sectors, to generate new vacancies in others. Therefore, this range of 1.7 to 2.3 million jobs does not mean that these workers will not have access to another job other than the one they held. The creation of new occupations linked to AI could reach around 1.61 million positions in the 2023-2033 horizon, which would leave the estimated net loss in the central scenario at around 400,000 jobs. This displacement of employment remains in line with what the ‘Report on the future of employment 2025‘ prepared by the World Economic Forum. Who is most exposed? The problem that the Funcas study reveals is that the positions that disappear and those that are created are not the same nor do they require the same training profile, so accessing new occupations requires a different training. The bulk of this impact is concentrated on administrative, intermediate and senior technical profiles, profiles that perform repetitive tasks of information processing, document writing or data management. Something in which AI is demonstrating its best abilities. On the other hand, between 2.8 and 3.5 million workers will not see their jobs disappear, but will They will work more productively thanks to AI tools, doing more work in less time without your job disappearing. Spain still depends a lot on physical employment. Spain also presents a somewhat particular position compared to its European neighbors regarding the impact of AI on its labor market due to the nature of the Spanish business fabric. The study places the real risk of automation in the Spanish labor market at 5.9%, well below the OECD average (12%). This difference is explained by the greater weight of physical tasks in traditional professions in the Spanish economy, which are more difficult to automate. Even so, in terms of general exposure to AI, Spain stands at 27.4% compared to the OECD average of 26%. In Spain, more and more work is being done with AI. In the first quarter of 2025, 21.1% of Spanish companies with ten or more employees already used at least one AI technologycompared to 12.4% who used it in 2023. This data represents a jump of 8.7 points in just two years. By sectors, technology companies are the ones that have most integrated the use of AI into their processes with 58.7%, followed by the Services sector (25.7%), Industry (17.5%) and, surprisingly, Construction (11.4%). Companies that have integrated AI have an average productivity that is 27% higher than those that do not use this technology, although the report warns that the most productive companies They are also the most likely to adopt technology, so that difference cannot be attributed entirely to AI. “This acceleration is an indicator that the process of technological diffusion has reached a critical mass and that its effects on employment will begin to materialize in a perceptible way in the coming years,” says the Funcas report. In Xataka | “They blame AI for layoffs they would do anyway”: Sam Altman confirms that AI has been used as an excuse to lay off Image | Unsplash (Lala Azizli)

The three hantavirus deaths on a cruise ship suggest something problematic for something else: the colonization of space

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What happened on the Argentine cruise ship in which three people died from hantavirus is very sad and, of course, must be investigated. However, many news stories are being read in which it is used to bring to mind bitter pandemic memories and generate an unnecessary stir. The risk for the general population is extremely low, as many experts have been quick to assure. However, it does show how dangerous it can be to let a pathogen circulate in a closed, moving place, like a boat. We can even go a step further now that the space race is in fashion: what would happen if something like this happened on a spaceship? It couldn’t happen. Typically, hantavirus It is transmitted by rodentslike rats and mice. Generally, infection in humans occurs through inhalation of contaminated particles (usually dust) with their feces or urine. This means that, in most cases, the contagion is a zoonosis. The virus passes from an animal to a human. That in space would be impossible. Spaceships are monitored under a magnifying glass, it would be impossible for a mouse to enter without being seen. It is true that there is a specific type of hantavirus, the Andes virus, in which cases have been documented due to human-to-human contact. However, according to has explained to Science Media Center the researcher at the MRC-University of Glasgow Viral Research Center Liam Brierley, contact must be very very close. Contact on spaceships, where a few people must spend a lot of time together in a very small space, would be very close. But don’t panic. Sterility and quarantines. Each of the modules that make up the spacecraft are assembled in white roomsunder strict sterile conditions. Thus, microorganisms, pathogenic or not, are prevented from traveling into space attached to their surfaces. Regarding astronauts, they undergo all kinds of medical examinations to verify that they are not infected with any pathogen. Also, before traveling to space They must spend time in quarantine. This prevents the incubation of something that cannot be detected in medical examinations at the time of starting the journey. It wasn’t always like this. In reality, quarantines began to be implemented after the astronauts of the Apollo 7, 8 and 9 missions had to deal with a cold in space. Although none of them became seriously ill, they did report that the symptoms were especially bothersome in this very different environment. Therefore, it was decided to take even more measures to prevent something like this from happening. The Apollo 7 crew had to deal with a cold. Not all microorganisms stay on land. It is impossible to strip a human being of all the microorganisms that live in his body. The microbiota is the set of microorganisms that are naturally found in our body. Many of them are beneficial for us, as they protect us from pathogens or help us carry out processes such as digestion. All these microorganisms always travel with us, so it is impossible to separate ourselves from them. And even if you could, it would be dangerous to do so. Others that cannot be avoided. Nor can latent viruses be avoided, like shingles. Once a person passes the infection, these remain asleep in the organism. They may never come forward again or they may do so, usually at a time when the immune system is weakened. It has been seen that reactivations of this type of virus are quite common in space and the truth is that it is not rare, since it affects the immune system at many levels. Three basic pillars. Microgravity, cosmic radiation and the stress of being in such an inhospitable place are the three main reasons why the immune system is affected by space travel. Everything in its place. Microorganisms that are completely harmless in a person’s microbiota can be harmful to another individual, either because they are immunosuppressed or because their defenses are not well trained against that organism. enemy. It is something that, for example, happens with many microorganisms on the skin. It should also be taken into account that there are microorganisms that are harmless in some organs, but harmful in others. It occurs, for example, when bacteria from the digestive system pass into the urinary system. Be careful which direction you wipe when going to the bathroom. We cannot get rid of our microbiota. And thank goodness. Malted pathogens. We have already seen that it is very difficult for pathogenic microorganisms to travel to space. But it may be the case that an apparently innocuous microorganism appears where it should not. Or it may no longer be harmless due to spatial conditions. It is known that cosmic radiation, extreme temperature conditions or microgravity can influence the genes expressed by a microorganism. For example, in pathogenic bacteria, such as Salmonella typhimuriumit has been observed that in space They express a genetic pattern very different from the one they use on Earth. Besides, they become more virulent when they are off the planet. We do not know if some apparently innocuous microorganisms could also develop certain virulence due to this change of environment. An eye on the future. For something like this to happen today would be very strange. However, there are two scenarios in the future in which, perhaps, one of these situations could occur. On the one hand, microorganisms are deliberately introduced into the ships. For example, there could be microorganisms that transform lunar regolith into arable soil. It would be necessary to see if it is worth taking the risk of putting them on a spaceship. On the other hand, in the future space travel will be much more the order of the day. Then there may not be as many controls as there are now or, out of so many, some may fail. Just as globalization has led some pathogens to travel faster around the world, it would not be unusual for something similar to happen in space. We’re speculating, but it’s worth thinking … Read more

Its price drops to 1.78 euros per month

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If we take a look at the best VPNs on the marketthere is a feature that not all of them include. They all work great, but most tend to have a limited number of devices per account. One of the exceptions to this is Surfshark, which allows, with a single account, have a quality VPN on all your devices. The best? He is now celebrating his birthday and we can get this VPN for only 1.78 euros per month. Surfshark Starter Subscription – monthly The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Surfshark has its best price of 2026 right now Why go for a paid VPN? Although there are free options that can be useful to us at a specific time, the reality is that these free VPNs They are not recommended in the long run.. They tend to be full of advertising and offer a slow connection, although that is not their biggest flaw. When we use a VPN, we want to protect our Internet traffic and, precisely, free VPNs are not as secure as they promise to be. The ideal is to go for a paid one and, if we can do it for one that is also very cheap, even better. Surfshark is a VPN that stands out for being very easy to install and useit doesn’t matter if it is on a PC, a mobile phone or a tablet, for example. Furthermore, as it has more than 4,500 servers, we will always have a connection option. Let’s now go to the prices of this promo. As we have told you a little above, its most economical plan, called Surfshark Starter, is available 1.78 euros per month if we go for their two-year plan. Doing the numbers, that implies that 24 months of this service cost 48.06 euros and, furthermore, you get three extra months (so there will be 27 months in total). Now, their other two plans are also included in this birthday promo. If you are looking for more security for your computers, Surfshark One may suit you. In addition to VPN, it includes other tools such as antivirus or a system that alerts you if your data has been leaked on the Internetamong others. Sale, if we go for his two-year plan, for 2.08 euros per month and includes three extra months (so 27 months cost 56.16 euros). The latest, Surfshark One+ includes everything the previous one has and adds Incogni to the formula. What is it for? It is a tool that will help you delete your data from different databases. It also includes three extra months and costs right now 4.18 euros per month if you opt for its two-year subscription (so, in total, it costs 112.86 euros). 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 | surfshark In Xataka | Best VPNs 2026: guide with the 17 best services to protect your online privacy In Xataka | Why it is dangerous to connect to public Wi-Fi and what you should do to protect yourself

because the regime does not contemplate the capture

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During the korean warin the 50s, some military reports Americans described how certain communist fighters carried grenades with a very specific purpose in case of being surrounded, a practice that baffled Western commanders and was interpreted as part of a way of fighting where surrender was not part of the calculations. Opaque deployment and more questions than answers. We have been counting it over the months: the presence of North Korean troops in the Ukrainian war has been surrounded by secrecy from the beginning. Although it was known that thousands of soldiers were sent to fight in the Kursk region in support of Russia, with figures high casualtiesthere were very few prisoners confirmed by the Ukrainian side. That same absence caught the attention of analysts and military personnel from the first moment. With the passage of time, the testimonies on the front they started to point to a pattern hard to ignore. Giving up is not an option. The data has been clarified after the own Kim Jong Un’s statementswhose speech over the weekend ended up clarifying the enigma. The North Korean leader has publicly praised his soldiers for opt for self-destruction rather than fall prisoner, describing them as heroes who prioritize honor even in the final moment. This doctrine explains why there were hardly any captured people on the battlefield, but it also reveals a shocking reality. This is not a coincidence or an exception, but rather a norm assumed as part of military duty: ending one’s own life. One of the first North Koreans captured by Ukraine Confirmation on the battlefield. They counted on Insider that Ukraine had already detected this behavior months before it was officially recognized. wounded soldiers detonating grenades on themselves to avoid capture or attack by drones became a documented phenomenon by Ukrainian forces. Not only that. It was also observed that these units fought more aggressive waywith frontal assaults and less concern for individual survival. All this made it even more difficult to capture combatants alive. Propaganda, sacrifice and control. In parallel, the regime has constructed a story that somehow glorifies said sacrifice. Last week the inauguration of the first memorial museum and tribute to those who fell in North Korea. This, together with support for their families, is part of a strategy to reinforce internal cohesion. The message from the regime is brutal: dying in combat is an act of honor absolute. Furthermore, they remembered in the Financial Times that this approach also helps to contain possible criticism within the country and justify the high human cost of the intervention. An alliance that goes beyond the battlefield. we have been counting also. North Korean participation in the Ukrainian war is not limited to sending troops. Pyongyang has supplied artillery, ammunition and missiles to Russia, while receive in return economic aid and access to advanced military technology. In fact, this relationship has increased the international weight of North Korea and has reinforced your strategic link with Moscow. At the same time, it has offered its forces real combat experience that could have implications in future conflicts. The human cost of an extreme doctrine. The estimates point to thousands of casualties among North Korean troops, many of them attributed to the lack of experience and to the harsh conditions of modern combat, especially against drones and artillery. However and after the words of the North Korean leader, this high mortality seems assumed within the logic of the regime. The priority, from that perspective, is not to preserve the soldiers, but to accomplish the mission without leaving a trace in the hands of the enemy. What this war reveals about the North Korean model. If you like, the case of Ukraine also shows to what extent the ideology and control political can shape behavior in combat. The absence of North Korean prisoners is neither an accident nor an anomaly, but the direct result of a brutal doctrine which eliminates that possibility from the beginning. In this context, each confrontation is not only a military battle, but a “lucky” extension of a system where capture is not part of the possible outcome. Image | x In Xataka | Ukraine has captured a North Korean missile from Russia and opened it: the surprising thing is not its parts, but how they work In Xataka | North Korea is sending its soldiers to the most sinister place in Ukraine: one where drones are not the problem, but where you step

When do they have to notify the police?

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There are people who talk to ChatGPT as if it were your friendhis psychologist and even your partner. OpenAI has faced numerous criticism for the risks it poses to mental healthespecially in cases that have led to in psychosis and even suicides. Now, they face an even more serious problem: there are people using ChatGPT to plan murders and OpenAI’s responsibility in all this is beginning to be questioned. The Florida University shooting. He April 17, 2025, Phoenix Ikner, a student at the University of Florida, He shot dead two people and wounded seven more. They count in the Wall Street Journal that, four minutes before the attack, Ikner asked ChatGPT how many teammates he had to kill to become famous. The chatbot responded that “normally 3 or more deaths, 5 or 6 victims in total, makes it reach the national media.” He also uploaded an image of the Glock pistol with which he committed the attack and asked him if it had any type of safety that he had to deactivate. “If there’s a bullet in the chamber and you pull the trigger? It will fire,” ChatGPT responded. He hasn’t been the only one. This is not the first time we know that a criminal turns to AI to plan an attack. It also happened in Tumbler Ridge shooting, Canadawhich has led to a class action lawsuit against OpenAI by victims’ families. And there is more: the author of the Foiled bomb attack at a hotel in Las Vegas In 2025 he had also turned to AI to plan his attack. The question that arises is obvious: When should they notify the authorities? What OpenAI says. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, an OpenAI spokesperson defends that the company collaborated with authorities by sharing Ikner’s conversations, that ChatGPT is not responsible for its actions and that they continue to improve their security measures. Among these measures, he says that they are strengthening the evaluation of possible violent actions and have a team of security experts who alert when messages pose a credible risk. However, according to internal company sources, the internal debate focuses on where the line should be drawn between user privacy and security. OpenAI was able to stop it. This is what the families of the victims of the Tumbler Ridge shooting denounce. OpenAI’s system identified problematic messages eight months before the shooting and the case was reviewed by company employees. Some employees were in favor of alerting the authorities because they thought the messages could lead to real violence, but after internal discussion it was decided to suspend the account without giving notice. In the case of the Florida shooter, the messages we have described were sent minutes before the attack, but they were not the only ones. OpenAI shared the history with authorities, who discovered that he was sharing suicidal thoughts with the chatbot the night before. Authorities are investigating the role the chatbot played in carrying out the attack since, according to the Florida attorney general, “If it were a person on the other side of the screen, we would charge them with murder.” lto IA as a confessional. What we used to consult with Google searches, we now ask AI. However, with Google we do much more concrete and impersonal searches, while a chatbot makes the interaction much deeper, more intimate. AI has become our confidant and companion; one we ask love advice and emotional support. As it becomes integrated into our lives, it was a matter of time before cases like these also arose. Image | Xataka In Xataka | Solving the great mystery of serial killers: why they disappeared from the 80s onwards without a trace

Charging the battery properly is a hassle. So the Madrid firefighters have had to come out and explain how to do it.

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The Madrid Security and Emergency Agency has published a series of recommendations (something that comes remembering year after year) as a result of something they see constantly (: domestic accidents due to bad practices when charging a phone. What in 2026 seems obvious does not have to be so obvious, so it is worth collecting some of the points in which some users continue to fail. It doesn’t work anywhere. Raise your hand if you have ever carried your cell phone on the bed or sofa. Such a common practice can end up leading to a fire. The basic recommendations are clear. Do not charge the device near any device that emits heat, such as the car dashboard itself (when it is connected by cable to it) or a radiator. Do not carry it on beds, chairs or textile surfaces. These, in addition to increasing the temperature of the device, are highly flammable. The 112 recommendation is the same that we have been doing for years at Xataka: charge on a smooth, non-combustible surface, and if possible cool and ventilated. Be careful with chargers. 112 explains that we should only use “approved chargers.” To verify that this is the case, all we have to do is look at whether or not the charger has a visible CE marking. This type of charger always includes data on its input voltage, output, amperage and power. As Xatakero advice, we recommend buy chargers with official fast charging protocols such as Quick Charge (QC), Power Delivery or PPS. This is a perfect indication that the manufacturer has taken care to offer compatibility with the best charging protocols of the moment, since the final power does not tell us everything: how it charges matters. Add to this that, although chargers are specifically designed to collect heat (all the heat they collect is heat they take away from your device), it is best not to put them near flammable surfaces. Be careful with repairs. A point that we do not usually take into account and that can end in a bad outcome is the quality of the replacement battery. Nowadays it is more than common to use compatible batteries instead of the original ones, since they are much cheaper. Here it is important to be clear about where the battery comes from and what its safety guarantees are. A poor quality battery can bloat, not control the temperature like an original one, and cause significant damage. Go deeper. It is no coincidence that year after year, and with the arrival of heat, you discover these articles with tips (that you may or may not know) on how to charge your cell phone. Fires caused by plugged-in electronic devices remain on the order of the dayand every memory about the recommendations for charging our devices makes sense. With the rise of silicon-carbonincreasingly larger batteries, and fast charging systems that exceed 100w, we have advanced and safe technology, but it requires a little effort on our part. In Xataka Mobile | A 12,000 mAh battery in a mobile phone is possible: Xiaomi advances the future of silicon-carbon with the next Redmi

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