Mobile Tech & Gadgets

It already has permission to sell its H200 GPU to 10 Chinese companies

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Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com are four of the ten Chinese companies that already have access to the GPU for artificial intelligence (AI) NVIDIA H200. According to Reutersthe US Department of Commerce, which is the institution that grants or denies export licenses, has authorized at least ten Chinese companies and several distributors, including Lenovo and Foxconn, to acquire Nvidia’s second most powerful AI chip. This news comes almost two months after the US Government confirmed which was going to allow the company led by Jensen Huang to deliver its H200 chip to its Chinese customers. Nvidia announced in mid-March during its annual developer conference that the US and Chinese Administrations had unlocked the sale of this GPU in the nation led by Xi Jinping. However, so far not a single delivery has been made. In practice, the blockade continues despite the March announcement. In all likelihood this is why Jensen Huang has joined the White House delegation participating in a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week. Nvidia is caught between the opposing interests of the US and China, and Huang is going to try to recover a market, the Chinese one, valued at 50 billion dollars in 2026 and which has come to represent 13% of its income. Now the problem is the Chinese Government Earlier this May, Jensen Huang confirmed that he is currently Its market share in China is 0%. Nvidia has not sold its AI chips in this country for several months because US regulations require Chinese buyers to demonstrate that they have implemented sufficient security procedures and that they will not use the GPUs for military purposes. In addition, Nvidia must also certify that it has sufficient inventory in the US. And all this bureaucracy is not being resolved quickly at all. Currently the greatest reluctance to sell Nvidia chips in China comes from Beijing However, currently the greatest reluctance to sell Nvidia chips in China comes from Beijing. The Chinese Government wants to promote developing your own GPUs for AI at any price, which in October 2024 led him to send a recommendation to Chinese AI companies in which he asked them to use chips produced in China as much as possible. Ten months later this recommendation became a requirement. And the Chinese Government is already forcing state-owned data centers throughout the country to use at least 50% Chinese integrated circuits in their servers. The Administration led by Xi Jinping has made this decision because it can afford it. And it is that It already has three very clear alternatives to Nvidia: Cambricon Technologies, Huawei and Moore Threads. On the other hand, in the US there is also a pressure group that opposes the sale of advanced US AI chips in China. Chris McGuire, senior fellow on China and emerging technologies at the Council on Foreign Relations, holds that “any deal that allows Nvidia to sell more chips to China means fewer Nvidia chips for US companies and a minor US advantage over China in AI“. Besides, McGuire argues that “it is surprising that President Trump continues to allow himself to be convinced to put Nvidia’s interests before those of America.” Image | Nvidia More information | Reuters In Xataka | The US remains committed to stopping China. Now it has targeted the second largest Chinese chip manufacturer

Dubai has come to the same conclusion as Russia. To protect your oil from drones there is something better than missiles: giant cages

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In World War II, the British discovered something disconcerting when analyzing the German bombings on its industrial cities: many times it was not necessary to completely destroy a refinery or factory to paralyze it for weeks. It was enough to hit some few vulnerable points to cause fires, disruptions and a disproportionate economic effect. Eight decades later, that same logic once again dominates another war, only now the weapon that attempts to find those weak points fits in an operator’s backpack and costs a fraction of an anti-aircraft missile. Dubai is located in Ukraine. For years, the United Arab Emirates built its security around a very specific idea: cutting-edge technology, advanced anti-aircraft systems and one of the most sophisticated defensive architectures in the Middle East were enough to protect the country’s energy heart. The war with Iran has begun dismantle that trust. After enduring hundreds of missiles and more than 2,200 Iranian drones, Dubai and Abu Dhabi have reached an uncomfortable conclusion that Russia learned before in Ukraine: in the face of cheap, numerous and persistent drones, it is sometimes more effective to raise huge metal structures over oil deposits than spending multimillion-dollar interceptors trying to destroy every threat in the air. The images that appeared near Dubai International Airport show precisely that: those gigantic “cope cages” surrounding fuel tanks, a scene that until recently seemed exclusive to Russian refineries attacked by Ukrainian drones, or in the films of George Miller. The cheap drone war. The problem facing the Emirates has less to do with the individual sophistication of each drone than with the economic logic of the conflict. Iran has demonstrated that it can launch massive waves of Shahed-136-type UAVs and other relatively cheap attack munitions against extremely expensive infrastructure and difficult to replace. Even when air defenses work, the economic drain It’s starting to be absurd: Shooting down low-cost drones using advanced interceptor missiles turns defense into a financially unsustainable battle. That’s where these appear giant metal cages. They are not designed to stop ballistic missiles or complex attacks, but to create a physical separation that reduces the damage of suicide drones or improvised munitions before reaching fuel depots, pipelines or critical facilities. A brutally simple solution, and precisely for this reason it is beginning to spread. Russia led the way. Because what the Emirates is doing now has been going on for years. happening in Russia. Since Ukraine began hitting refineries, oil depots and military bases with long-range drones, Moscow began to cover facilities strategic with nets, metal mesh and improvised structures. What was initially derided as a desperate solution ended up evolving in a defensive system relatively common around vulnerable assets. The logic is simple: an FPV drone or a Shahed does not need to completely destroy a facility to cause a huge problem, it is enough a precise impact on a tank, a pipe or a critical point to cause fires, interruptions and million-dollar costs. The Emirates, despite having practically unlimited resources compared to Russia, is discovering exactly the same structural vulnerability. The difference is that now these cages appear next to the most futuristic skyscrapers and financial centers in the Gulf. Oil as a strategic objective. Iran has focused a good part of its attacks precisely on the Emirati energy heart. Facilities such as the Fujairah oil port or the Habshan gas plant have suffered damage that will take months to fully repair. That explains why the country has accelerated visible defensive measures even after the partial ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. Because the threat has not disappeared. In fact, one of the most disturbing aspects of the conflict is that the attacks continued even after the truce announcements, reinforcing the feeling that any critical infrastructure can become a target again with very little notice. In this context, protecting refineries and warehouses no longer depends only on radars or anti-missile batteries, it also implies physically harden facilities, assume partial impacts and prevent a relatively cheap drone from causing a national energy disaster. The Pentagon changes its mentality. The expansion of these improvised defenses also reflects a broader doctrinal shift within of the US military itself. For years, many officials in Washington considered inefficient invest large amounts of money in physically shielding bases, hangars or critical facilities from cheap drones. Ukraine, Russia and now the Middle East are completely changing that perception. Shortly before the war between Iran and the United States broke out, the Pentagon published new guidelines precisely recommending networks, cables and other passive physical defenses to protect strategic infrastructures. The reasoning is beginning to be difficult to ignore: in an era of massive and cheap dronesthe survival of multi-million dollar facilities may depend less on futuristic systems and more on simple, ugly and gigantic industrial solutions. Dubai, probably one of the most recognizable symbols of global technological modernity, has just assumed exactly that reality. Image | x In Xataka | Every time the US takes stock of Iran’s arsenal and capabilities, it realizes something: it has destroyed very little. In Xataka | Suddenly, a military outpost sprouted up in the Iraq desert: it was Israel in its bombing campaign of Iran

put an Android computer on your table

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The presentation of the new Googlebooks It left many of us wanting more. Above all, more information, because although the company revealed its intentions with these “Premium Chromebooks”, what it did not explain is what operating system would govern them. Everything seems to indicate, however, that here Google will go all out on an operating system that was born to conquer the mobile but now wants to also conquer the desktop: Android. Android comes out of your pocket. For a decade, Google’s strategy has been two-fold: ChromeOS for lightweight, affordable laptops, and Android for everything else. Both operating systems have been getting closer for some time, and in June 2024 the Chromium developers they already explained that “ChromeOS will soon be built with large portions of the Android stack.” We are facing a merger that was silent but now seems to have its own name. Aluminum OS. Curiously, Google did not mention this project even once, but everything indicates that Googlebooks could be governed by this evolution of ChromeOS that will be called Aluminum OS. Those responsible for Google have already indicated that they hoped to launch it in 2026 and everything suggests that it will be just to accompany those laptops. From desktop mode to something else. Although Google takes years fiddling with the idea from desktop mode, it has only been now that has finally offered it on some Pixel family devices officially. One can connect the mobile phone to a monitor using a USB-C cable, and then also connect a keyboard and mouse to the mobile phone via Bluetooth, and start using that desktop mode as if you were working on a conventional PC… more or less. “Stretched” apps. What we have in that desktop mode is an Android experience adapted to the big screen, and that is noticeable from the first moment, for better and for worse. Although the applications work and being able to use them with a mouse and keyboard is very attractive, others seem like “stuffed apps” that don’t fit too well with a conventional desktop environment. What Google intends here is to solve precisely that problem and so that we do not miss the traditional versions of Photoshop or Excel. The danger here is that the “Google PC” will remain a toy for browsing the web, which is something that Chromebooks with ChromeOS could already do. It is reasonable to think that the current Android desktop mode is basically what we will see on Googlebooks. Gemini like glue. Competing with Windows, macOS or Linux with these options may not be enough, so Google keeps the card for its artificial intelligence platform. Gemini Intelligenceits new AI platform to automate mobile processes, also seems like a good way to enhance this operating system, but we will have to see if the implementation is really useful or not. What is proposed is striking: an operating system in which icons are no longer too relevant, because AI will anticipate our needs and do things for us in the operating system without us barely having to use a mouse or keyboard. Samsung DeX has already shown the way. The South Korean company has been betting on its own desktop mode with DeX. That function is still present on their phones, but it has remained a second-tier feature that users can take advantage of but that has never had the ambition of making us stop using Windows or macOS. But of course: Samsung does not sell laptops with DeX (at the moment), and Google intends to do exactly that to offer a total alternative to the traditional Windows or macOS laptop. Can we do it all with an Android laptop? Maybe not everything—we’re thinking about gaming, and Googlebooks won’t be for that—but most of what we currently do. The problem is not being able to do it, it is whether changing a Windows or a macOS for a desktop operating system based on Android will provide something truly different. That is the challenge, and although Android has its strengths (such as a huge app catalog), pure “desktop apps” are not its forte. But the moment is right. Especially considering that Windows is in low hours after that obsession that has made Microsoft I flooded it with AI. The company seems want to correct that problem that so many criticisms has generated, but there are many users disenchanted with an operating system. That gives a unique opportunity to its rivals, and for now Apple has already taken advantage of it. with the Macbook Neo. If Google’s execution is good, Googlebooks could indeed present an alternative. Image | Pepu Ricca (Xataka Android) In Xataka | France wants to “become independent” from Windows and embrace Linux: Extremadura has a lesson to transmit

Europe and China are at risk in the race for the first gravitational wave observatory in space

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Terrestrial gravitational wave detectors, such as the famous LIGO, have made very interesting discoveries in the last decade. However, there is a great consensus that it would be very useful to detect this cosmic phenomenon directly from space. For this reason, some space agencies are already getting to work to launch their own projects. One of them is the Taiji mission, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with which, in fact, a great step forward has just been taken. Everything ready for Taiji 2. The Taiji mission consists of three phases. The first was already launched in 2019. For the second, a piece called the full-function interferometer optical core had to be tested. The tests carried out on Earth have gone perfectlyso it is considered that the second phase could be launched as soon as possible. In fact, its launch It was initially scheduled in 2024but it has been suffering delays. Luckily, it seems that now all the pieces are ready. Three ships in total. The Taiji mission is made up of three ships, strategically placed in space millions of kilometers away. They will all be connected to each other through laser interferometry, so that slight changes in these distances that could be associated with gravitational waves can be detected. The first phase of the mission, in which the interferometry system was analyzed, was launched in 2019. It is expected to send the second part as soon as possible, in which the first two ships will be put into space. As for the third, in principle the established calendar places its launch in the 2030s. Better in space than on Earth. Gravitational waves are waves produced in space-time as a result of a catastrophic event. These types of events could be, for example, the merger of neutron stars or the collision of black holes. When this occurs, space-time experiences a disturbance similar to that produced when a stone is thrown into a pond. Those are gravitational waves. The terrestrial observatories, like LIGOthey can detect them, but they have a small limitation. And there could be confusion with seismic noise and other terrestrial interference. In space, that problem disappears. Taiji to the rescue. According to the tests that have been carried out on Earth and the analyzes of the interferometry system that have already been carried out in space with Taiji-1, this mission is capable of greatly reducing interference. Furthermore, the optical core that has just been tested is capable of detecting disturbances on the order of picometers. That is, on Earth you can discern displacements equivalent to one ten-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair. Although those distances would change under spatial conditions, it is still highly accurate. Therefore, it is expected to detect even gravitational waves caused by intermediate mass black holes. Other similar missions. The European Space Agency It also has its own mission aimed at detecting gravitational waves in space. This is LISAa project with which it is planned to do something similar: launch three ships connected by laser interferometry into space. In this case, the launch of all ships is scheduled for 2035, so China could have some advantage. Of course, until the complete triangle is in space, the mission cannot be considered completed. Perhaps Europe will be able to overtake the Asian country. Image | NOIRLab In Xataka | What happens if you fall into a black hole, explained simply in an overwhelming NASA simulation

why the great battle of mobile cameras is in size and not in megapixels

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How difficult can it be? know if the camera of one mobile phone is better than that of another. An example as a riddle, let’s see if you can see, at a glance, which camera is better. They are the two main cameras of two different phones: 50 megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture and one-inch size. 3.2 µm pixels and OIS stabilization. 200 megapixel sensor with f/1.7 aperture and 1/1.4 inch size. 0.56 µm pixels and OIS stabilization. Since a large number always attracts attention, a first glance could tell us that the camera with 200 megapixels is better than the one with 50 megapixels. Is that so? Well, not in this case, since the top camera (which corresponds to a Xiaomi 17 Ultra) It’s much better than the one below (from a Redmi Note 15 Pro+). That is something we could know from the size of the sensor and the pixels, which is exactly what we are going to explain in this article. A camera with more megapixels is not necessarily better Cameras are increasingly a claim by manufacturers when it comes to selling mobile phones. This is nothing new, since we have been seeing different races between them for years: first they were to offer more megapixels and then, to have a greater number of cameras. As we have seen in the example above, even cheap phones already have sensors with 200 megapixels. But, Does that mean the camera is better? In order to answer this question, we are going to explain what a megapixel is. A megapixel (also called ‘MP’ or ‘mpx’ on mobile devices) is equivalent to one million pixels and is an element that is not used to measure the quality of a sensor or an image, but its resolution. In short, the higher the number of megapixels, the larger the image size will be. This is very useful because it allows you to take large photographs and later make a digital crop to have an enlarged image. It is a very interesting solution for mobile phones that do not have a telephoto sensor (like the iPhone 17efor example), but it is not a factor that will determine the quality of the photograph. I understand this, now let’s talk about a key concept in photography: light. The more light a camera captures, the better the image quality and the less noise it will have. This is where pixel size comes in: the larger they are, the more light they are able to collect. What’s happening? That you cannot fit a huge number of megapixels into a small sensor because, in that case, each pixel receives less light. That is exactly the opposite of what we are looking for in photography, but it is a problem that is diluted if the sensor is larger. Why is sensor size so important? If the camera sensor is larger, the pixel and megapixel size will be larger. so they will capture more light. In fact, this is another detail that we can see in the example cameras that we used at the beginning of the article, since they tell us the size of their pixels measured in micrometers (or µm). The larger these are, the more light they will capture. Precisely based on this, manufacturers use a technique called ‘Pixel Binning’. Explained very simply, it is a process by which pixels join adjacent ones, thus forming larger pixels (and therefore, capable of capturing more light). There the number of megapixels (and therefore the resolution) is reduced in exchange for gaining more light. At this point, the question may arise in our mind as to why manufacturers don’t introduce larger sensors in phones. The answer, if we ignore the cost of these, is that you not only have to mount them: they have to be placed on the mobile so that it can take advantage of them 100%. And that takes up a lot of space on a device that seeks to be (relatively) thin. And where is the size of a sensor most noticeable? Well when we go to take a photo and there is little light. These large sensors offer more natural results at night and when lighting is poor, all without the need for overly aggressive software processing. It also performs very well with the contrast between dark and brightly lit areas, in addition to achieving a natural blur effect without having to resort to Portrait mode (or what is usually called ‘bokeh). How can I find out the size of a camera sensor? Sensor size is expressed in inches, usually as a fraction: for example, 1/1.95″. The smaller that fraction (closer to 1), the larger the sensor. A 1/1.3″ sensor is larger than a 1/1.95″ sensor. Megapixels are easy to sell because they are a large number and easy to compare in a store. Sensor size is harder to communicate, harder to manufacture, and harder to make profitable in the mid-range. That’s why manufacturers highlight it when they have it and omit it when they don’t.. Now you know which column to look at. Two mobile phones with one-inch sensors In recent months we have been seeing mobile phones with very good photographic sections and the vast majority of them (if not all) have one-inch sensors. It is true that we have mobile phones with an outstanding photographic section that barely have a sensor like this, like the Vivo X300 Ultra (main camera sensor measures 1/1.12 inch), he Vivo X300 Pro (1/1.28 inch) or the OPPO X9 Ultra (also 1/1.12 inch). There are many aspects that come into play when talking about mobile photography. and not all of them are physical (the processor and software also have a lot to say). Now, we have two good examples with one-inch sensors that we are going to see right below. Xiaomi 17 Ultra We have used it as an example because the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is one of the best cameras we have seen on mobile phones … Read more

Renfe makes its position in the workshop war clear to Iryo and the CNMC

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The Iryo-Renfe soap opera continues. Every day that passes we have a new chapter, a new exchange of statements, new figures on the table. And with each passing day, Iryo continues to find the door to the workshops closed. Although the CNMC obliges them, Renfe is clear: “they have no obligation.” The (pen)last chapter. It is the one that brings us the response from Renfe. And it is that, to questions from Xatakathe company tells us that the obligation imposed by the CNMC to open its workshops to Iryo has a “disproportionate impact” and there is a “technical impossibility.” The company assures that “adapting the workshops to the regime that the CNMC wants to impose” would take them a year. For now, the company has kept the Italian company’s workshops closed. And although Renfe clearly feels harmed, the company assures us that “we are studying how to do it (open the workshops) to carry out the CNMC’s decision, as it could not be otherwise.” Heavy or light. That’s the question. And since the liberalization of Spanish roads began, Renfe already knew that it would have to leave its workshops to Ouigo and Iryo to carry out light maintenance work. That is, routine checks of little significance. The problem is that these “light maintenance” operations are not clearly specified even in the Directive 2012/34/EU nor in the standard EN 15380-4:2021. This friction is what has led Renfe to deny passage to Iryo since it considers that in the proposed operations part of the train must be dismantled and that falls into the category of heavy maintenance. It must be remembered that Renfe already encountered this problem a few months ago. The Spanish company reported that Ouigo was carrying out heavy maintenance work at its facilities and that it had not previously reported this. Something that was proven, according to the company itself, by documents provided by the French company. The CNMC, on that occasion, also sided with Ouigo, forcing Renfe to lend its facilities for unforeseen interventions. Is it that big of a deal? Well, obviously, the versions differ here. No, it’s not that big a deal: Iryo is clear that the operations to be carried out in the Renfe workshops would not involve many problems. They assure that they would only occupy 7% of the infrastructure and that, since maintenance is scheduled weeks in advance, it is all a matter of organization. Yes, of course it is a big deal: Renfe, on the contrary, assures that these maintenance tasks seriously affect its schedule. They say that space is already operating at almost full capacity, that the impact of Iryo would be 10% of the infrastructure and that it would force them to withdraw 1.2 million seats from the offer because there would be no room to maintain their own trains. More than one million of these seats correspond to the lines in which it is handled as a Public Service Obligation (OSP) and this would result in a drop of 60 million euros in income. The CNMC is clear. The problem for Renfe is that the CNMC is clear about it and is on Iryo’s side. The regulator has already received a complaint that Renfe did not allow the Italian company to enter its workshops and issued a resolution forcing Renfe. This resolution was appealed before the National Court, which has decided to force Renfe to make way for Iryo in their workshops as a precautionary measure but with the notice that it will study the case in particular. The sticking point is that Iryo would need to send its trains to Rome for scheduled maintenance. That would force them, they say, to stop providing service with the trains involved for two months, a compelling reason for the CNMC despite the fact that In France Iryo was forced to take its trains to Italy despite the cessation of activity and despite the fact that the company announced that I would set up some workshops in Spain for these cases but nothing is known about them. Those are the cards that, for the moment, are on the table. Photo | Sergioorozco96 and Renfe In Xataka | There is a fight between the railway operators to get the best drivers and Renfe is winning it

that people install one in the garden

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Data centers have become the new cell towers: no one wants to live near one, not even if they offer money to build one. There are compelling reasons, such as pollution or what electricity bill prices skyrocket. In this context, a San Francisco startup has had an idea that can be crazy or genius: convert people’s homes into data centers. The idea. SPAN is a San Francisco startup that sells home electrical solutions, such as smart electrical panels or vehicle chargers. His new idea is called XFRAa “distributed data center solution” that installs an NVIDIA GPU node directly into homes. That is, instead of having a giant building full of GPUs, they distribute them in small panels throughout entire neighborhoods. These nodes, which have a design reminiscent of a larger air conditioner, contain 16 NVIDIA RTX PRO 600 Blackwell GPUs, 3TB of memory, and liquid cooling. In statements to Ars Technicathe company’s vice president said that “Data centers are noisy, unsightly and often drive up local electricity bills. This is quiet, discreet and makes energy more affordable for the provider and the community.” Image: SPAN Everyone wins. According to SPAN, their solution is a win-win for both hyperscalers and owners. AI companies are able to increase their capacity more immediately, avoiding the long lead times of large data centers. Meanwhile, owners who install one of these nodes will have discounts and even not pay anything for their electricity and internet bill. Electricity increases are one of the arguments of those who reject data centers, so this may increase their attractiveness for owners. Qlanes of the future. SPAN already has a pilot program underway to test its invention in 100 homes this year. The intention is to begin installing XFRA nodes in newly built homes, although they also consider the option of installing them in existing homes, in addition to offering more powerful nodes for commercial clients. The company’s plans are to install 80,000 XFRA nodes throughout the United States, which would achieve 1 gigawatt of distributed power at a much lower construction cost. Of course, it would not serve to replace traditional data centers used to train AI models, but this computing capacity would be oriented towards other uses such as inference, cloud gaming or content streaming. Context. The AI ​​boom requires a lot of computing power and companies started to build mega data centers like there is no tomorrow. They soon realized the problem: there is no power for so many chips. What has followed is an electrical network that does not support so many data centersthe skyrocketing electricity billthe technologies using nuclear energy and one strong opposition from the community. All of this is making building and launching a data center a process that can take years, That is if they don’t end up being cancelled. Maybe it’s not so far-fetched. The energy problem has led technology companies to consider take data centers to spacewhere energy is unlimited, or submerge them in the sea to cool them. The options are on the table, although there are already those who warn that They are a chimera and we still do not have the necessary technology. In this sense, the idea of ​​SPAN is presented as a much more realistic option, although seeing the rejection that data centers are arousing among citizens, it is not clear that it will be well received. Image | Xataka, with ChatGPT In Xataka | Quietly, Aragón is becoming a data center “powerhouse”: now it has taken a crucial step

why drinking a Diet Coke in the middle of 2026 is an impossible mission

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Any consumer who has recently walked through the soft drinks aisle in a supermarket will have come across a particular scenario: the word “light” (or “diet”, depending on the country) is conspicuous by its absence. Instead, a tide of “zero label” cans and bottles dominate the shelves. Everything indicates that the iconic Diet Coke is in the doldrums. However, it is enough to look at social networks to discover a little resistance. Among young people of Generation Z, this drink has not only not disappeared, but has become a true object of desire and a lifeline against work stress. And to make matters worse, in the middle of 2026, opening one of these cans has become almost a miracle due to a geopolitical and logistical crisis that is suffocating the world. What is really happening with the Diet Coke? The rise of “Zero” At the beginning of this decade, the industry left the word “diet” for dead. “No Gen Z person wants to be on a diet these days,” sentenced in 2021 Greg LyonsCEO of PepsiCo, illustrating what seemed like a definitive change in mentality throughout the industry. Corporations assumed that young people associated the term with strict regimes or deprivation, while the designation “zero” offered a much cleaner profile. As a result, The Coca-Cola Company has put all its financial muscle behind its Zero variant. The financial data they confirm it: during the third quarter of 2025, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar experienced an impressive 14% growth. In contrast, the Diet Coke (either Diet Coke) barely expanded 2%, driven almost exclusively by demand in North America. On a technical level, the difference between the two is not a myth. As detailed in the German media RNDthe Diet Coke Original has a slightly different flavor than classic due to its specific blend of artificial sweeteners (aspartame and acesulfame K) and flavorings. The Coca-Cola Zeroon the contrary, was formulated years later with the explicit objective of imitating the brand’s original flavor as closely as possible, attracting an audience that was fleeing the stigma of “regime” products. Welcome to the “Fridge Cigarette” But Internet culture has its own rules, and corporations don’t always dictate trends. Far from dying like a drink for the generation boomerthe Diet Coke experienced a brutal organic resurgence from 2023. It all started with viral trends that invited you to “marinate” the can in the refrigerator for days to enhance its bubbles, and reached its peak when superstars like Dua Lipa showed on TikTok how they mixed the drink with pickle juice and jalapenos. This fervor led to a new concept that has taken the internet by storm: the fridge cigarette (or “refrigerator cigarette”). Young people have adopted the act of opening a can of Diet Coke cold like the modern equivalent of going out for a cigarette. For Generation Z, the metallic sound when opening the ring emulates the spark of a lighter. It’s not about nicotine, but about the ritual: a perfect excuse to get up from your desk, get away from the screen and claim a little break in the midst of modern hyperproductivity. It is an act of self-care disguised as rebellion. The company, of course, was quick to notice. Sue Lynne Cha, vice president of marketing at Coca-Cola, recognized this rebirth among young people, leading the brand to invest heavily in this renewed popularity. They launched campaigns very focused on Generation Z, such as “Love language” and “Know The Signs”, the latter narrated by comedian Kristen Wiig, encouraging workers to take a #DietCokeBreak. To sustain this momentum, the company injected an additional $18 million into advertising in 2024 alone. The “Black Swan” of 2026 Just when the Diet Coke crowned as the status symbol of work breaks, geopolitical reality dealt it a lethal blow. Right now, the world is facing an unprecedented raw materials crisis. The Third Gulf War has blocked the main sea routes of the Middle East, a region that concentrates almost 9% of the global aluminum supply. This bottleneck has generated a deficit of two million tons, skyrocketing prices and forcing European smelters to declare “force majeure” situations. How does this affect the “refrigerator cigarette”? Directly on the waterline. No aluminum, no cans. The shortage is so severe that in regions like India—where Diet Coke sold exclusively in this format—the drink has almost completely disappeared. According to FortuneIndian entrepreneurs have capitalized on this drought by organizing clandestine themed parties where admission is charged and coveted cans are raffled off, turning the Diet Coke in a true luxury item. This desperation is not trivial in a country where, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research, almost 10% of the adult population is diabetic and depends on sugar-free options to indulge. An effervescent mixture Added to this cocktail of logistical scarcity and network fanaticism is the eternal debate about health. Historically, cola drinks have been in the medical spotlight. Specialized portals such as WebMD and Medical News Today They constantly warn about the risks associated with these soft drinks, linking them to insulin resistance, increased visceral fat and even arguing that the dopamine spike they generate in the brain is comparable to that of highly addictive substances. With the version lightthe focus is on its sweeteners. a study published in Cell Metabolism suggests that aspartame could be harmful to cardiovascular health in mice, although the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and other experts have remained skeptical of this methodology, reaffirming that normal doses are safe. And what do new consumers say about this intersection of medical accusations? Which doesn’t matter exactly the same to them. Unlike the millennials Obsessed with wellness, Generation Z embraces this drink with an almost nihilistic attitude, driven in part by a 2000s nostalgia that has resurrected old aesthetic standards. As Andrea Hernandez, founder of the newsletter, explained Snaxshot, to The New York Timesthe mentality is: “Oh, aspartame is terrible for you… I absolutely don’t care.” It is an affordable vice, a small transgression in a world full … Read more

Marvel just gave 48 minutes of unfiltered violence to its most extreme character and you can watch it today on Disney+

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Frank Castle, better known as the Punisher (or The Punisher if you’re an old-school comic reader), hasn’t had his own series for seven years. Since Netflix canceled ‘The Punisher’ in 2019, the character has survived on the margins of the MCU until ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ rescued him in 2025. Now Marvel has opted for a different format with him in ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’. It is not a series or a movie, but 48 minutes of a borderline antihero, co-directed by Jon Bernthal himself and with a level of violence that Disney+ never allowed before. ‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ comes with the “Marvel Television Special Presentation” label, a format that the studio premiered in October 2022 with ‘The curse of the werewolf‘. The format is a kind of laboratory: projects of between 45 and 60 minutes that function as self-contained stories without the pressure of sustaining a series for several weeks. Both ‘The Curse of the Werewolf’ and the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special worked as cult pieces, and with Punisher, Marvel has taken the experiment to the extreme, because its adult rating is the first on the platform for a Marvel Studios project. Here we will see how an unexpected force drags Frank Castle back into battle. The Punisher believes he has eliminated the Gnucci crime family, the last link to his family’s murderers, and the surviving matriarch, Ma Gnucci, comes to him not to negotiate but to settle scores. The first half of the episode focuses on visions that haunt Castle; the second is a real-time action sequence inside an apartment building reminiscent of ‘The Raid’. The idea for the series arose during the filming of the first season of ‘Daredevil: Born Again’. Bernthal asked the director for permission to develop something centered on Frank Castle. The two had previously collaborated, and that gave Disney confidence to have Bernthal co-write the script and serve as executive producer. Shot on real locations in Queens and Brooklyn, the photography is by Robert Elswit (Oscar winner for ‘Wells of Ambition’), a firm that visually elevates this bet far above a typical television film. In Xataka | 12 premieres this week on Netflix, including the return of one of the platform’s most successful franchises

The energy jets from black holes are so powerful that they can reshape entire galaxies and now we know how to measure it

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It is always said that black holes They gobble up everything that comes close to themfrom matter to light. However, this is not entirely true. In some cases, there is a fraction of particles and energy that, instead of falling inside, does the opposite. It is ejected in the form of jets, known as jets. Although there are some hypotheses about this, the reason why this occurs is not completely known. What is known is that these jets are so powerful that they can even influence the evolution of galaxies. The problem is that it is known that they are very powerful, but not how powerful. Until now, no one had been able to directly measure the power of these jets. However, an international team of scientists has achieved measuring these jets around a specific black hole, thereby opening up a very interesting range of possibilities. The data. These scientists have studied the Cygnus X-1 systemcomposed of a black hole and a blue supergiant star orbiting each other. Using a very novel method, they have discovered that the energy of the jets leaving the black hole is equivalent to that of 1,000 suns. They have also observed that they move through space at a speed of 540 million kilometers per hour and that 10% of the energy that is initially formed in the fall towards the black hole is converted into jets. The background. Until now, no one knew how to measure the power of a black hole’s jets. The only thing that was done was to measure the scars they left in space using calorimetric methods. When freed, they can leave in their wake hot spots and holes in the intergalactic medium. However, As explained in an article by Interesting Engineeringthis is something like wanting to measure the power of an engine by observing the treads of the car’s tires. The important thing is to directly analyze the machinery. And that is precisely what has been achieved now. Indirect measures. In systems formed by a black hole and a star, the black hole feed little by little gas surrounding the star. As it approaches it, the gas begins to rotate faster and faster, generating a lot of heat and energy. Part of that energy does not fall into the black hole, but instead jump outward, forming the jets. In turn, the star releases very intense flows of particles, which give rise to what is known as stellar winds. Those stellar winds can interact with the jets and bend them. And there is the key. The jets cannot be measured as such, but the resistance they offer to being bent by stellar winds can be measured. For example, we can know how strong a person is by analyzing his or her ability to beat someone whose strength we do know in an arm wrestling match. Trajectory changes. The overall trajectory of the jets depends on the momentum flux of both the jets themselves and the winds. Since the momentum flow of the wind can be calculated, it is enough to analyze the trajectory to solve the unknown. The data can also be further refined with a series of computer simulations. The result is a fairly rough estimate of the power of the jets. There are limitations. The biggest limitation of this study is that only one black hole has been analyzed. The procedure would have to be repeated with more jets in more black holes to check if there is a trend and, therefore, if the method is valid. Galactic evolution. Since jets from larger black holes can significantly affect galactic evolution, this method could be very useful to better understand how galaxies form. That is why it is important to move on to the second step and check if the method is reproducible, especially with larger black holes. Image| A supermassive black hole ejects a jet of plasma 3,000 light years long, traveling at almost the speed of light. NASA artist concept In Xataka | We thought that the heart of the Milky Way was an immense black hole. Mathematics has changed this idea for us

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