Mobile Tech & Gadgets

Your race to modernize is breaking what has always worked

by

The promise of Windows 11 was to deliver a modern operating system, but four years later, that modernization feels like a permanent work in progress. While adoption of the system remains slow—although reached Windows 10— some users face an experience weighed down by patches that often turn into bugs. An invisible change that breaks things. From 2023Microsoft accelerated an under-the-hood migration: abandoning the classic and efficient technology that drew windows, to embrace WinUI and the XAML-based Windows App SDK. The goal is to unify the design, but the execution is taking its toll. WinUI introduces changes which, if not optimized perfectly, make the system suffer: it chokes waiting for data in the same thread that draws the interface. This explains why the browser feels heavy or why the start menu and taskbar they disappear after security updates. In fact, in a community meeting which you can see on YouTube, confirm their mission to migrate legacy surfaces to WinUI 3 to modernize the OS, admitting the difficulties that have arisen. It’s not just design. Beyond the UI layer, the latest version of the OS has been a minefield where Microsoft has had to constantly rectify. The result is components that have been failing, both due to WinUI and for reasons unrelated to it: The interface: contextual menus were born slow and cluttered, forcing Redmond’s redesign them now to fix the usability problem they created. Even their own managers have admitted publicly that the Start Menu “is very annoying” and needs corrections. Stability: we have suffered since updates that caused blue screens for processor incompatibilities to specific performance issues on AMD chipspassing through surreal glitches where the file explorer overlapped to other windows. Security: the renewal of the OS has reached disrupt vital functions such as “Local Authority Protection” (LSA), unintentionally disabling it with a patch. The community acts as a patch and resistance. Given the slowness to fix latest visual bugusers have taken control. The discovery is revealing: disabling the modern command bar (based on WinUI) using tools not only eliminates white flashes, but speeds up program loading and reduces RAM consumption. But this community has also been reluctant to Windows 11: they use tools like Rufus to bypass the TPM requirement (controversial at launch) or modified versions like Tiny11 to clean bloatware. It seems that the advanced and enthusiastic user prefers to modify the system rather than accept Redmond’s official vision. The nostalgia cycle. All this fuels the eternal debate about the “good” and “bad” versions of Windows. Today many idealize Windows 10 for its stability, forgetting that in its first years it suffered fierce criticism for forced updates and privacy. Windows 11 seems to be stuck in that difficult phase of the cycle, aggravated by requirements that left out many functional PCs. Open Source to the rescue? As Microsoft pours resources into the ARM revolution and Copilot+ PCsthe desktop does not finish fine-tuning. The company seems aware and recently announced plans to make WinUI open sourcein order to accelerate the improvement of the base technology that currently hinders the system. Perhaps involving more developers will help make this interface development framework cleaner and more stable, although it does not imply that the bugs in Windows 11 (proprietary code) will be fixed because of this. However, the developer community is skeptical, pointing in specialized forums that WinUI has performance issues. Until Microsoft manages to make this new element as solid as the classic, and satisfy the enormous hardware park that installs it, Windows 11 will continue to pay the toll of modernity with some occasional instability. Cover image | Composition with images by Pepu Ricca and Javier Penalva for Xataka In Xataka | The ghost of IBM: Satya Nadella’s great challenge is to prevent Microsoft from becoming a technological fossil

It’s not just “nerves”, it’s sabotage to the cells

by

Without a doubt, it is one of the phrases that we have heard ad nauseam: stress makes us hair falls out. And if this occurs in autumnthe increase is much greater. The problem is that science had not found a clear correlation to be able to say that this was 100% true. What we knew was that stress raised the cortisol and that this altered the growth cycles, but we lacked the ‘how’. Something that we have already managed to solve. A path for treatments. Without a doubt in the aesthetic world there is a great demand for treatments that solve baldness problems how are shampoos, vitamin supplements and without a doubt the option of hair follicle transplant They are on the order of the day. That is why understanding exactly why hair falls out in certain situations can end up helping to develop a greater number of medications. The study. The good news we have on the table comes from a study published in the magazine cell supported by previous research that has found the missing link regarding stress and hair loss. A priori it could be thought that cortisol, the so-called ‘stress hormone‘ could be responsible for this loss. But science has taken a turn of the helm by pointing to an electrical overload of the nervous system that would literally be frying the hair cells. The fighting system. Our nervous system has two very clear parts. One we call ‘parasympathetic‘which is the body’s brake and is active when we are most relaxed. But, on the other hand, we have the ‘sympathetic’ that is activated in times of stress, to increase heart rate or tension. It is precisely this system that causes this undesirable effect, especially because when activated it produces epinephrine or norepinephrinewhich is a powerful vasoconstrictor that causes the muscle to have more blood, tension to increase or the heart rate to skyrocket. And this is precisely the substance that travels to the hair follicles, being almost like a poison for the stem cells that are responsible for regenerating hair. As. All the cells in our body need energy to function, as if they were a small factory. Energy is ‘generated’ in what we call mitochondriawhich literally take oxygen from the blood to produce a reaction that releases the energy that the cell will use to do all its tasks such as synthesizing the necessary elements that our hair has. The problem is that with the arrival of norepinephrine to the cells, these mitochondria die, and a production system without energy is condemned to die. And this is precisely what happens to the cells of the hair follicle, causing the system to collapse and accompanied by hair loss. This is something that has been demonstrated in mice, where by blocking the entry gates of norepinephrine to the hair follicle cell, hair loss was blocked. The immune system. Beyond the effect of norepinephrine, we also find the effect of our own defenses. And there are many factors that can activate the immune system around the follicle, which explains why stress is such a common trigger of alopecia areatawhich is an autoimmune disease where the body itself attacks its own follicles as if they were something foreign when it is its own thing. The future of baldness. As we mentioned before with this door open, pharmacology can now do its job by looking for ways to block the effect of norepinephrine in these cells without affecting the rest of the body (where it is very necessary). Although not stressing and having a calm life, the truth is that it can be the best possible treatment for both baldness and other diseases, although in today’s society it is undoubtedly a great challenge. Images | Gustavo Sanchez In Xataka | Minoxidil seemed like the great miracle drug against baldness. A Google-funded pharmaceutical company has just surpassed it

Mexico hoped that the Mayan Train would change the country’s economy. It is not convincing either tourists or locals

by

Their locomotives started between promises of wealth generationemployment and progress, but almost two years after its first inauguration he Mayan Train (one of the most ambitious projects of former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador) is far from the expectations of its promoters. It does not seem to be arousing special interest among tourists. Nor among the locals. In fact The Country just revealed a figure that gives an idea of ​​the extent to which it has started with modest results: it moves 5% of the expected demand. The big question is… Why? What is the Mayan Train? One of López Obrador’s star projects and probably one of the most ambitious infrastructures developed in recent years in Mexico. He Mayan Train It is a railway circuit of more than 1,500 km that crosses Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, states located in the southeast, where some of the poorest regions of the country are located. Is it operational? Yes. After a construction marked by the controversychanges and a billion dollar investment which multiplied the initial budget, the trains began to circulate almost two years ago, although they were launched in a phased manner. In December 2023 A smiling López Obrador participated in the inaugural route on the Campeche-Cancún section. A year later, with Sheinbaum at the head of the Government, the implementation of the rest of routesincluded the lastbetween Campeche and the Chetumal airport. To celebrate and give an extra push to the structure, the Executive launched a tourist package especially to attract users for Christmas. Why is it news now? Because things don’t seem to be going especially well for the Mayan Train. This is what the revealed data by The Countrywhich claims to have accessed a report from the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) which confirms that the start of the service has not aroused the expected interest. During its first year of operations, it transported an average of 3,200 passengers daily. The initial forecasts were for this figure to be around 74,000, which did not even reach 5% of what was expected. The reporters who write the report from Mexico they assure that in the middle of high season it is not unusual to find trains that run almost empty in some sections and that at the stations it is common to come across more guards and cleaning employees than visitors. When talking to tourists who visit the region, some admit that they had not heard of the Mayan Train. What is the cause of this puncture? The million dollar question. And it is not easy to answer it. The testimonies collected by The Country They suggest that the train has not yet managed to catch on in either of the two markets in which it should attract passengers: domestic and international. It does not convince locals to travel through the southeast of Mexico, but neither does it convince foreign tourists who want to get to know the region. The reason is a combination of economic, logistical, cultural factors and habits that are difficult to change. If we talk about locals, the Mayan Train loses appeal for a simple reason: the location of the stations. The military company that operates it offers them discounts, but they must add the transportation price to get to the terminal to the ticket price. “The train to my town is far away. If I wanted to travel by train, I would basically have to spend twice as much. To go to Mérida I take the bus, which is more direct and cheaper,” explains a tour guide. Added to this is the deep-rooted use of other means of transport, such as the bus itself, motorcycles or taxis. And what about tourists? Despite the efforts to establish the service among foreign tourists, the Mayan Train does not seem to be succeeding in that market niche either. The visitors they keep coming to the Yucatan Peninsula, but their travel depends largely on travel companies and their itineraries, often agreed with bus companies and hoteliers. Although users highlight that trains are generally comfortable and safe and has been invested Already in the promotion of the service, there are still tourists who come to the Yucatán without having heard not even talk about the Mayan Train. Others do not quite see its advantages over traditional alternatives, such as renting a car to move freely or paying for tours in advance. Why is it important? For several reasons. To begin with, because the Mayan Train has not been just an ambitious project. It has also been marked by controversy. Recently National Geographic published a report in which he explains how its implementation has polarized part of Mexican society, with positions divided between those who believe it will help energize the region and those who focus on the impact it has had on the environment. Beyond this debate about the pros and cons of the train, what is undeniable is that the project has cost a lot more than initially planned. In 2023 the BBC network assured that from the between 120,000 and 150,000 million Mexican pesos that were initially spoken of, it went to nearly 500,000 million. This great investment effort was accompanied by promises of its economic return. What is expected from the train? “It is a magnum opus, we are not exaggerating if we say that there is no one like it in the world today,” stood out two years ago, during his inauguration, López Obrador. And at the time it was even proposed that the train would help encourage tourism and employment in some of the most impoverished regions of Mexico, with a project that, in addition to the railway, includes museums, hotels, archaeological zones and hotels. In 2020, a UN-Habitat study even suggested that it would help lift people out of poverty. 1.1 million of people. What does the Government say? He claims that the start-up of the train has not been bad. In summer the Government assured that the service … Read more

A movie scene traumatized an entire generation every time they bathed in the sea. And it was all due to a mistake

by

The story from ‘Jaws’ begins long before its monster appears on screen: it is born in a chaotic shoot, with a mechanical creature that did not work, a young director on the verge of dismissal and a climate of tension that threatened to sink not only the film, but also Steven Spielberg’s career. Hence the most chilling scene has arisen from the most logical thing: a failure. The technical failure and taking a bath. The story told a long time ago Spielberg himself. The entire team assumed that the film was doomed. Brucethe name given to the enormous robotic shark, constantly broke down as soon as it touched salt water, the days went by without being able to film anything usable and leaks from Hollywood ensured that the production was a disaster. However, from those limitations (and especially that useless shark) was born one of the most influential decisions in the history of cinema: not to show the threat, but to hint at it. Technical necessity forced Spielberg to shoot the film as a suspense thriller, closer to a Hitchcock film than a giant creature spectacle, and he turned the series of mechanical problems into the greater narrative success of his career. The result was a film where terror springs from the invisible, from calm water, from ominous sound. of two notes that advance like an unstoppable threat: a tension that would forever change the public’s relationship with the sea (for the worse). The sequence. The iconic opening scene (a quiet beach, a party and a girl who decides to bathe under the moon) is the perfect example of the way in which Spielberg transformed technical deficiencies into a cinematic virtue. We do not see the shark at any time, but we feel its presence from the first vibration of the water. Chrissie, played by Susan Backlinie, goes into the sea while the camera accompanies her slowly, without warning, until something grabs her from below, shakes her from side to side and ends up dragging her into the depths. On the surface calm returns, but the audience can no longer recover it: they know that the unknown is there, lurking where it cannot be seen. The psychological impact was so immediate that many viewers, first in the United States and then in Europe, left the cinema. with the same phrase in my head: “I will never get into the water again in my life.” Spielberg built an invisible attack in which the viewer’s imagination becomes the real monster, and he did it because he simply had no other choice: Bruce I would never have been able to shoot that shot convincingly. The absence of the animal, paradoxically, created a scariest presence than any mechanical creature. The failures that forged the tension. During filming, the mechanical shark turned out to be practically unusable. Engines corroded with salt, joints failed, and underwater operators spent hours trying to refloat a robot that was sinking rather than attacking. Spielberg confessed that the bug “looked silly” and that he was afraid that the public would laugh. But when something doesn’t work, cinema can reinvent itself. Forced to film without showing the predator, the director and his team chose to work as if the camera was the shark itself: water level shots, disturbing points of view, tense silences and, above all, the terrifying rhythm composed by John Williams, initially received as a joke and finally became one of the most recognizable leitmotifs in the history of cinema. Simple ball. The failed machinery forced the narrative to concentrate on “less is more,” and that visual reduction transformed what was going to be a monster film into a piece pure suspenseone in which the threat lurks beneath the surface like a collective trauma ready to emerge. Spielberg himself admitted after that, if the shark had worked well, ‘Jaws’ would have been a much worse movie or, at the very least, much less scary. From accident to cultural revolution. Thus, what began as a filming in crisis ended up triggering a unprecedented phenomenon. ‘Jaws’ not only terrified million viewers (literally altering his relationship with the beach), but also redefined the film industry. The film also inaugurated the concept “premiere-event”: massive campaigns, releases in hundreds of theaters and a summer strategy that demolished the old belief that no one went to the movies when the weather was good. The audience came again and again to scream, to feel the shock, to immerse themselves again in that first scene that turned a night bath into an act of pure recklessness. Spielberg’s film opened the door to a new economic model, inspired aggressive marketing strategies, generated an avalanche of imitators and consolidated the blockbuster as the central engine of Hollywood. By the way, I remembered in a wonderful Guardian report for the anniversary of the film, its cultural impact gave rise to infinite interpretations: readings on masculinity, power, institutional crisis, post-Watergate paranoia and even debates about its moral content. However, when Spielberg was asked what ‘Jaws’ really meant, the answer was so simple. like shiny: “It’s a movie about a shark.” And what makes it something bigger is that, because of a technical failurethat shark almost never shows up. Image | Universal Pictures In Xataka | In the 80s they were already cloning faces without the need for AI: ‘Back to the Future’ replaced an actor with a mask and we didn’t realize it In Xataka | Stephen King threw away the first pages of the book. His wife rescued them and turned a scene into horror film history

A Bugatti Mistral costs five million dollars. Launching it includes convincing the police to organize a race

by

It’s not every day that you can brand new a Bugatti Mistrala supercar valued at more than five million and that the CEO of Bugatti himself come deliver it to you in person. However, it is not so common that for this delivery, the CEO has to convince the police that it is a good idea to cut off one of Miami’s coastal roads to traffic to debut the supercar by racing between the Mistral and a custom-built sports yacht for the same owner. Although it may seem very bizarre, these things can happen when you are millionaire enough. A very particular premiere in Miami The delivery of a Bugatti Mistral is never a routine event. It’s a exclusive supercar of which only 99 units were manufactured that were they sold the same day that was put up for sale. However, when you pay five million euros for one of these exclusive jewels, the least you expect is that the CEO of Bugatti himself will come to deliver it to you in person. According to published Luxury Launchesthat’s what happened to Anthony Hsieh, a millionaire from Miami who received the exclusive unit of this supercar. The staging, far from being limited to a simple presentation in the dealer who had sold it to himincluded an unusual proposal: a race in front of the sea competing head to head with one of the exclusive yachts for sport fishing that Hsieh’s company builds. Bugatti’s CEO also joins in Mate Rimac, founder of the brand Rimac supercarscurrent CEO of Bugatti and a true speed enthusiast, did not want to miss the race and got so involved that he finally ended up offering to drive the Mistral in its race against the yacht. Obviously, the CEO wasn’t going to risk getting pulled over by the police or having the car’s owner fined, so he opted to convince Miami traffic authorities to close one of Miami’s busy coastal roads for the race, and This is how he told it on his networks social. A routine delivery for a Bugatti. Bugatti Mistral W16 engine The Bugatti Mistral uses the brand’s legendary W16 engine, an engineering gem what brand the end of an era for the brand since this is the last production model that will carry this 8-liter, 4-turbo block that delivers a power of 1,600 hp. Such a beast catapults the Mistral at a speed above 453 km/h. Her opponent was not exactly a cruising yacht. It is about the Badco 50 Gameboata boat designed for sport fishing of tuna and billfish (a large species similar to swordfish) and therefore must have agile and powerful engines that allow it to navigate at speeds of up to 44 knots. Like the Bugatti, the Badco 50 are customized to the owner’s taste with materials of the highest quality and resistance. Saying that the Badco 50 is a simple fishing boat is like saying that the Mistral is just a car. Furthermore, it so happens that the company that manufactures the Badco 50 is Bad Company Fishing Adventures, It is owned by the millionaire who bought the Mistral, so organizing this race, which as you can see in the video that was recordedis more symbolic than real, the brand sought to turn the delivery of the supercar into an unrepeatable experience for its customer. It’s not every day that the head of a supercar brand makes you luxury chauffeur in the car that has just been delivered to you and all followed by a police escort. If at this point you are still wondering who was the overall winner of the racethe answer is more than obvious: Mate Rimac, and not just by driving the car fasterbut because he took in his pocket the five million that the Bugatti Mistral costs and the absolute loyalty of a customer who will never again receive a car like Bugatti did with his Mistral. In Xataka | Bugatti has discovered that millionaires no longer want to buy luxury cars: they want to buy unique works of art Image | Bad Company Fishing Adventures

that our feces do not fall into oblivion

by

For decades, the intimacy of the bathroom was a forbidden territory even for the most invasive technology, a space culturally shielded from the modern obsession with constant body measurement. However, what a long time ago started in Japanaims to become the gold egg mine of the West: the business of human feces. The unexpected rise of “fecal data”. Bloomberg remembered it in a piece this past weekend that began with a scene that occurred recently and that symbolized the turning point: a gastroenterologist holding in hands a piece of feces dried on the set of a podcast, debating their form as if evaluating a piece of sculpture. The fascination by intestinal transitpreviously relegated to the clinical setting or to certain biohacker nicheshas jumped to the mainstream driven by an industry that identifies in fecal matter a vast new territory of data capable of anticipating diseases, adjusting lifestyle habits and recording dimensions of health that until now escaped the digital radar. What began as humor, modesty or taboo has become the basis of an emerging market in which bathroom technology giants and biomedical startups see a completely virgin field comparable, in potential, to the early days of the smart watch. From taboo to smart device. The jump is not accidental. The almost simultaneous appearance of two products from giants in the sector (the line Neorest by Toto and the sensor Kohler Dekoda) demonstrates that the industry has decided to turn the toilet into an ecosystem of continuous physiological analysis. For companies that have been innovating in the domestic environment for decades, the bathroom represented the last intact space, and at the same time the most intimate and emotionally charged, a place where people isolate themselves, reflect and lower their defenses. The new devices are supported precisely in that stillness: algorithms, optical sensorsspectroscopy and small cameras work silently to analyze parameters such as color, consistency, volume, hydration, hidden blood or patterns linked to gastrointestinal inflammation. In the Toto model, the toilet itself take the initiative: illuminates the material, captures its fall, compares it with the Bristol clinical scale and sends conclusions to the user’s mobile phone in less than a minute. They are systems that do not require discipline, manual registration or will: the bathroom operates as an automatic laboratory integrated into the daily routine. Toto’s Nearest The clinical leap. Although at first glance it may seem like a technological extravagance, the medical logic behind these devices is compelling. The specialists they underline that serious diseases (from inflammation to colon cancer) begin to manifest themselves subtly in the fecal pattern months or even years before severe symptoms appear. Hence a toilet capable to detect changes before a patient reaches “six or eight bloody liquid stools” can literally save lives. In a context in which health systems increasingly treat pathologies associated with lifestyle, a discreet and automatic home detector is a prevention tool. first order. For vulnerable people or groups with a higher incidence of intestinal diseases, technology can shorten diagnostic times, avoid hospitalizations and reduce healthcare costs through continuous monitoring that was previously unthinkable. From Japan to Silicon Valley. The expansion of the sector is not limited to Asia: American companies like Toi Labs They have oriented their technology towards nursing homes, hospitals and care centers, where the taboo disappears in the face of necessity. In that area, the fecal monitoring provides critical information on hydration, nutrition, risk of infections and evolution of chronic pathologies. In parallel, researchers as Park Seung-min have taken innovation to the extreme, designing prototypes capable of identifying users through anal topographyan idea as bold as it was problematic that was finally discarded due to its obvious implication in terms of privacy. Your project evolved to Kanaria Healthwhich seeks to develop a toilet capable of acting as an early warning system, not only in digestivebut also in hormonal or metabolic processes, from ovulation to drug detection. Institutional interest in Asia and the United States confirms that governments see this technology as a public health instrument, capable of anticipating problems in vulnerable populations without increasing pressure on medical services. Kohler Dekoda Sensor The intimate dilemma. But this technological advance runs into the most delicate wall of the 21st century: privacy. Physiological data is, by its nature, much more sensitive than the pulses of a watch or the calories counted by an activity bracelet. In a scenario in which some governments have used health information to persecute citizens (as is happening in the United States after legal setbacks on reproductive rights) an inevitable question arises: who will guard the toilet data? Extreme cases, such as political leaders who travel with private bathrooms to avoid leaks, they serve as a reminder of the strategic value of these samples. For users, accepting a device that analyzes blood, hormones or illicit substances means trusting that this information will not be exploited, hacked or prosecuted. The challenge for the industry is to demonstrate that the health benefit outweighs this risk, generating safe, anonymous and shielded systems. Obsession and risk. The expansion of smart toilets also reveals a certain tension of our era: the balance between healthy monitoring and anxiety due to excess of data. As with fitness devices, there is a risk that users end up “chasing their own tail”, interpreting every minor variation as a problem to the point of paranoia. At this point, the experts remember that the real value is in medium-term trends, not in compulsive daily observation. For those who do not suffer from digestive diseases, the usefulness can (or should) be marginal if it is not integrated into a rational habit. Even so, the possibility of aligning diet, hydration and exercise with an objective intestinal pattern marks a qualitative leap in bodily self-knowledge. The immediate future. He advancement of the sector suggests that, in a few years, the smart toilet It will be as common as digital scales or air purifiers. The combination of cheap sensors, artificial intelligence and a growing culture of self-care pushes towards a domestic … Read more

In Finland they already know how to deal with excess heat from data centers: convert it into district heating

by

Helsinki has found an unexpected ally to decarbonize its heating in the midst of the rise of artificial intelligence: waste heat from data centers. The same heat that servers generate when processing millions of queries, training AI models, or moving Internet traffic is no longer wasted. In the Finnish capital, this thermal flow – which is growing at the same rate as the digital world – is beginning to become shelter for tens of thousands of homes. A digital sector that is now heating up cities. For years, data centers were known for one uncomfortable characteristic: they generated a lot of heat and needed huge cooling systems to dissipate it. Now that residual heat is already being channeled to the Helsinki heating network, thanks to agreements signed with operators such as Equinix, Telia and Elisa. Data Center Dynamics remember that the company It has been testing this model for more than a decade – the first pilot tests date back to 2010 – but now the scale is completely different: the thermal demand of the city is enormous and the volume of heat generated by the digital economy is growing non-stop. The result can already be seen, a single data center can heat up to 20,000 homes, according to official figures from Helen. The Telia plant, for example, already recovers up to 90% of the heat generated by its servers, enough to heat 14,000 apartments, and in a few years it could double that figure to 28,000. A change in the way heat is produced. Digital heat recovery is more than just a technological curiosity. It represents a change in the way district heating is conceived. In the words of the Finnish company“the electricity consumed by data centers always ends up being converted into heat.” The difference is that now that heat is no longer released outside: it is reused. The engineering behind urban heat. Finland can convert digital heat into district heating because it has a network of district heating especially advanced: a network of pipes that distributes hot water to homes, schools and public buildings. The process is as follows. A data center generates heat: the servers run 24/7 and are continuously cooled. That heat, instead of being dissipated outside, is captured. It is then recovered and transferred; To do this, data centers can install their own recovery systems or use those offered by the energy company. The heat is sent to an “energy platform”, where heat pumps raise it to useful temperatures. Then, the temperature is adjusted to the 85–90 ºC necessary so that the water can circulate through the urban network. This is where high-temperature heat pumps come into play—some of which, like Patola’sthey work even with outside air at –20 ºC. Finally, the heat is injected into the grid and distributed throughout the city to heat thousands of buildings. Closing the energy circle. To understand why Finland leads this model, we must look at an essential technological element: heat pumps. Not only domestic ones, but also large-scale industrial ones, capable of raising waste heat to temperatures useful for an urban network. Europe—and especially the Nordic countries— has become a world leader of this technology. Finland has 524 heat pumps per 1,000 homes, a figure second only to Norway, and its cities have been electrifying heating for decades. This combination—cold climate, tradition of district heatingheat pump industry and the need to decarbonize quickly—turns Finland into an urban-scale energy laboratory. A model with limits. Although the system works, it is not a panacea. As Middle Parenthesis remembersnot all data centers are close to cores with thermal demand, not all generate enough heat to justify the investment, heat recovery improves efficiency but does not reduce the electrical consumption of data centers, and in hot climates or widely dispersed cities, replicating it is much more difficult. Still, the trend is clear. With the expansion of AI and the growth of cloudthe amount of heat available will only increase. The Nordic countries – Sweden, Norway, Denmark – already take advantage of it, and large operators such as Microsoft and Google They explore similar systems across Europe. From silicon to the stove. The Finnish model shows that, even at the heart of digital infrastructure – those data centers that power our online lives – there can be hidden a useful and concrete source of energy for everyday life. The heat produced by our searches, our videos or our conversations with AI can be transformed, with the right infrastructure, into heating a home in Helsinki. In a world desperately seeking clean heat, Finland has already found a tangible, scalable and surprisingly logical answer: turning the thermal problem of the digital age into a solution for the Nordic climate. A silent reminder that, sometimes, the energy transition advances with a simpler approach: taking advantage of the heat that servers already produce tirelessly. Image | freepik and freepik Xataka | Someone cut five undersea cables in the Baltic. Finland already points to a ship from the “shadow fleet” as responsible

This Christmas I won’t go on a trip without my powerbank. It has a screen and can charge up to a computer

by

I never got around to using the portable battery that I bought many years ago because it took many hours to charge, but a few months ago I bought the Anker Prime Power Bankwhich usually hangs around 75 eurosand the truth is that I am using it a lot, especially for traveling. And for next Christmas I have it clear: it is one of the devices that I am going to use the most. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A powerbank that I now carry almost everywhere The practical thing about the Anker Prime Power Bank is that it is a portable battery very powerful (up to 200W), so it can be used for a wide variety of devices, whether the mobilewhich is usually the most common, the tabletheadphones and even Compatible laptops like MacBook. Another point to highlight is that it comes with a 20,000 mAh capacitythus allowing devices to be recharged several times. It incorporates a total of three USB ports (one USB-A and two USB-C) and allows you to recharge up to three devices at the same time. At the design level, the most particular thing is that incorporates a screenwhich is quite useful both to see how much autonomy you have left and to check at what power each device is recharging. On the other hand, the portable battery also comes with a USB-C cable and a carrying bag. You may also be interested Anker Nano Power Bank 10,000 mAh Powerbank with Integrated USB-C Cable, PD 30W Maximum Power with 1 x USB-C & A, Compatible with iPhone 17/16/15/14 Series, MacBook, Galaxy, iPad, AirPods and more The price could vary. We earn commission from these links UGREEN Nexode Power Bank 20000mAh 130W, Portable Charger with 2 USB C and 1 Type A External Battery with Screen, Compatible with MacBook iPad, iPhone 17 Pro MAX Air 16 15, Galaxy S24 Ultra, Gray The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Image | Anker In Xataka | 21 essential gifts for travelers: gadgets for train, plane or car trips In Xataka | The five essential accessories for traveling comfortably by plane (even if you fly with Ryanair)

Researchers removed Instagram and TikTok from 300 young people to see if their anxiety decreased. The results speak for themselves

by

The debate about whether social networks are the new tobacco for the mental health of the generation Z It’s been on for years. There are many young people who They can’t go without watching TikTok completing the streak with their friends, uploading stories of what they eat to Instagram or simply away from the cell phone. And this is something that can be tremendously harmful. What we knew. Until now we could make one of them, and parents undoubtedly remember this message when they spend many hours in front of the phone. Even companies offer the tools to be able to limit the amount of time that we spend in an app and it even applies limits to us. With numbers. But now science has shed light on this problem with a published study in JAMA Network Open that provides concrete data. The premise was simple: ask a group of young adults (ages 18 to 24) to reduce their consumption of social networks this week. Once done, we wanted to see if the symptoms of anxiety, depression or insomnia were reduced. And it is precisely the excessive use of social networks is related to depressionsince it generates social isolation, low self-esteem, cyberbullying or even physical disorders due to the effects of blue light from the screen. So… Does giving up the cell phone also improve the quality of life of young people? The study. To do so, they not only focused on what users said they did with their mobile phones, since lying can be very easy in this case. What they did was passively record what was done with the phone through the ‘digital phenotyping‘. In total, there were 373 participants in this study, of which only 295 were able to complete the intervention, which was completely voluntary. They only had to reduce consumption for one week of the main social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X. The results. Simply put, the results showed significant clinical improvement across key areas after just seven days. The data indicated that depression symptoms were reduced by 24.8%, anxiety by 16.1% and sleep problems fell by 14.5%. Interestingly, the study found that the effects were much more pronounced in those participants who already had symptoms of moderate or severe depression at the start of the experiment. Don’t let go of your cell phone. A priori, one might think that when a young person automatically leaves social networks aside, their cell phone will be of absolutely no use to them. But nothing could be further from the truth. He digital phenotyping revealed that although social media use fell from about 2 hours a day to just 30 minutes, total screen time increased slightly by 4.5% and participants spent 6.3% more time at home. In this way, users replaced the infinite scrolling of TikTok with other digital activities such as messaging, browsing the internet or even playing games. However, despite still being glued to the screen, mental health improved. This reinforces a theory that is gaining weight among experts: the problem is not the screen itself, but how we use it. The study points out that objective use time has a weak association with mental health, since what is really harmful is “problematic use”, such as negative social comparison or emotional addiction to platforms. Easier apps to leave. We can all have more ‘affection’ for a specific social network, which is surely more difficult to stop using. In this case, it was seen that it was easier for users to reduce the time they spent on TikTok or X. But Instagram or Snapchat were the “hard bones” to beat. Specifically, 67.8% of Instagram users and 48.8% of Snapchat users failed to comply with the reduction and continued to use them significantly during the detox process. It is not a treatment. Although the percentages sound like a victory, it is necessary to maintain the usual scientific skepticism. Dr. John Torous, co-author of the study, warns in statements collected for him New York Times that reducing networks “would certainly not be your first or only form of treatment (for mental health problems),” although it is worth experimenting with. This focuses on the fact that the study has some limitations such as the lack of a reference control group and it was not seen how long the detoxification process from social networks lasted. But what did not improve was loneliness, since eliminating these social networks in people can have the opposite effect by also cutting the connection link that unites them with other people. Images | Panos Sakalakis Vitaly Gariev In Xataka | Social networks were once a place to tell our lives. Now the trend is different: “zero posts”

This graph shows per capita coffee consumption and leaves us with a disturbing question: what is happening in Luxembourg?

by

Be it for your energetic effectsby its benefits in the body or even for their psychological effectscoffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world. Is one of the engines of the economy of countries like Colombia or Brazil, as well as a thermometer of global economic health. Coffee culture continues to expand, and in this graph we can see which countries whose inhabitants drink the most coffee every day. There is only one question: what about Luxembourg. Europe >> others. Despite not being producers (although climate change may change that sooner rather than later), Europe gives the rest of the world a review of coffee consumption. Including powers like Brazil, Costa Rica or Colombia. The top 10 positions in coffee consumption correspond to European countries, and except for Greece, which has managed to sneak into the TOP, they are all northern countries. Outside of that ranking we find a country that may be unexpected: Lebanon. Then we have Brazil, Canada and another string of European countries. But if there is a proper name on this list, it is Luxembourg. Luxembourg has a trick. Visual Capitalist has created the graph taking the data from Cafely. After an impressive display of figures, they detail that they have taken data from sources such as the International Coffee Organization, as well as from Wikipedia to calculate per capita consumption and from global surveys of more than 4,000 people. All this has led them to calculate that Luxembourg drinks coffee. And a lot. That each person, on average, drinks 5.31 cups a day seems outrageous. It does not reach worrying levels of caffeine consumption (There are drinks that are not coffee and have much more caffeine), but it is a fact that draws attention. However, there is a trick: Luxembourg’s per capita figure is explained because almost half of those who work in the country live abroad and drink coffee on the road, as well as to stay awake, and although they are not the country’s population, that consumption has been taken into account for Luxembourg’s totals. 5.31 coffees a day implies 118,227 cups that each person drinks throughout their life, and is well above other countries: Cups consumed throughout life Money spent throughout life Luxembourg 118,227 425,618 Finland 83,939 335,756 Sweden 58,612 216,863 Norway 58,159 255,900 Austria 45,198 149,153 Denmark 44,676 241,250 Swiss 42,318 211,591 Netherlands 39,854 123,548 Greece 37,449 116,092 (27) Spain 23,988 46,057 (28) Costa Rica 22,229 56,683 (39) venezuela 12,844 20,423 (41) Colombia 12,264 13,981 a fortune. The average price per cupFurthermore, it is not cheap at all. Not counting atrocities that can be paid in countries like Japan (it is not a product either and transportation is expensive) or Dubai (because… it’s Dubai), the average price of a cup in northern European countries is quite high. Contrast with the average price as we go down to Portugal, Italy or Spain. And more interesting than the average price of a cup It is the account of the money we spend on coffee throughout our lives, which we can also see in the table above. The great absentee. It may be striking that countries like Mexico have a consumption of just 0.29 cups, but along with Guatemala, Argentina or Peru, it is one of the countries with the least roots in coffee. For example, it esteem that each Mexican consumes 2.1 kilos of coffee per year, while Colombians increase the figure to 4.2 kilos. But the big absentee on this list is… China. The Asian giant is not a traditional coffee consumer, but things are changing. There is not only multitude of cafes and chains like Luckin Coffee that are present practically on every corner of a big city, but they are leading the greatest growth in the region in opening of new brand cafes. And they are not only emerging in the region: China is taking over tons of coffee from Brazil due to a market that is growing at double-digit speed since 2010, with a growth annual average of more than 20%, which is well above a world average that barely reaches 2% But anyway, there is no one to blame Luxembourg. And if at some point they blame you for drinking a lot, you can now say that you are trying to raise the average for your country in this curious competition. In Xataka | The latest craze for weight loss is adding mushrooms to coffee. Science is not clear that it is a good idea

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.