Mobile Tech & Gadgets

In 1934 a Russian aristocrat proclaimed himself king of Andorra. He was actually the craziest scammer of the 20th century.

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Boris Skossyreff was a man of longevity. He died in 1989just turned 93 years old, in a nursing home in Boppardin what was then West Germany. However, even that long existence seems to fall short when we remember the many lives that Skossyreff chained: he was born into a rich family in Vilnius, but the Bolshevik Revolution forced him very soon to leave his country and look for a life, trying his fortune as a swindler, spy, forger, gigolo, translator and even contender for the throne of Andorra. Added to this extensive resume is his status as a troublemaker, born drinker, lover of good bad life, seducer, fortune hunter and possessor of an elastic morality that, among other things, allowed him to act as triple spy (they say that he served as such for Germany, Great Britain and the United States) and survive in concentration camps and gulags, even at the cost of collaborating with the Nazis. Anything to survive. His life may not be exemplary, but it is exciting enough to have made him the protagonist of a documentary and a bookboth titled ‘Boris Skossyreff, the swindler who was king’ and signed by Jorge Cebrián. Reconstructing his story did not only require years of interviews and diving into archives and newspaper archives. As confesses the director and authorthe work has had to go beyond the “myths, half-truths and lies” that surround the figure of Boris to discover the authentic character without “simplifying or romanticizing him.” And the Russian Revolution came Skossyreff’s must have been a life of privileges, comforts and income. At least those were the letters he found when he was born, in 1896, in Vilnius, today the capital of Lithuania but at that time part of the Russian dominions. Theirs was a good family, rich and aristocratic. The problem is that those cards turned against him when the Red Revolution of 1917 broke out. Young Boris had no choice but to run away and look for a life outside the country. He ended up in the Royal Navy British, maintaining a more or less comfortable life based on scams, bad checks and a lot of gossip. In addition to its good perch, they say that Skossyreff was a polyglot (he spoke at least Russian, English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, although he raised the list of languages ​​​​that he knew 20), he took such care of his appearance that he even walked around with a monocle in a prison camp and above all he exuded a charisma that opened doors for him. Among other things, he achieved a Nansen passport which allowed him to move around Europe even with the safe conduct already expired. His wanderings through Great Britain did not last long. From there he ended up going to the Netherlands, where he presented himself as a distinguished aristocrat in the service of the queen, and continued his life journey through Spain, Marseille and finally Spain again, where he ended up in Mallorca. His problems with the law haunt him, but he manages to gain the trust of two women: Marie Louise Parata rich divorcee 14 years older than him, whom he ends up marrying; and Florence Marmonex-wife of an automobile industry magnate, with whom he indulges in a life of debauchery. So many that it ends up forcing him to pack his bags and leave Mallorca. Boris I of Andorra After passing through Sitges accompanied by his lover, the Russian hustler decided to launch himself into the biggest and craziest of all his coups: invent an aristocratic lineage that would make him, he argued, the prince of Andorra. He even introduced himself as Boris I. The fact that he noticed just that portion of Pyrenean terrain is not causality. At that time Andorra was governed by the bishop of Seu d’Urgel and the president of France and presented a series of shortcomings (and potentialities) in which Skossyreff saw a huge opportunity. He encouraged the Andorrans to break with their rulersdelve into their independence and undertake a series of projects to modernize following the example of Monaco. In front, of course, he would put himself, something to which his family tree supposedly (supposedly) entitled him. Skossyreff managed to make noise and aroused the interest of the press. It is counted that even The New York Times (among other newspapers) came to give visibility to that extravagant aristocrat who insisted that he was born to occupy the throne of Andorra. The truth is that Boris was not content with moving papers and launching advertisements. In 1934 He even proclaimed himself Boris I, sovereign of Andorra, a daring move that did not last long. Fed up with his adventures, the bishop of La Seu d’Urgell notified the Civil Guard to stop him. His supposed (supposed) reign lasted just nine days. That could have been the final chapter for Boris Skossyreff, but he managed to navigate the turbulent 20th century, moving through Europe with astonishing ease. It does not matter that the civil war caught him in Spain, that France sent him to a republican refugee camp, that after the outbreak of World War II he ended up in a Dachau concentration camp or that, once Hitler fell, the Russians condemned him to more than two decades of forced labor in the icy Siberia. Like the most seasoned cat, he always managed to land on his feet. To achieve this, he had no qualms about dazzling women who sent him money or taking advantage of his linguistic skills to serve as a translator for the Nazis. If there is an anecdote that portrays his ability to survive, it is the one that circulates about his stay in the Dachau camp, where, makes sure In the documentary filmed by Cebrián, “he did not take off his monocle not even to clean the latrines“. Not even Siberia could put an end to it. In the mid-1950s he managed to return to Germany. He first settled with his French wife, then … Read more

sick offspring ask to be executed to save the colony

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In nature, the survival instinct It is usually the absolute norm: any living being fights to stay alive until the last second. However, in the world of social insects the rules change radically, as happens with ants, which When they get sick they actively ask to be euthanized so as not to condemn the rest of his colony. As if it were some kind of euthanasia. The smell of death. Until now, it was known that sick animals in groups often hid their symptoms to avoid being excluded or attacked by someone more powerful in the herd. But in ant colonies, where everyone is closely related, the logic is completely reversed. According to a published study in Nature and after analyzing invasive garden ants, it has been seen that ant pupae infected by pathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum They do not passively wait to die. On the contrary, when the infection is fatal and they know there is no other remedy, they modify their body chemistry to alert the workers. Something complex. Although they do not speak (or at least we do not understand them) ants have a communication system between them. In this case they do it through chemical signals based on cutillary hydrocarbonswhich we could say is a smell that the ant gives off. In this way, by activating a series of reactions when they see that their death is near, a greater amount of this hydrocarbon ends up being generated, which results in a warning to the rest of the ants warning “I am a biological threat.” A ‘kill me’ warning. Upon detecting this signal, the worker ants do not attempt to cure the pupa. The answer is destructive unpacking and disinfection: they remove the pupa from its cocoon prematurely, bite it, and inject it with acid (poison) to kill it and sterilize the fungus before it can sporular and infect the entire colony. In this way, we are seeing that ants are true heroes because they sacrifice their lives thinking about the entire colony. There is one exception. Death with this system is something that has been seen exclusively in worker pupae. By this we mean that those pupae that are predestined to become future queens do not emit these death signals, even when they are infected. So… Is this an act of real selfishness? The answer seems no. The immunological analysis revealed that queen pupae They have a basal immune system that is 35% more powerful than that of workers. While the workers succumb to the replication of the fungus, the queens are able to contain the infection on their own and that is why they are not a threat to the entire group of ants and therefore do not need to ask for sacrifice. New evidence. This discovery reinforces a fascinating theory in biology: social immunity. In the same way that the cells in your body have mechanisms to self-destruct with apoptosis if they become cancerous or infected by a virus to save the entire organism, individual ants act as cells of a larger body. The study concludes that this sacrifice is not an act of submission, but rather a finely tuned evolutionary adaptation. The chemical signal does not simply indicate “I am sick” (which could lead to an attempt at a cure), but rather it indicates “I have failed to overcome the infection and am a danger.” Images | Prince Patel In Xataka | New species of insects are not discovered in exotic places: we have just found two new ants in Andalusia

How to create your own Christmas carol with artificial intelligence

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Let’s explain to you how to create your own carol with artificial intelligenceso that you can have one completely personalized. Here, it is not so much about creating covers, but rather one with original music to which you can add the lyrics you want. For make a song with artificial intelligence you have many tools to generate music. We will start by telling you several of them, and then we will tell you the step by step that you should follow with Sunofor being the most popular among all. However, the steps will be almost the same with the others. Some tips before starting Before you start, you should consider the type of song you want to create. In this case it is evident that we want to create a carolso it is something we should mention in our prompt so that the AI ​​can relate it and generate a type of music according to this. In this case, the key will be in decide the letter you want to put. The beauty of making your own carol is being able to add to the lyrics references to things that those who are going to hear it will recognize, and here you will have two ways to proceed. On the one hand, you can write the lyrics by hand, try to compose some kind of poem that you think would look good in the song. But you can also use normal AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Copilot, DeepSeek either Gemini inter alia. Even Apps like Suno have their own AI for lyrics. In this case, then what you have to do is tell it the concept or even mention things you want added in the lyrics, and let the artificial intelligence do it all for you. Once you have everything clear, then you will have to proceed with choose an AI tool to create musicsomething for which we are going to help you a little later. You will see that in general they are quite easy to use. Don’t settle for the first resultbecause it may not be good the first time. Repeat the process or you promptmake changes to refine what you want, and little by little you will get something better or closer to what you have in mind. Lastly, you should know that the music you create does not belong to you. You are not a musician creating a song with your skills, but you have generated music by algorithms, and therefore in many cases you cannot register it as yours, nor claim its exclusive ownership. You won’t be able to monetize either. music in most cases, since many platforms will detect it as made by AI. Tools to create music by AI Now, we continue with a small list of AI tools to create music from your text requests. They all work in a similar way: you will have to give it a short description of what you want to achieve, include the lyrics and musical style, and the application will do the rest. Suno: Suno It is the best-known AI music creation service, and one of the first that began to surprise users. It has a simple way to describe what you want and give it creative freedom, and another to specify genres, lyrics, and have greater control. Link: suno.com. Riffusion: Very similar to Suno, although it is a lesser known AI tool. It also has two modes: you can use a prompt in which you explain what you want or by using its advanced panel where you can add genres by hand or the lyrics you want. Link: riffusion.com. udio: This program divides the song creation process into three steps. First you define the style, then the lyrics, and then you specify the vibe, the sensation or feeling it conveys. Link: audio.com. Boomy: Another alternative that allows you to create songs by AI, and even has a function to publish them on streaming services. Link: boomy.com. soundraw: Look for a different mechanic to help you create the song, with a genre selector and the ability to choose the duration and tempos to use. Link: soundraw.io. Create your Christmas carol with Suno Create music with Suno It’s simple. First enter suno.com and log in or create an account. Once you do, on the main screen click on the section Create. You will go to a page where you must choose between simple and custom modeswhich appear with the names Simple and custom. If you choose the option Simpleyou just have to describe the type of song you want using natural language. Mention that you want a Christmas caroland if you don’t write the lyrics, you can at least give it a hint by writing the theme you want it about. You can also choose to make it instrumental only, and in Inspiration you can choose a musical influence. When you have it, press the button Create to start the creation. If you choose the option customwhich will take you to if you decide to add letters in the simple one, you will go to a screen with many more options. Here, you will find the following options: Lyrics: It is the field where you have to write the lyrics of the song for the AI ​​to sing them. you have a button Make Random Lyrics to automatically generate letters randomly. Instrumental: This button is used to skip the lyrics and make an instrumental song. Styles: This is another of the most important fields, in which you have to choose the style of music you want to use for your song. Here you can write “carol”. Advanced options: Includes the option to exclude musical styles. Song Title: The title of the song. Workspace: You can create different workspaces to organize your songs, and choose which one goes to. Create: This is the button you must press next to create your song. Now what you have to do is fill in all the fields as you wantpaying … Read more

‘human safaris’ for the rich

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Three decades ago Sarajevo earned a tragic place in history. Between April 1992 and February 1996 the city suffered the longest siege of our time: 1,425 days during which hundreds of thousands of people lived under the constant threat of mortars and snipers. It is estimated that they lost their lives more than 11,000 civilians (including 1,601 children) and about 50,000 people suffered injuries in one of the most tragic episodes of the Bosnian War. Now that bloody siege threatens to slip back into the history books for an even (even) more terrifying episode. The Milan Prosecutor’s Office is investigating If while thousands of inhabitants of Sarajevo were living hell on earth, a small, opulent and, above all, heartless group of foreigners who were fond of weapons were dedicated to practicing ‘human safaris’. Four years of hell. The 20th century was generous in tragedies, but the Sarajevo site by the Bosnian Serb militias stands out among all of them for its data: it lasted nearly four years, left more than 11,000 civilians dead, tens of thousands injured, more than a thousand and a half corpses of children and scenes of heartbreaking harshness, such as the murder of Admira and Boškoa couple of unarmed young men killed in May 1993 while crossing a bridge. At the mercy of snipers. The photo of the young lovers, embraced on the ground, lifeless, stirred stomachs beyond the city and inspired the documentary ‘Romero and Juliet in Sarajevo’released just a year later by the Canadian filmmaker John Zaritsky. In reality, the story of Admira and Boško was just one more drop in the turbulent and gloomy ocean of that siege. During the siege the street also became popular Zmaja od Bosne and the boulevard Messe Selimovicthen nicknamed ‘Sniper Avenue’. your name says it all: those who crossed it risked slipping into the sights of some gunman willing to pull the trigger without paying attention to who would receive the bullet, civilian or military, man or woman, child, adult or elderly. Something more than a war? That wars are fertile ground for barbarism is nothing new. We keep checking it still in the middle of 2025. The question that has now arisen in Europe, more specifically in Italy, is whether all the people who fired bullets during the siege of Sarajevo were militiamen, soldiers, people desperate to protect their lives… or were there also foreigners who simply wanted to participate in ‘manhunts’. That is, people willing to pay large sums of money to take their rifle, travel to another country located hundreds of kilometers away and dedicate themselves to hunting people like someone who goes out to hunting grounds in search of wild boar, roe deer or hares. An ancient hum. It’s actually not a new suspicion. Rumors have circulated since the 1990s about ‘human safaris’, war tourism and rifle-wielding foreigners during the siege of Sarajevo. Perhaps one of the most controversial documents on the subject is a short recording showing the Russian writer Eduard Limonov together with Radovan Karadzic (today convicted of genocide) and snipers in full action. At one point Limonov is seen taking a gun, although there is no suspicion that he participated in ‘human safaris’. A few years ago the Slovenian director Miran Xupanič even recorded a documentary (‘Sarajevo Safari’) in which it talks about how supposedly during the 90s wealthy foreigners paid to shoot the residents of the city. A complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office. If the issue is in the news today it is because, almost 30 years after the siege, the Milan Prosecutor’s Office has decided open an investigation to clarify whether there were indeed people with a lot of money and little or no heart who participated in ‘safaris’ taking advantage of the siege of Sarajevo. Specifically, it studies whether there were groups of foreigners (not only Italians) who paid large sums, between 80,000 and 100,000 euros to the current change, to get on a plane in Trieste, land in Belgrade and then be taken to one of the hills of Sarajevo to hold a rifle and give free rein to their sadism. But… Why now? That the Milan Prosecutor’s Office has made a move just now, 30 years later, is no coincidence. The process has been launched following a complaint filed by the journalist Ezio Gavazzeniresident in Milan and who has dedicated himself to collecting evidence that points to the existence of these ‘human safaris’. Thanks to his investigations, Gavazzeni has prepared a 17-page complaint that has the support of two notable figures: Guido Salvini, a former magistrate, and Benjamina Karic, who governed Sarajevo between 2021 and 2024. The existence of this weekend war tourism has confirmed it also in recent weeks a leading figure in the Italian diplomatic mission in Sarajevo during the Bosnia-Herzegovina war. In an interview he has acknowledged both the existence of those bloody ‘safaris’ and that in his day the Italian secret services (SISMI) received information about what was happening in Sarajevo, which led them to investigate it and put an end to it shortly after. “There were Germans, French, English…” Gavazzeni recognize that rumors about ‘sniper tourism’ are not new. He remembers having read reports about similar cases already in the 1990s, but what triggered his investigative spring, what led him to investigate the case further and finally present the complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office was Zupanič’s documentary. “I began a correspondence with the director and, from there, I expanded my research until I gathered enough material,” relates to Guardian. After collecting this material, he defends that there were “many Italians” involved, although he also speaks of Germans, French, English… Even “rich and relevant Spaniards”. “People from all Western countries who paid large sums of money to be taken there to shoot civilians,” summarizes the researcher. One complaint, two achievements. For now, Gavanezzi has already achieved two objectives. First, that the Milan Prosecutor’s Office initiate an investigation for an alleged crime of voluntary manslaughter with aggravating cruelty and abject motives. … Read more

sharks appear that shouldn’t be there

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Our planet still has many mysteries that we are still understanding today. We found the last one in Mammoth Cave in the United States, where The longest known cave system on the planet is located and where they were ‘hiding’ two new species of prehistoric sharks. These have been trapped in the limestone rock for 325 million years, and thanks to their great state of conservation, they are allowing us to rewrite what we knew about the evolution of these predators. A mystery. The question in this case is mandatory: how did two sharks end up in a cave system and not in an underground lake? To understand how these two species ended up in these Kentucky caves, you have to look at the geological clock. In this way, we know that about 325-340 million years ago, during the period MississippianNorth America did not have its current configuration. The area now occupied by Mammoth Cave was submerged under a shallow tropical sea that was part of the sea route that connected to the supercontinent Pangea. Its fossilization. When these sharks died, their bodies sank into the soft sediment of the sea, but over millions of years this sediment became the limestone that today forms the caves where they have been found. This was in addition to the subsequent erosion that created the Mammoth Cave tunnels, which has acted as a natural excavator and exposed fossils that would otherwise have been encased in the solid rock. Over millions of years, that sediment became the limestone that today forms the walls of the cave. The subsequent erosion, which created the Mammoth Cave tunnels, has acted as a natural excavator, exposing fossils that would otherwise be encased in the solid rock. The protagonists. The species that have been identified belong to the order Ctenacanthus, a lineage of primitive sharks with defensive spines on their dorsal fins. Specifically we have Troglocladodus trimblei, a shark baptized thus in honor of the park guard and his troglodyte origin and whose teeth are key, suggesting that he fed on soft prey such as small fish, catching them quickly instead of crushing them. The other protagonist is Glikmanius careforumwhich is the bone crusher. This is because it had a powerful jaw and teeth designed for cutting and crushing. In this way, it was very easy to crush bones and shells, which is why it fed on other small sharks, fish and orthocones. The importance. This finding is undoubtedly an ‘abnormality’ for science. This is because sharks have skeletons made of cartilage and not bone. This means that the cartilage (being softer) decomposes very quickly, which is why 99% of the shark fossils we find are just teeth. However, the tranquil and protected environment of Mammoth Cave has allowed for unusual three-dimensional preservation. Not only teeth, but also jaws, cranial cartilage and fossil fins have been found preserved in the walls and ceilings of the cave passages. Images | David Clode In Xataka | We thought dinosaurs were on the verge of extinction before the meteorite. we were wrong

We’ve been hearing for years that washing your hair too much causes it to fall out. It’s exactly the other way around

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Enter the shower, wash your head and when looking at your hands or the floor find a tangle of hair. A scene that can be everyday for some people and that can lead to conclusions, such as if you wash your hair very often. falls more and can lead to alopecia much earlier. Something that is nothing more than a myth that is quite widespread, but that dermatology tries to disprove. We don’t tear it off. The idea that you can have in mind with this scene that we have related is that by rubbing your head you are pulling out your hair from the roots. But this is a serious misconception, as you remember the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) when pointing out that hair loss in the shower is not related to the mechanical action of rubbing. The hair that we see between our hands or on the floor was already loose before entering the shower as it found itself in what is called telogen phasethat is, fall or rest phase. The only thing washing does is make it come off more easily, something that also happens when we comb our hair or when we rub the pillow. Because that hair was already unsalvageable. This is something that the Spanish dermatologist Óscar Muñoz himself defends, who in a recent interview which stated that “h“There are those who believe that when they wash their hair falls out more, but the only thing they are seeing is the hair that was already destined to come off.” A bad idea. At the point of not washing your hair in order to save it, it is not the most advisable thing to do. Especially because it can have the completely opposite effect. All this because the fat accumulation or sebum in the hair, beyond being an aesthetic problem, it is also a breeding ground for fungus like the Malassezia which can give us more headaches. All this because a fungus on the scalp It generates a response from our body as it is a threat that results in seborrheic dermatitis that generates a state of inflammation in the scalp that aggravates androgenic alopecia, which is what we are seeking to control. The medical recommendation is clear: regular hygiene (even daily if necessary) with mild shampoos to keep sebum and inflammation at bay. The stress. A clear culprit It has nothing to do with shampoo. The. scientific literature confirm that there is a clear link between stress levels and the follicle since when cortisol, the classic stress hormone, is triggered, it is also generated an inflammation which can cause the follicle to go into a shedding phase. Although this effect is not seen at the time of upset or peak stress, but 2 or 3 months after the stressful event. The good news is that it is a reversible condition, but a sustained state of stress can create a vicious cycle that perpetuates the problem. What works. Although we have seen that the myth of not washing your hair does not work to prevent hair loss (it even aggravates it), the question we ask ourselves is what works. Science has a great battery of options such as broccoli and soybeans. In this case there are interesting studies in mice where broccoli extracts either phytoestrogens Soybeans modulate hair growth. Although logically eating more broccoli does not stop androgenic alopecia, it does open up very interesting avenues for further research in the field of aesthetics. The drugs. Beyond diet remedies, which can be more homemade, dermatologists have a range of treatments that offer great results. The first-line ones are finasteride and minoxidil, which have demonstrated with robust evidence behind them a good ability to stop miniaturization and improve capillary density. Although the fear of sexual adverse effects exists, trials indicate that the incidence rate is low. Images | Donald Teel Towfiqu barbhuiya In Xataka | When they told us all the advantages of intermittent fasting, they forgot one small detail: that it could make us bald.

Calling without warning has gone from being normal to being rude. And in that change we have lost something

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“It seems rude to me to call the cell phone without warning. If it’s not an emergency (and it’s not my parents) don’t call me, we have WhatsApp for something.” This tweet from @thaissotillo It went viral a few days ago and generated responses of all colors, but with the feeling that it is a generational issue: at some point, for those born especially in the late 90s onwards, telephone calls – the most basic gesture of a telephone – have become a violation of social protocol. The generational issue does not explain much: the interesting thing is not what the girl prefers, but why an unannounced call now feels like an intrusion. A WhatsApp message gives you time. You read, you think, you decide, you write, you erase, you rewrite. You decide if it is better for you to sound warmer or more edge. Ten extra seconds to build a better version of yourself. A call takes that possibility away from you. It forces you to be youno editing, now. That’s why it’s uncomfortable. “It’s another way to avoid direct confrontation,” he explains. Alexandra de Pedrogeneral health psychologist. “An awkward conversation always becomes less awkward when I have time to process what I want to say and how.” we have built tode to a way of life about the right to edit ourselves before being seen. De Pedro says that many people pass their important conversations through the AI ​​filter: “Write this to me, but in a more assertive way.” We lose the ability for direct communication while we gain resources to avoid it. But there is something else. The call doesn’t just demand that you be yourself. Demand that you be now. We live in an asynchronous world. We work with people in four time zones, we watch series when we want, we answer emails between meetings. Everything can wait for me to be ready. The call shatters that illusion. It is a demand for synchronicity. It is a way of telling us “we speak now or we don’t speak.” And that, in a culture where procrastination is an earned right, feels obscene. That’s why voicemails have taken over: They transfer the call experience to something asynchronous, to have time to think about the answers. “Young people have understood that being accessible is not the same as being available,” says De Pedro. “They practice setting limits more. But you can also go overboard and We are moving towards a society that is a little more individualistic.“. Exceptions tell part of the story. Your parents may call you without warning. Not because they are from another generation, but because the family still operates under a previous code: that of automatic availability. You can interrupt me because you are my father. The rest of the world lost that privilege. Now you have to write first, raise the issue, wait for confirmation. Only then, perhaps, call. The direct call is read as arrogance. We have changed the semantics of what it means to respect others. Before it was “I give you my attention when you ask for it.” Now it’s “don’t ask me for attention without prior permission.” We say that we gain efficiency, that WhatsApp avoids unnecessary interruptions. But what we have really done is build a wall around our emotional availability. “It has to do with postponing everything uncomfortable,” says the psychologist. “Much lower tolerance for frustration, for uncomfortable sensations. If I find it uncomfortable to answer a friend, it’s annoying, because it costs me more and I put it off.” The phone call was the last vestige of an ancient social contract: we accepted that others might need us in real time, without warning, without the possibility of postponement. That contract was broken. Now we all live behind a perpetual mailbox. We respond when it suits us, not when they need us. We feel freer, more owners of our time, more protected. What we do not feel is what we have lost: the habit of tolerating the discomfort of appearing unprepared, of improvising closeness, of accepting that the other has the right to alter our day. The phone is still in our pocket. But it’s not to talk anymore. It is to decide when, how and with whom we want to appear to be speaking. In Xataka | AI is transforming the relationship we have with our own ideas: we no longer create, we just “edit” ourselves Featured image | Xataka

Five great offers from MediaMarkt in technology during its Christmas Gifts campaign, today December 7

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MediaMarkt has stepped up after Black Friday and during its new campaign Christmas gifts We can find bargains of all kinds. In this article we are going to review your campaign that will be available until next December 14. Google Pixel 10 by 599 euros Using a coupon, a top quality-price mobile phone. nintendo switch 2 by 499.01 eurosa console pack with ‘Mario Kart World’ and ‘Pokémon Legends Z-A’. Garmin Forerunner 55 by 169.99 eurosa very complete and cheaper sports watch. Beats Solo Buds by 49 eurostop quality-price headphones within the brand. Xiaomi 14T by 349 eurosa high-end mobile phone that has fallen to almost half the price. Google Pixel 10 One of the best MediaMarkt offers can be found in the Google Pixel 10 which has once again dropped in price with a double discount: one direct and another additional one of 100 euros when applying the coupon Pixel100TradeIn before processing the purchase. Finally he stays 599 euros. It can be financed at 0% and, if you want another mobile or another storage configuration, this coupon works with all Google Pixel 10 series. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links nintendo switch 2 Stores are starting to put together their own unofficial packs of the nintendo switch 2. First We saw it in El Corte Inglés and now it’s MediaMarkt’s turn. The store right now has the nintendo switch 2 along with ‘Mario Kart World’ and ‘Pokémon ZA Legends’ by 499.01 euros. To buy the pack you have to click on the MediaMarkt button that appears a little further down, where it says “Buy pack”. Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World + Pokémon ZA Legends The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Garmin Forerunner 55 If this Christmas you want to give a good sports watch, watch out for the offer that MediaMarkt has in the Garmin Forerunner 55 that stays for 169.99 euros (yes, right now it is cheaper on Amazon). It has up to 14 days of autonomy, is oriented towards sports, comes with a heart rate sensor and includes daily running recommendations. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Beats Solo Buds Not all Beats headphones are expensive and the best example is found in MediaMarkt. The Beats Solo Buds have fallen to 49 eurosa very reasonable price for everything they offer. On the one hand, taking into account their charging case, they offer a autonomy of up to 18 hoursare compatible with iOS and Android and come with four sizes of silicone tips. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Xiaomi 14T If you are not looking for the most current mobile phone, but one that is very complete and, above all, quite cheap, MediaMarkt right now has the Xiaomi 14T by 349 euros. It is a good phone that incorporates a 1.5K resolution screenits cameras are signed by Leica, its multimedia section is quite good and it will receive software updates for many years. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header), PlayStation, Google, Apple, Rakuten Kobo, LG In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2025), we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | Best sports watches with GPS. Which one to buy and most recommended models from 199 euros to 749 euros

If you pass it, your bill skyrockets

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This winter comes with news that, after uncertain years, many homes are grateful for: the price of gas, which set records in previous seasons, has been moderated. The megawatt hour has gone from €50–55 last winter to around €30, a relief that invites you to breathe although it does not solve the question that comes back to the table every year: at what temperature should you set the heating to avoid skyrocketing the bill without being cold? The answer seems obvious, but it is not. Thermal comfort depends on the thermostat, yes, but also on insulation, usage habits, the health of those who live in the house and the available technology. That is why experts agree that it is not about heating more, but rather heating better. The rank that decides everything. There is technical, institutional and scientific consensus: between 19 and 21ºC is the optimal temperature for the home during the day. According to the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE)recommends between 20-21ºC with appropriate clothing. Aessia, the Aragonese installers association consulted by Heraldoset the range to 19-21ºC and remember to place the thermostat in a representative area, away from windows, radiators and drafts. While energy companies match In that reference, the who and a study published by Lancet Planetary Health consider 18ºC as the healthy minimum to avoid respiratory and cardiovascular risks. And the eternal question: turn off or leave it at a minimum? Before answering it, it must be made clear that each additional degree above 21ºC represents an increase of 7% in the bill, according to IDAE. If that is the case, the recommendation is to turn off the heating when you are not at home and also at night. According to the institute, what is efficient is to adapt the ignition to the actual occupancy schedule. While we sleep, the body needs less heat and the feeling of comfort decreases. Therefore, 15–17 ºC is sufficient at night. Only in very poorly insulated homes could the system be left on at minimum, but even there it is usually more efficient to turn it off and on for a few minutes when you get up than to keep it running all night. Beyond the thermostat. A key piece that confirms this idea comes from scientific research. a study published in Nature Scientific Reports analyzed twelve homes equipped with sensors and reached a compelling conclusion: adjusting schedules and temperatures based on actual occupancy can reduce heating consumption by up to 38% and up to 14% of the home’s total energy expenditure. The researchers showed that turning off the system at night and during the hours of the day when the home is empty not only does not reduce comfort, but is one of the most efficient scenarios. Furthermore, they detected that even in identical homes, consumption varies enormously depending on the user’s habits: time spent at home, habits, income level or whether the home is owned or rented. The conclusion coincides with the IDAE: Efficiency does not depend only on temperature, but on how we manage that temperature. The problem is not the thermostat, it is the house. Many households believe that “the heater doesn’t heat up enough,” when in reality the home does not retain heat. AFELMA, the association of insulation manufacturers, He warned us in Xataka that poor insulation is responsible for a huge part of winter energy consumption. Old windows, uninsulated walls, thermal bridges and poorly designed shutter boxes are responsible for leaks that cost money. The technical data confirms it, a well-insulated home can reduce heating costs by between 20% and 30%. according to an IDAE document. In other words, two houses at 20ºC can feel very different. While one is comfortable, the other forces you to raise the thermostat three degrees more to obtain the same sensation. And the pocket notices it. The immediate future: insulation and ventilation. Spanish regulations already require that new homes or comprehensive renovations incorporate mechanical ventilation that renews the air without losing heat. In passive houses—the most efficient that exist—thanks to the combination of continuous insulation, airtightness and heat recovery, many are naturally maintained at 20–21 ºC without turning on the heating, as the architect Lourdes Treviño explained in Interior Magazine. It’s not magic: it’s a reduction of up to 90% in energy demand. The cheapest grade is that it does not leak. After reviewing official organizations, experts, scientific studies and real experiences, the answer is unequivocal: the ideal daytime temperature is between 19 and 21 ºC. At night, between 15 and 17 ºC. And the most efficient thing is to turn off the heating when no one is home. But the real savings are not only in the thermostat: it is in the insulation, intelligent use and preventing heat from escaping. This winter will be kinder financially. And yet, the great lesson remains: heating is not about raising degrees, but about preserving them. Image | freepik Xataka | Good news, turning on the heating this winter will be cheaper. Bad news, we don’t know when it will happen again

The world’s rare earth reserves, laid out in this graph showing the brutal dominance of a single country

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The rare earths They are neither earth nor are they rare. It is a set of 17 chemical elements that have become the lever that moves both geopolitics like practically any technology and energy sector today. As important as knowing how to produce it is knowing where the reserves are, and in both things there is a name that dominates the international scene: China. And in this graph we can see which countries have the upper hand. Or “the country”, rather. China, prominent name. Prepared by Visual Capitalist from the data of the United States Geological Survey -USGS-, the graph is very clear when it comes to visualizing the estimated rare earth reserves. China has more than twice as much as the next on the list, which in turn has three times as much as the third. The Asian giant would have reserves of 44 million metric tons, Brazil with 21 million and India with 6.9 million. Far on the list are countries like Australia (5.7 million), Russia (3.8 million), Vietnam (3.5 million), the United States (1.9 million) and Greenland (1.5 million) if we take into account those that exceed one million. The crazy thing is that the world total is estimated at about 92 million metric tons, so China has approximately 50% of the reserves. Importance. Rare earth elements are present in practically anything we can imagine. From the most subtle things such as smartphone elements or the magnets in the headphones that we use every day to the most complex things such as space telescopes, aerospace technology or guidance systems for military radars and advanced weaponry. They are also crucial to manufacturing the elements of energy change: batteries both of electric cars as accumulators for renewable energy and the internal systems themselves of both solar panels like wind turbines. And there’s something important here: you can have reservations, but if you don’t process them, those reservations are worthless. Rare earths as a weapon. The problem is that these rare earth elements do not appear isolated in nature, but rather attached to other minerals. It is necessary to separate them, something that is done through an extremely expensive and, above all, polluting refining process. Due to Western environmental policies, for years we relegate that task to a China with a more lax regulation (although it has been changing recently), and with the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump To the Asian country we have seen how China has taken advantage of his position. Same as with Soy. They have the technology and knowledge for processing rare earths, and they have been responding to the new tariffs, cutting off the supply of metals and elements that the west needs to create weapons or to make that technological paradigm shift through renewables. The West, for years, financed its own strategic and technological vulnerability. Even the western mines, such as Mountain Pass in the United Statessent his material to China to refine it there. Examples of affected productions? Suzuki had to stop production of the Swift due to a shortage of components, the European automobile industry has also shouted to the sky and Elon Musk does not have the money to manufacture his robots. making friends. As China has turned rare earths into its most powerful lever of power, the West has had to move and different countries have undertaken missions to search for new rare earth deposits. It is a strategy that is bearing fruit, finding promising deposits in Spain, Norway, Greenland either Japan. It is also being studied how to restart the rare earth producing arm in the West, although the difficulties are there both due to the technique and, above all, due to the restrictions on emissions. Searching under the stones. And that is a big problem that In Spain we are experiencing first-hand. There are several deposits found in our country, but due to this problematic and polluting extraction, mining projects have encountered opposition from neighborhood platforms and city councils. An example is Torrenueva, in an important site found in Campo de Montiel. And that is why there are several projects and research underway that are not favoring the refining of rare earths, but the recycling of these elements to, as far as possible, stop depending so much on a country that has a monopoly both for reserves and production capacity and for contracts with the most powerful mines on the other side of the world. For example, that of Serra Verde that sells exclusively to China until 2027. In Xataka | Sweden believes it has the largest reserve of rare earths in Europe: one more step towards our independence from China

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