Mobile Tech & Gadgets

power banks are going to die

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If you have ever thought about buying a powerbank on portals like Amazon, it is more than likely that you have come across the Anker brand. It is a Chinese brand founded in 2011 by a former Google software engineer, currently divided between three pillars: Anker (batteries and chargers), Soundcore (audio) and Eufy (smart home). The company knows very well how to make money and what products will survive the future. Powerbanks seem not to be one of them. The statements. Yang Meng, CEO of Anker, recently declared in an interview that portable batteries will not be one of the most profitable product categories in the coming years. In fact, he let it slip that “they could disappear in a few years.” “Consumer electronics are actually products that come and go quickly. For example, if you bought an MP3 player, chances are you also bought a cassette player or a CD player. The time lag between initially purchasing these products and abandoning their purchase is only about 10 years.” Yang Meng has compared power banks to dead and buried product categories, such as MP3tapes cassette and CDs. In short, they are understood as a temporary product category. Realistic? Yes. The powerbank lived its golden age between 2012 and 2022, beginning to plummet in the last three years. Market projections point to increasingly slower growth, with the emergence of silicon-carbon batteries as one of the main changes in the industry. Because. Yang’s statements have some trapand Anker has gone from being a portable battery company to a giant in categories such as sound. In 2024, Anker had 100 different powerbank models, an uncontrollable saturation for a product category that is no longer the company’s economic engine. Anker is focusing on designing its own chips for its sound products, with the aim of positioning its audio products in the top category. The master plan. The plan fits with a change in philosophy that Yang himself summarizes with an internal label: going from being a “series 5 company” to a “series 7 company” (in Anker’s internal nomenclature, the categories range from 1 to 7, with 7 being the maximum). For a decade, Anker dedicated itself to making affordable and outstanding quality-price products, above some of its direct rivals and noticeably cheaper than more premium brands. Now they want to compete directly against the leaders of each category—Apple’s AirPods—with high-end products and prices that allow them to increase the company’s net profit. Between the lines. The man who built a multi-million dollar empire selling portable batteries is now the one dropping his death sentence. But reading Yang’s words, curiously, has less to do with whether or not powerbanks disappear as a profitable product category: they have to do with the direction of the market. In the case of Anker, powerbanks are no longer a future category as profitable as its other pillars. Something that is not a real translation of the fact that the powerbank market is collapsing, despite the containment of its growth. Now, if the norm in the short term ends up being silicon-carbon, the average user will have very few reasons to carry a powerbank. In Xataka | Silicon-carbon batteries, explained: why more and more mobile phones last up to two days and weigh less

“It is totally unnatural and we rest worse”

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In 1902, engineer Willis Carrier invented air conditioning modern, but not so that we could sleep better or to combat heat waves: he created it to prevent paper from will be deformed by humidity at a Brooklyn print shop. More than a century later, that machine designed to save ink and paper has ended up regulating something much more delicate: our own sleep. Sleep with air conditioning. Every summer comes back the same question: Is it a good idea to sleep with air conditioning? And the answer is not as simple as it seems. The cardiologist José Abellán posed an idea that connects with something basic in our physiology: the human body is designed to sleep in an environment where the temperature drops naturally at night, not in one that is artificially frozen for hours. That’s the key. It is not that air conditioning is “bad” in itself, but that breaking that natural thermal pattern (going from daytime heat to constant and intense cold) can disturb rest more than we think. What the body asks for while we sleep. Sleep science has been confirming for years something very specific: To initiate and maintain deep sleep, your core body temperature has to drop slightly. This decrease is a biological signal to enter rest. That’s where air conditioning plays an ambiguous role. Used well, it helps facilitate that process. Misused, it exaggerates and distorts it. The difference is in moderation. Medical organizations and societies in Spain such as the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery recommend temperatures between 22 and 24 degreesprecisely to accompany this physiological descent without forcing it. The problem is not getting cold, it’s overdoing it. Here is the most common mistake. Many people set the air to 18 or 19 degrees and keep it there all night. This can generate an immediate feeling of relief, but also dry mucous membranes, irritates the throat, congests the nose and can cause micro-awakenings that fragment sleep. This is what many people describe when they wake up with a dry mouth or a cold feeling. From SEPAR they insist Furthermore, air conditioning greatly dehumidifies the environment, and if the humidity falls too low, the natural defenses of the nose and throat become less effective against particles and microorganisms. What the organizations say. The health consensus in Spain does not say “do not sleep with air”, but rather “use it with common sense.” Moderate temperature between those 22 and 24 °Cavoid the direct jet to the body, maintain humidity between 35% and 60%, clean filters frequently and do not create extreme differences with the outside temperature. It is also recommended to use night mode or timer, so that the device slightly raises the temperature in the early morning. This fits with physiological logic: help the body fall asleep, but then let it follow its own thermal rhythm. The fan is your friend. The alternative that proposes Abellán makes sense within that logic: using air conditioning only to lower the initial temperature of the room and then switching to the fan. This cools the environment without continuing to dry it or artificially cool it all night. “Our body has evolved in a natural environment, and in nature it is normal for the temperature to drop a little at night, so what is totally unnatural, and makes us rest worse, is spending all day with the air conditioning on full blast and the temperature not dropping at night,” clarified. Other tricks he mentions, such as cooling wrists with cold water or lightly moistening sheets, work because they act on the body’s natural heat dissipation, not against it. They are small physiological shortcuts, not miracle substitutes. Conclusion: yes, but as a tool. Ultimately, the question should not be whether sleeping with air conditioning is good or bad, but rather how to use. If it is used to create a reasonable environment and then accompany the natural drop in temperature, can improve clearly the rest. On the contrary, if it becomes a kind of permanent night refrigerator, we are forcing an ecosystem that the body does not recognize as natural. And there it appears the modern paradox: We have the technology to sleep cooler, but sometimes we use it in just the way that makes us sleep (much) worse. Image | Wikimedia In Xataka | These days I’m having a hard time falling asleep because of the heat. But put this device on and sleep soundly In Xataka | Sleeping at more than 30 degrees is now “normal” in almost all of Spain. And Vigo is the canary in the mine

a $600,000 business

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At the beginning of the 20th century, thousands of women demanded a birth en masse called twilight sleep: a mixture of morphine and scopolamine that did not take away the pain, but it did erase the memory. It was one of the first major female rebellions to demand that medicine take their suffering seriously. More than a hundred years later, that battle is still open in another stage of life. The big hole in women’s health. Melinda French Gates has recently focused on a figure that, by itself, sums up a systemic failure: women live on average nine more years in poor health than men. It’s not just about longevity, but about quality of life lost right in the middle decades, when many are at the peak of their career, raising children or supporting entire families. For Gates, the problem is not biological, but structural: medicine has historically treated the male body as a default model and has left huge gaps in knowledge about inevitable stages like perimenopause and menopause. Its conclusion is devastating: half the planet is going through this process and, even so, the system continues to act as if it were a marginal issue. A business of 600,000 million. That is where the paradox that Gates has detected appears. As menopause becomes a esteemed market at 600,000 million dollarswith startups, supplements, telemedicine and specialized cosmetics, the healthcare infrastructure continues to lag behind decades. Companies like Midi Health or Maven Clinic are growing at high speed because they have found a brutally unsatisfied demand. The market has understood before that the medicine that was here a gigantic need. And that is precisely what is disturbing: there is business because the system has failed. A gap that should have been filled decades ago by research, medical protocols and public access is being monetized. Menopause as silent sabotage. Because the impact is not only health-related, but also economic and professional. They remembered in a wonderful report from Fast Company that menopause usually arrives just when many women are reaching positions of maximum responsibility, and their symptoms (brain fog, insomnia, anxiety, hot flashes, memory loss, irritability) are causing resignations, early retirements or career slowdowns that are rarely accounted for. The data is brutal, although even more so in a country like the United States, where symptoms related to menopause generate about 26,000 million of dollars annually between medical costs and loss of productivity. Many women don’t even know what is happening to them until they the damage has already been done. Gates said in one New York Times column that this has a fairly clear political reading: if women leave the labor market at their moment of greatest influence, their access to power is also curbed. A system that continues to arrive late. The harshest criticism comes because not even the doctors are prepared. Less than one-third of gynecology training programs in the United States include menopause-specific curriculum, and less than 20% of primary care physicians receive adequate training. That explains, according to Fast Companywhy so many women wander from consultation to consultation without diagnosis or treatment. And the decline is even more striking with hormone replacement therapy: twenty years ago about 40% of women used it, today less than 5%largely due to the fear generated by misinterpreted studies in 2002. Now new evidence They are rehabilitating its use, but the damage has already been done. It’s not just discomfort, it’s much more. One of the most important points is that menopause is not simply an uncomfortable stage. In fact, it can profoundly alter future health. A large international study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology has shown that premature menopause increases the risk of suffering serious cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack or heart failure by around 30%. The reason is biological: estrogens function as a kind of metabolic and vascular shield. When this shield disappears early, the body ages faster in cardiovascular terms. This makes menopause a primary clinical marker, not a simple hormonal transition. The revolution that Gates proposes. For all these reasons, Melinda Gates’s commitment to its 215 million dollars It is not about filling shelves with products, but about trying to change the entire architecture of the problem: more research, more medical training, more insurance coverage and more labor protection. Your idea is to use the philanthropy as a sign to drag governments, companies and investors into an area that was ignored for decades. Because the big question no longer seems to be whether menopause it’s a marketthat is more than resolved with the numbers in hand. The question is why a universal need has been allowed to become in business opportunity than in medical priority. And that, perhaps, is one of the greatest silent defeats of modern medicine. Image | Unsplash, Buderim In Xataka | Nuria Marín, menopause expert: “Women continue to look for answers outside the health system” In Xataka | The gamification of menopause: more and more women track and monitor it through mobile apps

They work surprisingly well… until the Internet fails

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A few weeks ago I traveled to China to attend the Beijing Auto Show. If the three or four trips I have made to China have taught me anything, it is that there nobody, practically nobody, speaks English. Communicating is therefore a combination of hand signs, signals and three or four loose words. That, or use a translator like Google Translate, which has several problems: The live interpretation function requires an Internet connection, something that in China, for whatever reason, is not always available. You can download the languages ​​and write to translate, but only they understand you. Your interlocutor is still unable to communicate. You have to be with your phone in your hand all the time, something that is not always possible, comfortable or viable. Then it dawned on me. The last time I went (not here, but the previous one) I noticed that in all the stores I had entered they had a little gadget from a local brand called iFlyTek that translated in real time. And I thought, what if I try one of their devices in China? And that’s what I did. I took with me the iFlyTek AI Translation AirBudsheadphones with real-time interpretation, to try them out. And very well, until the connection stopped working. Now I understand everything iFlyTek AI Translation AirBuds | Image: Xataka The headphones are of the type clip in semi-open formatthat is, they hook to our ear from behind to leave the ear more or less free and bring the microphones closer to our mouth. Because no, they are not headphones for listening to music (which we can do, mind you, but it is not the best experience by any means), but for making calls and talking to people. And there they deliver beautifully. It’s curious. Almost all the headphones I have tried tend to bend their knees when making calls. The music is very enjoyable, but the calls are a bit meh. These are the complete opposite. I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone to listen to music, but I have never tried headphones that pick up my voice better. and the voice of our interlocutor (we will return to this later). The key to these headphones is that they translate and interpret in real time. Already I tried some from another brand years ago and the experience was mixed, but with these I was frankly surprised. They connect to an app called Bavvo which, as we will see later, I had to test in beta version, but in this case it worked correctly. I hope you have wide pockets | Image: Xataka The headphones pick up voice very, very well, even in distant and busy environments. In the middle of the BYD hall they were doing a demo with a frozen car and the presenter not only spoke Chinese, but she did it at a somewhat low volume. Added to the hustle and bustle of the hall, it sounded average. Well even there, The headphones were capable of picking up your voice, translating it and interpreting it to Spanish directly in my ear. The translation takes a while to start, but when it starts it doesn’t stop. The problem is that, by default, the voice is a little slow. I ended up setting it to x1.2, because at x1 I felt like I was falling behind in the conversation. The voice is a bit-quite robotic and makes it not overly pleasant to listen to for a long period of time, but that’s better than… not understanding anything. Then the connection stopped working and I was left without Internet. For much eSIM with VPN or a lot paid VPN Whatever you wear, the reality is that connectivity in China is a real pain and can fail. When I lost the Internet I was left without simultaneous interpretation. Luckily, it was shortly before I left the event, so it served me well enough. iFlyTek AI Translation AirBuds | Image: Xataka When I got home, and with a proper connection, I tried them again and, indeed, it is another movie. If in China they knew how to measure up whenever there was a connection, the question was whether they would be able to help me in one of the most tedious tasks you can do in this, our work as tech journalists: attending a conference in Chinese without subtitles or translation. Like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, for example. Well yes, the answer is that they fulfill their mission with great solvency. By having a nearby audio source in a quiet place, the headphones pick up voice beautifully and translate well. I didn’t watch the entire conference, but the time I watched it I was able to follow it without the slightest problem. It has its things, because Chinese can be very poetic sometimes and the translation is sometimes too literal, but otherwise I must admit that I have no complaints. When the connection is good, the translation performance is very good If we talk about a conference in English, French or German, three quarters of the same. The interpretation is good and more than enough to follow the thread of a presentation or a talk. I did the exercise of following this TED talk in German without watching the video or activating subtitles, as if it were a podcast and, although the robotic voice that speaks in my ear in Spanish becomes heavy, I have been able to follow it without problem. iFlyTek AI Translation AirBuds | Image: Xataka It’s also possible to give a headset to another person and translate in real time between headsets, which is fine if the other person is trustworthy, but for me personally, It makes me a little sick. It is true that the headphones do not go into the ear and well, okay, but sharing headphones is, for me, like sharing a toothbrush: just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to do it, and even less so with someone you probably don’t … Read more

“Heat makes the bread lose moisture faster”

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Bread is one of the most wasted foods in Spain. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foodin this country 58.8 million kilos of bread are thrown away per year. Nine kilos per house. That’s more than 5% of the total raw products wasted. And in summer it is worse. Because, cAs José Roldán says, the best baker in the world in 2025When the heat is high, it is advisable to stop using cloth or paper bags. You have to do things differently because, in short, “bread is preserved differently in summer.” What does ‘preserving bread well’ really mean? In reality, under the word ‘preserve’ two different physical processes are mixed that respond differently to high temperatures: On the one hand, we talk about ‘desiccation’ (that is, the loss of moisture). This is accelerated by heat. On the other, there is what we could technically call “hardening by starch retrogradation.” Basically, it is a process by which the crumb recrystallizes and, in principle, it is quite independent of humidity. When we talk about heat worsening the preservation of bread, it is because the two processes overlap and accumulate. The good news is that, finally, we have solutions. In summer, neither cloth nor paper. Let’s not fool ourselves, for most of the year, the cloth bag is a solution that works well. As Roldán explainsthe fabric allows the bread to breathe, something positive in certain circumstances. However, that same characteristic is the problem when temperatures rise. “With the heat it makes it lose moisture faster,” he clarifies. In the end, it’s not just that the bread dries out sooner; is that it loses part of the texture that is so difficult to achieve. So? What options do we have? If we want to keep the bread fresh, the Córdoba baker is clear: a plastic bag. Yes, I know it sounds strange, but it makes sense: plastic is the best option to better preserve the interior moisture of the bread. It is true that it can cause the crust to lose crunch or even make the bread chewy; But they are minor problems that have an easy solution by giving them a heat stroke. In any case, it is not Roldán’s preferred solution. For the best baker of 2025the best way to preserve bread is to freeze it. As he explains, buying good bread, cutting it into slices and putting it directly in the freezer is a perfect way for it to last a long time. Above all, because it can be recovered in a matter of minutes. “Enough a touch of grill or oven and you have freshly made bread. Of course, it is important to pack it airtight. It is the best way to ensure that moisture from the freezer does not come into contact with the slices. Well insulated can last up to six months without much problem. In Trends | Bakers agree that, when the heat arrives, bread must be preserved in a very different way from the rest of the year. In Xataka | We have been eating bread with “hidden salt” for so long that we have forgotten its true flavor. That’s going to change

a refund of up to 5,000 euros on your best MiniLED televisions

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Yesterday there was kickoff of the soccer World Cup. If you are one of those who likes to get together with friends or family to watch the games and this year you have decided to do so on a large television, the TCL firm has a promotion that will interest you. Under the motto “Football is lived in a big way”, the brand has activated a campaign cashback (refund in money) which is brutal. If you buy one of their premium large format televisions until July 15, They return up to 5,000 euros of your purchase. In addition, the promotion includes three free months of Orange TV Libre, so you have plenty of entertainment during the holidays. 115″ RGB Mini LED TV – TCL 115RM9L, UHD 4K, TCL AiPQ Pro Processor, Smart TV with Google TV, 144 Hz, Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links TV TCL QLED P8L 65P8L 65″ 4K Ultra HD 144Hz Smart TV Google TV HDR10 Dolby Vision The price could vary. We earn commission from these links These are the ranges of televisions that are on sale TCL has put all its artillery for this promotion in the SQD-MiniLED panels. Depending on your budget and the space you have in the living room, these are the smart TV series that are part of this campaign. X11L and RM9L Series If you are looking for an experience without any type of technical commitment, the flagship is the X11L series, which debuts a premium sound system designed hand in hand with the experts at Bang & Olufsen. Although if your obsession with inches is your thing, the jewel in the crown is the colossal 115-inch TCL RM9L, a true beast that leads the campaign’s refunds and literally transforms your living room into a cinema (or a stadium VIP box). TCL 85X11L 85 Inch SQD-Mini LED Television The price could vary. We earn commission from these links 115″ RGB Mini LED TV – TCL 115RM9L, UHD 4K, TCL AiPQ Pro Processor, Smart TV with Google TV, 144 Hz, Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links C8L, C7L and Q7D Pro Series On the other hand, if your budget is tighter and you are looking for the best quality-price ratio in high ranges, the C8L series also inherits the sound of Bang & Olufsen with a more moderate price. For their part, the C7L and the Q7D Pro (the latter a hidden gem sold exclusively on Amazon) are the ideal gateways to the MiniLED universe. The Q7D Pro, specifically, mounts an audio system signed by Onkyo 2.1 Hi-Fi, achieving contrast and impact acoustic punch to enjoy the best sound from the sofa. TCL 55C8L Television 55 Inch SQD-Mini LED 4K Smart TV The price could vary. We earn commission from these links TCL 55C7L Television 55 Inch SQD-Mini LED 4K Smart TV The price could vary. We earn commission from these links TCL 65Q7D Pro Television 65 Inch SQD-Mini LED The price could vary. We earn commission from these links P8L and C6K Pro Series If you want a giant panel without shaking your wallet, the P8L series stretches its diagonals up to 98 inches, sacrificing frills but giving you that massive immersion What are you looking for for him? World Cup 2026. If you prefer to prioritize high-quality MiniLED technology on a tighter budget and in a standard size, the C6K Pro series is your option. TV TCL QLED P8L 65P8L 65″ 4K Ultra HD 144Hz Smart TV Google TV HDR10 Dolby Vision The price could vary. We earn commission from these links QD-Mini LED TV 65″ – TCL 65C6K Pro, UHD 4K, TCL AiPQ Pro Processor (MT9653), Smart TV with Google TV, Dolby Vision-Atmos, Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The maximum refund you get with each television X11L series (premium range) 98X11L (98 inches): Refund of 3,000.00 euros. 85X11L (85 inches): Refund of 2,000.00 euros. 75X11L (75 inches): Refund of 1,500.00 euros. RM9L Series (The Crown Jewels) 115RM9L (115 inches): Maximum refund of 5,000.00 euros. 98RM9L (98 inches): Refund of 2,000.00 euros. 85RM9L (85 inches): Refund of 1,500.00 euros. C8L series (mid-high range) 98C8L (98 inches): Refund of 600.00 euros. 85C8L (85 inches): Refund of 450.00 euros. 75C8L (75 inches): Refund of 350.00 euros. 65C8L (65 inches): Refund of 250.00 euros. 55C8L (55 inches): Refund of 150.00 euros. C7L series (versatile range) 98C7L (98 inches): Refund of 400.00 euros. 85C7L (85 inches): Refund of 250.00 euros. 75C7L (75 inches): Refund of 200.00 euros. 65C7L (65 inches): Refund of 100.00 euros. 55C7L (55 inches): Refund of 100.00 euros. RML7L series (most affordable TVs) 98RM7L (98 inches): Refund of 400.00 euros. 85RM7L (85 inches): Refund of 250.00 euros. 75RM7L (75 inches): Refund of 200.00 euros. 65RM7L (65 inches): Refund of 100.00 euros. How to request your money refund? Participating in this promotion is quite simple, you just have to follow these simple steps: Buy your television: You must purchase any of the models from the participating series (X11L, C8L, C7L, Q7D Pro, RM9L, C6K Pro and P8L) before July 15. Register the purchase: You have until August 15, 2026 to upload your invoice and register your data in the official website. Receive your money: Once the documentation has been validated, TCL will pay you the money for the cashback corresponding directly into your bank account. Some sound bars that may interest you for these TVs TCL A65K Sound Bar 3.1.2ch The price could vary. We earn commission from these links TCL S55HE Sound Bar 2.1, 220W 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 | Rubén Andrés (Xataka) and TCL In Xataka | Best televisions in quality price. Which one to buy and seven recommended 4K smart TVs In Xataka | Best sound bars in quality price. Which … Read more

We already know how much water Amazon consumes in its data centers. We have good and bad news

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amazon has made public the data of water consumption in their data centers. It is a remarkable exercise in transparency, especially because its division Amazon Web Services (AWS) It is currently the largest cloud infrastructure on the planet. We have bad news… and also good news. 2.5 billion gallons. The figure that stands out the most in this report is the 2.5 billion gallons (almost 9.5 billion liters) of water consumed by its servers per year. It is approximately 5% of the annual water consumption for the Seattle metropolitan area, so this is a notable figure, but one that must be put in perspective because there have already been previous studies that they misunderstood the situation. Golf courses are worse. The company already stated a few weeks ago that “data centers use significantly less water than golf courses or car washes.” They also gave other examples that consume more water, such as the meat production industry or the textile production industry. The efficiency metric. A metric called water use effectiveness (or WUE) is used to measure the impact of a data center. This magnitude indicates the liters consumed for each kilowatt-hour of energy delivered to the servers. According to Amazon, its WUE is 0.18 liters per kWh, much better than Microsoft’s 0.27 l/kWh and of course the 1.1 l/kWh from Google in some of its facilities. It is clear that not all hyperscalers manage to cool their data centers with the same efficiency. Amazon spends a lot of water in its data centers, yes, but according to current data it consumes significantly less than its rivals. Physics is physics. Data centers generate enormous amounts of waste heat, and Amazon indicates that they use direct evaporative cooling systems. Instead of maintaining huge air conditioning systems, the company uses mechanisms that introduce outside air and pass it through humid panels. This allows water to evaporate, absorb heat and cool those rooms where the servers are. The toll exists, of course: evaporated water is lost to the atmosphere and cannot be immediately reused in local ecosystems, which causes pressure drops in surrounding reserves during heat waves. Geography helps. Amazon’s efficiency advantage also benefits from intelligent geographic location of its data centers, the company says. Many of them are in regions with temperate or cold climates in the northern hemisphere. In these areas, cooling by outside air (free cooling) you can take advantage of more than 80% of the days of the year. In contrast, its competitors have often been forced to create their data centers in very hot desert environments which require injecting pressurized water constantly. Promises on one hand, criticism on the other. To compensate this impact due to your water consumptionAmazon has committed to returning more water than it consumes to local communities by 2030. This policy, dubbed “water positive“groups initiatives ranging from the restoration of watersheds to the creation of wastewater treatment plants. Of course, all this discourse faces strong criticism. For these voices, what Amazon is doing is a facelift, but it does not fix the immediate local shortage of wells from which data centers extract water in the middle of summer. The problem persists. Amazon’s report is welcome because it breaks the silence that usually prevails in Silicon Valley regarding natural resources. Even so, it also shows that the world faces a notable problem if the water (and energy) consumption problems generated by data centers cannot be solved. Taking into account the ambition and multimillion-dollar projects of AI companies In this sense, it would be important for official organizations to be in charge of monitoring and regulating these gigantic consumptions. Image | amazon In Xataka | Data centers do not want to depend on the conventional electrical grid. Solution: build your own plants

Elon Musk is going to turn 4,000 workers into millionaires and himself into a billionaire thanks to one thing: SpaceX

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Trevor Hise was 22 years old when he graduated and, as is often the case, his parents begged him to accept a stable, well-paying position at General Electric. However, led by the passion of youth and curiosity, he preferred to dedicate the next 12 years of his professional career to the madness of launch rockets into space and catch them in flight again on their return to earth. The company was called SpaceX and Hise no longer works there. However, as how did he count The New York TimesHise has discovered that the Space The story of this former employee of Elon Musk could seem like one of those caroms that life sometimes gives. But, broadly speaking, it is the story of thousands of people who are going to wake up tomorrow with a fortune in your stock portfolio after Space X’s IPO. The largest IPO in history. Friday, June 12, 2026 has been marked in red on the calendars of thousands of investors for months: SpaceX debuts on the Nasdaq under the symbol SPCX. The company’s maneuvers in the months prior to its listing on the stock market make its figures be the most ambitious ever recorded in a stock market IPO: a fixed price of $135 per share and 555.6 million securities placed to raise $75 billion. It is almost three times higher than the previous record held Saudi Aramco since 2019. The expectation it has raised is no wonder, since the company founded by Elon Musk stands on three of the legs with the greatest growth projection: artificial intelligence with xAI integrationspace race as the main activity of Space X and communications deployment via satellite with Starlink. The total valuation of the company before its IPO reaches 1.77 trillion dollarsa figure that places it above JPMorgan, Berkshire Hathaway, Meta and Tesla itself. Only six S&P 500 companies are valued above Space NVIDIA in the lead with 5.2 billion. More than 4,000 people about to become millionaires. According to published Fortunemore than 4,400 Space X employees and former employees will become millionaires thanks to the company’s stock market debut. Of that group, some 400 employees and managers will earn more than $100 million or more from the operation. The fact of turning its employees into millionaires is another of the peculiarities of this IPO since, as Andrew Benson, executive director of the platform, recognized Hill.com investments to the American media, “you usually only see founders become billionaires.” The company included participations in the compensation packages of welders, cooks and facility technicians who agreed to collect part of their salary on paper. It was a risky bet on their part because those shares could have remained a dead letter, but trust in the company will bring them a juicy reward. Gavin Petit joined in 2012 as a launch engineer with a salary of $80,000 and received shares valued at $13.80 each at the time. The engineer agreed to collect his bonuses in more shares year after year, something considered risky in a company whose rockets were still failing. Now more than 50,000 shares, which are equivalent to about 6.75 million dollars. Those who endured Among the great beneficiaries of this Initial Public Offering is Gwynne Shotwellpresident and chief operating officer of SpaceX. She was employee number 11 when she joined the company in 2002, leaving a stable job to bet on a startup that then had everything to prove. The board accumulates almost 12.6 million shares, according to the documents presented before the SEC, which at IPO price represents a fortune of about 1.7 billion dollars. Shotwell herself recognized to CNBC that for years it was not clear that they would go public: “Now seems like the right time.” As and as you remember Expansionthe IPO will also generously reward those investors who have provided financial support to the company since its inception, as is the case with Peter Thiel o Luke Nosek, co-founders of PayPal and members of the group known as “PayPal Mafia“. The first billionaire in history. According to official data According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Elon Musk owns approximately 42% of SpaceX shares. That’s about 4.8 billion shares, plus hundreds of millions of additional stock options. At the IPO price, that stake alone is around $688 billion. Adding that figure to his stake in Tesla and the rest of his businesses, Forbes esteem and his fortune at $982.3 billion before the stock market debut, which leaves him just a breath away from crossing $1 trillion, a milestone that no one has reached before. To gauge the magnitude of this figure, his personal fortune already exceeds the capitalization of ExxonMobil and rivals that of Berkshire Hathaway. Although, as Musk himself has pointed out on more than one occasion, almost all of that money They are stocks, not cash.. A number on a screen that goes up and down according to the market. In Xataka | The who’s who of SpaceX’s competitors: which other companies are making a big splash in space Image | Flickr (Gage Skidmore), SpaceX

What science says about mixing CrossFit, Hyrox and running to get you ‘clubs’

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Traditional weight rooms are changing, and where previously routines divided by muscle groups and the atrocious fear of doing cardio because it “destroys the muscle” reigned, today we have a hybrid training that aims to prevail among all gym lovers. New trend. Disciplines like CrossFitthe explosion of events like Hyrox and the fashion of combining heavy weight lifting with running They have created the figure of the total athlete who leaves nothing aside. But, beyond the marketing that this sports strategy may have, what really happens to our body when we try to be the strongest and the fastest at the same time? A myth. For years, a thought that has been on the minds of many athletes is that running has an “interference effect” with their bodybuilding routines. The reasoning here was that resistance training such as cardio sent molecular signals opposite to strength training, limiting muscle hypertrophy, which is what is sought in the gym. But now there are many nuances about it. For example, an analysis published in 2024 analyzed 59 studies with more than 1,300 participants and pointed out that in women, combining strength and cardio does not produce any interference significant in leg strength. In the case of men, there is a small interference in the development of lower body strength when mixing both modalities, but minimal. That is, it does not justify leaving it aside if we want to improve our health as a priority over hypertrophy. What is the best training? As we have mentioned, hybrid training groups traditional strength exercises with cardiovascular training, such as running on a treadmill. But the reality is that there are many options available, such as Hyrox or CrossFit, and each one has its own peculiarities. Hyrox. A hybrid training that combines 8 kilometers of running interspersed with 8 bodybuilding routines and is often defined as the definitive hybrid test. But here a study from 2025 pointed out that the aerobic factor is the undisputed kingthat is, Hyrox considerably increases people’s aerobic capacity and this is essential to determine the quality of life in old age, since, in addition to cardiorespiratory improvement, it also makes oxidative metabolism more efficient and muscular endurance. Contrary to what many believe when seeing heavy sleds, maximum strength is not a key predictor of success in this competition, but rather it is a systems sport where the entire body is mobilized and makes our cardiovascular system play a leading role. CrossFit. This presents a better metabolic profile, since, by addressing 10 different physical domains, it is postulated as a more complete but less specialized discipline. Here the science indicates that CrossFit dramatically improves cardiorespiratory fitnessoxidative metabolism and muscle resistance. But in addition to all this, it also stands out for the high levels of motivation and adherence thanks to the community component that it has associated. How to do it. If we want to join the hybrid fever, how do we prevent cardio from eating into our strength gains? Here the key seems not to be in stopping training, but in programming each of the steps we take in the gym, since the interference depends directly on the modality, frequency and duration of aerobic exercise. For example, running interferes much more with leg strength than cycling, due to the eccentric muscle damage caused by the stride. One of the most important points here is that, if we want to improve strength over cardiovascular endurance, the best always is to do strength exercises first before starting to run on a treadmill in order to have greater strength gains. When to start. If you want to join this combined exercise fever, the reality is that there is nothing that can stop a person as long as they do not have an injury or a doctor’s recommendation not to do high-intensity exercise. It is true that on the first occasions it may be interesting to go to a personal trainer or a gym where they also have specialists who can develop the best hybrid training plan. And, although this modality is not going to take us to a bodybuilding platform, it does prepare our body for any situation and above all for a much higher quality old age. Images | Alora Griffiths In Xataka | The 11 best apps for exercising at home

It seemed impossible to surpass Qatar as the worst organizer in the history of the World Cups. The US is getting it

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Can a democratic country offer a starker image than an authoritarian one when organizing a sporting event? The United States seems to be searching for the limits. With the connivance of FIFA, of course, which in recent years has awarded its most media and important sporting event to Russia and Qatar and which will repeat in this series of controversial awards with Saudi Arabia. And it has found in the United States a country that has stepped on the accelerator to catch up with what we consider authoritarian regimes. It is true that the World Cup has been used as a weapon of sportwashing since long before we knew what this meant. This has always implied a certain opening of the most reactionary policies during the time the event lasted to offer a friendlier image to the outside world. That is why it is even more surprising that the United States has barely made concessions in its way of doing politics. The competition hasn’t started yet and we already have a referee who has had to return home, public searches of players as if they were terrorists. A team that has tried to be expelled. And the constant threat towards its own citizens. Welcome to the 2026 Soccer World Cup. The World Cup in Canada, Mexico… and the United States. Hold my cubata, Qatar Standing on the shoulders and cheered by thousands of people in a packed stadium. The images of Omar Artan received as a national hero They surprise. They are surprising because Omar Artan is a referee. And I don’t think a referee has ever received such a welcome back to his country. The reason: being rejected by the United States. And Artan, a Somali, will not referee in the 2026 World Cup because one of the host countries He has not let him cross the border. The United States prohibits entry to citizens of Somalia. And he has made no exception with Omar Artan, who was going to be the first referee from his country to officiate a World Cup match and one in which, according to The CountryFIFA’s director of refereeing, the Italian Pierluigi Collina, had high hopes. The reason for the rejection?: “Concerns in the background check.” There are no more details. There are no more reasons. With those words the United States Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP) has settled the matter. Although it has been known that FIFA has tried to mediate in the matter, the organization has only issued a weak statement in which it points out that they do not have any type of influence on the migration policies of the host countries. The Artan case is the latest in a list of controversial decisions that continues to grow. In March, Donald Trump tried to intimidate the Iranian team football team, assuring that their safety could not be guaranteed if they went to the United States. Iran’s first two games are being played in Los Angeles and the third in Seattle, and the United States has toyed with the idea of ​​banning players from entering, citing national security risks. In April it was put on the table that it was Italy, out of the World Cup for the third consecutive time, which Iranian will take over but it was rejected by FIFA. In May, Donald Trump assured that he would allow the Iranian team to enter in statements in which he assured that Gianni Infantinopresident of FIFA who has been very close to the president of the United States until now, would have given him carte blanche to accept or not the Middle Eastern team. Finally, Iran will play in the United States. Yes, but his players will have to concentrate in Mexico, 15 members of the delegation have been rejected and Their fans will not be able to go to the stadium. Click on the image to go to the original tweet Click on the image to go to the original tweet Obviously, Iran is the most striking case but by no means the only one. According to BBCmore than 25% of the countries participating in the World Cup have border restrictions with the hosts. This has led to intense searches of the Uzbekistan and Senegal teams in which metal detectors, dogs and controls on the airport runway itself have been used before giving them the go-ahead. From the official account of the Senegalese team on X They assure that this procedure was carried out on the airport runway to speed up airport control procedures. However, the country’s own soccer federation indicated a few months ago that They would not send fans to the United States on an official trip because the applications had been rejected. Entering the United States is increasingly complicated for a greater number of travelers. Since 2016 to the Spanish It is not possible for us to travel to the United States without a visa if we have previously visited Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia and Yemen since 2011. And from 2023 the same thing happens with Cuba if we have passed through the island in the last five years. These types of measures are those that on other occasions have been omitted in favor of give some sense of normality in sporting events that take place in authoritarian countries. In Spain we know well how the whitening of authoritarian regimes through sport works, How to bring the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia and even defend the regime and equate it with Spain, like Xavi Hernández did as coach of FC Barcelona in 2023. FIFA will take the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, with the approval of FIFA, which created an adhoc competition for the country to win the award and overlooked any risk of attacks on human rights to the point that the candidacy has been the best score in history in a selective process. Some human rights which they also seem to want to omit with the United … Read more

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