Mobile Tech & Gadgets

found RAM memory modules worth 500 euros in the worst time to buy them

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A Reddit user counted this week how he had a singular habit: rummaging through his neighborhood trash can in case he found some hardware treasure. And boy did he find it: among other things, he got two 32 GB DDR4 memory modules. Those modules thrown away as waste are a little treasureespecially because with the memory crisis Its market value exceeds 500 euros. what has happened. The user, who uses the alias “ringosbigfuckingnose” indicated that he makes regular visits to the local landfill in his area to look through the garbage that people throw away in search of components for their old PCs. He pointed out how he often comes across equipment from which he can salvage things, but the other day he found a real treasure: A Samsung monitor A 5.25″ floppy drive A 5-bay Drobo NAS Two 32 GB DDR4 memory modules A 10th generation Core i7 with its fan An ASUS motherboard A real find, without a doubt, but above all for one thing. 64 GB of RAM is 500 euros in your pocket. All of these components have value, of course, but it is especially striking that I found those two memory modules with a total of 64 GB. If you take a look around stores like Amazon or PcComponentes you will quickly see that two 32 GB DDR4 modules have a price that today is difficult to lower than the 500 or almost 600 euros. An absolute treasure. An ingenious solution to the memory crisis. What this user has achieved is to find a unique solution to the RAM memory crisis that has caused prices to rise. they shoot in an absolutely extraordinary way. It’s not likely that many people are throwing away memory modules lightly, but there are certainly plenty of people who find real treasures – especially in the form of old consoles and computers – in garbage dumps and recycling centers. And what for some is trash, for others is a small (or big) gem. On TikTok it’s easy find videos with people finding some devices that may be damaged, but that have possibility of being repaired. Electronic waste that is not waste. The Reddit user commented that he lives in a city of about 8,000 people, and the local landfill has a container for recycling electronic waste, something similar to what happens with the recycling centers or clean points that we find in Spain. It was in that part where this user found all those products as is, available for pickup. electronic waste. As they pointed out in Windows Centralthere are studies that indicate that less than a quarter of electronic waste is recycled properly. That means there is a lot of money wasted in the form of still valid hardware and also minerals and components that can be mined from those components. Image | Eugenia Pan’kiv In Xataka | The AI ​​leaves another news that will make the day worse for gamers: NVIDIA will not launch new graphics this year, according to The Information

It is the battle for the Internet of the future

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One of the biggest changes on the Internet since the democratization of devices and networks It allowed us all to have a window to the world, and a speaker, in our pockets. With the underlying idea of ​​protecting minors, the world has embarked on the great adventure of putting doors to the countryside: verify the identity of users who browse the Internet. And the reactions couldn’t be more polarized between defenders and those who see it as the latest blow to privacy. What is evident is that it is the great battle of the Internet, and positioning yourself is extremely complex. In short. The earthquake started last week. Adapting to measures that are being taken from Europe, the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, announced a package of measures with the intention of regulating digital platforms. Among them, in addition to criminal liability for company directors in case of inaction, is the prohibition of access to social networks for minors under 16 years of age. At the time we already mentioned that everything is a potential social network, even the comments box on our website, so the description seemed vague. But there were two mentioned: Elon MuskCEO of X, charging against Sánchez, and Pavel DurovCEO of Telegram that sent a message to its users warning about the Government’s intentions. Durov Dúrov’s message translated into Spanish in the Telegram bot. Imagine not knowing who this man is and having him assault you talking about privacy with a message that could very well be written by ChatGPT I just want to imagine the face of someone who doesn’t know Pavel and sees that a user whose number you haven’t given appears on their Telegram saying that privacy is very important. Telegram and Discord, proper names. Although it is social networks in general that are in the crosshairs of these identification policies, Telegram has been the most vocal. Not the most transparent. Because there we must talk about Discord. proving that It is not something that comes only from Spain, Discord announced a few hours ago that will be able to launch a global age verification system. It will be starting next month and it may be the compass of what we find in other similar apps. The way to proceed will be as follows: All accounts, by default, will be set to “teen friendly”. This implies that there is certain content that we will not be able to access and, if we want to change it, we have to prove that we are adults. Discord’s product manager has commented that private messages will not be used in the verification process, but that the system will take into account the age of the account and the activity, as well as the patterns shown in Discord, to verify that we are adults without us having to do anything. BUT, and here comes the asterisk, if we have to identify ourselves, actions will be needed on the part of the users. If not, you will not be able to access age-restricted channels and servers, but you will also not be able to talk on live channels. Okay, but… how? There are two ways to verify our age. One will be through a selfie video that, according to Discordit will not leave our device. The system will analyze the face in real time and give us access. If you consider that we are not of legal age, you have to upload a photo of the identity document. And here comes the tricky part: Discord assures that the images will be deleted quickly, but the documents need to be verified by a third party. And the thing is, this is old business. If we go to the summer of 2024, we have the controversy that arose with the Digital Wallet system and what caught the most attention, the ‘Pajaporte’. The Digital Wallet It was the preview of what they are seeking to create now: a system to verify that we are of legal age and can browse the Internet without barriers. And, instead of using a video of our face or sending a photo of our DNI to a foreign application, the Spanish app works by securely storing the legal age credential issued by the Government. When you try to access a site that requires verification, the application sends those credentials, but the information is encrypted, ensuring, according to the Government, the anonymity of the user. If there is a data leakthere is no information linkable to a user, but rather a key that identifies us anonymously. And it is also not useful to track the operations carried out by the user. in favor. Once we have everything on the table, the reactions come. And there are two opposing currents in this in what we can call the ‘great battle of the Internet’. Being in favor of identification implies potentially losing privacy in favor of gaining security. It is no secret that the networks are plagued with toxic political discourse, polarization, false information (and even more so now with the democratization of generative artificial intelligence) and a system that encourages insults and threats to occur under that anonymity. Pavel Durovvery vocal about this whole matter, is the head of a social network that has been in the spotlight on several occasions. The promises of Telegram encryption (a end to end encryption that does not come by default in all chats) have given rise to illegal activities. In fact, France launched a crusade against him and the platform by alleged crimes of money laundering, drug trafficking or distribution of child pornography, as well as being a nest for political extremists without the application exercising moderation. That Telegram or The video game ‘Roblox’, for example, has a huge community of minors and It was in the news at the end of last year. for not being forceful with the reports of sexual predators that inhabit the platform. Among other atrocities. Cases like this are what explain … Read more

How to uninstall OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot or Clawdbot) safely on your computer step by step

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Let’s tell you how to securely delete OpenClawformerly known as Moltbot or Clawdbot. This is a AI agentwhich can control your computer entirely, and which you can then control through apps like WhatsApp or Telegram. But there are quite a few dangers of OpenClawso just as we teach you how to install it If you want to poke around, now we will tell you how to uninstall it. As with installation, uninstallation requires a series of commands in the terminal from your computer, be it PowerShell in Windows or the terminal in macOS and GNU/Linux. 1. Use the official uninstall command The first step is to open your computer terminal and paste the following command*. When you do this, it will delete the local database, workspace, and installation files. openclaw uninstall –all –yes In the command, you have to use the name with which you installed the agentwhich can be openclaw, clawdbot or moltbot. In the first few weeks of this AI, the name has changed several times. It is possible that when finished you will see a message telling you that CLI is still installed. This is normal, and is something we will fix in the third step. 2. Manual cleaning If you use Windowspress Win+R and write services.msc. Within the screen where you go, look for the ClawdBot, MoltBot or OpenClaw service, right click and choose the option to stop it. Now, you have to open file explorer and delete these folders if they exist. The folder that should appear will depend on the name with which you installed the tool. C:\Users\\.clawdbot C:\Users\\.molbot C:\Users\\.openclaw If you use macOSenter the terminal and type one of the following commands, depending on the name with which you installed them. rm -rf ~/.clawdbot rm -rf ~/.moltbot rm -rf ~/.openclaw Then, you have to type one of these commands to prevent Clawdbot from starting every time you turn on your computer. rm -rf ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.clawdbot rm -rf ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.moltbot rm -rf ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.openclaw 3. Remove the CLI tool You have already deleted your data, but the tool and its commands still exist in your terminal, since you installed them through NPM or HomeBrew. So, now you will have to uninstall it. If you have installed the tool through NPMwhich is the most common, use one of these commands, depending on the name you installed the tool with: npm uninstall -g clawdbot npm uninstall -g openclaw npm uninstall -g moltbot If you are a Mac useryou may have installed it through Homebrew. In this case, if the commands above do not work for you, you can try these: brew uninstall clawdbot brew uninstall openclaw brew uninstall moltbot If none of the commands above work for youthere is another more manual method if you don’t remember how they were installed. They are these commands: sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/clawdbot sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/openclaw sudo rm -f /opt/homebrew/bin/clawdbot 4. Additional security cleaning Ok, we have already removed the agent from our computer, but still has access to things like your email, your calendar, or your cloud accounts if you gave it to them when you installed it. Now it will be time to clean these permissions. To do this, you have to review the API keys you have collectedsuch as GitHub, Google Cloud, AWS, etc. Review and revoke or regenerate any API you gave to the bot. You also have to disconnect applications where you have linked it, such as your Google or Microsoft accounts, to revoke access to OpenClaw. Finally, log out of the agent web tool to ensure that you have stopped using it completely. 5. One last check Once you have done all this, restart the computer and open the terminal to write the following code: clawdbot –version If the response message is that it has not found the command or does not recognize it, it is because that’s it, you are done with the uninstallation. In Xataka Basics | The best prompts to save hours of work and do your tasks with ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or other artificial intelligence

a slam on Israel to manufacture rocket launchers and howitzers at home

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The Spanish defense of the last century has been built on the basis of delicate balances: first the almost total dependence on foreign allies, then the integration in large international consortiums and, later, the comfort of buying abroad what was not known or did not want to be manufactured within. This model, born in the heat of NATO and post-war industrial Europe, worked as long as the geopolitical chessboard was stable. Today, however, it begins to show cracks that force to rethink alliances. The “sovereignty mode.” Yes, Spain has taken an abrupt and unusual turn in its military industrial policy by activating a “sovereignty mode” that combines accelerated rearmament and technological rupture with traditional allies. A decision forced by political embargo on Israel and the deterioration of the environment European strategic but converted into a State strategy: the country has assumed that, without its own industry, any military capacity is fragile in a real war scenario. The result is a draft decision: manufacture key rocket launchers and howitzers for the Army at home, even if this implies more costs, more risks and longer deadlines. SILAM as a breaking point. The program of High Mobility Launcher System has become the symbolic piece of this industrial catharsis, moving from a design based on Israeli technology by Elbit Systems to a completely national solution. Not only that, along the way has been discarded both to Israeli suppliers and to the American alternative of Lockheed Martin, despite the fact that their missiles offered a quick and proven exit. The decision to move forward without shortcuts reflects a conscious bet for not depending on licenses, political vetoes or external operational limitations, even if it implies delays and assuming that, for years, Spain will lack of certain abilities fully mature medium and long range attacks. If you will, it is a strategic bet that sacrifices speed in exchange for control, something unusual in the recent history of national defense. Navy An alliance and nationalize brain and muscle. The union between Escribano Mechanical & Engineering and GMV materializes this strategy by concentrating both the industrial platform and critical digital systems in Spain. In this way, both the SILAM rocket launcher and the new ATP howitzers will carry fire direction, navigation, command and control through the manufacturing of designs, code and maintenance entirely in Spain. In other words, in theory, this remove dependencies on the most sensitive components and guarantees total control about the life cycle of the systems, from initial integration to their use in combat and their maintenance in the event of a prolonged conflict. A massive rearmament. Furthermore, the plan is not limited to SILAM and is supported by a self-propelled wheeled and tracked artillery program valued in more than 7.8 billion of euros, a scenario led by Indra together with EM&E. Systems integration will allow batteries to receive targets, calculate trajectories and open fire in seconds. This complete digitalization responds to the high intensity war model that NATO promoteswhere decision speed “aims” to be as decisive as firepower. Legal tensions and exceptions. There is no doubt, the depth of this turn sovereigntist advances between frictions, as demonstrated the judicial appeal of Santa Bárbara Sistemas, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, against the public loans granted to Indra and EM&E. At the same time, the Government has had to activate exceptionality clauses to the Israeli embargo to protect strategic Airbus programs. That is to say, industrial sovereignty, in practice, advances in fits and starts and forces constant balances between political principles, employment and international commitments. The horizon. In parallel, the growing position of EM&E as key shareholder in the capital of Indra and its technological alliance with GMV They reinforce or feed the idea of ​​a future national champion capable of competing with European giants such as the all-powerful Rheinmetall or Leonardo. The Executive, just in case, observes this possibility cautiouslyaware of the risks of concentration and conflicts of interest. In any case, the strategic message has already been sent: Spain has decided to stop being just a client of the global arms market to try to control, for the first time in decades, its own military capacity. Image | EM&E, Navy In Xataka | Ukraine has found what it needed in an unexpected ally. Spain had the missing piece against the shahed drones In Xataka | In the midst of rearmament, Spain has just surprised Europe: 5,000 million for 34 warships and four submarines

fry Starlink satellites

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Starlink is much more than a service that provides internet anywhere in the world, as demonstrated in the Ukrainian warit is also a strategic technology. For China, Starlink satellites are a threat to national security and They have been looking for ways to neutralize them with lasers for some time. Now, researchers have developed a weapon that could fry them without problem. Microwave. They tell it in South China Morning Post. Researchers at the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology have developed a generator for a high-power microwave weapon. Its name is TPG1000Cs and it is capable of delivering 20 gigawatts of power, plus it can run for a full minute. It represents a notable leap with respect to other systems that were only capable of operating for a few seconds, in addition to being much more voluminous. Click on the image to open the post in X Starlink in the spotlight. Elon Musk’s satellite network keeps China awake at night, to the point that academic articles proposing solutions to neutralize them They are counted by tens. The reason, as we said, is Starlink’s ability to tip the balance in a conflict, such as a hypothetical invasion of Taiwan. It already happened in the Ukrainian war: Starlink became the communications backbone of the Ukrainian armyallowing them to react quickly even if ground communications had been destroyed. lighter. In addition to offering much greater power, the TPG1000Cs is also much more compact and lighter. It measures 4 meters and weighs 5 tons, which may seem like a lot, but there are other microwave weapons such as Sinus-7 which weighs 10 tons and only works for a maximum of 3 seconds. To achieve this, they have used an aluminum alloy and have also designed the energy storage tubes in a U shape, so that the energy bounces back and forth, offering the same performance in a smaller space. This makes it more manageable when transporting it by land, sea or there is even talk of the possibility of placing it in orbit. invisible attack. The use of such a weapon It presents a series of advantages. What it does is store a large amount of energy and release it in a concentrated and very intense beam. On the one hand, the absence of a projectile prevents an explosion from occurring and generating debris, which in turn could impact other satellites. On the other hand, the fact that it is an invisible attack gives the attacker the option of denying their involvement, something that it has already happened in other cases. Effectiveness. According to researchers’ estimates, a microwave weapon with an output of one gigawatt could disrupt communications from Starlink satellites operating in lower orbits. Starlink has had to reduce the orbit of its satellites to avoid collisionsmaking them more vulnerable to ground attacks with directed energy weapons like this one. If China also places its new weapon in orbit, it would be even more lethal. In Xataka | China increasingly dominates technology on Earth. There is a place where it is still very far from the West: space Images | Starlink, Pexels

Samsung confirms the date of its next Unpacked in a year full of challenges

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The Samsung Galaxy S26 They are just around the corner. We could intuit that, but now it is official. And Samsung just confirmed the date of your next Galaxy Unpackedan event that will take place at the gates of the Mobile World Congress (although much further away) and in which AI will once again be the main protagonist. when and where. Galaxy Unpacked will take place on February 25 in the city of San Francisco, United States. The conference will be at 7:00 p.m., Spanish peninsular time, and can be followed through the usual channels. Among them, of course, the live one we will do from Xataka. What do we expect? Unless there are surprises, it is most likely that we will know the new Samsung Galaxy S26. If nothing changes, it should be a family of three devices, with the Ultra model being the flagship. Even though AI PCs have not finished taking shapeSamsung has already started talking about “AI Phone” and assures that its new smartphones represent “a new stage in the era of artificial intelligence, where technology becomes truly personal and adaptable.” We’ll see what this means. A year of challenges. Samsung has a tough year ahead. The Galaxy S are no longer the only exponents of the most premium high-end and Chinese firms are pushing hard. There they are OPPO, Xiaomi, Motorola and Honorto give just a few examples. In terms of pure and simple specifications, the entire high-end range plays more or less in the same league, although Samsung starts with a clear advantage: brand positioning and ecosystem. As far as the technical specifications are concerned, last year we missed a more notable leap in photography and battery. Seeing how Chinese brands are spending money on silicon-carbon batteries and the 200 megapixel telephotosthis year these two sections aim to become even more important. Without forgetting the component crisis. Another important aspect that will be interesting to see how Samsung has resolved is that of the components, courtesy of AI. We are immersed in a RAM and storage crisis, to the point that we are seeing mobile phones again with four gigabytes of RAM and not so ambitious configurations. And it is important, because RAM goes far beyond keeping more apps in the background. On the other hand, and everything must be said, there is no evil that does not come with good. Samsung is one of the largest manufacturers of RAM and that branch of the business is scary. The results for the fourth quarter of 2025 speak for themselves: a year-on-year profit increase of 208% and shares completely skyrocketing. Cover image | Xataka In Xataka | With the consumer segment drowning, Samsung is the first to manufacture HBM4 memory. And it will be for NVIDIA, of course

BYD sells a total of zero cars in the United States. And, despite everything, it has denounced the United States for its tariffs

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Not a year ago and it seems like a thousand lives have passed. In case you don’t remember, I’ll give you some background: the United States and China went to war about a year ago. A trade war who left us images to remember, like the photo of Donald Trump with the “reciprocal tariffs” table either the penguins who will now have to pay for putting their products there. Assuming, of course, that the penguins knew how to design, develop, produce and sell products. Beyond Pepín Tre’s own approaches, the truth is that we have been in tug-of-war between the United States and China for almost a year. In OctoberDonald Trump and Xi Jinping met to try to relieve tensions. It is one more of the chapters that has left us a most bizarre year in which, for example, China has been playing its own solitary tricks, redefining the origin of products, classifying them by their place of manufacture and not by the place of development or packaging and, thus, make the entry of chips accessible without lifting restrictions on other types of products. The last chapter of this story seems to be being written by BYD. The Chinese company is not selling cars in the United States. And what has already been approved by Joe Biden before the entry of Donald Trump, with bans on the sale of all cars with Chinese software or hardware, it does not seem to make things easy for the Asian company either. Despite this, BYD has made a tough decision: sue the United States. They believe that the tariffs they are paying are not legal. They doubt that the regulations used by Donald Trump allow tariffs to be imposed. And that is why they demand that all the money paid since April be returned to them. But what money? Much more than cars… although with cars in mind As we have told you in Xatakathe Asian company is much more than a car producer. In fact, and this is part of its secret, BYD did not start out as a regular car manufacturer. BYD, in addition to cars, produces batteries or heat pumps. Vertical integration is part of your secret to saving costs. From this evolution and opening new horizons, its automobile division was launched. But also buses and trucks. Because when BYD arrived in Europe it had already been there for many years selling their buses for our continent. And the same thing happens in the United States. It does not sell cars, but it does sell buses, trucks and batteries. In fact, according to Reuters750 BYD employees work in the United States in its North American division. Up to four BYD subsidiaries from which buses, trucks, batteries and renewable energy systems come out are those that have filed their lawsuit in the United States Court of International Trade. In it they defend that “the text of the IEEPA (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on which the “reciprocal tariffs” policy was based) does not use the word “tariff” or any term of equivalent meaning.” Since Donald Trump announced the tariffs that he was going to impose on practically everyone, doubts about their legality or otherwise have been on the table. The United States Government dusted off the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to move them forward, a rule of the Cold war. However, doubts about whether or not this rule should go through Congress were on the table from day one. Even the Senate has voted against the tariffs to some countries but the resolution is purely aesthetic. Now, BYD claims that nowhere in the law does it specify that tariffs can be imposed on products coming from abroad. It is a theory supported by various companies that in recent months have also presented their own lawsuits in the same terms, such as Toyota, Costco or Prada, they point out in CarNewsChina. The decision of the court in charge of the lawsuit is key because if it rules in favor of the companies, the United States would have to return all the money collected since April. But it would also open the door for products to be exported without these special tariffs being applied, they would simply have to comply with the tariffs that were already active before April 2025. That is to say, At stake is not only money that BYD may have lost on the products it has sold there. At stake is also market entry which, with current tariffs, is almost impossible. Besides, Canada has opened the door to Chinese electric cars and Geely has dropped that their intention is also to sell their Chinese cars in the United States. The big question, as in the case of BYD, is how they intend to do it before the end of the decade with the restrictions that are currently imposed. It is a question that neither BYD nor Geely have answered. Photo | BYD and Joshua Hoehne In Xataka | “They are going to regret it”: Canada has generated even more tension with the US by opening the door to Chinese electric cars

Today the V16 beacon that you need to avoid the first fines that are already arriving arrives at Aldi (and at half price)

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Although it seemed that they were not going to arrive, the first fines for not having the V16 beacon on the vehicle are arriving, leaving behind the “grace period” that the DGT had announced. If you had passed this measure and still do not have yours, today (February 11) this arrives at Aldi lowered V16 Trophy beaconwith a discount of more than 50%, and can be purchased for only 29.99 euros, as we can see in its weekly brochure. DGT approved v16 beacon with geolocator The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A fully approved beacon This emergency light Trophy sold by Aldi is fully approvedso security is fully guaranteed. Furthermore, at this price, it becomes a cheap option to buy it now and have it in the car and not wait for a long trip (like your next Easter getaway or summer vacation) or for the triangles to disappear permanently. But above all, it is perfect for avoiding fines since if there is one thing clear, it is that no one likes having their pocket touched. As for the characteristics that this one stands out for, V16 beaconone of them is its powerful high-intensity LED light, which makes it visible from a kilometer away and at 360º. Besides, works with AAA batteries and it has a powerful magnetic base, which makes attachment to the roof of your vehicle perfect. Another advantage it presents is that it comes with eSIM with data included until 2038. And the best of all is that you don’t have to install external apps nor enter any type of personal data. If you have a breakdown or emergency, you just have to press the button to turn it on and nothing more. ⚡ IN BRIEF: V16 trophy beacon offer at aldi ✅ THE BEST Its price: Nowadays, we can find beacons almost everywhere, so there is no excuse to have your own. Practically, they all do the same thing so their price is the main attraction. Your base: Although all beacons have a magnetic base of this type, it is true that this model stands out for being powerful, remaining well adhered to the roof of the vehicle. ❌ THE WORST There is no online sale: Rather than saying that it has some characteristic that weakens it, the negative thing about this beacon is that it is only sold in a physical store. So if you don’t have a chain supermarket nearby, forget about being able to buy it. 💡 BUY IT IF… You refuse to spend a fortune on a V16 beacon for your vehicle that you will rarely use. That is, it is the perfect model to have just in case without spending more. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… I can’t tell you a reason not to buy it because it’s cheap and good. Of course, if you don’t have an Aldi nearby, probably forget about getting it because when you maybe get to the store, at this price it is sold out. Of course, you can look at some models online that also have a more than reasonable price. The V16 beacon that sweeps Amazon and costs the same With this V16 beacon Help Flash+ IoT that Amazon sells even five cents cheaper (29.95 euros), you can forget about having to go to an Aldi supermarket or keep an eye on whether they restock in your nearest store. In addition, this model is the best seller on Amazon and there are no shortage of compelling reasons. help flash IoT+, V16 Emergency Light with Geolocation and more than 290 candela power The price could vary. We earn commission from these links The first of them is that it offers 290 candles (which is much more than the 40 minimums required by the DGT for this type of vehicle safety devices). It is also manufactured in Spain, so reliability is maximum. Although if there is something that has made her succeed, it is her compatibility with the myIncidence app. In it you can register the data of your vehicle and your insurance policy to be able to notify immediately in case of a breakdown or accident. Other cheap V16 beacons that may interest you HIBRON EXTRASTAR Emergency Light Beacon V16 Approved DGT with Geolocation The price could vary. We earn commission from these links LEDONE – DGT Approved v16 Beacon with Geolocator The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Image | Aldi and Netun Solutions In Xataka | V-16 emergency light for the car. Purchasing guide, regulations and when they come into force, characteristics and approvals In Xataka | Clarifying all the mess that the DGT has on its hands: the V-16 light, the V-27 signal and the emergency triangles

the future of Olympic Games broadcasts is now

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FPV (First Person View) drones capable of reach one hundred kilometers per hour have burst into Olympic broadcasts with a disturbing promise: to turn sport into something visually indistinguishable from a video game. In alpine skiing, cycling and extreme sports tests, these aircraft equipped with synchronized telemetry systems They follow the athletes from angles that until recently were technically impossible, generating plans that seem extracted from virtual simulators. Who is behind. Olympic Broadcasting Services (the organization created by the International Olympic Committee in 2001 to act as host station for the Olympic and Paralympic Games) is responsible for generating the television, radio and digital signal for media around the world. He began to implement this technology systematically in Beijing 2022. For Paris 2024 Its use had multiplied in disciplines such as BMX, skateboarding and sailing. The question is no longer whether drones can follow athletes, but to what extent this video-ludic aesthetic is reconfiguring our perception of sport. The technology. The devices that Olympic Broadcasting Services has deployed at Milano-Cortina 2026 are not adapted commercial drones, but rather platforms built specifically for sports broadcasting. The Dutch company Dutch Drone Gods has developed a model for sleigh descent tests (bobsleigh, skeleton and luge) that weighs just 243 grams (less than an iPhone) and reaches speeds of 100 kilometers per hour. These cinewhoop type devices They incorporate propellers protected by inverted ducts that improve aerodynamic efficiency. They allow smoother curves, essential for following athletes on steep descents. The technical key lies in the high-end COFDM transmission system that integrates directly with the infrastructure of broadcast traditional, allowing native HD HDR video (both progressive and interlaced) to be transmitted that is seamlessly incorporated into mobile units’ color adjustment systems. How many are there? OBS has deployed 25 FPV drones in total for these Games. They are operated by teams of three specialists (pilot, director and technician) who work synchronized through a dedicated communication channel to manage flight paths, timings and technical adjustments. One of the pilots He assures that it is the most difficult job he has ever done: flying in small spaces up to fifty times per session, consistently, with no margin for error, with millions of spectators watching live. The past. Milano-Cortina 2026 represents the massive winter debut of this technology. The path began in Paris 2024, where FPV drones were used for the first time in competitions. mountain bikingoffering an unprecedented immersive perspective. At the current Winter Games, the most dramatic application has occurred in sliding sports: for the first time, Spectators can follow complete routeswith athletes reaching speeds of over 140 kilometers per hour. Previously, coverage of these disciplines was done with a succession of quick cuts between fixed cameras. Now we can follow the athlete without interruptions, which helps to have a better impression of the speeds they reach. In alpine skiing, drones accompany athletes down the legendary Stelvio descent. In freestyle skiing and snowboarding, the devices are launched with them from the 23-meter springboard. The characteristic high-pitched whir of the rotors has become a recognizable soundtrack of these Games. It is particularly audible during testing. snowboard big airwhere the synchronization between the athlete’s jump and the flight of the drone must be millimeters. How we see sport. We reached this point after decades of developing sports broadcasts. In the mid-eighties there were already cable-suspended camera systems (with variants such as the SpiderCam) that offered aerial angles impossible for fixed cameras. The next step was portable cameras mounted on the athletes themselves. GoPro popularized action cameras during the past decade. Rio 2016 marked another milestone with the introduction of virtual reality, an attempt at total immersion in the sporting event. Regulatory challenges. The 2015 incident at Madonna di Campiglio, where A 10-kilogram drone almost hit skier Marcel Hirschercaused a temporary ban from the FIS that lasted until the 2023-24 season. Race director Markus Waldner then declared that drones were detrimental to safety. A decade later, Milano-Cortina’s 243-gram drones demonstrate how lightweight design and improved protocols can mitigate these risks, although the recent incident with Australian snowboarder Ally Hickman emphasizes that the technology still requires improvement. Header | Matthieu Pétiard in Unsplash – Ricardo Gomez Angel in Unsplash

Unclogging Madrid is not an easy task, but the residents of Colmenar Viejo and Tres Cantos believe they have the solution: close the M-50

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Unclogging Madrid seems like an impossible taskand perhaps it is, since it is one of the densest European capitals in terms of kilometers of highways and motorways. However, that does not prevent its residents from asking for better connections and ways to avoid the gigantic traffic jams that occur every day in the capital. One of the problems has to do with the M-50, and is that the residents of Colmenar Viejo and Tres Cantos have returned to demand the closure of this highway as an urgent measure to end the traffic jams that clog the main access roads to the north of Madrid every day. What happens with the M-50. The neighborhood platforms of both municipalities insist that “closing the M-50 is a definitive solution,” according to has collected Telemadrid. The situation is especially critical, since in some sections of the M-607, especially on the Colmenar highway, traffic density skyrockets every day, causing significant delays both at the entrances and exits to the capital. Neighbors claim that closing this road would relieve pressure on the A-1 and other vital axes in the northern part. What exactly do they propose? What is requested is not to physically close the highway, but to apply a model similar to that of the M-30 or M-40: restrict access to the most polluting vehicles to significantly reduce the volume of cars that circulate daily. This formula, they argue from Tres Cantos and Colmenar Viejo, would decongest the roads and provide a respite for thousands of drivers who use their vehicle as the only way to get to their jobs. Why the measure is rejected. The administrations have been rejecting the proposal for years for one main reason: if the M-50 is closed or restricted, it would further complicate mobility in Madrid. Many drivers currently use this route precisely to avoid the Low Emission Zones of the M-30 or the M-40. Hence there is fear of diverting traffic to other routes and that the alternatives end up becoming saturated. Other important implications are environmental in nature. And this closure would directly affect the Regional Park of the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares and Monte de El Pardo, key protected spaces in the Natura 2000 Network. The main impact would not be to “destroy” the park in its entirety, but rather high-value ecosystems would be fragmented, interrupting ecological corridors, affecting the habitats of protected species and altering natural processes such as aquifer recharge and the dynamics of the Manzanares River. Even the alternatives with tunnels carry significant risks (very invasive works, ventilation, impact on the subsoil and hydrology). Added to this is the indirect effect of adding more traffic and urbanization on an already sensitive stretch. What is being done in the meantime. To try to alleviate the problem, they are already underway the works of a third lane on the M-607specifically in the section between Tres Cantos and Colmenar Viejo. This measure seeks to reduce congestion in one of the busiest accesses, although residents maintain that it is a partial solution that does not address the underlying problem. Who should decide. According to neighborhood organizations, the competition to execute the closure corresponds to the central government. From the ‘Platform for the Completion of the M-50’ they denounce that the project has been delayed legislature after legislature due to lack of budget and political will, while their requests remain unaddressed. Cover image | Wikipedia (Zarateman) In Xataka | Extremadura is experiencing the same situation that it already experienced in the Roman Empire: an unfinished highway that isolates half the region

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