Mobile Tech & Gadgets Archives - Page 70 of 1642

We have had a nautical chart for almost two centuries in a drawer because we thought it was all wrong. we were wrong

July 10, 2026 by usatoday24

Sometime in 1835, on the northwest coast of India, Alexander Burnes purchased a roll of paper. Inside was a handwritten navigation chart of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden that the British officer came to describe as a “specimen of naval survey without equal in the cabinets of Europe.” Burnes donated it to the Royal Geographical Society, where a team of experts examined it and put it in a drawer. Since then, the diagnosis has been unanimous: the letter was very beautiful and very attractive, but completely wrong. For 189 years, we have believed it was wrong. But we were wrong. And it’s not that we hadn’t studied it. In the last century alone it has been studied in detail on up to five occasions (1947, 1987, 2002, 2012 and 2022). However, all efforts had been futile. However, in recent years, John P. Cooper of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter and his team They have studied the subject in depth. Without much success, really. Until they realized one thing: what if instead of a document, what they had in their hands was a tool? I mean, what if it wasn’t a map to hang on the wall, but something else? How did the thing work? The key, always according to the researchers, is that the letter was only opened to the section that the navigator was using at that time. If you look at the map as a whole (more than 180 islands, plus reefs, land landmarks, religious buildings and flags), you don’t understand; above all, because they do not have continuity. But if you analyze the references fragment by fragment, the idea emerges that it was used to maintain the navigation line, to remind the sailors what they had to do. Its purpose was mnemonic and operational; not representative. How curious, isn’t it? Yes and that is the main problemto think that all this is just ‘curious’. But no, what the letter puts on the table is the Eurocentric bias that still prevails in the history of science: For almost two centuries we judged an Indian tool by the only yardstick we knew (the geometric correspondence to the terrain) and declared it “defective” for not meeting that yardstick. How many thousands more things will we have out there lost, without fully understanding? It never hurts to remember that there are many things that we do not fully understand. Image | University of Exeter In Xataka | Urbano Monte’s world map, one of the most amazing and grandiose cartographies in history

It’s been 20 years since we saw its last episode but audiences have not fallen, and 5.9 million viewers continue to watch it every month

July 9, 2026 by usatoday24

On July 6, 2006, Antena 3 broadcast the last episode of ‘There is no one who lives here‘. Two decades laterthe comedy by Alberto and Laura Caballero gathers a monthly average of 5.9 million unique viewers in streamingon platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Atresplayer and Movistar+with peaks of 8.8 million and a cumulative audience of 10.4 million in the last year. The consulting firm ranks it as the most viewed content in the OTT market in six of the last twelve months. The distribution of that audience between platforms says a lot about where the series is growing today. Prime Video leads with 2.2 million viewers and Netflix follows closely with 2.1 million, ahead of Atresplayer (0.9 million) and Disney+ (0.7 million). The study also wonders about the reason for this sustained success: 37.2% of the viewers surveyed say that the series “disconnects, entertains and never tires”, compared to 15.7% who appeal to nostalgia and 12.9% who consider its plots valid. 72.4% already saw it in its original broadcast, but more than a quarter discover it now. Before being a phenomenon in streamingthe Desengaño 21 building had already achieved marks that were difficult to match. Throughout its 93 episodes, it brought together more than 40 million unique viewers, and its most viewed episode was close to 8.4 million on average with a 43.1% screen share. From that same creative tandem was born ‘The one that is coming‘, which is still broadcast and shares its catalog and number of viewers with its predecessor. There is a very simple logic behind this success, beyond the quality of the series. An already known title saves on marketing and comes with proven success, at a much lower cost than original production. It is the reason why classics like ‘Friends’, ‘The Office’ or ‘Seinfeld’ continue to boast multimillion-dollar licenses: continue to attract people. Added to this is the unequivocally local component of ‘No one lives here’, which after television went to reruns on TDT, especially on FDF, before making the leap to the streaming. And from there, generation after generation continues to be hooked on our most Bruguera series. In Xataka | This remake of a classic on Prime Video is the science fiction premiere of the summer: ‘The Matrix’ or ‘Cyberpunk 2066’ owe it all

In 1962 the United States exploded an atomic bomb in orbit to create an anti-missile “wall.” The result was electrical chaos 1,000 km away

July 9, 2026 by usatoday24

July 9, 1962, an aurora appears in the skies of Hawaii, Tonga and Samoa. It would be strange for these phenomena to form so far from the poles, although experience has shown us that it’s not impossible. Even so, in this case the auroras were not formed by a solar storm, but by Starfish Prime, a US experiment that went wrong. Very badly. Basically, they decided to launch an atomic bomb into space to widen the ring of natural radiation that surrounds the Earth and, thereby, create a wall against Soviet missiles. They managed to distort it, yes, but not in the way they expected. Furthermore, by the way damaged electrical systems, satellites and telephones, caused blackouts more than 1,000 kilometers away and there were even fears for the health of the astronauts who would travel to the Moon 7 years later. As a result of that incident, an international agreement was signed to prohibit atomic testing in the atmosphere, outer space or the bottom of the sea. Since then, all countries have complied with it, although there are scientists who do not trust that it will continue to be done, so they have devised a plan curiously related to Starsfish Prime. Starfish prime. The Starfish Prime project consisted of the detonation in low earth orbit of a 1.44 megaton nuclear warhead. That is, they used a bomb 100 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima. The goal was to stretch the Van Allen belta ring composed of swarms of highly energetically charged particles that are trapped in the network of the Earth’s magnetic field. If the ring could be stretched, they thought it could incapacitate the Soviet missiles that posed a threat to the nation. They achieved the goal. But the rest of the consequences were too serious to want to repeat. More radiation. The amount of radiation in the Van Allen ring increased. By 1969, when the Apollo 11 astronauts they traveled to the moonthere was still a slight increase in radiation that they could absorb on their way to our satellite. Several studies were carried out to check if their health would be seriously at risk, but it was seen that the danger was manageable, so it was decided to continue with the mission. An international agreement. In 1963, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, in which they committed to freeing the atmosphere, outer space and the seabed from nuclear tests. Later, in 1967, was signed he International Outer Space Treatywith which the great world powers established a mode of action for the exploration and use of outer space. Since then there is no evidence that nuclear weapons have been sent into space. However, there are scientists who do not trust that other countries may be acting as agreed. One of them is Areg Danagoulian, from MIT, and the idea you had to solve it is, to say the least, curious. Neutron spallation. Danagoulian’s proposal consists of taking advantage of a phenomenon called neutron spallation, by which very high-energy particles are capable of causing atomic nuclei to expel their neutrons. And where have we seen that there are charged particles with a lot of energy? Indeed, in the Van Allen belt. This MIT scientist believes that if a satellite loaded with a nuclear device were to pass through this ring, something it necessarily has to do, its particles would cause the nuclei of the uranium atoms to lose neutrons. For this reason, it proposes to build a specific detector for this type of neutrons, which would be responsible for sounding the alarm if it detects said expulsion. Aurora seen from Hawaii A feasibility study. At the moment, Danagoulian has not built anything. Has carried out a feasibility study in which he demonstrates that his project is plausible. It is based on sound physics and the techniques needed already exist. If Russia had a nuclear satellite, as this and other scientists fear, it could be a useful device. Now, just because it is possible does not mean that it is easy. Neutrons coming from uranium would have to be differentiated from those from other elements and, furthermore, distinguished from those that could come directly from the Earth. There is a lot of work ahead. With Starfish Prime it was discovered that the consequences of an abrupt release of radiation in the Earth’s magnetic field can be very serious, whether it occurs artificially, with an atomic bomb, or naturally due to solar activity. It is important that we are prepared. Ideally, everyone will comply with the agreements; But, just in case, it doesn’t hurt to resort to detection techniques. Without a doubt, it is a much healthier way to take advantage of what the Van Allen belt gives us. Image | US Air Force 1352nd Photographic Group, Lookout Mountain Station/NASA In Xataka | SpaceX has launched 8,000 Starlink satellites in five years, but they are not enough. And we’re starting to understand why

It is so curious that for some it should be a holiday

July 9, 2026 by usatoday24

You may have seen a post on social media that mentions that on July 8, around 11:15 UTC, 99% of the world’s population is bathed in sunlight. The author of one of these publications points at X that this should have a name and, at the same time, be festive. I won’t be the one to reject your idea of turning it into a holiday. But, while we’re at it, let’s be strict: this happens for almost two months a year. Who wants just one festive day while being able to have a long vacation? Fact check. In 2022, when the first publication went viral the astronomy website timeanddate analyzed its contentconfirming that, indeed, exactly what it says happens on July 8. 99% of the world’s population is illuminated by sunlight at the same time for a few minutes. However, a year later did a new analysis in which they pointed out that, in reality, it is a much longer phenomenon, since it occurs between May 18 and July 17. Since then, other publications about July 8 have continued to be published on networks, ignoring the fact that it is not an exceptional date on the calendar. In any case, although it is a longer period than what the networks say, it is still interesting. Asymmetry. The world population is not evenly distributed between the two terrestrial hemispheres for several reasons. To begin with, 68% of the mainland and therefore habitable land is in the northern hemisphere. In addition, there are more job opportunities here, so over the years many people have emigrated there. As a consequence, approximately 88% of the world’s population lives in the northern hemisphere. This means that, throughout the year, there are times when more than 90% of the population is illuminated by the sun. The reasons. The equator is a fixed line that separates the northern and southern hemispheres and has an inclination of 90º with respect to the poles. On the other hand we have the terminatorwhich is another imaginary line that separates the half of the planet that is under sunlight from the half that is in the dark. If the Earth were not tilted, both lines would coincide; but, due to the inclination of the earth’s axis, they only coincide at the equinoxes. The rest of the year they are different, hence there are not always the same number of people bathed in sunlight. Although normally it is 90% of the population that coincides under the Sun, there is a time of year in which the terminator is located right between the most densely populated area and the one that is least populated. That leaves 99% of people who, for a few minutes, see some clarity on the horizon. Just a few minutes. This is estimated to occur between 11:00 and 11:03 UTC, although there are calculations that point to a start at 11:15 UTC, which would coincide with the Internet publication. In that short period of time, only Australia, New Zealand and a part of Southeast Asia and Antarctica will remain completely dark. Not everyone has the same sunlight. It should be noted that, although there is talk of 99% of people being in sunlight, not all of them are equally illuminated. In order for this 99% to be counted, it is important to take into account both those who are in places with the Sun high in the sky and those who have already passed sunset and only see the light that appears above the horizon after our star has hidden below. It’s still light, although obviously the lighting levels are not the same. Ultimately, the internet publications were right, but it is not something as special as just one day. For two months, there is a very high percentage of the population that sees sunlight at the same time. On the days around May 18 and July 17 it may be more like 98% than 99%, but, in general, it is almost all of humanity bathed in the light of our star at the same time. Today you are late, but tomorrow will also be one of those days, so, at 1:00 p.m. Spanish peninsular time, look at the sky and remember that almost everyone on the planet is seeing the same light as you. Images | reddit In Xataka | Centralia is a city with Hell under its feet. It has been burning for 60 years and is far from going out

We have been believing for years that women live longer because of their lifestyle. Science has a much deeper explanation

July 9, 2026 by usatoday24

If we take a look at the World Bank’s global statistics, there is an unbreakable pattern that repeats itself in practically every country in the world: Women live longer than men. Conventional wisdom often dismisses this phenomenon with a quick response based on lifestyle or “men take more risks.” And although there is some truth in this, the scientific reality is much more complex. Because? To understand female longevity, We must focus on the DNA that we have in all our cells. Something very basic is that women have two X chromosomes, while men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. A fundamental difference, because that second X chromosome in women acts as a kind of backup. This means that if a gene on one X chromosome suffers a mutation or is damaged, the female body can turn to the healthy copy on the other chromosome. Men, however, play a single card, since if their only X chromosome has a defect, there is no plan B. In addition, this chromosome is vital because it houses a large number of genes related to the immune system, which gives women a more robust response to infections. It goes further. Genetics is not everything here, but the body has an ace up its sleeve, which are the mitochondria, which are nothing more than the “power plants” of our cells. These organelles are inherited only maternally and, as proposed in 2007sexual differentiation has a direct biological cost for men, translating into lower mitochondrial function and, therefore, greater cellular oxidative stress that accelerates aging. The hormones. Beyond genetics and mitochondria, we must mention sex hormones, which are in very different proportions between sexes. Estrogens, for example, are the main female sex hormones that, in addition to regulating the reproductive cycle, act as a powerful antioxidant shield. Among its effects stands out maintaining the flexibility of blood vessels, reducing “bad” cholesterol and preventing inflammation. This largely explains why the incidence of cardiovascular disease in women is significantly lower before menopause. In the man. On the other side of the coin we have testosterone. Although it is crucial for the development of muscle and bone mass, high levels of this hormone in men are historically associated with increased cardiovascular risk at an early age and long-term depression of the immune system. The evolution. Someone may fall into the idea that this system is something exclusive to humans, but evolutionary biology shows us otherwise. Here, a 2025 study analyzed 1,176 species and the results revealed that in mammals, females live on average 13% longer than males. The reason lies in reproductive strategies and the biological wear and tear derived from male sexual competition, such as fights over territory or mating. However, it was seen that andIn birds, males live 5% longer; since in the avian world, males usually have two identical sex chromosomes (ZZ) and females have different sex chromosomes (ZW). Furthermore, in many bird species, parental care is shared or falls to the male, which reduces their risk behaviors. Human behavior. Of course, biology does not operate in a vacuum and genetic and hormonal factors must be added. the behavioral gap and social. For example, the consumption of toxic substances has a greater prevalence in men, being associated with cancer, cirrhosis or respiratory diseases. But, as we have said before, testosterone is also linked to a greater propensity to take risks, which translates into higher mortality rates from traffic accidents or cases of violence. On the other hand, women suffer from “invulnerability syndrome” which causes them to seek preventive medical services much more frequently. Men tend to postpone visits to the doctor until diseases are in more advanced stages, making treatment difficult. In addition, women tend to build stronger social and emotional support networks, a factor directly linked to greater survival in old age. Images | Age Cymru In Xataka | 5 minutes of sleep, 2 of exercise and half a serving of vegetables: the macro study that supports a great longevity ‘hack’

The OECD has found a burden in the Spanish labor market: we do not earn enough

July 9, 2026 by usatoday24

It doesn’t fail. Every time I go shopping at the supermarket I come across someone who complains about the price of fruit, of the eggs or the unattainable that the salmon has set for the little that the salary rises of the humble workers. That buzz now has international support. The report has just been published ‘OECD Employment Outlook 2026’ which analyzes the labor market of the member countries and, among praising the Spanish labor market, has left us with a small barb: low salaries continue to be Spain’s weak point. A report that puts figures to the discomfort. The Paris-based organization analyzes the occupational health of the more than 40 member countries every year. In 2026, the organization recognizes important advances in the Spanish labor market: more employment, less temporalitya stoppage that goes down little by little. But when it comes to the salaries section, the tone changes. According to OECD data, real wages, after inflation, remain 2% below where they were at the beginning of 2021, just before prices soared. That is, in terms of purchasing power, salaries are worse than five years ago. This percentage places Spain among the three countries with the greatest drop in purchasing power since the pandemic, only behind Italy and Australia. Much of Europe has already recovered its purchasing power after the post-pandemic downturn, but Spain continues to lag behind. The minimum wage rises, the rest stagnates. It is worth stopping to analyze salaries in Spain because during the last five years not all salaries have evolved the same. The minimum wage has been going up for years by decree and this 2026 reached the 1,221 euros per month3.1% more than last year. Since 2018 it has grown more than 60%. This salary increase, the only one that is in the hands of the Government, has protected those who earn the least. The problem is what happens above that mandatory minimum that remains in the hands of companies. While the minimum has been advancing, the average salary has barely movedand the distance between the two narrows, causing more and more employees to approach that income floor, so that an employee with several years of experience can charge just a little more than a young man in his first job. Increase in real wages according to the OECD. Spain in the tail group It’s math. The INE data confirm that the labor cost per worker rose 4.9% in the first quarter of 2026. However, if this figure is crossed with an inflation that is around 3%, the real margin of improvement that remains is small, and for a large part of the workforce, the increase in their purchasing power is almost non-existent. “Although real wages grew by 2% during the last year, they are still 2% below their level in the first quarter of 2021, which places Spain among the OECD economies where they have fallen the most since the Pandemic,” the international organization warns, highlighting Spain’s wage stagnation. Why don’t salaries start? The OECD points to an old acquaintance to justify this stagnation: productivity. Spain has hardly improved its productivity figures for a decade and that limits how much a salary can rise without the company losing margin. “Given that labor productivity growth has stagnated over the last decade, and in a context of renewed short-term inflationary pressures, real wages are anticipated not to rebound throughout 2026 and 2027,” the OECD report indicates. The positive side is that, although the situation has stagnated in recent years, Spanish companies have become less reactive to the ups and downs of the economy. The proportion of companies that have laid off their employees despite changes in the economy has increased from 8.9% at the end of 2019 to 4.3% in the first quarter of 2026. The organization attributes this decline to the application of the labor reform in 2022. “The reform has driven greater recourse to permanent contracts: the proportion of workers with temporary contracts fell from 24.8% in the first quarter of 2022 to 14.8% in the first quarter of 2026, although it is still higher than that of most OECD countries,” the report states. Unemployment, the wound that does not close. The other burden that the OECD points out in the Spanish labor market is more than well known, but no less serious. Spain remains the second country with the highest unemployment rate of the entire OECD, more than double the average and only behind Finland. According to the unemployment data of the Ministry of Labor, in May it fell to 10.3%, reaching 2007 levels. It is an improvement, yes, but from a very high starting point. Behind that figure there is also a factor of geographical inequality. The difference between the regions with the most and the least unemployment reaches 15.5 points, well above the OECD average. Looking for work in Melilla is not the same as in the Basque Country, and that gap It is also transferred to the income of each household, according to the report itself. In Xataka | Working does not get you out of poverty: three out of four workers have not improved their purchasing power in two years Image | Unsplash (Ru Dur, Mitchell Luo)

The new Ryzen 7 5800X3D does not solve the hardware crisis, but it is a lifesaver to extend the life of many PCs without breaking the bank

July 9, 2026 by usatoday24

Updating a desktop PC or brand new practically any current device that integrates RAM or storage (that is, almost everything) is face a harsh reality: you have to pay much more for the same thing. The hardware crisis, derived from the high demand for these components to supply clients related to AI, which has been with us since the end of last year, it seems like it’s going to be long. So if we have no choice but to renew components or equipment in 2026 and we do not want to pay too much, You have to look carefully at which is the best possible purchase option.. AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 10th Anniversary Edition The price could vary. We earn commission from these links In this context, AMD launched the market a few weeks ago Ryzen 7 5800X3D 10th Anniversary Edition. The reissue of a best-selling processor, compatible with AM4 platformswhich allows you to give a facelift to computers (especially gaming, as it is a CPU designed especially for gamers) from up to a decade ago without the need to renew the motherboard. And, above all, without having to make the leap to DDR5 RAM memories (which are through the roof). All this, in exchange for a very contained investment in 2026, such as the 360 euros that is around in the main stores. Probably the best price-quality purchase for a gaming PC in the last decade In ideal conditions and focusing on the most current, the most recommended purchase when configuring from scratch or updating a PC to play, today, in the middle of 2026, is recent motherboards, DDR5 RAM and NVMe PCIe Gen5 SSDs. But of course, this represents an exorbitant expense in many cases that not all users are willing to assume. Above all, considering that just a few months ago all of this cost much less. In this scenario, the reissue of this Ryzen 7 5800X3D It makes a lot of sense. With it we can give a facelift (and greatly increase performance) to our current AM4 platform PC, with DDR4 RAM, without having to touch much else. Above all, if we plan to play and we come from a processor that does not belong to AMD’s X3D family. With the change, The jump in video games is brutal: more frames per second, thanks to AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology. In essence, this Ryzen 7 5800X3D maintains the 8 cores and 16 threads, frequencies of up to 4.5 GHz, the TDP of 105 W and the same amount of L3 cache as the original 5800X3D launched in 2022. But as an added bonus, this 10th anniversary edition includes a thermal solution as an alternative to the classic thermal paste: the Carbice Ice Pad, which is a thermal pad that must be placed between the surface of the CPU and the heat sink to keep high temperatures at bay. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: Ryzen 7 5800X3D 10th Anniversary Edition ✅ THE BEST You do not need to change motherboard or RAM if you already had one with AM4 socket and DDR4 memories Outstanding gaming performance thanks to its exclusive technology that triggers the FPS ❌ THE WORST It is not the most current on the market (although it has just gone on sale) and if you prefer the latest of the latest there are more powerful (and expensive) options. 💡 BUY IT IF… You need to renew your desktop gaming hardware in the middle of the sector crisis ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You plan to make the jump to AM5/DDR5 in the short term (even at these prices) Two pieces of hardware ideal to accompany this Ryzen ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-PLUS WiFi II po A and C, Aura Sync RGB), B550 II The price could vary. We earn commission from these links CORSAIR Vengeance LPX DDR4 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) 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 | amd, Timothy Dykes, Remy on Unsplash In Xataka | Best gaming mice: which one to buy and 8 recommended models In Xataka | Best gaming keyboards 2026. Which one to buy based on use and 8 recommended models

Meta, Google and Microsoft will be able to continue tracking your messages until 2028. Despite the fact that the majority of the European Parliament voted against

July 9, 2026 by usatoday24

The European Parliament has once again given the green light for companies like Meta, Google or Microsoft to voluntarily track private conversations of its users looking for child sexual abuse material. The striking thing is that the decision is going to go ahead despite the fact that more MEPs have voted against it than in favor. What has happened? The European Chamber voted this Thursday on the extension of the so-called “ePrivacy exception”, a temporary rule that allows (but does not require) messaging platforms to scan chats, emails and social networks to detect already identified child abuse content. Although more deputies voted against this extension than in favor, the absolute majority of 361 votes necessary to overturn it has not been reached, so the rule remains in place until April 2028. Without absolute majority. Since this is a second reading, it is not enough for the “no” to win. It is necessary for 361 of the 720 MEPs to expressly vote against to block the regulations. If that number is not reached, the proposal goes ahead by default, even if the votes in favor are fewer than the votes against. It’s just what has happened. In detail. The original text, approved in 2021, had expired on April 3 after the European Parliament refused to extend it by 311 votes to 228, with 92 abstentions, according to collect Brussels Signal. To revive the proposal, the European People’s Party (EPP) resorted to an unusual emergency procedure, also promoted by the President of Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and by national governments. This shortcut has allowed the text to be voted on again in the last session before the summer, precisely when many parliamentarians are no longer present during these dates, according to explains the German medium Heise. The rejection proposal was 47 votes short of the necessary absolute majority. Before that final vote, MEPs have managed to approve two amendments that expressly exclude services with end-to-end encryption, such as WhatsApp or Signal, from being traced, as confirm Euronews. These amendments passed with 369 and 362 votes respectively. Between the lines. A good part of the social democratic group, including German MEP Birgit Sippel (the rapporteur on the file), voted in favor of limiting the scope of the rule, according to Euronews. However, that same group had previously facilitated the approval of the emergency procedure that made the entire maneuver possible, something that Heise describelike a previous transfer that has ended up playing against its own intentions. The European Commission has also actively lobbied, as four commissioners sent a last-minute letter warning of a legal loophole if the mechanism was not extended, according to collect Heise. The vice president of the EPP, Tomas Tobé, has defended that summer could not be reached “without tools to protect minors.” The critical voices. Simeon de Brouwer, advisor to the digital rights organization European Digital Rights, countedWired that the standard opens the door for companies to review, if they so choose, any message, email or image that a user shares. On the other hand, activist and former MEP Patrick Breyer has described the result as a “farce” that damages democracy, and has pointed out in a statement collected by Brussels Signal that the real losers of this process are the minors themselves. Breyer points to the European Commission’s own figures, indicating that mass scanning of private chats has only accounted for 36% of abuse reports in 2024. The majority came from public posts and cloud storage services. On the other hand, the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) warns that 48% of the alerts generated lack criminal relevance, and that 40% of the resulting investigations end up pointing to minors. Furthermore, according to they point From Brussels Signal, 99% of the reports that Meta sends under this mechanism correspond to material already known previously, which provides little value in the face of cases of active abuse. From Heise they mention also to cybersecurity researchers who have warned in open letters of the high error rates of automated scanning systems based on AI, which would put the privacy of users at risk without any connection with crimes. And now what. This vote only extends the current system, which is temporary and not mandatory, since companies can scan messages if they want, but they do not have to do so by law. The permanent and much stricter regulations (known as Chat Control 2.0and which would require a widespread scan) is still being negotiated separately and has not yet been approved. Meanwhile, companies like Meta, Google or Microsoft will be able to continue scanning messages, emails and photos of their users until 2028, with the only exception of end-to-end encrypted conversations, such as those on WhatsApp or Signal. Cover image | Wikipedia, Pexels In Xataka | The camera that watches you while you drive is already mandatory in new cars. And no one guarantees what happens with that data.

PlayStation caused a tsunami killing games in physical format. If you wait for a reverse, the final enemy is mathematics

July 9, 2026 by usatoday24

It’s been just over a week since Sony, PlayStation, will announce the death of the physical format for its consoles. Starting in January 2028, no physical games will be released for PlayStation consoles. This is a hard blow for the video game as an art, for preservation and for the consumer, since there are few more anti-consumer measures that make us players depend on a physical format that does not belong to us. The reaction of these players has not been good and there are those who point to a possible retreat on the part of PlayStation. There is a problem: there is no nail to hold on to other than that of hope. It makes… sense. From the company’s point of view, the move to 100% digital format is perfect. If you have ever wondered these days what drives them to anger so many players and turn part of their own community against it, it is because, although it may not seem like it, commercially it makes a lot of sense. Yes, the digital market is enormous and bigger than the physical one, but when statistics are published and it is said that only 20% (approximately) of the market is physical, it is because the digital part includes digital games, games that do not have a physical version, DLC and microtransactions. The ‘FIFA’ envelopes, for example, come into play in those statistics. That is the argument, but when you seek to eliminate the physical, you seek to control all the gains. You don’t have to make records, you don’t have to transport records, you don’t have to pay stores to sell those records. That margin that you didn’t earn before, with the digital game you start to control. You also get rid of second-hand and lending games, something that companies have been pursuing for years. Math. And, facing a new generation of consoles that everything indicates will be more expensive than the current one (for example, the price increases for both PS5 as of Xbox Series Xbut also machines like Steam Deck and the more than 1,000 euros from Steam Machine), there Sony may fear that there are users who do not want, or cannot, pay 1,000 euros for a new console. If there are fewer players who buy hardware, there will also be fewer who buy software, but what they are looking for is to maximize profits per user. As? Controlling prices. An example: on PS5 I buy all the games published by Sony in physical form and for 80 euros. Of those 80 euros, remove 30 that go to those expenses associated with the physical format and the stores themselves. Sony sees 50 euros. With PS6I would buy the same games digitally for 80 euros and Sony would not have any of the expenses associated with either the physical format or payments to stores. Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier addresses this very well in this video and I was making up the numbers in the previous example, but he points out that, for a $70 first party game, Sony sees about $45. For a $70 first party digital game, Sony sees $70. If we talk about a third party game (Electronic Arts, Ubisoft or whoever publishes for Sony) that is physical, of the 70 dollars, whoever makes the game takes about 35, the store that sells it about 20-25 and Sony takes about 10-15. If that third party game is digital, whoever makes the game gets about 49 and Sony gets about 21. It’s a win-win for both. Maximize profits. Hideaki Nishino himself, CEO of PlayStation, has made it clear that the company must prioritize performance per client compared to the gross sales volume. They want more average income per user, in short, a model less dependent on selling hardware and more focused on extracting more value from each user. This is where the games themselves come into play, but also microtransactions and subscriptions. Leave the forum. After days without publishing anything on networks like Bluesky, although they have continued to make announcements on their official blog, Sony remembered the password and announced what no one was expecting: an arcade stick for fighting games. It makes sense because they have a fighting game right around the corner, the ‘Marvel Tokon‘, but the players took that announcement even more harshly. As a follower of all the fuss, it is almost better that they announced a command in their first communication. The reason? Had they taught the game they would have taught, the amount of negative comments that game would have received would be to study it and, for example, if the first thing is a video of the game of ‘wolverine‘, all the rage these days at PlayStation’s inaction would have been poured out on the game and on a developer studio that does not deserve that treatment. ¿Kicked back? There is, as I said at the beginning, the hope of some users that so much negativity will affect the company’s decision and they will back down. Obviously, no one outside of Sony can know what will happen, but I am not so sure that the company will back down from this decision. The main reason is that something like this is not taken lightly and reports are already appearing indicating that it is something very studied and they knew perfectly well how part of the community was going to do it. What’s more, there are already reports that indicate that the company’s main Blu-Ray factory, located in Austria, is already beginning the training of some employees who will go on to dedicate themselves to another type of production. bitter hope. If there is one thing to hold on to, it is that, at the same time that PlayStation announced the death of physical games for its consoles, it also set a date for the closure of the PS3 and PS Vita digital stores (wow timinghuh?), and it wasn’t the first time. In March 2021 we already broke … Read more

the biggest bet in its history to national chip manufacturers

July 9, 2026 by usatoday24

China has defined a series of steps to become the first world power. Technological sovereignty falls within this roadmap and, to achieve the objective, a greater investment in local technology is necessary. The current battlefield is that of AI chips, a segment that Nvidia dominates with an iron fist, but if there is a way to change the trend it is with technology and money, a lot of money. And China has found its three winning horses. In short. China is a giant market for Nvidia. With Western Big Tech in his pocket (although Anthropic and Meta are looking favorably at Samsung for inference chips for the age of agentic AI), Nvidia was missing the other big pie. China is a market valued in 50,000 million dollars for whoever manages to position itself as a leader in the AI chip segment, but the problem for Nvidia is that it is not easy at all. Due to bureaucratic problems on the part of the US and China itself, Nvidia is a bit in no man’s land. Meanwhile, national companies have been positioning themselves, presenting their alternatives and GPUs for training this technology. And with the order to bet on the national product, Chinese companies are clear about it. As we read in Business TimesChinese Big Tech currently invests 30% annually of its budget in national AI accelerators, but that spending will increase to 46% over the next twelve months. The horses. Some of these Big Techs are creating their own chips, or already have them. This is the case of Alibaba or Tencent, which would be a kind of Meta or Google: they offer a product to the user, to other companies and, in addition, they have their own data centers with their home-made chips. However, there are other companies that are more focused on creating the hardware to power the internal data centers of those other large companies. This is the case of Hygon Information Technology or Cambricon Technologies, but also of Huawei. All three offer AI platforms that are becoming increasingly important in a context in which Nvidia H20 chips designed specifically for China They are increasingly difficult to find due to that national order to prioritize homemade hardware. The advantage of these companies is that it is no longer about raw power, which is one of the advantages that Nvidia had (although Nvidia is much more, since it also has a complete software suite and so on), but about speed and low latency. For agentic AI, high bandwidth for fast data transfer is essential, and that seems to be a point that Chinese hardware companies are focusing on. The Ascend. The interesting thing is that this strategy is not a future plan and is already being put into practice. Zhipu AI, for example, is a company that has already trained its GLM-5 model on more than 740 billion parameters entirely with the Huawei Ascend 910C. In addition, the Chinese company is working on the development of the Ascend 950 and 960 chips that promise to achieve parity with Nvidia’s most modern architectures. And the supernodes. On the other hand, Huawei continues to push the Atlas 950 supernode. Presented a few months ago, it is a cluster of up to 9,192 Ascend 950DT NPUs per system with up to 1,152 TB of unified memory. It is, according to the company, a direct competitor to Nvidia’s NVL144 rack, achieving 6.7 times more computing power than that of the American company. It is designed for both training and inference and, although it raises doubts about the energy efficiency per computing unit compared to that of Nvidia, what is clear is that it is a product that Chinese Big Tech They will be able to ‘shoot’ for their future models. Huawei is taking the platform around the world and its next appointment is at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2026 in Shanghai. Whether Nvidia solutions are used or not, what is clear is that the intention is to prioritize national hardware. China is going to invest nearly $300 billion to build data centers over the next five years to boost AI across all sectors of society. For its part, at least 80% of the basic technologywhere the chips come in, will be supplied by national companies. As several have already pointed out (Jensen Huang among them), the US veto of China It was the worst move they could make. because they only achieved one thing: give wings to their accelerated technological development. In Xataka | Huawei is very close to a great technological milestone. And he is very clear about what has allowed him to do so: the US veto

Log In

Sign In

Forgot password?

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections