Mobile Tech & Gadgets

The material created in China that lowers the temperature of the buildings without consuming a single electricity watt

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A world where buildings are not only well isolated from abroad, but cool them as much as an air conditioning, without consuming a single electricity watt. That is what a team of Chinese and Australian scientists promises with their new bioplastic material. Short. Researchers at the University of Zhengzhou and the University of Australia del Sur presented a biodegradable film capable of cooling buildings without using electricity. According to a study published in Cell Reports Physical Sciencethis coating can reduce the temperature of a surface to 9.2 ° C in full sun. 9 degrees less. In the material field tests, carried out on a Zhengzhou roof, east of China, the results were overwhelming. In full sun, during noon, the material reached a cooling peak of 9.2 ° C below the ambient temperature. The average tests was -4.9 ° C during the day and -5.1 ° C during the night, which is equivalent to a cooling power of up to 136 watts per square meter. The film takes advantage of a known phenomenon, “passive radiative cooling” (PRC). In a nutshell, it is a lining designed to do two things: reflect sunlight so as not to heat up, and emit internal heat outwards. But it does it in an extremely efficient way. According to the simulations presented by the researchers, apply this film on the roofs of a city like Lhasa, in the Tibet, would reduce annual cooling consumption up to 20.3%. How it works. The “metaphilm” is made of polyactic acid, better known as Pla plastic; A material derived from plant sources such as corn or sugarcane, so it is biodegradable. The turn is how researchers managed to create a porous and continuous structure through a novel phase separation technique at low temperature. This microstructure has an ultrabaja thermal conductivity (of 0.049 w/m · k) and reflects almost all the solar radiation that affects it (98.7%), avoiding the initial heating and heat transfer to the interior. It also emits heat abroad thanks to its porosity. The manufacturing process is relatively simple: the PL is dissolved in chloroform, crystallizes at -20 ° C and then ethanol is used to induce phase separation before drying the film. This method is suitable for large -scale production, which paves the path for commercialization. More resistant than other attempts. One of the great challenges of previous radiative cooling materialsespecially biodegradables, it was their durability. But this new coating has demonstrated exceptional durability. The researchers submerged him in acid for 120 hours and then exposed him to ultraviolet radiation equivalent to eight months of weathering exposure. Surprisingly, the material not only survived, but maintained a cooling performance between 5 ° C and 6.5 ° C below the ambient temperature after the hard aging process. The team attributes it to its high crystallinity, which gives it a thermal and chemical stability much higher than that of its predecessors. The applications go far beyond the roofs of the buildings. Researchers already explore their use in transport, to cool vehicles, agriculture, to protect crops, electronics and even the biomedical field, to apply to dressings that regulate the temperature. Images | Yangzhe Hou et al. In Xataka | With the electric consumption triggered by the air conditioning, Singapore has had an idea: buildings that “sweat”

Minoxidil looked like the great miracle medication against baldness. A pharmaceutical company financed by Google has just overcome it

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The fight against alopecia is A thriving market. The first laboratory to achieve the “miracle treatment” that manages to avoid or reverse androgenic alopecia (conventional hair loss associated with age) could take a lucrative prize comparable with the success of formulas such as Ozempic. One of the best positioned laboratories in this race seems to be Pelage Pharmaceuticals. Preliminary results. A few days ago, the Pelage Pharmaceuticals laboratory announced “positive” preliminary results in the second phase of its clinical trials of the compound PP405. According to its announcement, the formula showed a quick and statistically significant response in these trials. PP405. The compound developed by this company, pp405, is designed for topical application and with the aim of reactivating latent follicular stem cells (HFSC), thus allowing the restoration of hair growth. According to Explain the laboratorythese cells usually alternate latency and activity cycles when they work conventionally. However, with age or in response to certain external or internal stimuli, these cells can be “blocked” in the sleeping phase of this oscillation. As highlighted, this state of latency does not imply its disappearance or loss of viability. Test treatment seeks to “restore the regenerative capacity” of these follicles, which entails the recovery of capillary growth. 78 participants. Preliminary results published by the company They belong to phase 2a of clinical trials of the compound. It is a randomized and controlled study in which 78 participants, men and women with androgenic alopecia have taken part. The participants were divided between the experimental group and control group or placebo: the participants of the experimental group applied the compound in their scalp for four weeks; while the control group received a placebo. After four weeks of application, a 12 weeks were monitored to check the effects on the participants. Results. The results now presented do not correspond to those obtained after the essay but to their eighth week (after four weeks of treatment and four subsequent monitoring). The responsible team observed that among men with more advanced baldness, 31% Of these they showed a 20% increase in capillary density. They stood out for this reason the speed of the response to treatment, at least in principle faster than that observed in contemporary treatments. A crucial difference. However, the key to this treatment was in its effect on inactive follicles. The experiment showed regenerative potential both in the areas of weak growth and in the areas where the hair was no longer growing. The treatments we have in the present are useful when reinforcing growth in weakened but active follicles, not those that have already fallen in a state of latency. “These early clinical results reinforce the potential of our approach to go beyond the slowdown of the hair loss process and directly attack the hair follicle tegeneration,” pointed in a press release Christina Weng, medical director of Pelage Pharmaceuticals. A long way to go. The results are preliminary and correspond to a study conducted in a limited sample, so we will have to wait for the company to give new data on the drug evaluation process. According to the laboratorythe last stage of this process, phase 3 of clinical trials, could begin in 2026. The support of a giant. The origin of the project is in the work carried out in the last decade by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles and other institutions. According to the company, the development achieved the support of investors led by Google Ventures. In Xataka | The hair industry in Türkiye has a new enemy: a protein that protects us from baldness Image | Donald Teel

It is a common phenomenon and is called GTP

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Do you remember when, years ago, stories circulated that used to consider urban legends – until it experienced them – about dreams in which we played tetris or doom, and that were so real that, sometimes, they got to be confused with the periods of vigil? A name came to be given, The tetris effectand the new generations of games and apps, more and more sophisticated and realistic, have taken that phenomenon one step further: after the Tetris effect, the GTP arrives. What is the GTP. Are the acronym for Game Transfer Phenomenathat is, phenomenon of game transfer, and consists of a series of involuntary experiences that players have after intense game sessions, where elements of video games (from images and specific sounds to such concrete aspects as object inventories) are overlap with our real life perceptions. Its characteristics were described for the first time about a decade ago by Angelica Ortiz de Gortari In a doctoral thesis. His inspiration was his own experience: visualize products in a supermarket as if he were using a video game telescopic sight Some of his symptoms. They are very varied: visual perceptions (see life bars or the game of the game) and auditory (soundtrack, special effects), automatic impulses (executing conditioned movements, such as pressing buttons), recurring thoughts and behaviors inspired by video games (speaking involuntarily with concrete games), tactile or kinesthetic sensations (perceive the control in the hands when there is not there) … player can see health bars on people’s heads, or feel the need to grab everyday objects as if they were Power-ups. A frequent experience. It is not about An isolated or unusual phenomenon. Studies in which More than 6,000 players have participated They indicate that most have experienced GTP at least once. And in Another analysis that was carried out in Chinabetween 82 % and 96 % of participants in a survey reported that they had experienced some form of GTP. This BBC article Check the phenomenon and mention Ortiz de Gortari, which describes that, for those who experience it, the GTP can be “disconcerting and potentially dangerous”, although, being relatively natural and simple to explain, most of the time it is passenger and has no greater significance. But why does it happen? On the one hand, video games demand automatic and conditioned responses, which can then be repeated in real life. And of course, the very high immersive capacity of modern games multiplies this possibility of transfer. It is a phenomenon comparable to catchy songsthat we repeat in our head without being able to forget them, but the GTP has a plus of intensity because the brain areas that manage it are linked to action and impulses, not to passive attitudes. It will go to more. Experts such as Ortiz de Gortari affirm that with devices such as virtual reality helmets, phenomena such as GTP could increase exponentially in the future. Without a doubt, it is an area that Science considers that it should be examined thoroughly: Not only because video games are the main form of entertainment globally, but because it delegates, to a large extent, to what extent our minds are vulnerable to increasingly aggressive technological advances. Header | Photo of T in Unspash / Xataka In Xataka | I have tried a virtual reality escape: this is to solve mysteries with your own hands in a very immersive experience

habits and tricks to sleep under an extreme heat wave

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During a heat wave it is common for us to put our focus on the scorching maximum temperatures. However, this is not the only indicator that warns us of the problems that we must face during this type of episodes, minimum temperatures can be so important or even more in some circumstances. The “tropical nights.” According to it The State Meteorology Agency (Aemet) before the start of this heat wave, one of its characteristics would be that of the Tropical nights. This term refers to those nights in which the minimum temperatures do not fall from the 20th Celsius. The forecasts They talkedin fact, of minimum temperatures that could exceed 25º, nights to which a different term is applied, that of “Equatorial nights”. Already before the entry into force of the agency’s special notice on the occasion of the heat wave, some areas of the South such as Seville or Almería (but also in other areas such as Girona) They registered minimal Above this 25º barrier. Why is it so difficult to sleep? There is a close relationship between body temperature and sleep cycles. The hours of sleep our body temperature is usually faster than during the day, but the descent in body heat usually starts before we sleep. Even before we lie. The problem arises with the arrival of excess heat. Some scientists theorize that with heat It can happen as with lightwhich would be used as a reference by our body to distinguish the night of the day, the hours to dedicate to the dream of vigil. If it is hot, or if there is light, our body interpretter that is not yet time to go to sleep. The tools in our hand. The simplest option is to plug a fan or keep the air conditioning on all night but this is not always an option, either because we do not have any of these devices, to avoid scares when paying the electrical invoice or, even, because they are not options too convenient for our health. So what can we do? If heat is like the light that prevents us from reconciling sleep, a simple strategy is to isolate ourselves from it as we isolate ourselves with light. We can start by choosing an isolated room, away from the facades, oriented to the north and not to the south, or far from the upper plants if we live in a house with more than one plant. To maintain this fresh room, it is convenient to ventilate it, but not expose it to the entry of light, also avoiding artificial light sources and heat sources such as burning or mobile computers loading. Cool Maintaining a fresh sleeping environment is important, but maintaining our own fresh body is too. The strategies that we would conventionally use to refresh ourselves, even those that are contraintuitive, can be of great help. Avoid what can increase our body temperature during the afternoon, such as especially hot meals or physical exercise can also be useful. “Sleep hygiene.” Sleeping during a heat wave is especially difficult but sleeping strategies better that we use conventionally can also help us. In this sense, correct sleep hygiene can be helpful in these cases as in others. Habits such as maintaining regular schedules, or avoiding screens and lights before bed are usually among the usual recommendations in this regard. An active life and healthy eating can also help us fall asleep better, even in conditions like these. The heat wave ends, but … The forecasts indicate that temperatures will fall during the next few days, being able to conclude the episode the day after tomorrow. However, we are only at the beginning of summer, a summer that has started intense but whose evolution is for now uncertain. The tropical nights have been accompanying us for weeks and probably keep doing it during the summer. These can be aggravated by situations such as the current one, but in themselves they are not a rare phenomenon in the summer (although it is likely to become more and more frequent). Adapting to them is therefore important if we do not want to sacrifice our rest for several months a year. In Xataka | With the electric consumption triggered by the air conditioning, Singapore has had an idea: buildings that “sweat” Image | Marie-Michèle Bouchard

is in four autonomous communities at the same time

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The geography It is capriciousjust as history or politics is often. In the case of Valverde, a tiny district of the municipality of Alhama River Cerverathose three whims have converged to generate a situation Very unorthodox: A population in which four autonomies shake hands. His situation is so rocambolesca that a inhabitant of Valverde arrives a small walk to tour La Rioja, Aragón, Castilla y León and Navarra. All an anomaly in the broad (often capricious) Spanish administrative map. In a place in Spain … In Alhama-Linaressouth of La Rioja, there is a municipality called Alhama River Cerveraof just over 2,200 neighbors and a long Employment traditionthat hides a small secret inside. Administratively the town is Rioja, but from time to time jumps to the holders for the particular status of one of its districts, Valverde. The reason? It is literally fitted among four different communities. A town, four regions. If you open Google Maps and “Valverde” You will verify the peculiar situation of the population, at the confluence of four different regions: La Rioja, Aragón, Navarra and Castilla y León. The inhabited nucleus is split by the dividing line that separates Aragon from La Rioja, but that is not its only anomaly: the Castellanoleonese border is located a few hundred meters from where the houses are located. And Navarra is not much further. If situation comes so much about the common It stands out The City of Cervera del Río Alhama. “The neighborhood is from the center of the Villa 10 kilometers, it is located at the southeast end of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja, next to the skirts of Moncayo”, Remember the Consistory’s website. “Its location is peculiar, because it coincides with the border limits of four communities.” A curiosity, a legend. Valverde is not only striking for its mixture of borders. It is also for The story (Legend, rather) that has its peculiar position Sancho el Fuerte, Alfonso II El Casto and Alfonso VIISovereign respectively of Navarra, Aragon and Castilla, to negotiate alliances. The place chose it because that way the three could be cited without any abandoned their domains. Some versions They tell In fact, the monarchs came to celebrate a lunch on a triangular table arranged in the kingdoms. The place is known as “The Mojón de los Tres Reyes”. A theoretical division. The most striking of Valverde is that in that anomaly you are barely felt in the day -to -day life of its neighbors, except in special situations, such as During pandemia. The division of the district, in which some 200 people (Many of them on Rioja soil) The brand the street of the station. The Herald newspaper Precise Also that most people’s services are located in the area that corresponds to La Rioja, near the road (N-13) that connects Pamplona with Madrid. According to the exact place in which the neighbors are censored, yes, they have to go to Hospitals in Logroño or Zaragoza. Images | DAP and Google Maps Via | This road town is quite ugly, but it is unique in Spain: its municipal term includes four autonomous communities In Xataka | After the civil war, Franco wanted to colonize empty Spain. So 300 new villages were invented

satellites that are divided into more satellites to harass the enemy

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The orbit of the earth is gradually becoming A tense chess board. The last play has been starred by Russia with the deployment of an unknown object by the spy satellite Kosmos 2558. Short. On June 26, a Russian military satellite who had been chasing an American spy satellite for three years has decided to open up and release a new object. It is not the first time that this behavior is observed in a Russian ship. In fact, “it is the third time that happens in five years, and the second this year,” according to An analysis of the expert Marco Langbroek. A Russian doll in space. The protagonist of this story is the Kosmos 2558, a military satellite that Russia launched to space in August 2022. Since its orbit, its mission has been an open secret: closely and without rest the ship uses 326, a spy satellite of the National Office of Recognition of the United States (NRO). Now, almost three years after starting its persecution, Kosmos 2558 has released a subsatellite, designated ‘object C’. Langbroek’s observations in Sortrackcam from Leiden (Netherlands) confirmed this behavior. Your telescope captured the new ‘object C’more dim, the night of June 28, two and a half days after separating from his nodriza ship. It appeared 16 seconds after Kosmos 2558, already at a distance of 143 kilometers. Langbroek has compared this behaviorin which a satellite generates other satellites, with a Russian ‘matrioshka’. The orbital harassment of the levelir program. This has not been an isolated incident, but the last piece of a Russian space program known as ‘levelir’. Judging by their history, the objective of these “inspector satellites” is to periodically approach interest ships of other powers, especially American, to demonstrate certain capacities in orbit: In May 2025, Russia placed the Kosmos 2588 satellite in an orbital plane almost identical to the US 338 American satellite and began to perform periodic approaches What if they were latent weapons? Russia describes these launches as “inspection missions”, but for the Pentagon, the explanation falls short. What remains to be inspected after three years? What these satellites do demonstrate is their ability to maintain a latent system to activate it years later with some of the most important spy assets in the United States in space, something that makes US military planners nervous. If we add to these matrioshkas, potential “latent anti -attack weapons”, the intricate series of maneuvers he has been performing The trio of Russian ships Kosmos 2581, 2582 and 2583it is seen that Mother Russia is still able to check her opponents in the terrestrial orbit. Image | Toño Ortiz (CC by-C-SA 2.0), Marco Langbroek (Sattrackcam) In Xataka | Russia does not want the enemy to fit its territory. The solution is Kalina, a laser weapon to blind satellites

As the Puerta del Sol is a tree desert, Madrid has had an idea for this summer: putting awnings

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With the thermometer Nailing with the 40ºC of maximum and a sun of rigor, if there is something sued today in the streets of Madrid is shadow, a shelter in which to enjoy a refreshing truce before continuing on their way to the office, house or the institute. To create one of those ‘Climate shelters’ In the urban heart, a few weeks ago the City Council He started installing Toldos in the middle of the Puerta del Sol, 32 panels with which he wants the square to stop being a pan. The problem is that its installation has unleashed a considerable stirboth for the solution itself and its cost. Shadow, where is there a shadow? The Puerta del Sol is an emblematic, sculptural place, forced to Thousands of tourists Every year and central node of Madrid. The problem is that something key is missing, especially in summer: shadow. Your around 12,000 m2 They are a wasteland in which it is difficult to protect themselves from the sun, a problem when the city faces a heat wave like the one in these days. There are those pulling irony It refers to the square as ‘La Sartén del Sol’. Why is there no shadow? Because it was never considered necessary. The City Council argues that in its 163 years of history the square never had “elements of shadow”, although there are who holds that in his day he had some trees and more than a century ago he already incorporated awnings. Historical debates apart, the Consistory assures that today the configuration of the Plaza conditions what can be done or not in it: below, scarce 20 cm of the pavementrests a slab that separates the square from one of the largest subway stations in the city, in addition to galleries. And why is it important? Simple. Because what is done in the square should take into account the huge structure that opens below. Martínez-Almeida team remember That a few years ago it was studied to plant trees in the only area of ​​the square that does not have infrastructure under the pavement, but the Municipal Historical Heritage Commission ended up lying the initiative. The reason? The vegetation perhaps threw some shadow and refresh the environment, but the idea did not respond to historical or urban criteria. He simply proposed to plant trees where he could, without contributing more reasons. What if we put awnings? In the absence of trees, good are Quita and Pon, a solution that is already used in the street of other Spanish cities punished by the sun, such as The center of Seville either Malaga. That is the idea that the City Council was raised, which launched its administrative machinery to project, hire and install a system of panels that cover part of the square. They wait, but the fabrics began to settle Two weeks ago. The awnings, 32 in total, are manufactured with Microperforated PVC ivory and have been arranged in such a way that they offer shade to pedestrians that walk from Alcalá to Arenal. To hold them, anchors were installed on the facades, tensioners and stainless steel masts in some granite banks. The idea is to use a threaded tubes system to place and remove panels throughout the year, as is done in other cities in the south. Why is there debate? For several reasons. Input by the solution itself and its effectiveness. “They are not a simple ornament or a whim: they are a late and expensive response to an urban policy of the PP, which for years turned our public spaces into authentic cement plates,” criticism in The country Pedro Barrero, socialist spokesman in the Commission of Works and Equipment. To that debate contributes that the square was reformed Just a few years ago With one millionaire investment without those guaranteed works shadows in the environment. Another background debate is whether the square may or may not host trees, beyond the handicap that the subway station is underneath, or if there are better alternatives to the awnings. The City Council insists in which the configuration of Puerta del Sol dates back to the nineteenth century and this will be “the first time you have shadows in its 163 years of history.” The proposal also received the approval of the Historical Heritage Commission. The big question is … Is it used for the 12,000 m2 of the square a solution that has demonstrated useful for narrow streets? Are there more factors? Yes. The price. The installation of the awnings will require considerable investment, around 1.5 million of euros that add to the cost of the reform of a few years ago. In networks there are who questions That a million and a half are reversed to a work that, in the end, will mean the installation of about thirty PVC awnings. From the City Council they clarify that to carry out the project they have had to carry out studies and undertake works that are not appreciated with the naked eye, such as adapting the banks, emptying them and providing them with steel plates to ballast the anchor of the masts. The goal? Ensure that the canvases endure wind gusts without the foundation affecting the structures located under the square. Images | Madrid City Council In Xataka | People have started rowing to touch their ass to the statue of the bear in Madrid. Makes as little sense as it seems

say goodbye to your right hand

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Although Tesla already has her CEO with exclusive dedicationthe manufacturer still faces serious commercial problems After the company’s fall in the company in the US and, above all, for its disastrous figures in Europe. In the midst of this scenario, Elon Musk has been forced to make a drastic and painful decision: to fire one of its closest and most confidence collaborators. Tesla asked for blood and Afshar is the offering. According The published by ForbesElon Musk has fired OMEAD AFSHAR, Vice President of Manufacturing and Operations of Tesla in North America and Europe. This decision comes at a critical moment. The world sales of Tesla suffered a significant collapse during the first quarter of the year, as well as a serious reputational crisis that triggered Attacks against concessionaires of Tesla in the US and Europe. Afshar is one of Musk’s maximum confidence executives, so before starting his adventure Politics with Trumpthe Millionaire ascended him as Sales and Head of Operations. An extremely sensitive charge before the forecast of fall in sales that was going to cause The generational relief of your best selling car. Musk had put Afshar on the edge of the razor. When Musk needed something to be solved, he always called Apshar and he was in charge of solving him. He Wall Street Journal He described it as “the Musk problem solution.” Therefore, when the millionaire designated him for this position he could not imagine that, months later, he would have to say goodbye. He public rejection that generated the role of Musk at the head of Doge’s cuts, made sales fall much more than expected. Specifically, the brand has left 13% in total sales during the first quarter of the year. Sales are They sank 45% in Europewhile enrolling electric cars They grew up 15.3% year -on -year and its competition He sold more cars that never. OMEAD AFSHAR: Musk’s problem solving. OMEAD AFSHAR was one of Elon Musk’s maximum trusted men since his incorporation to Tesla in 2017. His role was key in the optimization of the chain of Model 3 assembly And, subsequently, he led the construction of Tesla gigafactoría in Austin, Texas. According to the Elon Musk biography Written by Walter Isaacson, Afshar was one of those responsible for the factory to be located in Austin and not elsewhere. In addition, he had a decisive role in the Robotaxis Design and in him Optimus developmentthe Tesla robot. Afshar also participated in the Musk landing on Twitterconsolidating as a fundamental piece in all the great movements of the company in recent years. An exodus of managers in Tesla. The case of Omead Afshar is not an isolated event within Tesla. In recent weeks, two other high positions of Musk’s maximum confidence have abandoned the company for different reasons. Milan Kovac, engineering director of the Optimus Humanoid Robot Program, He recently resigned claiming that he wanted to spend more time with his family, he said In his X profile. Musk He publicly thanked The time Kovac had dedicated to the company, but has not commented on AFShar’s departure. For its part, Jenna FerruDirector of Human Resources of Tesla for North America, also left Tesla and no longer appears in the company’s directory, As published Bloomberg. All these changes in Tesla’s directive dome reflect that the brand is in an intense process of Reorientation of your strategy. To publicly demonstrate these changes, Musk has had to sacrifice some very valuable pawns in their surroundings. In Xataka | We knew that the CEO of large companies were very well paid. What we didn’t know was how much their salary had risen Image | Unspash (Willian Cittadin), Flickr (Gage Skidmore)

Apple led the wearables worldwide. Now is third after two Chinese manufacturers

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Chinese manufacturers have achieved what seemed impossible: to dethrone Apple in a category that they did not invent, but they did define. He Apple Watch The physical standard to be followed by the rest has been and still largely, but it is no longer the first in market share after many moons being … and neither the second. After the stage in which Xiaomi advanced him in quota, now he has also done so The new huawei, which does not compete but creates its parallel reality After the sanctions that forced him to reinvent himself. He is going well. Why is it important. Huawei leads the global market of Wearable In the first quarter of 2025 with 10 million units sold, followed by Xiaomi with 8.7 million. Apple is relegated to third place with 7 million sales, according to data from IDC. The loss of leadership – from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 – marks a turning point for a company that dominates this segment from The launch of Apple Watch in 2014. For years, Apple not only sold more smart watches, but also staying with most of the benefits of the sector. Now that last continues, but the unitary majority no longer has … … While it is true that this is not usually Apple’s game: as with mobile phones, prioritizes capillarity benefits. The context. The secret of Chinese success is based on a devastating price strategy. While the Apple Watch becomes more basic It costs about 250 euros, Xiaomi sells its Smart Band 10 For less than 50 euros and Huawei has models from 50 euros. This price difference is not accidental. Chinese manufacturers have opted to democratize technology Wearablecarrying basic health monitoring and fitness functions to population segments that would never be considered to spend 300 euros on a clock. In figures. Huawei controls 21.9% of the global body of body devices, rising from 17% of the previous year. Xiaomi reaches 19% compared to 14.7% of 2024. Apple stays at 15.5%, although it has grown since 12.5% ​​last year. The growth of the sector has been 10.5% year -on -year, with 45.6 million units sold worldwide in the first quarter. China represents 17.6 million of these sales, a spectacular growth of 37.6%. Yes, but. Apple maintains important advantages that sales figures do not reflect. Keep dominating in profitability, keeping most of the benefits of the sector despite selling fewer units. In addition, Apple Watch works exclusively with iPhone, which limits its potential market but guarantees a closed and very profitable ecosystem. Apple Watch users They are usually more likely to spend money In accessories and applications. After all, they are the same as they do from the iPhone. The threat. For Apple, this loss of quota represents more than a change of position. Chinese manufacturers have shown that they can offer 80% of the functionality for 20% of the price, an irresistible equation for many customers. The Chinese strategy is not limited to being cheap. Huawei has launched premium models like the Watch Ultimatewhich exceeds 1,000 euros, competing directly with Apple’s most expensive versions. Xiaomi, meanwhile, has reasonably improved design and benefits of its basic models. And now what. If Apple prioritizes recovering fee, you can try to compete in fee, risking your margin. But that is not Apple’s own. Its most common movement is to worry only about its own needle and whether the segment grows or not. If sales grow, it will hardly worry that other manufacturers sell more devices at a much lower price. If sales fall, their concerns will focus on what they can do to alleviate it. Including check where these sales go, if other manufacturers, to traditional watches or simply a longer update cycle. In Xataka | After almost a decade with the Apple Watch I have spent a Garmin. And I have understood what I was losing me Outstanding image | Daniel Romero in Unspash

There are people so hooked to the AI ​​who are creating groups to alcoholics anonymous to overcome their addiction

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We pass Many hours looking at the mobilelWe blame our lack of concentration And there are even studies that claim that They affect our memory. Until recently, the fault was almost exclusive to apps such as Instagram or Tiktok and his damn ‘Infinite Scroll’but now there is a new culprit: the AI. There are people so hooked to talk to chatbots that have even created help groups to leave it. What’s happening. There are more and more cases of people hooked to AI. There are those who admit to be Friends of a chatbot and even who They are paired with an AI. Although it is not the only one, one of the platforms that He is hooking his users is Character.AI. Here we can create a character to our liking and chat with him as if it were real. In 404 average They tell Nathan’s case, an 18 -year -old student who spent hours wake up with the characters he had created, to the point of preferring them before his real friends. And there are many more like him. Help groups. There are many people in a situation similar to Nathan’s. In Reddit there are several aid communities for people who want to stop using chatbots, how are you which has almost 900 members and is specifically focused on Character.AI users. There are also others such as Chatbotaddiction where members talk about their addictions to other IAS. In these groups, users share their progress by leaving their addiction counting the days that have sober either They look for support when they have a relapseas if they were alcoholics anonymous. But it goes beyond Reddit, the Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous It also includes AI addiction and offer online meetings for those affected. Chatbots want you to use them. Apps like Instagram or Tiktok are designed to spend as long as possible in them And the Chatbots IA also have their techniques so that we do not forget them. Recently, several consumer defense groups in the United States presented a Formal complaint against companies such as Character.AI for allowing the use of Therapy chatbots. In the text they detail the tactics of these platforms to make users use them again. In the case of Character.AIonce you have talked to a character, you start receiving emails to open a new conversation. The bombardment and the ease of falling again has made some users who want to leave it reach the point of Ask the company to block your IP address. A mirage. In This study by the MIT and OpenAI They explored how it affects us to interact with a chatbot in our mental health. Many people who come to Chatgpt to seek emotional support seek to placate the feeling of loneliness and, although it works in the short term, intensive use is associated with higher levels of isolation and emotional dependence. In This other study They deepen the false empathy. Often users who connect with a chatbot talk about how they feel more understood than talking to other people. The fact that these apps are always available and offer reconforting responses creates a false sensation of empathy and safety in users that can lead to dependence or addiction. Image | Gemini In Xataka | I have asked the AI ​​any bullshit and now I am writing a news about her

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