The best MediaMarkt offers in technology and entertainment, today April 11

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There is very little left until the end of the two MediaMarkt campaigns, April Savings and Semana Web, which end on April 12 at 9:00 am. There are many offers to choose from, but some are better than others. For this reason, in this article we are going to review the best of the best within the store itself. iPhone 17 by 1,129 eurosthe lowest price MediaMarkt has ever had in the 512 GB configuration. nintendo switch 2 by 459 eurosthe console along with a video game to choose from four options. Apple Watch Series 11 by 379 eurosthe lowest price the store has had so far. Motorola moto tag by 24.90 eurosa much tighter price on the brand’s locator. Nintendo Switch 2 Camera by 39 eurosan especially interesting accessory if you play online with friends. Nintendo Switch 2 + video game to choose from four options The price could vary. We earn commission from these links iPhone 17 If you are going to change your mobile phone and want to make the leap to the Apple ecosystem, the iPhone 17 has dropped in price in its configuration 512GB storage and can now be purchased for 1,129 eurosMediaMarkt’s all-time low. It is a mobile phone that comes with a 6.3-inch screen that offers a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. It has a good photography section and has a good processor that guarantees excellent performance. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links nintendo switch 2 Right now is one of the best times to make the leap to nintendo switch 2as MediaMarkt is back with its best offer yet: for 459 eurosgives you a video game to choose from these four different options: Nintendo Switch 2 + video game to choose from four options The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Apple Watch Series 11 The same happens with the Apple Watch Series 11since MediaMarkt has it at its lowest price to date: 379 euros. It is about one of the best smartwatches within the Apple brandespecially for its construction (also for its rotating crown which is especially useful), for its screen that looks great even outdoors and for its sensors to monitor physical activity. Apple Watch Series 11 (46mm, M/L) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Motorola moto tag If you are planning to go on a trip or simply want to avoid losing your keys, backpack or suitcase, the Motorola moto tag has dropped to 24.90 euros. It is a locator with the same format as the AirTagso their covers are useful. It uses Find My Device to locate it and is compatible with Android phones. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Nintendo Switch 2 Camera If you already have a Nitendo Switch 2 or are going to take advantage of the MediaMarkt offer before it ends, you may be interested in the official nintendo camera which, in addition, has dropped in price to 39 euros. It is ideal for playing online video games with friends or family, especially competitive ones to enjoy great times. Nintendo Switch 2 Camera 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 | MediaMarkt and Compradicción (header), Apple, Nintendo, Motorola In Xataka | Five brands and one goal: we look for the perfect locator for your keys, wallet or suitcase In Xataka | Best smartwatch in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and seven recommended models

France has begun to retire Windows from its administration. It is the beginning of his divorce from Microsoft, Google and Amazon

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Digital sovereignty in Europe has gone from being a theoretical concept to something increasingly tangible and desirable with respect to the technology we consume. It is no longer just a trend that is increasingly more individual people are tryingbut has also become an object of desire for administrations and companies. The path to becoming independent from big tech in the United States is not easy and while there are startups like Mistral who gets rich in the processthere is a state that has decided to take a brave step forward: France. In a global environment where data and infrastructure are geopolitical weapons, the French Government, through the Interministerial Directorate for Digital (DINUM), has launched an aggressive roadmap to regain control over their information systems, thus reducing the hegemony of non-EU technological solutions. And it has started with Windows. The decision. In a high-level inter-ministerial seminar, DINUM together with ANSSI, the State Purchasing Directorate and the DGE formalized the most ambitious commitment to digital sovereignty adopted to date by a Western European power. Or what is the same: France wants to exit the American technological ecosystem in a systematic, planned way and with specific deadlines. It is not an experiment, it is state policy. The guideline is clear: map and reduce dependence on technology suppliers from outside the EU. The measure is not a veto but rather a mandatory transition towards a model where public administration must prioritize local or open source solutions, especially in critical services and sensitive data processing. As has declared the Minister of Action and Public Accounts David Amiel: “ We can no longer accept that our data, our infrastructure and our strategic decisions depend on solutions whose rules, prices, evolution and risks we do not control.” Why is it important. From a systems engineering and cybersecurity point of view, the measure is vital for issues such as protecting against Cloud Act of the United States, the law that allows its authorities to access data stored in American companies regardless of where the servers are located. On the other hand, it guarantees that the state maintains its necessary technical capabilities to operate its own infrastructure without depending on proprietary “black boxes” and to heal itself in the event of a change in conditions or other external problems. But this phased migration is much more than an OS change: it involves dismantling the entire associated ecosystem, certificates and applications designed for Windows. It means rebuilding the digital foundations of the state from the roots so that they function with total autonomy and without foreign parts, without citizens noticing the change on the surface. Context. Our daily personal, professional and bureaucratic lives live in an ecosystem governed by hyperscalersthose technology companies like Microsoft, Google or Amazon that dominate storage and cloud computing. This mention is not random: they alone eat more than 60% of the cloud cake, as Statista collects. The increase in cyber threats and the US technological monopoly in the West and its increasingly invasive turn to the privacy of others have done the rest. France has been maturing the doctrine for years “Cloud au Center“. While the ANSSI audited the dependencies on critical infrastructures, its sovereign cloud was being forged as a real alternative. In addition, the European regulatory framework, with the NIS2 directive wave cyber resilience lawhas created the ideal breeding ground. With tools like TchapVisio, FranceTransfert and Socle Numérique (alternatives to WhatsApp, Teams, WeTransfer or Microsoft 365, respectively) France no longer only has a plan, but a real operational base on which to scale. The plan towards sovereignty. It is neither a toast to the sun nor does it have vague and diffuse measurements or distant dates, but concrete, tangible movements and which is either already being implemented or is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year: DINUM abandons Windows and migrates its jobs to Linux. It is the first central State agency to do so. Already underway. Migration of 80,000 agents from the Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie (equivalent to Social Security) to sovereign tools: Tchap, Visio and FranceTransfert. Already underway. Migration of the health data platform to a reliable European solution. Scheduled for the end of 2026. Duties for each ministry: present a dependency reduction plan, which includes databases, antivirus, AI or collaborative tools. For this fall. Yes, but. France has a basic skeleton and a legal framework, as well as public-private coalitions to accelerate the transition through concrete and measurable public commitments. But it won’t be easy. Exiting Windows involves disassembling Active Directory and what is behind it, something that costs a lot of time and money. And migrating 80,000 agents to new tools is not so much a technology problem but rather a problem of implementing new management. Also, go out where. Many European solutions still do not reach the integration, ease of use and capacity (especially in AI) of American big tech, which implies a step backwards in terms of quality. But even if it were possible, moving from a proprietary infrastructure to a sovereign one implies an enormous investment in time, personnel training and data migration. Finally, maintaining and evolving our own infrastructure requires specialized and experienced personnel in a market where talent is scarce and expensive. In Xataka | The CEO of Mistral sends a message to Europe: the end of being the technological vassal of the United States In Xataka | Europe seeks to become independent from Microsoft Office. Your alternative is already here, but not without controversy Cover | Clint Patterson and Arno Senoner

Your t-shirt from 15 years ago is better preserved than the one from last summer for a very simple reason: the yarn

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Among the things that are no longer what they were cotton t-shirts take center stage. That’s because we have physical evidence: almost all of us have some cotton garment from years ago with better look than a newly purchased one. Why is this happening? For technological development. Like any industry, the textile industry seeks to be more efficient, to achieve more with less. What is sacrificed in the process is quality. However, all is not lost and those great t-shirts from before can still be found, if you know what to look for (and when you finish reading this article you will). In the case of cotton fabric, quality is determined by two variables: The raw material. The spinning process. Let’s start with the raw material. The best varieties of cotton are Sea IslandEgyptian, Egyptian American and pima. Its fibers exceed 32 millimeters in length, and are fine and resistant. Despite this, its production volume is ridiculously low in proportion to international volumes: only 3%. The problem is that it grows slowly and its harvests are small. 90% of world cotton production belongs to the type American Upland. Within this variety there are different levels of quality, depending on the thickness and length of the fibers, but these do not usually exceed the 25 millimeters. The problem is the yarn Depending on the quality of the fiber, one spinning process or another is used, causing the fabrics to improve or worsen greatly. The vast majority of advertising t-shirts or brand t-shirts fast fashion They use a yarn called “open end”. What does it consist of? It is a technology developed in the ’60s. in Czechoslovakiacreated specifically to take advantage of low-quality, short-fiber cotton. It is very similar to the manufacture of cotton candy: the fibers spin in a giant drum and if you start pulling on a rope, they wind around it, creating the thread. (Keagan Henman/Unsplash) A T-shirt made with “open end” cotton has a less soft touch, breaks faster and pills after a few washes. The explanation? If we greatly enlarge the photo of such a thread, we see that it looks like a tangled skein, with many ends sticking out. It is precisely these ends that form the balls. The problem is not only the use of short-staple cotton. In addition, in the process it is damaged even more: with the rotation of the drum, any imperfection on its surface functions as a bladechopping up the fibers. To improve the quality of this yarn, surgical steel drums have begun to be used. Its surface is very smooth, which reduces breakage. This is how, for example, t-shirts are made. Fruit of the Loom marked with the Belcoro seal. Improving the “open end“ The next level of quality is the threads ring spun. In its manufacture, medium-length fibers and an older technology are used, which imitates manual spinning: the cotton is carded to eliminate impurities and to align the fibers that are then twisted and stretched. The result is a smooth, uniform thread, with few protruding ends. A fabric made with these threads is much more resistant, hardly pills and has a pleasant touch. It is used by brands such as Gildan, Russel or Anvil. But the maximum level of quality in t-shirt fabrics is ring spun combed cotton. For this type of fabric, the highest quality fibers, the longest, are reserved. In addition to following ancient spinning technology, this cotton includes an additional step after carding, combing. In this process all the shorter fibers are removed, discarding up to 15% of the cotton. A fabric of this type is resistant, has a smoother and more uniform surface and is softer to the touch. They are easy to identify, because the inside label usually says “combed cotton.” However, a loss of 15% of cotton cannot do anything other than make the material more expensive, so they are also the most expensive. (Jason Leung/Unsplash) The brands that use this type of fabric are American ApparelSol’s, Bella & Canvas. Even so, it is advisable not to blindly trust brands. Not all t-shirts from a producer are made with the same cotton. What is not very relevant to the quality of a t-shirt is the information that many of us use: the weight of the fabric. A thick, heavyweight, knit t-shirt open endit will be of poorer quality and will last less than a thin combed cotton t-shirt. Comparing the weight of the fabric makes sense only within the same quality. So if you are looking for a cotton t-shirt like the ones before, the ideal is to ask about the type of cotton it uses. If they say “combed cotton”, it is the best you can find. If they say “ring spun”, you will get a much higher quality than what you are used to. If they tell you: “What cotton? 100% cotton”, you will be able to provide all this information and differentiate between poor quality t-shirts and those that will last a lifetime. Image | https://unsplash.com/es/fotos/variada-ropa-hung-en-perchero-3JAOcgZ_ZXU In Xataka | Converse sneakers were once the symbol of the millennial generation: now they have been in free fall for years In Xataka | France had maintained the monopoly on luxury perfumes for centuries: Arab countries are taking it away

making history. Orion has landed after a mission that we have not seen since Apollo

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Artemis II already had a place in history assured before it even hit the water, but its closure gives the mission a different dimension. Orion has splashed down off the coast of San Diego (United States) and with this has culminated a ten-day trip that has returned astronauts to the vicinity of the Moon for the first time since 1972. What we have seen has not only been a round trip flight around our satellite, but also the validation in real conditions of a ship, a crew and a roadmap with which NASA and its international partners want to go further than ever. The key moment has arrived at 8:07 p.m. EDT on April 10, equivalent to 2:07 a.m. on April 11 in Spanish peninsular time. With this splashdown, Orion’s flight sequence is closed and a less visible, but equally measured phase begins: recovery in the ocean. We are not just talking about a capsule touching the water, but about the point at which a maneuver calculated to the minute gives way to helicopters, military means, medical checks and transfer of the crew out of the vehicle. Artemis II has made history: the most difficult return culminates over the Pacific The most delicate part was not the lunar flyby, but the return home. To return safely, Orion had to enter the atmosphere under the right conditions, with heat shield exposed after separating from the service module and prepared to withstand extreme conditions: intense friction, plasma around the capsule and a communications outage expected for six minutes. NASA had further explained that, in a nominal profile, the crew could withstand up to 3.9 G. Everything in this phase depended on physics, engineering and timing being exactly where they needed to be. The US space agency communicated this sequence in EDT time, but to better follow the outcome from Spain it is advisable to transfer it to peninsular time, where everything happened already in the early morning of April 11. 01:33: service module separation and heat shield exposure (completed) 01:37: final adjustment of entry path (completed) 01:53: start of upper atmosphere re-entry and start of communications blackout (completed) 02:03: opening of drogue parachutes at high altitude (filled) 02:04: deployment of three main parachutes to reduce descent speed (completed) 02:07: Orion splashdown off San Diego (completed) Before 04:07: crew recovery and transfer to support ship (earring) As we say, from this moment on the recovery device that NASA has deployed together with US military personnel off the coast of California comes into play. According to the sequence planned by the agency, the crew must be extracted from the capsule and transferred by helicopter to the USS John P. Murtha, where the first medical evaluations after ten days of mission. If we look at the mission as a whole, Artemis II leaves several well-defined milestones. It was the first manned flight beyond Earth’s orbit since 1972, it completed a lunar flyby without landing on the moon and established a new distance record for humans by exceeding 400,000 kilometers from Earth, above the Apollo 13 mark. In between so much hard data, Artemis II has also left small scenes capable of becoming fixed in the collective memory. There are the images of the hidden side of the Moon taken by the crewcaptures of a solar eclipse or video calls from deep space. And then there is the most unexpected detail of all, the one that gave the mission a touch of color in the middle of the institutional solemnity: a jar of Nutella appearing floating in the ship during one of the broadcasts. What comes next helps you better measure what you just finished. NASA now faces a demanding calendar phase for the next stages of the Artemis program, with a new mission already in preparation and with the focus on the operations that must support a future lunar landing. The next test will seek to advance that architecture with new maneuvers and tests before taking the next leap. When the images of the landing, the parachutes and the recovery in the Pacific pass, what will remain will be something much more profound than a postcard of the return. Artemis II will have shown that it is possible send astronauts back to the lunar environmentbring them back and successfully complete the most demanding part of the flight. Images | POT In Xataka | We knew there was water on the Moon, but not why some craters were empty. Finally we have the answer

We knew there was water on the Moon, but not why some craters were empty. Finally we have the answer

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It’s been a while since It is known that there is water on the Moon. However, accessing it is quite complicated. To begin with, so far only water in the form of ice has been detected. But also, it’s not clear what the best places to look are. There are some clues, but exceptions keep appearing that baffle scientists. That’s why, the study recently carried out by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder It has been very illuminating. Frozen water hidden in the shadows. The missions that have detected ice on the Moon have located it in the depths of the craters of the lunar south pole. Mostly, in something known as cold traps. These are places that are permanently in shadow, so that the very high temperatures that are reached during the day, of more than 120ºCthey cannot evaporate the water. An essential resource for lunar colonization. The detection of water on the Moon was a great milestone at the time, since it would make it easier for lunar colonizers to use water to cover basic needs in the future. They could use it for drinking, but also, for example, it would be possible separate hydrogen from oxygen through hydrolysis and use it as fuel. Let us remember that the formula of water is H2O, two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. It’s not that easy. Some craters containing ice have already been detected, like the Cabeus. We could think that all the craters of the south pole that are found in cold traps, like this one, will serve as water sources. Unfortunately, the task is not so simple. It is known that several craters in this situation do not contain water, so another pattern must be sought to help future lunar colonizers know where to look. A question of orientation. The authors of the study just published relied on two types of data. On the one hand, the surface temperature data provided by the Diviner instrument of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). On the other hand, the results of a series of computer simulations on lunar evolution. Studying all of this together revealed something interesting. That the orientation of the Moon has not always been the same. Its relative inclination with respect to the Earth has changed slightly over billions of years, so that what is in shadow today may not have been in the past. That’s why there are craters in cold traps that don’t have water. The older the better. Something that these scientists have also observed when reviewing previous studies is that the oldest craters at the lunar south pole are more likely to house water. Therefore, the ideal is to look for ancient craters that are located at the south pole and in cold traps. The number of likely places to search is greatly reduced. In fact, there is already a candidate following this premise: the Haworth crater. According to the models, it has been in shadow for 3 billion years. We will have to check it. The authors of this study are already designing an instrument, called Lunar Compact Infrared Imaging System (L-CIRiS), to analyze this and other candidate craters for water ice. NASA plans to deploy it near the lunar South Pole at the end of 2027. It will be a good way to detect the best lunar water sources with an eye on future long-term missions on our satellite. The more the ground is prepared, the better. Image | Xataka | The “hidden” side of the Moon has been a mystery for decades: China already has a chemical map to shed light

Europe has grown tired of being NASA’s “supporting actor.” And that is why it is starting to work with China

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The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have teamed up to launch an ambitious mission, aimed at studying the mechanisms used by the Earth to protect itself from solar inclement weather. The SMILE mission was scheduled to launch this April 9, but a small technical problem has forced it to be postponed until a date that is still unclear. In any case, it is just a small stone on the road for a mission that reinforces Europe’s intention to join forces with the Today it is considered the direct competition of NASA on many space issues. Given the ups and downs that the United States faces in scientific matters, it could be an interesting idea. The terrestrial sunscreen under a magnifying glass. The SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) mission has four instruments aimed at analyzing the interaction of solar winds with the magnetosphere that acts as the Earth’s shield. It is a necessary mission for many reasons. On the one hand, because many of the mechanisms used by the Earth to protect itself from solar radiation remain partly a mystery. And, on the other hand, because data analysis could help predict solar storms more accurately. Currently it is possible to know with high probability whether they will occur, but the situation is far from being exact. Since these types of events affect terrestrial communications systems, forecasting would be a key point. Four instruments. The instruments that SMILE has They are the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), the Light Ion Analyzer (LIA), the Detector Plane Assembly (DPA) and the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI). The SXI is responsible for taking X-ray images to study the boundaries of the magnetosphere, while the DPA provides mechanical and thermal support. That is, it helps keep the imaging systems at a stable temperature, something essential given the proximity to the Sun. As for LIA, its function is to analyze ionized particles. Solar winds consist of a flow of ionized particles that form in the Sun’s corona and are released into space. They are directly related to the harmful effects of solar storms, so it is important to analyze them. For its part, UVI is responsible for taking images in the ultraviolet range of the spectrum. Above all, they will take images of auroras, closely linked to peaks in solar activity. European and Chinese contribution. The European Union has provided the SXI and DPA instruments, in addition to the Vega rocket that will propel the satellite and all its instruments into space. For its part, China has developed the UVI and LIA instruments, as well as the SMILE suite satellite platform. Spain is not missing either. One of SMILE’s instruments, the DPA, It has been developed at the Spanish National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA). Little recognition. NASA has given Canada a seat on the Orion capsule to travel to the Moon. Canadian Jeremy Hansen is one of the crew members of Artemis II, despite having never traveled to space. Canada has not participated in the technological development of the mission. Europe, on the other hand, has provided the engine system that has propelled the four astronauts towards our satellite. Even so, little mention has been made of ESA’s important contribution during the development of Artemis II. Why China. A long time ago, China stopped being an emerging space power and became one of the most consolidated on the current scene. With its Tiangong Space Station Located in low orbit, it is the only facility of its kind besides the International Space Station. Its lunar mission has great relevance thanks to the exploration of the Chang’e unmanned missions. Besides, hopes to take its own taikonauts (as Chinese astronauts are known) to the satellite in 2030. Its exploration on Mars is also important thanks to rovers like Zhurong. Tiangong Low hours for NASA? Donald Trump’s government wants to make drastic cuts to science with public investment in the United States and possibly NASA will not escape. Therefore, it may be a good time to seek other support in the space race, as ESA is already doing with SMILE. That does not mean that it will stop collaborating with NASA, but it is true that it is open to exploring new partners. If there is one thing that history has taught us, it is that the best way to advance in the space race is to put egos aside and move forward as a team. Closing yourself off only to a traveling companion can end up being counterproductive. Images | ESA | Shujianyang In Xataka | Astronauts’ food is not appetizing at first, especially in China

In three months of 2026 he has earned more than in all of 2025

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There are brands that are part of our routine almost without us realizing it. Samsung is one of them. For many, it is the cell phone we carry in our pocket, the television in the living room or that appliance we use every day. Therefore, when we look at what is happening with the company in the first months of this year, the surprise is inevitable. In a context where a good part of the technology industry deals with rising costs and certain instability, Samsung is projecting results that have significantly exceeded forecasts. And this is where the story is truly understood. This mismatch with the more restrained tone that a good part of the sector carries is not coincidental, and the data helps put it in context. We are not just talking about an impression, but something that is clearly seen. As soon as we stop to look at the numbers calmly, the picture changes and what is happening with Samsung these days begins to make sense. The rise of artificial intelligence has clear winners and Samsung is one of them The South Korean giant estimates that its operating profit in the first quarter of 2026 could be around 57.2 trillion won, about 37.9 billion dollars, compared to 6.69 trillion won (4.525 million dollars) recorded in the same period of the previous year. The figure exceeds the 43.6 trillion won that the company obtained in all of 2025, which implies that In just three months he has earned more than in the entire previous year. In parallel, revenue would also advance strongly with growth of nearly 70% year-on-year, and above 100 trillion won in a single quarter for the first time. The impressive jump in Samsung’s profit in 2026 after several years of ups and downs | Graphic: Xataka | Source: Samsung/Blooomberg It is important to understand well what we are talking about. Operating profit measures how much a company earns from its core business, before taxes, interest and other financial factors. That is, it gives us a pretty clean idea of ​​how the business itself is working. It is not the same as the net profit, which does include all those adjustments and is the final figure. In the case of Samsung, these data are still preliminary: the company will publish its complete results, with the breakdown by divisions, on April 30. But it’s not enough to look at the accounts, you also have to look at the business. Samsung not only sells devices, it is also one of the largest memory manufacturers in the world, an essential piece in any technological infrastructure. And this is where the story changes scale: a good part of that memory does not end up in cell phones or televisionsbut on servers and data centers that support AI services. It is a business that is less visible to the general public, but much more decisive at this time. What we are seeing, in reality, is the direct impact of that other Samsung, the one that operates at the base of the current technological revolution. The key is to understand that production capacity is limited. As Micron explained a few months agomanufacturers cannot multiply their production from one day to the next, so they have to prioritize. And right now a good part of the industry is directing its resources towards AI. The systems that make it possible need large amounts of advanced memory, especially HBM, and that has pushed manufacturers to focus on that segment. It is not only a technical issue, but also an economic one, because these chips offer better margins and much more intense demand. The side effect appears immediately. If an increasing part of the capacity is dedicated to that advanced memory, other products take a backseat and supply becomes strained. That is exactly what is happening with DRAM, one of the most widespread types of memory in consumer electronics. According to Citigroup, quoted by Bloomberg, its global average price rose by 64% in the first quarter compared to the previous one. The consequence is direct: manufacturing mobile phones, computers and other equipment becomes more expensivewhich puts pressure on margins and forces us to review costs, configurations or prices. It is not worth losing sight of the fact that Samsung is a South Korean company, and that is more important than it seems. We are talking about the largest company in the country and one of the best reflections of the technological muscle that South Korea has built around semiconductors. In addition, it does not play alone: ​​it competes in the same league as other large memory manufacturers such as SK Hynix, also South Korean, and Micron, in the United States. A good part of the memory used by the world is shared between these actors, which turns their decisions into something that goes far beyond their own accounts. If we think about it for a moment, it makes a lot of sense. All of this AI fever is being built on top of data centers filled with very specific hardware. NVIDIA is the clearest example, because its chips are at the center of that infrastructure and have captured much of the attention. But those systems don’t work alone. In order to train models and operating on a large scale require enormous amounts of memory, and that’s where Samsung fits. It does not occupy the symbolic place that NVIDIA has today, but it does benefit from the same wave of investment from a less visible and, as we have seen, very profitable position. Images | Xataka with Bano Bana | Samsung In Xataka | Europe cannot be a “technological vassal of the United States”, and the CEO of Mistral is clear about the path

We have turned WhatsApp into an “emotional pacifier”. And science warns that it is making us more fragile

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A message sent, a double check blue and, suddenly, silence. In that period of time, which can last minutes or days, the stomach shrinks. The immediate reaction for many is instinctive: unlock the screen of the smartphoneimmersing yourself in social media, sending looping messages seeking solace. We have turned our devices into an “emotional pacifier” to calm the anxiety of “not knowing.” In an era where hyperconnection promises us instant answers, science and psychology issue a clear warning: our inability to tolerate uncertainty is making us increasingly fragile. The brain in the face of chaos. To understand what happens to us, we have to look at our biology. As psychologist Regina López Riego explainsour brain is evolutionarily designed to look for patterns and make sense of everything around us. “This was key to our survival as a species: identifying threats and anticipating dangers,” he says. However, in today’s world, that need for certainty translates into constant suffering. The problem is that we live in a universe governed by entropy. From the team of Nalu Psychology remember thatbased on chaos theory and thermodynamics, systems tend toward disorder. “The future is uncertain and, one way or another, we deal with it as best we can,” they explain. When changes threaten, fear takes center stage, alerting us to possible danger. To mitigate that fear, we resort to a patch: control. However, it is a trap. The brain processes the symptoms of anxiety in the same way that it relates to uncertainty, releasing large amounts of norepinephrine that affect our nervous system. The more we try to tie down the future, the more discomfort we generate. The trap of overthinking. When the mind has no data, it invents it. The psychologist Marta Valle In his blog he explains that overthinking not as a lack of intelligence, but as a failed protection mechanism born of fear of error and low tolerance for uncertainty. It manifests itself in two ways: ruminating on the past or worrying in anticipation about the future. “You think that if you think about it enough, you will avoid a problem,” he details, but the end result is paralysis, insomnia and disconnection from the present. Experts from Harvard Mental Health Services (CAMHS) They have a name for this phenomenon: “toxic time travel.” Dr. Rue Wilson, a psychologist at this institution, describes how we try to feel in control by imagining different outcomes. “We get stuck ruminating, overwhelmed by ‘what ifs,’ and disconnected from the present, which is where we really have the most certainty.” Feed a bigger monster. This loop ends in what psychologist Laura Marín defines as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)where concern is constant and fueled by overestimating the risks. Marín illustrates this with a clear example: two women, Alicia and Brenda, undergo a medical test. While Alicia asks whatever is necessary and continues with her daily life, Brenda compulsively searches for information on the Internet and needs her partner to continually reassure her. It is the so-called “reinsurance search”. Checking emails, postponing decisions or constantly asking for opinions are strategies that give false relief in the short term, but in the long run make us unable to tolerate the slightest doubt. The cell phone as an escape route. The need to escape from uncertainty has found in smartphones your best ally, but at a high cost for mental health. Rigorous research supports this claim. In a couple of published studies in the scientific journal Science Direct (led by Jon D. Elhai and colleagues in 2017), it was demonstrated through systematic reviews that the severity of depression and anxiety are strongly linked to problematic mobile phone use. One of the most revealing findings of Elhai’s research differentiates between “social” use of the phone (messaging, networks) and “process” use (consumption of news, entertainment, scroll passive). The study found that anxiety is much more related to process use than social use. That is, people with anxiety use the non-social functions of their devices as an avoidance mechanism (such as doomscrolling or addictive consumption of news) to avoid facing stress, this “use of process” being the direct bridge to mobile addiction. In fact, Dr. Leigh W. Jerome warns precisely about this habit. In the face of global chaos, doomscrolling It does not prepare us for the future, but “can cause headaches, muscle tension, high blood pressure, and difficulty sleeping.” Leon Garber, mental health counselor, adds a vital reflection on compulsive doubt avoidance: “Avoidance, in and of itself, is not negative (…) but imagine how many missed opportunities for growth or connection, over time, add up to a lost relationship.” Garber points out that even therapy has a limit if the patient is only seeking definitive answers. “We have to learn to live with uncertainty. Fundamentally, we have to learn to live,” he says. The trap of the hyperconnected world. The desire for certainties not only affects the individual, but shapes our society. An analysis published in The Conversation reminds us thatAccording to Maslow’s pyramid, security is a primary need. However, the obsession with eliminating all risks has a dark side. “There are desires that should not be fulfilled and that of radical security is a desire that can never and should never be satisfied,” the article underlines. Trying to control everything, whether through algorithms, surveillance cameras or the transfer of freedoms, strips us of our humanity and leads us to voluntary servitude. Instead of delegating control to technology to avoid panic, experts advocate a “pedagogy of responsibility”, appealing to the values ​​of Kant and Rousseau, where we assume that zero risk does not exist. How to inhabit the void. Since uncertainty is inevitable, the solution is not to find all the answers, but to change our relationship with the questions. According to institutions such as Harvard CAMHS and diverse psychology professionalsthere are four keys to navigate the uncontrollable: Focus on what you control: challenge the illusion of absolute certainty. If you lose your job, you can’t control when you’ll be hired, but you … Read more

LaLiga has been at war with Cloudflare for years over piracy. It has just joined forces with its main competitor

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We have bad news and worse news. The bad thing is that condemnation of the indiscriminate blocking of LaLiga IPs continues to occur more than a year later. The bad thing is that probably go more. Above all, after the agreement that LaLiga has reached with Fastly. what has happened. LaLiga yesterday announced an agreement with the company Fastly, a direct competitor of Cloudflare in the market “edge cloud“. Both provide CDN and content acceleration services as well as web security, but their philosophies are different. While one has become a great defender of the privacy of its clients and users, the other has teamed up with LaLiga to help it in this crusade against the broadcasts of football matches on IPTV platforms. In reality LaLiga He already made a similar move a year ago. AI to detect illegal emissions. According to the announcement, Fastly “has developed a smart, targeted detection system that leverages AI and content signals from owners to identify illegal broadcasts in near real-time.” This solution, they say in LaLiga, will allow the elimination of “illegal content (…) with greater precision and drastically reducing the scope for piracy.” The glitch that makes speed everything. The data from the Grant Thornton study cited in the press release are revealing: in 2024 at least 10.8 million unauthorized retransmissions were detected, 81% without broadcast suspension, and only 2.7% addressed in less than thirty minutes. An illegal issue of this type has a very short window of value. If it is not removed within the first few minutes, the damage has already been done. AI to detect… and a hammer to block? The system that Fastly has created promises surgical detection of these IPTV broadcasts, but there are no details or evidence that it actually fulfills that promise. The real question will then be another: if this detection information will end up contributing to the massive and indiscriminate blocking of IPs being even more massive and indiscriminate, or if it will improve that precision. It does not seem likely, because shared IPs are still the root of the problem: when LaLiga orders to block a Cloudflare IP, in reality that IP is shared by dozens, hundreds or even thousands of websites. Knocking down the guilty makes many innocent people They are punished again and again. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. LaLiga has been trying to force Cloudflare to collaborate for years through judicial means. That has had legal costs, collateral damage and a public relations battle that has clearly impacted the organization’s reputation. The alternative sought is to go to someone who precisely understands perfectly how the segment in which Cloudflare operates works. Not only that, if successful, Fastly may end up attracting other leagues and television producers from around the world. The real solution would probably be another. In Xataka | “We have gone from earning 70,000 euros a month to 40,000”: LaLiga’s IP blocks are bleeding many companies dry

clone humans using digital avatars

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Big tech companies are clear that, to promote their AI services, need content creators. At the same time, a good part of content creation goes through influencers created with AI. In case we thought that the loop couldn’t be solved, there are companies obsessed with achieving another goal: that content creators can create their own content creators… with AI. Heygen. If you’re not into the world of digital avatars, Heygen may not sound familiar to you, but the Los Angeles-based company is reliving the ChatGPT moment, but with avatars. Founded in 2020 as MovioLab, with Joshua Xu as CEO and a valuation of more than $500 million, Heygen competes head-to-head with giants like runway e ElevenLabs in the generative video space. Avatar V. Heygen has been obsessed with creating the best avatar model for years. And this week they published what, according to them, is the most advanced model in the world, Avatar V. They have data to support it, since as the company shows in a 30 page paperthe company has solved micro-expressions, gestures and lip synchronization (especially at the rhythm level) better than the rest. There is a real war between American and Chinese companies over digital avatars. a real war. As the paper shows, Heygen is not alone. Kling AI, Veo 3, OmniHuman, Seedance… Some of the most relevant companies worldwide are betting on the generation of avatars. And it’s not a random whim. Heygen has more than 40,000 companies paying for corporate video generation using avatars. The barrier to entry is falling lower and lower, the savings compared to productions with influencers are quantifiable, and production times are compressed from weeks to minutes. The key is to offer the most competitive model and an interface that works at the drop of a hat. What’s coming. Currently, avatars work with a handicap: their latency. The direction set by the paper is clear: solve this problem to achieve an avatar connected to LLMs in order to maintain conversations in real time (meetings, interviews, conferences…). The avatar industry is still emerging, but winning it is essential for a goal that AI Big Tech wants in the future: for AI to stop being a chatbot and become as close to a person as possible. In Xataka | How to create a character in ChatGPT and Gemini to use it in all the images you make with artificial intelligence

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