Someone thought it was a good idea to bring a Bluetooth device called “Bomb” onto a plane. What had to happen happened

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Imagine that you are sitting in that modern torture chamber that we call “economy class” on a transcontinental plane when, after an hour in the air of the eight-hour trip from New Jersey to Mallorca, the aircraft turns around to land at the point of origin because the bomb threat protocols are activated. Now stop imagining because that is precisely what happened this past May 30 when the United Flight Boeing 767 that covered the Newark – Palma de Mallorca route thad to turn around with 12 crew members and 190 passengers of which one was the owner of a Bluetooth device with a peculiar name. “Bomb”. The “Bluetooth bomb” He United Flight 236 It should be just another conventional flight, but those who took the one last Saturday experienced an unusual adventure. When the ship was flying over the Atlantic and in a period Between 60 and 90 minutes after takeoff, someone noticed a disturbing detail: searching for Bluetooth networks, They found a device called “BOMB”. If someone was carrying a bomb with a Bluetooth connection, I highly doubt it would be visible to everyone and, on top of that, it would be called “Bomb”, but it was enough for the situation to explode. The crew, using the public address system, repeatedly asked that the Bluetooth devices be turned off, even threatening with turning around, but after seeing that there were still some lights left and that the “bomb” was among them, the maneuvers began. In coordination with the company’s operations center in Chicago, it was decided that it was best to declare a state of bomb emergency and return to Newark. The plane landed as if nothing had happened, but on the ground there was a significant police and security deployment that forced the passengers to vacate the ship, leaving their hand luggage behind. Image | Flightradar24 As part of the procedure, it was now the security forces that were going to be in charge of inspecting that luggage again. It has not really emerged what the device was, but what is clear is that there was no real explosive device. United has not given detailsbut different media indicate that a 16-year-old passenger had a device named with that name. Some say it’s a Fitbit, others say it’s a Bluetooth speaker. No details have been given about the consequences. that the passenger will have to face and everything has remained an anecdotal situation and a story that those 212 people will tell at some point. Now, there are interesting readings. The first is that there are devices for which you can change the name of the Bluetooth connection. For example, we can call our cell phone whatever we want, just like Wi-Fi networks, but there are others that are not easy to change the name of. A speaker or headphones usually have the name they come from the factory, unless they have an app that explicitly allows you to change the identifier. This is important because there are speakers like the Bombbox from JBL and, above all, the Hama Bomb 3.0 that have ‘BOMB’ in the name. Obviously, it doesn’t just say that and there are numbers and the brand, so it would be easy to deduce that it is a totally different device than a bomb. Also, if this were the case, the device would be turned off and not searching for Bluetooth all the time, so what makes the most sense is that it is a mobile phone with that ‘nickname’ for Bluetooth. That said, when the crew asked to disconnect the Bluetooth, if the person had headphones on they might not even notice and, if they did, it was a message that could be interpreted as “put the phone on.” airplane modeThere are cell phones that, when they activate airplane mode, deactivate all wireless communications, but there are also those that only deactivate Wi-Fi, the mobile network and leave Bluetooth to allow connection with headphones. This is for trying to find an explanation for a bizarre story like few others that had a happy ending for the passengers, being able to board a new flight the morning of the next day, but which could be very serious for the funny or clueless owner of the device. Because it is one thing to take longer to take off, but having a plane turn around, relocate all the passengers and the company pay compensation… is not cheap. AND I’m sure someone at United Flight isn’t happy at all.nor were those who were on that flight and who had zero information about what was happening, even having to go to reddit to find out about the movie and report the company’s compensation: a $15 bonus to spend on food. Moral: take a look at what your devices are called. In Xataka | Airplanes have circular windows for a reason. It took two plane crashes to find out.

a documentary that delves into what ‘Michael’ did not want to tell and an excellent Spanish thriller

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If you thought that ‘Michael’ fell a little short when it came to offering a complete portrait of the artist, this week Netflix has a docuseries that promises to reveal some of the secrets left to tell. This, without a doubt, is going to be a dark week on Netflix, because it is joined by an excellent Spanish-style thriller and a British series that recovers a very controversial real case. Series Michael Jackson. The verdict The premiere of this three-part docuseries comes at the most controversial moment possible: it coincides with the renewed interest in the figure of the artist after the success of the biopic ‘Michael’, who was accused precisely of whitewashing his figure and avoiding the controversial lawsuits for abuse that surrounded him in the last years of his life. The series reconstructs the 2005 trial based on testimonies from jurors, journalists, eyewitnesses and individuals linked to both the prosecution and the defense. There are dimensions of the case that the public never saw and this documentary tries to provide more material to continue the discussion between the artist’s fans and those of ‘Leaving Neverland0, whose director, by the way, does not agree at all with the conclusions of this Netflix proposal. Premiere: Wednesday June 3 He witness ‘The Witness’ seeks to continue the success of ‘Adolescence’, and moves in the same terrain: created by Rob Williams, the series reconstructs the murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992 from the point of view of her partner, who becomes a single father and decides to focus his entire life on protecting his two-year-old son, the only witness to the crime. The series focuses on an investigation peppered with errors and decisions that generated great controversy at the time. It stars Jordan Bolger, who we remember for his excellent participation in ‘Peaky Blinders’. Three episodes for a high-grade true crime miniseries. Premiere: Thursday June 4 Other series New Amsterdam – June 1 My Hero Academia (Season 6) – June 1 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – June 1 Evergood – June 2 The King of Queens – June 4 Full time fans – June 4 This is how you will learn – June 5 Movies The unknown Adapting the novel of the same name by Rosa Montero and Olivier Truc, this thriller shows us the discovery of a gagged woman in a container in the port of Barcelona who does not remember her identity. He survives an assassination attempt in the hospital and becomes the center of a police investigation that revolves around his amnesia. Gabe Ibáñez (‘Autómata’) signs this film for exclusive release on Netflix that stands out for its spectacular cast, which includes people like Candela Peña, Ana Rujas, Pol López and Manolo Solo. Premiere: Friday June 5 Other series Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express – The Movie – June 1 The drawback – June 1 The murder of Rachel Nickell – June 4 Poldi – June 4 Oh, mom! – June 4 Mexico 86 – June 5 Turbulence in the office – June 5 The babysitter – June 5 The High Knights -June 6 In Xataka | Stephen King unequivocally recommends Netflix’s new number 1: it is “an absolute pleasure”

bet on an NVIDIA ARM chip

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Microsoft has been looking for a convincing answer for a long time to a question that the PC has been dragging on for years: whether Windows on ARM can be something more than autonomy, silence and light productivity. He Surface Laptop Ultra It is born precisely there. The company describes it as its most powerful Surface Laptop yet and ties it to more ambitious workloads, from creation to local AI, leaning on NVIDIA RTX Spark as a great novelty. Microsoft’s move comes after a move that did not go unnoticed. Apple announced in 2020 the transition from the Mac to Apple silicon and materialized it that same year with the M1the company’s first own chip for its computers. With it, performance per watt, unified memory and vertical integration became an advantage that was difficult to ignore. That pressure no longer comes only from the high range. He MacBook Neowith a starting price of 699 euros, came to compete with affordable Chromebooks and Windows laptops. In parallel, Microsoft has tried to organize its own response with the Copilot+ PCa more solid category than its previous attempts with ARMbut still far from becoming a bet that has paid off in popularity and, consequently, in market share. A laptop to demonstrate an idea: Windows on ARM wants to go beyond autonomy The file that Microsoft has advanced It has two layers. The first is in performance: NVIDIA Blackwell RTX GPU, up to 128 GB of unified memory, CUDA and 1 petaflop of AI compute (based on theoretical FP4 TOPS with sparsity). The second is in everything you see and touch: a touch screen mini-LED 15-inch PixelSense Ultra, up to 2,000 nits of brightness HDR maximum, 262 pixels per inch and the largest haptic touchpad that Microsoft has included in a Surface. There is also something almost surprising in 2026: HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, SD and headphone ports without depending on adapters. When Microsoft talks about unified memory it doesn’t mean putting a lot of RAM in a laptop. The important thing is that this memory can serve as a common room for CPU and GPUso that the workloads are distributed according to what each task needs, although it eliminates the possibility of later extensions. The other half of the announcement is in what has not yet appeared. Microsoft has not detailed the price, the exact launch date, the final configurations, the specific processor, the exact GPU or the autonomy expressed in hours. One detail: the company itself remembers in the fine print that the Surface Laptop Ultra is a preliminary product, that its characteristics may change and that the sale will depend on the certifications or regulatory approvals of each country or region. Microsoft doesn’t get to this point from scratch either. The Copilot+ PCs of 2024 had already served to organize a new stage of Windows on ARM, with processors capable of surpassing the 40 TOPS of NPUlocal AI functions and equipment from partners such as Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Samsung, in addition to the Surface themselves. However, the available data invites us to put the growth in context. The Registerciting Context, placed Copilot+ PCs at only 9% of AI PCs distributed in Europe in the second quarter of 2025. The figure showed progress, but also a still small base. That’s where NVIDIA changes the type of conversation. The first wave of Windows on ARM relied heavily on efficiency, NPU and autonomy, but the Surface Laptop Ultra wants to add an ingredient that was missing from that story: graphical muscle and compatibility with a well-established professional ecosystem. CUDA It is not a minor word for anyone who works with AI, rendering or professional software supported by the NVIDIA ecosystem, because it has been part of many workflows for years. Microsoft is also introducing optimized Prism, native creative app support for ARM, and agreements with partners in gaming and anti-cheat systems. What we have before us seems like a very interesting proposal. The announcement invites us to take it seriously, because the Redmond firm has made its position quite clear: it wants this Surface to be proof that this new stage of Windows on ARM can go much further. But it is still incomplete to pass sentence.to. We’ll have to get our hands on it to see how it performs, how it behaves and how it works in real life. Images | Microsoft In Xataka | Apple has shown the weaknesses of laptops with the MacBook Neo. And the manufacturers are getting their act together

keep 70 euros at home

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In April 2025, Spain suffered a historic blackout that left numerous systems exposed. Inter alia, that of digital paymentswhich was completely fallen. The businesses that continued operating They did so demanding cash payments. Months later we experienced crashes in the Redsys system that left out of the game to card payments in physical and online stores. All of this has caused the Bank of Spain to have new advice for citizens: have some cash at home just in case. Keep 70 euros at home just in case. From the Bank of Spain have launched A recommendation to try to mitigate problems of this type: save between 70 and 100 euros in cash per person. This figure is similar to that recommended by other central banks in other European countries. The European Central Bank itself already indicated how authorities in Holland, Austria and Finland suggest having that amount for each member of the household, or enough to cover essential needs for 72 hours. Reverse. There are some countries that were very ambitious with this digitalization of payments. Sweden was one of them, but is backtracking after seeing the consequences of a weakened cash infrastructure. The Swedish government has proposed force supermarkets and pharmacies to accept cash payments to ensure access to basic products. Belgium did something similar with its regulations in 2023 after detecting that some physical businesses were beginning to reject banknotes despite the fact that 45% of purchases are still made with cash. In 2024 that percentage had already fallen to 39%. Right to cash. Hungary has been even more ambitious in its defense of cash. In 2025 was approved the so-called ATM Act that obliges all Hungarian towns to have an ATM, in addition to prohibiting banks from getting rid of their cash withdrawal services. Switzerland goes further, and after a referendum has included in its Constitution access to cash as a citizen right. This will allow Swiss citizens to continue having access to traditional banknotes and coins even if a digital Swiss franc is launched, as planned. Beware of financial exclusion. For people with disabilities and also for older people, the advancement of digital payments is not an advantage, but rather a barrier. Pilar Villarino, executive director of the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (CERMI) explained in five days that “The problem is not that digital payment methods advance, but that this advance occurs leaving behind those who find barriers to using them.” In Spain we almost have no money at home. Cash continues to be the main means of payment for 57% of Spaniards. However, we do not usually keep money for emergencies in the form of cash at home. According to the last “Study on habits in the use of cash” from the Bank of Spain by 2025, only half of the population had banknotes or coins in their wallet, and the average amount was around 45 euros, clearly below what the ECB recommends. We are left without ATMs. Access to physical money is becoming more complicated due to the notable reduction in the ATM network in Spainwhich has lost 8,000 of these systems in the last two years (18% of the total). Although this reduction seemed unstoppable, what happened with the great blackout of 2025 and subsequent problems has made cash stop being seen as outdated. We have rediscovered it as a refuge from these situations. Image | Pxhere In Xataka | ATMs and Amazon are on the verge of a great little revolution in Spain: the Accessibility Law

Bad Bunny’s authentic party takes place in Sector T, the “stiffs” outside the Metropolitano

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600,000 tickets are a lot of tickets. They are the ones that Bad Bunny has sold out for twelve concerts in Spain. The cheapest ones are around 70 euros. The most expensive, 600. The venues are going to be full every night. And yet, hundreds of people stand on the street, spread blankets and take out refrigerators around Gate 20 of the Riyadh Air Metropolitano and listen to the concert with a clarity that rivals that inside the venue. They call themselves Sector T. The T is for “stiff.” Who are they? Bad Bunny’s second concert in Madrid On Sunday, June 1, it left in its wake, along with the inevitable celebrity counts at the Casita (which are invariably the most read news in the media that cover the concerts), an image that circulated on social networks: hundreds of people who did not get (or did not want) entry gathered spontaneously outside the stadium, specifically in the area of ​​gate 20. There the music comes with surprising clarity and you can even see part of the stands of the venue. The scene was summed up by a spectator with a phrase that accompanies many of the videos: “Sector T of stiff but happy being able to afford the 10 dates.” The expectation. Bad Bunny debuts in Madrid a residency format that he had only done before in Puerto Ricowith ten consecutive nights in the same stadium. The tour brings together more than half a million people in its ten dates at the Metropolitano, with tickets flying in a matter of hours after they went on sale. The demand was so brutal that thousands of fans were unable to attend, but the feeling has not diminished that the concert is the place in Madrid where you “have to be” right now (with permission of the Pope’s visit). That is why the T Sector phenomenon has occurred. Metropolitan FTW. The Atlético stadium was not always the first reference in terms of concert venues in Madrid. That role corresponded to the Bernabéu, whose expensive renovation was designed precisely to turn it into a continuous entertainment space, without depending on football. We already know the story: acoustic problems, complaints from neighbors, and now the developers have to take care of possible fines. Clearest consequence: the Metropolitan takes the biggest musical shows of the yearamong them Bad Bunny and his ten nights at the athletic stadium. The Metropolitano has established a contractual limitation that requires all shows to end no later than 10:59 p.m., as a measure aimed at protecting residents’ rest and bringing forward the departure of the public. The venue also states that it operates with one of the most advanced acoustic control systems in Spain, which includes real-time monitoring, limiters verified by the City Council, probes in homes in Canillejas and Las Rosas and state-of-the-art acoustic barriers. Neighborhood associations have complaintsYes, because of the chaos at the exit, with traffic jams, horns, screams and so on. Sector T, of course, is a free agent who is not subject to any of those restrictions. The future of the T Sector. Bad Bunny still has eight more dates confirmed at the Metropolitano: June 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14 and 15. The makeshift sector of Gate 20 will have the opportunity to grow over the next two weeks: Sector T will grow larger as the tour progresses and images of the exterior circulate alongside those of the interior. What is not yet clear is whether the Metropolitan or the organization of the event will take any measure regarding the concentrations at the exterior entrances. For now, no one has told them to leave, so they will be there. And some will repeat. Image | NFL In Xataka | If the question is who can turn Amancio Ortega into his personal tailor, we already have an answer: Bad Bunny

these are the best we have found

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The month of June has started with a new AliExpress campaign: it is called Summer Promo and it is loaded with discounts and bargains on technology. As our colleagues explain the Xataka Selección TikTok account, there is absolutely everything: from a Nintendo Switch 2 for less than 300 euros to Android tablets for just over 100 euros. The key? The discount coupons that we can use. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links There is an additional discount if you use PayPal to pay @xataka.seleccion AliExpress just released VERY crazy summer OFFERS! and you can also save even more 👇🏼 💥 There are real bargains: 🎮 “Switch 2” for less than €400 📱 iPhone 17 for €930 📲 Pixel 10 for €550 📊 Tablets from just over €100 But be careful, because here comes the trick 👇🏼 💸 ACTIVE DISCOUNT CODES: €3 → from €15 (XATAKAES03) €6 → from €39 (XATAKAES06) €10 → from €69 (XATAKAES10) €20 → from €139 (XATAKAES20) €30 → from €209 (XATAKAES30) €45 → from €319 (XATAKAES45) €65 → from €459 (XATAKAES65) €110 → from €650 (XATAKAES110)⚡ And even more: paying with PayPal you can scratch off another extra discount ⏳ The offers are already active but only last until June 10 #aliexpress #offers #summersale #plum #techtips ♬ original sound – Xataka Selección As we say, the best way to save the most on AliExpress is by using discount coupons. These are running out as the hours and days of the promotion go by, so currently there are only seven of them left. They are the following: Discount minimum purchase coupon 1 coupon 3 coupon 4 COUPON 3 euros 15 euros XATAKAES03 WEBEDES03 ESSS03 SSES03 6 euros 39 euros XATAKAES06 WEBEDES06 ESSS06 SSES6 10 euros 69 euros XATAKAES10 WEBEDES10 ESSS10 SSES10 20 euros 139 euros XATAKAES20 WEBEDES20 ESSS20 SSES20 30 euros 209 euros XATAKAES30 WEBEDES30 ESSS30 SSES30 45 euros 319 euros XATAKAES45 WEBEDES45 ESSS45 SSES45 65 euros 459 euros XATAKAES65 WEBEDES65 ESSS65 SSES65 These coupons only have two limitations: they cannot be used with digital products nor can they be mixed with each other, so it is always worth using the one that gives the greatest discount. What we can add to these coupons is an additional discount of up to 33 euros if we use PayPal as a form of payment. We can benefit from this even if we use PayPal’s option to pay in three interest-free installments. There are many interesting offers right now. For example, we can get a iPhone 17 256 GB per 845 euros or with a Google Pixel 10 by 490.52 eurosprices that we almost never see. There are also consoles (for example, a PlayStation 5 Slim with reader 446.80 euros) and a multitude of other devices. But now, since you already have the coupons and what you need to know to save the most, all you have to do is look for what you want and go for it. 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 | Xataka In Xataka | DDR4 or DDR5? What RAM to choose so as not to pay even more than necessary in the middle of the price crisis In Xataka | Faster (and more expensive) is not always better: the big difference between buying an SSD and an HDD for backups

Gasoline hoses have a tiny hole at the end. Without chips involved, it is the smartest piece in the entire supplier

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If you’ve ever paid attention to the pump while filling up, you may have noticed that it has a small hole located near the tip of the metal nozzle. That little hole is, possibly, the most ingenious piece of the entire set. And it is responsible for the hose “knowing” when to stop adding fuel and stopping on its own with that characteristic click. What exactly is it. This small hole is located at the end of the pipe (the part that you insert into the tank) and is connected to a thin, secondary tube that runs inside the nozzle parallel to the main fuel line. The nozzle uses the fuel itself that is being pumped to create the effect that activates the automatic cut. So to speak, the little hole does not pour gasoline, but rather breathes air. How it works. The key is in a physical principle called the Venturi effect. While the fuel flows at high speed through a narrowing of the duct, a low pressure zone is generated that sucks air through that small hole in the tip. The Venturi effect occurs because The density of gasoline is greater than that of airand it is precisely this phenomenon that causes the dispenser to turn off automatically when the tank is full. The moment of cutting. When the gasoline level inside the tank rises to cover that hole, the tube stops being able to suck in air. When the airflow is cut off, the suction is triggered and creates a vacuum that pulls on a flexible membrane (a diaphragm) housed in the handle of the nozzle. That movement releases a lever mechanism that slams the main valve shut, stopping fuel instantly. The pressure change causes the diaphragm to “jump”releasing the mechanical lever that closes the valve and ending with a click. And as you may have already noticed, the cut occurs even if you continue to pull the trigger. 100% mechanical. This entire system is purely mechanical. There are no electronic sensors, no chips, no batteries. The handle simply generates a slight vacuum at the tip of the pipe, and if that point becomes clogged, a mechanism closes the valve. It is basic physics applied to this little invention that we use in our routine, and that is capable of detecting even a small amount of fuel, blocking the hole to prevent it from overflowing. Security and cuts. This system prevents gasoline from overflowing from the tank, something that would be dangerous (risk of fire) and polluting. But its usefulness goes beyond safe filling. This extraordinary sensitivity is also the cause of those premature and repeated cuts when the jet turns off even though the tank is not full. The most common cause of these annoying cuts is simply a little gasoline splashing back and covers the hole momentarily, activating the mechanism ahead of time. In cars with short filler tubes, a rapid flow can easily flood that column, so the first recommended remedy is usually to reduce the filling rate. The position of the nozzle and the temperature of the fuel also play a role. In Xataka | The United States has the best electric car chargers in the world. Europe has something more important

Pancreatic cancer was almost invincible. A new targeted therapy just doubled survival

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Pancreatic cancer has been, for decades, one of the biggest challenges of modern oncology. Its diagnosis usually arrives late and therapeutic options in advanced stages have historically been limited, accompanying a mortality very high. But a new experimental drug has hit the table by promising to double survival in patients who have the most severe forms of the disease. The protagonist of this revolution is called daraxonrasib and has come to light together with the data recently presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology congress that has shaken the medical community, confirming that we are facing a possible paradigm shift for a disease that had not received good news for too long. More months. To understand the magnitude of the advance, you have to look at the results of the phase 3 trial, called RASolute 302. This study has focused on patients with metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who had already received previous treatments without success. Until now, the standard therapy, which is the well-known chemotherapy, in this second line of treatment offered a median overall survival of just 6.7 months. But it has been seen that, when administering daraxonrasibthe median overall survival shot up to 13.2 months. That is, practically double. And there is more. The trial, considered the first large phase three study of a drug of this type in this context, not only demonstrated an improvement in lifespan, but also in disease progression-free survival and in the objective response rate of tumors. The endorsement Although it may seem very promising and fanciful, we are seeing that this therapy is based on a scientific basis that had already been audited and published at the highest level. By this we refer to the published results of the previous phases of this trial that were public in The New England analyzing 168 previously treated patients, and a powerful antitumor activity was seen. But it is not without problems, since the NEJM article detailed that about a third of patients experienced significant adverse effects. However, in the context of metastatic pancreatic cancer, the risk-benefit balance is considered extraordinarily promising. An invincible enemy. The real technical triumph of daraxonrasib is its mechanism of action, since pancreatic cancer is known to be largely driven by mutations in the RAS gene family, and especially KRAS. And for more than 30 years, the scientific community considered that proteins mutated by KRAS were impossible to medicate. But now daraxonrasib is a multi-RAS inhibitor that acts on the mutations of this very specific protein that were the gateway to pancreatic cancer. This makes it the first pancreatic targeted therapy capable of offering sustained responses over time. The Spanish accent. The arrival at phase 3 does not mean that the research ends here, but rather that the scientific community is already looking for a way to enhance this drug with other drugs to prevent the tumor from ‘learning’ to endure it. In this field of preclinical biology, the work of Spanish researchers stands out. The group of the prestigious scientist Mariano Barbacid has already documented work in animal models using a triple combination that includes daraxonrasib along with other drugs that have been on many people’s lips recently. Images | MedinePlus CDC In Xataka | The Chinese company Alibaba has an AI to detect pancreatic cancer. It is so good that the US has accelerated its approval

Mexico wanted to end telephone anonymity. SIMs are already being sold with someone else’s identity on the black market

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He Mexican government made the decision to end the anonymity of cell lines and thus put an end to telephone extortion. The goal is for each number to be linked to a person by June 30; after that date, all unregistered lines will be disconnected. The problem is that on the black market there is already a way to circumvent this rule. What is happening. They tell it in Xataka Mexico following a newspaper investigation Millennium. In the historic center of CDMX anyone can buy a SIM card already activated under the identity of another person, without having to leave their personal data. It costs 200 pesos and can be done in minutes. He modus operandi. The official process To register a mobile line, you must provide your identification document or passport and perform biometric identification using a selfie video. The sellers of these SIMs take a photo of the barcode on the card and send it via WhatsApp. In a few moments, the fraudulent registration is done and they even offer a guarantee if there is a problem. All for 200 pesos: 100 pesos for the SIM and 100 pesos for the procedure. A striking detail is that the majority of SIMs sold with this method are from Movistar. Deepfakes. Although it is not clear how registration is carried out, it has already been confirmed that the identification system is not infallible. As reported in The Countrythe system cannot distinguish between a real person or a deepfake made with AI, so registration can be done on behalf of anyone simply by having their data and a photo. False lines have even been registered using the senator’s data Gerardo Fernández Norona. Fear of identity theft. There is another problem with line logging related to trust. Many citizens flee from the registry for fear that their personal data will end up on the black market. It is not an unfounded fear, it is something that already happened in a previous attempt to create a database with mobile phones in 2008. The initiative was called Renaut and ended up being eliminated in 2011 after complete databases were leaked and sold on the black market. Later, in 2022, the Supreme Court invalidated another attempt because it considered it violated the right to privacy. Massive line losses. This distrust has had an impact on telephone companies’ numbers. Many prepaid users have preferred to let their lines die rather than comply with this obligation. Taking into account that in Mexico more than 80% of the market is prepaid, this translates into massive line losses. In the first quarter of the year, AT&T Mexico lost a whopping 577,000 lines, while Telcel lost 483,000. With contract users there is not so much resistance since when signing with the operator the personal data has already been delivered. An unreal goal. The government is putting pressure with advertising campaigns to get registration done before the deadline, but it does not seem realistic that they will achieve it. As of May 19, there were registered 49.5 million lineswhich represents 30.7% of the total, which is about 160 million lines. As we said, if the plan continues as planned, all lines that have not been registered before June 30 will be disconnected. Image | PublicDomainPicturesedited In Xataka | Not content with flooding your email, spam and scams are now arriving in your mailbox.

Why do prices go up if sales go down?

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The real estate market has started 2026 with a strange ‘photo’ that, a priori, seems to contradict the most basic laws of the market: sales fallbut prices go up. Or what is the same, thousands of fewer operations are closed in notary offices than a year ago without this apparent cooling in demand being passed on to prices, which continue to grow at the same time. double digit after saying goodbye to last year with historical data. The question in view of this duo trend is evident: What is happening? And above all, what can we expect now? Fewer homes sold. Although winter is not the time of year more dynamic For the real estate sector, the first quarter of 2026 has left a curious image: despite how tense the market is and that homes continue to be created at much more speed of which new homes are built, in Spain there are fewer houses changing hands. The purchase and sale operations chained three months downward during the start of 2026, which explains why the INE registered a 2.6% decline in the first quarter. The number: 4,713. To be precise, the INE registered 61,295 transactions of homes throughout March, 2.2% less than during the same month in 2025. If we talk about new constructions, the decline was even more pronounced: 10.2% (5.3%, if we talk about the entire quarter). In general, the aggregate for the year (January-March) is 178,473 purchases, 4,713 less than in the equivalent period of 2025. The ‘photo’ of the marketOf course, it is not the same throughout the territory. There were eight regions in which March closed with more transactions than last year, with Castilla-La Mancha in the lead; but in eight others (including some of the most populated) the trend was the opposite. In Madrid the INE recorded 2.5% fewer purchases and sales, in Catalonia the decline was 3.5% and in Andalusia 6.5%. The largest falls were recorded in the Basque Country (-11.6%) and Cantabria (-15.4%). The INE is not the only one to detect the setback. In March, the Notarial Council also registered a 4.7% puncture in transactions, more pronounced in the case of apartments. And the prices? They point in the opposite direction. He latest newsletter from the Ministry of Housing on appraisals shows that, in general, free housing became more expensive during the first quarter of the year until the residential square meter (m2) stood at 2,315.7 euros. For reference, it is 3.8% more than the previous quarter and 13.9% above what was paid a year before. In new housing, less than five years old, the increase compared to 2025 was 12.8% and in used housing (more than five years old) 13.8%. Once again, the trend was also felt in the offices of notaries. In it same statement in which it notes a general drop of 4.7% in sales in March, the sector reports a 7% rise in the cost of m2. Its balance sheet shows this apparent dissonance even more clearly: apartment transactions fell by 5.8% compared to March 2025, while prices rose by 9.7% to reach €2,332/m2; In the case of single-family homes, operations contracted by 1.1% while the cost rose by 2.2%. Year (1st quarter) Free housing (€/m2) less than five years More than five years 2020 1,640.4 1,891.5 1,632.5 2021 1,625.4 1,879.3 1,617.5 2022 1,734.0 1,980.9 1,726.7 2023 1,788.4 2,112.1 1,778.1 2024 1,865.8 2,199.3 1,855.8 2025 2,033.4 2,357.3 2,024.1 2026 2,315.7 2,685.2 2,303.8 But… Why? The first thing is to take perspective. The market may be stepping on the brakes with respect to 2025, but it continues to move at high levels if we analyze what the sector has managed since the setback that followed the brick crisis of 2008. That is, the 61,295 transactions in March may be less than those of 2025, but they are still well above the 44,664 of 2024. In fact, a year ago we were at record values that have not been seen since 2007. It is an important nuance because it shows that the drop in sales in the first quarter of 2026, as much as it may attract attention, seems to point more to a gradual slowdown than a sudden turn or change in cycle. The market gives signs, true, but they come after 2025 that closed with more than 700,000 salesthe highest figure in almost 20 years, since the bursting of the brick bubble. He last balance from the INE also shows that purchases do not suffer throughout the territory. In fact, there are regions, such as Castilla-La Mancha, Navarra, La Rioja or the Valencian Community, Galicia or Asturias, where they have grown. And the prices? Not everything is uphill. There are those who also appreciate some restraint. A recent study by Idealista shows, for example, that in the first quarter 14% of homes for sale they had to lower their price. During the same period in 2025 that percentage was 11%. Other reports specify that, beyond the general ‘photo’ provided by the Ministry of Housing, there are cities (including some capitals) in which prices have moderated. something moves. The above helps to put things into perspective, but it does not mean that the residential market is not changing. confirms it in theEconomist José García Montalvo, expert at the Pompeu Fabra University: “The slowdown in sales is one more example of a trend that is corroborated by the increase in sales time, the growing disparity between the prices that sellers want to receive and the growing limitations of buyers due to the difficulty of obtaining credits of the necessary amount for homes whose price has grown rapidly.” Ángel Talavera, from Oxford Economics, launches another reflection in elDiario: “When prices begin to rise uncoupled from rising incomes, it is likely that purchases will slow down.” The truth is that the cost of housing itself partly explains the slowdown in sales. Rentals, for example, they continue to get more expensive. And while this makes the purchase more attractive, it also … Read more

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