absolute

the absolute dominance of uranium

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In late 2022, as he secured his third term in office, Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a serious warning to his top brass: they should prepare for “stormy seas” and “worst-case scenarios.” The party leader was obsessed with the crises of the “gray rhinoceros”obvious dangers but for which one is often not prepared. Today, with the Middle East submerged in a deep war that obstructs vital trade routes, the Asian giant’s resilience and energy strategy face an unprecedented litmus test. At the heart of this geopolitical storm is not only oil, but also “radioactive black gold” – uranium. A suffocation point. To resist this impact, China’s Ministry of Finance has budgeted 110.68 billion yuan (about $16 billion) for resource storage in 2026, an increase of 8.1% from the previous year. As Even Pay, director of the strategic advisory group Trivium China, explains to the Financial Timesfor decades Western economists criticized the inefficiency of maintaining these gigantic reserves, but the current crisis has completely vindicated Beijing’s strategy. A giant thirsty for uranium. However, at the heart of this geopolitical storm are not only fossil fuels, but also the “radioactive black gold” – uranium. The vulnerability of sea routes has accelerated Beijing’s urgency to escape its dependence on oil. The Chinese nuclear program is advancing at a dizzying pace. At the end of 2024, the country had 58 nuclear power units in commercial operation and 27 under construction. In fact, the government approves between ten and eleven reactors a year, with the goal of double its capacity by 2040. The problem? China produces very little uranium. According to World Nuclear AssociationIn 2023, national production was barely 1,700 tons (4% of the world), being forced to import about 22,000 tons the following year. As emphasized Bloombergthe country depends on imports to satisfy more than 70% of its domestic demand for this fuel. The strategy at hand. To overcome this deficit and prevent its nuclear sector from suffering the same strangulation as oil, Beijing has deployed an unprecedented financial, geological and technological strategy: Financial muscle: In December 2025, China National Uranium Co., the only company with rights to extract this element in the country, debuted on the Shenzhen stock exchange. According to Bloombergits shares tripled in its premiere, raising some 4.1 billion yuan (570 million dollars) that will be used to boost domestic and foreign mines. The Treasure of Ordos: Salvation could be under the sand. As reported by the specialized media Futurethe discovery of a monumental deposit of 30 million tons of uranium has been estimated in the Ordos Desert, in Inner Mongolia. China has managed to develop leaching technology on site to extract this mixed material in sandstone in an economically viable and environmentally friendly way. “Fishing” uranium in the ocean: With demand expected to exceed 40,000 tons in 2040, China has looked at the sea. China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced a historic milestone– The successful extraction of uranium at the kilogram level from seawater in a real marine environment. Land alliances: To avoid maritime blockades, China seeks border allies. According to the magazine The DiplomatMongolia is trying to develop its critical minerals sector – such as the huge Zuuvch-Ovoo deposit operated by France’s Orano – and China is emerging as the natural customer due to its geographical proximity and railway infrastructure. Beyond uranium. Beijing’s plan is not limited to securing traditional uranium. As we have explained XatakaChina has already commissioned the TMSR-LF1 reactor in Gansu province, which uses molten salts and thorium. Thorium is three times more abundant than uranium in the Earth’s crust, giving China an immensely rich “plan B” within its own borders. On the other hand, nuclear energy is no longer just a source of electricity. In January 2026, the Xuwei project started in Jiangsu province. How we advancethis pioneering project combines third and fourth generation reactors to produce steam at very high temperatures for the petrochemical industry, with the aim of replacing more than 7 million tons of coal per year. The century of the Chinese atom. The war in the Middle East has not stopped China’s ambitions; rather, it has validated the government’s obsession with economic security and preparedness for protracted crises. As Western powers try to rebuild their nuclear industries, China has gone into full action. From the depths of the Ordos Desert to the waters off its coasts, the Asian giant is rewriting the rules of the game. It is no longer just about surviving global instability, but about securing the fuel necessary to dominate the energy landscape of the 21st century. Image | World Economic Forum and IAEA Xataka | Nuclear energy has generated electricity for decades. China is reinventing it for something else: the industry

We already know how much laptop prices are going to rise this year: absolute nonsense

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If you were waiting until 2026 to renew your equipment, trusting that interesting offers would appear, we have bad news. The laptop market prepares for a perfect storm that threatens to burst retail prices. A reasonable budget until now of about 900 euros will very soon become one of 1,300 euros, and it will do so without the product being better than last year’s. damn memories. The first big culprit of all this is the DRAM memory crisis and NAND storage chips. Supply and demand have remained absolutely unbalanced with the rise of AIand that has caused a tragic situation for end users. If previously these components represented 15% of the manufacturing cost, in 2026 they will represent more than 30% of those costs. Making a laptop is simply much more expensive today than it was yesterday. Intel doesn’t help. As if this were not enough, processors are also rising in price. Intel has already made a move by increasing the cost of its entry-level and previous generation CPUs by more than 15%. In fact, it is likely that things will not stop there: it is expected that by the second quarter of 2026, its mid- and high-range processors will also follow the same path, which will further suffocate manufacturers’ margins. And of course that will end up having the same impact: even more expensive equipment. The dictatorship of profit margins. Manufacturers are governed by elementary but unassailable financial mathematics: profit margins. So that both brands and stores continue to earn the same, the increase in costs ends up being passed on entirely to end users. The result is devastating: a 900 euro laptop could see its price increase by 40%. And here it is not that brands want to earn more: it is that manufacturing that laptop costs 58% more just in CPU, memory and storage. Manufacturers and stores therefore assume part of the impact, but of course most of it is received by users. According to TrendForce, the combined price increase of memory, SSDs and CPUs will cause the “bill of materials” for manufacturers to increase by 58% compared to 45% in the first quarter of 2025. Source: TrendForce. Technological eviction. For months we have been talking about how this fever for AI data centers has caused DRAM and NAND chip manufacturers to completely change focus. Before they manufactured for humans, now they do it for machines. This has caused a “technological eviction” effect in which chips for PCs and laptops are left without room in factories. The offer is reduced to the minimum expression because what is really profitable now is Micron, SK Hynix or Samsung is to make memories for AI chips. Small brands in danger. This crisis does not affect everyone equally. Large manufacturers can negotiate better prices and secure inventory thanks to their purchasing volumes, smaller and local brands are suffering especially. They face volatility that could leave them without inventory or with prices so high that they would be out of the game against large manufacturers. AMD is no longer the refuge of yesteryear. Historically, when Intel rose in price or had stock problems, AMD emerged as an even more relevant alternative. Now the situation is so critical that the shortage is also affecting the firm led by Lisa Su. It is true that AMD has gained market share thanks to its competitiveness, but there are already reports of lack of supply in its entry range. The uncertainty continues. The TrendForce study is clear: the coming quarters will be decisive to be clear about how this unique segment will turn out. With weak demand and skyrocketing production costs, the consumer is faced with an unsustainable situation: buy what’s left in stock now, or accept that the “standard” laptop may have risen in price forever? The era of the cheap PC could have come to an end, although there are striking surprises, such as the one Apple has proposed with the MacBook Neowhich goes just against the grain: it is modest, yes, but also an affordable option at a time when users are most stressed. Good play by Cook and his boys. The alternative: used equipment and components. Faced with this situation, users can resort to a plan B that is not ideal, but that offers them a certain escape. This is where refurbished products could make more sense than ever, and where the second-hand market may mean that users may prefer not to go for the latest of the latest – from this year – and opt for the latest of the latest – from last year. If many do it, of course, there is the other danger: that even those reconditioned and second-hand products also rise in price. In Xataka | RAM manufacturers have grown tired of technology companies buying “just in case.” So they got serious

The hypermarket is quite mortally wounded in Spain. There is an absolute winner: the Mercadona model

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For years the plan was to take the car, go to the hypermarket on duty and spend a couple of hours walking through its aisles to collect everything we needed and a few other things that we could find because there was almost everything there. is passing away by leaps and bounds. From the boom of the hypermarket to its decline. It was the 90s when they became popular, but there has been a change in purchasing and consumption habits that were catalyzed by the pandemic. The 2025 data from the consulting firm NIQ (former Nielsen) collected by El País They speak of a share of 10.2% of total sales in Spain. And last year it grew by 1.2% unlike the previous year, where it fell by 2%. The problem, in addition to its small piece of the pie, is that the majority of food distribution channels in Spain grew more. The heirs of hyper. These Mercasa studies date from spring 2025 cited by The Economist where they reflect that supermarkets already concentrated 91.8% of the commercial surface in the state. And it is not the only one: the other alternative is proximity formats. It is true that the NIQ data shows that the medium supermarket (between 300 and 799 square meters) fell more than the hypermarket, but its share is four points higher. The small supermarket (less than 300 square meters) and the large supermarket (between 800 and 2,500 square meters) are the big winners: the former rose two tenths with a sales increase of 9.1% and the latter did the same by nine tenths to reach 57.1% of the market and 7.6% of turnover. Here there is an absolute winner: Mercadona, whose new openings exceed 1,500 square meters and which has also been transforming its 1,600 stores for years to replace the smaller ones. And its strategy is paying off: its share has risen to 29.5% in 2025 despite having 10 fewer stores. The Mercadona effect or how efficiency kills size. This change in trends opens a new battle for proximity: the growth is in the 1,500 square meter supermarket aka the Mercadona model or in the convenience store. Growing no longer means opening more centers, but rather having better centers: it pays more to close 10 stores because you have more efficient stores. On the other hand, last mile logistics is gaining weight: it is easier and more affordable to serve an online order with a network of small stores scattered throughout the urban center than from a distant hypermarket. In addition, the franchise format allows chains to expand their brand without assuming operating costs. The consumer has spoken. The NIQ consultancy reflects clearly this paradigm shift: purchase occasions per household have grown by 11% in 2025 and units per basket have decreased by 7.6%. In short: we buy more times but less quantity, a trend that benefits local stores and penalizes hypermarkets. Kantar’s reading points to factors such as smaller homes, a higher average age, an urban context that favors this type of purchase over American car culture. The chains are moving. The fact that the hypermarket is in decline, reducing its weight in the market, directly affects the operators that exploit this format, such as Carrefour and Alcampo, followed by Eroski and El Corte Inglés. In NIQ figures, the first lowered its share two tenths to 7.2%, the second fell from 3.1 to 2.9% and the Basque chain fell one tenth to 4.3% and El Corte Inglés did the same two tenths, to 1.6%. So they are adapting to this paradigm shift: In Xataka | Mercadona has understood that Spain no longer wants to make its potato tortillas. And he is making gold with it In Xataka | Years ago Mercadona decided to conquer the market with its white brands. And that is making gold for some companies Cover | Carrefour

Nexperia China has been trying to contact the Dutch headquarters for days. The only response has been absolute silence

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After the escalation of tension, andThe Dutch government suspended the order to control Nexperia and Nexperia China resumed shipments of critical chips. The European automotive industry could breathe and everything was being resolved, everything except the relationship between the two Nexperias. The conflict has left an internal war that does not seem to have an easy or quick solution. what’s happening. They count in South China Morning Post that Wingtech, the company that owns Nexperia in China (we will call it Nexperia China for simplicity), has been trying to contact Nexperia Netherlands for days and has not received any response. Nexperia China called this silence “deeply regrettable and disconcerting.” Take control. Nexperia China’s intentions are not simply to have a chat. a few days ago They published a statement in their WeChat account in which they assured that “control of Nexperia has not returned to its rightful owner” and expressed their intention to use “all legal avenues” to achieve this. It seems that in Holland they do not agree with these statements and have chosen silence in response. Nexperia Netherlands. His latest official statement It is from November 19, the same day that the Dutch government announced the suspension of the control order over the company. In it, they noted that Nexperia China had stopped “operating within the established corporate governance framework and are ignoring legal instructions from Nexperia’s global management” and provided several examples, such as creating unauthorized bank accounts for clients to make payments, sending letters to clients “with false information” and misappropriating corporate seals. Current status. The conflict put the European automotive industry in checkwhich depends on Nexperia chips for electronic modules and control units of many vehicles produced on the old continent. The Dutch government revoked the order and China lifted the veto it imposed in response. Chips are flowing into factoriesbut the conflict has left a deep scar on the company whose solution seems far away. Recently Nexperia China has appointed Sophie Shen Xinjia as president expert in legal advice and law graduate, so everything indicates that there will be a legal battle for control of the company. Image | Nexperia In Xataka | China has so many electric cars running on its streets that it is going to use them to generate energy for homes

Android does not have to be an absolute disaster in updates. Samsung has had to demonstrate it

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Just a month ago Google updated its last pixel to the latest stable version of Android, 16. Today, in its presentation event of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, Galaxy Z Flip7 and Galaxy Z Flip7 Fe, the company has presumed something unusual: the three have the latest version of Android. It is the two very clear points test in 2025. Android 16. That a manufacturer throws a phone with the latest version of Android just a month of its launch is very strange. Manufacturers usually take months and months to refine the ROM to the latest version, especially in cases such as Samsung, with a heavy customization layer. Laning three phones to the market with Android 16, when the Pixel are starting their journey with this version is a clear message: Samsung wants to be the first, and not only in speed. The seven years of updates. Samsung was the first to achieve something unusual: to advance Google in update policy. The manufacturer offers seven years of system updates and another seven years of security patches. Only Google (who arrived after Samsung) and Honor, who has joined the car, manage to offer their customers these figures on their best phones. Seven years of support are major words. It is not just the proof that Android phones They can update during the same time as an iPhoneIt is a trusted proof for the brand with respect to its own product. Leader in AI. Samsung has a Google partner to enhance his suite of artificial intelligence functions and, curiously, his Galaxy AI It is the most complete the AI ​​ecosystem in the mobile market. Above Google’s own proposal in his Pixel and far ahead of what rivals like Apple are doing. Samsung did not want to implement Gemini Nano To make the minimum effort: it has integrated its functions with the native apps of One UI, to the point where they are practically indistinguishable from any usual adjustment. Just press the AI ​​button to take a step further apps such as: Gallery Phone Circle to Search (compatible with S-PEN) Voice recorder Translator GENERATION OF WINDERS Third -party apps, such as WhatsApp and keyboard translation The lessons. For years, Touchwiz was the ugly duckling of the Roms on Android. Worked slow (there was lag) I was very overloaded with functions At the aesthetic level it was … debatable Today, it has one of the most refined ROMs at the interface level, it is able to manage all its native functions and apps without slowing down (even in mid -range and entrance mobiles) and is marking a path as a reference in updates and Ia. Image | Samsung In Xataka | The mobile the AI ​​promises, but I only see repeated tricks. The real ace under the sleeve is called “agent” and comes on the way

China’s absolute dominance over rare earths is the result of a strategy that no one else has. Not even the US

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The Rare earth They have a leading role in the commercial, technological and geostrategic war that the US and China support. These chemical elements are relatively scarce, and, in addition, they are not usually found purely in nature, but what makes them so special are Its physicochemical properties. In fact, thanks to them they have established themselves as A very valuable resource In numerous industries, especially in electronics and renewable energies. During the last year and a half the Chinese government has used its control of these chemical elements to defend their strategic interests In full confrontation with the US, Europe and its allies. The interesting thing is that it can do it because it produces approximately 70% of rare earths They are distributed in the world market, and, what is even more important, controls 90% of the processing industry to which it is necessary to submit rare earths so that they can be used. China refines 99% of the weighing land of the planet At the current US tension situation, Europe and its allies need to bet on their independence and consolidate their own supply chain. They are in it, but they don’t have it easy. The old continent in particular has been proposed to self -abuse At least 10% of rare earths He needs for 2030 thanks to the exploitation of the new deposits, such as the one he found in January 2023 the LKAB mining company near the city of Kiruna, in northern Sweden. China’s starting point is very favorable. As we have just seen, with a 70% production of the global market and a control of 90% of the rare earth processing industry this Asian country has this absolutely controlled market. However, we have not yet repaired in a figure more that is also very important: China refine no less than 99% of the heavy lands of the planet. These chemical elements are a subgroup of rare earth characterized by its greater density and lower ionic radius. Heavy rare earths are a subgroup of rare earths characterized by its greater density and lower ionic radius In addition, heavy rare earths are less abundant in the earth’s crust than the light ones. To this subgroup belongs as elusive minerals and with names as exotic as gadolinio, the terbio, the display, the holm, the erbium or the tulle, among others. How can we intuit, China does not control 99% of the processing of this kind of rare earth by chance. This absolute leadership is the result of a strategy in which teaching institutions are having an unquestionably protagonist role. And, according to the newspaper The New York Timesat the moment China has 39 university programs of chemistry specialized in rare earths. Presumably in these training programs students acquire the necessary knowledge to develop their professional career in the chemical industry specialized in rare earth processing. There is no doubt that this is one of the great strengths of the country led by Xi Jinping in this area, especially if we keep in mind that US universities currently do not offer a single specialized program in rare earths. The article published by The New York Times does not collect it, but in all likelihood European countries that have a greater dependence on rare earths, such as Germany or France, as well as Japan or South Korea are in the same situation as the US. These countries will cost a lot of time to acquire the favorable inertia that China has objectively, so it is reasonable to anticipate that in the short and medium term the rare earth processing industry will continue to be led by strong by the country headed by Xi Jinping. This Jens Eskelund statementthe president of the Chamber of Commerce of the European Union in China, clearly reflects what the US and Europe face: “Some approvals are coming (the result of negotiation with China), but they are far from being enough to Avoid imminent stops in production. We still face A great interruption in supply chains“ Image | Volker Braun More information | The New York Times In Xataka | We already know what is the best natural factory of the precious rare earths: a cosmic kilonova

Nvidia has to deal with the absolute distrust of several US legislators. His plan in China is in danger

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The dispute that Eeuu and China hold It is deeply conditioning the business of many Chinese companies, such as Huawei, SMIC or Hua Hong semiconductor, but is also affecting a very important way To some western companies. The Dutch ASML and the American Nvidia They are in all likelihood that are facing the greatest challenges as a result of the pulse maintained by the American and China administrations. The Chinese market is essential for both, but the sanctions that have approved US governments and the Netherlands They prevent them from selling their customers led by Xi Jinping a good part of their product porpholio. Even so, both companies are doing what is in their hand to defend their economic and commercial interests, and dispense with the Chinese market is not one of its options. In fact, Nvidia has officialized His intention to put a specialized installation in the design of integrated circuits in Shanghai (China). Some legislators consider that Nvidia’s plan is a threat to the US The newspaper The Wall Street Journal It has been made with a letter in which the Republican senator by Indiana Jim Banks and the Democratic Senator for Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren are directed directly to Jensen Huang, the general director of Nvidia. In this text these legislators argue that the installation that Nvidia plans to open in Shanghai represents a direct threat to US national security due to the possibility that China acquires the ability to design avant -garde GPU for artificial intelligence (AI). “No American company should be helping the Chinese Communist Party to close the gap in artificial intelligence,” Nvidia has responded immediately. There is too much at stake to take this light attention call. A spokesman for this company has expressed that its purpose “It is simply to rent a new space that the company’s employees can use after the return to work after the Coronavirus pandemic. The scope of work will not change“However, Nvidia’s official justification does not seem convincing for Warren and Banks. In fact, this last legislator has declared that “no American company should be helping the Chinese communist party to close the gap in artificial intelligence.” It is evident that this is an accusation of full -fledged Nvidia. A very serious accusation that complicates the future plans of the company led by Jensen Huang in China if we are in mind that the manifesto is backed at least by a senator of the Republican party and a senator of the Democratic Party. In addition, this claim comes at a very important moment for Nvidia. The engineers of this company have just concluded The development of a GPU With Blackwell microarchitecture aimed at replacing to the H20 chip whose sale in China has been prohibited by the last sanctions package of the Department of Commerce. The Nvidia Plan is that TSMC starts the manufacture of this GPU expressly intended for the Chinese market in June, but at the current situation it would not be surprising at all that the Department of Commerce prevents its delivery to Chinese clients in Nvidia. We will see what happens finally, but the panorama does not paint anything well for the company led by Jensen Huang. Image | Nvidia More information | The Wall Street Journal In Xataka | The US gives Huawei a great opportunity: to get its new chip for AI with the Nvidia market in China

This is how absolute domain has achieved

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China dominates The lithium -ion battery market with an indisputable forcefulness. If we stick to electric cars the country led by Xi Jinping Fabrica 57% of batteries that these vehicles use. Catl and Byd are the biggest manufacturers of energy accumulators of the planet with A market share in 2023 34% and 16% respectively. And if we look at electronic devices equipped with batteries, your domain is equally forceful. The evolution that the lithium batteries industry has experienced in this Asian country is the result of a very ambitious strategy pergenerated by the Government a decade ago. In 2015 President Xi Jinping announced the plan “Made in China 2025”an initiative that pursued to take the country to a world leadership position in thirteen strategic technologies. In some of them, such as the production of medicines, large tractors, the manufacture of industrial machinery, the artificial intelligence (AI) or the robots does not lead, but has established itself in a competitive position. In batteries, however, he leads clearly. China’s success is the result of a well -measured strategy China has gone from having a share in the global battery market of 50% in 2015 to no less than 80% today. A decade ago his position was already good, but in 2025 his domain is absolute. Another fact that we are not overlooking is that the global production of lithium batteries in 2015 amounted to 42 GWh, while in 2024 this figure increased to 1,400 GWh. This growth is mainly explained thanks to the intervention of this Asian country. China is the largest electric car market on the planet, so its internal demand is able to sustain its battery industry alone In any case, the really interesting thing is to know what strategy has allowed the country of Xi Jinping to control such an important market in such a forceful way. As we can intuit, this success is the result of several factors. On the one hand China bet early on LFP batteries (Lithium Iron Phosphate), which use iron and lithium phosphate instead of cobalt and nickel, so they are cheaper and more safe, through subsidies of public vehicles. This happened in 2009. Years later, in 2016, the State subsidies prioritized the improvement of the benefits of these batteries, and therefore, They increased their competitiveness. This scenario allowed China to use patents derived from LFP technology in their free domestic market, which helped him gain experience and develop his production capacity. In fact, Catl, Byd and other Chinese manufacturers Batteries have put in recent years huge factories that have allowed them to develop the economy of scale producing a huge volume of batteries with an extremely competitive unit cost. In addition, China is the largest electric car market on the planet, so its internal demand is able to sustain its battery industry alone. However, beyond the support of the government and the ability with which China has managed to climb its production capacity, it is important that we do not overlook another factor: this country has access to raw materials in very advantageous conditions. The new lithium and iron mines under your control have allowed you to have great reservations of these chemical elements at a low price. In addition, its supply chain allows you to control, in addition to the extraction of raw materials, your refining and the assembly of all the components of the batteries, thus reducing the presence of intermediaries and the margins of external suppliers. From one thing we can be sure: at the current situation it is very unlikely that other countries will snatch market share to China in this industry. More information | Asianometry In Xataka | Historic record for China: its chips industry has produced in 2024 more than ever despite the sanctions

The M-30 tunnels are an absolute nightmare for your mobile GPS. Madrid wants to fix it using bluetooth

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If you have ever crossed the tunnels of the M-30it is more than likely that you have run out of coverage at some point. It is a more serious problem than it might seem, since the direct translation of not being clear what the correct exit ends up generating less fluidity and traffic safety. The Madrid City Council is aware of the problemand has announced the installation of a system that will allow GPS navigation systems, such as Google or Waze, to work properly within these areas. The problem. The M30 tunnels are especially extensive and thick, a terrible combination for the signal of the GPS satellites I can end up going through them. It is more than usual to lose connection when we are inside and, taking into account the importance of real -time calculations for current GPS systems, this ends up translating into a insured malfunction. The solution. From this Monday, the Madrid City Council will begin the installation of a Bluetooth electronic beacon system in order to allow guided navigation while we circulate through these tunnels. “The initiative is based on the implementation of location beacons with the objective of resolving the lack of the inviability of GPS navigation inside the tunnels as a result of the lack of visibility of satellites that allow obtaining a precise and continuous positioning through triangulation techniques.” The City Council itself admits that it is unfeasible to use GPS systems inside the tunnel. So in the absence of GPS, Bluetooth. How will it work. Madrid will locate different Bluetooth beacons inside the tunnels, with distances of 20 to 40 meters between each of them. They will be located on the sides of the tunnel by specific supports. These beacons will issue an identification signal to their own position, something that browsers can use to determine where we are. Because yes, although we are accustomed to using GPS signal, navigation apps can use Bluetooth when there is no coverage. Does not work by default. The problem of this measure is that Google Maps, the most used maps app in Spain, does not allow the default Bluetooth to use. It is necessary to navigate to the Android settings, go to “navigation”, and activate the Bluetooth beacons. In iOS the option is not available, although it is enough to activate the location functions so that it can work. Image | Xataka and Madrid City Council In Xataka | GPS locator purchase guide: tips and recommendations to succeed and seven models from 30 euros

This 4,500 -year -old game was an absolute mystery. Until AI helped us decipher it

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A few years ago archaeologists found something unique at the Shahr-i Sokhta site: a board game. I had about 4,500 years old, and it is believed that it is the board game complete older ever discovered. The problem was that no one knew how it was played … until AI arrived. Persian games. That site was part of the Helmand civilization in the Bronze Age. Lying To the east of Iran and south of Afghanistan, in that discovery both the board were found, with 20 circular spaces, and four dice and 27 geometric pieces. But how were they used? No game manuals. In old board games hardly ever There were written rules, and the instructions passed orally. That probably caused the rules to end up being modified between different groups of players over the decades or centuries, experts point out. But that also facilitates the task of finding out how it was played: as explained in New Scientistit was not necessary to find the definitive rules, only those that approached those that were probably the most logical. AU helps learn to play. The used AI systems use techniques such as Monte Carlo Search Treewhich was also used for the Alphago developmentof Deepmind. With them it is possible to simulate rules that can be applied to the game based on the structure of the board and the available parts. They can evaluate multiple variations of the possible rules that allow evaluating not only if they are logical, but end up offering boring or fun games. Beyond chess. Among these games there are real jewels because of their age Senetthat for example was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. There are representations such as the main image – the Nefertari Egyptian queen playing Senet – that demonstrates its popularity in that culture. Others, like him Ur’s real gamefrom the ancient Mesopotamia, their secrets were able to discover a cuneiform tablet that It deciphered in 2007 In the British Museum. Shahr-i Sokhta game. Source: Persian Wonders First studies. One of the first applications of AI to the board games of antiquity is in the game Ludus Latrunculorum (“The game of thieves”), which was played among the Romans and that it is believed that it was already played (at least, in a previous version) in Greece. It is one of the best known thanks to the writings recovered from that time, and that allowed – thatNot effortlessly– rebuild its rules quite likely they were the ones that the Romans effectively used. Thus the Romans played. Cameron Browne, from the University of Maastricht, in Holland, led The call Digital Ludeme Project (DLP). It investigated about 1,000 traditional games over the 6,000 years of the history of humanity, and games such as Ludus Latrunculorum were studied. Simulations everywhere. It was not easy: this game – or its variants – appears with boards of different formats and sizes throughout history, but the AI ​​helped discover possible rules. Simulations were made to investigate which boards made more sense for the most plausible rules, and it was discovered how three games still active in our days – Khabebga, Seega and Tablut – had a strong relationship. All these tests allowed to conclude how the smallest boards were the ones that probably They were used in the Roman gameand others may be dedicated to other board games that experts have not been able to identify. You can play Shahr-i Sokhta. As with Ludus Latrunculorum, the help of AI served to raise what were the probable rules of the Shahr-i Sokhta game. So much so that developer Sam Jelveh and archaeologist Hossein Morad created An online playable version of the video game With complete information on how it was supposed to be played. Endless investigation. These efforts have not stopped there. More than 200 computer scientists, archaeologists and historians are collaborating in the project Gametable to develop even more advanced AI tools to discover the rules of old board games. And also, perhaps, to reveal why some came to our days transformed into current games – it is believed that UR’s real game ended up becoming the backgammon – and others disappeared without leaving just a trace. Image | Wikipedia In Xataka | The 41 best board games: from ‘Catán’ to ‘Gloomhaven’

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