bringing

AI is bringing back into fashion something that we thought was only for geeks: the command line

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At first it was the command line. It was 1982, maybe 1983, and I first saw a ZX Spectrum 48K. That fascinated me not only because of the noises and beeps and colors and crappy and wonderful games, but because you wrote something on the screen in text mode and suddenly things happened. I would end up having a C64, which of course was far better 😉 but that’s another story. Then, a couple of years later, a personal visit to the IT department of El Corte Inglés, which was one of the few places where one could no longer see computers, but touch them. That was like the Apple stores of today, and preteens and not so preteens came there not to see machines, but to feel them. Hello, old friend. There were PCs there, of course. Boring and gray and yet also wonderful. And the first thing they did when they turned on was ask the date and time to adjust their internal clocks, and I was amazed and thought in my innocence, “Oh my God, how clever is he that he asks the date and time to be super updated.” And immediately afterwards, of course, the MS-DOS logo appeared and that terrible and magical prompt at the same time (or a similar one, because I doubt they had a hard drive): C:\ I was little, but human-computer interaction had long been dominated by that technology: the command line. You wrote, the machine responded. The UNIX systems did it before, the “operating systems” of the Spectrum or the C64 later, and of course it was also done by that MS-DOS that seemed amazing because once again I, in my innocence, did not even know that there was already a brilliant crazy visionary out there who was selling some simply amazing little machines with a 7-inch screen that They greeted you with “Hello, I’m Macintosh”. Everything changed (quite) quickly and suddenly the command line became somewhat awkward, clunky, obsolete. Everything had to be visual. Windows and graphic elements evolved so that we wrote less and clicked (not to mention scrolled) much more. And in the last 30 years we have not stopped doing that and defending that the graphical interface was perfect for humans and for most scenarios in which we have to talk to our machines. And it was. And it is. But AI has changed that. Hello again, CLI The explosion of generative AI has turned this situation 180 degrees. It is true that in recent years we have used AI through (mostly) a browser or a mobile app that was actually an embedded browser, but over time we have seen that if we wanted AI to do things for us, there was a problem. Than to AI has a hard time seeing and working with a graphical user interface. But at the same time there were those who realized that what AI did like angels was work with a command line interpreter or CLI. It suddenly made sense to use the terminal again or our computer consolebecause the AI ​​felt at home with it. I didn’t have to recognize and interpret the screen: I just had to read it, and that was wonderful. That is why we have seen how Claude Code (or Codex, or Gemini CLI, or similar tools) has become an absolute marvel. One that suddenly returned us to the command line and a terminal in which we felt like we were in the ZX Spectrum that I saw when I was 9 or 10 years old. You wrote and the machine responded, and here it was the same, but of course, wildly. What seemed like something relegated to the realm of programming is slowly making sense for many other scenarios. You can actually use Claude Code or Codex like you use ChatGPT, for chatting, but it seemed like they could only be used for programming. And not. We are seeing how more and more solutions designed to take advantage of the power of generative AI are programmed with a text interface, for the command line. Those tools They are designed to be used much more by an AI than by a human. They also come in there the MCPs that connect AI models with tools and services like Slack, GitHub or AWS, and if those services have their own versions of themselves in text mode, the AI ​​will be able to use them much better and much more efficiently. We have the last example in Google Workspace CLIa platform that allows Drive, Gmail, or Calendar to be used from the command line. It is not designed for humans—although we can use it—but rather for AI models to take advantage of it. It’s a gift from Google to the machines, and one that is not at all generous: what the company wants here is to convince the machines to use its services. The humans have already won. btop, a system monitoring tool that makes use of a text-mode interface that is still wonderful. Source: Wikipedia. It’s just an example, because little by little we see how the command line is experiencing a second youth. We no longer only talk about the GUI (Graphical User Interface), but from the TUI (Text-based User Interface). It is something that has always had its place, especially in the Linux operating system, where tools like btop or Neofetch showed that text can be (very) pretty, but now. These are just two examples, because there are dozens of them. Hundreds. Probably thousands. Not necessarily beautiful, but efficient and functional, like mutt (mail client) or Midnight Commanderlegendary file explorer in text mode. For AI, these types of apps are wonderful, because I insist, it does not have to make an effort to understand what is happening: it reads text at full speed and understands and acts. And that is vital for those AI agents who are beginning to conquer everything and everyone. OpenClaw, for example, is showing us that potential … Read more

Bringing fiber to rural Spain does not come cheap. This interactive map tells you exactly how much it cost

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Those of us who live in urban areas take it for granted that we have fiber coverage, but there are many rural areas from Spain where fiber has taken a long time to arrive and even some where they are still waiting for it. To ensure coverage of the entire territory, the government launched subsidies for operators to deploy their network. Now we have a map to know the status of all deployments, interactive and non-profit. The map. It has been developed by Fernando García Álvarez, a software engineer who has contacted us to publicize his creation. It is an independent and non-profit initiative. Its objective was to gather all the information on fiber deployment plans, both the previous PEBA and the current UNICO plans in a single place, something that until now had to be consulted through various sources. His name is Fiber Programs and when we open it we find a heat map of the entire peninsula, with the red areas representing the areas with the greatest coverage and the yellow areas representing the least coverage. Detailed information. To obtain all the information on the different programs you have to zoom in and click on one of them. Here we can see which operator is carrying out the deployment, which plan it belongs to and other more in-depth data such as the total amount of the subsidy and the completion deadline. This is especially useful for those projects that are still underway because it allows you to know when a specific zone will be connected. Subsidies. That in 2026 there will be those who do not have a fiber connection is shocking, but there is a reason why there are still areas without this infrastructure: it is not profitable for operators to bring their infrastructure to an area where there are very few inhabitants. From this need was born the Broadband Extension Program or PEBA. The plan was active from 2013 to 2020 and subsidized almost 800 projects from more than 100 operators. In 2024, the UNICO Broadband plan took over the baton, with more than 18 million euros and with Avatel and Adamo as the main recipients of the aid. Spain and fiber. Although there are some areas left to cover, they are the least. The reality is that 95% of the Spanish territory has access to fiber optics, which places us well ahead of the European average, which is 64%. Our colleagues from Xataka Móvil made a devastating comparison: a town in Soria has better internet than Berlin. Image | Fiber Programs In Xataka | In 2023 Spain tried to create its own “Starlink” to connect the rural world: it has failed miserably

The US wants to give up bringing the most valuable samples collected on Mars. Lockheed promises to do it for less than half

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Since February 2021, The Rover Perseverance patiently travels the Jezero crateran old river basin on the surface of Mars. Over there, where millions of years ago the water flowedNASA Robot It has been collecting fragments of rock and Martian dust With a very specific objective: Find signs of past life. It is not any mission. Is, According to NASA itselfthe first step of an ambitious plan to bring intact samples from another planet. For more than three years, Perseverance has done his job in silence and the samples that Now rest inside of small sealed tubes, carefully deposited on the Martian surface or stored aboard the Rover itself. From space, bread crumbs would look like a trace drawn through a desert planet, hoping to be collected. A truncated promise The plan, known as Mars Sample ReturnI had to send another ship to Mars, launch from there a rocket with the samples and return them to the Earth for analysis in laboratories. But the project began to crumble. An independent review raised the cost estimated until 11,000 million dollars and delayed the possible return of the samples until 2040. In May, the new US administration presented its first budget draft: proposes to cut 24 % of NASA’s financing and cancel Mars Sample Return for considering it an exorbitant cost program. The plan must still go through Congress, but marks a clear turn: the menions manned to deep space are prioritized, such as Artemisand the projects with great budget and scarce immediate return are frozen. With the current budget cut and without guarantees of continuity, NASA decided to reexamine its options. As explained by the former administrator Bill Nelsontwo more viable alternative routes were being evaluated: one that takes advantage of the “Sky Crane” type landing system used successfully in the Curiosity and Perseverance Rovers, and another that opens the door to new proposals from the private sector. Lockheed Martin’s letter Amid the budget uncertainty, one of the great space contractors in the United States has decided to move file. Lockheed Martin, with half a century of experience in missions to Mars, has presented NASA a proposal to execute the Mars Return mission with a radically different approach: for less than 3,000 million dollars and under a fixed price contract. The change is not less. Faced with the traditional model, full of budgetary risks and with multiple public actors involved, Lockheed promises a simpler architecture. Its proposal includes a more compact landing module, based on the ship Insight that already touched Martiano soil in 2018a lighter and lighter ascent vehicle – designed to be the first to take off from another planet – and a system of re -entry to the land derived from missions such as Genesis, Stardust and Osiris-Rex. It is a commitment goes beyond engineering. Being a “Firm-Fixed Price” contract, Lockheed Martin is responsible for absorb any possible extra cost. That is, if something is complicated, the invoice does not rise. According to the company itself, that model has already proven effective in other scientific missions of deep space, where they even managed to return part of the NASA not used budget. The message is clear: if NASA wants to save its most ambitious mission without spending, Lockheed Martin is ready to lead it. Bringing back about thirty small tubes could help us answer one of humanity’s great questions. Was Mars ever inhabited? Scientists do not seek fossils or complex structures. They look for subtle indications that can only be analyzed with the level of precision allowed by land laboratories. And for that, the samples that Perseverance has collected are not any rock. They have been selected one by one depending on their location, their age, their composition and their geological context. Are, In Nasa’s own wordsthe most likely material to contain a Martian “biofirm.” But the value of these samples goes beyond the biological. They can reveal how the wet marte of 3.5 billion years ago was, how its climate evolved, why it became an arid and inhospitable planet, and how the geological, atmospheric and chemical processes interacted for millennia. They will also tell us what resources could take advantage of future manned missions: where it is safer to land, what materials are usable, what areas have risks. Images | Lockheed Martin In Xataka | NASA locked four volunteers one year simulating their life on Mars. What did not miss: an entire PS4 Games Library

I have tried Silbo Money, mobile payments without leaving WhatsApp. It’s like bringing cash to the mobile, for good and for the bad

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A few weeks ago we talked about Money whistlethe Sevillian startup that integrates mobile payments in WhatsApp. Its approach is brilliant in its simplicity: instead of competing as another app, it is integrated into “the application we already use” par excellence to become our digital portfolio. The system operates inside WhatsAppwith minimal derivations to the browser. We add to our contacts and chat with a purely functional Bot. No canned responses or frustrating loops, only direct and functional interactions. The record is automatic and direct: we validate identity, we create a four -digit pin, and voila. This pin is requested when initiating a conversation or after a while of inactivity, balancing security and convenience. The registration process. The creation of the PIN is one of the processes for which Silbo sends us to the browser. Its main difference with Bizum It is structural: It works as an independent digital purse. While Bizum operates directly with our bank account, Silbo requires loading previous balance. It is moving the cash to the mobile. The loading process. This separation has two readings: An inconvenience: Add friction against Bizum. An advantage: Provides extra security when isolation from our account. The interface is pure pragmatism. It allows navigation for text commands and contextual buttons. The buttons guide the rookie, the commands speed up the expert. For example, if we write “balance” you will ask us if you show it in the chat or if you download it. If we write “Chat balance” you will show us directly. The Silbo Shares menu. A shipment of money … … and a money application (happily corresponded). By the way, the fluorine yellow that uses whistle as a brand image seemed to me somewhat strident at the beginning. After trying it, it is clear to me: it makes it easier to quickly locate the conversation with a Scroll visual. It stands out, and a lot. The most remarkable is how to take advantage of WhatsApp omnipresence. You don’t have to download another app or learn to use another interface, everything happens in a family environment. It even has a collection of Stickers Own that include messages such as “who pays rest”, perfect for using passive-agreesive tone. The withdrawal of the balance to our bank account. His challenge will be to achieve critical mass. Like whatsapp or bizum, You need adoption to be useful. Its advantage is to operate on WhatsApp, canonical in Spain. His challenge, convince users to take the step, especially considering Bizum’s current domain. In my tests I have done several operations: load balance, send money, claim it, receive it, withdraw it, consultations, etc. Everything works fluently, without complications or delays (the withdrawals take one or two days). The only real friction is the need to load previously balance. Overcome that step, the system is as natural as sending a message. Silbo optimizes more than revolutionary: take the mobile payment and simplify it by integrating it where we already live. It is pure pragmatism. Time will say if it manages to challenge Bizum. In Xataka | The unstoppable rise of Travelperk: the Spanish travel startup already is worth 2.7 billion dollars and strengthens its expansion Outstanding image | Xataka with Mockuuuups Studio

The future of quantum computers depends on helium-3 from the Moon. There is already a plan to start bringing it in 2029

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Helium is the second lightest and most abundant chemical element in the universe, if we stick to ordinary matter. It is only surpassed in this classification by hydrogen. This noble gas accounts for between 24 and 26% of the total mass of stars, which are also responsible for manufacturing it. fusing hydrogen nuclei inside through the reactions of nuclear fusion that they carry out naturally, and which we talk to you about in quite some depth in the article that we dedicate to the life of the stars. Still, most of the helium in the universe was not made by stars: it was produced by the Big Bang, which is why scientists refer to it as “primordial helium.” But the most curious thing is that, despite how abundant it is in the universe, it is scarce on Earth. Its great lightness caused most of the helium contained in the cloud of dust and gas from which our planet was formed to escape gravitational confinement. Be that as it may, the real protagonist of this article is not the normal helium that we have all heard about; It is helium-3, an isotope that may play a crucial role in nuclear fusion reactions that will possibly help us solve forever our energy problems. And also in other areas, such as, for example, in dilution cooling systems that use superconducting quantum computersas well as other emerging technologies. Interlune plans to test the extraction of lunar helium-3 in 2027 Most of the helium that we can find in the universe has taken the form of an isotope known as helium-4, which is characterized by having two protons and two neutrons in its nucleus. Although, as we have seen, most of it was lost during the formation of the Earth, this gas can also arise as a result of natural radioactive decay of heavier chemical elements, such as uranium, radium or thorium, which are relatively scarce on our planet. The only difference between helium-4 and helium-3 is that the latter isotope has one less neutron in its nucleus. That’s all. We know that helium-4 nuclei have two protons and two neutrons, so helium-3 nuclei will have two protons and a single neutron. It may seem like an irrelevant difference, but it is not. It is a very important difference because the physicochemical properties of the element vary as a consequence of their lower atomic mass. And, in the case of these two isotopes of helium, their behavior also changes from the point of view of quantum mechanics. The solar wind spreads helium-3 throughout the solar system and beyond, causing it to reach surrounding planets in relatively large quantities. The bad news is that if helium-4 is relatively scarce on Earth, helium-3 is even more so. Stars, like our Sun, produce it in large quantities as a result of nuclear fusion reactions between hydrogen nuclei that occur when they are in the main sequence stage during which they burn most of their fuel. Once created, the solar wind spreads helium-3 throughout the solar system and even beyond, causing it to reach surrounding planets in relatively large quantities. The reason why this gas hardly accumulates on Earth is that our planet has a double protective shield: the atmosphere and the Earth’s magnetic field. These two barriers represent a very effective defense against the solar wind and cosmic radiation, which reaches the atmosphere mainly in the form of protons and high-energy alpha particles. The Moon, unlike the Earth, has no atmosphere, so it lacks this protective shield. Additionally, its magnetic field is much weaker than Earth’s and is not dipolar. The terrestrial, on the other hand, can be approximated to a magnetic dipole, so the magnetic field lines are directed from the north pole to the south pole. All this causes the surface of the Moon to be much more exposed to cosmic rays and the solar wind than the surface of the Earth, causing very significant quantities of helium-3 transported by the solar wind to accumulate there, which is deposited in rocks and lunar dust, a few meters deep. Up to a million tons of regolith need to be processed to obtain a single kilogram of helium-3 The first challenge that humanity will have to solve to appropriate the helium-3 accumulated on the Moon is none other than the processing of lunar regolithwhich is the loose layer of soil and rock fragments that covers the surface of the satellite. Interlune, a company founded in Seattle (USA) in 2020, plans to extract the regolith and process it using compact harvesting robots that, according to this company, are very efficient. The problem is that lunar dust is very abrasive, and, in addition, up to a million tons of regolith must be processed to obtain a single kilogram of helium-3. Even so, this company plans to test the extraction of this isotope with a lunar mission in 2027, and in 2029 it intends to build a pilot plant on the Moon. It sounds good, but a priori these dates seem excessively optimistic. Additionally, it is still unclear how much it will cost to transport lunar helium-3 to Earth using space vehicles. Be that as it may, we can be sure that it will not be easy or cheap to do so. Image | Pixabay More information | Quantum Insider In Xataka | Graphene is ready to break into quantum computers: scientists plan to use it in a new type of qubit

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