call

We believed that VAR was going to put an end to the classic favoritism of the World Cup host. Then the White House made a call

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“When the certainty of the rules is no longer guaranteed, the integrity of the game is called into question” These are the words with which UEFA, in charge of overseeing the competitions of the European confederation, has responded to FIFA’s decision to withdraw a red card from Folarin Balogun, star forward of the United States team that faces Belgium in the round of 16. The statement is just the latest response that FIFA has received regarding this controversial decision that comes, according to The New York Timesthat Donald Trump, president of the United States, called Gianni Infantino by phone to pressure him and demand that he remove the automatic match penalty that is applied when a player receives a red card. FIFA’s decision is the latest maneuver to favor the host team in a World Cup and adds to the long list of favors for the locals that have traditionally marked the World Cup. Everything indicated that with VAR, the video refereeing tool, this was going to end or, at least, it was going to be very complicated to give small pushes to the local teams. But FIFA is always ready to surprise you. The regulation mess Forlain Balogun, a United States forward who has three goals in the 2026 World Cup, plays an aerial ball. It is the 64th minute of the round of 32 match of the 2026 World Cup and the person who disputes the ball is Tarik Muharemovic. The game is about to experience a turning point. The score reads 1-0, the United States has gone ahead with a goal from Balogun himself who is having a great championship but is about to lose its star for the remainder of the match and the round of 16 against Belgium. Or so we believed. In the dispute, the American player hits the Bosnian defender from behind. An obvious foul that results in a red card. As he falls, Balogun accidentally lands with his studs on Muharemovic’s calf, drags his foot and bends the defender’s ankle. The VAR calls the referee to observe the play carefully. Although fortuitous, the force applied by the American player is considered excessive and he ends up expelled. The match ends 2-0 and, of course, the worst thing for the United States is the impossibility of having their star striker in the tie against Belgium, the European team (hence the statement from UEFA, which is also in an open war against FIFA) against which they will play for a place in the quarterfinals. The winner will play against the winner of tonight’s Spain-Portugal. A more common setback in short knockout tournaments, the same setback as if, for example, a player accumulates two yellow cards in different phases during the championship. However, FIFA surprised yesterday with a statement: Forlain Balogun’s sanction was suspended. The alleged reason is that the suspension of a match was at the mercy of the player’s behavior in the next year. If he reoffends in a violent situation again, the rule will be applied to him. To do this, FIFA has based itself on article 27 of its disciplinary regulations, which states that punishments can be suspended for a certain period of time subject to the player’s attitude. A decision that as they remember from the Belgian team (clearly affected by the player’s non-suspension), collides directly with article 66.4 of the same regulations in which it is specified that a player who receives a red card will not be able to play the next match. In Sports CarouselIturralde González, former referee and referee commentator on the program, explains that the article that FIFA clings to is designed for disturbances on soccer fields and attitudes that go beyond the merely sporting. He explains that, in fact, FIFA does not withdraw the red card and only suspends the impossibility of playing the next match, a fact that has not been seen since 1962 when Garrincha was sent off in a tough semi-final against Chile but was cleared to play in the final against Czechoslovakia. Click on the image to go to the original tweet The call that went over the VAR We could think that FIFA’s decision was serious and fell within one of the many tricks that they have been using for years to favor local teams. However, a post by Donald Trump in X and the explicit support of the White House in which he thanked FIFA directly, he made the hare jump. The New York Times has been the first medium to publish what could be suspected once the thanks of the president of the United States was made public: The White House called Gianni Infantino directlypresident of FIFA, to ask that Forlain Balogun play against Belgium. In The Wall Street Journal They narrate that Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, and Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the working group that the White House has active for the organization of the 2026 World Cup, went to work on the same night of the United States – Bosnia and Herzegovina. From that moment on, they count on WSJa machinery made up of specialist lawyers related to Donald Trump began to move to try to stop the sanction. On the table was the possibility of challenging the red card and trying to prevent slow motion from being used in this type of actions in which video refereeing is involved (which many understand to magnify the damage caused by a kick or a stomp). The team, they explain in the media, was informed from the first moment but the United States National Team denied any possibility of revoking the sanction. While all this was happening, always according to internal sources of The Wall Street JournalDonald Trump directly picked up the phone to speak with Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA who has always been very close to the American president. At that time, Infantino responded to the US president that he could not assure him anything but confirmed that the suspension had been … Read more

We have turned the absence of demands into the most expensive good on the market. And we call it silence

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Rolls-Royce has an engineering department dedicated exclusively to calibrating how much silence should enter the cabin of a Phantomand what exact type. Not absolute silence, which they found creates nausea and disorientation, but a specific silence: an almost imperceptible residue of engine sound that confirms to the occupant that the power is still there. Only he has decided not to bother him. They call him “engineering silence“and costs almost more than the engine. This gives us a clue as to where the shots are going: silence has never come free. The mansions have walls of one and a half meters, the gardens served as an acoustic barrier and the operas are built so that not even half a creak reaches the neighboring box. The fact that silence is a luxury is not new, it is history, what is new is that it is no longer necessary to buy land to achieve it. Now silence is manufactured. And like any manufactured product, it can be sold, packaged and improved in the next version. Silence has been a side effect of privilege: the rich living away from the noise because they could afford the land and the distance. Now we move to silence as a product designed by sound engineers. The active cancellation headphonesone more simile xatakerothey do not eliminate noise but rather shape it. They generate the reverse wave calculated exactly to cancel out the frequencies of the airplane or the noise in the cafeteria. It is the same logic, but in reverse, that Volkswagen and other manufacturers use when They pump through the speakers a synthetic engine roar so that a stealthy electric car sounds like it has another engine. We make fake noise for those who want to feel powerful and fake silence for those who want to feel safe. In both cases, what you pay for is not the sound or its absence, but the feeling of having control over it. But the silence of a Rolls-Royce and the silence of an unanswered call have something in common that goes beyond sound: they are both, in reality, absence of demand. And control, not silence, is what has become a premium item. The most expensive version of acoustic disconnection is not not hearing the noise on the street, but not even having to respond. The assistant that filters calls, the agenda that decides who deserves your attention and who doesn’t, the possibility of sending someone off with a “my team will contact you” without it sounding like an excuse. This is not sold by Apple, Bose or Sennheiser. It is bought with power. The noise, meanwhile, has stayed exactly where it was: in those who cannot afford to avoid it. The silent carriage of the AVE because the rest is not and no one expects it to be, the neighbor messing around with the drill at odd hours, the bank notifications that you cannot silence in case a danger signal appears at some point, the hum of work WhatsApp groups (another epidemic) who assume that you are available on a Tuesday night, because answering quickly is an obligation for those who do not have the margin not to do so. The silence has been gentrified. Even something else: it has been converted into a subscription. And like any subscription, as soon as you stop paying, the noise returns. In Xataka | There is a generation working for free as a documentarian of their own life: they are not influencers but they act as if they were. Featured image | Xataka

trailer for the latest from Netflix, which some call a new ‘Metropolis’

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Netflix has cast Oscar Isaac, Al Pacino, Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, John Malkovich and Martin Scorsese himself in the cast of its new film, which now presents its first trailer. ‘Dante’s Manuscript’, however, is not an action blockbuster, but rather an arthouse film that divided critics after its passage through the last Venice Film Festival, and which screened in theaters in the United States in a very limited way a few days ago. There are those who are already comparing it to ‘Metrópolis’. 17 years of preparation. This project has been going on since 2008: it was then when Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, acquired the rights to Tosches’ novel with the intention of having Depp himself star in it. Julian Schnabel came on board as director in 2011, but the project remained on hold for years. Filming did not start until October 2023 in Italy, with Oscar Isaac already in the lead role after replacing Depp, and with countless problems and delays due to the actors strike. What is it about? Two timelines run in parallel: in New York in 2001, shortly before September 11, a writer (Isaac) is recruited by a mafia boss (John Malkovich) to authenticate and steal what would be the original manuscript of ‘The Divine Comedy’, written in the handwriting of Dante Alighieri. In parallel, the film follows Dante himself in the 14th century as he goes through a creative crisis under the tutelage of his mentor, played by Scorsese. Isaac plays both roles: Tosches in the present, Dante in the past. And Butler also doubles: a hitman in the 21st century and Pope Boniface VIII in the 14th. The film adapts an excessive novel of almost 400 pages that mix medieval philosophy, mafia violence and reflections on writing and the divine. Colored things. The most striking visual decision of the film, as seen in the trailer, is to represent the two eras with different chromatic treatments: one in black and white and the other in color. However, the film does it in the opposite way to usual: the medieval scenes are filmed in color and the contemporary ones, in black and white. The past appears to us alive and saturated and the present, under a gray and colorless layer. Who is Schnabel? Julian Schnabel is not a filmmaker of mass productions for all audiences. Look at his filmography: ‘Basquiat’ (1996), ‘Before Night Falls’ (2000), ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ (2007, Best Director at Cannes), ‘Miral’ (2010) and ‘Van Gogh, at the Gates of Eternity’ (2018). Eight years have passed between ‘Van Gogh’ and this ‘Dante Manuscript’. Schnabel is also a painter, and that origin can be seen in his films, with careful framing and highly visual work. From heaven to hell. the movie received an ovation 9 and a half minutes at its premiere in Venetian Venice. But the reviews were not so good: there were who compared it with ‘Megalopolis‘by Francis Ford Coppola. Othershowever, they mentioned the influence of totems of auteur cinema such as Cassavettes or the first Coppola. However, this is not small independent auteur cinema, but a Netflix premiere, which will finally present it on June 24. The film completely departs from the platform’s usual style, but the truth is that it is not a Netflix production, but rather that it has been purchased exclusively for its catalogue, convinced that the cast of well-known names will generate a conversation very different from the one produced by, for example, ‘The Burroughs’. The moment of ‘Roma’ and ‘The Irishman’ has already passed, Netflix has no intention of positioning itself as an auteur film factory, but there is something that does not change in its intentions: the more content it brings and the more attention it generates, the better for it. In Xataka | Netflix has achieved what seemed crazy at first: that we pay in exchange for watching ads

call it productivity and brag about the system

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three years ago I wrote here that spending years trying productivity apps, running like a headless chicken from Todoist to Things and from Craft to Notion, had been a rather unproductive search. I maintain it, but at that moment I had not seen version 2.0 of the problem yet. The one that no longer has to do with apps. There is a scene that is repeated in the spaces where we addicts to productivity (or the false sense of productivity) go. YouTube channels, newslettersX accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers: someone shows their “system”. It can be a Notion very well structured with relational databases, or a Obsidian with interconnected knowledge graphs. The morning routine with a weekly, monthly and quarterly review block. The labels, the priorities with their little flags, the active and latent projects, the someday / maybe. Everything documented, everything perfect. And when you see that you think “this person doesn’t have time to do anything.” It is not a joke but an observation. The most sophisticated productivity system is, in most cases, the most reliable proof that its owner has stopped producing.. I’m guilty too. Because building and maintaining that system requires exactly the kind of sustained attention, cognitive energy, and hours on screen that the system is supposed to free up to do important things. Here’s the catch GTDhe second brain and the entire philosophy of personal productivity have tended unintentionally, or perhaps wanting to: They have made managing work look like work. And looking like work, it gives the satisfaction of work done. Dopamine from task completion without having completed any actual task. Rearranging Obsidian notes for two hours feels like work. It is not. The phenomenon has a technical name that no one uses because it sounds too honest: structured procrastination. Doing things that are legitimate and even useful, but that are not the right thing to do. In its most innocent version, it is tidying up your desk before you start writing. In its 2026 version, it’s spending the afternoon building the perfect idea capture flow instead of having none. AI has multiplied this tenfold. Now the system can be more complex, more automated, more impressive. You can have one agent that classifies your notes, another that summarizes your readings, another that generates the weekly report of everything you have captured. He second brain It has become something like a brain of its own, with its own processes, its own maintenance needs, its own technical debt. And you, meanwhile, feeding it. In the end this shows us an uncomfortable truth: that most of us prefer preparing to do things rather than doing them. The perfect system is a permanent promise of future performance that indefinitely postpones the demands of the present. There is always a reason not to start yet: the system is not ready, a field is missing in the database, the capture flow needs to be revised. Let’s see if there is a better icon for this page. This is not new, of course. Seneca wrote 2,000 years ago that busyness and living are different things. But before procrastination had a bad conscience. You knew you were avoiding something. Now you can avoid it with impeccable productivity, with a label system and weekly review, without anyone, starting with yourself, being able to point the finger at you. Are you working. It is seen. I have a Notion to prove it. Real work, the one that matters, the one that costs, has a characteristic that productivity systems cannot simulate: produces something that did not exist before. Not a neater database or a more refined capture flow. Something that, when finished, justifies the time you have not dedicated to organizing yourself. That something is getting rarer and rarer. And our systems, increasingly more perfect and aesthetic. In Xataka | I’ve tried the Plaud NotePin S: the wearable AI recorder that’s not for everyone, but it’s perfect for some Featured image | Isaac Smith

OpenAI thought putting an erotic mode on ChatGPT was a good idea. His wellness advisors call him “a sexy suicide coach”

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Treat adults like adults. This is how Sam Altman announced OpenAI’s decision to allow a “adult mode” on ChatGPT to have erotic conversations. It makes economic sense since it will be a paid function, but the doubts from an ethical point of view are also there. In fact, it has been the company’s own wellness team that has been against this product, causing its launch to be delayed. Internal opposition. In an exclusive Wall Street Journalsay that earlier this year, OpenAI consulted with its board of wellness experts about ChatGPT’s adult mode and the response was unanimous: it’s a terrible idea. At a meeting, experts warned that these types of interactions with AI can foster emotional dependency, especially among younger users. One of the committee members brought up the topic of teenagers who committed suicide, allegedly encouraged by ChatGPTand said it would be like launching a “sexy suicide coach.” Demolishing. Risks. People are already forming emotional bonds with AI chatbotsif we add sexual content to the one that has the most users in the world, it is, to say the least, delicate. According to internal documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, the wellness council’s experts identified several problems, such as the risk of compulsive use, a tendency toward extreme content, and the displacement of real romantic relationships in favor of virtual ones. Age verification. Is the crucial step that ensures that such a tool does not end up in the hands of minor users. The problem OpenAI has is that its verification system fails more than a fairground shotgun. According to internal sources, the system failed to identify 12% of the time. It may seem like a relatively low figure, but in practice we are talking about millions of teenagers accessing this function. What OpenAI says. The company wants us to be able to ‘sext’ with ChatGPT, but with certain limits. An OpenAI spokesperson says they will block harmful content – such as sexual and child-related abuse -, will integrate safeguards such as reminding users to have relationships in the real world, and will also avoid encouraging exclusive relationships. Another measure involves monitoring the long-term effect that this adult mode has on users. Adult mode will be exclusively text and will not allow the creation of images or videos. Regarding age verification, the spokesperson states that the performance is similar to that of other industry proposals and that “they will never be totally infallible.” It was planned for the first quarter, but now that it has been postponed there is no date for its launch. Background. OpenAI already has a history of accusations related to harmful effects on mental health. One of the most famous cases It was Adam Raine’sa teenager who shared his suicidal ideations with ChatGPT. When his parents discovered the conversations, They sued OpenAI. And he hasn’t been the only one. There is several legal proceedings underway for similar cases and there have also been cases where ChatGPT has been accused of encourage delusional thoughts and cause psychotic breaks. Saying that AI is solely responsible is simplify a much more complex realitybut it is no less true that OpenAI has taken steps to make its chatbot more secure for minors and has been shown committed to taking care of the mental health of its users. That is, they recognize that the problem exists. The question now is how launching a version of the same chatbot that has sex with users fits into this discourse. In Xataka | “I can’t stop”: the addiction to talking to AI is already here and there are even support groups to quit it Image | Cottonbro studio, Pexels

call the US or be the last with an endangered fighter jet

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There was a time when Spain decided that it did not need the large aircraft carriers of the superpowers to have combat aviation at sea. So he opted for a bold solutionalmost experimental, that fit its geography, its naval ambition and its resources, and that would end up becoming a sign of identity for decades. Since then, that unique aircraft has been linked to the Navy in such a profound way that it is difficult to understand its history separately. And now you are faced with a dilemma. Pioneer in stoppage time. Yes, for approximately half a century, the Spanish Navy built a singular identity in Europe by operating fixed-wing fighters from the sea without the need for large aircraft carriers, relying on the Harrier as a central tool of deterrence, projection and expeditionary support. That strategic advantage, which made Spain an international reference since the seventies and allowed it to operate in real scenarios like the Balkansnow comes to a critical point: the aircraft that made it possible enters its final phase of useful life just when the rest of the operators leave the platform and the technological and doctrinal environment of naval air combat has completely changed. The isolation of the Spanish Harrier. To understand it, two facts are fundamental: the imminent withdrawal of the AV-8B Harrier of the United States Marine Corps and the italian transition towards the F-35B, movements that leave Spain on track to become the last world operator of the model. This scenario is not only symbolic, but deeply practical: it means being left alone with a logistics chain that is shutting down, with production stopped for more than two decades and with a growing dependence on one-off agreements, cannibalization of cells and increasingly scarce spare parts. Extra ball. Although the Navy hopes to extend operations until 2032 through agreements with the United States and management extremely careful of the fleet, the truth is that with each passing year reduces safety marginsincreases risks and increases the cost of a capacity that no longer has a medium-term future. Harrier of the Spanish Navy The technological abyss in front of the network. Beyond sustainment, the dilemma is operational. Of course, the Harrier is still a valid aircraft for certain missions, but it belongs to another era of air combatone where information was concentrated in the cockpit and survival depended largely on the pilot and limited sensors. In front of him we have to talk again about an “old acquaintance”, because the F-35B represents a qualitative leap that does not allow comparisons gradual: it is not just a fighter, but an intelligence node capable of detecting, merging and distributing information in real time to ships, aircraft and allies. For a ship like the Juan Carlos Ithis difference marks the border between conditioning the adversary or limiting oneself to reacting with increasingly exposed means. The problem, in this case, is already we have commented: Spain, a priori, does not seem willing to do so. FCAS and the lack of enthusiasm. Also it we count last week. The FCAS program often appears in the debate as a lifeline industrial and European politics, but it does not solve the problem embarked Spanish not even in its most optimistic scenarios. If we ignore that at this moment the project is more outside than insideit is a system designed for air superiority from land bases, without STOVL design nor compatibility with ships like the Juan Carlos I. In fact, turning it into a naval solution would require building a conventional aircraft carrier, redesign doctrines, assume colossal investments and wait decades. In real terms, FCAS does not replace the Harrier or avoid the vacuum that will open if decisions are not made in the short term. The F-35B and realism. In 2026, the F-35B is not a perfect or cheap option, but it does aim to be the only existing platform capable of directly replacing the Harrier and keeping the Spanish embarked fixed wing alive. With more than a thousand operational units and a growing community of naval operators, it offers continuity, interoperability and a military relevance that the Harrier can no longer guarantee alone. From that prism and although Spain it doesn’t seem For the work, giving up this fighter does not mean saving so much as accepting a decade or perhaps more without an embarked combat aircraft, which in the long run could degrade the Juan Carlos I to a helicopter and drone ship with limited capabilities in the face of an increasingly disputed environment. Maybe not, but that idea flies over if there is no replacement for the Harrier. A strategic dilemma. Thus, the underlying or “nuclear” problem is not choosing between airplanes, but rather deciding What role do you want to play? Spain in the naval and expeditionary field. Keeping the Harriers to the limit without a clear relief leads to a loss of capacity hardly reversible, while recovering that aptitude in the future would require much higher costs and efforts. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking, partners are moving forward, and the Navy is faced with a decision that will define its relevance operational for decades: that of continuing to be an actor with an embarked fixed wing or accepting, through inaction, the silent end of one of its most emblematic capabilities. Image | sagesolar, David Fierro Iglesias In Xataka | France and Germany have agreed to give Spain the worst news: one in which the F-35 and its “button” are the winners In Xataka | Spain agreed with Germany and France to bypass the US. And it will end with a fleet of F-35s because of a French name

five cell phones for less than 60 euros that only serve to call and send messages

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Yesterday the news broke: the Government wants to prohibit that minors under 16 years of age have access to social networks. The proposal, which still has to go through Congress, would put in check what is probably the greatest use that this group gives to their cell phones. Will they then still want to have a smartphone? Regardless of whether this new regulation succeeds or at what age do we want to give him his first cell phonethere opens an alternative with a type of telephone that It still has a lot of use in 2026: what is known as ‘dumbphone’. Our selection of ‘dumbphones’, at a glance Samsung C5320 by 59.99 eurosa clamshell phone from the Korean manufacturer. SPC Wild by 58.69 eurosSpanish mobile available in various colors and with camera. Nokia 106 by 18.99 eurosthe most economical option. Pusokei Mini Flip Phone by 36.28 euroswith a different design from the others and space for three SIMs. SPC Stella 2 by 29.39 euroswith charging base and three speed dial buttons. A phone from the past for the people of now A ‘dumbphone’ is what is known as a phone without internet and usually has a classic design. Not all, but that usually means having a physical keyboard and a very minimalist designsometimes like those flip phones from 20 years ago. Since they are easy to use and very basic, we tend to attribute them to older people. However, they gain strength in different contexts. We have already explained the first of them above: the new regulation announced yesterday by Pedro Sánchez. We don’t know how far it will go, but It could be extended to applications like WhatsApp or Telegram for its social component. That makes this type of phone ideal for the little ones to have. a direct means of communication with their parents without having to have a smartphone or another source of distraction. But there is more. A smartphone is a double-edged sword. Yes, it is very useful because it can be used for everything. In return, we also run the risk of getting lost between applications, social networks and that tendency to scroll infinite in which we can fall easier than it seems. There the ‘dumbphone’ also shines as telephones that they make this ‘digital detox’ easier that It has been so fashionable for a few years now.. Of course, all this does not mean that, as we say, They are also perfect for the elderly. Older people tend to have it easier with physical keyboards and simple devices that get to the point. In addition, these phones have a very high autonomy of several days, ideal so that you do not have to worry so much about charging them. Some ‘dumbphone’ options for less than 60 euros Samsung C5320 A Samsung ‘dumphone’ with a clamshell design and a very old-fashioned look. Its screen is 2.4 inches and its battery is disassembled, something that will soon we will see again on smartphones. Its charging connector is micro USB and it has a 3.5 millimeter jack port for headphones. We have it available on AliExpress for 59.99 euros. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links SPC Wild With several colors available (some of them very striking), this SPC Wild is very interesting for the little ones. It also has a clamshell format and a battery that promises to offer seven days of autonomy. In addition, it has extra functions such as a flashlight or even a basic camera. Costs 58.69 euros. SPC Wild – Basic 4G Phone for Digital Disconnection and First Secure Connection | Camera, Double Screen, SOS Button and 7 Day Battery | Turquoise The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Nokia 106 This Nokia 106 will bring a smile to those of us who are already of a certain age. It is a very simple phone that does what it wants: offering calls and messages for very little (it only costs 18.99 euros). Of course, despite its price, it has dual SIM, FM radio and even the occasional game. Like the Samsung, it has a Micro USB port for charging. Nokia 106 for All Operators 4GB Dual SIM 2018 Dark Gray with LED Flashlight – FM Radio – Big Button Phone The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Pusokei Mini Flip Phone Less known than the previous ones is this Mini Flip Phone from Pusokei. This also has a dual SIM slot and even has space for a microSD. Its screen is small, but in color and it even includes a basic camera which is fine for children. What differentiates it most from the others is its design, without a doubt. Available for 36.28 euros. PUSOKEI Mini Flip Phone, 2G Flip Cell Phone with 1.77 Screen, HD Rear Camera, 16GB Memory, Large Buttons, 3 Card Slots, 1000MAh, for Children, People The price could vary. We earn commission from these links SPC Stella 2 The last one is also from the SPC brand, although this time it is the Stella 2 model. This is very ideal for older people due to the typography of the keys, although it is equally suitable for anyone. It has three quick access buttons that we can program to dial quickly. It comes with a charging base, which is a plus. Costs 29.39 euros. SPC Stella 2 – Flip Mobile Phone for Seniors, Large Buttons and Keys, Easy to Use, Remote Configuration, SOS Button, USB-C, 3 Direct Memories, Charging Base, Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Samsung, SPC, Nokia, Pusokei In Xataka | The best mobile phones, we have tested them and here are their analyzes In Xataka | The best quality-price mobiles. Their analyzes and videos are here

Taking an important call in a traffic jam is the order of the day. In 1990, a company in Barcelona already offered this service

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Nowadays, as soon as we have some down time, we turn to our mobile: either to scroll infinitely on Instagram or to catch up on email. Although what defined the basis of today’s smartphones was the first iPhone in 2007, the professional point began before, with the blackberry 5810 and your email in 2002 or we can even go back to Nokia 9000 ’96, which introduced the keyboard and its business approach. The late 90s were the beginning of turning the mobile phone into an everyday object. I’m driving and I need a call now. Of course, back in the 90s, carrying a cell phone in the car and answering a work call was unthinkable. Or not, because someone thought of it an exclusive telephone service for drivers in Barcelona pre-Olympic Games. The target audience was those people who were so busy that they could not afford to be disconnected while traveling through the congested business areas of the city. The operation. As they narrate on the Catalan regional television 3Cat, if in the middle of a traffic jam you were lucky enough to find one of those people in white overalls on a scooter, with a fanny pack and the phone stuffed in a shoulder bag, you could ask them. A uniform as characteristic as the backpacks of today’s delivery drivers, but much less common: at that time there were only five workers moving through the busiest traffic points in Barcelona, ​​although they wanted to increase it to 25. If you are standing, they leave you the headset. And if you move, they lend you the device and follow you until you complete the call. The price of the service was 25 pesetas and the minimum call price is 300 pesetas. Because? To begin with, because in 1990 if you wanted to call on the street what there was were booths and analog technology, in Spain specifically MoviLine: the first mobile operator to deploy the original 1G network, owned by Telefónica. And if we talk about devices, the mythical Motorola MicroTAC It was a status symbol for executives. A symbol measuring 23 centimeters and weighing 350 grams. Yes, there were some mobile phones, but they were heavy, with very long antennas and batteries that barely lasted a couple of hours in conversation. On the other hand, having a phone installed in the car was expensive and niche. But the business was not just the telephone, but mobility and time. As businessman Josep Marí says, his idea was “to create the need to find a mobile phone to be able to call to work, home or wherever.” Ahead of his time. This “Automatic Mobile Telephony” service was ahead of its time in that it had a vision of a future need, but faced a market that was not yet ready. As the 90s progressed, telephone technology became more refined and democratized. 1995 brought GSM to the Spanish state on the one hand and, on the other, the liberalization of the telecommunications market, which inaugurated airtel. The operators began to directly control distribution and technical service with franchises and distributors, leaving little room for local independent companies. Scooters before the scooter craze. And if the service itself is surprising, so is the means of transportation: a scooter with a gasoline engine, more specifically the Sport model. of the Go-Ped brand, but quite similar in design and concept to the electric ones that swarm our streets today. His virtue was exactly the same: moving quickly and agilely through the density of Barcelona’s traffic to be able to get in front of the client. In Xataka | This glorious imaginary version of the Galaxy Fold from the 90s is one of those gems that can only be found on the internet In Xataka | A story of pioneers: they already flirted, argued and liked on the party lines of the 90s Cover | 3Cat via Marc Vidal edited with Gemini

30,000 lightning strikes, orange warnings and severe events: don’t call it ‘squall line’, call it ‘new normal’

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During the early morning and early hours of this Wednesday, November 5, the arrival of a cold front to the Peninsula has caused a very active squall line throughout the southwest. And, in this case, saying “very active” is not an exaggeration: the images that they come to us from Portugal they are incredible and at the moment, he is heading to Extremadura and Western Andalusia. The interesting thing is that we no longer talk about meteorological information, we begin to enter the field of Okay, but what is a squall line? This is an organized storm system that, often ahead of a cold front, forms in a line. Due to its structure, this phenomenon causes strong and destructive winds, torrential rains, hail and lightning. In addition, they are characterized by advancing very quickly and being able to cause significant damage. In Xataka The "tropicalization" of the atmosphere is going to change Spain and not exactly for the better And so it has been. Portugal’s Civil Protection recorded more than 150 nighttime incidents and, as the Portuguese press explainedit is not just the problems caused by the rain and wind; is that tens of thousands of electric shocks have been recorded. About 30,000 in a few hours. Given this, AEMET activated orange noticesin Galicia, Extremadura and Andalusia. In addition, 122 Extremadura is prepared for rains of 5–20 l/m² in very short periods of time. It’s not a lot of water, but in these circumstances it can cause a lot of problems. Aren’t we talking about autumn showers? No, we are not talking about loose showers: it is an organized convection capable of producing severe gusts, hail and wet blowouts. They are formations that trigger the risk on urban areas, electrical networks and mobility. It’s another episode of “This is not just an Atlantic storm” that has been with us for weeks now. It is true that November is a typical month for hallways in the southwest; but the data suggests that we are facing something more. {“videoId”:”x89b35l”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”PROFESSIONAL STORM CHASERS_ this is their daily life”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”400″} What is really happening? In technical terms, we are talking about the arrival of an Atlantic trough and cold front with sufficient shear to organize convection and force a quasi-linear system. Ambient humidity does the rest and that is the key. As we said a few days agothat area of ​​the peninsula is prone to low convergences that, with adequate shear and sufficient humidity,They organize convectively very easily. As connections with the Gulf of Mexico (the famous ‘rivers of moisture’) become more common and, with them, the available humidity grows: these systems will become more frequent and more intense. It is the same as occurs in the Mediterranean with DANAs: It doesn’t matter if climate change causes more or not, the amount of “available fuel” makes any spark turn into a fire. Meteorologically speaking, of course. Image | Carlos Virazón (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news 30,000 lightning strikes, orange warnings and severe events: don’t call it ‘squall line’, call it ‘new normal’ was originally published in Xataka by Javier Jimenez .

call the only ship that has been repairing them for more than a decade

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That an underwater cable breaks (or someone cut it) can happen anywhere. There is amazing ships dedicated to deployment and repair of this critical infrastructure in our hyperconnected world. However, when it happens in Africa there is only one ship that can answer the call at any time. Is called Leon Thevenin and has been in operation for more than forty years. The ship. As they say in Rest of WorldIn the world there are 62 cable repair ships that are always available, but in Africa there is only one. The Léon Thévenin is part of the fleet of Orange Marinea subsidiary of the French operator Orange, and for thirteen years has been in charge of all repairs from Ghana to Madagascar. It is 107 meters long and the crew that operates it is 60 people. It also features a remote submarine and a small work boat. According to the official ship record, It is capable of making repairs in extreme weather conditions, in both deep and shallow water. African cables. In this map We can see that the continent is surrounded by countless cables that provide connections to both its inhabitants and data centers and ground stations. Among the most notable is the ‘Peace Cable’ connecting Singapore to Kenyathe West African cable system and the Alphabet Equiano that go from Portugal to South Africa. The cable also stands out 2Africa which with its 45,000 kilometers is the longest in the world; It connects from the United Kingdom, goes all the way around the African continent and ends in India. And there are many more. Accidents. Cables deteriorate, they can also be damaged after storms or if a ship drops anchor and drags it. Many times the cuts are intentional, but they usually occur in other places in increased geopolitical tension like Taiwan either the baltic sea. In March 2024, much of the west and center of the continent was left without connection due to simultaneous failures in several cables. The Léon Thévenin was in charge of returning connectivity to millions of people. It has not been the only case. In recent years the ship has been having a lot of work because the Congo Canyona huge underwater canyon that extends 280 kilometers into the Atlantic, is suffering many landslides that have affected several cables. A great responsibility. It is estimated that 99% of the world’s internet traffic travels over submarine cables. If a cable breaks, it can leave millions of people without connectivity. Furthermore, in the age of AI, connectivity is even more important because it connects the infrastructure that makes it work. The price to pay for the Léon Thévenin crew is spending very little time with his family. Sometimes they rest for a month, the problem is that if a breakage occurs they are the only ones who answer the call. Image | Wikipedia In Xataka | The submarine cables belonged to the teleoperators, and now the big technology companies are controlling them

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