current

Sam Altman is laying the foundations for post-humanism as the philosophical current of the AI ​​era. It’s not good news

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“But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes about 20 years of life and all the food you consume during that time to become intelligent.” These two sentences were enough delivered at the India-AI Impact Summit 2026to set the networks on fire. But Sam Altman didn’t stop there. “Not only that, it took the widespread evolution of the 100 billion people who have lived and who learned not to be eaten by predators and to understand science and so on to create you,” continuous. Therefore, the criticism about “how much energy is needed to train an AI model” They are extremely unfair. And it’s curious. The most “unpopular” technology in history… Not because it is not understandable (or even because it is not reasonable). It’s funny because Altman and the rest of the AI ​​bigwigs don’t seem to realize that they are making every effort to make AI extremely successful. unpopular among the population. Maybe it’s nothing new. Maybe it’s something similar to what happened with fabric making machine salesmen in the midst of the industrial revolution. Maybe it’s something similar to what motivated movements like that of the Luddites and the reason why dozens of historians rewrote their history as that of poor technophobes. What has changed is that we are now broadcasting it to the entire world — and live and direct. And very insistently. Although the discourse they use to ‘sell’ their technology to investors, technical elites and politicians around the world can only be understood at a public level as a very sophisticated way of saying: ‘human things get in the way.’ Or not so sophisticated, of course. …that is finding its “public” Team Mirai Over the last few years, in fact, the process has become less and less subtle and more blatant. It is not something that is limited to AI companiesbut it is an increasingly clear phenomenon: people speaking to a convinced hyperminority while alienating the vast social majority. And artificial intelligence is the tip of the spear. And it wouldn’t be a problem if there weren’t something else: the current great technological battle is not only technical, it is ideological, philosophical and of values. For the social changes they hope to be successful, it is necessary to move the ‘Overton window’ as quickly as possible. And it’s working. The best example is Japan: in the last election, Team Mirai ran. As Antonio Ortiz explainedis “a new Japanese party founded by engineers” with “a fairly accelerationist program: government chatbots and databases for transparency of donations and to make politics ‘faster’, reduce paperwork and achieve an increase in productivity to compensate for the labor shortage.” Well, those people just got 11 seats and 7% of the votes. In a way, two apparently contradictory processes are two legs of the same phenomenon: the discourse becomes more explicit as the population becomes more related. And changing the world is also (and above all) changing ideas. We tend to have a softened vision of social changes. However, there are several psychosocial processes that are usually key for these to be carried out: delegitimization (“what ruled until now no longer deserves obedience”), demonization (“those who hold these ideas are evil”) and dehumanization (“they are not human, moral norms do not apply”). You don’t always get to the last step, but some degree of moral disconnection it is necessary. And the artificial intelligence revolution (and all the tensions it brings) continues to show similar signs: for years, accelerationist and posthumanist groups have been ‘operating’ in the shadow of the great social and political discourses. Now, however, they face it: as the AGI approaches, everything we thought we knew (on a social, economic or institutional level) is useless. Or so they try to make us believe. And the best example is that of Altman: the CEO of OpenAI does not have to declare himself a posthumanist to lay the rhetorical tiles through which these discourses will travel: when you convert the human into energy cost comparable to an AI model, you are lowering the bar to justify “anything” in the name of efficiency But what exactly is all this talk about posthumanisms and accelerationists? Although they are two different philosophical traditions (posthumanism questions classical humanism and lays the foundations for its improvement, while accelerationism is a family of ideologies that propose accelerating certain dynamics – technological or capitalist to provoke radical social change), the truth is that in recent years they have ended up coming together. And, beyond that, they are providing the mental framework that allows certain decisions to be made that, in other scenarios, would not be socially acceptable. When the human being ceases to be the ideological ‘center’ of the system, acceleration becomes the great political principle and the AGI becomes the utopian destiny of a post-scarcity society (the modern equivalent of the Christian heaven or the Marxist classless society), everything that opposes this — rightly or wrongly — will become old, outdated or outdated. Altman’s statements in India are not an accident: they are part of the delegitimization of the current system of values ​​that the next revolution needs and, as we see, is already underway. Image | Xataka In Xataka | “A place of joy with pain”: the phrase that summarizes the Aztec philosophy to be happier in this life

85% hide a “cocktail” of pesticides and PFAS that current regulations ignore

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If we think about a healthy food, the truth is that the apple is at the top. However, a recent published analysis by the NGO Pesticide Action Network Europe, in collaboration with 13 other organizations, has put an uncomfortable reality on the table: a good part of the conventional apples that reach our supermarkets are contaminated by multiple pesticides. The data. The report was based in this case on the analysis of 59 fresh samples of local production collected in September 2025 in 13 European countries, which also includes Spain. In this case, organizations like Ecologista en Acción have been able to corroborate The results have pointed to the following: 93% of the apples analyzed had at least one chemical residue, that is, only 7% were completely free of pesticides. 85% contained more than one pesticide, with an average of three different substances per fruit, reaching up to seven in the most extreme cases. By countries. While in Denmark only 20% of samples had multiple residues, in Spain, France and Italy the figure shot up to a worrying 80%. And when asked where so much chemical comes from, the answer suggests that apples can be sprayed with agrochemicals up to 30 times a year. The toxic ones. What worries the scientific community most is not only the quantity, but the quality of these toxins, since the breakdown of the substances found ignites several red flag: 71% of the apples contained pesticides classified by the European Union itself as “substitution candidates”, that is, the most toxic on the market that should be gradually removed by safer ones. 64% had PFAS wasteknown as “forever chemicals” for their persistence in the environment. The most common is fludioxonil, which is a known endocrine disruptor found in 40% of the samples. The consequences. The data here indicates that 93% of these commonly consumed apples did not comply with the strict legal limits required for the production of processed baby foods, highlighting the risk for children, who are especially vulnerable to these substances because they are much more sensitive as their livers do not have fully developed. The cocktail effect. If apples have a toxin on their surface, the question seems inevitable: why are they legal? This is where the European Food Safety Authority comes in, analyzing the substances individually, estimating that in the vast majority of cases the concentration of each pesticide separately is below legal limits allowed. In fact, the EU Annual Report on waste prepared by EFSA guarantees that exceedances above the standard are low. but the problem It’s in the ‘cocktail effect’ because the current regulations ignore the fact that when three or four toxins are combined, their effect is multiplied. However, despite the fact that the EU has had a legal mandate for 20 years to assess cumulative risks, to this day it still does not apply it rigorously, and if that were not enough, at the end of 2025 the European Commission put forward proposals that could further weaken these toxicity reviews. There are precedents. This study is not an isolated case, since other entities such as the OCU have already published information that pointed to the high level of toxic waste that is in some foods. Even EFSA itself It records this multiple contamination year after year in its databases, although it limits itself to validating that individually they do not break the rule. Faced with this panorama and waiting for European regulations to be updated to protect consumers from the cocktail effect, experts and environmental organizations agree on a clear recommendation: for those seeking to minimize their exposure to these hormone disruptors and persistent chemicals, organically produced apples, which according to studies are usually free of these residues, are currently emerging as the safest alternative. Images | Ilham Wicaksono In Xataka | We are surrounded by “eternal chemicals” that we could only destroy with cannon fire. It turns out that we have an ally in the intestine

The great plan of Chinese brands to open hundreds of dealerships in Spain: a movement against the current

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Search, compare and if you find something better, buy it It was the 80s and Colón’s detergents had snuck their famous slogan into every house in Spain. 40 years later, a BYD worker explained to me how they sought to break down prejudices in Spain: “We are letting people take the car home. We don’t want to do the typical 20-minute test with the salesperson inside the car. We tell the customer not to be afraid, to take the car and bring it to us the next day” BYD barely had a handful of points of sale in Spain those days in 2023. Shortly before we had attended the official presentation of the brand. The Chinese company arrived with three electric cars (two of them with a clear premium focus) and I saw it clearly: the brand had to attract the customer to the dealership. Let him sit in the car, touch it and feel it. It was the only way to dynamit prejudices. We are just over a month away from the end of 2025. At the end of October, BYD has sold 22,357 exclusively plug-in units in Spain according to data from Anfac. They easily double Fiat. They surpass Mazda and Volvo. They left Tesla behind a long time ago. They have Opel or Cupra on the near horizon. They begin to approach Ford. At the same time, BYD will close 100 dealerships this year (96 are already active throughout Spain) and they plan to open another thirty next year. At the same time, Chery has placed 31,493 cars in our country at the end of November between Ebro, Omoda and Jaecoo. And we are facing the first full year in which they have sold cars in our country. The sum of all of them also easily exceeds one hundred points of sale. MG adds 38,989 units between January and October 2025. With 11 points of sale available throughout Spain. The irruption is such that 10% of the cars purchased in Spain they are Chinese. It was a figure that was difficult to imagine just a few years ago. A figure that has been achieved by taking the customer to the dealership. And dynamiting their prejudices. The importance of being on the street There are many factors that explain the brutal growth of Chinese brands in our country. We can talk about its low prices, about offering a gateway to a technology (electric or plug-in hybrid) that has made the product more expensive or the extensive equipment offered in each car. But in addition to the price, which overrides all the previous arguments, we find an expansive effort by all these brands to be on the street, at the customer’s feet, with the dealers. “We had been waiting for its arrival for a long time. Already 15 years ago, in the brand’s first foray, we had one of its models, now I don’t remember exactly the name. In terms of volume, manufacturing capacity and development, it is a really excellent product. We think it is above the rest of the Chinese brands that are arriving in our country.” The speaker is José María Blitz, Project Director at the dealership that BYD has on Concha Espina Street in Madrid (next to the Santiago Bernabéu) and which belongs to Astara Retaila distributor with a presence in 19 countries and that sells you a Bentley or a Rolls-Royce as well as a BYD. This time it is the Chinese brand he is referring to. He tells us that the public has welcomed the company with open arms and that since they opened their first dealership, this one next to the Madrid stadium, interest has only increased. “The client It has already surpassed that of ‘unknown brand’. There could have been one at the beginning, three or four years ago, but I think it is practically expired. What’s more, the customer’s perception of the brand is excellent,” he explains. Added to that, “the European product was very expensive and the equipment was very fair. Chinese brands offer a quality product at a competitive price with a much higher level of equipment. We can easily be 20% or 25% below competing brands with higher equipment levels,” says Blitz. BYD is just one of the Chinese brands that sell in our country. Together with MG and the Chery Group (Omoda, Jaecoo and Ebro) they form a kind of quintet representative of the 28 Chinese brands that already sell in our country, according to Faconauto. The dealer association of our country says it has about 600 points of sale right now, between dealers and official services. Of course, they point out to us that “it is convenient to contextualize this figure: the majority of points of sale in Spain continue to correspond to consolidated manufacturers – European, Japanese, Korean or American – whose presence is structural and has developed over decades. Right now, Faconauto has 28 Chinese companies selling cars through 600 dealerships spread throughout the country. What happened to find us with this explosion? Blitz is clear, the product, he assures, is part of the success. But also who these brands have partnered with. “Their strategy has been to close agreements with large groups of dealers, people who are really professional,” they say from this dealership owned by Astara. The same is the opinion of Faconauto, who point out that “they have decided to enter our market with a ‘traditional’ model, taking advantage of the establishment of business dealers. And the key is the word ‘businessmen’, who choose where to invest their money. It is evident that many dealer groups have seen a good opportunity in investing in the distribution of Chinese brands.” This commitment generates trust in the customer, which has allowed them to grow “to the level of any other European brand,” for Blitz. The key: a disruptive product and good after-sales service. “They are very agile and they want their employees to be agile too. There is a sense of … Read more

six great-grandchildren for every 100 current Koreans

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Although your latest data about birth and marriages They seem to have given the country some respite, generally talking about demographics in South Korea requires adopting a disastrous tone. Almost funeral. The nation has been seeing for years how its fertility collapses little by little, moving further and further away from what is known as ‘replacement rate’ social. The situation is so critical who already drives a devastating projection: if nothing changes, for every 100 current South Koreans there will be only six great-grandchildren. And that (we repeat) if the birth rate does not continue to collapse. It is a very useful warning for sailors in Europe. A (devastating) figure: 0.7. That is the fertility rate that South Korea would register in 2023, according to World Bank data. The figure is far from the 1.5 that it managed at the beginning of the 21st century and well below the 4.5 of the 1970s. Although in 2024 the nation achieved rise slightly that indicator (up to 0.74), the truth is that Seoul has little reason to celebrate. Their birth rates are still light years away from those that would prevent the registry from beginning to decline (2.1 children per woman) and as soon as you search, you will find studies that warn of the impact that this demographic bleeding will have on your society, economy and even on the national defense. It may sound exaggerated, but South Korea already shows the characteristics of a society “super aged” and former president Yoon Suk Yeol even came to declare officially in 2024 the “national demographic emergency”. 100 South Koreans, 6 great-grandchildren. Korea’s demographic reality is what it is (bad), but there are different ways to address it. And some are so clear that they help to better understand the phenomenon. Perhaps the most resounding was presented a few days ago by Phoebe Arslanagić-Little in an extensive analysis published in Works in Progress. Among other issues, Arslanagić-Little reminds that with current fertility rates per 100 South Koreans today there will be only six great-grandchildren. And that is assuming that the country’s birth rate is stable and does not continue to deepen in the downward path that has been chaining for decades. The estimate is devastating, although it is not entirely new. In 2023 the famous pronatalist Malcolm Collins already issued a similar warning in an article published in The Telegraph: “At this rate, there will only be six great-grandchildren for every 100 current Koreans. And that’s assuming the fertility rate doesn’t continue to fall as it has done almost every year for the past two decades. That represents a 94% reduction in generation size next century.” A similar prediction is found in the media like the BBC. Why is it a problem? For several reasons. The first (and most obvious) is that a country in which the demographic engine has seized has three options, not exclusive: find a way to encourage their birthbet on immigration or resign yourself to seeing how your census decreases year after year. For now, in Seoul they are already conducting studies that show the consequences of this last scenario. Not long ago the Korean Peninsula Population Institute for Future (KPPIF) published a report in which he points out that, even in an optimistic scenario, the South Korean population risks suffering a drastic snip in the long term. From the current 51.68 million inhabitants it would rise to just 15.73 million in 2125. That is, in a century it would be less than a third of its current size. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Much more than demographics. The social and economic implications of such a scenario are evident. In 2024 the country will officially become a “super-aged” societya label that reveals that at least 20% of its population is over 65 years old. There are calculations that suggest that in 50 years the number of people of working age will have dropped by half and the population group of military service age will have been reduced by 58%. Even the Bank of Korea has raised his voice to remember that if the nation does not change its outlook and continues with its plummeting birth rate, it may be dragged (along with other factors) into a prolonged recession in the medium term, around 2040. Searching for the causes. South Korea’s demographic crisis is not new. Just as the factors that motivate it are not, a cluster of well-identified conditions that Arslanagić-Little cites in your article: the labor and professional costs of motherhood for women, the difficulties in conciliation, the economic burden of parenting in such a competitive society such as the Korean one, cultural changes in relationships between men and women, etc. The analysis is interesting because most of these factors are perfectly transferable to the West. There are others specific to the South Korean reality, such as the inherited effect of the antinatalist campaigns promoted last century. How to solve it? That is the question Korea must face if it wants to change its course. Especially because the country stands out for another factor: its low levels of immigration. It is estimated that foreigners represent just 5.1% of the total population, far from the data that Spain handles, for example. Here the INE calculates that 13.4% of residents In the country they have foreign nationality. The truth is that South Korea has been implementing policies to encourage births for some time, an effort that seems to be having results, although still very shy. The question remains whether or not the country will be able to make a demographic turnaround. Image | Enkuu Smile (Unsplash) In Xataka | South Korea has found the formula to improve its birth rate: companies pay fortunes to their employees to have children

The visual garbage of AI is so omnipresent that it is already unleashing a counter-aesthetic current: neo-brutalism

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The Internet is being flooded with images and designs that seem to be cut from the same mold: identical fonts, predictable gradients, aesthetics polished to the point of nausea. This phenomenon is difficult to describe and limit due to its infinite variants and omnipresence, but it has a name: “AI slop“. By this we refer to digital content generated with artificial intelligence, from images to web design itself, and where quantity takes precedence over any hint of originality or meaning beyond the effectiveness of the mass production chain. But what is AI Slop. The expression gained traction in 2024 thanks to British programmer Simon Willisonalthough it had previously circulated in communities such as 4chan and Hacker News. The concept indicates a root problem: When AI models are trained with the most common patterns on the internet, they replicate a generic and forgettable aesthetic ad nauseam. It’s what experts call “distributional convergence”: everything seems designed by the same depersonalized algorithm. And the anti-AI slop? Faced with this invasion of algorithmic uniformity, a visual counterculture emerges that celebrates precisely what AI avoids: the clumsiness, the unevenness, the marks of the human creative process. The anti-AI slop is not an aesthetic whim, but a declaration of principles that rescues imperfection and turns it into a differential value and a trait of delicious humanity. Some critics celebrate it as a kind of digital neo-brutalism, referring to the famous unadorned concrete architecture of the 1950s. This neo-brutalism is characterized by taking digital nudity to the extreme: sites built with basic HTML and minimal CSS, where the code is displayed without artifice. The fonts are not the elegant paid fonts, but the system ones installed by default: Arial, Times New Roman, Courier. The photographs appear unretouched, with their digital noises and compression artifacts clearly visible. Asymmetrical compositions, in short, that break any notion of classical balance. Like children. This leads us to a style perhaps opposite to cold brutalism, but also contrary to IA Slop: the aesthetic of a childish hasty sketch. Deliberately unbalanced proportions, freehand illustrations, elements that overflow the margins. Lindsay Marsh, a designer specializing in visual trends, points out that These visible “errors” act as signatures of authenticity: They are proof that behind the screen there are human fingers, not processors without humanity. The people of Phantom Watchers formulates it in a similar way: “It’s our way of saying ‘a human was here.’” Any notable example? The recent redesign of the oldest magazine The Face It is full of imperfections. Hell, it even looks like they programmed it in HTML. What features does it have? Like IA Slop itself, this opposition mutates in countless ways: disproportionately large fonts that challenge traditional visual hierarchy, website scaffolding exposed in an exhibitionist manner (even leaving the code visible), and color combinations limited to one or two colors on uniform black or white backgrounds, sometimes imitating the texture of analog montage. The templates are twisted on purpose, breaking with the obsessive symmetry that dominates more formal styles, and which are easier to imitate by those AIs that propose to set up a web store in just a few minutes and with a couple of prompts. But… why? The guiding principles of this rejection movement are clear: imperfections as a form of rejection of digital makeup, functionality without disguises, frontal rejection of prefabricated templates. “We don’t need decoration, we need design that just works,” summarized the people from the U1CORE design team when analyzing one of the many tentacles of this anti-AI Slop: the brutalist minimalismwhich is the label under which this new design trend is also categorized We have philosophy. And China, no less. Some evoke the aesthetics of another architectural and decorative trend: Japanese wabi-sabiwho finds the ephemeral and the defective beautiful. Cracks in walls and objects, time-worn textures, organic asymmetry… everything that algorithmic perfection rejects, anti-AI slop highlights. Many designers have named it “post-AI visual fatigue“the feeling that has given rise to all this: a collective exhaustion in the face of designs as polished as they are sterile and devoid of personality. Who said punk? For some of us, those of us who are old dogs, this philosophy reminds us of the guidelines of the first punk, the one who created fanzines with headlines made with letters cut out of magazines. Then ethics became aesthetics, and everything was militancy of photocopying and album covers as if they were kidnapping notes; But along the way, there was also opposition to a giant. To serious media, with gray designs and content without stridency. Punk stood up to the establishment with filth and “do it yourself”. It sounds very familiar to us: AI is the new mainstream, and many are going hardcore mode. Header | Kris Shakar In Xataka | Young people have decided to stop posting (so much) on Facebook and Instagram. “AI-generated garbage” has free rein

Apple TV has decided to swim against the current of all streaming platforms with a singular decision: not to put ads

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The common note among all streaming platforms, beyond catalog details, seems to be in the search for profit by raising cheaper rates in exchange for advertising interruptions. Apple, however, seems determined to differentiate itself, which can undoubtedly bring benefits at an economic and image level. Which is exactly what would benefit you the most at this moment. No ads. Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Apple Services, has confirmed in an interview with Screen International that the company has no plans to launch an Apple TV subscription with ads. The refusal is not indefinite, but at this time that is Apple’s decision. Cue states that “we will not include them for now. It is not a forever negative, but at the moment there are no plans”, and it comes in a context where practically all of its large competitors are expanding their advertising strategies, with more and more rates with ads. Because. He streaming has entered into something we could call his “advertising era“But Apple wants to differentiate itself from there: it believes that if it can maintain a competitive price, consumers will value not having their content interrupted by ads. It is a position that connects directly with the brand’s DNA: control over the user experience, frictionless design, and a commitment to the perception of premium value even if the price is not the highest on the market. It is the same philosophy that applies with Apple Musicwhich has never competed with free, ad-supported versions. What is coming. Apple’s decision takes on its true dimension when you look at what is happening in the rest of the industry. One of the next trends that is going to reach us are ads that fire even if the content is paused. At the moment, in the United States it is Peacock that is experimenting with this way of displaying ads, as well as Netflix in some territories. Disney+ has also shown interest in incorporating it into its catalog. That is to say, what is coming for the more immediate future are increasingly invasive ads, in the style of YouTube or Spotify on their cheaper accounts, and which undoubtedly revalue decisions like Apple’s. Prices: competitive but quality. AppleTV It currently costs 9.99 euros per month in Spainwhile in the United States the price has reached $12.99. At first glance, it might seem expensive compared to competitors’ basic plans. But this is where Apple has executed an interesting positioning maneuver: it does not compete in the low end of the market, but instead offers premium features at an intermediate price. The key is that all content is available in 4K HDR quality with spatial audio, at no additional cost and without advertising interruptions. But also, there are no steps, no temptation to “improve” the plan. You pay a single fee and access the full experience. It’s a radically simple model in a market that has become increasingly (unnecessarily) complicated. Comparison with other services. Apple’s tactic is evident: for 9.99 euros, Apple TV offers an experience equivalent to competing premium planswhich cost between 13.99 and 19.99 euros. It is not the cheapest option on the market (that happens with the ad-supported plans of Disney+, €5.99, or Netflix, €6.99) but it offers superior features at an average price: accessible enough to not seem exclusive, premium enough to justify the quality. What Apple TV offers. If we stay with the numbers, Apple TV loses by a landslide: just 226 titles in its catalog, a microscopic figure compared to Netflix’s 5,720, Prime Video’s 5,354, Disney+’s 2,461 or even HBO Max’s 2,300. according to recent calculations. It only makes sense if the catalog is measured by the quality of the content. While Netflix and Prime Video invest millions in producing and acquiring piece-rate content, Apple TV focuses on fewer productions, but ones that convey exclusivity. Although Apple is far from having series with the impact of ‘Stranger Things’, its biggest hits (‘Separation’, ‘Silo’, ‘F1’), convey that feeling of “there is no filler” that compensates for the smaller amount. The decision to dispense with advertisements for the moment moves along the same lines: to provide the viewer with something that no one else does, an experience of enjoying the series without interruptions or noise. Even if you have to pay something more (and even though the platform accounts they are not at their best). In Xataka | If the question is “where to watch all sports on a single platform”, one company wants to have the answer: Apple

‘Borderlands 4’ has been the great launch of September. Also an example of what is wrong in the current video game

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The last quarter of the year is not just a IMPORTANT MOMENT IN TECHNOLOGY: In the video game market, it also represents a crucial moment. Titles like ‘Ghost of Yotei‘ either ‘Metroid 4‘They will come out over the next few months, but the one that has just arrived is one of the bombings of the last layers of 2025:’ Borderlands 4 ‘. The analysis reflects that it is a hilarious gamebut also something that players are not missing: it is the example of what is wrong in the current megap production industry. And in this story the director of the game is being considered as the villain when we should look beyond: to technology and optimization. We are going to review. The situation. ‘Borderlands 4’ was launched last week and the reception by the players was good. It is a continuous, really fun title that, in addition, looks spectacular thanks to the artistic style so characteristic and that the engine Unreal Engine 5 (Stay with this name) Allows you to offer. The Steam review system is quite broken, but it is a thermometer of both the quality of the players and, at first, the reactions were mostly positive. All that has changed to ‘varied’, which implies that there is more bad than good. The problem is not the game itself: even those who put a bad review admit that it is a ‘borderlands’ and is hilarious. Here the problem is optimization of the game, especially on PC. Players complain that specs Minimum and recommended offered by developers -Gearbox- do not add up to the experience they are having with teams that reach those specifications or that exceed them. A negative A positive, but also talking about performance Randy Pitchford. It is the name of the director of Gearbox and one of the heads after the success of ‘Borderlands’. Also One of the most controversial characters of the industry due both to your actions as to his most recent statements about the price of video games with that “True fans will find a way to pay them”. It is a guy who does not usually go unnoticed and that uses his social networks to ‘chop’ with any user, and with the wave of criticism of his game, he has not lost the opportunity to get into a couple of gardens. There are countless encounters these days between Randy and users and the problem is that he is doing it from Twitter X. This direct communication between managers and public is a fixed double weapon because it gives the sensation of closeness, but for somewhat large companies have communication teams: so that what is happening does not happen. If we take a look at some Steam reviews, many are reflecting the discontent with the game for those words of Randy. Among the messages of the manager, have Those who encourage a refund to ask if you do not agree with the performance (something that, after two hours plays cannot be done), to “accept the reality of the relationship between the hardware of your PC and the software they want to reproduce”, “”program your own engine and we will be your customers ”and another Comments series that a good part of the community has been taken as a “Randy is calling us poor to those who do not have a RTX 5090” The reaction. And what, unfortunately, happens so much in the world of video games: people who pass from the line. A sample is the following message that Pitchford himself shared In X after receiving it by mail: “You are a damn idiot. If you think that the” Premium “games exist or that there are” premium “players, you are a damn delayed. You are the closest that a white man can become a ‘n -r’ -a racial insult, basically. This type of messages, more own ‘Gamergaters’ than from someone civilized, is a sad reality in certain forums and Randy himself commented that he had “caused harm.” And there are already developers who have shown support to the CEO of Gearbox for the situation. Another one with Unreal Engine 5. Seen all this context, we go with what directly affects the game: the engine on which it is developed. When Unreal Engine 5 was presented, the latest version of the Epic Games engine, We all stay with our mouths open. The demo in PS5 It was impressive and promised a lot. The problem is when the games began to arrive. That a game uses Unreal Engine 5 usually involves bulky requirements to make it work, mediocre yields –even in consoles– In many cases and a series of failures that prevent players from enjoying it as a launch as they should. And it is a problem because the engine greatly facilitates the development of video games, so he is tempting for studies, but there are already those who, when he sees the EU5 logo, starts to tremble for how the title will work on his machine. Balls out. It has passed with more recent examples, such as’Metal Gear Solid Delta‘, or the remake of’The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion‘, and Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, He swept home A few weeks ago, stating that the engine is good, but that studies should start with optimization tasks at an earlier phase of development, and not crossing the task just at the end. The big background problem. As much as it is, and Returning to ‘Borderlands 4’, it is evident that there is a problem. Digital Foundry is an expert medium in the technical analysis of video games, the performance being one of the parameters that measure. From the middle they affirm that there are decisions that do not understand, such as limiting cinematics in real time to 30 fps, the overload that seems to occur when there are many enemies on the screen, the ‘level of detail’, or Lod ‘so aggressive or the pop-in that occurs walking around the world. And that on the … Read more

The solar panels 35 years ago are lasting so much that they have reopened the debate on the quality of the current

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The solar panel manufacturers They usually offer performance guarantees of about 20-25 years, a point from which the irremediable degradation of materials significantly reduces their ability to produce energy. Or that’s what they have done to believe. Short. A new analysis of solar panels installed in Switzerland between 1987 and 1993 reveals that most follow 80% of their initial nominal power. The study is based on six photovoltaic systems in operation for more than 30 years in all types of altitudes. Research, published in the EES Solar MagazineNot only confirms that solar panels can last a lot more than 25 years, but do so with such a low degradation that invites you to review priorities: are we balancing well efficiency, cost and materials? A degradation much lower than the typical. The researchers studied thoroughly from solar panels in low altitude roofs to facilities in alpine areas. On average, the panels lost only 0.24% of power per year. It is a value significantly lower than the usual range of the crystalline silicon: 0.5 to 0.6% per year, depending on the weather. In other words, these 35 -year modules degrade much more slowly of what the industry today assumes as usual. The secret is not the climate, but the materials. The weather can make a difference. In colder alpine environments, despite receiving more radiation, the degradation of the panels is slower due to the least thermal stress. At low altitude, where the surface of the panels can reach 80 ° C, Metallic contacts can run and lose conductivity for the degradation of the encapsulant. However, the secret of these panels is their solid construction. The modules analyzed are from the family of AM55 arc models and Siemens SM55, which stand out for the quality of their materials: thicker frontal glass, high quality encapsulants, very resistant rear sheets, robust aluminum frames and crystalline silicon cells somewhat thicker than the current ones. The moral of the study. Today’s photovoltaic industry has no point of comparison with that of the early 90s. The panels are much cheaper and achieve greater efficiencies. But in return, they use thinner silicon wafers, thinner glass and lighter designs. The conclusion of the study is not that before better panels, but that manufacturing materials have a great influence on long -term performance. Although they cannot compete with the current price, betting on robust and quality materials can make the useful life of a solar panel exceed 50 years in temperate climates. Image | Ebrar Özkalay et al. In Xataka | Forget the industrial revolution: the fastest energy change in human history is happening now

We thought that interstellar travelers were impossible to find current technology. Three have already been discovered

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Less than a decade ago, the idea of ​​detecting an object of another solar system through our neighborhood was science fiction material. Astronomers were clear that they existed, but believed that our chances of detecting them They were practically null due to the limitations of current technology. In 2017, everything changed. First appeared 1i/ʻoumuamua. An object that baffled astronomers. Not only because it was the first interstellar object discovered in our solar system, but because its nature was and remains a mystery. With A strange formas elongated as a cigar or flat as an album, and a size of just 100 or 200 meters, it happened fleetingly leaving more questions than answers. Was it a comet, an asteroid or something completely new? The debate continues while moving away from us. Then 2i/Borisov was discovered. When we still wondered if we would see something similar in our lives, the answer came alone. In 2019, astronomers They detected a second object of another star system That was unequivocally a kite, somewhat larger than its predecessor (about 400-500 meters) and with a very different trajectory. Borisov confirmed that ‘Oumuamua had not been an anomaly. Interstellar visitors were real and we are able to find them. And to confirm it, 3I/Atlas arrives. On July 1, 2025, the Telescopes of the Atlas Network in Chile detected the third known interstellar object. After confirming your hyperbolic trajectory, He was officially baptized as 3i/Atlas. It is a real giant compared to the previous two, and marks a before and after in the study of these bodies. Like Borisov, it shows a clear comment activity, with a comma and a tail that lengthens as it approaches the sun. Therefore, it is a kite. But it is much bigger. Although the measurements are refining, initial estimates place their diameter between 5 and 20 kilometers. A colossal size that makes it much easier to study. A giant who will pass through Mars. 3i/Atlas is incredibly fast. It moves at an exhaust speed of about 58-60 km/s with respect to the Sun. much faster than ‘oumuamua (26 km/s) and Borisov (32 km/s). His career is also unique. It will reach its closest point to the Sun (its perihelium) on October 29, passing between the orbits of Mars and the Earth. Although at that time our planet will be on the other side of the sun, which will prevent its direct observation, it will be only 31.4 million kilometers from Mars on October 3. This opens a fascinating opportunity: that some of the probes that orbit the red planet, such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, can capture images of the interstellar traveler. Three important findings. Each of these objects is a time capsule from another solar system. All planets, asteroids and comets of our system share a common origin, but these visitors are authentic outsiders. They contain clues about the formation and composition of worlds that orbit other stars. Studying them is like receiving a geological sample from a corner of the galaxy that would take millennia to visit. Until now, we could only observe his fleeting step. But this is about to change. ESA is already preparing THE MISSION INTERPECTORwhose launch is scheduled for 2029. The idea is ingenious: the probe will not have a predefined objective, but will “park” at a point in Lagrange (L2) waiting for a pristine kite of a long period or, with some lucky, a new interstellar visitor to be within its reach. It would be the first rapid response mission to intercept one of these mysterious objects. In less than ten years we have not known if they existed to actively plan how to send a ship to touch them. With new generation observatories such as Vera Rubin, which is expected to find dozens of them in the next decade, we are entering a new era of astronomy. The universe sometimes brings us its secrets at home. Image | The interstellar comet 3i/Atlas (ESA) In Xataka | There is a single opportunity in 11,000 years of reaching the planet Sedna. Some Italians want to use this nuclear engine

Three essential pieces of current cinema depend on its success

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There are hardly a few days left for the premiere of ‘Superman‘, a movie whose premiere we have been waiting since James Gunn announced the plans for his renewed DC universewith which Warner would borrón and new account with respect to everything that his superhero cosmos had meant so far. That is, ‘Superman’ plays much more than it seems. Its success or failure can bring consequences that do not dissipate for many years. Good prospects. To begin with, it should be clarified that a flattering future is opened to Gunn’s movie. It is true that your Budget has been very considerable (It is estimated that between 225 and 363 million dollars). To be profitablesome sources point out that they would need to exceed 500 million global dollars to be considered a success, and others raise that figure to more than 700 million to justify the relaunch of the DCU. Gunn has rushed to Define the size of those figures. In any case, the forecasts are good but not extraordinary: in principle, and depending on the source, there was talk of collections between 125 and 200 million dollars, but the presale has reduced expectations a bitthat now are between 90 and 145 million. The first receptions of criticism, yes, They have been excellent. Essential for three key pieces of current cinema. In short, the success of ‘Superman’ can affect three important cinema pieces mainstream Hollywood. On the one hand its success is key to Warner’s maltrecha. On the other, it is the starting point of a new superhero universe, with all that implies. And finally, ‘Superman’ is framed in the genre of superheroes, which has been going through ups and downs. The success or failure of ‘Superman’ will mark the future of all these variables. Warner needs it. Warner has been submerged in a Very delicate financial situation. His caresses with HBO have long since They bring tailbut they don’t raise their heads Nor in the film division: In the first quarter of 2025, Warner Bros. registered net losses of 453 million dollars. And eye, it is still a 53% reduction compared to the same period of the previous year, since in 2024 the losses were fired up to 11.3 billion dollars, compared to the 3.100 million of 2023. Because despite adding 110.5 million users in Max, the streaming business fails to compensate for losses from other areas. Superman, that symbol. More specifically within Warner, ‘Superman’ has special relevance within the superhero universe of DC. It is not surprising that the first film of this relaunch of the seal is ‘Superman’ (not Batman or Wonder Woman): the Kryptonian is a clear symbol of Warner’s vision of the genre (different from Marvel’s, more realistic, those of DC are full heroes, of a piece, more fantastic). A box office failure would be not only a puncture for this film, for this hero, but for a whole philosophy: Superman, as a symbol of the DC universe in its entirety, needs to succeed to boost the seal. What comes behind. If Superman is successful there are already future prepared premieres, such as ‘Supergirl’ (June 2026). Very sensitively, the DC calendar is being deployed much more slowly and carefully, Warner clearly wants to be cautious and distance from what has ended up condemning Marvel: excess premieres. This long parenthesis until the next premiere of DC makes it clear to which Superman is not a link in a chain, but a founding stone that Warner needs to work and make badly forget badly too recently as disastrous’The Flash‘ either ‘Black Adam‘. The emporium of the superheroes. For a long time, the one who was the Dominant genre in Hollywood It crosses a serious phase of ups and downs. It is true that there is still a box office, but we are no longer facing the great guaranteed successes of Marvel’s early days, and that Disney itself was responsible for burning. We have gone through one year of Impasse (where there was only one premiere, ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, which was a capital success, yes, but Out of the continuous MCU), And Marvel has returned this year with ‘Captain America: Brave New World‘ and ‘Thunderbolts‘, which add the whopping of 800 million dollars of collection … but they are insufficient to be profitable. And now we are faced with great expectation: ‘Superman’ starts a new stage for Warner, and ‘The fantastic 4: first steps‘It also opens this year, with very good expectations and a possible face washing for Marvel. And in 2026 two possible box office pumps such as the new sequel to Tom Holland’s’ spider-man and the Return of the Avengers with ‘Doomsday’. Despite these expectations, superheroes are no longer the dominant force in the box office, as demonstrated by films like ‘NE ZHA 2‘,’Lilo and Stitch‘ and ‘A Minecraft movie‘, away from superhero cinema but that have been the greatest successes of 2025. Little heroic superheroes. That is the superhero cinema situation, after two years of very specific successes. Hence the importance of ‘Superman’ and ‘The Fantastic Four’, not only for their respective franchises (as seen in the case of Superman), but for the Hollywood industry itself and the public, which begins to be tired of cyclic stories and people with super powers. Superman, essential piece. In the same way that happens in his fictional universe with the character, the ‘Superman’ film is perhaps the most important film of the year from the point of view of the industry. The relevance as creative of James Gunnwho is trusting to give a face washing not only to the DC universe, but to the whole superhero genre, turns this film into a very special bet. The great investment that Warner has made, one of the largest in recent years for the company, also puts in check the accounts of the producer. A series of bets to which the entire industry now looks closely. In Xataka | We have analyzed the scores of Marvel and DC movies to solve … Read more

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