data

12 million people delivered their DNA to 23Andme. The company broke and its data are about to change hands

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For years, spitting in a tube was the first step of an irresistible promise: discovering your roots, knowing your genetic predispositions, even finding family members lost by the world. Everything without moving home. The company behind that phenomenon was called 23ndmeand achieved something unusual: to turn genetics into a mass consumption product. That story has just turned. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has reached an agreement to acquire the main assets of 23Andme for 256 million dollars, According to the official statement published by the pharmacist. It is a transaction that must still be approved by the Banking Court and by US regulators. At stake is a platform that has managed the DNA of millions of people worldwide. An announced end. The 23Andme fall has not been sudden. In recent years, the company went from being valued at more than 6,000 million dollars to fight for its own survival. His commitment to a more ambitious model – based on developing medicines, offering medical consultations by subscription and expanding digital health services – did not set. As details The Wall Street Journalthe company burned more than one billion dollars and ended up offering part of its assets in limit conditions. The sales agreement does not cover the entire business. Regeneron would keep the essential: the direct genomics service to the consumer, its biobanco of genetic samples and the research and total health divisions. The telemedicine subsidiary Lemonaid Health is left out, acquired in its day for 400 million dollars, whose closure will be made in an orderly manner outside this operation. Privacy: The real battlefield. The operation has re -placed privacy in the center of the debate. Regeneron has promised to respect current data use policies and has committed to undergoing independent scrutiny, as established by the judicial framework of the process. Even so, doubts persist on how one of the world’s largest genetic databases will be managed. The suspicion is not new. In 2023, 23Andme was a victim of a massive data filtration which affected 6.9 million people. As TechCrunch revealedthe attackers accessed the profiles of those who had activated the function of “genetic family”, obtaining names, locations and percentages of shared DNA between relatives. The company attributed the incident to the reuse of passwords by users, but the damage was already done. Anne Wojcicki, the face of an era. The 23Andme story cannot be told without mentioning Anne Wojcicki. Co -founder, visible face, visionary of personalized health and, at the same time, responsible for business decisions that led to collapse. His plan was to convert the company to an integral provider of medical services, but this did not prosper. He tried to recover control, but his power vanished with the beginning of the judicial process. According to WSJtheir actions with preferential vote were annulled and their offers rejected by the Board of Directors. Wojcicki opted everything to DNA as strategic assets. And for a while it seemed right. The company that helped to found transformed the way millions of people related to their health. It also showed to what extent a genetic database can become a mined field of legal, ethical and technological risks. A new stage, the same questions. Regeneron aspires to keep a powerful platform, a still recognized brand and an immense volume of genetic information. In its official statement, he affirms that his intention is to maintain service for current users and continue to develop new ways for personalized medicine. Images | 23ndme In Xataka | We have visited the place where the demographic hopes of Spain are literally deposited: the Semen Bank of Granada

Where there were humans before, there are now data. Huawei and Huaneng have deployed 100 driverless trucks in a mine in China

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A row of trucks loaded to the top crosses the mine without anyone holding the steering wheel. They move alone, precisely, As if they were choreographed. And we do not talk about a prototype or laboratory tests: this is already happening in the Yimin mine, northeast of China. According to SCMPthe state group Huaneng has deployed the largest individual fleet of electric trucks without driver operated with Huawei technology in a single mining operation. Behind this deployment is Huawei’s technology, along with advances by Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group and the Beijing University of Science and Technology. In total, there are 100 vehicles of large tonnage, known as Huaneng Ruichi, they move tons of coal without human intervention, even in adverse climatic conditions. According to Li Shuxue, president of Huaneng Mengdong, it is the largest coordinated deployment of this type of vehicles. Connectivity and cloud, two key elements Everything works thanks to a combination of advanced technologies: 5G-Advanced connectivity, artificial intelligence (AI), high precision mapping, cloud computing and intelligent battery exchange. Zhang PinganCEO of Huawei Cloud, explained that the 5G-A, also known as 5.5g, allows to operate with extremely low latency and very high speed. In an industrial environment like this, that response capacity is key. But this has done nothing but start. Huaneng plans to expand the fleet to 300 autonomous trucks in this same mine for the next three years. And the impulse goes beyond Yimin. The National Chinese Coal Association has projected a “Explosive growth” of unmanned mining trucks in 2026. The forecast is that the figure doubles in 2026. Automation is already noticed: the same association estimates that operating costs have been reduced around 8 % in mines that have incorporated these systems. The advances we are seeing in Chinese mining are part of a broader strategy to modernize traditional Asian giant sectors with advanced technology. And what today unfolds within its borders also begins to emerge as an opportunity in other markets. Now, there is another deployment that should be taken into account. In the Zaha Naoer mine, also in Interior Mongolia, they have been put into operation 135 autonomous trucks of extended range that operate daily. The project, promoted by China Power Investment, has other technological suppliers and a different architecture. How does Sina Finance collectthe operation started as a pilot in 2024 and already accumulates more than 770,000 kilometers traveled, with more than five million cubic meters of extracted material. Although the total number of vehicles is higher, it is not a homogeneous deployment. Unlike the case of Huawei, in Zaha Naoer, trucks use diverse systems, some with extended autonomy, and do not respond to a single technological platform. This allows Huaneng to present the Yimin project as the greatest individual, integrated and electrical deployment that has been carried out so far. The infrastructure that makes it possible includes mixed networks of 4g and 5g The infrastructure that supports the Zaha Naoer fleet is backed in mixed 4G and 5G networks, cloud control centers and coordination systems between vehicles. If one of the trucks detects an anomalythe system transmits data in real time so that technicians can intervene remotely without interrupting the operation. Beyond the technological deployment, automation is also reconfiguring the organization of work in the mines. In Zaha Naoer, for example, the use of autonomous trucks has considerably reduced the need for cabin personnel: 325 less drivers and a monthly savings estimated at 4,000,000 yuan. At the same time, operational security has been reinforced, with less direct exposure to risk environments and greater control over each phase of the process. Images | Huaneng Group In Xataka | The US has been dreaming of its first high -speed train decades: the California project is being a real nightmare

Saudi Arabia wants to become a new power in data centers. Nothing is clear that I can do it

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Donald Trump has made a unique tour of several countries in the Middle East, and among the agreements that are considered surprising: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar want to invest billions of dollars in the construction of data centers for ia. The question is whether they will do so. Chips for strategic alliances. The Biden administration had largely limited the number of advanced chips from which these countries could access, but Trump’s mandate is changing things. As they point out in The New York Times, AI chips seem now to be a useful argument to strengthen relations with countries with this Trump newspaper “has deep financial ties and business. “Qatar already plans donate a Boeing 747-8 which could end up being used as the new Air Force One. Saudi Arabia on the one hand. Nvidia and AMD have reached an agreement to sell their professional GPUS to Humain. This newly created company – it belongs to the country’s public investment fund – It has the objective to create a large data center in Saudi Arabia. The agreement with AMD raises An investment of 10,000 million dollars in infrastructure in the next five years. Humain will supervise the development of these data centers, while AMD will provide chips and software. Arab Emirates attached to the other. As indicated In Bloombergthe Trump administration is considering reaching an agreement that would allow United Arab Emirates to import a million Nvidia chips. Eau could thus buy 500,000 of those chips per year until 2027. A fifth would be reserved for the G42 firm of Abu Dhabi. Saudi data centers. Nvidia, meanwhile, will sell 18,000 Your GB300 chips To Saudi Arabia. This was announced by Jensen Huang on Tuesday, which will contribute clearly to the Humain projects, which propose with data centers with a joint “1.9 GW” power “in 2030. Those 18,000 chips will apparently be part of the” hundreds of thousands “of which the Saudi project will be nourished. Possible “resale” to China? The United States restricted the sale of advanced chips from AI to China in 2022, and there are those who fear that countries in the Middle East end up serving as intermediaries so that the chips that the US allows you to sell there ends where they should not. G42 theoretically cut ties with Huawei to reach an agreement of 1.5 billion dollars with Microsoft, but the suspicions about the situation persist. Saudi Arabia and its megaprojects. As points The analyst Ed Zitron, countries of the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia have been talking about all kinds of megaprojects for years, but one thing is their promises and another realities. It occurs with the Jeddah Tower, MUKAABhis Pharaonic airport And of course The Line and his futuristic city, Neom. All these projects still have a long way to go, and this new Saudi ambition, although more “contained” in terms of dimensions, is equally complex for a country without experience in this area. There is energy … Countries like Saudi Arabia have abundant energy resources and in fact there are A strong investment in solar energy. Its application to provide power to those data centers, yes, it is not so easy, as they are discovering In the United States. … but no (much) water. The problem is that these data centers dissipate a lot of heat and the desert environment is not exactly the idea for this type of facilities. Extraordinary cooling solutions are needed and the country has scarce water resources. Desalination plants are A pillar of its strategic plan, and innovations may also go into play in the field of refrigeration such as closed circuit systems or Direct liquid cooling. Image | Neom In Xataka | New York Bitcoin miners are buying old power plants. New Yorkers are not happy

Global reservoir water data are incredibly good. The reality of many areas is very different.

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Few figures can move more to someone who has followed the day to day of drought in Spain than is: 43,144. Those are, on May 5, 2025, the HM3 in the country’s reservoirs. 76.99% of the total. In recent time, we have never seen anything the same. And yet the alarm signals. And I do not mean only the general reports. That also: the latest Copernicus report, the European land observation system, despite focusing on the situation of central Europe, Let it clear That the situation in Spain is terrible. It leaves no doubt: the vast majority of points in “alert” by drought of the European continent They are on the peninsula. But, as I say, the alerts not only come from obtuse community reports, they also come from the same hydrographic confederations that are prohibiting crops because, according to their calculations, the endowment of reservoirs is not enough. The Granada example. When the Guadalquivir Hydrographic Confederation (CHG) He announced The maximum endowments for irrigation for this year, “the worst omen were confirmed.” The accounts did not give, the regable areas of the province of Granada were going to continue with the greatest restrictions because their water reserves had not improved at the same level as in the rest of the basin. That is, the global figures and even the figures per Cuenca were not enough to know how the country was really: there are entire areas that, despite being part of water full of water, are not going to leave the drought behind. And what does this imply? Well, for example, farmers in La Vega de Granada who have sown winter crops will not be able to plant anything in summer. It is not a new measure, it was already implemented in 2023. The problem is that no one expected this and constitutes a blow to the rentier of a sector accustomed to using rotation to finance the following crops (as explained in ideal“The corn that is now paid expenses and income from winter crops”). That is, despite the water, many areas will have a bad time. Because no, it is not a problem that only affects Granada. A good part of southeast (regardless of the basin), the Balearic Islands or Some areas of the interior They will have water problems and will not be able to develop agricultural activities normally. To that we must add all the crops that go late Or they are Seeing how pests are primed with them. In the background, it is a reminder that the drought problems that have been accompanying us for 10 years cannot be diluted in two springs. As we have said many timesdroughts are managed with full swamps. It is now when you have to redouble efforts in infrastructure and management models. The restrictions may be necessary, but if we stay there … the most important step will be missing. Image | Kshithij Chandrashekar In Xataka | Spain has a huge problem with contaminated waters. These researchers believe that the solution is the poplars

We have second to second the data on the great blackout in Spain. They complicate everything even more

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The great blackout of April 28 left us all with more questions than answers. Now, with the “black box” of the electrical system in the hands of the researchers, the preliminary data, far from offering a simple explanation, have added a level of complexity to an unprecedented energy crisis. To begin with, what seemed like an abrupt power fall was rather a sequence of three impacts. We knew of two disconnectionsbut as confirmed by Vice President Third Sara Aagesen, there was a third incident exactly 19 seconds Before the blackout, at 12:33. This first shake, located south of the Peninsula, adds to the two already known in the southwest, which triggered the cascade of the network. Although the system was able to absorb this first alteration, its existence adds a new layer of intrigues to an intricate technical autopsy. Researchers face the forensic analysis of about 70,000 critical points that show data every 20 milliseconds. Unraveling the exact sequence in those five fateful seconds between 12:33:16 and 12:33:21, and now also in the previous 19 seconds, is what light will shed on the questions that Red Electrica still does not answer. What was the first domino card to fall? How did the rest of the system react? Were the backs failed? The volume and granularity of information They predict months of workas happened after the Texas blackout in 2021 or that of Italy in 2003, where the final responses took months to arrive. Fortunately, there is a deadline, imposed by the European Commission: Spain has three months to deliver its conclusions about the blackout and A resilience plan that, predictably, will have implications at the paneuropeo level. Collapse anatomy 12:32:57 on Monday, April 28. First blow. The frequency of the peninsular network experienced a slight fall, a few hundredths below 50 Hz. The system absorbed the oscillation in milliseconds, as in normal circumstances. But it was a first warning: a first loss of generation in the south of the registered peninsula 19 seconds before energy zero. The Investigation Committee has already baptized it as the “third event”, although chronologically it was the first. Has been discovered after scrutinizing in detail the log of Eléctrica Red, which monitors those 70,000 critical points by turning data every 20 milliseconds. 12:33:16. Second blow. A new and powerful oscillation in the southwest dynamite the available operational reserve. The frequency sinks this time below critics 49.85 Hz. Given this fall, converters of an important part of the photovoltaic generation begin to disconnect automatically to protect the equipment. 12: 33: 17-12: 33: 21. KO Technical. In just four seconds, the frequency fall is accelerated unrecoverable. The interconnection with France jumps, and then that of Morocco. The network loses 15 GW of power, the equivalent of 60% of the peninsular generation at that time. Then go black. Spain and Portugal sign their first energy zero. 03:30 on Tuesday, April 29. To restore service from black, network operators carry out a Black-Start unprecedented, first starting the pumping hydraulics, followed by combined gas cycles. Red Eléctrica announced that 99.95% of the supply It had been restored 15 hours after the blackout. No one in Europe had risen from scratch a network of this size with such a high proportion of renewable energy. Renewables in the epicenter of debate While technical research progresses with stealth, the public debate is a Theories Polvorín Waiting for answers. The hypothesis of a cyber attack He has flown the crisis from the first moment, despite the fact that Eduardo Prieto, director of Operations of Electric, will discard it sharply. Beyond that, the growing weight of renewables in the energy mix (More than 50% of production in 2024) has placed solar and wind energies in the eye of the hurricane. Its intermittent nature and its lack of synchronous inertia (the ability of conventional plants to stabilize the network thanks to its great rotating masses) They make the most vulnerable system to frequency imbalances. The electricity grid must maintain a constant balance between generation and consumption, operating at a frequency of 50 Hz. An important mismatch can compromise the entire infrastructure. Renewable sources, depending on the sun or wind, and connecting through power electronics (famous investors), do not have that mechanical inertia. Since there are solutions such as energy storage (batteries or pumping centrals) and “Grid Formers” (investors designed to stabilize the network), the question is whether the system is sufficiently adapted to renewables. A May 2024 Report Published by the Electric Red itself, not suspect. Entitled ‘General Criteria for the Protection of the Spanish Electrical System’, warned of the need for Adapt protection criteria before “the change in the generation mix of the current electrical system due to the massive entry of renewable energy sources.” The text recognized that, in areas with high generation penetration based on power electronics, “situations could occur in which the behavior of some of the current protection functions was not expected”, being able to lead to the “disconnection of large amounts of renewable generation”, causing possible serious imbalances. American analyst Russ Schussler It has been warning for years that replacing synchronous generators with investor -based resources (wind, solar) increases the risk of blackouts, and that the lack of inertia is a key factor. Jordi Sevillaformer president of Electrica, believes that the National Integrated Plan for Energy and Climate Peque of “Too Renewable Messianism” without sufficiently attending to these technical problems and the lack of investment. Images | Endesa, Fernando Rodríguez (RTE data) In Xataka | The total blackout of Spain has a suspicious number 1: a stabilization of the poor electricity grid

Spain wants to be the paradise of the data centers. The blackout has complicated that ambition

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Spain aspired to be The great HUB of data centers in Europetaking advantage of our surplus electrical capacity and the abundant physical space that we have available outside the large metropolitan areas. But The recent national blackout has exposed the structural vulnerabilities that could make this ambition derail, as analyzed The confidential. Why is it important. The data centers could attract up to 49,000 million euros in investments, representing a new form of industrialization for a country that has seen its traditional productive fabric diminish. In figures: The contradiction. The Spanish model has A difficult tension to solve that the blackout has put on the table: On the one hand, the commitment to renewable, necessary but variable. On the other hand, the nuclear abandonment plan, precisely those that give stability to the network. Yes, but. The data centers exceeded the blackout, as well as hospitals or radio stations, thanks to their support generators. However, the risk is in the perception of international investors. Seeing that a national blackout is a real possibility in Spain because it has already happened is something that can make them question their reliability about the Spanish system from something as basic as the energy supply. The competition. France, neighboring country, is the most notable rival: it is developing A data gigafactoría backed by the State and financed by United Arab Emiratesfed by a network where 70% comes from nuclear energy. Spain recovered from the blackout in a few hours – with some hard consequences along the way -, but perhaps it costs him more to recover from the problem of perception generated by such an event. The one who questions If you can guarantee basic stability that this industry demands … or if investors will prefer destinations with greater energy certainty. Outstanding image | Claudio Schwarz in Unspash In Xataka | “11 signs that you have ADHD and you don’t know it”: more and more people are self -diagnosis of mental health problems

Now they have a serious safety problem and data leakage

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During pandemic and Forced adoption of teleworkingsome bosses forced their employees to Install monitoring system in the teams of their employees to control that they really work during their day. As published Tom’s Guidea cybersecurity team has notified that millions of screenshots of one of these monitoring systems are accessible to anyone, compromising the safety of the companies that hired this service. The distrust of the bosses. The specialized media in Cybernews cybersecurity It echoed what they describe as one of the greatest security leaks of the Workcomposer companywhich offered a monitoring service in more than 200,000 corporate computers in companies around the world. The monitoring service offered attend to your personal affairs. These monitoring systems were the focus of An ethical and legal debatebut if the computer was from the company, it had the right to install the software that would believe timely. The day captures. All these monitored equipment generated dozens of millions of periodic screenshots throughout the day. These captures recorded all kinds of confidential information of companies, which employees used daily: emails, internal documents, accounting data, etc. The employee was not aware of what time the monitoring application He was taking a capture of his screen, so he could not have avoided the capture of this compromised data. In addition to all this data, the screenshots would have captured credentials of access to other companies of the companies if the screenshot occurred just at the time when the employee was accessing the service, which would mean a serious risk to their safety. A millionaire gap. According to Cybernews, the security gap could affect about 21 million captures stored on a Amazon S3 server that did not have adequate access security measures. That allows anyone to make the appropriate search to access the entire catalog of captures that is stored there. This has left all the companies that have used the workcomposer remote monitoring service in a vulnerability situation before attacks of impersonation of identity due to the theft of credentials and internal data escape. In addition, since it is not an attack on a certain service, the affected companies do not know the scope of the filtration, which will force them to review all the credentials and sensitive information that has captured the monitoring system. The RGPD knocks on your door. On the other hand, the massive filtration of these catches will put both affected companies and Workcomposer in a complicated situation. From Xataka we have tried to obtain statements from the company that manages this application, but we have not obtained an answer. He General Data Protection Regulation (RGPD) in force in Europe, and some US laws such as California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)they establish that the company that captures this data is the responsible for its custody and protection. The negligence to house millions of images with confidential information on a server without minimal security can cost you millionaire sanctions. In Xataka | Companies that have eliminated teleworking are facing a big problem: they take longer to cover their vacancies Image | Unspash (Boitumelo)

How to prevent Instagram from using your data to train goal AI

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Let’s explain How to prevent Instagram from using your data To train Goal AIits artificial intelligence assistant. This is that blue circle icon that has appeared and that we cannot remove, and in addition to that the social network will start using your data to improve it. Instagram will use Your publications, your photos, your personal tastes and even your private messages (except if you are under 18) to train your artificial intelligence model. This will be activated by default, but not to inflict the laws, an option is hidden in its configuration to tell you that you do not want you to use your data. Prevents Instagram from using your data to train your AI The first thing you have to do is enter the Instagram configuration by clicking on the three -stripes icon. Once within the menu of Configuration and activitygo down to the whole, and click on the option Information What do you have within the section More information and help. This will take you to the information options screen. In it, click on the option Privacy Policy That you have in second place. This will take you to a screen where many things about privacy on Instagram will be explained. In it, click on the link Oppose you which will appear highlighted within the text. This will take you to a page where you have an explanation of the information used to train ai ai. Here, Below you have a form With a writing field where you have to follow the steps to indicate how data processing affects you and why you do not want to allow them to be used. There is a good alternativeand that is that the Citizen8 group has created this website. In it, you have two links to which An email and its text are generated To ask Facebook or Instagram not to collect your data. You just have to make sure to send it with the email account with which you have the record with them and voila. In Xataka Basics | Artificial Intelligence Guide: Main characteristics of the main models of AI, points for and against, and comparative

It also offers an antivirus and other tools to keep our data safe

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The Internet is a wonderful window, but houses dangers. Press in a link that we should not or download a file with harmless appearance can end a virus or some type of malware on our computer. The best thing we can do is have an antivirus that protects us And one that offers a great value for money is Surfshark: It comes out by 2.49 euros a month and comes with VPN and much more. Surfshark One Subscription – Monthly * Some price may have changed from the last review Surfshark one comes with antivirus, vpn and much more As a general rule, when we usually refer to Surfshark we do it to talk about its VPN. On this occasion, we do it from its Surshark One Plan, which includes a good number of tools to protect our data or our Internet traffic. Among them, The one that highlights the most is your antivirus. This, in addition to working quite well in the face of all kinds, offers several additional features that are very interesting. One of them is that he has Additional protection for cameras and microphonesin such a way that it will always notify us in case some type of program is trying to access them. Ideal to ensure our privacy. In addition to this, it is also a very configurable antivirus and that has a good level of security against malware or spyware. Next to the antivirus, surfshark one brings other tools such as its VPN, Alternate ID (which allows you to create a virtual email so as not to have to record ours anywhere) and a system of alerts in case our data or information is filtered on the Internet. This plan, as we have said before, goes out to 2.49 euros a month thanks to the promotion for the anniversary of Surfshark. It is a temporary promotion that makes two full years of surfshark one come out for 67.23 euros, a discount if we take into account that, outside of promotion, they would come out for almost 485 euros. And eye: pOrque we will also receive three extra months. As we say above, we can get with the VPN and its alternative ID complement by 1.99 euros. To do this, we have to bet on its 24 -month plan, which means that we will have two years of the service for 53.73 euros. It is a considerable discount if we take into account that its price is 417 euros. And Eye: We will also receive three extra months. If we want to pay less, we have as an alternative the surfshark one plan. This plan is simpler because It only comes with the VPN and alternate IDbut despite this, its price is the most tempting: it goes out for alone 1.99 euros a month. Surfshark Starter Subscription – Monthly * Some price may have changed from the last review Some of the links of this article are affiliated and can report a benefit to Xataka. In case of non -availability, offers may vary. Image | Surfshark In Xataka | Why it is dangerous to connect to public wifis and what you should do to protect yourself In Xataka | Antivirus in Windows 11: What are, differences between free and payment and the best for your PC

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