excellence

Facebook loads ‘Likes’ and comments on external websites. The surveillance tool par excellence is no longer necessary

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Meta announced this week that Starting in February 2026, the “like” and “comment” buttons will be removed of Facebook on external websites. The official explanation is so polite it almost hurts: its use “has naturally declined with the evolution of the digital landscape.” But that phrase hides two implicit admissions: The first is known: we barely leave the platforms anymore. The second, more subtle, is devastating: Meta no longer needs to follow us to know us. Let’s think about what that button really was. like external. It was not an innocent social accessory. It was distributed surveillance: Every time you gave like to an article about vintage guitars in a lost blog, Facebook took note: this guy likes guitar playing. Every comment on a recipe website, every interaction outside your garden, fed your profile. Meta built the perfect panopticon: millions of websites working for free as sensors, reporting your interests, your obsessions, your clicks. And in exchange, those websites received crumbs of viral traffic that It stopped coming a long time ago. But today, almost in 2026, that spy system is obsolete. Why track yourself on the Internet when you spend three hours a day on Instagram? Why deduce your tastes when Instagram knows which videos make you stay to watch them until the end, and which videos you send away after two seconds? AI has made extensive surveillance unnecessary. Now it is enough to observe you in its territory. It is more efficient, more precise and cheaper. He like external was Big Brother. AI is a confessor that listens to you voluntarily, interprets and codifies your tastes (the declared and the inferred) and with that it has more than enough to know who you really are, above who you say you are on social networks. And there is something else. These buttons not only gave data to Meta: they also gave certain power to external websites. An item with 50,000 likes Facebook had authority, reach, and negotiating capacity. It was validation. Small media could go viral, specialized blogs found audiences, there were cracks to slip through. Meta is closing those cracks. And not out of malice, but out of business logic: why fertilize a foreign ecosystem when you can focus all your attention—and all your money—on your own land? The “natural evolution of the digital landscape” that Meta mentions is real. Only it has not happened in a vacuum or in a foreign way: they were the ones who designed it, they were the ones who executed it and they are the ones who now certify it. First they locked us in there. Now they know us so well that they no longer need to look at what we do outside their domains. The button like He dies because he has already won everything he could win. And there is nothing left to watch beyond the walls. In Xataka | The new Ray-Bans from Meta will allow you to cross a line: seem present while you are completely absent Featured image | Mariia Shalabaieva

Realme seeks to make the mobile phone the best street camera. And it has joined the street camera brand par excellence

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Shenzhen and Beijing have two things in common: they are endless and both have been the perfect setting for two mobile presentations that have photography in the spotlight. He Vivo X300 Pro hit first, betting on a very long zoom to capture every last detail of the highest roof. The Realme GT8 Pro arrived later with a contrary argument: “Take me out on the street and start taking photos.”. Realme’s new high-end has been an open secret for weeks and I’ve already had it in my hands for a few days. But with one condition: I can’t talk about the phone, only its main camera. The reason? They have not presented the mobilebut an agreement with a striking camera brand: RICOH. And below I’ll tell you my first impressions of the Realme GT8 Pro camera. Technical specifications of the Realme GT8 Pro? Maybe they are the strangest first impressions I have ever made because… I can’t tell you about the cell phone. In fact, any detail is extremely generic: screen that occupies the entire front, an imitation of the Dynamic Island of the iPhone that Realme has been implementing for some time in its models and a design with flat sides. Photo: Xataka There was a rule: you cannot remove the case, you cannot remove the sticker that covers the camera module. Because I can’t, I can’t even tell you what hardware it has because the characteristics in ‘Settings’ are falsified. What I can tell you is that it has a periscopic telephoto, a wide angle and a main camera. And I’m going to get into it now because it is the jewel in the crown (beyond a power and battery that, if they follow in the wake of the Realme GT7 Prowill be rubbing shoulders with the best mobile phones of 2025). Realme GT8 Pro: a mobile phone made for the street “The collaboration with RICOH to create the Realme GT8 Pro goes beyond a union of brands.” Also about specifications: RICOH has overseen all aspects of the camera’s hardware and software. In the presentation of the agreement (because the mobile phone has not yet been officially presented), the Chinese company made it clear that the differentiating point of the new terminal is the main camera. Photo: Xataka It has a wide angle, it has a telephoto, it will surely mount the latest from Qualcomm, but the protagonist is the result of a very close collaboration between the Chinese and Japanese brands. Megapixels? Why do you want to know that (it’s not official). Focal? 23mm. Opening? 1.8. Does that matter? Not the slightest. Let me explain. Entering the Realme GT8 Pro camera app is like doing so in any mobile camera app: a carousel of options that are overwhelming in some cases and processing that feels excessive in some aspects. However, the secret is if we slide our finger down on the shutter button: this way we access the RICOH GR mode very, very quickly. Photo: Xataka To give some context, RICOH is a company that makes very compact cameras, ideal for street photography. They have specialized in fast focus cameras, silent shooting and ‘stealth’ modes to go unnoticed in the urban jungle. Also by 28 mm or 40 mm fixed focal lengths, depending on the model. Entering that GR mode directly activates the 28mmbut it is not a real focal length: it is a small cutout of the sensor to go from the native 23 mm to that RICOH-type focal length. It is not the only one: we also have a 40 mm (which would be a 1.8x crop of the sensor) and if we tap on the 28 mm and 40 mm icons, two more distances are added. That is, in practice the main camera is: 23mm in normal mode 28mm in GR mode 35mm in GR mode 40mm in GR mode 50mm, or 2x, in GR mode I imagine at least the 50mm or 2x will also be available in the regular camera app, but it wasn’t available on my test unit. As soon as you enter GR mode, the shutter changes to mimic that of a RICOH and the 28mm and 40mm crops are activated. Photo: Xataka The use is very intuitive and there are other things that change a lot in this GR mode. To start, the colors. We have several filters typical RICOH tonal variations. As in its day with Apple ringtones, It’s not about filters. In fact, from Realme they commented that “People are tired of filters that make all photos look the same”. What they have done is work with RICOH to apply their color science to photo processing. Auto mode. The defendant wants everything to look “good” in the photo. Photo: Xataka GR mode. More (coughs and fixes his bow tie) cinematic. Photo: Xataka Thus, there are tones that vary slightly, opting for a more bluish tone in elements such as shadows, but in addition the processing does not enhance the shadows to the extreme nor does it apply aggressive HDR (in normal mode, yes). And we have five default color profiles that are based on the technical characteristics that RICOH has set. GR mode profiles. Photo: Xataka Within each “color recipe”, we can create our own, modifying parameters such as tone, contrast, exposure or black level to create a unique profile that adapts to what we like. And they stay stored, something that I loved. Apart from the color profiles and focal lengths, the GR mode allows you to save in the usual JPG, JPG+RAW and RAW, but something else: modify the focus point to leave it fixed. Within each profile, we can customize parameters. Photo: Xataka We have several options here and, basically, it is about making the mobile even faster in its point & shoot function. A practical example: if I am shooting at everything in front of me, be it close-ups or panoramic shots, I can leave the focus on auto so that the phone … Read more

The tennis court of their excellence

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With Pope Leo XIV a series of questions which are usually repeated in time when the Church chooses New Pontiff. Any detail is news in Robert Francis Prevost’s past, from his favorite meals to his political inclinations or his favorite sport or hobby. For example, it was known that Francisco was A football lover And he had a “soul” team. With Leo XIV the Church can once again begin an ancient tradition in one of the less known and secret spaces of the Vatican: tennis. Chiclayo’s old friend. Although born in Chicago, the new Pontiff was received with joy and affection in the Peruvian city of Chiclayo, where he left an indelible mark for almost four decades of pastoral service. It He had Reuters: Arrived in 1985 as a young missionary to one of the most humble regions in the north of the country, Robert Prevost not only dedicated his religious life to the community, but also fully integrated into local life: he obtained Peruvian citizenship in 2015 when he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo. In fact, Chiclayanos do not remember it with pompous clothing or great protocols, but driving A white truck through flooded streets during seasonal rains, distributing food, loading oxygen balls during pandemic and visiting the faithful on foot, without a driver or a delegation. That was where one of his big hobbies revealed: Tennis (and Creole music)and it was usual to see him play in the monastery of Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo. In his new address he also has a court waiting. The Vatican racket. I told it This week The Athletic. With the new Pope not only a new chapter for the Catholic Church is opened, but also a curious and little known detail from the Vatican heart: the existence of A tennis court discreetly located behind the walls of the smallest state on the planet. Although it is not visible from the street, the clue It is given a protective network that appears above the walls near the Vatican Museum. What is hidden is a red tennis track (built in the north corner of the papal enclave) that has been a corner reserved for the recreation of cardinals, members of the Swiss guard and, in more recent times, employees of the Vatican and their children. The court and tradition. Apparently, although its existence is unknown even for many regular observers of the Holy See, satellite images and Pontifical Council Archives For the laity they have documented a more active past of this sports enclave, one that lived its golden age in the seventies with tournaments where future cardinals participated as Giovanni Battista re or the Jesuit Roberto Tucci. It happens that Tradition declined when entry to lay employees and their children (young people more agile than Prelates), and the tournament ended up disappearing until its shy reappearance in 2008. In other words: to its Excellent They did not like to lose or tennis. The Tenista Pope. As we said, far from maintaining institutional solemnity as the only public feature, the new Pontiff has already presented himself as an enthusiastic fan of tennis. In one Interview granted To the website of the Order of San Agustín, Prevost described how “A true tennis fan” and confessed that, after his missionary stage in Peru, he had few opportunities to practice, so he hoped to wield the racket again. One more fan. In a relaxed tone, he joked about his loyalty to the Chicago White Sox in baseball, equating it with a vocation for temperance and perseverance, and denied false rumors that linked him as Follower of Carlos Alcaraz (For the tranquility of the devotees of Jannik Sinner). If you want also, although now it embodies one of the most solemn figures on the planet, its fondness for the racket connects it with a human and contemporary dimension, away from the Vatican protocols. Secrets and tradition. Although it may seem a minor anecdote in the context of a new papacy, The Times explained that the discovery of the sports side of the new Pontiff and the existence of a tennis court in full Vatican offer an unexpected window towards the most daily and surprising aspects of papal life. The existence of this track, which as we said, It is unknown Even by members of the Italian Tennis Federation and by the clergy, it confirms that the Vatican walls still keep Secrets and traditions They escape the public eye. Plus (and very important detail): the fact that currently no member of the Swiss Guard Practice the sport could facilitate the way to the Pope if he decides to relaunch a friendly tournament. Another very different thing is that you can find companions of your level. Image | NegativespaceWikimedia In Xataka | Church’s finances are a disaster: the choice of the first American Pope has nothing casual in it In Xataka | A mystery called Leo XIV: Everyone has reasons to be half happy and half concerned with the new Pope

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